Secret agents of the rhythm

A surprisingly eccentric rhythm game, Elite Beat Agents represents the some of the best in absurdity and rhythm and one of the best use of the exclusive dual screens of the Nintendo DS. It almost feels jarring this is the second of three games based on the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series which the rest of the titles never came here and this title alone was more obviously western influenced to show for it. Trading japanese cheer squads for slick black suits, the game still manages to bring a unique flavor with its catchy soundtrack and simple yet addicting gameplay.

The gameplay is obviously the best part but the small stories that each mission brings brings a lot of ridiculousness and serve as short but smart breaks throughout the gameplay so you don't get carpal tunnel by the fast paced gameplay. Didn't expect that one mission to manage to bring a completely different mood into the mix and do so successfully. Three type of commands: tapping, tapping and dragging and spinning feels simple in concept but the speed and accuracy of doing it is the real challenge. A lot of difficulties and the soundtrack for this game is honestly almost perfect. Didn't expect Avril Lavigne, Jackson 5 and The Village People and even if they're covers, the DS speakers do a weird enough job that I almost didn't even notice. Really hard to hate this soundtrack even if you got a specific taste considering I feel like there's at least one song you'll really like here.

A hallmark of the DS and worth playing one of the few exclusives that utilizes the touch screen extremely well. The game legit gave me carpal tunnel after finishing it but it's still an extremely solid rhythm title. If you got a DS, play this. That's it. Seriously go play it and tap to sk8er boi like I did.

Urban Reign is a extremely fun 3D brawler that takes quite a learning curve to get used to and feels like it overstayed its welcome a bit. Namco really took a lot of Tekken influences along with other 3D fighters I can't really put my finger on to make a weird but extremely gratifying brawler.

The premise of the plot is barely here but it's not really the reason you're gonna be playing. You literally play as a dude called Brad Hawk as you beat the crap out of everyone in town. The gameplay is where things get a bit crazy. You got basic inputs like striking, grappling, dodging and parrying and so forth but you pick the sections of the body to attack at and pick the direction where you're gonna parry as well. All of this combined with some of the most aggressive enemies I've played in the few beat em ups I've played makes this a hell of a learning experience and you will get walled unless you learn how to handle specific situations. The notion of actually doing this is pretty fun but it's also extremely difficult to the point that it might seem like the enemy itself is cheesing you sometimes but it's also extremely satisfying to pull off perfect play too. The soundtrack is great here as you can hear the guitarist shredding the hell out while you're probably getting beaten the hell out by three enemies since they can legit tag team and combo you in the air.

Namco managed to make a really good and challenging beat em up here that makes doing some flashy shit really fun. Just be ready to get your ass handed to because this game is not forgiving even on the normal difficulty and there's two more difficulties above that.

A true start into the three kingdoms

Sort of had enough mental momentum and hearing the unfortunate news that my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will be delayed allowed me to dig deep into Dynasty Warriors 2. This would actually be considered the true start for the series considering it veers completely from the first game fighting game roots into its own sub genre of hack and slash we know today called "musou".

Despite being called Dynasty Warriors 2 in the west, the japanese name is actually a completely different title and series in a sense. The original title is Shin Sangoku Musou while the first game was just called Sangoku Musou thus being the reason why Japan is always a number behind us. This game was actually gonna be another fighting game until they were told to do something different with the franchise which brought about the radical departure. Dynasty Warriors 2 ended up being a launch title for the West and it's actually kind of impressive how many models they managed to render for their very first attempt.

Sadly though there really isn't much to this game either as there's only three modes here: Musou mode, Free mode and the options menu which shouldn't really count as a mode to be honest. The titular musou mode lets you do a story mode with any of the twenty eight characters as you go through a couple of the stages depending on the character. Free mode allows you to re-enact any stage however you want with any character. The main thing to mention here is that Dynasty Warriors 2 only has twenty eight characters and a very low eight stages making this a surprisingly sparse experience compared to what would really come after but I really think it's a great foundation for what was Omega Force's first attempt. Being greeted with the map screen when you load into a battle looks like something that came out of a middle school news program while the user interface really feels like something thrown together in a week.

To my own surprise, the gameplay didn't feel that different to playing another one of the PS2 musous that I remember albeit very simplistic in a sense. You have your four hit combo that you can interrupt with charge attacks, the standard affair but then that's really it. You can never upgrade from the 4 hit combo you get and that's all you have for the rest of the experience. The only form of character progression comes from picking up stat boosts after defeating officers and doing well in the stage to upgrade your overall stats but that's really it. The bodyguard system is here and progresses just through the point system as well. A cool note is that doing a better combo during the final blow on the officer will actually upgrade the stat item you'd get from the enemy making it worth attempting it. The bow makes its first appearance here and after playing most of the series, I never really found a good use for it other than very specific situation that rarely happen. A regular bow attack does what you expect, a charged attack takes a bit more time to charge but it does stun if you pull it up and using your musou meter unleashes a volley of arrows at your own discretion. After putting a good fifteen hours into a couple of musou playthroughs to experience most of the weapon styles and stages, this game is actually fairly difficult. More difficult than I expected actually. Enemies are surprisingly aggressive and tanky in this game on the Normal difficulty. It's also to the point that a musou attack can't even kill one grunt sometimes and they can interrupt your own musou attack as well which I was kinda surprised by. You actually had to be fairly careful in this game. While I do appreciate that the game was difficult, I was a bit put off by not having enough tools to properly deal with it in a sense. You really only have a four hit combo, a jumping attack and that's pretty much it that I feel I couldn't make the most of the challenge. You can defeat gate captains which reduces the flow of soldiers coming in and attempt to increase the morale which on paper allow the friendly AI to do more but I never noticed it do much honestly. Horses are here which allow for faster movement but I got knocked off so many times due to the aggressive AI that I barely used them honestly. Only form of a checkpoint during battles is collecting a memory card item hidden in crates which is an overseas exclusive too. After the end of a battle, you get a score based on how much you do and that goes into upgrading yourself and your bodyguards automatically. Not much to say on free mode itself, as I mentioned you can just pick any character and any stage and go nuts really. Difficulty options are there if you want an easier experience but knowing this series, you'll eventually want to turn up the difficulty soon.

