Giantsazando
Doki Doki Literature Club is a game that for its time was massively popular. It’s over 6 years old now at the time of typing this review, and it’s hard not to know anything about it. I’ll be honest, I went into this game already quite spoiled by most of its events, and especially its major twists. But I thought it would be worthwhile to play this game properly, especially since it’s free. Even though I was already spoiled by what a lot of what this game has to offer, I ended up still really enjoying it, and the journey that the game has to offer.
When it comes to Visual Novels for me, one of the major requirements for a Visual Novel to be good is for the cast to be good. A strong cast is important for many games, but Visual Novels require a much stronger cast, since they don’t have as many elements that other games include. It’s like reading a book. And I honestly really enjoy the main cast of Doki Doki Literature Club… except for the main character. When it comes to the main character, they’re just really rude and none of the other characters really make much note to that. And since the main character is meant to be the stand-in for the player, it often leads me to read stuff as if I were saying them. Because of that, and with what the main character is like, it often made me feel really frustrated. Aside from the main character though, the four other characters of Doki Doki Literature Club are all really great! The character dynamics are really fun, and I really enjoyed seeing the interactions between characters. I streamed it to some friends, and we tried to voice the characters throughout the game, Which honestly was super fun. Doing so I feel definitely allowed me to get further attached to the characters than I would have if I read it on my own.
Of course, when it comes to Doki Doki Literature Club, it’s hard to not ignore the horror elements of the game. I mean, the game tells you as you open the game, and asks you if you consent to seeing disturbing content. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to talk about the horror of the game, primarily because it doesn’t really hide it? However with that in mind, I really like how this game executes its horror. In particular, aside from the warning, you would have very little clue that Doki Doki Literature Club was a horror game. I do wish that there wasn’t a warning, because having no inkling of the game being a horror game would make it hit much harder, but I understand why a warning is there. Once you figure out a horror game, the game swerved off the road and you’re already tumbling off the cliff. It’s such a sudden shift, and I love how disorienting it feels. Having already been spoiled by it, I of course knew what was coming, but it allowed me to see all of the foreshadowing, and I think it’s really well done! I imagine that if I had gone in blind, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was foreshadowing, which is really well done.
Now to the actual horror elements of the game, I find them really interesting. Honestly, while the game definitely got me a couple times, I definitely think it would’ve hit me harder if I didn’t know what was already coming. Even then, the game is really good at keeping you on edge. Even though the shift to horror is sudden, the game doesn’t bombard you with horror from that point onwards. A majority of the second half of the game is still primarily a visual novel, but horror elements brought into it to remind you that things are not okay. And most of the time, the horror elements are never in your face either, or are very subtle things to just keep you uncomfortable. And I like how, no matter where you are in the game, you’re not safe from the horror elements. Pause Menu, Title Screen, Save Menu, Poem Screen, every single area of the game includes potential horror moments that you could experience. That sort of tension knowing that the horror can appear from anywhere I find really interesting.
And speaking of that, I really like how each playthrough of Doki Doki Literature Club is unique to the individual playing it. The friends I was streaming it to told me that stuff that I saw in the game was stuff that they never saw before. I really like how most of the horror elements are tied to the random events that could occur in each playthrough. With how subtle some of them are as well, it’s really interesting to me. It’s funny that I’m reviewing this game after I reviewed Undertale, which has a similar thing going on. I absolutely love when games have systems that make each playthrough of a game unique, as it gives me a more personal connection to the game. Especially with a game like Doki Doki Literature Club, where I feel it’s a game where you shouldn’t replay it, it makes that time with the game even more unique and personal.
Doki Doki Literature Club was a massively popular game for its time. I don’t know where it stands in the cultural space nowadays, but it did get a remaster a few years back. While I have been spoiled about things, this was my first time properly playing it, and I appreciate a lot of what it does. I find it interesting that a game like this became as popular as it did, especially since I’ve seen a lot of argument over the worth of Visual Novels. Regardless of that, I really enjoyed Doki Doki Literature Club, and I’m glad I finally got around to playing it.
When it comes to Visual Novels for me, one of the major requirements for a Visual Novel to be good is for the cast to be good. A strong cast is important for many games, but Visual Novels require a much stronger cast, since they don’t have as many elements that other games include. It’s like reading a book. And I honestly really enjoy the main cast of Doki Doki Literature Club… except for the main character. When it comes to the main character, they’re just really rude and none of the other characters really make much note to that. And since the main character is meant to be the stand-in for the player, it often leads me to read stuff as if I were saying them. Because of that, and with what the main character is like, it often made me feel really frustrated. Aside from the main character though, the four other characters of Doki Doki Literature Club are all really great! The character dynamics are really fun, and I really enjoyed seeing the interactions between characters. I streamed it to some friends, and we tried to voice the characters throughout the game, Which honestly was super fun. Doing so I feel definitely allowed me to get further attached to the characters than I would have if I read it on my own.
Of course, when it comes to Doki Doki Literature Club, it’s hard to not ignore the horror elements of the game. I mean, the game tells you as you open the game, and asks you if you consent to seeing disturbing content. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to talk about the horror of the game, primarily because it doesn’t really hide it? However with that in mind, I really like how this game executes its horror. In particular, aside from the warning, you would have very little clue that Doki Doki Literature Club was a horror game. I do wish that there wasn’t a warning, because having no inkling of the game being a horror game would make it hit much harder, but I understand why a warning is there. Once you figure out a horror game, the game swerved off the road and you’re already tumbling off the cliff. It’s such a sudden shift, and I love how disorienting it feels. Having already been spoiled by it, I of course knew what was coming, but it allowed me to see all of the foreshadowing, and I think it’s really well done! I imagine that if I had gone in blind, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was foreshadowing, which is really well done.
Now to the actual horror elements of the game, I find them really interesting. Honestly, while the game definitely got me a couple times, I definitely think it would’ve hit me harder if I didn’t know what was already coming. Even then, the game is really good at keeping you on edge. Even though the shift to horror is sudden, the game doesn’t bombard you with horror from that point onwards. A majority of the second half of the game is still primarily a visual novel, but horror elements brought into it to remind you that things are not okay. And most of the time, the horror elements are never in your face either, or are very subtle things to just keep you uncomfortable. And I like how, no matter where you are in the game, you’re not safe from the horror elements. Pause Menu, Title Screen, Save Menu, Poem Screen, every single area of the game includes potential horror moments that you could experience. That sort of tension knowing that the horror can appear from anywhere I find really interesting.
And speaking of that, I really like how each playthrough of Doki Doki Literature Club is unique to the individual playing it. The friends I was streaming it to told me that stuff that I saw in the game was stuff that they never saw before. I really like how most of the horror elements are tied to the random events that could occur in each playthrough. With how subtle some of them are as well, it’s really interesting to me. It’s funny that I’m reviewing this game after I reviewed Undertale, which has a similar thing going on. I absolutely love when games have systems that make each playthrough of a game unique, as it gives me a more personal connection to the game. Especially with a game like Doki Doki Literature Club, where I feel it’s a game where you shouldn’t replay it, it makes that time with the game even more unique and personal.
Doki Doki Literature Club was a massively popular game for its time. I don’t know where it stands in the cultural space nowadays, but it did get a remaster a few years back. While I have been spoiled about things, this was my first time properly playing it, and I appreciate a lot of what it does. I find it interesting that a game like this became as popular as it did, especially since I’ve seen a lot of argument over the worth of Visual Novels. Regardless of that, I really enjoyed Doki Doki Literature Club, and I’m glad I finally got around to playing it.
2015
This review contains spoilers
Undertale is an absolutely magnificent game. It was and still is one of the most influential indie titles to ever exist. And I’ve always returned to it on occasion because of that, as well as just having a love for this game. I first played Undertale back in 2017 or so, but that’s because I… accidentally pirated it. I saw on Gamejolt there was a “Undertale Russian Translation”, which got me curious. I had assumed it was just the demo, or something you could apply to the actual game, but no. It was just the entirety of Undertale translated into Russian. While I should’ve stopped there, my curiosity had gotten the better of me, and I played through its entirety. Then about 2 years ago, I got an actual copy of the game, to play proper. And about a week or two ago, I had gotten the urge to replay Undertale, knowing that October 10th was just around the corner, I also knew when I had to replay it. Now that I have, I feel as if my love and appreciation for Undertale has really grown.
While it’s kind of conventional now (mainly due to how well-known Undertale is), I love the unconventionality of Undertale. An RPG where you can avoid every single fight by talking and interacting with your enemies. Surviving enemy attacks is done in bullet hell sections. And the ability to spare anyone, no matter who it is. There’s something to the nature of Undertale in this regard that I don’t know if it could ever be replicated. There’s so many possible interactions that could be had with enemy encounters, and doing on order of interactions can change the events of a battle. In particular, I remember one enemy where you had to laugh at its jokes, but you had to wait for it to make a joke before laughing. Though there’s unique dialogue that plays only if you laugh before the joke is made, which I find really charming. This is not to forget how well crafted the bullet hell sections are either. Trying to dodge the enemy attacks is really fun, though I’m definitely not perfect at it, even now after beating the game for the third time. I absolutely love when you get put into fights where your SOUL changes colors. The changes to gameplay are really engaging, and I absolutely love it.
I have to give a massive compliment to Undertale’s writing. I’ve already loved Undertale’s writing from previous exposure and playthroughs of the game, but this time is where I grew to appreciate every single bit of dialogue. A fun thing I did for this replay was that I tried to voice every character, at least the major ones, though I did some side characters too. While reading something in your head is good, there’s really an added layer when you try to speak the dialogue aloud, in the voice of the character. Doing so, I found myself actively reacting more to the dialogue I was reading, most of it was through laughter, but that’s because Undertale for the most part is a very comedic game. But the more I played, the more I really appreciated every bit of dialogue around me. With that in mind though, my voice is definitely shot after all of this, Papyrus’ voice was definitely the toughest of my throat, and he had so much dialogue.
In a similar vein to Undertale’s writing, I really love the actual main cast of Undertale. There’s so much I can do to properly analyze them, but even through a surface level look, it’s cast is just amazing. It’s kind of sad seeing how fandom had misinterpreted a lot of Undertale’s characters for a long time after the game released. There’s so many layers to each character in Undertale, and actively taking the time to really learn and understand them, it’s really something special.
And while I don’t really talk about it much, I really have to compliment and mention just how good of a composer Toby Fox is. I know that’s already well established and known, but I have to give props anyway. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad Undertale track, all of the tracks are fantastic! Not only are there some absolute earworms in the game’s soundtrack, but there’s also just so much emotion put into the music. While it’s joked about due to its connection to a specific joke, Bergentrückung and ASGORE are some absolutely powerful tracks when they appear. And that’s something that I think is absolutely great about Undertale as well. So many of the tracks really amplify the scenes in which they occur far more than just “oh this is a good song” or “oh this song fits here”. There’s a resonance that only Undertale’s soundtrack is able to create.
This is all not to mention stuff that comes from the FUN value. People joke about the whole “Super Mario 64 is personalized”, but really that’s just what Undertale is. Each run of Undertale has a unique FUN value that you get, and odd events can occur or not occur depending on what FUN value you have. Each individual run is unique in that regards, which is something to really admire. I remember when I played Undertale about 2 years ago, I didn’t get the Wrong Number Song event, but when I replayed it today, I did. And who knows what other slight differences I encountered or didn’t encounter in this playthrough based off of that FUN value. Yet again, it’s something I really admire, just having that be something that exists, and can impact your time with Undertale that potentially no one else may ever see for themselves.
I’ll be clear here. I don’t think I can talk about Undertale here without going into spoilers. A large portion of Undertale is connected to things that I’d have to spoil. Though Undertale is well known, there’s still the potential that someone hasn’t experienced or seen Undertale in any form, so once this paragraph concludes, I will go directly into Undertale spoilers.
With that pretense out of the way, I really want to examine the endings of Undertale, and sort of the thematics involved with them. Undertale of course has endings tied to the actions you do in the game, most of them ultimately grouped together into the ‘neutral endings’. But the other two endings you can obtain are ‘true pacifist’ and ‘no mercy’. I’ve obtained all of the endings in the game before, but during this playthrough of the game, I only went for ‘true pacifist’.
The ‘No Mercy’ route, though I didn’t do it this time, is really something interesting to me. Going out of your way to do something cruel to the characters of Undertale, just to sate human curiosity. Even though the game gets far more tedious and less fun because of your actions, you do it to sate that curiosity. Even though the game forces hard challenges upon you, you persist, just to sate that curiosity. To find out what lies at the end of the road once you kill everything. And the big thing at the end of the day is that you chose to do it, your actions led you to where you are now, and once you finish the ‘No Mercy’ route, you can’t ever go back. The stains of your actions will persist regardless of what run you do next. To me, the ‘No Mercy’ route goes out to tell you, the player, that you don’t need to do every single thing in a game. Some things are best remained unknown, or undone. That’s why when I replayed this game, I chose to end it when I got the ‘True Pacifist’ ending. I had done ‘No Mercy’ before, but I didn’t feel the need to do it again. I got the ending I got, and that was that.
And how the ‘No Mercy’ route impacts future ‘True Pacifist’ endings is something interesting to me. At the ending after the credits, Chara appears, and that’s really it. I remember back in Undertale’s heyday, I saw a lot of people think that meant that Chara goes out to kill the friends you made. But I don’t know, that never sat right with me. To me, Chara feels as if they’re taunting you, appearing at the end of the game to remind you of the actions you did, and how even though you got a good ending this time around, it doesn’t erase your sins of doing ‘No Mercy’. For a long time, I was considering whether or not I should delete the data that stores the information of you doing ‘No Mercy’, but the more I thought about it, I decided against deleting it. Doing so undermines the whole point of why it’s there, and I can’t bring myself to undermine this game.
I also just think Chara is an easily misunderstood character. Chara is not violence, Chara is not evil, Chara is curiosity. The naïve curiosity of a child, who doesn’t fully grasp the consequences of their actions. Sure they’re violent, but that’s because they don’t really understand the consequences of violence. They want to learn about the world, and see every single possibility that could come from every possible action. To me, that’s why Chara appears at the end of the ‘No Mercy’ route. The worst possible outcome for the world, but the culmination of the player’s curiosity. The fact that Chara judges you if you do another ‘No Mercy’ route is definitely something to acknowledge here as well.
Enough about the ‘No Mercy’ route here, I think the ‘Neutral’ and ‘True Pacifist’ routes are interesting too to some regard. There’s a sort of dreariness found in the ‘Neutral’ endings, a silent phone call, where it seems that the characters can’t tell if the player is responding to them or not. But hearing how the characters’ lives are now is really interesting. And the whole ending sequence with Flowey at the end of a ‘Neutral’ ending is really something. Constantly sparing him over and over to utterly destroy his philosophy, it’s amazing. Of course, to unlock ‘True Pacifist’, you have to do ‘Neutral’ first, and just. Even going through it for the third time, the True Laboratory sequence is still something to behold. There’s an amazing atmosphere there that is unlike anything else in Undertale.
And just. I absolutely love the Asriel Dreemur fight at the end of ‘True Pacifist’. Going up against a god, something that seemingly you’d be unable to beat. Where you have to try over and over, but still seemingly get nowhere. Saving the people you care about, reminding them of who they became because of your help. And then saving the god himself, even though he doesn’t want you to. So that everyone has a happy ending, regardless of if they deserve it. It’s an amazing sequence that cap off a magnificent game.
Through and through, each time I play Undertale, I grow to love it more and more. There’s so much heart and soul put into this game. Even as each day I grow and change into a different person, Undertale is still a game I love each time. I imagine this won’t be the last time I play Undertale, I’ll definitely return to it on occasion. I think I’ll get something new out of it every time, and grow to further appreciate this game more and more. I also cant wait to see what Deltarune has in store.
While it’s kind of conventional now (mainly due to how well-known Undertale is), I love the unconventionality of Undertale. An RPG where you can avoid every single fight by talking and interacting with your enemies. Surviving enemy attacks is done in bullet hell sections. And the ability to spare anyone, no matter who it is. There’s something to the nature of Undertale in this regard that I don’t know if it could ever be replicated. There’s so many possible interactions that could be had with enemy encounters, and doing on order of interactions can change the events of a battle. In particular, I remember one enemy where you had to laugh at its jokes, but you had to wait for it to make a joke before laughing. Though there’s unique dialogue that plays only if you laugh before the joke is made, which I find really charming. This is not to forget how well crafted the bullet hell sections are either. Trying to dodge the enemy attacks is really fun, though I’m definitely not perfect at it, even now after beating the game for the third time. I absolutely love when you get put into fights where your SOUL changes colors. The changes to gameplay are really engaging, and I absolutely love it.
I have to give a massive compliment to Undertale’s writing. I’ve already loved Undertale’s writing from previous exposure and playthroughs of the game, but this time is where I grew to appreciate every single bit of dialogue. A fun thing I did for this replay was that I tried to voice every character, at least the major ones, though I did some side characters too. While reading something in your head is good, there’s really an added layer when you try to speak the dialogue aloud, in the voice of the character. Doing so, I found myself actively reacting more to the dialogue I was reading, most of it was through laughter, but that’s because Undertale for the most part is a very comedic game. But the more I played, the more I really appreciated every bit of dialogue around me. With that in mind though, my voice is definitely shot after all of this, Papyrus’ voice was definitely the toughest of my throat, and he had so much dialogue.
In a similar vein to Undertale’s writing, I really love the actual main cast of Undertale. There’s so much I can do to properly analyze them, but even through a surface level look, it’s cast is just amazing. It’s kind of sad seeing how fandom had misinterpreted a lot of Undertale’s characters for a long time after the game released. There’s so many layers to each character in Undertale, and actively taking the time to really learn and understand them, it’s really something special.
And while I don’t really talk about it much, I really have to compliment and mention just how good of a composer Toby Fox is. I know that’s already well established and known, but I have to give props anyway. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad Undertale track, all of the tracks are fantastic! Not only are there some absolute earworms in the game’s soundtrack, but there’s also just so much emotion put into the music. While it’s joked about due to its connection to a specific joke, Bergentrückung and ASGORE are some absolutely powerful tracks when they appear. And that’s something that I think is absolutely great about Undertale as well. So many of the tracks really amplify the scenes in which they occur far more than just “oh this is a good song” or “oh this song fits here”. There’s a resonance that only Undertale’s soundtrack is able to create.
This is all not to mention stuff that comes from the FUN value. People joke about the whole “Super Mario 64 is personalized”, but really that’s just what Undertale is. Each run of Undertale has a unique FUN value that you get, and odd events can occur or not occur depending on what FUN value you have. Each individual run is unique in that regards, which is something to really admire. I remember when I played Undertale about 2 years ago, I didn’t get the Wrong Number Song event, but when I replayed it today, I did. And who knows what other slight differences I encountered or didn’t encounter in this playthrough based off of that FUN value. Yet again, it’s something I really admire, just having that be something that exists, and can impact your time with Undertale that potentially no one else may ever see for themselves.
