ExAndOh
A visual and aural trip through some of Radiohead's best
An ethereal and solemn virtual museum celebrating Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac where the virtual visuals work in tandem with the albums perfectly. Originally planned to be a physical museum exhibit in central London, the unfortunate circumstances of 2020-2021 led them to contact a few developers and artists to create a virtual exhibit that they wanted to originally create. I personally think that this is a better result due to the fact that more people can experience their vision and are able to create some visual experiences that is hard to replicate in real life.
You can tell the band worked closely with the developers and artists as they managed to create the exhibit with existing assets in a sense and nothing new and original was created here. Clever use of their multi tracks makes the tracks feel new and familiar too with some exhibits providing some of the most ethereal experiences especially in the How to Disappear Completely exhibits and the Motion Picture Soundtrack finale that emphasizes the harps that felt like I was transitioning to the afterlife.
I don't want to go into the visuals in detail here since I think you should see it for yourself. I was never a terribly huge Radiohead fan but I really do enjoy their work. I was more of an OK Computer kind of guy and Kid A is an album I liked at first but with every listen and as I get older, I sort of like it more and I can say the same here after experiencing this.
I will see you in the next life.
An ethereal and solemn virtual museum celebrating Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac where the virtual visuals work in tandem with the albums perfectly. Originally planned to be a physical museum exhibit in central London, the unfortunate circumstances of 2020-2021 led them to contact a few developers and artists to create a virtual exhibit that they wanted to originally create. I personally think that this is a better result due to the fact that more people can experience their vision and are able to create some visual experiences that is hard to replicate in real life.
You can tell the band worked closely with the developers and artists as they managed to create the exhibit with existing assets in a sense and nothing new and original was created here. Clever use of their multi tracks makes the tracks feel new and familiar too with some exhibits providing some of the most ethereal experiences especially in the How to Disappear Completely exhibits and the Motion Picture Soundtrack finale that emphasizes the harps that felt like I was transitioning to the afterlife.
I don't want to go into the visuals in detail here since I think you should see it for yourself. I was never a terribly huge Radiohead fan but I really do enjoy their work. I was more of an OK Computer kind of guy and Kid A is an album I liked at first but with every listen and as I get older, I sort of like it more and I can say the same here after experiencing this.
I will see you in the next life.
2021
An oppressive interpretation of a demonic and angelic infused apocalypse
It's rare for me to play a game like this, you know? A game that has taken over my life after a week off playing this game and after it all, I'm sad that I have to return to my old life and say goodbye to this game for right now. Shin Megami Tensei V has been a long time coming since IV and the first HD title in the series in which the series really needed to show up here and it did in spades but not the spades you expected. This game is completely different from what is now the standard of an abundance of cutscenes and story segments that flesh out the world you're in and instead more gameplay oriented experience. What it lacks in a deep and thought provoking narrative makes up for with engaging gameplay on and off the battle, amazing and genre switching soundtrack that probably elevated this game much higher than it should be and is, the level design giving off a moody dread that is hard to come by in this genre of games. I've put around 60 hours exact on this playthrough and have done every sidequest, collected around 170 miman and almost hit level cap without the intention of grinding using the default mitamas spawns and saving them in the end to make things smoother and the weirdest thing is that it felt much shorter than that.
I. Story and Characters
Let's get the worst out of the way here and I will be vague about story details for the sake of being spoiler-free, that said the story could've been told better here. The actual story here is actually intriguing but the problem is that that it's very spare in delivering the info at certain times and insists of huge loredumps between areas that makes the pacing feel weird. I will say that the game does subvert your expectations a bit here, it's not the traditional set up for a SMT game here and I can sorta appreciate that albeit with the problems still standing. What I think is the biggest flaw is that the characters themselves don't get fleshed out here at all, you can probably count how many times you'll talk to them with one hand and they mostly state the same train of thought they had until the end of the game. I found one character really annoying with this and kept mentioning this problem they had for the entirety of the game. Despite all this, it's an SMT game after all so fans of the series can probably already guess where this game story and format is gonna head. That said, the ending I got was actually pretty amazing in terms of the gameplay story segments while the actual cutscenes for the ending were just alright. The soundtrack really elevated these gameplay segments very hard that I almost didn't care about the story itself and was just feeling extremely cool during these segments.
II. Gameplay (Battle)
I will state that these opinions on gameplay are stemmed from my normal difficulty playthrough here and your mileage may vary on how underleveled or overleveled you are for these. I think press turn has finally been tweaked to feel more punishing and rewarding here. I found myself feeling more proactive to preventing the enemy from taking precious turns more in recent games and always tried to make the most of mine which is a rarity. The difficulty is great here and actually makes you use every tool you have to progress through, dampeners are a great example of this as they are a cheap item and can prevent specific damage from a hard boss and makes them lose turns too. Magutsuhi actions are a new mechanic introduced in this entry and I like it except the critical one being a bit too good. Don't get me wrong, most of them are pretty great but feel more niche just considering how some of the best moves scale off crits in this game and that charge doesn't 2x your damage anymore. The quality of life stuff from SMT IV: Apocalypse is here such as the Mudo/Hama change and affinities make a return here and make fusion take actual thought again. Smirk is completely gone and I honestly don't miss it either. The bosses for a majority of the game feel like an arduous ordeal for a change instead of just HP sponges that most JRPGs fall in line to. That said, some might say the HP sponge complaint can still be applied here but the bosses here can also kick your teeth here if you're complacent here and that's the important thing. Demon negotiation is changed here to be much easier to grab demons from and focus more on the actual haggling instead of just dumping your items and money and listening to every whim hoping to join you and just for them to leave. There are still ways to screw up negotiation too. I was kinda mixed on the buff and debuffs but I honestly think they're fine considering you get ma- versions soon enough and the game doesn't devolve into a spamfest considering end game buffs are really expensive on MP. On the topic of MP, the great spells are way bigger here. You really can't spam the expensive buffs unless you play into your stock of demons or use Chakra items constantly but I rather use the former here. That said, I actually ended up using my whole stock more instead of just 3 really strong demons for most of the game as my team which I like as it makes the game feel more proactive in battles. The game thankfully doesn't fall into the difficulty curve SMT IV had albeit only gets a bit easier in the end when you can start minmaxing your demons for end game moves and become more flexible than what you're accustomed to up until that point but another thing to remember is that any enemy about perform a crit magutsuhi phase is something you should really respect as they can immediately kill your team and I sorta like that, the threat of dying is always there even when you least expect it. The game makes you respect its mechanics and moves until you can block moves perfectly and mitigate damage well, you really can't be complacent at all here. Another thing I want to mention is the superboss here which isn't Demifiend here, I managed to beat them after hours of creating the perfect demons, several very long attempts with a slightly underleveled party and took me the final time of 67 minutes, over 10 of my demons were depleted of MP or dead along with me having to use all my chakra pots. This is the fight where you really can't have 3 demons only and the game hopes to have reiterated that point for you as I barely beat this on normal.
III. Gameplay (Exploration)
Probably the gameplay aspect no one expected to be as good as it is, the exploration and the gameplay away from the combat. Goes without saying that the exploration is surprisingly dense with the way the levels are designs and rewards you pretty well for doing so as well that compliments your partner in the game, the battle. The demons in the open world and random encounters being a thing also supports this design as well as you won't be bothered by random battles while trying to get to from point A to B. Speaking of the demons, they're the best they looked here and I liked Doi's designs for most of these along with personality in their idle animations that I didn't expect either honestly. In terms of level design, I'll start with talking about the visual design. It's not that varied sadly as it'll feel like a big mix of desert and destroyed buildings but I think it fits how an apocalyptic Tokyo would look. They mix it up a fair bit in the final quarter but I wish they had some more crazy ideas for a bigger chunk of the game. Now into the gameplay aspect of the level design, it's amazing. The layout of each area looks and plays into the traversal of levels like broken buildings leaning into other buildings as a way to get across. There is also an enjoyment to be had when you see a far away item on the map and then being able to plot your way around that makes exploration feel like a platformer at times. The controls are exploring are great too and the jumps always feel concise which is pretty important for getting across certain points. Throughout the game, you'll run into demonic structures called Abscesses and they're essentially "ubisoft towers" with a decent challenge in each one that rewards you with the option of getting important upgrades and some map icons to go explore and check out and gets rid of that annoying fog on your map. The side quests here are actually pretty rewarding as most of them essentially give you access to new magutsuhi skills, money, items that can be used to power you or your demons and sometimes even the demons themselves will join you and most of the time they'll be at a way higher level than you at the time of joining. Not to mention these sidequests have eliminated the need for me to grind along with predetermined mitamas spawn and the rare chance you get them in any encounter. Now I won't say these sidequests are great in any sense other than a gameplay purpose either. Most of the writing in them is charming enough but doesn't do much for me either and some of the quest design is MMO-tier in design like "kill x or collect x items" which isn't very engaging in all honesty. I'm also surprised by the Mitama spawns without the DLC as well and I was getting a fair bit of them except for Gospel items which should rightfully be rare as it is. Save points make a return to Shin Megami Tensei and I never really minded either or but either way, they're very plentiful in the areas as they are so you never lose much progress in the case you get an unlucky death or something. Another important tool for exploration is Quest Navigators and I can't stress enough that you should always have one with you, these little guys and gals will get you some rare items and even some mitama spawns too with the risk of getting ambushed by an enemy party but are honestly worth having around because sometimes you can go an hour exploring like I did and completely forgot to equip one. Relics make a return from IV and IV: Apocalypse and are still your main form of making money but much more streamlined and the action itself is relegated to just passing by a vending machine and pressing A and quickly being on your way, no long digging animation or appraising here which is great. You also have resource orbs that are scattered throughout the map that help keep your topped off but never felt important unless you were in a dungeon that relied on more linear progress to the next save point. Moving onto dungeons now, there aren't many here and I'm sad to say they're pretty lackluster here. They're really just long interconnected hallways with bad gimmicks attached to them. One gimmick is just very annoying to get around and the other dungeon gimmick is useless since you can avoid it by just fighting a strong demon instead from my experience. Also want to mention while I do appreciate they wanted to change the pace from full on exploring, dungeons also remove a lot of the elements of exploration too. You can't bring navigators in and I don't even know if mitamas spawn in there too and just feel pretty boring to run for a legit minute to the next save point with no real thought put into it.