Dynasty Warriors 2 isn't that bad honestly, it's a pretty good foundation that they built here for the series but if you played any of the mainline titles before playing this one, it will really feel like a prototype with the lack of content and not fully fleshed out action movesets. I would recommend checking this title out if you're a fan of the series even more so since this is really the true start into what would be known as Dynasty Warriors and you really don't want to try the fighting game.

An odd start to a hack and slash series despite a bit of identity being born

I can safely say I've been a musou fan since I was a kid with my initial interest starting with Dynasty Warriors 3 back in the early 2000s. The mindless action based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has become one of the few gaming comforts for me during my life. Wanting to experience the PlayStation 2 musou games again, I decided to take this chance to play every mainline title and really experience the titles and what went behind these games as a tiny passion project of sorts. Extremely doubt I'll finish all of them this year in a row but I hope to get most of this done this year.

Koei was mostly known for their strategy games at the time and the reveal of Dynasty Warriors as a fighting game was a shock to some people and probably even some of the current fans for this series. The game itself would release in 1997 and unfortunately would almost be forgotten despite being released in the same year as Tekken 3 which was almost a technical marvel for the PlayStation at the time. They would eventually try this formula again in a way with Dynasty Warriors 4 with duels and 3v3 with the Warriors Orochi series later on. The intro is about what you'd expect from a PlayStation title, CGI characters doing cool action movements which isn't nothing to really write home about. Despite that, I can't say I like the game that much as I wasn't much into fighting games myself but there's a few things here I like that the musou series itself would actually take and there's a surprising blueprint here that people wouldn't think actually started with this title. I've managed to finish the game with each character which unlocked all of the characters including some you can only unlock with a cheat code as far as I'm aware so I'm ready to share my thoughts on delving into the origin of Dynasty Warriors.

The game itself provides your standard suite of modes that fighting games had at the time. 1P Battle is essentially your arcade mode, Versus mode lets you fight against a friend, team battle lets you 3v3 against your friend or the computer, tournament mode is an 8 player tournament mode that uses the two controllers that allow you to set up a local tournament with your friends, time trial is a timed mode where the objective is to finish the game as fast as possible, endurance is trying to make the most of out of 1 life bar and seeing how far you can go and the practice mode which lets you practice your moves. You start out with ten characters which are three from each of the kingdoms and Diao Chan that belongs in the other category. Each category has four to a grand total of sixteen with Zhuge Liang for Shu, Cao Cao for Wei, Sun Shang Xiang for Wu and Lu Bu, Nobunaga and Toukichi for the other category with the last two being guest characters of sorts. The standard mode consists of nine stages with Lu Bu being the final stage as he really should be. For those that don't know, Lu Bu has been considering one of the most feared warriors in the series to the point of his existence being super boss tier in a sense. Really cool to see everyone has their iconic weapons that would be prevelant for the first half of the series such as Taishi Ci using those dual rods, Guan Yu using his iconic guandao and so forth. Only time they didn't follow through with this was Sun Shang Xiang not having her iconic chakrams and instead just some short sword.

Your actions in combat consist of slashing with square, thrusting with triangle, redirects with circle and parrying with cross. The "special" meter you see represents your musou or "chi" as it was called then. This meter goes up with how well you play and goes down with poor actions and so forth. The meter becomes full and you can do the iconic musou attack and if your health is also low too you can do a true musou attack which have been staples in the series for as long as I can remember, it actually started here. A really cool touch I didn't expect to see was weapon clashes, you know the action where two weapons clash together in a stalemate and it's anyone call who will come out on top. The animations doing these movements are kinda of surprisingly smooth for a title like this which I legit didn't expect much of. The thing with 3D fighters like this as the time is that they were a bit more methodical and not as responsive as fighters today but I can't speak much on it since I wasn't much of a fighting game to begin with.

I would honestly still say this game is worth taking a look into if you're a huge fan of the Dynasty Warriors series just so you can appreciate the little touches and the introductions of mechanics like musou attacks, weapon clashes and the notion of fighting 1v1 with an officer until later entries would make this its own mode. A very cool look into what would become its own entity with "musou" but as a game itself, I would probably put something else in the PS1 disc tray.

See you for Dynasty Warriors 2 hopefully soon.

A ravenous new experience for Rise

Sunbreak is an excellent expansion to the base game that reignited my love for Monster Hunter Rise that I sunk sixty hours into the game for a week like I always do with the series. I can't speak much from a series veteran since I've only played Gen 2 a lot before Gen 5 but this has been the most fun I've had with the series so far. One thing I really love about this series is that you can play and grind as long as you want without any time gates at all you happen to see so much often in games of this specific niche and Sunbreak brings more variety into the mix.

The story is better than the base Rise with interesting subject matter and the characters are more fleshed out and endearing via the follower quests addition they added. The locations they added being the Jungle and Citadel are excellent additions to the area and the new monsters are really fun to fight which I feel like they went with the quality vs quantity approach which I like more. The new switch skills and builds give way for a lot more experimentation to the point that for the first time in the series that I actually went out of my way to try new weapons instead of sticking to my tried and true. Follower quests are a great surprising addition that gives the characters way more personality than it even reflects it in their own playstyle. Fiorayne is the true all rounder that will heal and attack when approriate while someone like Luchika becomes a feral demon and just spams the fire button and never think about her (and your) own welfare that I thought was really charming.