I’ll be clear here. I don’t think I can talk about Undertale here without going into spoilers. A large portion of Undertale is connected to things that I’d have to spoil. Though Undertale is well known, there’s still the potential that someone hasn’t experienced or seen Undertale in any form, so once this paragraph concludes, I will go directly into Undertale spoilers.
With that pretense out of the way, I really want to examine the endings of Undertale, and sort of the thematics involved with them. Undertale of course has endings tied to the actions you do in the game, most of them ultimately grouped together into the ‘neutral endings’. But the other two endings you can obtain are ‘true pacifist’ and ‘no mercy’. I’ve obtained all of the endings in the game before, but during this playthrough of the game, I only went for ‘true pacifist’.
The ‘No Mercy’ route, though I didn’t do it this time, is really something interesting to me. Going out of your way to do something cruel to the characters of Undertale, just to sate human curiosity. Even though the game gets far more tedious and less fun because of your actions, you do it to sate that curiosity. Even though the game forces hard challenges upon you, you persist, just to sate that curiosity. To find out what lies at the end of the road once you kill everything. And the big thing at the end of the day is that you chose to do it, your actions led you to where you are now, and once you finish the ‘No Mercy’ route, you can’t ever go back. The stains of your actions will persist regardless of what run you do next. To me, the ‘No Mercy’ route goes out to tell you, the player, that you don’t need to do every single thing in a game. Some things are best remained unknown, or undone. That’s why when I replayed this game, I chose to end it when I got the ‘True Pacifist’ ending. I had done ‘No Mercy’ before, but I didn’t feel the need to do it again. I got the ending I got, and that was that.
And how the ‘No Mercy’ route impacts future ‘True Pacifist’ endings is something interesting to me. At the ending after the credits, Chara appears, and that’s really it. I remember back in Undertale’s heyday, I saw a lot of people think that meant that Chara goes out to kill the friends you made. But I don’t know, that never sat right with me. To me, Chara feels as if they’re taunting you, appearing at the end of the game to remind you of the actions you did, and how even though you got a good ending this time around, it doesn’t erase your sins of doing ‘No Mercy’. For a long time, I was considering whether or not I should delete the data that stores the information of you doing ‘No Mercy’, but the more I thought about it, I decided against deleting it. Doing so undermines the whole point of why it’s there, and I can’t bring myself to undermine this game.
I also just think Chara is an easily misunderstood character. Chara is not violence, Chara is not evil, Chara is curiosity. The naïve curiosity of a child, who doesn’t fully grasp the consequences of their actions. Sure they’re violent, but that’s because they don’t really understand the consequences of violence. They want to learn about the world, and see every single possibility that could come from every possible action. To me, that’s why Chara appears at the end of the ‘No Mercy’ route. The worst possible outcome for the world, but the culmination of the player’s curiosity. The fact that Chara judges you if you do another ‘No Mercy’ route is definitely something to acknowledge here as well.
Enough about the ‘No Mercy’ route here, I think the ‘Neutral’ and ‘True Pacifist’ routes are interesting too to some regard. There’s a sort of dreariness found in the ‘Neutral’ endings, a silent phone call, where it seems that the characters can’t tell if the player is responding to them or not. But hearing how the characters’ lives are now is really interesting. And the whole ending sequence with Flowey at the end of a ‘Neutral’ ending is really something. Constantly sparing him over and over to utterly destroy his philosophy, it’s amazing. Of course, to unlock ‘True Pacifist’, you have to do ‘Neutral’ first, and just. Even going through it for the third time, the True Laboratory sequence is still something to behold. There’s an amazing atmosphere there that is unlike anything else in Undertale.
And just. I absolutely love the Asriel Dreemur fight at the end of ‘True Pacifist’. Going up against a god, something that seemingly you’d be unable to beat. Where you have to try over and over, but still seemingly get nowhere. Saving the people you care about, reminding them of who they became because of your help. And then saving the god himself, even though he doesn’t want you to. So that everyone has a happy ending, regardless of if they deserve it. It’s an amazing sequence that cap off a magnificent game.
Through and through, each time I play Undertale, I grow to love it more and more. There’s so much heart and soul put into this game. Even as each day I grow and change into a different person, Undertale is still a game I love each time. I imagine this won’t be the last time I play Undertale, I’ll definitely return to it on occasion. I think I’ll get something new out of it every time, and grow to further appreciate this game more and more. I also cant wait to see what Deltarune has in store.
It’s been a while since I’ve played Devil May Cry, I think I played the first one over a year ago now. And from watching a friend play it, I made the executive decision to just skip DMC2. That leads me into the next game on the list being Devil May Cry 3. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember a whole lot of the original Devil May Cry, however I can recognize how much of an improvement DMC3 is compared to the original. It feels as if this is the game where they solidified the identity of the Devil May Cry series, both in tone and presentation. Though with that said, I don’t think the game is perfect. It’s almost there, but it has a few issues that keep it from truly being good.
Devil May Cry 3’s story is, to me, one of its best aspects. While there were some moments of it in DMC1, DMC3 definitely feels like it understands what kind of story it wants to tell, and how to present it. Overall, there is a major Rule of Cool in Devil May Cry 3. Dante is cool, Vergil is cool, the fights are cool, the weapons are cool, etcetera etcetera. Ultimately Devil May Cry 3 is just cool. But to further this coolness, the actual story of DMC3 is really good. The characters of the game are all really good. In particular, the dynamic between Dante and Vergil is amazing, and I really like Lady’s arc throughout the game.
Devil May Cry 3, being a Hack n Slash, is very focused on the combat and god is it fun. It’s hard for me to find a Hack n Slash where the combat isn’t fun, so I already knew I was going to enjoy it. I really like how the timing of the button presses determine what kind of combo you do, though at the same time, my tendency to mash when panicked definitely works against me. And while fighting the regular enemies is fun in itself, the boss fights are definitely the strongest part of the game. Though yet again, my tendencies worked against me. Early on, there was a boss where you had to jump on it to attack it with your melee attacks, but I thought I’d get hurt by jumping on it, so I just shot at it over and over. I can’t be upset at the game over this, as I recognize it was my bad. I think the penultimate boss fight is rather iffy in its design, as it forces you into a particular Style. Though aside from that one, I really enjoyed all of the boss fights in this game.
Easily one of the best additions in Devil May Cry 3 is the styles. While I remember enjoying my time with DMC1, it felt like something overall was missing to really add to the experience. Devil May Cry 3’s styles I think are that something. Each style change up Dante’s moveset in some form, either giving him new abilities, new movement options, or better offenses or defenses. And I really like them! But I do think there’s a fatal flaw with them, especially since it’s a thing that, to my knowledge, only exists in DMC3, in particular. The problem with the Styles is not the Styles themselves, however it’s the fact that you can only switch between Styles either at the start of a mission, or at a divinity statue. When it comes to Styles, I feel as if they’re meant to be experimented with, and they should be freely switched between in order to adapt to the situation at hand. However, since you can only switch between Styles in specific circumstances, I find it better just to stick with one Style, instead of switching between them. Even still, I find one style particularly better than the rest, specifically the Trickster Style. The Trickster Style focuses primarily on movement, and being able to dodge enemies. Primarily, one option the Trickster Style gives you is a dash, and I genuinely can’t imagine playing this game without the Dash. It feels like a necessary movement option, and during the moments where I couldn’t be in Trickster felt wrong.
Devil May Cry 3 is just such a cool game. Even if I’m not good at it, there’s just an overall coolness to this game that I absolutely adore, especially in the music. Yet again, I’d say this game is nearly perfect, as I find it to have a couple issues, but even then it’s still an amazing game. I really have to play the further games at some point, though I’m unsure if my computer could even run DMC5.
Devil May Cry 3’s story is, to me, one of its best aspects. While there were some moments of it in DMC1, DMC3 definitely feels like it understands what kind of story it wants to tell, and how to present it. Overall, there is a major Rule of Cool in Devil May Cry 3. Dante is cool, Vergil is cool, the fights are cool, the weapons are cool, etcetera etcetera. Ultimately Devil May Cry 3 is just cool. But to further this coolness, the actual story of DMC3 is really good. The characters of the game are all really good. In particular, the dynamic between Dante and Vergil is amazing, and I really like Lady’s arc throughout the game.
Devil May Cry 3, being a Hack n Slash, is very focused on the combat and god is it fun. It’s hard for me to find a Hack n Slash where the combat isn’t fun, so I already knew I was going to enjoy it. I really like how the timing of the button presses determine what kind of combo you do, though at the same time, my tendency to mash when panicked definitely works against me. And while fighting the regular enemies is fun in itself, the boss fights are definitely the strongest part of the game. Though yet again, my tendencies worked against me. Early on, there was a boss where you had to jump on it to attack it with your melee attacks, but I thought I’d get hurt by jumping on it, so I just shot at it over and over. I can’t be upset at the game over this, as I recognize it was my bad. I think the penultimate boss fight is rather iffy in its design, as it forces you into a particular Style. Though aside from that one, I really enjoyed all of the boss fights in this game.
Easily one of the best additions in Devil May Cry 3 is the styles. While I remember enjoying my time with DMC1, it felt like something overall was missing to really add to the experience. Devil May Cry 3’s styles I think are that something. Each style change up Dante’s moveset in some form, either giving him new abilities, new movement options, or better offenses or defenses. And I really like them! But I do think there’s a fatal flaw with them, especially since it’s a thing that, to my knowledge, only exists in DMC3, in particular. The problem with the Styles is not the Styles themselves, however it’s the fact that you can only switch between Styles either at the start of a mission, or at a divinity statue. When it comes to Styles, I feel as if they’re meant to be experimented with, and they should be freely switched between in order to adapt to the situation at hand. However, since you can only switch between Styles in specific circumstances, I find it better just to stick with one Style, instead of switching between them. Even still, I find one style particularly better than the rest, specifically the Trickster Style. The Trickster Style focuses primarily on movement, and being able to dodge enemies. Primarily, one option the Trickster Style gives you is a dash, and I genuinely can’t imagine playing this game without the Dash. It feels like a necessary movement option, and during the moments where I couldn’t be in Trickster felt wrong.
Devil May Cry 3 is just such a cool game. Even if I’m not good at it, there’s just an overall coolness to this game that I absolutely adore, especially in the music. Yet again, I’d say this game is nearly perfect, as I find it to have a couple issues, but even then it’s still an amazing game. I really have to play the further games at some point, though I’m unsure if my computer could even run DMC5.
2016
It’s interesting finally playing IMSCARED after all this time. The game is over a decade old, and it’s hard not to ignore the game, or the legacy it left behind. “A game with an entity that can create folders on your actual desktop” is an amazing idea. I’m not sure if IMSCARED is the first game to affect someone’s desktop, or to break the fourth wall in the way it does. However, I know it’s definitely one of the most well known for it, and it helped inspire others to come up with similar concepts in their own games. But IMSCARED’s legacy aside, I had never actually played the game until now, and it really stood the test of time.
I’ll be honest, I’m really bad with horror games. I absolutely love them, but I get scared so easily, it’s somewhat ridiculous. IMSCARED is no exception. Though there was rarely an active threat, the constant atmosphere and droning ambience filled me with so much dread. There was never a time where I wasn’t uneasy. I also noticed that at times, the music would cut out. While it would be first assumed that it was a bug of some kind, regardless of if it is, it makes the atmosphere so much more tense. Instead of that droning ambience, you’re just drowned in silence. I was far more than just scared, I was absolutely terrified. And the minimal use of active threats makes those moments where active threats are around even more terrifying. It never feels like a “been there done this” kind of situation, each encounter feels terrifying in the same degree.
Of course, IMSCARED is well known for its Fourth Wall Breaks. Acknowledging you the player at multiple times, and often requiring you to mess with files the game adds in order to solve puzzles. One thing I really appreciate about IMSCARED is that the scares rarely come from the Fourth Wall Breaks themselves. Like I said, most of them time, messing with files is necessary to primarily solve puzzles. Later on in the game, there are some absolutely amazing puzzles that involve messing with the game or files in specific ways. When the Fourth Wall Breaks are tied to scares, they play more into leading into a scare, instead of being the scare itself. And I absolutely love the way of doing it. Though some of the fourth wall breaks definitely suffered due to the new Steam Update, fake achievements don’t work like they used to.
I absolutely adore the entities of IMSCARED. White Face is an amazing design. I love how most of the horror isn’t coming from its design, or the times it chases you. Instead, it’s terrifying whenever it watches you, staring into your soul the way it does. And that terror grows even further as it evolves into HER. While White Face is more of a lingering dread, HER is an antagonistic threat to you. Actively going out of her way to try and stop you from progressing. And seeing the writing of the game, and how the character of White Face/HER evolves as the game, and as you progress is really great. I may be talking a bit too much about the game here, and I’m sorry about that. I just really adore how the entity of the game is written the way it is.
I’m very late to the party on IMSCARED. It’s almost 11 years old at the time I’m typing this, and I’ve had this game in my library for probably a good 2 years at this point. I’ve been meaning to get to it for such a long time now, I just struggle getting the motivation to play horror games. Yet again, I get scared really easily, so I hesitate a lot. But I’m glad I finally brought myself to play IMSCARED, it really is a terrifying game, and its puzzles are absolutely stellar. While I really think IMSCARED’s ending is one to be admired, the promise of brand new IMSCARED content, especially with the direction it seems to be going is one that I find really interesting, and I can’t wait to see how it goes.
I’ll be honest, I’m really bad with horror games. I absolutely love them, but I get scared so easily, it’s somewhat ridiculous. IMSCARED is no exception. Though there was rarely an active threat, the constant atmosphere and droning ambience filled me with so much dread. There was never a time where I wasn’t uneasy. I also noticed that at times, the music would cut out. While it would be first assumed that it was a bug of some kind, regardless of if it is, it makes the atmosphere so much more tense. Instead of that droning ambience, you’re just drowned in silence. I was far more than just scared, I was absolutely terrified. And the minimal use of active threats makes those moments where active threats are around even more terrifying. It never feels like a “been there done this” kind of situation, each encounter feels terrifying in the same degree.
Of course, IMSCARED is well known for its Fourth Wall Breaks. Acknowledging you the player at multiple times, and often requiring you to mess with files the game adds in order to solve puzzles. One thing I really appreciate about IMSCARED is that the scares rarely come from the Fourth Wall Breaks themselves. Like I said, most of them time, messing with files is necessary to primarily solve puzzles. Later on in the game, there are some absolutely amazing puzzles that involve messing with the game or files in specific ways. When the Fourth Wall Breaks are tied to scares, they play more into leading into a scare, instead of being the scare itself. And I absolutely love the way of doing it. Though some of the fourth wall breaks definitely suffered due to the new Steam Update, fake achievements don’t work like they used to.
I absolutely adore the entities of IMSCARED. White Face is an amazing design. I love how most of the horror isn’t coming from its design, or the times it chases you. Instead, it’s terrifying whenever it watches you, staring into your soul the way it does. And that terror grows even further as it evolves into HER. While White Face is more of a lingering dread, HER is an antagonistic threat to you. Actively going out of her way to try and stop you from progressing. And seeing the writing of the game, and how the character of White Face/HER evolves as the game, and as you progress is really great. I may be talking a bit too much about the game here, and I’m sorry about that. I just really adore how the entity of the game is written the way it is.
I’m very late to the party on IMSCARED. It’s almost 11 years old at the time I’m typing this, and I’ve had this game in my library for probably a good 2 years at this point. I’ve been meaning to get to it for such a long time now, I just struggle getting the motivation to play horror games. Yet again, I get scared really easily, so I hesitate a lot. But I’m glad I finally brought myself to play IMSCARED, it really is a terrifying game, and its puzzles are absolutely stellar. While I really think IMSCARED’s ending is one to be admired, the promise of brand new IMSCARED content, especially with the direction it seems to be going is one that I find really interesting, and I can’t wait to see how it goes.
2021
I only came across Severed Steel by chance, as it was a game I got in a bundle about 2 years ago. While I thought the game looked cool, It was never high priority on my list. Only about a week ago, I had to look through my game library for FPS games that I could research for a college project. By chance, I remembered Severed Steel, and a lot of the people agreed this would be a good game to use as research. So I sat down, played for a little bit, and was absolutely blown away by how great it was. I was already in the middle of playing a long game at the time and I wanted to finish that game before finishing anything else, but I knew that once I finished that game, I had to play Severed Steel next. And so, that’s what I did.
Severed Steel is a lot of things. It’s SUPERHOT inspirations are quite noticeable, and I feel like there’s some Metroid Prime inspiration in there as well. The Arm Cannon’s design in particular is what I find reminiscent there. But while there are some noticeable inspirations, what this game is able to do makes Severed Steel such an amazing game. It’s far greater than the sum of its parts, creating an absolutely amazing movement shooter.
The actual gunplay in Severed Steel rocks. Every gun has limited ammo and no way of reloading, which means you’ll be constantly switching which guns you use, which is really cool. Some of its guns are definitely similar in functionality, however this method creates an amazing and natural way of necessitating switching your weapon without it being forced. And the way you switch guns is that you can either throw your gun at an enemy to stun them, or you get close to the enemy to steal their gun. That creates a really fun dynamic too, as you’re putting yourself closer to danger in order to obtain a new weapon. That in itself is so thrilling. And I have no complaints with the guns either, each gun feels absolutely great to use, though of course the shotgun is my personal favorite. One (relatively minor) thing I have to compliment about this game is the sound that plays when you beat an enemy. There’s such as satisfying thing about the sound that plays, I can’t really put it into words.
Of course, one of the major mechanics of Severed Steel is its Bullet-Time. With it, whenever you hold down the right mouse button, you’re able to slow down time to better aim while mid-movement. And while it’s obviously not unique to Severed Steel, I adore how it’s done. You have a limited amount of time you can have Bullet-Time active, which is typical, but you recharge it by beating enemies. That means if you’re able to beat enemies back to back, your Bullet-Time will last longer and longer. It feels so satisfying to be able to pull it off, especially when you’re in a room with a lot of enemies. What adds to this as well, having no Bullet-Time is such a stressful situation, in a good way. It’s somewhat terrifying having no Bullet-Time to use, yet again, it’s just really thrilling!
As mentioned prior, Severed Steel is a movement shooter, and its movement options are just amazing! Being able to slide, lunge, wall-run, double jump, wall jump, at normal or slowed speed is so fun. You’re able to go across the map in such fun ways that I can only imagine that no two people go through the game’s levels in the exact same way. The game is so open in that regard. Slides, Wall-Runs and Lunges allow you to avoid enemy fire, so they’re great ways to protect yourself, while still moving. Slides and Lunges also hurt enemies that get hit by them. Though my favorite movement option, if it counts as one, is the kick. Kicks can be used to kick off walls if you’re running on them, but I love their interactivity with enemies. Kicking an enemy can disarm them, but as well if you kick an enemy with the shield, not only does the enemy drop the shield, but you get launched into the air. This game’s movement is ridiculously fluid in the best way possible.
