GizmoCat
22 reviews liked by GizmoCat
This review contains spoilers
Chadley may be an interesting avatar of SHINRA's desire to dissect and extract every nugget of value from the planet, and therefore reflect the modern player's desire to do every peabrained activity if it has a node on a world map but he still SUCKS.
Rebirth is boring open world busywork in between the actual interesting bits that made Remake such a fantastic game. I still like those bits, I still like the whole conceit of these sequels, but this is an unnecessarily bloated recitation of those elements.
The sidequests are not far removed from the pointless overworld nonsense and are as weak as they were in Remake. The world at this fidelity just isnt as symmetrical or foreboding as it was on PSX; the party dont fade into the background of the world, they tower over it with far more colored in personality. I believe, for a number of reasons, that this is fine considering the nature of the game's existence and what it's saying about FF7 as a cultural product, but it also means that the more this new series becomes a by-the-numbers AAA rpg the more a contradiction arises.
Rebirth is boring open world busywork in between the actual interesting bits that made Remake such a fantastic game. I still like those bits, I still like the whole conceit of these sequels, but this is an unnecessarily bloated recitation of those elements.
The sidequests are not far removed from the pointless overworld nonsense and are as weak as they were in Remake. The world at this fidelity just isnt as symmetrical or foreboding as it was on PSX; the party dont fade into the background of the world, they tower over it with far more colored in personality. I believe, for a number of reasons, that this is fine considering the nature of the game's existence and what it's saying about FF7 as a cultural product, but it also means that the more this new series becomes a by-the-numbers AAA rpg the more a contradiction arises.
In an IGN interview conducted last year, when asked about Armored Core VI’s approach to difficulty Masaru Yamamura(director of AC6) replied “...What we wanted to focus on was really intense and tough mecha battles. We have generally tried to keep it on the challenging side, but it's not to say that it's a flat difficulty line throughout. We wanted to have some nice tempo changes and some nice mix to the difficulty and the level of challenge.” My dude. You did it! I can’t get enough of these clashes! Intense 1v1 duels. Where overwhelming forces meet nimble mercenaries evading missile barrages and bullets galore. Minibosses are spared no expense either. Feeling menacing and tough to beat. Without the right setup, I probably would’ve sweated buckets straining my body and mind to the very limit. I’m so engrossed to the extent, I am reminiscing the good old days from AC Last Raven(ACLR) and AC For Answer(ACFA). Already completed everything I could within three playthroughs. Now I’m soaring across Rubicon’s skies again in my fourth run. Armored Core is back! Blazing, burning, and brightly across nearly all points. If that’s not enough to get your engines running hot, remember Rainn Wilson from ‘Mechless Mutual’ has you covered. Dude seems familiar… probably from some Office tv show.
For those who don’t know AC in general. It is primarily a third-person mecha shooting game. You control a silent protagonist who pilots an Armored Core(AC). Accepting corporate contracts, building up funds, and in doing so, retool their mech when needed. The story is not the strongest you could entice anyone to dip in my opinion. And the IP isn’t renowned to resonate with everyone due to mediocre scores. Outside of outliers. Yet despite all odds the latest installment blasts beyond the mediocre to land among the highest of highs. Penetrating through the nicheness of a twenty-six year long legacy. And still retain the number 1 spot in the UK. Proving without a shadow of doubt, FromSoftware has clearly learned from their past mistakes.
ACVI is no different from its predecessors. But there’s a catch. For the second time in the series, we're not on Earth huh? We're on Rubicon 3. So a new playground awaits us. Coral, a substance found on the planet, is discovered to be both an energy source and a data conduit. Becoming a hot item to advance humanity further by leaps and bounds in the technology sector. Perfect! Our plans proceed on the transhum- until their research causes the Fires of Ibis to occur, combusting the surrounding systems to flames. Fifty years later Coral has been detected once again on Rubicon. And so begins the rush of corporations heading there. To utilize Coral and restart their selfish endeavors regardless of the planet's inhabitants' wishes. As Augmented human C4-621, callsign Raven. You follow orders from a handler named Walter, accepting contracts in the hope you will become free someday. That’s the gist you need to know to get started.