IV. Music
Where do I even begin here? Probably the reason the whole experience was elevated into one of my favorite gaming experiences in recent time. Ryota Kozuka and Toshiki Konishi have knocked it out of the park here as they managed to create what I think is their magnum opus here. Shin Megami Tensei V's soundtrack is incredibly atmospheric, moody and even melancholic to the point some of the music disturbed me in certain parts. You got the kick ass rock music in spades here sure but they also branch out a fair bit here with some electronic music that still manages to feel dark and full of energy, dark and ambient music that sets the mood for the locations you'll visit throughout your playthrough and even some psychedelic rock in an area that sounds like a Tame Impala song going through a rough phase. The highlight of the soundtrack are the unique boss themes here that mix rock with something else that sometimes feels other-worldly and cosmic to represent that we're fighting literal gods and demons here. I want to mention the superboss theme is probably the best example of this if you ever attempt it, the track is ethereal and almost incredibly depressing that it feels like I'm listening to something from a horror game soundtrack. I lastly do want to preface that music is probably the most subjective thing here as people like different genres and all that but I think for genres, I can't find any other genre that would really match how the world is and plays.
Addendum: Switch Problems
As much as I really enjoyed this game, the game from a technical standpoint isn't perfect or even great in a sense. The game itself runs at barely 30 fps probably around a constant high 20s but it never really affected me that much in the exploration aspect to me at least. The biggest thing I can probably say that will affect how you play is menu lag at times during my playthrough. As this is a gameplay centric experience in a JRPG, menu lag can be very bad for your game but I didn't experience it often or even at all but it did happen sometimes. The game kept up with my pace of "menuing" here if that is a term. The resolution itself is pretty blurry but I feel that's par for the course of huge JRPGs on the Switch these days. I think the worst performance problem I've experience is the final dungeon that dropped my frames very hard a decent chunk of the time. Framerate of the dungeon is all over the place with sometimes it being like in the high 10s which is noticeable and what's worse is that some of the cutscenes in here can also drop frames hard just as bad. I hope they optimize that specific area of the game at least because that's really the only time I felt like "yeah this is pretty bad". I hope this game gets ported just for the fact that I think more people should play this game but I'm getting ahead of myself and I think people should have the choice of being able to play it on any console they want although I tend to prefer JRPGs on Switch personally. With that in mind, these performance hiccups never hampered my experience to the point I was constantly thinking about them until the final dungeon but that quickly went away as it did and I'd probably be complaining more if my "menuing" was laggy to the point that it detracted from the fast gameplay a bit for me considering you're gonna be doing it a lot here.
V. Conclusion
Shin Megami Tensei V is the antithesis of the series going forward and JRPGs in general with a more gameplay centric direction with a surprisingly solid exploration element and an incredibly ethereal and moody soundtrack that immersed me for the week I escaped from the real world. I do also want to say that this isn't a JRPG for everyone and not even for some JRPG fans either, it's a different game in structure and I'm glad it followed through with that. Traversing through Da'at felt like a journey and I can say I'm done with that journey at least for right now. The story and characters aren't gonna win any awards but I'll be blunt here: I don't really care. The rest of the game picked up the slack easily and became one of my favorite JRPGs and Megaten games. I lost myself playing this game and I haven't lost myself in the medium in years like that and reminds me of the old times that a new game would come out during a cold autumn and I'd just lose myself on it as a teenager. I'm glad I managed to relive that for what might hopefully not be my last time.
See you in the new reincarnation of the goddess.
It's rare for me to play a game like this, you know? A game that has taken over my life after a week off playing this game and after it all, I'm sad that I have to return to my old life and say goodbye to this game for right now. Shin Megami Tensei V has been a long time coming since IV and the first HD title in the series in which the series really needed to show up here and it did in spades but not the spades you expected. This game is completely different from what is now the standard of an abundance of cutscenes and story segments that flesh out the world you're in and instead more gameplay oriented experience. What it lacks in a deep and thought provoking narrative makes up for with engaging gameplay on and off the battle, amazing and genre switching soundtrack that probably elevated this game much higher than it should be and is, the level design giving off a moody dread that is hard to come by in this genre of games. I've put around 60 hours exact on this playthrough and have done every sidequest, collected around 170 miman and almost hit level cap without the intention of grinding using the default mitamas spawns and saving them in the end to make things smoother and the weirdest thing is that it felt much shorter than that.
I. Story and Characters
Let's get the worst out of the way here and I will be vague about story details for the sake of being spoiler-free, that said the story could've been told better here. The actual story here is actually intriguing but the problem is that that it's very spare in delivering the info at certain times and insists of huge loredumps between areas that makes the pacing feel weird. I will say that the game does subvert your expectations a bit here, it's not the traditional set up for a SMT game here and I can sorta appreciate that albeit with the problems still standing. What I think is the biggest flaw is that the characters themselves don't get fleshed out here at all, you can probably count how many times you'll talk to them with one hand and they mostly state the same train of thought they had until the end of the game. I found one character really annoying with this and kept mentioning this problem they had for the entirety of the game. Despite all this, it's an SMT game after all so fans of the series can probably already guess where this game story and format is gonna head. That said, the ending I got was actually pretty amazing in terms of the gameplay story segments while the actual cutscenes for the ending were just alright. The soundtrack really elevated these gameplay segments very hard that I almost didn't care about the story itself and was just feeling extremely cool during these segments.
II. Gameplay (Battle)
I will state that these opinions on gameplay are stemmed from my normal difficulty playthrough here and your mileage may vary on how underleveled or overleveled you are for these. I think press turn has finally been tweaked to feel more punishing and rewarding here. I found myself feeling more proactive to preventing the enemy from taking precious turns more in recent games and always tried to make the most of mine which is a rarity. The difficulty is great here and actually makes you use every tool you have to progress through, dampeners are a great example of this as they are a cheap item and can prevent specific damage from a hard boss and makes them lose turns too. Magutsuhi actions are a new mechanic introduced in this entry and I like it except the critical one being a bit too good. Don't get me wrong, most of them are pretty great but feel more niche just considering how some of the best moves scale off crits in this game and that charge doesn't 2x your damage anymore. The quality of life stuff from SMT IV: Apocalypse is here such as the Mudo/Hama change and affinities make a return here and make fusion take actual thought again. Smirk is completely gone and I honestly don't miss it either. The bosses for a majority of the game feel like an arduous ordeal for a change instead of just HP sponges that most JRPGs fall in line to. That said, some might say the HP sponge complaint can still be applied here but the bosses here can also kick your teeth here if you're complacent here and that's the important thing. Demon negotiation is changed here to be much easier to grab demons from and focus more on the actual haggling instead of just dumping your items and money and listening to every whim hoping to join you and just for them to leave. There are still ways to screw up negotiation too. I was kinda mixed on the buff and debuffs but I honestly think they're fine considering you get ma- versions soon enough and the game doesn't devolve into a spamfest considering end game buffs are really expensive on MP. On the topic of MP, the great spells are way bigger here. You really can't spam the expensive buffs unless you play into your stock of demons or use Chakra items constantly but I rather use the former here. That said, I actually ended up using my whole stock more instead of just 3 really strong demons for most of the game as my team which I like as it makes the game feel more proactive in battles. The game thankfully doesn't fall into the difficulty curve SMT IV had albeit only gets a bit easier in the end when you can start minmaxing your demons for end game moves and become more flexible than what you're accustomed to up until that point but another thing to remember is that any enemy about perform a crit magutsuhi phase is something you should really respect as they can immediately kill your team and I sorta like that, the threat of dying is always there even when you least expect it. The game makes you respect its mechanics and moves until you can block moves perfectly and mitigate damage well, you really can't be complacent at all here. Another thing I want to mention is the superboss here which isn't Demifiend here, I managed to beat them after hours of creating the perfect demons, several very long attempts with a slightly underleveled party and took me the final time of 67 minutes, over 10 of my demons were depleted of MP or dead along with me having to use all my chakra pots. This is the fight where you really can't have 3 demons only and the game hopes to have reiterated that point for you as I barely beat this on normal.
