Gana
This review contains spoilers
Misery porn that insists upon itself. I think that was the point. When I was trying to process my thoughts on this I tried to estimate a percentage of how many scenes in this game were misery focused and I'd say 85% of them, such as her torturing herself, her uncle, her grandmother's corpse, Satoko, Keiichi, and arguably her own sister. That's not even getting into watching her fall in love with what you know is a man who's going to die/disappear soon, so that's not a particularly compelling plotline to begin with either even though it's supposed to be the closest thing she has to a sympathetic motivation. I don't think it's the first Higu ep to have a downer ending, in fact I'd say all of them before this do, but the thing about those was that the protagonists were compelling people I could sympathize with. I cannot do that with Shion. She is a psychopath that I struggle to think of any redeeming qualities beyond surface level ones. WhenI watched Keiichi commit murder in Tatari I felt like I was right there with him, mostly sympathizing with his goal. For the entire second half of this, I felt like I was being forcefully dragged along by Ryukishi until I could hurry up and finish it so I could read future, hopefully better episodes.
The bittersweet parts were probably my favorite thing in this arc. Seeing ways that things could've gone better and the moments where Shion truly regretted what she'd done were pretty impactful, but I don't think they were worth sitting through the misery of everything else.
tl;dr, Ryukishi made something that was made to make me feel like shit and yeah, it did that.
The bittersweet parts were probably my favorite thing in this arc. Seeing ways that things could've gone better and the moments where Shion truly regretted what she'd done were pretty impactful, but I don't think they were worth sitting through the misery of everything else.
tl;dr, Ryukishi made something that was made to make me feel like shit and yeah, it did that.
It's got good moments and Edgeworth is as enjoyable as ever in the protagonist seat, but the pacing in this game is terrible. The whole "solving crimes in the field" thing is a great concept, but it just doesn't work well when every case stalls forever with drawn out arguments built around "no decisive evidence" even when in reality most legal systems can and have convicted off of much less circumstantial evidence than the mountain of it you have in each case of this game.
This game's text speed would also be abysmal in any game, let alone an actual visual novel. That alone kills a lot of my excitement.
This game's text speed would also be abysmal in any game, let alone an actual visual novel. That alone kills a lot of my excitement.
2018
It's a cute game but being completely honest I don't think it had enough to be released all on its own with such a long gap between chapters
2020
Cute game! I like the paper art style a lot, and the main gameplay mechanic behind the puzzles was a cool idea. Story was nice too. I like how it always kept thinking of new interesting things to add to the puzzles to keep things fresh.
Only issues were that sometimes the specific folds were a little annoying to make, and the game resetting you when you "die" instead of just letting you undo can be annoying
Only issues were that sometimes the specific folds were a little annoying to make, and the game resetting you when you "die" instead of just letting you undo can be annoying
2020
This review contains spoilers
This is an incredibly good story about guilt, trauma, and recovery. The characters are excellently written and the story leaves a lot of room for interpretation in an interesting way.
I also think the combat is fun. The emotions are a fun mechanic and the game gives you a lot of ways to play with them. Soundtrack's good too
When I read this review it feels too concise to warrant a 100% score, let me just say that it's impossible for me to put my other feelings about this game into words
I also think the combat is fun. The emotions are a fun mechanic and the game gives you a lot of ways to play with them. Soundtrack's good too
When I read this review it feels too concise to warrant a 100% score, let me just say that it's impossible for me to put my other feelings about this game into words
i didn't play long enough to confidently give it a rating but aside from a "so bad it's good" feeling i just don't see anything in this one
It's fun and all but there's so much backtracking in this game, it's unreal. I'm not just talking about chapter 7. It feels like every chapter has some unnecessary walking to A and B and back to A and maybe even back to B after that, especially if you want badges. People also act like this game has a way better plot than other mario RPGs. It doesn't? The villains aren't characterized at all. This is one of those games that a ton of people say is the best in the world despite not having played it in 10 years. It has soul, but not much substance.
2017
The only thing I like about this game is the movement. I hate the moons. There are 1000 moons in this game and I can't remember a single one of them. They're all just meaningless tasks that exist for the sake of padding out the game. The best example of quantity over quality since DK64.