I put around sixty hours into Sunbreak and I already got a few sets already done with a few decorations with all there's left to do is talisman farming which I admit can be a bit tiring after ten hours in a row but with more content in the horizon, I'll be ready to come back into this game and series at a moment's notice. If you loved Rise, you already have this expansion and if you're still on the fence for Rise then you should pick it up at this point.

Peak of the monolith

Just in time before Xenoblade 3 for me at least, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra wraps up the series in the way I really hope it would. It goes without saying but this is the best Xenosaga far none. Emotional payoffs you'd expect from a finale, the combat leaning into the more traditional turn based menu style was probably the best decision they ever made in terms of this game along with ES combat being extremely fun and managing to bring that puzzle element into a few of them all with an incredible soundtrack which is a true far cry from the first game which I found pretty lacking.

The story beats were great and the characters really shined here barring one major exception which I'll get into in a bit. What I love about Monolith Soft's works is they do a good job of stringing you along with a glimpse of the bigger picture until they want to reveal everything and that's what kept me going through the story itself. I will say someone I ended up really liking is Allen Ridgeley who is usually seen as the comic relief but even he has his moments and they are incredible moments. The cast is great as usual but I felt like one blemish to this cast was technically Shion herself. I won't go much into it but the way she acted throughout the game is erratic and disappointing although she does technically improve during the final quarter at least.

The gameplay is probably why I enjoyed this game a lot more than their predecessors at the time. The turn order is better illustrated here, skill trees with points you get a little of per battle which allows a bit of flexibility like before while still getting unique attacks and special attacks from leveling up too giving you a healthy flow of abilities. It honestly just feels more streamlined in good way here that I don't think many people will dislike compared to the pseudo-xenogears deathblow system of the first game and the highly contentious break system of the second. ES combat is extremely satisfying here with equipment being customization and being able to assign specific abilities to your "CPU" like counter and extra stats if needed. Combo attacks, co-op attacks and even some puzzle elements for bosses like doing something extremely specific makes a lot of the ES fights a good challenge but the random encounters are extremely easy on these things if you know what you're doing. From personal experience, if you somehow don't get bored of the game's combat during your whole run then you truly have something special here. The dungeons themselves were not too bad other than the penultimate one again being a bit long winded but it's really cool in design and mood that I didn't mind it too much.

The soundtrack is so good you would forget that the first game pretty much only had two battle themes and here it feels like every special boss has their own theme which further enhances the emotional impact they have. The overall art design feels like a mix of the 90's anime look of the first game and the realistic look they had for the second game for this ideal middle ground which I prefer as well.

Xenosaga will probably not get a remaster for a very long time. It seems that this series might be lost to the annals of the 2000's only living through the act of creating the console from software. But I digress, Xenosaga was a good ride overall from beginning to end and has improved at a great pace from each game with 3 being my second favorite title from the developer barely ahead of Xenogears. It goes without saying at this point but if you enjoyed this developer's work then you have no excuse but to play this gem of a series and this defining moment of a game from them.

A true miracle

We all have that favorite form of media we hold dear in our hearts. A favorite game that invokes nostalgia or a favorite film that invokes a strong emotional response. Even with my unfiltered thoughts on Disco Elysium, I feel like I can never do it justice no matter what I say or can even write. It's more than a video game for me at this point but a brilliant phenomenon that has altered my life for the better. It came at the perfect time during one of my lowest points after losing two of my jobs during the pandemic and having no real direction in life once more. It's rare to feel that way about something someone else created, they'll never know how truly thankful and how important it is for you and that's okay.


"What's it like to miss someone?"
"What's it like? Good. And bad. An ache that brings you joy."


A world sundered by war and different ideals brought us to this point in time where the case truly starts. Essentially attempting to give yourself oblivion and forgetting yourself, it makes for a good reason for yourself to ask questions about the world itself. The world of Revachol and Martinaise fully bursting with colorful characters with their own fully realized stories of pain, triumph, fears, and regrets just like every one of us on this Earth. To appreciate the compassion and to fear the impatience of someone, Disco Elysium manages to invoke that emotion as if it was an actual person.


"Real darkness has love for a face. The first death is in the heart."
"See you tomorrow."


Even so illustrated on our very own detective himself, twenty four measures of our knowledge, our feelings, and our own physical urges provide him with the way of being able to piece together reality like we already do. There's a reason he became like this and it's not for the faint of heart either. Alongside him is Kim Kitsuragi, your partner and the perfect companion for you on this case. A stoic man who places their faith in you without being saccharine or overly dramatic makes it hard to ever think about disappointing him. Kim represents a second chance for us. Everyone thinks of you so lowly in the very start that it almost feels like life itself is an uphill battle but with Kim, it slowly becomes a rise into redemption or a descent into hopelessness. Kim won't stand by everything you do, he has his own ideas and motives and if you lose him, who else will you truly have?


“Every school of thought and government has failed in this city — but I love it nonetheless. It belongs to me as much as it belongs to you.”


Failure is inevitable. We'll never make the correct decisions at the right time at the right place and Disco Elysium knows that. You don't actively fight but you learn everything you can instead. Some decisions are easy and can always come back to, some are difficult and some you can never come back from but even in the end despite it all, life goes on. The flow consists of exploring Martinaise, collecting trash, talking to the locals, gathering information and exploring new buildings and areas. Almost every location has a history to it and a story. A failed summer home by the coast, an old rundown commercial area lost to time, a church with an unusual quirk. Disco Elysium really fulfills a bit of wanderlust just exploring and putting the pieces together of what happened to the hanged man or the consequences of a failed world yet holding on. The text might be too much and the game may not be the fastest dopamine rush but it somehow feels extremely cathartic. A weight being removed from my overthinking and intrepid thoughts.


