Gio
1992
Games should've been cribbing from Psycho Dream all along. Goddamn.
2012
Good party game where you throw things at people ala Power Stone. Single-player campaign gets tough towards the end; a simple arrow to show where you're currently pointed at would've been fair imo.
Boring until 15 hours in when the combat takes a turn, then it's just okay until about 30 hours in and it comes together into a serviceable action game.
Play Odin Sphere in Japanese by the way. I tend to prefer dubs, but the VA job just sounds awkward because it's American actors doing weird English accents.
Play Odin Sphere in Japanese by the way. I tend to prefer dubs, but the VA job just sounds awkward because it's American actors doing weird English accents.
The devs managed to cobble together a reasonably deep, robust wrestling game on a shoestring budget. That's really hard but they did it.
2009
Turns out Namco were able to produce a great Katamari game even without Keita Takahashi.
2011
I played this on PS3 in 2021 and still got invaded and I can't explain how exhilarating it was when hikari_kr poisoned me to death in Anor Londo.
2007
Decent mix-and-match hack-and-slash with a cool if somewhat sleepy atmosphere. Yeah, the combat mechanics (and not the actual monster collecting) are the best part of this game.
Melancholy story about closure and letting go that makes for a more compelling adventure game than Hotel Dusk. Still doubles as a sleeping aid if you play lying down. Try and play on a DS rather than a 3DS if you can; a certain puzzle near the end is harder to do because the 3DS screens shut off before you fully close the clamshell.
Undermined by the anime of it all, but that ending is still powerful. The devs know how to weave a tale.
Featuring arguably the worst voice acting I've ever heard. Bad script too. Saved by one or two exciting boss fights, but hardly essential.
Hits some great notes though whoever's been writing the last few games is kind of a hack, especially when it comes to stories that aren't just about Kiryu and other men.
Somewhat interesting narrative fails to overcome a really shoddy loc job. Willing to bet the fault lies with NIS management, rather than the localizers themselves.
2019
This review contains spoilers
You have to wonder how many foreigners this game convinced to migrate to Japan. Nagasugai and Kineicho in particular are extraordinarily cozy locales, surpassing even Okinawa which I considered to have been Yakuza's best setting so far. The meticulous, painstaking craft that went into all the cities featured in this game blows my goddamn mind. It's the next best thing to being an actual tourist, especially since we're all still kind of stuck at home.
So Yakuza 5 succeeds as a tourism ad, but what about the all-important narrative. I'm sorry to say it's another mixed bag, though superior to the pure disaster that was 4's plot. I'll sit with my thoughts on the matter, but for now I will highlight the resolution to Haruka's arc, which I think is hot garbage. I don't particularly care for her but she most definitely deserved better. The rest of the principal cast walked away earning decent, justifiable endings for the most part. Shinada's story specifically worked for me, as did Kiryu's. I'll see about writing a follow-up to elaborate on this, but yeah I'm pretty hung up on that stupid speech at the end.
So Yakuza 5 succeeds as a tourism ad, but what about the all-important narrative. I'm sorry to say it's another mixed bag, though superior to the pure disaster that was 4's plot. I'll sit with my thoughts on the matter, but for now I will highlight the resolution to Haruka's arc, which I think is hot garbage. I don't particularly care for her but she most definitely deserved better. The rest of the principal cast walked away earning decent, justifiable endings for the most part. Shinada's story specifically worked for me, as did Kiryu's. I'll see about writing a follow-up to elaborate on this, but yeah I'm pretty hung up on that stupid speech at the end.
In what's starting to look like a very old and persistent trend with Nintendo Picross games, many of the puzzles in this game commit the cardinal sin of forcing players to do guesswork. I ran into this problem in the DS games and I'm disappointed to find they've been making this mistake for (seemingly) years. Sure the rewind feature on Switch mitigates the time penalty basically completely, but I guess I just expected tighter logic from a "deduction game".
Also, put a podcast or your music on while playing because there's only one good song in the whole game. The rest range from middling to annoying.
Also, put a podcast or your music on while playing because there's only one good song in the whole game. The rest range from middling to annoying.
1999
If you really think about it, we're all just little sperms writhing our way along this egg cell we call Earth.