III. Gameplay (Exploration)
Probably the gameplay aspect no one expected to be as good as it is, the exploration and the gameplay away from the combat. Goes without saying that the exploration is surprisingly dense with the way the levels are designs and rewards you pretty well for doing so as well that compliments your partner in the game, the battle. The demons in the open world and random encounters being a thing also supports this design as well as you won't be bothered by random battles while trying to get to from point A to B. Speaking of the demons, they're the best they looked here and I liked Doi's designs for most of these along with personality in their idle animations that I didn't expect either honestly. In terms of level design, I'll start with talking about the visual design. It's not that varied sadly as it'll feel like a big mix of desert and destroyed buildings but I think it fits how an apocalyptic Tokyo would look. They mix it up a fair bit in the final quarter but I wish they had some more crazy ideas for a bigger chunk of the game. Now into the gameplay aspect of the level design, it's amazing. The layout of each area looks and plays into the traversal of levels like broken buildings leaning into other buildings as a way to get across. There is also an enjoyment to be had when you see a far away item on the map and then being able to plot your way around that makes exploration feel like a platformer at times. The controls are exploring are great too and the jumps always feel concise which is pretty important for getting across certain points. Throughout the game, you'll run into demonic structures called Abscesses and they're essentially "ubisoft towers" with a decent challenge in each one that rewards you with the option of getting important upgrades and some map icons to go explore and check out and gets rid of that annoying fog on your map. The side quests here are actually pretty rewarding as most of them essentially give you access to new magutsuhi skills, money, items that can be used to power you or your demons and sometimes even the demons themselves will join you and most of the time they'll be at a way higher level than you at the time of joining. Not to mention these sidequests have eliminated the need for me to grind along with predetermined mitamas spawn and the rare chance you get them in any encounter. Now I won't say these sidequests are great in any sense other than a gameplay purpose either. Most of the writing in them is charming enough but doesn't do much for me either and some of the quest design is MMO-tier in design like "kill x or collect x items" which isn't very engaging in all honesty. I'm also surprised by the Mitama spawns without the DLC as well and I was getting a fair bit of them except for Gospel items which should rightfully be rare as it is. Save points make a return to Shin Megami Tensei and I never really minded either or but either way, they're very plentiful in the areas as they are so you never lose much progress in the case you get an unlucky death or something. Another important tool for exploration is Quest Navigators and I can't stress enough that you should always have one with you, these little guys and gals will get you some rare items and even some mitama spawns too with the risk of getting ambushed by an enemy party but are honestly worth having around because sometimes you can go an hour exploring like I did and completely forgot to equip one. Relics make a return from IV and IV: Apocalypse and are still your main form of making money but much more streamlined and the action itself is relegated to just passing by a vending machine and pressing A and quickly being on your way, no long digging animation or appraising here which is great. You also have resource orbs that are scattered throughout the map that help keep your topped off but never felt important unless you were in a dungeon that relied on more linear progress to the next save point. Moving onto dungeons now, there aren't many here and I'm sad to say they're pretty lackluster here. They're really just long interconnected hallways with bad gimmicks attached to them. One gimmick is just very annoying to get around and the other dungeon gimmick is useless since you can avoid it by just fighting a strong demon instead from my experience. Also want to mention while I do appreciate they wanted to change the pace from full on exploring, dungeons also remove a lot of the elements of exploration too. You can't bring navigators in and I don't even know if mitamas spawn in there too and just feel pretty boring to run for a legit minute to the next save point with no real thought put into it.
IV. Music
Where do I even begin here? Probably the reason the whole experience was elevated into one of my favorite gaming experiences in recent time. Ryota Kozuka and Toshiki Konishi have knocked it out of the park here as they managed to create what I think is their magnum opus here. Shin Megami Tensei V's soundtrack is incredibly atmospheric, moody and even melancholic to the point some of the music disturbed me in certain parts. You got the kick ass rock music in spades here sure but they also branch out a fair bit here with some electronic music that still manages to feel dark and full of energy, dark and ambient music that sets the mood for the locations you'll visit throughout your playthrough and even some psychedelic rock in an area that sounds like a Tame Impala song going through a rough phase. The highlight of the soundtrack are the unique boss themes here that mix rock with something else that sometimes feels other-worldly and cosmic to represent that we're fighting literal gods and demons here. I want to mention the superboss theme is probably the best example of this if you ever attempt it, the track is ethereal and almost incredibly depressing that it feels like I'm listening to something from a horror game soundtrack. I lastly do want to preface that music is probably the most subjective thing here as people like different genres and all that but I think for genres, I can't find any other genre that would really match how the world is and plays.
Addendum: Switch Problems
As much as I really enjoyed this game, the game from a technical standpoint isn't perfect or even great in a sense. The game itself runs at barely 30 fps probably around a constant high 20s but it never really affected me that much in the exploration aspect to me at least. The biggest thing I can probably say that will affect how you play is menu lag at times during my playthrough. As this is a gameplay centric experience in a JRPG, menu lag can be very bad for your game but I didn't experience it often or even at all but it did happen sometimes. The game kept up with my pace of "menuing" here if that is a term. The resolution itself is pretty blurry but I feel that's par for the course of huge JRPGs on the Switch these days. I think the worst performance problem I've experience is the final dungeon that dropped my frames very hard a decent chunk of the time. Framerate of the dungeon is all over the place with sometimes it being like in the high 10s which is noticeable and what's worse is that some of the cutscenes in here can also drop frames hard just as bad. I hope they optimize that specific area of the game at least because that's really the only time I felt like "yeah this is pretty bad". I hope this game gets ported just for the fact that I think more people should play this game but I'm getting ahead of myself and I think people should have the choice of being able to play it on any console they want although I tend to prefer JRPGs on Switch personally. With that in mind, these performance hiccups never hampered my experience to the point I was constantly thinking about them until the final dungeon but that quickly went away as it did and I'd probably be complaining more if my "menuing" was laggy to the point that it detracted from the fast gameplay a bit for me considering you're gonna be doing it a lot here.
V. Conclusion
Shin Megami Tensei V is the antithesis of the series going forward and JRPGs in general with a more gameplay centric direction with a surprisingly solid exploration element and an incredibly ethereal and moody soundtrack that immersed me for the week I escaped from the real world. I do also want to say that this isn't a JRPG for everyone and not even for some JRPG fans either, it's a different game in structure and I'm glad it followed through with that. Traversing through Da'at felt like a journey and I can say I'm done with that journey at least for right now. The story and characters aren't gonna win any awards but I'll be blunt here: I don't really care. The rest of the game picked up the slack easily and became one of my favorite JRPGs and Megaten games. I lost myself playing this game and I haven't lost myself in the medium in years like that and reminds me of the old times that a new game would come out during a cold autumn and I'd just lose myself on it as a teenager. I'm glad I managed to relive that for what might hopefully not be my last time.
See you in the new reincarnation of the goddess.
2021
Probably one of the greatest co-op experiences I've had the pleasure of having, It Takes Two manages to provide everything that makes something of this genre and in a co-op setting and flourishes from it. It's surprising a game like this technically came from EA with how its financial structure only promotes you pay for one copy of the game to play with any one of your friends in the world which I think is an excellent move not to mention this game didn't even launch full price and definitely deserves the price and then some compared to other offerings of a higher price.
Compared to Josef Fares' previous efforts, It Takes Two takes a radically different change to an action-adventure 3D platformer that feels great to play as and looks just as well. The level design is excellent and puts some of the most creative 3D platformer levels a run for their money. You'd have some creative uses of using everything you'd have in your traditional home as the basis for some really fun levels and mechanics for each of these levels that work extremely well with your partner and for the level itself. Each level, you and your partner would get a tool that work in tandem with each to complete platforming puzzles that are simple yet clever most of the time. The good thing about these mechanics and the gameplay flow in general is that each tool or mechanic never really overstays their welcome and before you get tired with one, you'd be introduced to completely new mechanics or tools that keeps the whole playthrough pretty fresh. As for the co-op experience itself, it's great to say the least. You're constantly working together and you can't go far or at all without your partner, that said I really do recommend playing this with someone next to you in real life or online via a voice call as you might need to coordinate for some puzzles. In addition, spread throughout the levels are competitive minigames that you can play against your partner for a quick yet fun distraction that are pretty varied as well including an actual playable version of chess. The soundtrack matches the distinct and varied levels and do a pretty great job of fitting each level with an even more unique feel such as a calm and luscious tune during a snow village or some 80's synth during a level based around music instruments and equipment in your house.
Only a few negative things I can really say here with one being how this game handles internet connections and the story in some sense. It does not handle desync really well as it led to some weird moments where the split-screen wasn't accurate for one of us and throwing us off for a good while. This would also lead to HUD glitches as well which didn't happen as often but did happen right before and after a long boss fight so we had to spend more time doing that than we wanted to. The story is alright but it did have an ending I sort of wish was a bit more impactful despite all the characters went through.
It's really had to find a good game you can just play with someone and just have a fun time that isn't just some PVP, MMO, or even PVE from a sense. I do think these games are alright but It Takes Two is a great pace changer from what it means to playing with your friend. I felt like I went on a journey with my friend and we both had a blast and it's hard to get that these days.
Special thanks to kiyoshi of backloggd for essentially being my "wife" throughout this playthrough and the general idea for playing this game. You may have gotten the cool roles throughout the game but I got to be the tomato from Veggie Tales so yeah the game is pretty good if you couldn't tell already.
Compared to Josef Fares' previous efforts, It Takes Two takes a radically different change to an action-adventure 3D platformer that feels great to play as and looks just as well. The level design is excellent and puts some of the most creative 3D platformer levels a run for their money. You'd have some creative uses of using everything you'd have in your traditional home as the basis for some really fun levels and mechanics for each of these levels that work extremely well with your partner and for the level itself. Each level, you and your partner would get a tool that work in tandem with each to complete platforming puzzles that are simple yet clever most of the time. The good thing about these mechanics and the gameplay flow in general is that each tool or mechanic never really overstays their welcome and before you get tired with one, you'd be introduced to completely new mechanics or tools that keeps the whole playthrough pretty fresh. As for the co-op experience itself, it's great to say the least. You're constantly working together and you can't go far or at all without your partner, that said I really do recommend playing this with someone next to you in real life or online via a voice call as you might need to coordinate for some puzzles. In addition, spread throughout the levels are competitive minigames that you can play against your partner for a quick yet fun distraction that are pretty varied as well including an actual playable version of chess. The soundtrack matches the distinct and varied levels and do a pretty great job of fitting each level with an even more unique feel such as a calm and luscious tune during a snow village or some 80's synth during a level based around music instruments and equipment in your house.
Only a few negative things I can really say here with one being how this game handles internet connections and the story in some sense. It does not handle desync really well as it led to some weird moments where the split-screen wasn't accurate for one of us and throwing us off for a good while. This would also lead to HUD glitches as well which didn't happen as often but did happen right before and after a long boss fight so we had to spend more time doing that than we wanted to. The story is alright but it did have an ending I sort of wish was a bit more impactful despite all the characters went through.
It's really had to find a good game you can just play with someone and just have a fun time that isn't just some PVP, MMO, or even PVE from a sense. I do think these games are alright but It Takes Two is a great pace changer from what it means to playing with your friend. I felt like I went on a journey with my friend and we both had a blast and it's hard to get that these days.
Special thanks to kiyoshi of backloggd for essentially being my "wife" throughout this playthrough and the general idea for playing this game. You may have gotten the cool roles throughout the game but I got to be the tomato from Veggie Tales so yeah the game is pretty good if you couldn't tell already.