"This is a man with a lot of past, but little present. And almost no future."


There are a few things in life that truly keeps you going. Ambition, love, money, family, camaraderie of those you care about, realizing your ideas and dreams. I can truly only ever speak for myself when I said that playing this game during one of the lowest times of my life, a time where I just wanted to give up because the world was falling apart had kept me going. The world can feel scary, it can feel bleak sometimes but Disco Elysium reveals the true miracle, the speck of pure hope in humanity. Sea Power's existential masterpiece of a soundtrack helped present this too. The true human experience. Disco Elysium's tagline is "What kind of cop are you?" while it should really be "What kind of person will you be in the face of despair?". Even now I feel apologetic for expressing myself in an unusual love for this piece of media and even though I know it's not perfect, I can't stop thinking about it. One million words of excellence. Will any of us truly past the tests given to us by circumstance? Are we strong enough to push in the face of true horror? Will the flesh finally give out? I can only hope it does. It's all I have. The case is all I have now.


"This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive."

The new journey

What might be one of the most requested remakes in gaming history, Final Fantasy VII being remade hype probably started when the PlayStation 2 came around but didn't really flourish until this tech demo for the PlayStation 3 back in 2005. Even now after playing the original three times during the 2010s and 2020s, I feel like I'll never understand the legacy this title really has other than being the first 3D Final Fantasy but Final Fantasy VII almost feels like bigger than fiction sometimes.

I'd like to preface by saying I'm one of those former stubborn Final Fantasy fans that got a bit angry when Final Fantasy was leaning towards the action RPG style of games and someone that would've wanted this remake to be more traditional to the original and way more traditional than we got. Despite all that, this feels like the most effort Square Enix has really put into a game and it truly shows and I ended up really enjoying this title even a bit more than the original due to the fact it actually kinda alleviated one of my biggest gameplay concerns with the original. You should also play the original as I feel the remake isn't really a replacement for it too honestly, it's a bit hard to explain.

The concept of turning the first five hours of Final Fantasy VII into a thirty five hour game felt like it was gonna be prone to padding to make up for the runtime on what was used but I think the game nailed this as the best it could for their end point. It would be better to talk about what they did different but that would involve spoiling the original game which I don't want to do for my thoughts on the remake. I will say that I think it does a good job of expanding on some plot elements and characters for the most part other than the ending and one new "concept" coming out of nowhere other than possibly being a meta representation in a sense. I liked the Avalanche members being fleshed out here a bit more than just non playable characters in the original that stuck around essentially. My most contentious take is probably how they handled the ending which kinda doesn't "make sense" in the most broad way I can explain it. The main cast feels extremely realized here as well as I liked all of them more barring Tifa even though she got more here than she did in the original. Seeing Cloud warming up, the bubbly and warming nature of Aerith, the sporadic and passionate nature of Barret with Tifa actually feeling like she has her own story in the slums are all great touches. I think a remake expanding on these elements and the world without changing much or removing anything is a good way to deepen these characters more than you really could. I will say the pacing really needs some work here and despite there not feeling as padded as I thought the game would be, there's still a bit that I felt like didn't really contribute to the grand narrative as much nor provide any great characters moments to really feel worth keeping and this is mostly during the end and in the middle. It does leave me with a bit of trepidation that the games won't come out until way later or they'll have to omit and rush story beats later on thus hoping each area gets as much detail as Midgar did.

If I could describe the combat of the remake, it would be the best of both worlds. Square has finally made an action rpg system that I really liked that wasn't Kingdom Hearts or The World Ends with You in general. You still have active actions to do akin to mashing but you also have a tactical element to it with picking unique abilities and magic when you manage to build up enough ATB. One of the best things that this remake added which I feel is an improvement over the original is characters having unique abilities and the materia system allowing for more than just being mostly magic based items. Barret actually has a moveset and unique abilities that reflect him using a gun for an arm and being built like a tank, Tifa relies on purely melee and have some flashy and fast abilities to boot, Aerith being mostly focused on magic although this does make her naturally squishy with Cloud just being the big sword guy that actually has a few techniques on his shoulder. It felt more fun customizing them here since they really feel like they have a more unique niche to fill while still having that blank state there with the materia system. This game also takes a bit from Final Fantasy XIII too in terms of staggering and the reward of burst potential as well. I will say the game has generally been leaning on the easier side of things for most of the run until nearing the end but the game does have a hard mode for an additional challenge granted I wish this was unlocked for the first playthrough. In terms of the exploration, this game is actually pretty linear and I think almost as linear as Final Fantasy XIII in a sense. Granted the game does have a few more cities, town people, side quests but the quests themselves aren't too long to do at all and they're always around the same areas in general. You should get used to running around the slums a lot if you're doing these quests. A really great touch is the little mini-games and activities such as squatting, the bike section and so forth returning that really recaptured the different things you'd usually do in the original.

The soundtrack sounds about how you'd expect from a remade game. New versions of the original tracks are here and I really think they nailed the feel here for the remake although I can hear Hamauzu's influence here as well. Like man, tell me this or the track titled "Eligor" (couldn't post this since Square is surprisingly still awful about music anywhere still specifically for this game) wasn't pulled out of Final Fantasy XIII or something. It's surprising how some of his songs can come off as repetitive but manage you just put you somewhere else completely. It was also pretty fun to collect the discs for each of the new versions too. Have to mention something which has been already been mentioned before a billion times but this is really a gorgeous game on the PlayStation 5 with the highlight being seeing Wall Market realized in remade in its perverted glory. That said, the thing with playing this remake being based on the first five hours and the side quests mostly being in the slums, you see like trash, destroyed and run down buildings a lot that it gets a bit tiring despite how great the models look. That's not to say the game doesn't have beautiful or any variation in the levels but I wish there was a bit more considering we really are just in one city for this thirty five hour game.