And of course, what exemplifies how good the movement in the game is, is the game’s levels. Level design of course varies from level to level, but god they feel so fun to play. The open areas value having a massive amount of air-time, and being able to dash around the enemies below you. The more closed-in areas are perfects for slides and lunges, and getting up close and personal with the enemies. Most levels do have common goals. Get to the end of the level, defeat all the enemies, destroy an amount of things, or collect an amount of things. And honestly I really like these levels, but I’m also glad that the last set of levels also alternate between things. My favorite level is still the Train level though, it’s just the best to me. One particular level I’m reminded of is “The Wall”, which exemplifies one of my favorite things of Severed Steel.
Within each level of Severed Steel, every level is destructible. Walls, floors, doors, the entire environment, you can destroy EVERYTHING. And god, it’s so fun! You can make what were previously walls into new pathways to areas you’ve been or need to go to. If you got a good gun on you, you’re able to shoot enemies through walls. And some of the levels can be beaten ridiculously quickly just by destroying the environment around you. And later on in the game, some levels actively require you destroy them, which feels amazing! Not many games have a destructible environment like Severed Steel, and I absolutely love it here.
I primarily played the main campaign for Severed Steel, and through that, I was able to beat it in under 3 hours. While it has a story, the story is very minimal, which I’m fine with, Severed Steel as a game is very much gameplay first. And honestly, I think the main campaign being under 3 hours isn’t too bad, the game is meant to be replayed over and over as you get better and better. Each level can typically be beaten in under 3 minutes, maybe faster if you’re a master at the game. But with that in mind, this game has so much additional content to it. It’s got multiple built in bonus campaigns and levels, it’s got a roguelike mode that you can play, and with a level editor to boot, the game practically has an infinite amount of potential content. In that regard, Severed Steel blows me away, and I definitely want to play the additional content at some point.
Severed Steel is an example of a belief I have where some of the best games out there are the ones you stumble upon. Being told or knowing that a game is amazing beforehand sets up an expectation of things, and even if its true, the impact is different. But just stumbling upon a game, playing it, and being blown away by it is just something else. I only found Severed Steel by chance, if I never got that bundle, I would’ve never had this game, and I probably would’ve never gotten it otherwise. And I’m really glad I was able to play this game, as it absolutely blew me away.
Severed Steel is a lot of things. It’s SUPERHOT inspirations are quite noticeable, and I feel like there’s some Metroid Prime inspiration in there as well. The Arm Cannon’s design in particular is what I find reminiscent there. But while there are some noticeable inspirations, what this game is able to do makes Severed Steel such an amazing game. It’s far greater than the sum of its parts, creating an absolutely amazing movement shooter.
The actual gunplay in Severed Steel rocks. Every gun has limited ammo and no way of reloading, which means you’ll be constantly switching which guns you use, which is really cool. Some of its guns are definitely similar in functionality, however this method creates an amazing and natural way of necessitating switching your weapon without it being forced. And the way you switch guns is that you can either throw your gun at an enemy to stun them, or you get close to the enemy to steal their gun. That creates a really fun dynamic too, as you’re putting yourself closer to danger in order to obtain a new weapon. That in itself is so thrilling. And I have no complaints with the guns either, each gun feels absolutely great to use, though of course the shotgun is my personal favorite. One (relatively minor) thing I have to compliment about this game is the sound that plays when you beat an enemy. There’s such as satisfying thing about the sound that plays, I can’t really put it into words.
Of course, one of the major mechanics of Severed Steel is its Bullet-Time. With it, whenever you hold down the right mouse button, you’re able to slow down time to better aim while mid-movement. And while it’s obviously not unique to Severed Steel, I adore how it’s done. You have a limited amount of time you can have Bullet-Time active, which is typical, but you recharge it by beating enemies. That means if you’re able to beat enemies back to back, your Bullet-Time will last longer and longer. It feels so satisfying to be able to pull it off, especially when you’re in a room with a lot of enemies. What adds to this as well, having no Bullet-Time is such a stressful situation, in a good way. It’s somewhat terrifying having no Bullet-Time to use, yet again, it’s just really thrilling!
As mentioned prior, Severed Steel is a movement shooter, and its movement options are just amazing! Being able to slide, lunge, wall-run, double jump, wall jump, at normal or slowed speed is so fun. You’re able to go across the map in such fun ways that I can only imagine that no two people go through the game’s levels in the exact same way. The game is so open in that regard. Slides, Wall-Runs and Lunges allow you to avoid enemy fire, so they’re great ways to protect yourself, while still moving. Slides and Lunges also hurt enemies that get hit by them. Though my favorite movement option, if it counts as one, is the kick. Kicks can be used to kick off walls if you’re running on them, but I love their interactivity with enemies. Kicking an enemy can disarm them, but as well if you kick an enemy with the shield, not only does the enemy drop the shield, but you get launched into the air. This game’s movement is ridiculously fluid in the best way possible.
And of course, what exemplifies how good the movement in the game is, is the game’s levels. Level design of course varies from level to level, but god they feel so fun to play. The open areas value having a massive amount of air-time, and being able to dash around the enemies below you. The more closed-in areas are perfects for slides and lunges, and getting up close and personal with the enemies. Most levels do have common goals. Get to the end of the level, defeat all the enemies, destroy an amount of things, or collect an amount of things. And honestly I really like these levels, but I’m also glad that the last set of levels also alternate between things. My favorite level is still the Train level though, it’s just the best to me. One particular level I’m reminded of is “The Wall”, which exemplifies one of my favorite things of Severed Steel.
Within each level of Severed Steel, every level is destructible. Walls, floors, doors, the entire environment, you can destroy EVERYTHING. And god, it’s so fun! You can make what were previously walls into new pathways to areas you’ve been or need to go to. If you got a good gun on you, you’re able to shoot enemies through walls. And some of the levels can be beaten ridiculously quickly just by destroying the environment around you. And later on in the game, some levels actively require you destroy them, which feels amazing! Not many games have a destructible environment like Severed Steel, and I absolutely love it here.
I primarily played the main campaign for Severed Steel, and through that, I was able to beat it in under 3 hours. While it has a story, the story is very minimal, which I’m fine with, Severed Steel as a game is very much gameplay first. And honestly, I think the main campaign being under 3 hours isn’t too bad, the game is meant to be replayed over and over as you get better and better. Each level can typically be beaten in under 3 minutes, maybe faster if you’re a master at the game. But with that in mind, this game has so much additional content to it. It’s got multiple built in bonus campaigns and levels, it’s got a roguelike mode that you can play, and with a level editor to boot, the game practically has an infinite amount of potential content. In that regard, Severed Steel blows me away, and I definitely want to play the additional content at some point.
Severed Steel is an example of a belief I have where some of the best games out there are the ones you stumble upon. Being told or knowing that a game is amazing beforehand sets up an expectation of things, and even if its true, the impact is different. But just stumbling upon a game, playing it, and being blown away by it is just something else. I only found Severed Steel by chance, if I never got that bundle, I would’ve never had this game, and I probably would’ve never gotten it otherwise. And I’m really glad I was able to play this game, as it absolutely blew me away.
1997
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This is Final Fantasy VII, a game that to this day still defines the RPG genre. I’d argue that this game is one of the most influential games of all time, not only in the vein of RPGs, but videogames in general. this isn’t my first time playing Final Fantasy VII, I originally played the game through the Switch port. But because of certain features that the port had (There was an option where it was nearly impossible to game over, for example), I felt like I missed a major component of what made Final Fantasy VII as beloved as it was. And finally, after all this time I finally got around to replaying Final Fantasy VII properly, and I’d like to say that I get it now.
The Active Time Battle system of Final Fantasy VII is amazing, though of course it’s not unique to VII. It was originally introduced in IV, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s a great sense of tension while you wait for your next turn to be available, hoping that an enemy doesn’t do something extremely bad, or kill one of your party members. However, while you wait for your next turn to be available, you’re able to strategize and think of what your next move is, as if the game designates this time for you to think. It’s a really fun back-and-forth that I don’t feel like Turn-Based or Real-Time Combat can emulate. The spells you can use have a MP requirement but also have a number of times you can use them during a battle, which I think is really neat. It means you can’t just repetitively use the same spell or summon over and over again, which provides a nice balance. As well, it reminds me of the Spell System in Final Fantasy III, which is something I really liked from that game. Fun little tidbit about my time with the game, I never knew how to run away from enemy encounters, if I even could. So I fought every enemy I came across.
Obviously one of the noticeable introductions found in Final Fantasy VII is Limit Breaks. Though Desperation Attacks were a thing in Final Fantasy VI, VII is the game where they’re more thoroughly implemented. In particular, Limit Break focuses on a specific meter that each character has, and that meter fills up as the character takes damage. Once the Limit Break is filled, that character can use a special move unique to them. Sometimes they’re offensive, sometimes they’re supportive, it ultimately depends. And that innately is another fun back-and-forth! In most RPGs, you’d want to avoid as much damage as possible, to keep your health and defenses high. But in a way, Limit Breaks reward you from taking damage, especially since the amount of damage taken influences how much of the bar is filled. I also really love how characters can gain new limit breaks as they progress through the game. I’m deranged so I grinded them out as soon as possible for the characters I like, but I appreciate that you obtain most of the limit breaks generally naturally throughout the game.
And of course, how can I not talk about the Materia system. The Materia system is definitely quite complex, and I can’t deny that I don’t understand the ins and outs of it. However from my time with the game, I grew to absolutely love the Materia system. Being able to equip Materia on a character, level that Materia up, and being able to switch that Materia between characters while keeping its level is super nice. It allows for so much easy customization and builds you can properly make. I remember having this great offensive build with Tifa, and a really fun Summoner build with Yuffie. Though there’s even more than just this too. Almost every Materia increase or decrease certain stats, typically HP and MP. Certain Materia can effect other Materia, and equipment can determine how much Materia you have at a time, or how fast it grows. It’s absolutely absurd just how much customization can come from the Materia system alone.
And going off of how much customization comes from the Materia system, I want to talk about this game’s difficulty curve, cause I find it interesting. Though this obviously is a “no duh” type of statement, Final Fantasy VII’s difficulty is intrinsically connected to your engagement with the Materia system. I’d argue that I had a harder time with the last boss of Disc 1 than I did any boss at the end of Disc 2, or the final boss. In fact, I utterly destroyed the last few bosses of the game, while I had difficulty with the bosses in the early game. Obviously this isn’t a criticism of the game, and I absolutely loved being able to shred these bosses with these characters I’ve crafted. I’m just noting that Final Fantasy VII isn’t a difficult game if you understand what you’re doing with the Materia System.
Obviously one of the biggest aspects to why Final Fantasy VII is beloved the way it is is because of the story. And I mean, yet again, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? I mean, partially I don’t know what I can say. This game, yes, has been talked about to death so many times, but I always know there’s at least someone who may see this, and have never experienced this game’s story in any capacity. So even though there’s extremely well known scenes in the game, they’re also ones that I don’t want to spoil because of the previously mentioned possibility. But with what I can say, Final Fantasy VII’s story is absolutely beautiful. Sephiroth is an amazing villain, though I wouldn’t consider him my #1 Final Fantasy villain (don’t worry, he’s second place though). The main cast of Final Fantasy VII is also one of the strongest of the series. Properly replaying the game allowed me to better appreciate characters like Cait Sith and Red XIII. And of course while I wont explain in much detail, I find the themes of Final Fantasy VII to be really beautiful in a way, and the ending is absolutely amazing.
So, that leaves me to ask, why did I not get this game when I first played this game? With how much I absolutely loved my time with it during this replay, it makes me wonder what I missed in the game when I originally played. And I think I understand. As I had mentioned, my original playthrough of the game was through the Switch Port, which had options you could turn on to make the game ridiculously easy. Because of that, I never had to properly engage with the game’s systems or challenges, and that in itself removed parts of the game I would’ve enjoyed otherwise. Alongside that, because I was using those options, It never really felt like I earned the progress I was given. Now that I’ve played through the game normally, I have earned that progression, and it felt really good to actually succeed in the game’s challenges.
And through it all, I definitely think I get Final Fantasy VII now. Yet again, it’s one of the most influential RPGs of all time, and that’s probably never going to change. While it’s not particularly my favorite Final Fantasy, I still absolutely loved my time with this game. There’s so much I absolutely loved here, and I’m so glad I can truly appreciate this game for what it is. I definitely would argue that Final Fantasy VII is one of those games where it is a must play. Regardless of if you like RPGs or not, Final Fantasy VII is an extremely influential game in the entire gaming landscape, and it’s a really good one to boot. It deserves to play played not from just a gameplay perspective, but from a historical one as well.
The Active Time Battle system of Final Fantasy VII is amazing, though of course it’s not unique to VII. It was originally introduced in IV, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s a great sense of tension while you wait for your next turn to be available, hoping that an enemy doesn’t do something extremely bad, or kill one of your party members. However, while you wait for your next turn to be available, you’re able to strategize and think of what your next move is, as if the game designates this time for you to think. It’s a really fun back-and-forth that I don’t feel like Turn-Based or Real-Time Combat can emulate. The spells you can use have a MP requirement but also have a number of times you can use them during a battle, which I think is really neat. It means you can’t just repetitively use the same spell or summon over and over again, which provides a nice balance. As well, it reminds me of the Spell System in Final Fantasy III, which is something I really liked from that game. Fun little tidbit about my time with the game, I never knew how to run away from enemy encounters, if I even could. So I fought every enemy I came across.
Obviously one of the noticeable introductions found in Final Fantasy VII is Limit Breaks. Though Desperation Attacks were a thing in Final Fantasy VI, VII is the game where they’re more thoroughly implemented. In particular, Limit Break focuses on a specific meter that each character has, and that meter fills up as the character takes damage. Once the Limit Break is filled, that character can use a special move unique to them. Sometimes they’re offensive, sometimes they’re supportive, it ultimately depends. And that innately is another fun back-and-forth! In most RPGs, you’d want to avoid as much damage as possible, to keep your health and defenses high. But in a way, Limit Breaks reward you from taking damage, especially since the amount of damage taken influences how much of the bar is filled. I also really love how characters can gain new limit breaks as they progress through the game. I’m deranged so I grinded them out as soon as possible for the characters I like, but I appreciate that you obtain most of the limit breaks generally naturally throughout the game.
And of course, how can I not talk about the Materia system. The Materia system is definitely quite complex, and I can’t deny that I don’t understand the ins and outs of it. However from my time with the game, I grew to absolutely love the Materia system. Being able to equip Materia on a character, level that Materia up, and being able to switch that Materia between characters while keeping its level is super nice. It allows for so much easy customization and builds you can properly make. I remember having this great offensive build with Tifa, and a really fun Summoner build with Yuffie. Though there’s even more than just this too. Almost every Materia increase or decrease certain stats, typically HP and MP. Certain Materia can effect other Materia, and equipment can determine how much Materia you have at a time, or how fast it grows. It’s absolutely absurd just how much customization can come from the Materia system alone.
And going off of how much customization comes from the Materia system, I want to talk about this game’s difficulty curve, cause I find it interesting. Though this obviously is a “no duh” type of statement, Final Fantasy VII’s difficulty is intrinsically connected to your engagement with the Materia system. I’d argue that I had a harder time with the last boss of Disc 1 than I did any boss at the end of Disc 2, or the final boss. In fact, I utterly destroyed the last few bosses of the game, while I had difficulty with the bosses in the early game. Obviously this isn’t a criticism of the game, and I absolutely loved being able to shred these bosses with these characters I’ve crafted. I’m just noting that Final Fantasy VII isn’t a difficult game if you understand what you’re doing with the Materia System.
Obviously one of the biggest aspects to why Final Fantasy VII is beloved the way it is is because of the story. And I mean, yet again, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? I mean, partially I don’t know what I can say. This game, yes, has been talked about to death so many times, but I always know there’s at least someone who may see this, and have never experienced this game’s story in any capacity. So even though there’s extremely well known scenes in the game, they’re also ones that I don’t want to spoil because of the previously mentioned possibility. But with what I can say, Final Fantasy VII’s story is absolutely beautiful. Sephiroth is an amazing villain, though I wouldn’t consider him my #1 Final Fantasy villain (don’t worry, he’s second place though). The main cast of Final Fantasy VII is also one of the strongest of the series. Properly replaying the game allowed me to better appreciate characters like Cait Sith and Red XIII. And of course while I wont explain in much detail, I find the themes of Final Fantasy VII to be really beautiful in a way, and the ending is absolutely amazing.
So, that leaves me to ask, why did I not get this game when I first played this game? With how much I absolutely loved my time with it during this replay, it makes me wonder what I missed in the game when I originally played. And I think I understand. As I had mentioned, my original playthrough of the game was through the Switch Port, which had options you could turn on to make the game ridiculously easy. Because of that, I never had to properly engage with the game’s systems or challenges, and that in itself removed parts of the game I would’ve enjoyed otherwise. Alongside that, because I was using those options, It never really felt like I earned the progress I was given. Now that I’ve played through the game normally, I have earned that progression, and it felt really good to actually succeed in the game’s challenges.
And through it all, I definitely think I get Final Fantasy VII now. Yet again, it’s one of the most influential RPGs of all time, and that’s probably never going to change. While it’s not particularly my favorite Final Fantasy, I still absolutely loved my time with this game. There’s so much I absolutely loved here, and I’m so glad I can truly appreciate this game for what it is. I definitely would argue that Final Fantasy VII is one of those games where it is a must play. Regardless of if you like RPGs or not, Final Fantasy VII is an extremely influential game in the entire gaming landscape, and it’s a really good one to boot. It deserves to play played not from just a gameplay perspective, but from a historical one as well.
2015
I’m no stranger to Yakuza 0. I played the game about 2 years ago, and while I remember liking it, I also felt like I was missing something. Now, if you were to ask me what exactly that was, I couldn’t answer you. it’s been such a long time, and I forgot a lot of my original experience with the game. Though definitely part of it was due to me taking a massive break in the middle of the game. But as I’ve been wanting to go through the whole Yakuza series, I thought it would make perfect sense to replay Yakuza 0. Not only as a refresher, but to see if I could find whatever was I missed the first time I played the game. And I’d like to say that I did.
Honestly, where do I start when talking about Yakuza 0? This game is absolutely massive. There’s so much you can do, so many side quests and optional content, and that’s not even accounting for how great the main story and combat are. I bring up my difficulty to figure out what to start with to emphasize how strong this game is. Usually with games I have a general idea of how I structure these reviews, but Yakuza 0 has me stuck, uncertain of what to start with.