2003
One button, two perspectives, a wrong direction
Coming into Devil May Cry 2 after just beating the first game, I knew what to expect and somehow also didn't. I knew the game is notorious for being the worst Devil May Cry game by a long mile but I also felt like passionate fans might have exaggerated the details of how awful this game is. It feels like such a far cry from the first game which was sort of rough around the edges already and actually remove most of what made the first game a more solid experience.
Despite the game overall being boring and extremely tedious to play, there are a tiny amount of things this game brings that is just "nice" to have. Switching firearms with the L2 button is nice considering the button was used for the map in the last game and not really needed. There are different animations and moves for shooting in general which is nice but also a blessing and a curse for this game specifically. The camera seems to be improved somewhat here too. The devil trigger customization is a nice touch but in all honestly, I couldn't really care too much for it albeit that it's an improvement to customize in general. The music is okay when you can actually hear it considering the mixing here is awful and drowns out from the sound effects 90% of the time.
Now despite the game actually making some improvements from 1 albeit barely, the game feels downgraded in almost every aspect. Going into gameplay, the most common complaint is how over tuned the guns are and I'm sad to report that you can actually just beat the entire game with just your base pistols. This makes the game extremely easy to play and boring to get through and if you decide that you want to use your sword and just try to ignore the guns, the game is against you in that front too considering a good chunk of the bosses are in the air 80% of the time to the point you're forced to use guns here. To make matters worse, sword slashes here are not as fluid as the first game and feel extremely clunky to pull off. You could argue that the slower slashes could add weight into each slash but it doesn't really fit into an action game that relies on being fast and varied in your actions. The RE influenced level design and interactions are gone here as each level is linear with you visiting various locations instead of the central location of Mallet Island in the first game. That said, the overall visual level design is worse here as you get some generic city, village and oil rig levels with the final few missions being the most creative with its level design. I failed to mention the story and characters in my first Devil May Cry review but I wanted to add that despite the game being initially sparse in story, the ending of the first game was pretty good and added some good character development to the main characters. For Devil May Cry 2, the story and Lucia are pretty forgettable with the main objective is just to kill one bad guy and that's pretty much it, Dante doesn't really develop in this title and it comes across as just another day. I wouldn't have mind this as much if the game was actually fun to play but considering how much of this game feels like it doesn't even matter just makes the overall experience feel extremely disappointing and to the point that I did feel like I wasted my time.
I also wanted to mention that for this review, I did not play Lucia's disc and only played Dante's to completion and from what I've heard, it doesn't really save the game that much. Devil May Cry 2 is a disappointing sequel that removed some of the unique charm that the first game had and felt like it was made by a completely different team. A very tedious and boring game that somehow manages to feel extremely unimportant to the point that the 3 hours I put into this game didn't even matter. The game is short enough if you have some morbid curiosity with this game or feeling like a completionist and want to experience every single DMC game like what I'm doing but just keep in mind what you're in for here. This is not a fun experience.
Coming into Devil May Cry 2 after just beating the first game, I knew what to expect and somehow also didn't. I knew the game is notorious for being the worst Devil May Cry game by a long mile but I also felt like passionate fans might have exaggerated the details of how awful this game is. It feels like such a far cry from the first game which was sort of rough around the edges already and actually remove most of what made the first game a more solid experience.
Despite the game overall being boring and extremely tedious to play, there are a tiny amount of things this game brings that is just "nice" to have. Switching firearms with the L2 button is nice considering the button was used for the map in the last game and not really needed. There are different animations and moves for shooting in general which is nice but also a blessing and a curse for this game specifically. The camera seems to be improved somewhat here too. The devil trigger customization is a nice touch but in all honestly, I couldn't really care too much for it albeit that it's an improvement to customize in general. The music is okay when you can actually hear it considering the mixing here is awful and drowns out from the sound effects 90% of the time.
Now despite the game actually making some improvements from 1 albeit barely, the game feels downgraded in almost every aspect. Going into gameplay, the most common complaint is how over tuned the guns are and I'm sad to report that you can actually just beat the entire game with just your base pistols. This makes the game extremely easy to play and boring to get through and if you decide that you want to use your sword and just try to ignore the guns, the game is against you in that front too considering a good chunk of the bosses are in the air 80% of the time to the point you're forced to use guns here. To make matters worse, sword slashes here are not as fluid as the first game and feel extremely clunky to pull off. You could argue that the slower slashes could add weight into each slash but it doesn't really fit into an action game that relies on being fast and varied in your actions. The RE influenced level design and interactions are gone here as each level is linear with you visiting various locations instead of the central location of Mallet Island in the first game. That said, the overall visual level design is worse here as you get some generic city, village and oil rig levels with the final few missions being the most creative with its level design. I failed to mention the story and characters in my first Devil May Cry review but I wanted to add that despite the game being initially sparse in story, the ending of the first game was pretty good and added some good character development to the main characters. For Devil May Cry 2, the story and Lucia are pretty forgettable with the main objective is just to kill one bad guy and that's pretty much it, Dante doesn't really develop in this title and it comes across as just another day. I wouldn't have mind this as much if the game was actually fun to play but considering how much of this game feels like it doesn't even matter just makes the overall experience feel extremely disappointing and to the point that I did feel like I wasted my time.
I also wanted to mention that for this review, I did not play Lucia's disc and only played Dante's to completion and from what I've heard, it doesn't really save the game that much. Devil May Cry 2 is a disappointing sequel that removed some of the unique charm that the first game had and felt like it was made by a completely different team. A very tedious and boring game that somehow manages to feel extremely unimportant to the point that the 3 hours I put into this game didn't even matter. The game is short enough if you have some morbid curiosity with this game or feeling like a completionist and want to experience every single DMC game like what I'm doing but just keep in mind what you're in for here. This is not a fun experience.
2001
New era of demon hunting action
Devil May Cry wasn't always going to be considered its own series as the development origins of the first project of that this was going to be Resident Evil 4 and you can easily tell with the RE-like puzzles and format of wandering around an interconnected building. The visual design also matches this assessment as well but as its own project, Devil May Cry 1 makes a decent first step into what would become an iconic series during the last 2 decades albeit with some rough and weird gameplay design decisions that make this experience a bit more frustrating that it really should be.
The meat of the game here is how the combat plays out and a great chunk of the time, it plays pretty well for their first foray. Sword attacks feel great to land, you can do basic combos in the air and you can use your various guns during attacks to spice things up a little. There are 3 main melee weapons but you'll really end up using 2 during a majority of the game due to them having abilities tied to them which consists of the sword with fast, long reach with an electrical element tied to it and the gauntlets that let you use your hand to hand combat with some flashy moves and consisting of a fire element. You also have a default sword but you don't really use it due to no abilities on it until a certain part of the game. That said, the gameplay itself is great which is the most important facet of an action game albeit some problems I'll go into the next section. The visual level design is amazing and fits into what could've really been an RE spinoff with how the overall flow of gameplay is including examining objects to figure out some easy puzzles. The soundtrack is also pretty great here with some high octane club music when fighting and some eerie ambient music including an interesting piece where you can hear remnants of a ballroom as if it was a paranormal instance. Boss fights are overall good here with some being a bit too difficult just because of what I feel is the biggest thing that annoyed me about this game: the camera.
The biggest detriment to this game is how clunky a lot of the game can be at times in terms of the flow of gameplay at times and just the camera literally being one of the hardest enemies of the game itself. For an example, during one of the final fights of the game where you fight a repeat boss of sorts the camera legit kept getting me killed because of how dodging and how it changes and can screw up your movement due to the movement being relative to the camera's position. Don't be surprised if this camera is what gets you killed 50% of the time as this game is fairly difficult and almost teetering on difficult in the beginning unless you understand patterns and game mechanics which you should be doing anyway as one of the early fights will be a wake up call that you can't get away with just button mashing which isn't a flaw honestly but it might detract some people experience with the game. The game sorta feels like at times it throws some stuff on the wall like underwater combat segments and RE puzzles that albeit sorta fit with the game does sometimes take away the pacing of the game in terms of how an action game should be.
Devil May Cry sorta felt like it has an internal identity crisis during development and I mean despite it was going to be RE4, I don't really blame the devs here. The game is honestly pretty enjoyable despite that but there's still some weird and odd things that will probably make it feel a bit more unique into the other entries where it solidified that it knows what it wants to be at that point.
Devil May Cry wasn't always going to be considered its own series as the development origins of the first project of that this was going to be Resident Evil 4 and you can easily tell with the RE-like puzzles and format of wandering around an interconnected building. The visual design also matches this assessment as well but as its own project, Devil May Cry 1 makes a decent first step into what would become an iconic series during the last 2 decades albeit with some rough and weird gameplay design decisions that make this experience a bit more frustrating that it really should be.
The meat of the game here is how the combat plays out and a great chunk of the time, it plays pretty well for their first foray. Sword attacks feel great to land, you can do basic combos in the air and you can use your various guns during attacks to spice things up a little. There are 3 main melee weapons but you'll really end up using 2 during a majority of the game due to them having abilities tied to them which consists of the sword with fast, long reach with an electrical element tied to it and the gauntlets that let you use your hand to hand combat with some flashy moves and consisting of a fire element. You also have a default sword but you don't really use it due to no abilities on it until a certain part of the game. That said, the gameplay itself is great which is the most important facet of an action game albeit some problems I'll go into the next section. The visual level design is amazing and fits into what could've really been an RE spinoff with how the overall flow of gameplay is including examining objects to figure out some easy puzzles. The soundtrack is also pretty great here with some high octane club music when fighting and some eerie ambient music including an interesting piece where you can hear remnants of a ballroom as if it was a paranormal instance. Boss fights are overall good here with some being a bit too difficult just because of what I feel is the biggest thing that annoyed me about this game: the camera.