ACVI's story pulverizes its way to being one of the strongest I’ve witnessed in the franchise. And it means a lot compared to previous plot beats. Past games in the story department are usually presented in a simple manner. With hardly any cast to back the main character. Offering no connections, no relatability and no personal motive in conjunction to the protagonist. Recent entries try to break the mold, but more or less most missions are too short and disconnected offering no before or after action report to connect both main/side cast to the narrative. And main objectives all too basic and not noteworthy for a mecha story. For ACVI in comparison, they have all those opposite qualities in spades. Not so much to expect from other powerful games with enthralling story hooks to tell. Here, no hand gently feeds the player, instead we must piece it together from the text given. 621 is offered choices on what divergent missions to accomplish. Therefore, impacting the outcome of the narrative. Equating to three different endings. I find it hauntingly similar to how the Nier series implements them. But not the same. Beyond the corporate duties is a slice of trans humanism and more I won't say due to spoilers. The beats detail unfamiliar roads the first path did not tread. So its a good incentive to keep going past the end credits and see what the rest have to offer. Personally I found it a must to see the fights, new dialogue, new mission structures etc. I like witnessing all the endings and the progression is slightly altered via the storytelling. If I were to rate them. I’d say NG++ = NG+ > NG. The NG is still good in my books. I’ll talk further later since I feel it is an improvement, but there are a few things to be concerned about.
A satisfying gameplay loop emerges in a multitude of factors: the extensive customization in equipping light, medium, and heavy parts to outfit your robot killing machine. Think of it as post-apocalypse deadly legos. Except building a mech twenty to fifty times the size of humans. Become a bulky tank capable of withstanding the hardest of blows. Go for a tetrapod Think crab legs and hover in the air taunting peons below who can’t reach you. Go bold and embrace the small and nimble builds to become an ace. Ace Combat?? Close man. Except you can pilot it, and shoot any kind of weapons you can think of: plasma blades, shotguns, gatling guns, rifles, missiles, bazookas, shields, etc. Forget the robots of the past. Moving at a sloth’s as if you’re a Mechwarrior. No man. Front Mission? While I’m excited we're getting FM2 soon. No sir! Not turn-based! Well, how about Xeno mechs? Getting warmer my friend! What Armored Core excels beautifully is the sheer mobility you can outfit in nearly any direction. They’re the only franchise I’ve played thus far within the genre to go insane in movement. Whereas others take a different approach going for heavy mechs. AC has no qualms about letting you fly like a Gundam or Macross unit and I for one am here for it! Combat is frenetic, chaotic, and incredibly dangerous. Show no mercy against hordes of mechanized enemies, head into a facility to wipe out pesky spider units. Blast foolish laser bugs in the air. Fight epic duels versus other mercenaries to the point of being outgunned and outmatched. Not always though. Face off in epic David vs. Goliath meets Shadow of the Colossus robot-type battles. Yeah, I kid you not. Look up at the big machines dwarfing your size to the point that if they land on you, the aftermath will show nothing but bent, broken machine parts lying on the ground.
Building on the older blueprints in the series, there are so many callbacks. AC2 to Verdict Day.And probably more from AC PS1 games, but I still need to play those one day I'm quite astounded at the sheer effort FromSoftware crafted. Not so much to inject nostalgia bait, but carefully done so I'm not in a reference-filled theme park. Taking lessons in the Soulsborne aspects, Sekiro and heck Daemon X Machina(DXM) An anime-like AC game in all but name, is spared no expense! And the result is quite remarkable. Sekiro’s posture and stagger are reformed. Called ACS(Attitude Control System) Once any enemy craft accumulates enough damage they are left in a ‘staggered’ state. Becoming immobilized and any incoming damage transforms into critical hits. Effectively harming the unit a great deal. After a short period, they can regain their normal status and thus you must break their ACS again. A wonderful rule to abuse against foolish adversaries. Personally haven’t seen such a regulation in older titles. Fights escalate becoming strategic and wary. You are not exempt from the rule. So watch the ACS bar! Moving on. Felt DXM inspiration. Which is ironic since they look at AC for inspiration heh. Mainly the banter and colorful cast. Full of interesting personalities and a pleasant range of voices to keep them distinct. Hearing Michigan’s voice akin to a drill sergeant praising you while delivering lines of “Maggot!” Lives in my head rent-free. Rubbing steel arms with fellow mercs. Becoming buddies. However every so often certain individuals are slow to the point of snails and irritating, bringing all the arrogance to show their superiority to you. Yet this doesn't detract from the personable buddies, which is such a rare sight to see in an AC. I love it! A better attempt than past operators sounding your ears off in a monotonous voice.