My time with the Final Fantasy VII compilation has been a odd roller coaster of sorts for me. My first exposure was legit Crisis Core as a kid because I thought the cover art looked really cool, then I played Dirge of Cerberus when I rented it at at Blockbuster and then I ended up liking both of those games. Now this was where I finally played Final Fantasy VII for the first time almost 8-9 years and wasn't that big of a fan at first, I played it again 5 years ago and didn't really change much until my third playthrough earlier this year. Remake being the latest foray and despite some issues, it was a wonderful experience. I think Remake managed to elevate the magic of the game while taking a bit from the original and yet making something new for the long time fans. Although long time fans might not be happy with how a certain story element was included including myself actually, it's hard to dismiss the whole game because of this when it did a lot right and somehow made a combat system that actually felt like an JRPG at least to me from Square. I know even though I wished originally that the game would be more faithful, I'm already strapped in for the ride to see where things go. Time for Nomura to turn Final Fantasy VII into Kingdom Hearts.

"The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear but let us embrace whatever it brings."

There's no hero without the people

It's a comfort to always come back to a Dragon Quest game after going through such eccentric titles and returning into something familiar with a twist in a sense. If Dragon Quest was a Coca-Cola then each entry would be a flavor twist into the formula. Class systems, singular combat, monster collecting and so forth in that each of these always made the experience a little different but at the heart you knew it's the turn based series that for the most part started it all. I expected a good time with IV and that's exactly what I got, the new ideas weren't really up to snuff but it's enough that I can't criticize it too much considering the undertaking the team had to go through after the triumphant third entry. The heart and soul was definitely there but the ideas it tried to bring were almost left half baked and it makes me a bit sad seeing they had the right idea but didn't think of enough to really flesh it out more.

The story is your standard japanese role playing fare, you are the legendary hero and you must defeat the great evil. A story as old as time itself and almost never as simple as that. Here is where Dragon Quest IV differentiates itself. In this version of IV, you only really play as the hero for the first several minutes until you're thrown into another person's perspective completely with a different story to tell. The game is divided into chapters and you don't play as the iconic hero until what is essentially the half-way point or one third depending on how fast you are. The first chapter reminded me of the original Dragon Quest in a sense. A sole hero figuring out what happened and doing what is right all in an area that isn't too big and the adventure never overstaying its welcome. The second chapter is more traditional in a sense that you have a three person party and finally going around and exploring the world, a princess trying to prove her mettle and becoming the hero in her own story before her true calling would appear. The fourth chapter follows a revenge tale of two sisters with the format returning into what we expect. I have neglected the third chapter and for good reason here. The third chapter is radically different in tone and almost gameplay in a sense, you play as a merchant trying to achieve his dream of opening his store from a humble beginning as a cashier at the weapon store in his little town. I really wish the chapters were as gameplay and tonally different as this chapter since you don't really fight for evil yet but just to have a big wallet and I think that's what the chapters really do for me here. It builds up the world a lot that areas definitely feel more interesting especially revisiting them with new characters. The fifth chapter is everything coming together and I won't say much more on that. The problem I have with this format is that after their arcs, they don't really develop anymore and I might argue that it might be the point considering they already achieved their initial goal in the chapter before. I just feel like the game really built up these characters for the first half just to drop them off as your usual party members for the "true" adventure later on and the fact there isn't much until the ending is pretty jarring for me. I really enjoyed Dragon Quest IV's world and the story was the usual delight but I find myself a little more disappointed in the characters just because they built them up so much just to be paper stands for the rest of the game.

The gameplay is your standard fare here with turn based combat, random encounters and unique characters essentially serving as a different class here. The soldier is essentially Fighter from Dragon Quest III, the princess is Martial Artist and so on and so forth. The hero is still an incredible all rounder which I'm feeling is par for the course at this point considering it's my sixth entry I've completed in the whole series so far. Dungeons are mostly here as well and kind of a simple affair here possibly due to the origins of the DS version I've played being a NES title. Nothing felt too obtuse or labyrinthe which I feel doesn't fit the series but that's what I enjoy about this series since Dragon Quest never felt like a stressful series compared to other series in the genre except being critically underleveled. I'll admit the game does make you grind a little bit in the end but metal slimes being a mechanic can make this the most seamless thing or the most tedious if you were unlucky like I was. If anything I wish they were more prevalent right before the end so it would be less taxing on the player and not ruin the pace. Nothing feels like a pace killer in these games as finally reaching the final boss only to feel a whopping five or more levels underleveled. It could be a skill issue but I never had this problem with any of the other titles as bad as this one given I was just extremely unlucky with metal slimes.

The soundtrack doesn't disappoint either with the battle theme starting with strings that give the impression you're falling into something dangerous while afterwards feeling the fast melody almost give a sense of anxiety into the bombastic battle themes we've heard before. The sailing theme probably is the crown jewel of the music for me as entering the sea plays calming yet mysterious strings. I didn't expect a sailing theme to go this hard even though I've technically heard it before in Dragon Quest XI.

I always feel bad about pointing the negatives in a game because I don't want to be someone that becomes incredibly nitpicky to the point that I'll be unable to enjoy something for what it is at all anymore. Despite the odd pacing, the chapters I wish were a bit more and maybe more to the characters barring a party chat system in that it was still Dragon Quest, becoming the legendary hero and defeat the evil darkness. I got what I wanted and I'm pretty happy about that in that sense and I'll give them credit for trying something different after the lauded third entry. Instead of asking for more, I'll enjoy what I was given. Not like I was given anything lackluster either. I was give another adventure in Yuji Horii's creation.