The biggest detriment to this game is how clunky a lot of the game can be at times in terms of the flow of gameplay at times and just the camera literally being one of the hardest enemies of the game itself. For an example, during one of the final fights of the game where you fight a repeat boss of sorts the camera legit kept getting me killed because of how dodging and how it changes and can screw up your movement due to the movement being relative to the camera's position. Don't be surprised if this camera is what gets you killed 50% of the time as this game is fairly difficult and almost teetering on difficult in the beginning unless you understand patterns and game mechanics which you should be doing anyway as one of the early fights will be a wake up call that you can't get away with just button mashing which isn't a flaw honestly but it might detract some people experience with the game. The game sorta feels like at times it throws some stuff on the wall like underwater combat segments and RE puzzles that albeit sorta fit with the game does sometimes take away the pacing of the game in terms of how an action game should be.
Devil May Cry sorta felt like it has an internal identity crisis during development and I mean despite it was going to be RE4, I don't really blame the devs here. The game is honestly pretty enjoyable despite that but there's still some weird and odd things that will probably make it feel a bit more unique into the other entries where it solidified that it knows what it wants to be at that point.
Monolith Soft is known for creating some of the most narratively driven and surprisingly mature JRPGs with the Xenoblade series and Xenogears being fairly ahead of its time in overall scope of the story it was trying to tell. Unfortunately in terms of Xenogears, they never really were given the time and scope they wanted and the result was a rushed 2nd disc but still managing to win people over with the world building, music and the story and characters that didn't pull any punches. Xenosaga Episode 1 marks the beginning of Tetsuya Takahashi creating Monolith Soft after disagreements with Squaresoft (at the time) and despite managing to create the decent narrative and cast the studio is known for today, Episode 1 is a rough package to deal with most of the time.
//Story and Characters
Episode 1 has the unfortunate fate of first game in general for the newly formed Monolith Soft and thus there was a lot of world building that had to be down in unfortunate ways. The story itself is actually decent but the biggest problem with it was how it was paced. You will likely a great amount of time long cutscenes most of the time here and for the first 5 hours, it'll be a whopping 75% cutscene ratio and running around hallways back and forth and for the first half of the game, nothing really grand happens other than being introduced to the main cast of characters and fleshing them out a little bit. The cutscenes themselves need a bit of work as the way they're presented just felt really boring to me to the point that I actually fell asleep watching them for what felt like a majority of my time that day playing the game. I digress though as I will say the game does a good job of building up the world nonetheless and leaving things open for the main cast later down the line which is probably intended considering the scope of their games are pretty big as it is. The main cast is actually pretty great with each character having a great amount of depth to them. The english dub does an okay job here and it never really felt like the reason why the cutscenes felt boring sometimes as it is. I just wish the game didn't overload the player initially with cutscenes as it can make the first few hours a huge barrier of entry for some people just wanting to get into the game.
//Gameplay
The overall gameplay flow consist of a few hubs, dungeons that more act like linear hallways until the final two dungeons of the game, some side quests and activities to do and then the huge plethora of cutscenes during the main story. The battle system itself is very reminiscent of Xenogears itself with the "deathblow" system consisting of using the face buttons on your controller to dictate which action the player does and there are specific combinations that do different actions for each playable character. There are some changes and additions Xenosaga does to this battle system which include the way AP works, the boost system, turn order, the various systems themselves into customizing each character with skills from accessories, sharing their ether spells with one another and improving their special attacks called "Tech Attacks". I think the additions are overall good as they make the game a bit more challenging especially the later boss battles where you have to use every facet of the battle system to come out on top, that said I have my personal grievances with the "deathblow" system in general. I think the novelty of it in Xenogears wore off for me after 30 hours in this game and the novelty of it here wore off even faster considering how I felt that it made every random fight here drag on for way longer than it should. A bittersweet thing is that you eventually get a party member that is extremely strong and paired with a specific accessory (which I didn't get because it required more time in the casino) would essentially break the game in terms of gameplay so there's that. The side activities in the world consist of some side quests and some interesting minigames like going into a casino or operating a drill which I admit I did enjoy the few times I got around to them.
//Music
The overall presentation of music here is a mixed bag but in the weirdest way you can think of. The music itself here is actually pretty good and matches the aesthetic and world that you're in. The main problem is the way the music works when you're actually playing the game. It'll be pretty common that you'll be running around with no music at all and somehow the cutscenes would have most of the music you'll hear in this game. The game only has two battle themes with one of them you'll hear 99% of the time including the bosses themselves and one of them is reserved for the final boss. Granted, these tracks are pretty great but I do wish bosses themselves had a unique track to differentiate the enemies in a sense.
//Art Design
Probably the most subjective thing to discuss since art is different for everyone but I think the overall aesthetic and the art design is good. It reminds me of an late 2000's anime based around in space with how the characters look. The interiors themselves going through the ships look great honestly and some of the dungeons have some interesting interiors themselves too. In terms of the designs, this is probably an early anime aesthetic as it can get but it matches with the whole way the game is presented including the e-mail app feeling something from a late 90's SEGA game (probably Space Channel 5 honestly).
I think Xenosaga Episode 1 had some great ideas here but the execution feels really rough as it is, I didn't expect much considering it's the first game of a trilogy and those games tend to be the most rough ones even though there are some exceptions. The huge cutscene ratio and presentation can easily put some people off but it does have great characters and a huge overarching story that spans 3 games which will be a herculean task if the first game doesn't entrance you and it barely did here for me. It's not a bad game honestly but I can't really tell myself it was good when I got insanely bored during some of the story segments here so just know what to expect here. I expected an average space JRPG and that's really what I got.
//Story and Characters
Episode 1 has the unfortunate fate of first game in general for the newly formed Monolith Soft and thus there was a lot of world building that had to be down in unfortunate ways. The story itself is actually decent but the biggest problem with it was how it was paced. You will likely a great amount of time long cutscenes most of the time here and for the first 5 hours, it'll be a whopping 75% cutscene ratio and running around hallways back and forth and for the first half of the game, nothing really grand happens other than being introduced to the main cast of characters and fleshing them out a little bit. The cutscenes themselves need a bit of work as the way they're presented just felt really boring to me to the point that I actually fell asleep watching them for what felt like a majority of my time that day playing the game. I digress though as I will say the game does a good job of building up the world nonetheless and leaving things open for the main cast later down the line which is probably intended considering the scope of their games are pretty big as it is. The main cast is actually pretty great with each character having a great amount of depth to them. The english dub does an okay job here and it never really felt like the reason why the cutscenes felt boring sometimes as it is. I just wish the game didn't overload the player initially with cutscenes as it can make the first few hours a huge barrier of entry for some people just wanting to get into the game.
//Gameplay
The overall gameplay flow consist of a few hubs, dungeons that more act like linear hallways until the final two dungeons of the game, some side quests and activities to do and then the huge plethora of cutscenes during the main story. The battle system itself is very reminiscent of Xenogears itself with the "deathblow" system consisting of using the face buttons on your controller to dictate which action the player does and there are specific combinations that do different actions for each playable character. There are some changes and additions Xenosaga does to this battle system which include the way AP works, the boost system, turn order, the various systems themselves into customizing each character with skills from accessories, sharing their ether spells with one another and improving their special attacks called "Tech Attacks". I think the additions are overall good as they make the game a bit more challenging especially the later boss battles where you have to use every facet of the battle system to come out on top, that said I have my personal grievances with the "deathblow" system in general. I think the novelty of it in Xenogears wore off for me after 30 hours in this game and the novelty of it here wore off even faster considering how I felt that it made every random fight here drag on for way longer than it should. A bittersweet thing is that you eventually get a party member that is extremely strong and paired with a specific accessory (which I didn't get because it required more time in the casino) would essentially break the game in terms of gameplay so there's that. The side activities in the world consist of some side quests and some interesting minigames like going into a casino or operating a drill which I admit I did enjoy the few times I got around to them.
//Music
The overall presentation of music here is a mixed bag but in the weirdest way you can think of. The music itself here is actually pretty good and matches the aesthetic and world that you're in. The main problem is the way the music works when you're actually playing the game. It'll be pretty common that you'll be running around with no music at all and somehow the cutscenes would have most of the music you'll hear in this game. The game only has two battle themes with one of them you'll hear 99% of the time including the bosses themselves and one of them is reserved for the final boss. Granted, these tracks are pretty great but I do wish bosses themselves had a unique track to differentiate the enemies in a sense.
//Art Design
Probably the most subjective thing to discuss since art is different for everyone but I think the overall aesthetic and the art design is good. It reminds me of an late 2000's anime based around in space with how the characters look. The interiors themselves going through the ships look great honestly and some of the dungeons have some interesting interiors themselves too. In terms of the designs, this is probably an early anime aesthetic as it can get but it matches with the whole way the game is presented including the e-mail app feeling something from a late 90's SEGA game (probably Space Channel 5 honestly).
I think Xenosaga Episode 1 had some great ideas here but the execution feels really rough as it is, I didn't expect much considering it's the first game of a trilogy and those games tend to be the most rough ones even though there are some exceptions. The huge cutscene ratio and presentation can easily put some people off but it does have great characters and a huge overarching story that spans 3 games which will be a herculean task if the first game doesn't entrance you and it barely did here for me. It's not a bad game honestly but I can't really tell myself it was good when I got insanely bored during some of the story segments here so just know what to expect here. I expected an average space JRPG and that's really what I got.
2021
A triumphant return for our favorite bounty hunter
In 2021, the year of long overdue sequels we had a lot of sequels that were over a decade between titles. Psychonauts 2 being 16 years apart from the first title, NEO: The World Ends with You being 14 years apart, No More Heroes 3 being 11 years apart from the second title (though you can argue that TSA also fulfilled the fan's urges during the time here for a full fledged numbered title from Suda51 here) and each one of them as surprisingly delivered considering the climate of bringing back these series and hoping some of the magic is still there for what people want after so long. Metroid Dread is almost a whopping 19 years apart from Fusion which was Metroid 4 and probably the game people have the most eyes on. A lot of eyes were on seeing if MercurySteam can do the series justice and after what seems like a decent showing for Samus Returns, it seems like they learned a lot from the last 4 years and delivered a title that has lived up to the title that is Metroid Dread.