I suppose if anything, the most important thing to start with is the game’s actual combat. And believe me it is fun. Depending on what chapter you play, you’ll play as Kazuma Kiryu or Goro Majima, and both of them have their own unique playstyles in combat. Both of them have 3 unique fighting styles they can utilize, and all of them really fit in to their character and personality. Kiryu’s fighting styles are heavier, and you can feel the weight in all of his attacks. Majima on the other hand is more agile, and light, though of course his attacks do less damage than Kiryu’s. Particularly, I ended up using the Brawler Style with Kiryu, and the Breaker Style with Majima. I really like that you’re able to upgrade and gain new skills for these styles, though I definitely prioritized upgrading Health most of all, as I found that to be the most important thing. But how can I go this far into talking about the combat without mentioning the Heat Actions? Heat Actions are some of the coolest things in the game, and I love how you get different ones depending on multiple factors. Such as the location of the enemies, if the enemy is on the ground, what object you’re holding, what action the enemy is doing. All of these can impact what Heat Action you get, and it’s really cool seeing every animation. Mechanically, it’s just a powerful move, but the presentation makes Heat Actions just so damn cool.
Fighting regular enemies depends from situation to situation. I really like how they can randomly appear on the street, and you just stumble upon enemies. While it can definitely be a little inconvenient if I’m a hurry, it’s also pretty easy to just avoid them. In more scripted sequences, fighting regular enemies can be really fun, especially if its in one of those moments where you’re running through a location, and enemies appear as you do. I love how in specific areas, the props placed in the room get all knocked around by the combat, which is really fun to watch. If I have anything negative to say about the game’s combat, I hate the enemies with guns. I don’t know if this is just a skill issue on my part, but the enemies with guns are just really annoying.
Probably the best parts of the game for me are the boss fights. That’s when the spectacle goes all the way to 11. 1 one 1 fights are just really cool to me in general, and the settings they’re placed in are amazing. The boss fights are built up amazingly, and actually getting to fight each boss feels amazing. I think each boss fight gets better and better as the game continues. The last few bosses in the game are just, genuinely peak, and since I don’t want to spoil anything, I’ll keep myself from talking much more about it.
And of course in a similar vein, I’ll keep myself from talking too much about the story of the game as well. Though be assured, I absolutely loved it. The more I played the game, the more I thought “Kazuma Kiryu is so cool”, but obviously there’s more to the game than just that. This might just be me, but in the main story, I don’t think there are any poorly written characters. They’re all amazing to me, and seeing how they impact the story throughout the game is amazing. I love seeing how both Kiryu and Majima grow throughout the game, and seeing them interact with characters who want to help or hinder them is amazing as well. There’s a lot more I wish I could say about Yakuza 0’s story, but I don’t want to spoil any of it, so I’ll leave it there.
As I had mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of Side Content found within Yakuza 0. But I didn’t really do much of it, I’ll admit. From all I had done, which of course is the main story alongside some side content, I ended up only getting about 13% completion at the end of the game. And I’ll be completely honest, I’m content with what all I was able to do. I really have to compliment Yakuza 0 for how much side content the game has, but I cant see myself doing it all. I mean, I never touched the Real Estate or the Cabaret modes during the entire time I played. And the reason why is because I imagine I would get burnt out by it. It’s already daunting seeing that 23 hours amassed only 13 percent completion, and I don’t have as much free time as I used to, so I don’t want to spend all my available time on Yakuza 0. I did do a lot of the Karaoke and Disco though, as I found those to be fun and short breaks during the game. Yet again while it’s really nice that there’s so much side content to be found in Yakuza 0, I can’t see myself doing it all.
Now that I’ve properly replayed Yakuza 0, I can definitely say I found what I missed when I first played the game. What that is I still don’t know, but my appreciation for this game has only risen. There’s already so much to Yakuza 0 by itself, but knowing I have 7 more Yakuza games to play, that in itself is daunting. I’ll have to see what the other Yakuza games are like, but Yakuza 0 still is a great first impression for this series. Yakuza 0 is an amazing game all around, and I’m really glad I found got around to replaying it.
Honestly, where do I start when talking about Yakuza 0? This game is absolutely massive. There’s so much you can do, so many side quests and optional content, and that’s not even accounting for how great the main story and combat are. I bring up my difficulty to figure out what to start with to emphasize how strong this game is. Usually with games I have a general idea of how I structure these reviews, but Yakuza 0 has me stuck, uncertain of what to start with.
I suppose if anything, the most important thing to start with is the game’s actual combat. And believe me it is fun. Depending on what chapter you play, you’ll play as Kazuma Kiryu or Goro Majima, and both of them have their own unique playstyles in combat. Both of them have 3 unique fighting styles they can utilize, and all of them really fit in to their character and personality. Kiryu’s fighting styles are heavier, and you can feel the weight in all of his attacks. Majima on the other hand is more agile, and light, though of course his attacks do less damage than Kiryu’s. Particularly, I ended up using the Brawler Style with Kiryu, and the Breaker Style with Majima. I really like that you’re able to upgrade and gain new skills for these styles, though I definitely prioritized upgrading Health most of all, as I found that to be the most important thing. But how can I go this far into talking about the combat without mentioning the Heat Actions? Heat Actions are some of the coolest things in the game, and I love how you get different ones depending on multiple factors. Such as the location of the enemies, if the enemy is on the ground, what object you’re holding, what action the enemy is doing. All of these can impact what Heat Action you get, and it’s really cool seeing every animation. Mechanically, it’s just a powerful move, but the presentation makes Heat Actions just so damn cool.
Fighting regular enemies depends from situation to situation. I really like how they can randomly appear on the street, and you just stumble upon enemies. While it can definitely be a little inconvenient if I’m a hurry, it’s also pretty easy to just avoid them. In more scripted sequences, fighting regular enemies can be really fun, especially if its in one of those moments where you’re running through a location, and enemies appear as you do. I love how in specific areas, the props placed in the room get all knocked around by the combat, which is really fun to watch. If I have anything negative to say about the game’s combat, I hate the enemies with guns. I don’t know if this is just a skill issue on my part, but the enemies with guns are just really annoying.
Probably the best parts of the game for me are the boss fights. That’s when the spectacle goes all the way to 11. 1 one 1 fights are just really cool to me in general, and the settings they’re placed in are amazing. The boss fights are built up amazingly, and actually getting to fight each boss feels amazing. I think each boss fight gets better and better as the game continues. The last few bosses in the game are just, genuinely peak, and since I don’t want to spoil anything, I’ll keep myself from talking much more about it.
And of course in a similar vein, I’ll keep myself from talking too much about the story of the game as well. Though be assured, I absolutely loved it. The more I played the game, the more I thought “Kazuma Kiryu is so cool”, but obviously there’s more to the game than just that. This might just be me, but in the main story, I don’t think there are any poorly written characters. They’re all amazing to me, and seeing how they impact the story throughout the game is amazing. I love seeing how both Kiryu and Majima grow throughout the game, and seeing them interact with characters who want to help or hinder them is amazing as well. There’s a lot more I wish I could say about Yakuza 0’s story, but I don’t want to spoil any of it, so I’ll leave it there.
As I had mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of Side Content found within Yakuza 0. But I didn’t really do much of it, I’ll admit. From all I had done, which of course is the main story alongside some side content, I ended up only getting about 13% completion at the end of the game. And I’ll be completely honest, I’m content with what all I was able to do. I really have to compliment Yakuza 0 for how much side content the game has, but I cant see myself doing it all. I mean, I never touched the Real Estate or the Cabaret modes during the entire time I played. And the reason why is because I imagine I would get burnt out by it. It’s already daunting seeing that 23 hours amassed only 13 percent completion, and I don’t have as much free time as I used to, so I don’t want to spend all my available time on Yakuza 0. I did do a lot of the Karaoke and Disco though, as I found those to be fun and short breaks during the game. Yet again while it’s really nice that there’s so much side content to be found in Yakuza 0, I can’t see myself doing it all.
Now that I’ve properly replayed Yakuza 0, I can definitely say I found what I missed when I first played the game. What that is I still don’t know, but my appreciation for this game has only risen. There’s already so much to Yakuza 0 by itself, but knowing I have 7 more Yakuza games to play, that in itself is daunting. I’ll have to see what the other Yakuza games are like, but Yakuza 0 still is a great first impression for this series. Yakuza 0 is an amazing game all around, and I’m really glad I found got around to replaying it.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac was a game I played a bit over 2 years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with it. In part, it was definitely due to me discovering the game all on my own. Having that sense of discovery, finding the needle in the haystack, it's a rewarding feeling. But even then, the game is good in its own merit, though I do recognize some flaws the game has. Ive been meaning to replay it for quite some time now, and I finally got the motivation to do so. And I'm really glad I did, I was able to garner new insights that I never noticed before, both in the good and the bad. At the end of the day, I still really love this game, though its flaws are quite apparent.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is hard to describe without comparing it to its inspirations. And that's mainly because for a game as niche as this, it's best to give a general framework of what the game is like, and I think having that framework here would be helpful. In this regard, Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a game inspired by the Mario & Luigi series, which is mostly seen in the game's combat.
While I compared Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat to the Mario & Luigi games, it doesn't copy the game's combat system. I would say if anything, the game takes the ideas of the Mario & Luigi battle system, and takes its own direction with it. Much like Mario & Luigi, combat is done in Turn-Based Battles, and you can do action commands in order to improve your attacks, or defend from enemy attacks. Each character as well responds to a specific button, Virgo herself uses the A button, and the additional party members you obtain use B and X. However, where Virgo Versus the Zodiac changes things is how the game deals with countering enemies. In particular, one action you can do is to defend, which increases your Purity meter. This Purity meter acts a a shield, protecting your health from enemy attacks until its depleted. If an enemy attacks a character whose Purity meter isn't empty, and that character successfully defends the attack, the character is able to do a Counter Attack, which is determined by the equipment you choose. This means that it's possible for your characters to have 2, maybe even more actions per round of combat depending on the Purity and who the enemies attack. But another bit of strategy to keep in mind is that the reverse is also true, where enemies are able to counter your attacks if their Purity meter isn't empty either. And this all culminates into a really fun, engaging, but also at times challenging gameplay loop, and I really love it.
I mentioned it prior, but equipment is a major aspect of Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat as well. In the game, you have 8 equipment slots per character, 4 for main attacks, and 4 for counters. But each of the individual slots can only fit specific types of equipment, and each equipment grants you a specific attack per battle. Some attacks will only target enemies in the front row, some can target any enemy regardless of their position, some hit every enemy, and some are shield to defend yourself with, granting you Purity. There is much more to equipment as well, each increase and decrease certain stats, have additional bonuses, differ in recharge rate, can inflict foes with status effects, and vary in what kind of Action Command you need to do to get the best result. There's so much equipment to find in Virgo Versus the Zodiac, which allows for a high level of customization, which can make each run somewhat unique.
I apologize for comparing the game to the Mario and Luigi series here, but I think it important for this. In the Mario and Luigi games, each enemy has a "tell". Something in their animation in order to know how to react to them, and to counter their attacks. Virgo Versus the Zodiac also has a "tell" for every enemy, but instead of it being for what attack they're using and who its targeting, the "tell" is for what type of attack it is weak to. Particularly, Virgo Versus the Zodiac has a Rock-Paper-Scissors type system for its enemies, and you're able to tell what weakness an enemy has based on what color it is. Red enemies are weak to Green attacks, Green enemies are weak to Purple attacks, and Purple enemies are weak to Red attacks. I can definitely recognize that since I've played and beat this game 9 times now, I have this system ingrained in my head, but I imagine for first time played, it would be hard to memorize it, especially since the names of the types don't imply what their weaknesses are. Where this can be difficult too is that some enemies lean more towards Yellow, and some lean more towards Blue, so it's hard to really tell what their weakness is meant to be.
Though not a part of the combat system, something integral to the game that I heavily suggest investing time into is the game's crafting system. During the intermissions between each main chapter, and sometimes during the main chapters themselves, you're able to access the crafting system. Through the crafting system, you're able to either create new equipment, or upgrading your preexisting equipment. And believe me, upgrade your equipment. While you can find some already upgraded equipment throughout the game, it would be best to upgrade your equipment you're already using. Boss fights can turn from extremely deadly to a lot more manageable just by upgrading your equipment. I can't imagine doing it without upgrading your equipment at all.
At the start of most chapters, you're offered to play a small optional minigame. These are all bullet hells with 2 stages and then a boss, and as you would probably expect, each chapter increases the difficulty of these minigames. The Bullet Hell minigames in Virgo Versus the Zodiac aren't anything too complex. You have 3 normal attacks you can switch from, and 2 special attacks you can do if you have Purity built up (In this mode, Purity is a Special Meter). While I don't find myself to be too skilled at Bullet Hells, I really appreciate these minigames as short little breaks from the main game. And aside from that, you do get some nice rewards that help you upgrade equipment easier.
I don't really want to talk about Virgo Versus the Zodiac's story in much detail. That is mainly because a game as niche as this, I think it best for people to experience the story themselves, with as little knowledge as possible. That in mind though, i can definitely say the story may not be for everyone, though it is for me. It's very ambitious and I really commend the game for trying to have an ambitious story for what the game is. I don't think that it succeeds all the way, but for what the game is, the story is pretty good! The characters as well are charming in their own right, and really silly (I say that in a positive manner). I like how the game features "Zodiac Memories" as a way to see character interactions between character who would otherwise not interact outside of the main story.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac has 3 major endings, and how the endings play out is dependent on actions that you do during the first half of the game. I won't talk about what happens during the endings, but I think it's important to keep it in mind as I bring up my next point. Aside from those endings and one part in Chapter 5, the actual story of the game barely changes. And I think that in part is probably my biggest issue with Virgo Versus the Zodiac. Until the ending of the game, it feels like the choices barely mattered, and even then, going for all of the endings is really repetitive. Chapter 5 is not only one of the longest chapters, but also having to do it all 3 times with very little difference is a bit annoying to me. There's definitely an argument to make that I didn't need to go for all 3 endings, however a single play-through of the game took me about 7 hours, so I thought it reasonable that I should try for every ending. And hey, I've beaten this game 9 times now.
What was somewhat new for me was the recent addition of the playable Zodiac Memories, which was added about a month ago. I say somewhat new because I had actually played these before they came out, I helped QA test it! Yet again, it's really nice to see characters interact who, in the main story, would be unable to otherwise. I like how each of the playable Zodiac Memories have unique aspects to them, though I swear I really hated part of Libra's Zodiac Memory in particular. Then again, I'm not good at Chess. And I really appreciate how it shows areas that while we knew exist, were unable to visit during the main story of the game. Most Playable Zodiac Memories were probably 10-ish minutes in length, but they're quite nice for what they are. I do kinda wish they were a tad bit longer though.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is still a game I absolutely love. It's not a game for everyone, and I can definitely see why someone would not like this game. Though it has some noticeable flaws, I still ended my time loving the game. I haven't even mentioned the amazing soundtrack, or the great sprite art the game features either. I can't help but suggest Virgo Versus the Zodiac to anyone who is reading this. At base price, the game's only 20 bucks which is a pretty good deal, and like. I need people to talk to about this game, no one I know has played it yet.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is hard to describe without comparing it to its inspirations. And that's mainly because for a game as niche as this, it's best to give a general framework of what the game is like, and I think having that framework here would be helpful. In this regard, Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a game inspired by the Mario & Luigi series, which is mostly seen in the game's combat.
While I compared Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat to the Mario & Luigi games, it doesn't copy the game's combat system. I would say if anything, the game takes the ideas of the Mario & Luigi battle system, and takes its own direction with it. Much like Mario & Luigi, combat is done in Turn-Based Battles, and you can do action commands in order to improve your attacks, or defend from enemy attacks. Each character as well responds to a specific button, Virgo herself uses the A button, and the additional party members you obtain use B and X. However, where Virgo Versus the Zodiac changes things is how the game deals with countering enemies. In particular, one action you can do is to defend, which increases your Purity meter. This Purity meter acts a a shield, protecting your health from enemy attacks until its depleted. If an enemy attacks a character whose Purity meter isn't empty, and that character successfully defends the attack, the character is able to do a Counter Attack, which is determined by the equipment you choose. This means that it's possible for your characters to have 2, maybe even more actions per round of combat depending on the Purity and who the enemies attack. But another bit of strategy to keep in mind is that the reverse is also true, where enemies are able to counter your attacks if their Purity meter isn't empty either. And this all culminates into a really fun, engaging, but also at times challenging gameplay loop, and I really love it.
I mentioned it prior, but equipment is a major aspect of Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat as well. In the game, you have 8 equipment slots per character, 4 for main attacks, and 4 for counters. But each of the individual slots can only fit specific types of equipment, and each equipment grants you a specific attack per battle. Some attacks will only target enemies in the front row, some can target any enemy regardless of their position, some hit every enemy, and some are shield to defend yourself with, granting you Purity. There is much more to equipment as well, each increase and decrease certain stats, have additional bonuses, differ in recharge rate, can inflict foes with status effects, and vary in what kind of Action Command you need to do to get the best result. There's so much equipment to find in Virgo Versus the Zodiac, which allows for a high level of customization, which can make each run somewhat unique.
I apologize for comparing the game to the Mario and Luigi series here, but I think it important for this. In the Mario and Luigi games, each enemy has a "tell". Something in their animation in order to know how to react to them, and to counter their attacks. Virgo Versus the Zodiac also has a "tell" for every enemy, but instead of it being for what attack they're using and who its targeting, the "tell" is for what type of attack it is weak to. Particularly, Virgo Versus the Zodiac has a Rock-Paper-Scissors type system for its enemies, and you're able to tell what weakness an enemy has based on what color it is. Red enemies are weak to Green attacks, Green enemies are weak to Purple attacks, and Purple enemies are weak to Red attacks. I can definitely recognize that since I've played and beat this game 9 times now, I have this system ingrained in my head, but I imagine for first time played, it would be hard to memorize it, especially since the names of the types don't imply what their weaknesses are. Where this can be difficult too is that some enemies lean more towards Yellow, and some lean more towards Blue, so it's hard to really tell what their weakness is meant to be.
Though not a part of the combat system, something integral to the game that I heavily suggest investing time into is the game's crafting system. During the intermissions between each main chapter, and sometimes during the main chapters themselves, you're able to access the crafting system. Through the crafting system, you're able to either create new equipment, or upgrading your preexisting equipment. And believe me, upgrade your equipment. While you can find some already upgraded equipment throughout the game, it would be best to upgrade your equipment you're already using. Boss fights can turn from extremely deadly to a lot more manageable just by upgrading your equipment. I can't imagine doing it without upgrading your equipment at all.
At the start of most chapters, you're offered to play a small optional minigame. These are all bullet hells with 2 stages and then a boss, and as you would probably expect, each chapter increases the difficulty of these minigames. The Bullet Hell minigames in Virgo Versus the Zodiac aren't anything too complex. You have 3 normal attacks you can switch from, and 2 special attacks you can do if you have Purity built up (In this mode, Purity is a Special Meter). While I don't find myself to be too skilled at Bullet Hells, I really appreciate these minigames as short little breaks from the main game. And aside from that, you do get some nice rewards that help you upgrade equipment easier.