Hell of a comeback after Devil May Cry 2, Devil May Cry 3 is just a pure and crazy fun time in general. Story was pretty great and pretty humorous with a great cast of characters and honestly Dante and Vergil steal the show completely here. Combat takes a bit to get used too but it really clicks after a bit, I was having a tough time for a bit in the beginning as this game makes you get good pretty quick. The main character literally surfs on a rocket and if that isn't the telltale sign of a good video game, I don't know what is.

Beauty in fantasy

I'm just gonna say it, I have a hard time trusting japanese role playing fans when it comes to genuine conversations about the genre in general. Despite the decade and the overall flak this game gets and the actual vitriol that comes from discussing this game, I finally got around to actually playing the game myself and seeing for myself what many people labeled "the worst Final Fantasy game". Now I get there are genuine criticisms about the game and this game isn't perfect by any means but it's a beautiful game. The linearity which I feel is the number one criticism doesn't really matter considering the whole package here and especially it wasn't even the first game that has done the linear approach in Final Fantasy and it fits thematically with the game itself here too.

While I feel the story is under cooked due to having to read a little in the codex, it was still decent and not too hard to understand. I admit that I got a little lost nearing the end but the ending itself was great but I think the best part is the whole journey of the game itself here. I really liked the cast here in the fact they feel like actual people barring one or two of them. I feel like each character has had their chance to shine and develop throughout the journey and it made for some great moments I didn't expect at all as they all become victims of circumstance and made for interesting dynamics between certain characters. I never really minded the linearity here due to the fact that the characters realistically didn't have time to partake in side stuff, time is running out and you're always running.

The paradigm system is honestly one of my favorite renditions of ATB so far in the series. My main problem is that it doesn't open up soon enough with the game not giving you the full customization until you're three quarters done with the game. Creating strategies for specific roles is something I really enjoyed doing here and it also rewards perfectly timed switching with a full ATB gauge after a certain amount of time too which makes it even easier to activate burst damage windows. I had fun with this system but the way the game creates these fights are a bit uneven. The game is mostly really easy until the game unlocks the ability to customize your characters and party and the difficulty ramps up pretty hard nearing the end. Fights that used to take 1-2 minutes had average fights taking 4-8 minutes in the final dungeon with mobs. You never really had to grind too much in this game fortunately from my own experience as the game rewards game knowledge over raw stats most of the time.

If there's one word I can use to describe Final Fantasy XIII: Beauty. The level design for almost each area is teeming with visual spectacle and variety. From the machine infused nature of the forest to a land forgotten by time itself, each chapter really managed to provide a unique atmosphere to each area that it's honestly impressive despite the approach to progression. The entire game is yet put into another plane with a serene and energizing soundtrack that focus on the elegance and beauty of the piano and the violin along with the occasional vocal track that really makes this easily one of my favorite soundtracks in a japanese role playing game and knowing the genre, it's really tough to be at that spot considering how good these soundtracks usually are. Two of my favorite tracks manage to build up and then unleashes a beautiful set of strings as the pay off and makes me remember why I enjoyed gaming sometimes. The game is still amazing to look at even today and even the FMVs are always a treat to see after a gameplay sequence that brings back the old days when technology wasn't there yet for the gameplay to match the viewing experience.

I feel like Final Fantasy XIII was meant to be a PlayStation 2 title because it has all the bearings of what would essentially be that. Experimentation of ATB, an incredible soundtrack, gorgeous visuals, linear design that wasn't even the first rendition of it albeit a bit worse. It's also kinda funny how much stuff from this game seeps into the real of modern Final Fantasy too which is surprising. I think even Square realized they had a lot of great ideas in this title and took them and improved them further in future and current titles. The game starts pretty slow and ends a bit too slow too but the overall package is pretty good for what feels like essentially another fun adventure in the series and honestly too overhated for what it actually is and what I feel Final Fantasy is: a fun and beautiful experience.

Seeing it through to the end

A elevated experience of Ace Attorney that perfectly pays off the previous title in spades. The case quality is consistent with no boring cases, the music is better, the characters are fully realized and nothing has been left to chance. Anything else I elaborate on will hamper your experience considering most of the game is stemmed from the first entry but done extremely well from a narrative standpoint. If you're a fan of the visual novel medium, you owe it to yourself to experience Ace Attorney's magnum opus.

Budding lawyer

The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is a breath of fresh air for the series and provides a new direction for the series. I really loved the setting and characters in this one but it sort of felt really slow to play and read through this time around probably because of how the game's format is now and the inability to speed up text with the only option actually skipping text by accident sometimes. Nonetheless it does a great job building up Naruhodo's story and rise as a lawyer and setting the scene for what's to come.

The story here true to the word feels like an adventure compared to the previous titles I've played. While the original trilogy felt like a sitcom with an overarching narrative being pushed forward, The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures rarely has you sitting in one place for more than half of it at least with each case almost being in a completely different spot with the last couple of cases feeling familiar after a long journey. The characters are just as full of charm here and after beating it makes me want to continue onto the sequel immediately due to how tempting the resolution to everything is.

The gameplay is pretty different from what I've experienced in this series so far with the investigative element and how trials usually go. I will say I'm not a fan of the jury immediately makes you feel like the trials are even more of an uphill battle than they usually are but I sort of understand it due to the nature of just how people are in general. The "Logic and Reasoning Spectacular" is a cool mechanic to have during investigations but feels too long in that you can't course correct in the first time the detective gives their long winded deductions. The summation examinations are also a new mechanic which haves you pit jurors against each other in a final chance for the defense which is also cool. I also feel like this game is a bit more scripted and a fair bit easier compared to the previous titles too which I didn't mind that much but it's something to note.