Samus has never felt this flexible and smooth bringing her into the 2.5D space with several options that make traversing through ZDR a much more seamless experience. The addition of a slide feels like a small addition but it actually brings a lot to how Samus interacts with the world and reduces the downtime of going into Morph Ball for a small space that isn't long. The traditional tools of the trade are here such as Space Jump and Speed Boosting but there are also some new tools that bring even more movement options for Samus and bring a much more fluid combat flow with Flash Shift that make dodging attack much more manageable. The bosses in Dread are honestly the most fun I've had in Metroid bosses period. Each boss truly feels like an ordeal and hit pretty hard in a Normal playthrough but the best part is that they are never bullshit considering "No attack is unavoidable shows up as a tool tip during loading after you die to a boss and that couldn't be even more true. Each attempt never felt long and you always feel like you make progress during each attempt to the point sometimes you might be untouchable for a while until you finally beat a difficult boss. There are also specific moments that reward you with a action cutscene of Samus doing some action movie stunts and you can fire missiles/beam shots during this that actually feels rewarding and almost a power fantasy with how flashy and cool these cutscenes make her look. Level design is surprisingly great here since it feels like you're never stuck while still giving you the feeling that you're actually exploring things at your own pace. It's sort of a mix between Fusion being extremely linear to the point of locking doors in specific areas for no reason and Zero Mission where the game is pretty open but you sort of have a clear and cut case on what to do here. In Dread, you will give a hint on what to do next but you won't get any indicator on the map showing you specifically where to go which feels like essentially "go do this and figure out the rest yourself" feeling. The backgrounds themselves are actually full of detail such as animals scurrying about, specific machinery working in the back, detailed environment of ruins in a specific area and even what looks like different pathways that go into the background itself. I feel like the atmosphere is really understated in this game, I personally think Fusion and Super Metroid had it better, credit where credit is due here as there is a lot of moments that add what the game is named after being "Dread". The EMMI sections do a wonderful job of this from an audiovisual standpoint as the muted black and white, the lighting going on and off with various beeps coming from the machines and the EMMI itself. While the initial difficulty of these EMMIs progressing do get harder as they each get a unique tool, if you're good with platforming and have really great reflexes then the "Dread" will eventually get lost on you but fortunately these segments never last long and aren't really punishing as a death will just put you back right before entering the zone. The music is alright here but there are some pretty good mood setting themes such as each visit to the Network Station playing a electronical yet mysterious tune or the Save Station sounding omnious with the background of two chozos in the background. The puzzles themselves for gathering the upgrades are mostly just using a resource to get an upgrade while there are some elaborate puzzles that give you a feeling of satisfaction of pulling it off considering it's a combination of reaction, knowledge about the abilities you have and technique to do it properly.
There are some questionable decisions that I came to think of that I felt like the game added a few too many abilities and didn't put them out properly. You essentially get weaker versions of two iconic abilities you don't get until the end of the game and you rarely really use them since they essentially get phased out pretty quickly. The final item you get sort of feels like a waste considering you don't really use them other than to backtrack for 100% and gathering what feels like pointless upgrades considering you essentially get them at the end of the game. A nitpick is that when you get a specific power up for defeating EMMIs, the whole process is pretty repetitive despite only doing it a few times the whole playthrough and never really changes other than one instance where you have to run and make the perfect amount of space to pull off the damage you needed.
After playing through several games of the series this year (Metroid, Super Metroid, Fusion, Zero Mission in that order), I can understand why fans wanted a new game for so long. A series that created "Metroidvania" along with Castlevania unfortunately being in the background for the last 2 decades. The previous games have made me interested in the series and Metroid Dread has now made me a fan and excited to see what is to come next.
See you next mission, Lady.
In 2021, the year of long overdue sequels we had a lot of sequels that were over a decade between titles. Psychonauts 2 being 16 years apart from the first title, NEO: The World Ends with You being 14 years apart, No More Heroes 3 being 11 years apart from the second title (though you can argue that TSA also fulfilled the fan's urges during the time here for a full fledged numbered title from Suda51 here) and each one of them as surprisingly delivered considering the climate of bringing back these series and hoping some of the magic is still there for what people want after so long. Metroid Dread is almost a whopping 19 years apart from Fusion which was Metroid 4 and probably the game people have the most eyes on. A lot of eyes were on seeing if MercurySteam can do the series justice and after what seems like a decent showing for Samus Returns, it seems like they learned a lot from the last 4 years and delivered a title that has lived up to the title that is Metroid Dread.
Samus has never felt this flexible and smooth bringing her into the 2.5D space with several options that make traversing through ZDR a much more seamless experience. The addition of a slide feels like a small addition but it actually brings a lot to how Samus interacts with the world and reduces the downtime of going into Morph Ball for a small space that isn't long. The traditional tools of the trade are here such as Space Jump and Speed Boosting but there are also some new tools that bring even more movement options for Samus and bring a much more fluid combat flow with Flash Shift that make dodging attack much more manageable. The bosses in Dread are honestly the most fun I've had in Metroid bosses period. Each boss truly feels like an ordeal and hit pretty hard in a Normal playthrough but the best part is that they are never bullshit considering "No attack is unavoidable shows up as a tool tip during loading after you die to a boss and that couldn't be even more true. Each attempt never felt long and you always feel like you make progress during each attempt to the point sometimes you might be untouchable for a while until you finally beat a difficult boss. There are also specific moments that reward you with a action cutscene of Samus doing some action movie stunts and you can fire missiles/beam shots during this that actually feels rewarding and almost a power fantasy with how flashy and cool these cutscenes make her look. Level design is surprisingly great here since it feels like you're never stuck while still giving you the feeling that you're actually exploring things at your own pace. It's sort of a mix between Fusion being extremely linear to the point of locking doors in specific areas for no reason and Zero Mission where the game is pretty open but you sort of have a clear and cut case on what to do here. In Dread, you will give a hint on what to do next but you won't get any indicator on the map showing you specifically where to go which feels like essentially "go do this and figure out the rest yourself" feeling. The backgrounds themselves are actually full of detail such as animals scurrying about, specific machinery working in the back, detailed environment of ruins in a specific area and even what looks like different pathways that go into the background itself. I feel like the atmosphere is really understated in this game, I personally think Fusion and Super Metroid had it better, credit where credit is due here as there is a lot of moments that add what the game is named after being "Dread". The EMMI sections do a wonderful job of this from an audiovisual standpoint as the muted black and white, the lighting going on and off with various beeps coming from the machines and the EMMI itself. While the initial difficulty of these EMMIs progressing do get harder as they each get a unique tool, if you're good with platforming and have really great reflexes then the "Dread" will eventually get lost on you but fortunately these segments never last long and aren't really punishing as a death will just put you back right before entering the zone. The music is alright here but there are some pretty good mood setting themes such as each visit to the Network Station playing a electronical yet mysterious tune or the Save Station sounding omnious with the background of two chozos in the background. The puzzles themselves for gathering the upgrades are mostly just using a resource to get an upgrade while there are some elaborate puzzles that give you a feeling of satisfaction of pulling it off considering it's a combination of reaction, knowledge about the abilities you have and technique to do it properly.
There are some questionable decisions that I came to think of that I felt like the game added a few too many abilities and didn't put them out properly. You essentially get weaker versions of two iconic abilities you don't get until the end of the game and you rarely really use them since they essentially get phased out pretty quickly. The final item you get sort of feels like a waste considering you don't really use them other than to backtrack for 100% and gathering what feels like pointless upgrades considering you essentially get them at the end of the game. A nitpick is that when you get a specific power up for defeating EMMIs, the whole process is pretty repetitive despite only doing it a few times the whole playthrough and never really changes other than one instance where you have to run and make the perfect amount of space to pull off the damage you needed.
After playing through several games of the series this year (Metroid, Super Metroid, Fusion, Zero Mission in that order), I can understand why fans wanted a new game for so long. A series that created "Metroidvania" along with Castlevania unfortunately being in the background for the last 2 decades. The previous games have made me interested in the series and Metroid Dread has now made me a fan and excited to see what is to come next.
See you next mission, Lady.
2020
The cheese and 80's action movies brings you into a violent side scroller
Huntdown manages to be something of a love letter to old cheesy action flicks and cyberpunk that really brings a lot of humor and violence to the table and manages to be a chaotic and surprisingly difficult good time.
The overall pixel art is amazing here and provides a surprisingly amount of interactivity with the environment from moving parts in the background to the signs in game spinning when you shoot at them and producing a detail based on your own interactions. Well there isn't much of a story here, the premise and backdrop for going on these "bounty hunts" are good enough with some campy voice acting during boss encounters that really bring the cheese action movie vibes this game is going for. The gameplay is pretty good but definitely has a curve to fully utilize the cover system since especially in a co-op experience where so much can happen that it can be hard to keep track of everything at once. Weapon variety is excellent here with new weapons in almost every level that never made the gameplay itself feel stale. Bosses were surprisingly difficult on normal difficulty but it never took an egregious long time to beat but that might be account to the negatives I have with the game itself. Music and sound design is pretty great here with weapons sounding great, the soundtrack matching the atmosphere of the experience and the sound of enemies dying in gratuitous ways at times.
Huntdown does a lot right but I feel like it actually hampers the co-op experience a bit which is honestly a huge shame. As of the writing of this review, there is no official online co-op experience here which required me and my friend to use the Remote Play Together feature on Steam to be able to play the game together which sadly does provide some input lag and the inability for someone to get achievements if they beat the game with said friend. Another thing I wish that wasn't here is friendly fire during co-op considering all the carnage that happens on screen that it actually is hard to keep track of it all. Sadly all of these negatives stem from trying to have a co-op experience with a friend far away and I can imagine this still being the preferred way to go during these times.
Huntdown is honestly a really cool game on paper and in motion but I really wish it did some things that didn't hamper the co-op experience a fair bit here. It was a great experience just playing through a comedic cyberpunk action film together and that's what you really get here nonetheless.