I don't really want to talk about Virgo Versus the Zodiac's story in much detail. That is mainly because a game as niche as this, I think it best for people to experience the story themselves, with as little knowledge as possible. That in mind though, i can definitely say the story may not be for everyone, though it is for me. It's very ambitious and I really commend the game for trying to have an ambitious story for what the game is. I don't think that it succeeds all the way, but for what the game is, the story is pretty good! The characters as well are charming in their own right, and really silly (I say that in a positive manner). I like how the game features "Zodiac Memories" as a way to see character interactions between character who would otherwise not interact outside of the main story.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac has 3 major endings, and how the endings play out is dependent on actions that you do during the first half of the game. I won't talk about what happens during the endings, but I think it's important to keep it in mind as I bring up my next point. Aside from those endings and one part in Chapter 5, the actual story of the game barely changes. And I think that in part is probably my biggest issue with Virgo Versus the Zodiac. Until the ending of the game, it feels like the choices barely mattered, and even then, going for all of the endings is really repetitive. Chapter 5 is not only one of the longest chapters, but also having to do it all 3 times with very little difference is a bit annoying to me. There's definitely an argument to make that I didn't need to go for all 3 endings, however a single play-through of the game took me about 7 hours, so I thought it reasonable that I should try for every ending. And hey, I've beaten this game 9 times now.
What was somewhat new for me was the recent addition of the playable Zodiac Memories, which was added about a month ago. I say somewhat new because I had actually played these before they came out, I helped QA test it! Yet again, it's really nice to see characters interact who, in the main story, would be unable to otherwise. I like how each of the playable Zodiac Memories have unique aspects to them, though I swear I really hated part of Libra's Zodiac Memory in particular. Then again, I'm not good at Chess. And I really appreciate how it shows areas that while we knew exist, were unable to visit during the main story of the game. Most Playable Zodiac Memories were probably 10-ish minutes in length, but they're quite nice for what they are. I do kinda wish they were a tad bit longer though.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is still a game I absolutely love. It's not a game for everyone, and I can definitely see why someone would not like this game. Though it has some noticeable flaws, I still ended my time loving the game. I haven't even mentioned the amazing soundtrack, or the great sprite art the game features either. I can't help but suggest Virgo Versus the Zodiac to anyone who is reading this. At base price, the game's only 20 bucks which is a pretty good deal, and like. I need people to talk to about this game, no one I know has played it yet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have its massive slew of issues. A lot of bugs, performance issues, and just a lot of other things that keep them from being as good as they could be. Even then, I thought Scarlet and Violet were pretty solid games aside from their issues, with great story, music, and characters. This is to say, of course, my autistic ass was assuredly going to play the DLC, Pokemon has been a major part of my life, and it won't stop yet. Overall though, much like the base game, it still contains some issues that I can't neglect.
Especially since this DLC released only a couple days ago, I'm not going to talk about the story in much detail. But it's a pretty nice story all things considered. It's not the most complicated, but through that less complication, there's some fun antics to be seen in it. And at the same time, I really like the new characters they introduced, and I'm curious to see how they continue in the second half of the Expansion. The ending to the main story of The Teal Mask, and a specific fight in it was super cool to me, and was probably the highlight of the DLC I was say.
Kitakami obviously isn't as large as Paldea, and that's to be expected for a DLC Expansion, and ultimately I feel mixed on it. When you're in an actual named location like a forest or a mountainous path, there's some really nice stuff to be seen! But there's also just really empty spaces at the same time, and while I get that they're meant to be "Kitakami Wastes", I wish that there was ultimately less of what felt like empty space. Especially cause the places that are filled are really neat locations.
The new pokemon introduced in the DLC are cute. I love Ogerpon, I think it's a silly pokemon, especially as seen through playing the DLC. The other legendaries I don't really have a strong opinion overall, but their names are really silly, I can't get over Okidogi particularly. And the couple additional pokemon they introduce are really nice, but I'm uncertain if those were the pokemon they needed to spotlight first.
But god, the one thing that kept me from really enjoying the DLC to the fullest was the performance. I may be worse than the base game's performance issues. The game had frame drops so often, both in docked and handheld mode. I remember a time where the game just freezed for a couple seconds, and I was worried the game had crashed. While I'm fine with the occasional frame dip, it was so bad here. And I'd argue even more inexcusable here than in base game. Though keep in mind, I don't blame Game Freak for this, as yearly release schedule for games with this much ambition behind them is bound for issues like this.
Yet again, I found the Teal Mask DLC to be quite nice. Though until I see what the Indigo Disk DLC offers, I don't think it's worth the $35 dollar price tag just yet. It's nice for what it is, with a good story, characters, and pokemon. But since this is only half of the total, the quality of the other half will determine its overall worth.
Especially since this DLC released only a couple days ago, I'm not going to talk about the story in much detail. But it's a pretty nice story all things considered. It's not the most complicated, but through that less complication, there's some fun antics to be seen in it. And at the same time, I really like the new characters they introduced, and I'm curious to see how they continue in the second half of the Expansion. The ending to the main story of The Teal Mask, and a specific fight in it was super cool to me, and was probably the highlight of the DLC I was say.
Kitakami obviously isn't as large as Paldea, and that's to be expected for a DLC Expansion, and ultimately I feel mixed on it. When you're in an actual named location like a forest or a mountainous path, there's some really nice stuff to be seen! But there's also just really empty spaces at the same time, and while I get that they're meant to be "Kitakami Wastes", I wish that there was ultimately less of what felt like empty space. Especially cause the places that are filled are really neat locations.
The new pokemon introduced in the DLC are cute. I love Ogerpon, I think it's a silly pokemon, especially as seen through playing the DLC. The other legendaries I don't really have a strong opinion overall, but their names are really silly, I can't get over Okidogi particularly. And the couple additional pokemon they introduce are really nice, but I'm uncertain if those were the pokemon they needed to spotlight first.
But god, the one thing that kept me from really enjoying the DLC to the fullest was the performance. I may be worse than the base game's performance issues. The game had frame drops so often, both in docked and handheld mode. I remember a time where the game just freezed for a couple seconds, and I was worried the game had crashed. While I'm fine with the occasional frame dip, it was so bad here. And I'd argue even more inexcusable here than in base game. Though keep in mind, I don't blame Game Freak for this, as yearly release schedule for games with this much ambition behind them is bound for issues like this.
Yet again, I found the Teal Mask DLC to be quite nice. Though until I see what the Indigo Disk DLC offers, I don't think it's worth the $35 dollar price tag just yet. It's nice for what it is, with a good story, characters, and pokemon. But since this is only half of the total, the quality of the other half will determine its overall worth.
Most of my general reference for Fire Emblem comes from the current era of the games. My first game was Awakening, and I've played every game since. Fire Emblem was the series that helped me get out of my Pokemon shell, as before I got Fire Emblem Awakening, I religiously only played Pokemon games. This is to point and laugh at my past self here, as I really don't know why it took me this long to play the older Fire Emblem games. And I only started FE7 cause it was on NSO, and I was like "sure, why not?". It's a bit comedic to me how the first classic Fire Emblem game I played was the first one released in the west. And I do really think playing this game was worth it.
It's definitely a bit odd going from the more streamlined gameplay of the modern Fire Emblem games, to the more complex gameplay in the classic games, but I really loved it. Definitely one of the biggest things that I needed to get accustomed to was the lack of grinding options. I'm used to being able to grind enemies that spawn in the overworld like in Awakening or Shadows of Valentia, but the lack of those options here makes things really interesting. There's a really interesting level of strategy when you have to think "oh, which unit deserves the XP from this battle the most?". Experience being a resource you need to manage on top of everything else is such an interesting thing to me, and by the end of the game, I really appreciated it.
And in a similar vein to XP management, another resource that needs to be managed are the weapons. Each weapon has its own durability, and though some modern Fire Emblem games also had weapon durability, they also had reliable ways of re-obtaining lost weapons. And of course, The Blazing Blade doesn't do that. Managing your inventory, and the durability of your weapons continues to strategize which characters you should use, and I really love it. The game definitely allows you to prepare for certain difficult challenges, but obviously not all of them.
Now to the actual characters themselves, I really like the classes of the characters you can obtain through the game. Ultimately I think the class I used the lease was the Knights, but aside from them, I used a lot of the other ones. I really like how there's different types of magic users, each having a unique type of magic. In fact, there being a magic weapon triangle is super refreshing, especially since most magic in the modern Fire Emblem games are quite simple in comparison. I definitely found Canas, who was my Druid one of the absolute best units in the entire game, he was able to destroy some of the endgame bosses and it was so worth it. Archers were also just surprisingly good for me, and though obtaining early in the game, I brought Rebecca all the way to the final chapter and she was always useful. Though I may be biased, I overall found Lyn the best of the 3 lords to use, her crit chance was absurd.
I love how classes promote in Fire Emblem games, getting special items in order to promote a character's class is really fun, especially with the upgrades that the character gets. What I didn't know going in was that there were unique promotion items for different classes, and yet again, that makes management much more interesting. For example, one of the rank up items is the Guiding Ring, which can promote Clerics, Troubadours, Mages, Monks, and Shamans. I could have promoted any of my offensive magic users at the time, but promotion items are rare, and so I saved my Guiding Ring so I could upgrade my Troubadour, Priscilla, so that she can be a better healer, while also gaining offensive magic options. And, I dont know, I think that sort of strategy is really interesting.
Now, to the actual maps and levels of The Blazing Blade, I'm a bit uncertain about how I feel on them. They're not bad by any means, and when they're good, god are they good. I definitely was shaped by my experience playing the game. I was an extreme perfectionist, and I didn't want any of my units dying. That means constantly redoing things in order to get the outcome that would keep everyone alive. It made a lot of the strategy really interesting, trying to find the best possible outcome, but I definitely feel like I was cheesing it at times. The Fog of War I'm not certain I like, though I think if the visibility changed before your unit ends it action, I would've been fine with it. But I really love how the maps in The Blazing Blade have varying goals to them. A lot of modern Fire Emblem I found was either "beat ALL the enemies" or "beat this one guy". And of course while The Blazing Blade has those wind conditions, there's more as well. Seizing a specific location, talking to a guy, and absolutely my favorite one, the survive levels. Surviving for a set number of turns entirely puts things on its head, and provides for some really interesting strategy that other levels don't have to me. And they ultimately were my favorite chapters whenever one appeared.
The one thing I feel mixed on, I would say are the Bosses in The Blazing Blade. Though I'll say at the same time, I feel like I might've just not have understood things. Bosses in The Blazing Blade definitely fluctuate in difficulty throughout the game. Some bosses are really tough, and you have to whittle them down while they nearly kill a unit every turn, while some are super easy to beat. One example being that the boss in Chapter 27 was way harder for me than the bosses in Chapters 29 and 30. I have to ask, did I miss something, or does the difficulty just fluctuate like that?
The Blazing Blade has a great story I feel. It's definitely not complex by any means, but through that lesser complexity, the story itself is far more polished and the world of Elibe feels far more alive. A lot of the modern Fire Emblem games have serious issues with their stories and their worlds, so going to this one feels far more refreshing to me. Elibe feels lived in, and stuff is able to occur without the hands of the main cast, though the main cast does witness some of it. I also really love the main trio of Lords, I find that they're able to play off each other really well. I wasn't able to see many of the supports, due to not knowing how to get them, but I really got attached to the allies I gained throughout the game. Some of my favorites were definitely Canas, Rebecca, Jaffar, and Erk. I really loved the Black Fang as a set of villains, and having them be major players throughout the entire game is so nice. I love villains who have a presence.
I'm just really glad I was able to finally play a classic Fire Emblem game. I've been meaning to for a long time now, and thanks to a impulse decision, I did exactly that. While I don't want to play another Fire Emblem game immediately, I really do want to play more of the classic games, as I think I'm starting to understand them. I'm debating between Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance at the moment. That aside though, I'm not 100% certain if The Blazing Blade was the best to introduce me to the classic Fire Emblem games, but hey, it's too late to change that. I really did love it though.
It's definitely a bit odd going from the more streamlined gameplay of the modern Fire Emblem games, to the more complex gameplay in the classic games, but I really loved it. Definitely one of the biggest things that I needed to get accustomed to was the lack of grinding options. I'm used to being able to grind enemies that spawn in the overworld like in Awakening or Shadows of Valentia, but the lack of those options here makes things really interesting. There's a really interesting level of strategy when you have to think "oh, which unit deserves the XP from this battle the most?". Experience being a resource you need to manage on top of everything else is such an interesting thing to me, and by the end of the game, I really appreciated it.
And in a similar vein to XP management, another resource that needs to be managed are the weapons. Each weapon has its own durability, and though some modern Fire Emblem games also had weapon durability, they also had reliable ways of re-obtaining lost weapons. And of course, The Blazing Blade doesn't do that. Managing your inventory, and the durability of your weapons continues to strategize which characters you should use, and I really love it. The game definitely allows you to prepare for certain difficult challenges, but obviously not all of them.
Now to the actual characters themselves, I really like the classes of the characters you can obtain through the game. Ultimately I think the class I used the lease was the Knights, but aside from them, I used a lot of the other ones. I really like how there's different types of magic users, each having a unique type of magic. In fact, there being a magic weapon triangle is super refreshing, especially since most magic in the modern Fire Emblem games are quite simple in comparison. I definitely found Canas, who was my Druid one of the absolute best units in the entire game, he was able to destroy some of the endgame bosses and it was so worth it. Archers were also just surprisingly good for me, and though obtaining early in the game, I brought Rebecca all the way to the final chapter and she was always useful. Though I may be biased, I overall found Lyn the best of the 3 lords to use, her crit chance was absurd.
I love how classes promote in Fire Emblem games, getting special items in order to promote a character's class is really fun, especially with the upgrades that the character gets. What I didn't know going in was that there were unique promotion items for different classes, and yet again, that makes management much more interesting. For example, one of the rank up items is the Guiding Ring, which can promote Clerics, Troubadours, Mages, Monks, and Shamans. I could have promoted any of my offensive magic users at the time, but promotion items are rare, and so I saved my Guiding Ring so I could upgrade my Troubadour, Priscilla, so that she can be a better healer, while also gaining offensive magic options. And, I dont know, I think that sort of strategy is really interesting.
Now, to the actual maps and levels of The Blazing Blade, I'm a bit uncertain about how I feel on them. They're not bad by any means, and when they're good, god are they good. I definitely was shaped by my experience playing the game. I was an extreme perfectionist, and I didn't want any of my units dying. That means constantly redoing things in order to get the outcome that would keep everyone alive. It made a lot of the strategy really interesting, trying to find the best possible outcome, but I definitely feel like I was cheesing it at times. The Fog of War I'm not certain I like, though I think if the visibility changed before your unit ends it action, I would've been fine with it. But I really love how the maps in The Blazing Blade have varying goals to them. A lot of modern Fire Emblem I found was either "beat ALL the enemies" or "beat this one guy". And of course while The Blazing Blade has those wind conditions, there's more as well. Seizing a specific location, talking to a guy, and absolutely my favorite one, the survive levels. Surviving for a set number of turns entirely puts things on its head, and provides for some really interesting strategy that other levels don't have to me. And they ultimately were my favorite chapters whenever one appeared.
The one thing I feel mixed on, I would say are the Bosses in The Blazing Blade. Though I'll say at the same time, I feel like I might've just not have understood things. Bosses in The Blazing Blade definitely fluctuate in difficulty throughout the game. Some bosses are really tough, and you have to whittle them down while they nearly kill a unit every turn, while some are super easy to beat. One example being that the boss in Chapter 27 was way harder for me than the bosses in Chapters 29 and 30. I have to ask, did I miss something, or does the difficulty just fluctuate like that?
The Blazing Blade has a great story I feel. It's definitely not complex by any means, but through that lesser complexity, the story itself is far more polished and the world of Elibe feels far more alive. A lot of the modern Fire Emblem games have serious issues with their stories and their worlds, so going to this one feels far more refreshing to me. Elibe feels lived in, and stuff is able to occur without the hands of the main cast, though the main cast does witness some of it. I also really love the main trio of Lords, I find that they're able to play off each other really well. I wasn't able to see many of the supports, due to not knowing how to get them, but I really got attached to the allies I gained throughout the game. Some of my favorites were definitely Canas, Rebecca, Jaffar, and Erk. I really loved the Black Fang as a set of villains, and having them be major players throughout the entire game is so nice. I love villains who have a presence.
I'm just really glad I was able to finally play a classic Fire Emblem game. I've been meaning to for a long time now, and thanks to a impulse decision, I did exactly that. While I don't want to play another Fire Emblem game immediately, I really do want to play more of the classic games, as I think I'm starting to understand them. I'm debating between Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance at the moment. That aside though, I'm not 100% certain if The Blazing Blade was the best to introduce me to the classic Fire Emblem games, but hey, it's too late to change that. I really did love it though.
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are some interesting games I feel. They’re among a small set of Pokemon games where I just question why anyone would choose to play them in particular. Not because the games are bad by any means, but because there’s clear and better versions of the Hoenn games out there, and it makes me wonder why one would chose Ruby and Sapphire in particular. While I played Pokemon Sapphire specifically, I will be talking about both Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire for the sake of this review, cause they’re both nearly the same.
Generation 3 as a whole was a major step forward for Pokemon. The introduction of abilities created a distinct change of style for Pokemon going forward, as now all Pokemon had unique abilities that can impact battle. Some Pokemon were immune to things such as flinching, or evasion drops. Some Pokemon can lower the opponent’s attack at the start of battle, and other can be immune to specific types. Generation 3 also was the generation that introduced Double Battles to the game, and it’s something that’s been a staple ever since. All the way to the point that Double Battles became the standard for official Pokemon Tournaments, and I think it’s something important to note. And while I never did any, Generation 3 introduced Contests, which was a fun optional side mode you can do, and I appreciate it.
Now to Ruby and Sapphire itself, as I said prior, I wonder why people would choose these games over any other version of Hoenn. Emerald and ORAS are both upgraded versions of Ruby and Sapphire, and unfortunately, that makes the original Ruby and Sapphire lacking in comparison, especially since I’ve played those before Ruby and Sapphire. Though saying that, I still believe that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are good games, they’re just not as good as their alternate versions. I feel like I’m biased here though, when I played Emerald a bit over a year ago, I absolutely fell in love with it, and it became my preferred version of Hoenn. Now going to Ruby and Sapphire, it still has a lot of what I love about Hoenn, but some parts of it did not feel as good.