The music and the overall graphical design is incredible though. The initial appeal to Ace Attorney for me was building my way up to playing these games due to the Victorian era England and Meiji era Japan. I really like how epic these court themes are and the violins popping off when you have a really good objection, it makes these moments feel like they have more oomph. The art for the game itself is amazing and it has translated extremely well in the three dimensional space including the classic Ace Attorney animations of sweating and defeat we're all too familiar with.

Despite how much of this title leaves wanting in tie up loose ends, Adventures is a great start into the possibility of the series heading into this direction in the future. Specific eras of Law could be interesting but if Assassin's Creed is anything to go by, it can be too much of a good or bad thing.

The ultimate samurai fantasy

A beautiful yet morbid perspective into the invasion of Tsushima in 1274, Ghost of Tsushima manages to fulfill the samurai fantasy internalized in me throughout the years, having a great story that made me emotional at certain bits and somehow putting their own twist in the "ubisoft open world" formula that manages to bends but not break it in a stylish and incredible way. You can tell Sucker Punch has put a lot of effort into this title being a complete tonal shift from their previous works with Second Son with its super hero esque gameplay with a punk rock aesthetic into the historical grounded epic we have now.

The main story/tales of Jin Sakai's struggle with the invasion and keeping his ethics and doing whatever it takes to protect his home from the Mongols is an interesting topic to extend on here due to the opening of the game essentially setting the stage for the entirety of the game. I will also surprising recommend experiencing this game in Japanese with English subtitles considering I feel it does the game more justice and this is coming from someone that always prefers English audio most of the time even with Japanese games. Jin doesn't like what he's doing but he realizes he has to adapt and improvise considering his "samurai way" will just have him end up killed and leaving Tsushima to the Mongols. The supporting cast is also excellent having Yuna essentially being an early foil for Jin, his uncle who always supported him and the rest of the remaining few that survived that lend him their aid. I won't lie that there were a few emotional moments I didn't really expect to feel during this game and this all also in lies with the cinematography this game manages to have and excel in. The soundtrack feels like it comes from an epic samurai flick and elevates these moments even further as Jin delves into the mentality and mortality of his actions. The ending was extremely powerful and made the thirty hour journey worth it.

The side stories/tales offer a grander perspective on the conditions of what the people of Tsushima are suffering through. Almost every tale shows the desperation, tragedy, and sorrow the regular people went through as a cost of war. People will lose loved ones, people will want revenge against each other, people will make one final request of you before their final breath. One of the most tragic tales is one relating to Masako, one of the main supporting cast scouring the battlefield for her dead family and it's incredibly depressing as they talked about the various samurai's fate like a son taking the place of an old father or a best friend giving their life for the other. It felt thematically appropriate with the whole game and each of these side tales have such an emotional core in them that I didn't expect from this game. The main supporting casts also have their own chains of side tales as well and while mostly focused on revenge that stemmed from the mongol invasion, they really do a great job of fleshing out these characters that you wouldn't have had the chance in the main narrative.

The quest format and the exploration of Tsushima might be the most contentious topic about this game due to the fact that on the surface, it doesn't really reinvent the wheel but I don't think open world games need to if they're done with effort and care as Ghost of Tsushima has done. The overall exploration consists of a fog of war and markers on the map that could be a slew of activities and locations that empower Jin not only physically and mentally as well. The sense of direction used to guide you isn't a marker most of the time but the direction of the way the wind representative of your father spirit in which blowing which makes the journey more spiritual than most. Shinto Shrines which act as platforming obstacle courses reward you with a powerful charm and a rare resource for upgrading your bows, The hot springs locations act as a small moment for Jin to reflect on his situation and current events while serving the gameplay purpose of increasing his maximum health by a small amount each time he finds one, Bamboo strikes which act as a test of Jin's swordsmanship based on the real life activity of tameshigiri that relies on pressing the button sequence fast enough which rewards you with increased Resolve which servers as your means of healing and activating certain abilities, inari shrines that rely on following a fox around to the shrine that's hidden in the world that rewards you with enhanced charms and the ability to equip more. Some of the other activities mostly reward you with cosmetics such as writing haikus in specific areas via multiple choices and serves as another chance to refresh Jin's mind with the reward of a headband with the description of your own haiku in it despite not having too many options for each part of the haiku to begin with, pillars of honor that leave behind a sword and tanto redesign for Jin and the more combat intensive activities such as clearing the lighthouses and the duels across the island itself. I will say the duels are probably my favorite highlight of the side activities and it's a criminal shame there's so few of them. All of them are always in this beautiful landscape like near a waterfall or around the blossom petals dropping not to mention being the most challenging and fun part of the combat. There's also the standard collectible items that don't really serve too much of a purpose and the fortunate part is that you don't need to collect all of them for the platinum here. The best thing about completing this game is how seamless the whole experience was. You get an outfit pretty early on called the Traveler's Attire which essentially lets the wind guide you to these specific places and collectibles without the real tedium. Random events also happen that garner supplies and contribute to your own legend. Completing all of the outposts that reveal a bit of the map will eventually reveal all of the exploration spots on the maps which makes things even less tedious. I think some people won't like having everything revealed to them but it makes the game want you to platinum/100% it. All of this accompanying building your own legend. I actually love this system as it fits thematically with the game itself. The first rank is a broken down samurai with nothing going for him and by doing deeds, the main story and defeating mongols but later on, people will start to revere you and the mongols will almost fear you in shock as you become more powerful as these also grant health and resolve upgrades as well. Doing each side tale and special legendary ones that unlocks unique stuff felt like I was just building onto Jin's legacy even more and felt like I was truly becoming one of the most dangerous people in that era and the game does an excellent job presenting that idea to you. If I had one complaint about the exploration though, it would be the huge abundance of inari shrines in the game. While each activity has around 10-20 instances of it throughout the game, inari shrines results in a whopping 49 that will feel a bit repetitive after a while.