Huge shoutout to ExSoldier on backloggd for being my co-op partner for this and the general idea for playing this game. Not to mention putting up with the bad input lag I was getting that got us killed a few times.
Huntdown manages to be something of a love letter to old cheesy action flicks and cyberpunk that really brings a lot of humor and violence to the table and manages to be a chaotic and surprisingly difficult good time.
The overall pixel art is amazing here and provides a surprisingly amount of interactivity with the environment from moving parts in the background to the signs in game spinning when you shoot at them and producing a detail based on your own interactions. Well there isn't much of a story here, the premise and backdrop for going on these "bounty hunts" are good enough with some campy voice acting during boss encounters that really bring the cheese action movie vibes this game is going for. The gameplay is pretty good but definitely has a curve to fully utilize the cover system since especially in a co-op experience where so much can happen that it can be hard to keep track of everything at once. Weapon variety is excellent here with new weapons in almost every level that never made the gameplay itself feel stale. Bosses were surprisingly difficult on normal difficulty but it never took an egregious long time to beat but that might be account to the negatives I have with the game itself. Music and sound design is pretty great here with weapons sounding great, the soundtrack matching the atmosphere of the experience and the sound of enemies dying in gratuitous ways at times.
Huntdown does a lot right but I feel like it actually hampers the co-op experience a bit which is honestly a huge shame. As of the writing of this review, there is no official online co-op experience here which required me and my friend to use the Remote Play Together feature on Steam to be able to play the game together which sadly does provide some input lag and the inability for someone to get achievements if they beat the game with said friend. Another thing I wish that wasn't here is friendly fire during co-op considering all the carnage that happens on screen that it actually is hard to keep track of it all. Sadly all of these negatives stem from trying to have a co-op experience with a friend far away and I can imagine this still being the preferred way to go during these times.
Huntdown is honestly a really cool game on paper and in motion but I really wish it did some things that didn't hamper the co-op experience a fair bit here. It was a great experience just playing through a comedic cyberpunk action film together and that's what you really get here nonetheless.
Huge shoutout to ExSoldier on backloggd for being my co-op partner for this and the general idea for playing this game. Not to mention putting up with the bad input lag I was getting that got us killed a few times.
2001
Always searching, looking for her
Silent Hill 2 might be one of the few games that has mentally screwed me up for months at a time. The first time I played it was a few days before my birthday and after beating it, I was more depressed to the point that I didn't eat for 2 days after beating it. After replaying it again during yet another possibly dark time in my life with health problems, I can see why this game made me feel the way I did.
Everything about this game is disturbing but not in traditional horror sense. The enemies take from body horror extremely well and the whole games envelops you in such a dread that tugs at the state of your actual mental being. The soundtrack is also one of the best gaming has to offer with an ambient and drone that further entrances you in the world of Silent Hill. The story is well written and extremely emotional which is something you'd never expect in a video game like this that I wish not to elaborate further on.
Only possible complaint is tank controls for some people but it doesn't do anything at all to detract from the experience.
Silent Hill 2 is a mastercraft of video game horror and the gaming space in general. I sound like I'm singing its praises a lot but it's honestly one of the few media related things that has made me cry in the end even when I feel like I've seen and heard it all at this point.
In my restless dreams,
I see that town
Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2 might be one of the few games that has mentally screwed me up for months at a time. The first time I played it was a few days before my birthday and after beating it, I was more depressed to the point that I didn't eat for 2 days after beating it. After replaying it again during yet another possibly dark time in my life with health problems, I can see why this game made me feel the way I did.
Everything about this game is disturbing but not in traditional horror sense. The enemies take from body horror extremely well and the whole games envelops you in such a dread that tugs at the state of your actual mental being. The soundtrack is also one of the best gaming has to offer with an ambient and drone that further entrances you in the world of Silent Hill. The story is well written and extremely emotional which is something you'd never expect in a video game like this that I wish not to elaborate further on.
Only possible complaint is tank controls for some people but it doesn't do anything at all to detract from the experience.
Silent Hill 2 is a mastercraft of video game horror and the gaming space in general. I sound like I'm singing its praises a lot but it's honestly one of the few media related things that has made me cry in the end even when I feel like I've seen and heard it all at this point.
In my restless dreams,
I see that town
Silent Hill.
The original mission perfected
Honestly one of the better NES remakes out there, Zero Mission manages to bring life into the original entry with the quality of life and the improved tight controls that the series has gotten throughout the years.
The movement feels even more fluid than Fusion here and that might be because of the great level design and the controls itself feeling better. Zebes is a great and varied world that serves its simple layouts really well for what it is. The music is actually pretty great here with the title theme and Brinstar pumping you up for the rest of the game. It also brought the best of both worlds with Fusion's handholding and the earlier titles being more open ended with hints that can guide players that are easily lost and keeping nothing restricted so that the player can explore at their own pace.
I think the only thing that really held back this game is the ending segment where you're stripped out of your items for a bit and the way the bosses are handled here. The segment is actually a cool change of pace but it lasts a bit too long until it loses its appeal pretty fast but it is more of a nitpick if anything. Bosses were fun here but they were actually surprisingly easy to the point I almost feel like I was speedrunning this game at some point.
Zero Mission completely invalidates the original entry and shows how you can remake a game and improve on every single facet of it and to me feels more like the quintessential metroid experience along with Super Metroid.
Honestly one of the better NES remakes out there, Zero Mission manages to bring life into the original entry with the quality of life and the improved tight controls that the series has gotten throughout the years.
The movement feels even more fluid than Fusion here and that might be because of the great level design and the controls itself feeling better. Zebes is a great and varied world that serves its simple layouts really well for what it is. The music is actually pretty great here with the title theme and Brinstar pumping you up for the rest of the game. It also brought the best of both worlds with Fusion's handholding and the earlier titles being more open ended with hints that can guide players that are easily lost and keeping nothing restricted so that the player can explore at their own pace.
I think the only thing that really held back this game is the ending segment where you're stripped out of your items for a bit and the way the bosses are handled here. The segment is actually a cool change of pace but it lasts a bit too long until it loses its appeal pretty fast but it is more of a nitpick if anything. Bosses were fun here but they were actually surprisingly easy to the point I almost feel like I was speedrunning this game at some point.
Zero Mission completely invalidates the original entry and shows how you can remake a game and improve on every single facet of it and to me feels more like the quintessential metroid experience along with Super Metroid.
2002
New variant of Metroid spotted
Metroid Fusion was the long awaited sequel to Super Metroid spanning an 8 year gap and along with the new game bringing a new philosophy that the Metroid series will follow for a while to the dismay of some of its fans. That said, Fusion manages to still feel like an excellent Metroid game that also brings along a new interesting setting that is the BSL Research Station and what I feel that new direction brings is less backtracking and more of something like a light horror game with how the new gameplay elements bring together.
The most important thing is that the gameplay here feels more tighter than its SNES counterpart. Jumping and shooting feels less stiff and jumps feels faster. A controversial topic being that Fusion bringing a more linear design and while I do think the open-ended nature of Super Metroid is one of its biggest strengths especially for its time, I find myself preferring Fusion's approach due to the pacing of it all that makes it feel like a more dense experience for me that's only Metroid experience was Super Metroid before. The atmosphere is great as it brings a "space horror" feeling of being this sole survivor in an abandoned space station against a space parasite that can turn itself into anything which also brings me into the inclusing of SA-X here which I thought was pretty cool. The moments SA-X does come on brings some tense moments where you're trying to get away and have to be very quick and smart about it to the point that it did feel like someone else was actually playing. A surprising compliment I have to give is the little story that is here that serves to build up the intrigue and horror of the situation you're in. The music is pretty good here being ambience to the background that enhances the experience a bit.
I think not being able to backtrack at certain moments can be pretty annoying especially for those doing a 100% run though. Some bosses have weird quirks to them that came off as annoying but even then most of the bosses are great here. Probably an effect of the linear design but doors locking at certain points to circumvent you in the right direction when the objective does serve to tell you where you're going anyway which is mostly "Go to the navigation room".
I think Fusion edges it out for me compared to Super Metroid with how good a lot of the elements here are in general which feels a testament more to the series in general that any specific game but I'm happy that Fusion decided to try a new approach that makes these games more tightly focused and paced so it keeps your attention for the whole ride. Knowing that Dread is mostly inspired from this gives me a specific feeling that Metroid is actually a really great series.
Metroid Fusion was the long awaited sequel to Super Metroid spanning an 8 year gap and along with the new game bringing a new philosophy that the Metroid series will follow for a while to the dismay of some of its fans. That said, Fusion manages to still feel like an excellent Metroid game that also brings along a new interesting setting that is the BSL Research Station and what I feel that new direction brings is less backtracking and more of something like a light horror game with how the new gameplay elements bring together.
The most important thing is that the gameplay here feels more tighter than its SNES counterpart. Jumping and shooting feels less stiff and jumps feels faster. A controversial topic being that Fusion bringing a more linear design and while I do think the open-ended nature of Super Metroid is one of its biggest strengths especially for its time, I find myself preferring Fusion's approach due to the pacing of it all that makes it feel like a more dense experience for me that's only Metroid experience was Super Metroid before. The atmosphere is great as it brings a "space horror" feeling of being this sole survivor in an abandoned space station against a space parasite that can turn itself into anything which also brings me into the inclusing of SA-X here which I thought was pretty cool. The moments SA-X does come on brings some tense moments where you're trying to get away and have to be very quick and smart about it to the point that it did feel like someone else was actually playing. A surprising compliment I have to give is the little story that is here that serves to build up the intrigue and horror of the situation you're in. The music is pretty good here being ambience to the background that enhances the experience a bit.
I think not being able to backtrack at certain moments can be pretty annoying especially for those doing a 100% run though. Some bosses have weird quirks to them that came off as annoying but even then most of the bosses are great here. Probably an effect of the linear design but doors locking at certain points to circumvent you in the right direction when the objective does serve to tell you where you're going anyway which is mostly "Go to the navigation room".