Particularly, I think about the Gyms. While the Gym layouts are the same, I feel as if Emerald gave the Gym Leaders better, and overall more interesting teams. It feels wrong for Brawly not to have a Meditite, or Flannery to not have a Camerupt. Norman’s team isn’t as interesting in Ruby and Sapphire, 2 Slaking and a Vigoroth is fine and all, but I love how in Emerald he still has a Slaking, but now has other Pokemon, like Spinda and Zangoose. I really don’t like Tate and Liza in Ruby and Sapphire particularly, they only have 2 pokemon, Solrock and Lunatone, and for being the 7th gym overall, they’re way too easy. While the Gym Leader teams in Ruby and Sapphire are fine, I much prefer them in Emerald overall.
I feel as if Generation 3 was the start of Pokemon really trying to incorporate more story into their games, and of course that starts with Ruby and Sapphire. I really like how Team Magma and Team Aqua play in the games, and how their roles are swapped depending on what version you play. I definitely think after ORAS, going back to the original designs for Archie and Maxie is a bit off, as I think ORAS had the better character designs overall. However I also really like how the legendary Pokemon are incorporated into the story, as they’re tools trying to be awoken by the villainous team of the game. I believe this is the first time that legendary Pokemon were integral to the main story itself. Team Magma and Team Aqua are some of the most memorable of the villainous teams, and though I believe a lot of the later ones are better than them, I think they still deserve that recognition.
I really enjoyed my time playing through and exploring the whole of Hoenn. My team consisted of Swampert, Breloom, Gardevoir, Sableye, Camerupt, and Altaria, and it was probably one of the best teams I’ve ever crafted in a Pokemon game. There’s something about the early Pokemon games where it’s easier to get attached and form bonds with your Pokemon, probably due to spending a lot of time training. I think Hoenn itself is a really good region as well. I get the whole “haha too much water” joke, and yeah, a lot of Hoenn consists of water routes. However that’s also just because Hoenn is a more tropical location, thus, it’s going to have a lot of water. I love how there’s a lot of side paths in Hoenn, being able to find and just explore in areas that you never have to go. One of my favorite areas in the entire game is the route below Mt Pyre that’s completely optional, and there’s such an appeal to me just going somewhere you don’t need to. This goes to a lot of the ocean in Hoenn as well, Pacifidlog Town and the Abandoned Ship are some of my favorite locations in all of Pokemon, and yet again, you never need to go to them. Getting lost in games is something I absolutely adore, and just being able to explore through Hoenn in Ruby and Sapphire is really nice.
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are still at the end of the day, great Pokemon games. I mean, it’s hard to make a Pokemon game bad, even if there’s issues with the game, the general structure of a Pokemon game is really appealing. But that’s to say that I still think at the end of the day, I’d rather playing Emerald or ORAS over these games, and I think that’s unfortunate because, yet again, these games themselves aren’t bad. It’s just that Emerald and ORAS are just better versions of these games. It was quite nice to play these games though, and I did enjoy my time with it.
Generation 3 as a whole was a major step forward for Pokemon. The introduction of abilities created a distinct change of style for Pokemon going forward, as now all Pokemon had unique abilities that can impact battle. Some Pokemon were immune to things such as flinching, or evasion drops. Some Pokemon can lower the opponent’s attack at the start of battle, and other can be immune to specific types. Generation 3 also was the generation that introduced Double Battles to the game, and it’s something that’s been a staple ever since. All the way to the point that Double Battles became the standard for official Pokemon Tournaments, and I think it’s something important to note. And while I never did any, Generation 3 introduced Contests, which was a fun optional side mode you can do, and I appreciate it.
Now to Ruby and Sapphire itself, as I said prior, I wonder why people would choose these games over any other version of Hoenn. Emerald and ORAS are both upgraded versions of Ruby and Sapphire, and unfortunately, that makes the original Ruby and Sapphire lacking in comparison, especially since I’ve played those before Ruby and Sapphire. Though saying that, I still believe that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are good games, they’re just not as good as their alternate versions. I feel like I’m biased here though, when I played Emerald a bit over a year ago, I absolutely fell in love with it, and it became my preferred version of Hoenn. Now going to Ruby and Sapphire, it still has a lot of what I love about Hoenn, but some parts of it did not feel as good.
Particularly, I think about the Gyms. While the Gym layouts are the same, I feel as if Emerald gave the Gym Leaders better, and overall more interesting teams. It feels wrong for Brawly not to have a Meditite, or Flannery to not have a Camerupt. Norman’s team isn’t as interesting in Ruby and Sapphire, 2 Slaking and a Vigoroth is fine and all, but I love how in Emerald he still has a Slaking, but now has other Pokemon, like Spinda and Zangoose. I really don’t like Tate and Liza in Ruby and Sapphire particularly, they only have 2 pokemon, Solrock and Lunatone, and for being the 7th gym overall, they’re way too easy. While the Gym Leader teams in Ruby and Sapphire are fine, I much prefer them in Emerald overall.
I feel as if Generation 3 was the start of Pokemon really trying to incorporate more story into their games, and of course that starts with Ruby and Sapphire. I really like how Team Magma and Team Aqua play in the games, and how their roles are swapped depending on what version you play. I definitely think after ORAS, going back to the original designs for Archie and Maxie is a bit off, as I think ORAS had the better character designs overall. However I also really like how the legendary Pokemon are incorporated into the story, as they’re tools trying to be awoken by the villainous team of the game. I believe this is the first time that legendary Pokemon were integral to the main story itself. Team Magma and Team Aqua are some of the most memorable of the villainous teams, and though I believe a lot of the later ones are better than them, I think they still deserve that recognition.
I really enjoyed my time playing through and exploring the whole of Hoenn. My team consisted of Swampert, Breloom, Gardevoir, Sableye, Camerupt, and Altaria, and it was probably one of the best teams I’ve ever crafted in a Pokemon game. There’s something about the early Pokemon games where it’s easier to get attached and form bonds with your Pokemon, probably due to spending a lot of time training. I think Hoenn itself is a really good region as well. I get the whole “haha too much water” joke, and yeah, a lot of Hoenn consists of water routes. However that’s also just because Hoenn is a more tropical location, thus, it’s going to have a lot of water. I love how there’s a lot of side paths in Hoenn, being able to find and just explore in areas that you never have to go. One of my favorite areas in the entire game is the route below Mt Pyre that’s completely optional, and there’s such an appeal to me just going somewhere you don’t need to. This goes to a lot of the ocean in Hoenn as well, Pacifidlog Town and the Abandoned Ship are some of my favorite locations in all of Pokemon, and yet again, you never need to go to them. Getting lost in games is something I absolutely adore, and just being able to explore through Hoenn in Ruby and Sapphire is really nice.
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are still at the end of the day, great Pokemon games. I mean, it’s hard to make a Pokemon game bad, even if there’s issues with the game, the general structure of a Pokemon game is really appealing. But that’s to say that I still think at the end of the day, I’d rather playing Emerald or ORAS over these games, and I think that’s unfortunate because, yet again, these games themselves aren’t bad. It’s just that Emerald and ORAS are just better versions of these games. It was quite nice to play these games though, and I did enjoy my time with it.
Sundered is an odd game to me. While it’s somewhat unlike other games of its kind, it ended up being the game that got me into Metroidvanias as a genre. Though, that may have been due to being in the right place at the right time. I was unable to go outside due to certain events, and I had only recently gotten my wisdom teeth to do, and Sundered ended up being the game that dulled both the pain and the boredom. For the longest time since then, I’ve been meaning to give the game a good replay, and while this game definitely had some rough patches, I still ultimately enjoyed the game.
I’m a bit biased towards some parts of Sundered already. I love cosmic horror, and a game inspired by Lovecraftian Mythos is already up my alley. And in the other hand, I absolutely adore hand drawn 2D sprites, and Sundered has that galore. But that aside, to the gameplay itself, it’s a different matter.
Exploring the world of Sundered is interesting, as the game attempts to combine Metroidvanias with Roguelikes. And to be honest, I don’t really think it works. It’s a fun novelty at first, having areas rearrange themselves every time you die, but since that is the only punishment upon death, it kind of just became a nuisance. While I think the randomly generated rooms didn’t look bad, it got to a point where they all felt quite same-y. I think it important to note that because the rooms that don’t randomize each run are absolutely gorgeous in comparison.
Because of how Sundered attempts to be both a Metroidvania and a Roguelike, enemies aren’t placed naturally throughout the world. Instead, they swarm you, which seem to happen at random intervals. While early on in the game, they were kind of fun, most enemies were rather simple, and it wasn’t too difficult to get through the swarms. But as you progress through the game, they just ultimately become another annoyance. Late game enemies, like the Cultists especially are rather annoying to deal with. Whenever swarms occur, the Cultists can create walls in your path, and attack you regardless of how far away it is. Those enemies, alongside the countless others that appear in swarms overwhelm the player, and I know at times I had no idea what I was doing. I do think a natural placement of enemies would’ve made things a lot better, instead of swarms.
Sundered is definitely a game where you’re meant to die, a lot. Every time you die, you go back to the main hub where probably the most important piece of the game is, the Skill Tree. The Skill Tree is the lifeblood you should rely on in this game, as this is how you increase your stats, and gain new skills that can be helpful to you. And trust me here, The Skill Tree is necessary, late game bosses will absolutely decimate you if you don’t invest in it at all.
And speaking of bosses, the game only has 5 bosses total, alongside 9 mini-bosses. While not a lot, the game is already quite short, so it’s rather fair I’d say. With that though, the main bosses are pretty simple to fight, they have weak spots on their body, and you just attack them. Most of the attacks you’ll have to worry about are projectiles, which you can either dodge, or destroy them if you get a specific skill. Now, what makes the main bosses rather cool to me is the general sense of scale, as they absolutely tower over you, the player. It makes you feel small, which I find a cool feeling to have in a boss fight, though about half of them are pretty easy. The main boss of the third area, and whichever final boss you get are noticeably a lot harder, and I’d argue that they’re not perfectly designed. In particular with the main boss of the third area, it’s hard to see where the player is due to so much happening on screen.
Now, as this is a Metroidvania, one of the big things are the abilities you unlock as you progress through the game, and I do think Sundered’s abilities that you can get through the game are really good. They’re not anything too crazy in concept, but how they’re executed is super nice. The game feels very momentum-forward, a roll on the ground could lead your jump to go much farther, allowing for more overall airtime. This goes into the wall-jumps as well, when you’re able to chain your jumps together smoothly, it feels amazing. It was obvious to me that some abilities were better than others, there was this charge attack that was situational at best, for example. However so much of the movement abilities felt really good together.
One of Sundered’s most interesting aspects, though not unique to it, is its morality system through the Eldritch Shards. As you play through the game, you can find Eldritch Shard Pieces by beating Mini-Bosses, or exploring the map, while you can find whole Eldritch Shards by beating area bosses. What you do with these Shards, either using them or destroying them, can impact your run, and determine what ending you get. Destroying them gives you new skills on the skill tree, while using them enhances your abilities in some way. And with that comes an interesting double edged sword. Using the Eldritch Shards to enhance your abilities is objectively better. Not only do these upgraded abilities feel good, but these enhancements given you so many more options with moving around the world. But at the same time, it’s very much a point of the game that using the shards will lead to a bad ending. It makes thematical sense to why it is that way, but it makes getting the good ending a lot tougher in comparison.
Sundered is an interesting game to me. It still is the game that got me into Metroidvanias, though now that I’ve played many more, I can better understand some of the issues this game has. Even then, I still really love it, despite the flaws I experienced while playing the game. I’m glad I got around to replaying this game, and being able to look at it again in a different light.
I’m a bit biased towards some parts of Sundered already. I love cosmic horror, and a game inspired by Lovecraftian Mythos is already up my alley. And in the other hand, I absolutely adore hand drawn 2D sprites, and Sundered has that galore. But that aside, to the gameplay itself, it’s a different matter.
Exploring the world of Sundered is interesting, as the game attempts to combine Metroidvanias with Roguelikes. And to be honest, I don’t really think it works. It’s a fun novelty at first, having areas rearrange themselves every time you die, but since that is the only punishment upon death, it kind of just became a nuisance. While I think the randomly generated rooms didn’t look bad, it got to a point where they all felt quite same-y. I think it important to note that because the rooms that don’t randomize each run are absolutely gorgeous in comparison.
Because of how Sundered attempts to be both a Metroidvania and a Roguelike, enemies aren’t placed naturally throughout the world. Instead, they swarm you, which seem to happen at random intervals. While early on in the game, they were kind of fun, most enemies were rather simple, and it wasn’t too difficult to get through the swarms. But as you progress through the game, they just ultimately become another annoyance. Late game enemies, like the Cultists especially are rather annoying to deal with. Whenever swarms occur, the Cultists can create walls in your path, and attack you regardless of how far away it is. Those enemies, alongside the countless others that appear in swarms overwhelm the player, and I know at times I had no idea what I was doing. I do think a natural placement of enemies would’ve made things a lot better, instead of swarms.
Sundered is definitely a game where you’re meant to die, a lot. Every time you die, you go back to the main hub where probably the most important piece of the game is, the Skill Tree. The Skill Tree is the lifeblood you should rely on in this game, as this is how you increase your stats, and gain new skills that can be helpful to you. And trust me here, The Skill Tree is necessary, late game bosses will absolutely decimate you if you don’t invest in it at all.
And speaking of bosses, the game only has 5 bosses total, alongside 9 mini-bosses. While not a lot, the game is already quite short, so it’s rather fair I’d say. With that though, the main bosses are pretty simple to fight, they have weak spots on their body, and you just attack them. Most of the attacks you’ll have to worry about are projectiles, which you can either dodge, or destroy them if you get a specific skill. Now, what makes the main bosses rather cool to me is the general sense of scale, as they absolutely tower over you, the player. It makes you feel small, which I find a cool feeling to have in a boss fight, though about half of them are pretty easy. The main boss of the third area, and whichever final boss you get are noticeably a lot harder, and I’d argue that they’re not perfectly designed. In particular with the main boss of the third area, it’s hard to see where the player is due to so much happening on screen.
Now, as this is a Metroidvania, one of the big things are the abilities you unlock as you progress through the game, and I do think Sundered’s abilities that you can get through the game are really good. They’re not anything too crazy in concept, but how they’re executed is super nice. The game feels very momentum-forward, a roll on the ground could lead your jump to go much farther, allowing for more overall airtime. This goes into the wall-jumps as well, when you’re able to chain your jumps together smoothly, it feels amazing. It was obvious to me that some abilities were better than others, there was this charge attack that was situational at best, for example. However so much of the movement abilities felt really good together.
One of Sundered’s most interesting aspects, though not unique to it, is its morality system through the Eldritch Shards. As you play through the game, you can find Eldritch Shard Pieces by beating Mini-Bosses, or exploring the map, while you can find whole Eldritch Shards by beating area bosses. What you do with these Shards, either using them or destroying them, can impact your run, and determine what ending you get. Destroying them gives you new skills on the skill tree, while using them enhances your abilities in some way. And with that comes an interesting double edged sword. Using the Eldritch Shards to enhance your abilities is objectively better. Not only do these upgraded abilities feel good, but these enhancements given you so many more options with moving around the world. But at the same time, it’s very much a point of the game that using the shards will lead to a bad ending. It makes thematical sense to why it is that way, but it makes getting the good ending a lot tougher in comparison.
Sundered is an interesting game to me. It still is the game that got me into Metroidvanias, though now that I’ve played many more, I can better understand some of the issues this game has. Even then, I still really love it, despite the flaws I experienced while playing the game. I’m glad I got around to replaying this game, and being able to look at it again in a different light.
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are some of the most interesting games to look back upon. During the time of their release, and long after, they were regarded not only as “the best Pokemon Remakes of all time”, but many considered them the best Pokemon Game ever. And it’s hard for me not to be biased here in some regard, Generation 4 was when I first played Pokemon, and Heartgold and Soulsilver were some of my early Pokemon games. This is to say that I hold a lot of nostalgia, and a lot of love for these games. I replayed through Heartgold particularly cause I hadn’t played Johto in a while, so my thoughts on the game proper are refreshed. And in full, I still think Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver are some of my favorite Pokemon games, but man, they have some serious design issues.
I’ve always loved the Johto region itself. Due in part to childhood nostalgia, but there’s something just relatively cozy of going through the Johto region. Heartgold and Soulsilver aren’t my particularly favorite version of Johto, as I absolutely the spritework in Crystal. However, these game’s version of Johto is still really nice. I particularly love how they do Ecruteak City, and Bellchime Trail.
Now, though this the series of games that introduced this, but Generation 4 overall fixed a noticeable issue that came with a lot of Pokemon, through the Physical-Special Split. Making it so moves being physical or special weren’t tied to the move’s type made a lot of Pokemon more viable. One of course notable example of this is the Pokemon Sneasel, a Dark/Ice type with low special attack, but high physical attack. The problem is though, Dark and Ice were Special types, meaning that Sneasel could not utilize its much higher physical attack.
And my time with this replay of Pokemon HeartGold was… rather interesting. It was far from perfect, and I ended up making a lot of the early game ridiculously difficult because of my team. My team particularly ended up being Meganium, Ariados, Magcargo, Espeon, Lanturn, and Steelix. While the early game was hard, it was very much an uphill climb for me, and I’m really happy I stuck through with things. Once I got Espeon, I felt like I reached that top of the hill, and I was now on an equal footing. Though even then, Ariados and Magcargo themselves were uphill climbs as well, as they were a struggle to use for a long time, but once they got certain requirements, they became super useful to me. And while Espeon was just objectively the best Pokemon in my party, I absolutely loved using Lanturn, it had so much versatility, and it helped me get through a lot of the ending fights.
The gyms in Johto though are a bit so-so for me. The early gyms were hard because of my team, but the teams they the gym leaders have I’ve never been a big fan of. Whitney is infamous for her difficulty, but she has a pretty solid team all things around. And then trainers like Jasmine, Pryce, and Clair have some great teams for what gyms they’re meant to be. The remaining 5 I’ve always been iffy on, solely because they feature no Johto Pokemon at all.
Of course, I can’t talk about Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver without mentioning probably the most beloved thing introduced in them. That being walking with your Pokemon. It’s a little silly how minor of a thing it is, and how massively beloved it was to the point that people begged for it in every subsequent title. But at the same point, I understand why. It was a great way to become attached to your team, and having one of them walk behind you grows a noticeable emotional bond with them. It in part made me realize how a lot of the older games made it easier to emotionally connect to your Pokemon, and how somehow, that connection is lacking in the more modern releases.
And much like walking with your Pokemon, I also can’t talk about HeartGold and SoulSilver without mentioning the postgame Kanto region. And from mainly playing Crystal, myself, HeartGold and SoulSilver do a lot to properly liven up the region itself. The gyms are somewhat harder now, increasing their levels by about 10 in order to properly scale them to what your Pokemon levels should be. It doesn’t entirely solve how easy they are, as I was able to beat all of them in a single sitting. Even then, it was a nice step forward, and I appreciate it regardless. HeartGold and SoulSilver, due to having enough space to do so, properly allow locations to exist at times, like Viridian Forest, which was just a route in the Gen 2 titles. It’s just nice being able to explore the entirety of Kanto in the postgame, especially since a lot of modern Pokemon have serious lacking, if any postgame at all.