1996
i mean i respect it but it's not that fun nowadays, level design is kinda bad too
2002
the game making clown noises at you every time you die is a perfect summary, i think
2007
the atmosphere in this game is incredibly good and the rest of it is very fun
2011
i don't remember a single thing about this game
This review contains spoilers
A welcome change to the typical Higurashi formula I'd become accustomed to before this. It was nice seeing Hinamizawa during the dam protest after hearing about it so much.
since the devs made the groundbreaking decision of literally just removing the shitty gameplay i can give this game's story the rating it deserves
2002
I have a lot more thoughts about this game than I do about most Metroidvanias, so that's worth something already.
I find it interesting that the exploration is not what is the best part of the game, but instead it's atmosphere. Rather than feeling like an adventure through an alien planet, this game almost has the atmosphere of a survival horror game. There is an active threat in this area that is thinking and planning as much (if not more) than you are, and it knows this environment better than you do. You're not running around for fun, you're running around to stop the X from taking over/destroying the entire ship. This is way more engaging to me, personally, though I will admit I'm not super into Metroidvanias in general.
Another part I like is how the game constantly keeps you on your toes. Just when you think the game is falling into a rhythm, the elevator stops while you're in it, or you fall into a room with SA-X.
I also like the way that the exploration actively adds to the "going rogue" atmosphere. At the start you're following orders and being pointed to the next spot on the map, but as time goes on you have to start improvising routes, finding spots that aren't marked on the map, cutting through secret passages that get you between sectors without using the elevators, and that's to say nothing of all the times you indirectly go against orders just to go back to old areas and get items.
I do think the game has some flaws, mainly in terms of how much the exploration side of the Metroidvania gets sacrificed. The game feels incredibly linear at times, and there were moments when I wanted to explore and felt that there were arbitrary restrictions in place to keep me on the rails. For every really tense moment, there has to be a bunch of obstacle setting and door sealing to make sure the player goes on the route to actually see it as intended.
It's worth noting that Metroid Prime came out a single day before this game, meaning they were being developed at the same time. Prime also had storytelling, but its was different in that all of it was told through scannable things, such as walls or computers. This is a story that lets the player read it at their leisure, and if they don't want that, they don't have to read it at all. In hindsight, I think this type of storytelling lends itself better to the metroidvania playstyle, but I still admit that Fusion's more linear storytelling did provide for a lot of more memorable moments.
I find it interesting that the exploration is not what is the best part of the game, but instead it's atmosphere. Rather than feeling like an adventure through an alien planet, this game almost has the atmosphere of a survival horror game. There is an active threat in this area that is thinking and planning as much (if not more) than you are, and it knows this environment better than you do. You're not running around for fun, you're running around to stop the X from taking over/destroying the entire ship. This is way more engaging to me, personally, though I will admit I'm not super into Metroidvanias in general.
Another part I like is how the game constantly keeps you on your toes. Just when you think the game is falling into a rhythm, the elevator stops while you're in it, or you fall into a room with SA-X.
I also like the way that the exploration actively adds to the "going rogue" atmosphere. At the start you're following orders and being pointed to the next spot on the map, but as time goes on you have to start improvising routes, finding spots that aren't marked on the map, cutting through secret passages that get you between sectors without using the elevators, and that's to say nothing of all the times you indirectly go against orders just to go back to old areas and get items.
I do think the game has some flaws, mainly in terms of how much the exploration side of the Metroidvania gets sacrificed. The game feels incredibly linear at times, and there were moments when I wanted to explore and felt that there were arbitrary restrictions in place to keep me on the rails. For every really tense moment, there has to be a bunch of obstacle setting and door sealing to make sure the player goes on the route to actually see it as intended.
It's worth noting that Metroid Prime came out a single day before this game, meaning they were being developed at the same time. Prime also had storytelling, but its was different in that all of it was told through scannable things, such as walls or computers. This is a story that lets the player read it at their leisure, and if they don't want that, they don't have to read it at all. In hindsight, I think this type of storytelling lends itself better to the metroidvania playstyle, but I still admit that Fusion's more linear storytelling did provide for a lot of more memorable moments.