I think Fusion edges it out for me compared to Super Metroid with how good a lot of the elements here are in general which feels a testament more to the series in general that any specific game but I'm happy that Fusion decided to try a new approach that makes these games more tightly focused and paced so it keeps your attention for the whole ride. Knowing that Dread is mostly inspired from this gives me a specific feeling that Metroid is actually a really great series.
2018
Not too much to say here other than as a first time Battlefield experience, it's pretty fun.
Shooting feels great here and the audio and graphics department works well here to give each battle feel like well a warzone. I also like the semblance of teamwork here when it works, the usual good feeling when picking a role your team needs and it paying off for everyone.
That said, people tend to rarely work as a team as it is which sorta plagues most first person shooters that utilizes team play elements. Cheaters are uncommon enough that it doesn't completely ruin the experience but it's still there. Not too much the usual stuff with EA games being monetization and the process of getting things.
That said, I picked this game up for 5 bucks and got a good 10 hours out of it. I don't really recommend spending 10 bucks max on that if you want something that scratched the WW2 FPS itch that it did for me and there's probably way better games in this genre but the shooting was good, what can I say?
Shooting feels great here and the audio and graphics department works well here to give each battle feel like well a warzone. I also like the semblance of teamwork here when it works, the usual good feeling when picking a role your team needs and it paying off for everyone.
That said, people tend to rarely work as a team as it is which sorta plagues most first person shooters that utilizes team play elements. Cheaters are uncommon enough that it doesn't completely ruin the experience but it's still there. Not too much the usual stuff with EA games being monetization and the process of getting things.
That said, I picked this game up for 5 bucks and got a good 10 hours out of it. I don't really recommend spending 10 bucks max on that if you want something that scratched the WW2 FPS itch that it did for me and there's probably way better games in this genre but the shooting was good, what can I say?
This review is going to mostly go into the switch port of Tetris Effect: Connected since I don't really see many people here going into it. My thoughts on the original Tetris Effect that I played via PC are here (https://www.backloggd.com/u/ExAndOh/review/109327/). Long story short on that is that it's my favorite version of Tetris just for the visuals and incredible soundtrack that made the gameplay even more addicting for me. That said, I was excited to see that this game was coming to Switch and now that I've beaten Journey Mode on Expert, played all the modes several times and played some multiplayer matches that I can form a personal consensus on the port here.
I have to say Enhance really did an amazing job here. The visuals feel barely downgraded here and the sound feels pretty good here especially if you're using Bluetooth audio which Nintendo has fortunately added here. Framerate is hard to tell here but it's pretty smooth most of the time and I didn't feel much input lag here using the joycons. HD rumble is wonderfully utilized here to utilize the rhythm here in general.
Only weird quirk I could really find is that the when levels load in during specific sequences or changing levels during Journey mode that the game would freeze for a second leaving you unable to act until the game fully loads in and it can throw you off. I can also attribute it to a skill issue and the fact that joycons aren't that great for games like these but Nintendo hasn't really made a great portable HD rumble controller akin to the Split Pad Pro sadly.
Aside from the downgrades here, this is still an amazing port and version of Tetris Effect that you literally can't go wrong with. Crossplay is here as well so you can play with anyone that owns this game in general regardless and still my favorite version of Tetris in the end of the day and much easier to get into since puzzle games and portable consoles are a match made in gaming heaven.
I have to say Enhance really did an amazing job here. The visuals feel barely downgraded here and the sound feels pretty good here especially if you're using Bluetooth audio which Nintendo has fortunately added here. Framerate is hard to tell here but it's pretty smooth most of the time and I didn't feel much input lag here using the joycons. HD rumble is wonderfully utilized here to utilize the rhythm here in general.
Only weird quirk I could really find is that the when levels load in during specific sequences or changing levels during Journey mode that the game would freeze for a second leaving you unable to act until the game fully loads in and it can throw you off. I can also attribute it to a skill issue and the fact that joycons aren't that great for games like these but Nintendo hasn't really made a great portable HD rumble controller akin to the Split Pad Pro sadly.
Aside from the downgrades here, this is still an amazing port and version of Tetris Effect that you literally can't go wrong with. Crossplay is here as well so you can play with anyone that owns this game in general regardless and still my favorite version of Tetris in the end of the day and much easier to get into since puzzle games and portable consoles are a match made in gaming heaven.
Saving the world in peak form
Dragon Quest III has a reputation for being one of Japan's most beloved JRPGs and I am glad to say it really does deserve the reputation it garners. A huge improvement from 1 and 2 that set many precedents for what would be one of the most quintessential JRPGs of the 20th century.
The game managed to create a lot of things we take for granted in the genre such as the job system which was what I had the most fun with here, a variety of ways to make the party you want and incentive to change classes often so you can get the exact style of character you want in your party. It was pretty cool to make someone like a Thief (which was in the SNES remake I played) and made him into a critical hit machine that still carried over the thief skills that are pretty useful as well with some stats carrying over from changing. The difficulty here is actually surprisingly leaning on the hard side as I was constantly getting 2 shot by bosses but the games gives you a lot of tools and flexibility to play well. The open ended design here is still here to an extent but it has been streamlined a bit more so you don't get completely lost. The story is great here and ties up the original Dragon Quest trilogy extremely well here along with the separate stories about each location being surprisingly more to them than just a simple fetch quest or something really dry that further emphasize that you're truly in a living world. It also brought some rewarding side activities that give you more to do such as collecting mini-medals and are pretty fun such as Pachisi which I'm surprised they haven't made a game of yet or brought it more often to the other titles.
There aren't many huge flaws but there are some I feel like I should address. Despite loving the job system, I wish jobs here had more depth to them other than being attack only characters like the Warrior or Fighter. You can technically make them a caster or someone that gets abilities but switches them to level 20 but that's giving the player more grind and work to get to that point that it feels almost tedious to even think about sometimes. Also what I find funny is the amount of bosses here and then the insane boss rush near the end that threw me off guard completely. I would also say that the game gets extremely hard in the end but I was pretty underleveled when I beat it so I can't fault it too much but the exp gains from liquid metal slimes isn't enough sometimes for them rarely appearing here too.
But even from all that, it's amazing how this game holds up via the SNES remake that I played here and can imagine the 1988 NES version holding up just as much. Playing a game like this just makes me respect JRPGs more and it was a nice way to end myself playing through the first three Dragon Quest games this year. If you consider yourself a JRPG fan, go play them but just know you'll have to figure out the rest yourself and become the legend.
Dragon Quest III has a reputation for being one of Japan's most beloved JRPGs and I am glad to say it really does deserve the reputation it garners. A huge improvement from 1 and 2 that set many precedents for what would be one of the most quintessential JRPGs of the 20th century.
The game managed to create a lot of things we take for granted in the genre such as the job system which was what I had the most fun with here, a variety of ways to make the party you want and incentive to change classes often so you can get the exact style of character you want in your party. It was pretty cool to make someone like a Thief (which was in the SNES remake I played) and made him into a critical hit machine that still carried over the thief skills that are pretty useful as well with some stats carrying over from changing. The difficulty here is actually surprisingly leaning on the hard side as I was constantly getting 2 shot by bosses but the games gives you a lot of tools and flexibility to play well. The open ended design here is still here to an extent but it has been streamlined a bit more so you don't get completely lost. The story is great here and ties up the original Dragon Quest trilogy extremely well here along with the separate stories about each location being surprisingly more to them than just a simple fetch quest or something really dry that further emphasize that you're truly in a living world. It also brought some rewarding side activities that give you more to do such as collecting mini-medals and are pretty fun such as Pachisi which I'm surprised they haven't made a game of yet or brought it more often to the other titles.
There aren't many huge flaws but there are some I feel like I should address. Despite loving the job system, I wish jobs here had more depth to them other than being attack only characters like the Warrior or Fighter. You can technically make them a caster or someone that gets abilities but switches them to level 20 but that's giving the player more grind and work to get to that point that it feels almost tedious to even think about sometimes. Also what I find funny is the amount of bosses here and then the insane boss rush near the end that threw me off guard completely. I would also say that the game gets extremely hard in the end but I was pretty underleveled when I beat it so I can't fault it too much but the exp gains from liquid metal slimes isn't enough sometimes for them rarely appearing here too.
But even from all that, it's amazing how this game holds up via the SNES remake that I played here and can imagine the 1988 NES version holding up just as much. Playing a game like this just makes me respect JRPGs more and it was a nice way to end myself playing through the first three Dragon Quest games this year. If you consider yourself a JRPG fan, go play them but just know you'll have to figure out the rest yourself and become the legend.
0.2 was essentially a tech demo for what would be Kingdom Hearts III at the time it released and provided a bit more insight on Aqua after Birth By Sleep providing some fun but simple gameplay with a short play time.
The gameplay for what would be this tech demo and Kingdom Hearts III is still fun as its core and the game looks stunning here and runs well here (running via PC). A funny thing here is you can customize Aqua's appearance here which seems like something out of left field but a welcome addition since you can give her cat ears.
Sorta wished there was more unique bosses here since you really only fight like 3 bosses here and a pile of heartless like multiple times that got old quick. Items are hard to come by and it's a very stripped down KH game in general but that's par for the course here.
A very short demo/story at 2 and half hours that comes with the 2.8 collection or Story So Far so as it goes, it's a cool little adventure that takes advantage of new technology and brings a tiny bit more depth into Aqua as a character that doesn't overstays its welcome for what it brings.
The gameplay for what would be this tech demo and Kingdom Hearts III is still fun as its core and the game looks stunning here and runs well here (running via PC). A funny thing here is you can customize Aqua's appearance here which seems like something out of left field but a welcome addition since you can give her cat ears.
Sorta wished there was more unique bosses here since you really only fight like 3 bosses here and a pile of heartless like multiple times that got old quick. Items are hard to come by and it's a very stripped down KH game in general but that's par for the course here.
A very short demo/story at 2 and half hours that comes with the 2.8 collection or Story So Far so as it goes, it's a cool little adventure that takes advantage of new technology and brings a tiny bit more depth into Aqua as a character that doesn't overstays its welcome for what it brings.