But even though I really love these games, there are two somewhat noticeably design issues that I have with them. The first, and most obvious one is the atrocious level curve the game has. Though, I want to make it a point that this isn’t a HeartGold and SoulSilver issue, I find that every version of Johto has this issue, and none really ever fixed it. But with that though, while the gyms in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are scaled rather neatly, everything else isn’t. While the final gym leader has level 40s, trainers and wild encounters will just be reaching the mid-20s. That’s to say that you will have to grind a lot of levels just to stay on par with the gyms and eventually, Elite 4. By the time I beat the Champion, I already had logged over 40 hours into the game, and I can safely imagine that half, if not over, went to level grinding. I find it unfortunate that this remake never solved that issue in any way, especially since Diamond and Pearl’s VS Seeker would’ve helped remedy it some.
The other main issue that I have with HeartGold and SoulSilver is the variety of Pokemon you encounter, and of course like the last one, this is just a Johto-wide issue. When I play Pokemon, I particularly like to try and have my teams consist of Pokemon introduced in that region, so for any Johto game, I would use Gen 2 Pokemon. An issue with that though, is that a good number of Generation 2 Pokemon are locked behind Postgame. Though I want to point out, this number was greater in the Gen 2 titles, Heartgold and Soulsilver created new areas and methods of obtaining Pokemon previously only found in the postgame, however there are still some trapped there. In particular, Houndour has always been the first one that comes to mind. This may just be me as well, but I prefer how encounter tables were in Pokemon Crystal, allowing you to get Pokemon like Phanpy and Teddiursa early on allowing for some really fun teams.
I want to reiterate that I still absolutely love Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Though not my favorite version of the Johto region, I really respect them, and I understand why someone would say it’s their favorite. While it improves some of Johto’s issues, it doesn’t either, which is ultimately just kind of unfortunate. Either way, they’re great remakes, through and through.
I’ve always loved the Johto region itself. Due in part to childhood nostalgia, but there’s something just relatively cozy of going through the Johto region. Heartgold and Soulsilver aren’t my particularly favorite version of Johto, as I absolutely the spritework in Crystal. However, these game’s version of Johto is still really nice. I particularly love how they do Ecruteak City, and Bellchime Trail.
Now, though this the series of games that introduced this, but Generation 4 overall fixed a noticeable issue that came with a lot of Pokemon, through the Physical-Special Split. Making it so moves being physical or special weren’t tied to the move’s type made a lot of Pokemon more viable. One of course notable example of this is the Pokemon Sneasel, a Dark/Ice type with low special attack, but high physical attack. The problem is though, Dark and Ice were Special types, meaning that Sneasel could not utilize its much higher physical attack.
And my time with this replay of Pokemon HeartGold was… rather interesting. It was far from perfect, and I ended up making a lot of the early game ridiculously difficult because of my team. My team particularly ended up being Meganium, Ariados, Magcargo, Espeon, Lanturn, and Steelix. While the early game was hard, it was very much an uphill climb for me, and I’m really happy I stuck through with things. Once I got Espeon, I felt like I reached that top of the hill, and I was now on an equal footing. Though even then, Ariados and Magcargo themselves were uphill climbs as well, as they were a struggle to use for a long time, but once they got certain requirements, they became super useful to me. And while Espeon was just objectively the best Pokemon in my party, I absolutely loved using Lanturn, it had so much versatility, and it helped me get through a lot of the ending fights.
The gyms in Johto though are a bit so-so for me. The early gyms were hard because of my team, but the teams they the gym leaders have I’ve never been a big fan of. Whitney is infamous for her difficulty, but she has a pretty solid team all things around. And then trainers like Jasmine, Pryce, and Clair have some great teams for what gyms they’re meant to be. The remaining 5 I’ve always been iffy on, solely because they feature no Johto Pokemon at all.
Of course, I can’t talk about Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver without mentioning probably the most beloved thing introduced in them. That being walking with your Pokemon. It’s a little silly how minor of a thing it is, and how massively beloved it was to the point that people begged for it in every subsequent title. But at the same point, I understand why. It was a great way to become attached to your team, and having one of them walk behind you grows a noticeable emotional bond with them. It in part made me realize how a lot of the older games made it easier to emotionally connect to your Pokemon, and how somehow, that connection is lacking in the more modern releases.
And much like walking with your Pokemon, I also can’t talk about HeartGold and SoulSilver without mentioning the postgame Kanto region. And from mainly playing Crystal, myself, HeartGold and SoulSilver do a lot to properly liven up the region itself. The gyms are somewhat harder now, increasing their levels by about 10 in order to properly scale them to what your Pokemon levels should be. It doesn’t entirely solve how easy they are, as I was able to beat all of them in a single sitting. Even then, it was a nice step forward, and I appreciate it regardless. HeartGold and SoulSilver, due to having enough space to do so, properly allow locations to exist at times, like Viridian Forest, which was just a route in the Gen 2 titles. It’s just nice being able to explore the entirety of Kanto in the postgame, especially since a lot of modern Pokemon have serious lacking, if any postgame at all.
But even though I really love these games, there are two somewhat noticeably design issues that I have with them. The first, and most obvious one is the atrocious level curve the game has. Though, I want to make it a point that this isn’t a HeartGold and SoulSilver issue, I find that every version of Johto has this issue, and none really ever fixed it. But with that though, while the gyms in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are scaled rather neatly, everything else isn’t. While the final gym leader has level 40s, trainers and wild encounters will just be reaching the mid-20s. That’s to say that you will have to grind a lot of levels just to stay on par with the gyms and eventually, Elite 4. By the time I beat the Champion, I already had logged over 40 hours into the game, and I can safely imagine that half, if not over, went to level grinding. I find it unfortunate that this remake never solved that issue in any way, especially since Diamond and Pearl’s VS Seeker would’ve helped remedy it some.
The other main issue that I have with HeartGold and SoulSilver is the variety of Pokemon you encounter, and of course like the last one, this is just a Johto-wide issue. When I play Pokemon, I particularly like to try and have my teams consist of Pokemon introduced in that region, so for any Johto game, I would use Gen 2 Pokemon. An issue with that though, is that a good number of Generation 2 Pokemon are locked behind Postgame. Though I want to point out, this number was greater in the Gen 2 titles, Heartgold and Soulsilver created new areas and methods of obtaining Pokemon previously only found in the postgame, however there are still some trapped there. In particular, Houndour has always been the first one that comes to mind. This may just be me as well, but I prefer how encounter tables were in Pokemon Crystal, allowing you to get Pokemon like Phanpy and Teddiursa early on allowing for some really fun teams.
I want to reiterate that I still absolutely love Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Though not my favorite version of the Johto region, I really respect them, and I understand why someone would say it’s their favorite. While it improves some of Johto’s issues, it doesn’t either, which is ultimately just kind of unfortunate. Either way, they’re great remakes, through and through.
2021
I first played the original No More Heroes back in August of 2022. It was my first ever Suda51 title, and I absolutely loved it. And slowly but surely, I played through every other Suda game in the “Kill The Past” world. The Silver Case, Flower Sun and Rain, The 25th Ward, Killer 7, No More Heroes 1 and 2, and Travis Strikes Again. And that all eventually leads to here, No More Heroes 3. And what a great game to leave it off on.
No More Heroes 3 brings back a lot of what I loved that was sorely missing in No More Heroes 2. Particularly, I’m so glad that they brought back the open world of Santa Destroy, I love just sort of wandering aimlessly, and finding random things as I go. But No More Heroes 3 evolves upon the open world of No More Heroes 1 as well, by bringing new locations for you to explore as well. Ultimately I think my favorite of these new areas was the Call Of Battle, as there’s a TV Filter over it, which I think is a stylistically great choice. I also really like how each area feels generally unique compared to each other, making them all stand out in their own ways.
Now, the Mini-Games (known as Volunteer Missions) in No More Heroes 3 are probably the overall best Mini-Games in the entire series thus far. Though I really enjoy the mundanity of the Part-Time Jobs in No More Heroes 1, I think that quality-wise, No More Heroes 3’s Mini-Games are the best. A lot of them feel like arcade type games, and while that could then be comparable to the Mini-Games in No More Heroes 2, I think ultimately they just control and feel a lot better to actually play. My favorite Volunteer Mission was this one where you had to defend a beach by shooting massive crocodiles down with a cannon. Though I’m definitely biased, as this felt like a very noticeable nod to Godzilla. Though that’s not to mention that I’m so glad they brought back Lawn Mowing, easily one of the best things for any game to have.
There’s also Requests you can find, and do as you explore Santa Destroy, and I really love them. They primarily involve searching around areas of the world in search of specific objects. Kittens, Scorpions, Moai Heads, etc. I can definitely see this being a bit tedious for some. Having to find every little thing would be hard, especially with the size of the world in this game. However I’m someone who loves to wander around and stumble upon things, so I absolutely loved these.
Now actually getting into the combat, I think this may be the most fun combat in any of the No More Heroes games. Travis feels insanely great to control in this game. Instead of having the High and Low attacks, it’s instead replaced with Light and Heavy attacks, and now you have Jumps and Rolls in the arsenal as well. With how the game panned out, Dodging became one of the most vital components in No More Heroes 3. Whenever you Dodge at the perfect time, you get a bit of slowdown where you can pummel an enemy. These openings are extremely helpful against both bosses and a lot of the regular enemies, as they’re the best ways to get a lot of damage in. And what’s great as well is that if you’re targeting an enemy, the game will inform you when you should do that perfect dodge, though of course being good at timing is necessary for that too. I feel like I got it probably a 50/50 time? I was able to perfect dodge quite a bit, but not all the time.
But one of the biggest additions to the Combat are the Death Glove Skills, which generally give you such an advantage in combat. I found myself using Death Kick the most, it was a good way to stun an enemy, while also dealing for good combo enders and just damage in general. Though, the others have their uses too, especially for crowd control. Death Rain deals damage to enemies in a specific range, while Death Slow slows enemies in a specific range. I found those most useful for non-bosses, as it’s better when there’s multiple enemies, and not just one. The one I probably used the least though was Death Force, it’s a skill where you grab an enemy and throw it, but I found it somewhat situational.
This is not to mention there’s also an additional mode of play as well, where Travis gains a mech suit, and is able to do combat while inside of it. Primarily its used in battles exclusive to it, but each one is super fun to play. You aim at specific target points of an enemy, and shoot a swarm of missiles at it, or you can charge up a giant laser, and aim at the target yourself. While the actual gameplay of it is quite simple, I absolutely love the presentation of it.
I think something that makes No More Heroes 3 quite easy in comparison to the previous titles is that the game gives you healing items. I played on Bitter, which is the Normal difficulty, and the game allowed you to carry 5 healing items at a time. And while the game is still challenging regardless, the fact you can heal up to 5 times is something.
Now, the structure of the gameplay is similar in some regards, but noticeably different in others. One big thing is that they brought back the Entry Fees for each Ranking Fight, which is something I’m just super glad about. It felt so wrong for them to be gone in No More Heroes 2, especially as it’s a major aspect of the UAA framework as a whole. So for them to be back in No More Heroes 3, it was just overall a great thing. But another prerequisite to the Ranking Matches now is Designated Battles. These are challenge fights in the game that set you against a group of enemies, and you have to beat Designated Battles in relation to the color crystal you need, either Red, or Blue. Throughout the game, the difficulty of the Designated Battles definitely fluctuated for me. I didn’t go for every single one, but I did almost all of them. But with how they’re structured, I really like them. They’re not just swarms of easy to kill enemies, but each enemy feels like a Mini-Boss of sorts, and one that you have to play around. Even though I definitely struggled with some enemies, I find them to be really well designed.
And while the enemies are well designed, the bosses are even more so. I feel like the bosses you fight are an important part of games like No More Heroes, and No More Heroes 3 does not disappoint. I love the overall alien theming to all of them, and the otherworldly stuff they can do is really fun. Each Ranking Match in No More Heroes 3 is just the boss fight, unlike the previous two games, which honestly is a change I kind of like. The Designated Battles take the place of the Pre-Boss Fight segments of Ranking Matches, and with how they’re designed, I find them to be a lot better. The bosses as well are really fun to fight against. Interestingly enough, the last time I died to a boss in the game was during the Rank 6 fight, and I beat every following boss on my first try. That’s not to say those bosses are easier, I just think overtime I improved to the point where I didn’t struggle too much with the bosses. I honestly don’t think I have a favorite boss, I like too many to pick just one.
In a lot of my reviews, I often mention how I can’t speak of a game’s story due to wanting to keep the story unspoiled for whoever ends up reading this. And this is true for No More Heroes 3, this game, alongside its predecessor, Travis Strikes Again, feels like the culmination of so many games, that spoiling this game can in turn spoil many others. However what I will say is that I love the new cast of characters introduced in this game, Fu as a central villain especially is a really interesting character, and I love seeing his interactions with others. And of course, Travis Touchdown remains an impeccable character even still. It’s interesting I play this game after Xenoblade Chronicles 3, as No More Heroes 3 also feels like the closing of one book, but the opening of another. It’s paradoxical in a way, it’s both a conclusion and not at the same time, which I find quite nice.
But this leads me into the unfortunates in No More Heroes 3. No More Heroes 3 had a lot of issues due to Marvelous, and a lot of stuff was cut due to it. Large portions of the map are completely inaccessible, at least an hour of cutscenes were removed, and even planned story content was cut as well. And while the end product that is No More Heroes 3 is still an absolutely amazing title, it is just generally unfortunate knowing how much was cut. And in a similar vein, when it comes to my relation with the No More Heroes titles, No More Heroes 3 was the first time I played on the Normal mode, and not Easy. In the previous titles, Easy mode still had some challenge to it, but No More Heroes 3’s Easy Mode gives you invincibility, which has always been a pet peeve for me. I’m typically someone who plays the Easy difficulty in games, but I don’t want Easy Mode to have zero challenge at all.
But now here I am, having finished an eight game long journey, spanning visual novels, hack and slashes, and a first person shooter. No More Heroes 3, due to not being just a conclusion, is an interesting game for things to end on, as things don’t feel over. But as a game that seemingly celebrates everything that came before it, it feels fitting in a way. No More Heroes 3 is probably my favorite of the No More Heroes titles too, especially cause of the gameplay. But regardless, I do think the journey was well worth it, and No More Heroes 3 is absolutely a great game.
No More Heroes 3 brings back a lot of what I loved that was sorely missing in No More Heroes 2. Particularly, I’m so glad that they brought back the open world of Santa Destroy, I love just sort of wandering aimlessly, and finding random things as I go. But No More Heroes 3 evolves upon the open world of No More Heroes 1 as well, by bringing new locations for you to explore as well. Ultimately I think my favorite of these new areas was the Call Of Battle, as there’s a TV Filter over it, which I think is a stylistically great choice. I also really like how each area feels generally unique compared to each other, making them all stand out in their own ways.
Now, the Mini-Games (known as Volunteer Missions) in No More Heroes 3 are probably the overall best Mini-Games in the entire series thus far. Though I really enjoy the mundanity of the Part-Time Jobs in No More Heroes 1, I think that quality-wise, No More Heroes 3’s Mini-Games are the best. A lot of them feel like arcade type games, and while that could then be comparable to the Mini-Games in No More Heroes 2, I think ultimately they just control and feel a lot better to actually play. My favorite Volunteer Mission was this one where you had to defend a beach by shooting massive crocodiles down with a cannon. Though I’m definitely biased, as this felt like a very noticeable nod to Godzilla. Though that’s not to mention that I’m so glad they brought back Lawn Mowing, easily one of the best things for any game to have.
There’s also Requests you can find, and do as you explore Santa Destroy, and I really love them. They primarily involve searching around areas of the world in search of specific objects. Kittens, Scorpions, Moai Heads, etc. I can definitely see this being a bit tedious for some. Having to find every little thing would be hard, especially with the size of the world in this game. However I’m someone who loves to wander around and stumble upon things, so I absolutely loved these.
Now actually getting into the combat, I think this may be the most fun combat in any of the No More Heroes games. Travis feels insanely great to control in this game. Instead of having the High and Low attacks, it’s instead replaced with Light and Heavy attacks, and now you have Jumps and Rolls in the arsenal as well. With how the game panned out, Dodging became one of the most vital components in No More Heroes 3. Whenever you Dodge at the perfect time, you get a bit of slowdown where you can pummel an enemy. These openings are extremely helpful against both bosses and a lot of the regular enemies, as they’re the best ways to get a lot of damage in. And what’s great as well is that if you’re targeting an enemy, the game will inform you when you should do that perfect dodge, though of course being good at timing is necessary for that too. I feel like I got it probably a 50/50 time? I was able to perfect dodge quite a bit, but not all the time.
But one of the biggest additions to the Combat are the Death Glove Skills, which generally give you such an advantage in combat. I found myself using Death Kick the most, it was a good way to stun an enemy, while also dealing for good combo enders and just damage in general. Though, the others have their uses too, especially for crowd control. Death Rain deals damage to enemies in a specific range, while Death Slow slows enemies in a specific range. I found those most useful for non-bosses, as it’s better when there’s multiple enemies, and not just one. The one I probably used the least though was Death Force, it’s a skill where you grab an enemy and throw it, but I found it somewhat situational.
This is not to mention there’s also an additional mode of play as well, where Travis gains a mech suit, and is able to do combat while inside of it. Primarily its used in battles exclusive to it, but each one is super fun to play. You aim at specific target points of an enemy, and shoot a swarm of missiles at it, or you can charge up a giant laser, and aim at the target yourself. While the actual gameplay of it is quite simple, I absolutely love the presentation of it.
I think something that makes No More Heroes 3 quite easy in comparison to the previous titles is that the game gives you healing items. I played on Bitter, which is the Normal difficulty, and the game allowed you to carry 5 healing items at a time. And while the game is still challenging regardless, the fact you can heal up to 5 times is something.
Now, the structure of the gameplay is similar in some regards, but noticeably different in others. One big thing is that they brought back the Entry Fees for each Ranking Fight, which is something I’m just super glad about. It felt so wrong for them to be gone in No More Heroes 2, especially as it’s a major aspect of the UAA framework as a whole. So for them to be back in No More Heroes 3, it was just overall a great thing. But another prerequisite to the Ranking Matches now is Designated Battles. These are challenge fights in the game that set you against a group of enemies, and you have to beat Designated Battles in relation to the color crystal you need, either Red, or Blue. Throughout the game, the difficulty of the Designated Battles definitely fluctuated for me. I didn’t go for every single one, but I did almost all of them. But with how they’re structured, I really like them. They’re not just swarms of easy to kill enemies, but each enemy feels like a Mini-Boss of sorts, and one that you have to play around. Even though I definitely struggled with some enemies, I find them to be really well designed.