The way of the blade isn't the only set of skills Jin Sakai has during his own epic. He mainly has two styles of gameplay, the honorable samurai that faces his enemies at their face and the ghost that kills them from the shadows. Not only can he use a sword well but employs all sorts of tricks and equipment that lets him even the odds. First of all, I do recommend playing the game on Hard all the way through. It provides a decent challenge while still giving you the power fantasy of killing over ten mongols in a row with adequate skill but as always, play how you want as my opinions on the combat will stem from that difficulty. You have your standard fast regular attacks and charge attacks that will stagger enemies if applied enough pressure and the most important aspect about these is the stance system. You will get four stances throughout your playthrough and each one has different sword strikes and are more effective with a specific type of enemy such as one stance good against spear men and vice versa. Parrying is also extremely important here especially in duels as you have two forms of parrying, a regular parry which gives you a window to attack and a perfect parry which gives a bigger window to do even more damage. A cool aspect of this is that difficulty affects how tight the parry windows are so you can't spam the guard button and hope to get it off. The swordplay is incredibly satisfying but Jin doesn't only use his sword in combat. He has a variety of tools he uses as "the Ghost" such as kunai will provides multiple free staggers, smoke bombs that buy you some time and grab some free kills on top of that, sticky bombs which sticks to a person and can one someone most of the time and flame oil you can use to go through guard heavy enemies when needed. He also doesn't need to fight from melee range either as he has a half bow which is faster, less damage and used for medium range combat which uses regular arrows and fire arrows. He also has a variety of other tools that mostly aid in his endeavors in stealth. Bell chimes serve a specific purpose of luring one singular person away from a location and firecrackers draw away as many people as there are. Jin also has a few more techniques and tools at his disposal but I don't want to ruin the surprise of receiving these tools.

It's not a samurai fantasy without the fashion and the techniques you can do in Ghost of Tsushima though. You have your standard samurai armor, the ronin garb, the vagabond look also not to mention a lot of hats and masks to shield your own identity. Almost everything I can think of what I want to wear in a samurai game is truly here and each have their own gameplay effects that affects your playstyle such as more health, less detection and more resolve gains. You can freely ignore these at a certain point unless you truly love to minmax but looking the part of how you want to look is something huge for me. Jin can learn specific moves that can make quick work of enemies as the cost of resolve which also acts as extra health when needed making it a risk or reward scenario but the animations for each swing and technique is satisfying.

You can tell they are proud of the soundtrack and the art design of the world themselves. The syncing of specific moments with the orchestra playing their ass off with a motif that gives off hope and desperation. Exploring Tsushima just for the visual spectacle is worth the entry fee alone as well. Traversing fields full of vibrant flowers makes the game feel like a next generation experience that it's almost surprising this game was on a PlayStation 4 initially. The photo mode is proof they are proud of their work. An example of creating something beautiful would be this screenshot I took using said photo mode. The luscious fields almost feels deceiving as the horrors of war and invasion are also there front and center. Burned bodies, beheaded peasants and the total chaos that the mongols have been known for is front and center and some of it also feels grotesque in a sense.

I also wanted to mention some things that are specific to the Director's Cut version of the game on PlayStation 5 that really enhances a few things about the game that I think are important. A huge majority of this is the Iki Island expansion which provides more of Ghost of Tsushima. A small map but new activities such as using your controller to tilt with the melody of the flute, archery challenges and specific puzzle shrines that require specific solutions along with some extra bamboo strikes and baths for additional stats. The overall story relies on Jin's relationship with his father and delves into the aftermath of certain events along with introducing some new characters. A short and sweet expansion nonetheless and even more content for a game that has a lot of it already. The PlayStation 5 version of this game is truly impressive for two factors being that it's already in 4K 60 fps regardless of the setting which makes the game even more gorgeous and essentially no loading times even through using fast travel or even booting up the game. Small additions includes japanese lip syncing which is needed and haptic feedback which is used wonderfully and the adaptive triggers mostly used for the bows. Not much else other than the digital deluxe stuff here as well.

One of the most surprising aspects of this game is that it has a multiplayer mode with the title of Legends. I haven't played a lot of it but it was a pretty fun experience despite being completely free with the main game. You have four classes you can play as with their own playstyle as you go through missions and some specific story events even. The great gameplay is still here but more reliant on teamwork such as needing to kill two people at the exact same time for them to actually die. There's also a survival mode and even a three part raid from what I read in the menu. A truly impressive suite of things to do which gives the game a bit more value in an already expansive game.

The most obvious influences this game takes from is Akira Kurosawa films and even has a mode dedicated to him replicating his original black and white movies. I can't speak of Kurosawa only really watching Seven Samurai (specifically because of this game) but I can say Ghost of Tsushima shares the same human spirit that the movie had of banding together in the face of adversity. But I digress, I almost forget that Ghost of Tsushima which is a extremely japanese centric game based on real life history of the island was made by an American studio. They have taken the time to really nail the feel and manages to be respectful of what was and what is. One of the ever growing fewer reasons to have a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 and I hope people get to experience this gem. If you love samurai, you owe it to yourself to play this game. The Ubisoft open world formula might be stigmatized because of said company but Sucker Punch proves they can nail the formula when given enough effort which puts Ubisoft to shame.

Strength in every step
A fate neither of us want
This is where we part