And while the enemies are well designed, the bosses are even more so. I feel like the bosses you fight are an important part of games like No More Heroes, and No More Heroes 3 does not disappoint. I love the overall alien theming to all of them, and the otherworldly stuff they can do is really fun. Each Ranking Match in No More Heroes 3 is just the boss fight, unlike the previous two games, which honestly is a change I kind of like. The Designated Battles take the place of the Pre-Boss Fight segments of Ranking Matches, and with how they’re designed, I find them to be a lot better. The bosses as well are really fun to fight against. Interestingly enough, the last time I died to a boss in the game was during the Rank 6 fight, and I beat every following boss on my first try. That’s not to say those bosses are easier, I just think overtime I improved to the point where I didn’t struggle too much with the bosses. I honestly don’t think I have a favorite boss, I like too many to pick just one.
In a lot of my reviews, I often mention how I can’t speak of a game’s story due to wanting to keep the story unspoiled for whoever ends up reading this. And this is true for No More Heroes 3, this game, alongside its predecessor, Travis Strikes Again, feels like the culmination of so many games, that spoiling this game can in turn spoil many others. However what I will say is that I love the new cast of characters introduced in this game, Fu as a central villain especially is a really interesting character, and I love seeing his interactions with others. And of course, Travis Touchdown remains an impeccable character even still. It’s interesting I play this game after Xenoblade Chronicles 3, as No More Heroes 3 also feels like the closing of one book, but the opening of another. It’s paradoxical in a way, it’s both a conclusion and not at the same time, which I find quite nice.
But this leads me into the unfortunates in No More Heroes 3. No More Heroes 3 had a lot of issues due to Marvelous, and a lot of stuff was cut due to it. Large portions of the map are completely inaccessible, at least an hour of cutscenes were removed, and even planned story content was cut as well. And while the end product that is No More Heroes 3 is still an absolutely amazing title, it is just generally unfortunate knowing how much was cut. And in a similar vein, when it comes to my relation with the No More Heroes titles, No More Heroes 3 was the first time I played on the Normal mode, and not Easy. In the previous titles, Easy mode still had some challenge to it, but No More Heroes 3’s Easy Mode gives you invincibility, which has always been a pet peeve for me. I’m typically someone who plays the Easy difficulty in games, but I don’t want Easy Mode to have zero challenge at all.
But now here I am, having finished an eight game long journey, spanning visual novels, hack and slashes, and a first person shooter. No More Heroes 3, due to not being just a conclusion, is an interesting game for things to end on, as things don’t feel over. But as a game that seemingly celebrates everything that came before it, it feels fitting in a way. No More Heroes 3 is probably my favorite of the No More Heroes titles too, especially cause of the gameplay. But regardless, I do think the journey was well worth it, and No More Heroes 3 is absolutely a great game.
This really was a long time coming.
I got a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 all the way back in early December of 2022. And at the time, I absolutely was loving it, but I got distracted by Pokemon, and I forgot to continue it. Now, a whole 8 months later, I’ve played all of Xenosaga, replayed Xenoblade Chronicles 1, and played through all of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And finally, I made it back, all the way to Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And now, sitting here, having beaten it all, believe me when I say that this game is an absolute masterpiece.
Now, when it comes to the Xenoblade Series from what I’ve played so far, they always nail the general combat loop, and this game is no exception. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s particular combat loop feels like a mesh of Xenoblade 1 and 2’s, creating something similar, but adding things to make it entirely unique. In particular, depending on the class a character has, their primary arts either recharge after time, like in Xenoblade Chronicles 1, or after Auto-Attacking a certain number of times, like in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And on top of that, you can eventually fuse these arts together, strengthening them, and combining their affects together. This doesn’t even take into account the Talent Arts, which charge up depending on the class of your character, and the actions you do in combat. This all combined with the fact that there’s up to 7 characters in combat all at the same time provides for such an engaging loop of combat, especially as you can chain certain arts together to go from Break all the way to Smash.
And genuinely, of the games so far, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has the best version of Chain Attacks from what I’ve seen so far. In fact, I used them so often because I found them that good. Particularly, you can use arts of specific characters in order to build a meter up to 100%, with each class type having unique effects to the chain. And easily my favorite aspect of the Chain Attack is Overkill, allowing you to increase the XP yield from battles. Late in the game, I was able to easily get over 500% increase of XP from Unique Bosses. I also just enjoy being able to think of what arts are the best to use in the situation, and how to better the chain as best as possible.
Even now I’m still not done with the combat of the game. The last thing to be mentioned is one of the biggest parts of Xenoblade 3, that being Interlinking. Interlinking grants temporary transformations that occur during battle, and require two specific party members for, and god, they’re just so cool. They have unique arts and skill trees that allow for further upgrade, and especially against later bosses, they become even so, so useful. You can also somewhat power up your Interlinks while in combat through the use of Fusion Arts. Particular from what I noticed, the higher level you get, the more time you have to be Interlinked. In addition to this, if you reach the max Interlink level, Interlink, and then start up a chain attack, you can start up a special chain attack instead.
There’s so much I could really mention about Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story, but trust me here, the story is easily one of the best in the entire series from what I’ve played so far. Especially coming from the complicated mess that was Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story is of such high quality, it’s crazy. The entire main cast, including the heroes and the villains is easily one of, if not the best cast of a Xenoblade game. And it makes it interesting to me how the entire main group of protagonists are all met in the game’s first chapter. You’d think that this would overwhelm, but it’s balanced in a way that it never does, which I find really impressive. And god, I absolutely love the themes found within Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but because of that, I’m going to stop speaking of the story now. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is one of those games where the story is super important, and with how amazing it is, I want to keep things as little known as possible. I don’t want to spoil any of it, and I really think it’s important to worth playing.
Speaking of characters though, while you can only play as the main 6 cast of characters, you have a lot of options for who can be in that 7th slot. In particular, there’s 19 heroes that can take up that slot, each having unique skill sets and arts, and if you battle with them enough, you can give those abilities to the main 6 as well. Some Heroes are unlocked through the main story, but a majority are found through optional Hero quests, and I found them extremely worthwhile to do. Not only is it just more content and more story for the game, but it’s great to give new insights of the world of Aionios through the lens of numerous additional characters. Especially as there’s additional quests and ways to strengthen Heroes, you’re able to learn even more about specific characters in the game. I tried to do every Ascension Quest that I came across in order to do that, however after I did one that was extremely tedious, I decided against it.
And as I mentioned prior with the Hero Quests, they provide a lot of additional content to this game, however, believe me, even without those, this game is absolutely huge. Numerous side quests, treasure to find, overworld bosses to fight, it’s just absolutely absurd how much this game includes. How Long To Beat measures Xenoblade Chronicles 3 at an average of 62 hours in order to beat the main story. But, if you’re anything like me, that’s just not going to be true. For me in particular, it took me a little over 77 hours total, and even then, it could’ve taken so much longer.
One of the big reasons to why this game is as massive as it was for me was just how big the actual world is. That’s not me saying it takes a long time to get from point A to point B, instead, there’s just so many optional areas that you never actually need to go to. And as I’m someone who loves to explore, of course that means I explored every optional area I could find. I remember particularly around the start of chapter 3, while the game directed me to go a specific way, there was an alternate path that took me to a massive desert, with so many things to find in it. And aside from optional side quests, and a DLC Hero Quest, it’s never mandatory to ever step foot in this desert. And the fact that the game is just able to do this blows me away, I absolutely love it. And even now due to not being strong enough to go to specific areas, there’s still locations in the map that I haven’t seen yet. The fact that there’s just that much to see is super impressive.
And one thing I want to really commend the game is how much better it is to navigate the world of Aionios. I still think how hard it was to traverse the world of Alrest back in Xenoblade 2. While the environments were really pretty, actually getting from point A to point B was an absolute pain in the neck, and it was super frustrating because of it. However Xenoblade 3 fixes that issue, while still keeping the game absolutely gorgeous. Though I definitely think the better navigation marker improved things noticeably. And the Party Skills you obtain by obtaining specific heroes in the game is just what the Field Skills in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 should’ve been.
And throughout the 77 hours I played of the main campaign for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I didn’t have to grind a single time. That in itself is already impressive, and that’s primarily due to Bonus Experience. Bonus Experience was first introduced back in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, however got a lot better in the following game. Much like the previous game, completing quests, and finding new locations, landmarks, and secret locations all provide characters with Bonus Experience that they can use when resting at a Campsite. However with doing as much as I did, I found myself with an outrageous amount of Bonus Experience at all times. If I remember correctly, by the time I beat the game, I was level 88, which I was able to attain primarily through bonus experience. And while I am glad I never needed to grind during my time with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I also think the Bonus Experience ended up making me too powerful at the same time. I can’t really think of a proper solution to this, but it’s something I wanted to acknowledge.
And now, I want to get into the game’s DLC campaign, Future Redeemed, and just what an absolute wonder it is.
Much like the Torna DLC of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Future Redeemed alters the base of the main game’s combat mechanics, but alters them in a way that makes them really interesting. There’s no Interlinking in Future Redeemed, instead, they’re replaced with Fusion Attacks, which are special art attacks that are powerful ways to end combos. But instead of how Interlinking is specific combos, you can actually decide what your unity attacks are, which I find really cool.
And it’s crazy to me just how generally massive Future Redeemed is, especially in comparison the Torna Expansion of Xenoblade 2. There’s 4 large areas found in Future Redeemed, and the game actively pushes you to explore as much of it as possible. Whenever you look at the map, you can see a checklist of everything you can find and discover throughout each area. And of course, the game rewards you for exploring through Affinity Points.
I wouldn’t exactly call them Skill Trees, however each character has an amount of skills that can learn or gain through spending Affinity Points. You can start by learning 10 skills on each character, but if you get some Affinity Unlock Kits, you can increase that amount to 40. These Skills can teach characters new arts, skills, or enhance already obtained arts and skills. I played as A for the entirety of the DLC, and A had a skill or whenever they auto-attacked, they gained health depending on the amount of damage they did. I absolutely love how helpful actively trying to clear out as many skills as possible is.
And much like the story of base Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I don’t want to speak much about Future Redeemed’s story. There’s some absolutely great moments in it that I can’t bring myself to mention, and there’s still some things I don’t fully grasp. But with that in mind, much like with the base Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I absolutely love the main cast in Future Redeemed. And as you can probably infer from my previous paragraph, I found my favorite of the cast to be A. I also really think this game redeemed Rex to me, making him so much more likeable of a character.
And this brings me to the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the most recent Xeno game to release, and easily one of the best I’ve played. And, while I’m not done with the Xeno series yet since I haven’t played Chronicles X or Xenogears, it feels like I’ve finished an era with now having beaten Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And thanks to the DLC campaign, it feels like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a real send-off to the past titles and to the entire Xeno series history, and is ready to move in a new direction. It’s ready to move into the future, whatever that may be. And no matter what the future may be, I will be there along the way. I love Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and I’m so glad I finally got to truly play it.
I got a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 all the way back in early December of 2022. And at the time, I absolutely was loving it, but I got distracted by Pokemon, and I forgot to continue it. Now, a whole 8 months later, I’ve played all of Xenosaga, replayed Xenoblade Chronicles 1, and played through all of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And finally, I made it back, all the way to Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And now, sitting here, having beaten it all, believe me when I say that this game is an absolute masterpiece.
Now, when it comes to the Xenoblade Series from what I’ve played so far, they always nail the general combat loop, and this game is no exception. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s particular combat loop feels like a mesh of Xenoblade 1 and 2’s, creating something similar, but adding things to make it entirely unique. In particular, depending on the class a character has, their primary arts either recharge after time, like in Xenoblade Chronicles 1, or after Auto-Attacking a certain number of times, like in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And on top of that, you can eventually fuse these arts together, strengthening them, and combining their affects together. This doesn’t even take into account the Talent Arts, which charge up depending on the class of your character, and the actions you do in combat. This all combined with the fact that there’s up to 7 characters in combat all at the same time provides for such an engaging loop of combat, especially as you can chain certain arts together to go from Break all the way to Smash.
And genuinely, of the games so far, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has the best version of Chain Attacks from what I’ve seen so far. In fact, I used them so often because I found them that good. Particularly, you can use arts of specific characters in order to build a meter up to 100%, with each class type having unique effects to the chain. And easily my favorite aspect of the Chain Attack is Overkill, allowing you to increase the XP yield from battles. Late in the game, I was able to easily get over 500% increase of XP from Unique Bosses. I also just enjoy being able to think of what arts are the best to use in the situation, and how to better the chain as best as possible.
Even now I’m still not done with the combat of the game. The last thing to be mentioned is one of the biggest parts of Xenoblade 3, that being Interlinking. Interlinking grants temporary transformations that occur during battle, and require two specific party members for, and god, they’re just so cool. They have unique arts and skill trees that allow for further upgrade, and especially against later bosses, they become even so, so useful. You can also somewhat power up your Interlinks while in combat through the use of Fusion Arts. Particular from what I noticed, the higher level you get, the more time you have to be Interlinked. In addition to this, if you reach the max Interlink level, Interlink, and then start up a chain attack, you can start up a special chain attack instead.
There’s so much I could really mention about Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story, but trust me here, the story is easily one of the best in the entire series from what I’ve played so far. Especially coming from the complicated mess that was Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story is of such high quality, it’s crazy. The entire main cast, including the heroes and the villains is easily one of, if not the best cast of a Xenoblade game. And it makes it interesting to me how the entire main group of protagonists are all met in the game’s first chapter. You’d think that this would overwhelm, but it’s balanced in a way that it never does, which I find really impressive. And god, I absolutely love the themes found within Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but because of that, I’m going to stop speaking of the story now. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is one of those games where the story is super important, and with how amazing it is, I want to keep things as little known as possible. I don’t want to spoil any of it, and I really think it’s important to worth playing.
Speaking of characters though, while you can only play as the main 6 cast of characters, you have a lot of options for who can be in that 7th slot. In particular, there’s 19 heroes that can take up that slot, each having unique skill sets and arts, and if you battle with them enough, you can give those abilities to the main 6 as well. Some Heroes are unlocked through the main story, but a majority are found through optional Hero quests, and I found them extremely worthwhile to do. Not only is it just more content and more story for the game, but it’s great to give new insights of the world of Aionios through the lens of numerous additional characters. Especially as there’s additional quests and ways to strengthen Heroes, you’re able to learn even more about specific characters in the game. I tried to do every Ascension Quest that I came across in order to do that, however after I did one that was extremely tedious, I decided against it.
And as I mentioned prior with the Hero Quests, they provide a lot of additional content to this game, however, believe me, even without those, this game is absolutely huge. Numerous side quests, treasure to find, overworld bosses to fight, it’s just absolutely absurd how much this game includes. How Long To Beat measures Xenoblade Chronicles 3 at an average of 62 hours in order to beat the main story. But, if you’re anything like me, that’s just not going to be true. For me in particular, it took me a little over 77 hours total, and even then, it could’ve taken so much longer.
One of the big reasons to why this game is as massive as it was for me was just how big the actual world is. That’s not me saying it takes a long time to get from point A to point B, instead, there’s just so many optional areas that you never actually need to go to. And as I’m someone who loves to explore, of course that means I explored every optional area I could find. I remember particularly around the start of chapter 3, while the game directed me to go a specific way, there was an alternate path that took me to a massive desert, with so many things to find in it. And aside from optional side quests, and a DLC Hero Quest, it’s never mandatory to ever step foot in this desert. And the fact that the game is just able to do this blows me away, I absolutely love it. And even now due to not being strong enough to go to specific areas, there’s still locations in the map that I haven’t seen yet. The fact that there’s just that much to see is super impressive.
And one thing I want to really commend the game is how much better it is to navigate the world of Aionios. I still think how hard it was to traverse the world of Alrest back in Xenoblade 2. While the environments were really pretty, actually getting from point A to point B was an absolute pain in the neck, and it was super frustrating because of it. However Xenoblade 3 fixes that issue, while still keeping the game absolutely gorgeous. Though I definitely think the better navigation marker improved things noticeably. And the Party Skills you obtain by obtaining specific heroes in the game is just what the Field Skills in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 should’ve been.
And throughout the 77 hours I played of the main campaign for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I didn’t have to grind a single time. That in itself is already impressive, and that’s primarily due to Bonus Experience. Bonus Experience was first introduced back in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, however got a lot better in the following game. Much like the previous game, completing quests, and finding new locations, landmarks, and secret locations all provide characters with Bonus Experience that they can use when resting at a Campsite. However with doing as much as I did, I found myself with an outrageous amount of Bonus Experience at all times. If I remember correctly, by the time I beat the game, I was level 88, which I was able to attain primarily through bonus experience. And while I am glad I never needed to grind during my time with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I also think the Bonus Experience ended up making me too powerful at the same time. I can’t really think of a proper solution to this, but it’s something I wanted to acknowledge.
And now, I want to get into the game’s DLC campaign, Future Redeemed, and just what an absolute wonder it is.
Much like the Torna DLC of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Future Redeemed alters the base of the main game’s combat mechanics, but alters them in a way that makes them really interesting. There’s no Interlinking in Future Redeemed, instead, they’re replaced with Fusion Attacks, which are special art attacks that are powerful ways to end combos. But instead of how Interlinking is specific combos, you can actually decide what your unity attacks are, which I find really cool.
And it’s crazy to me just how generally massive Future Redeemed is, especially in comparison the Torna Expansion of Xenoblade 2. There’s 4 large areas found in Future Redeemed, and the game actively pushes you to explore as much of it as possible. Whenever you look at the map, you can see a checklist of everything you can find and discover throughout each area. And of course, the game rewards you for exploring through Affinity Points.
I wouldn’t exactly call them Skill Trees, however each character has an amount of skills that can learn or gain through spending Affinity Points. You can start by learning 10 skills on each character, but if you get some Affinity Unlock Kits, you can increase that amount to 40. These Skills can teach characters new arts, skills, or enhance already obtained arts and skills. I played as A for the entirety of the DLC, and A had a skill or whenever they auto-attacked, they gained health depending on the amount of damage they did. I absolutely love how helpful actively trying to clear out as many skills as possible is.
And much like the story of base Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I don’t want to speak much about Future Redeemed’s story. There’s some absolutely great moments in it that I can’t bring myself to mention, and there’s still some things I don’t fully grasp. But with that in mind, much like with the base Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I absolutely love the main cast in Future Redeemed. And as you can probably infer from my previous paragraph, I found my favorite of the cast to be A. I also really think this game redeemed Rex to me, making him so much more likeable of a character.
And this brings me to the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the most recent Xeno game to release, and easily one of the best I’ve played. And, while I’m not done with the Xeno series yet since I haven’t played Chronicles X or Xenogears, it feels like I’ve finished an era with now having beaten Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And thanks to the DLC campaign, it feels like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a real send-off to the past titles and to the entire Xeno series history, and is ready to move in a new direction. It’s ready to move into the future, whatever that may be. And no matter what the future may be, I will be there along the way. I love Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and I’m so glad I finally got to truly play it.