Repair kits are awesome and something I never expected. But holy moly after using them, I’m 1000% onboard. Should be a mainstay in the franchise. Please, Hidetaka Miyazaki, I'm begging you. Granted pilots only hold three charges and no we can’t upgrade them like in the Souls IP. Like ten in our pouches to chug.Honestly I’m still in disbelief, we possess essentially mecha estus?! What?! A WD-40 mixed with an elixir of life?! But hey I’m not complaining. The inclusion of the feature works wonders to recover your extra armor points(AP) to live. Also, Human Plus is back, kinda. By defeating opponents in the Arena you gain operating system chips to buy and upgrade your mech. Granting passive skills you don’t need to equip except core expansions. Amplifying the damage done in various categories. Kinetics? Sure. Plasma? Sure. Explosions? Buddy… Sign. Me. Up! There’s more to unlock, but suffice it to say outside of these elements. All upgrades you buy are permanent. Meaning I see no reason not to undertake the Arena to finish off all opponents. And in turn, upgrade your body. Trust me. Increasing repair-kits recovery is a godsend. Moreover, missile superiority is packing heavy blows. Reminding me of AC2 missiles, fascinating villain presence makes a triumphant return. And solid variety in missions. Demonstrate consistent superb points across the board. To the extent objective parameters are given fair treatment: Defend against waves of enemies, stealth tasks, escaping a map, etc. My nostalgia is somehow stroked. Alongside certain themes cheekily reappears in another fashion. AC Nexus isn’t spared either, the soundtrack gives off the extremely high-quality tracks I'm already listening to outside of playing.
AC FA Primal Armor makes a wonderful return now called Assault Armor. Want to surprise attackers by making a 360 degree explosion around your AC? Boy oh boy are they in for one hell of a wake-up call. ACV and Verdict Day scan mode is by the gods gone. No longer a mandatory function, Instead serving as an optional scan mode to display details in your surrounding environment. Highlighting foes, caches for weaponry, data logs, etc. Last-generation games feature a resupply option called ‘Workshop sites’. Now reconfigured whenever a long operation occurs you can resupply and regain all ammo and AP. No cost is necessary.
Level design has changed to incorporate a denser, larger area to cover. Maps are wide and brimming with intricate detail. Broken machinery litter landscapes and factories in production continue to function even if a tourist is snooping where they shouldn’t. Complemented well by smooth transitions into small pathways, corridors instill a claustrophobic nature. Bringing spice to the environmental eye candy. And hell you might see a surprise or two when you see advanced setpieces. Ambushed by an AC duel outta nowhere!? Receive enemy reinforcements partway through a job or encounter divergent objectives throughout. Not all assignments are long to beat. A careful balance emerges to complete levels in less than five minutes or greater depending how many times you reload a checkpoint or comb every inch of a place. Simple objectives in the beginning, gradually increase in complexity as you delve further in a playthrough. Nudging the player to overcome challenges, testing them thoroughly to prove they have the skill and fortitude to go beyond. If one lacks in talent they can make up for it through different builds and playstyle. Of course, results may vary. Just because I had a fine time, isn’t the same for others. In addition to open zones, there are plenty of data logs to find. Detailing lore on individuals in the world, combat logs by defeating mobs of opponents. And I must say the opponent variety is plenty, so you won’t get bored seeing #1 then #2 then #3. No complaints about their design after fifty-nine assignments. I’m hungry to defeat anything in front of me.
The soundtrack composed by Kota Hoshino, Takashi Onodera, and Shoi Miyazawa is just as marvelous as their predecessors. Evoking senses of Bladerunner, Portal and The Division. Hearing Things and New Era convey robust unity and constantly reinforce the numerous allusions and references I found to excellent effect. Inserting Elden Ring vibes into the mix sneakily. I’m astounded at the level of quality. Post-punk, trance, monosynth, and dark synth waves combine in an unexpected product resulting in an eerie, yet soulful and tranquil sound. A consistent flow in haunting rhythms I found to be oddly mesmerizing. Luring me deeper to embrace not only the twisted sense of tension throughout, yet doesn’t detract at all by transforming the whole soundtrack into pleasant humming heavens. A small number of tracks are jazzy and uplifting to the beat. A wonderful surprise, providing a nice change of pace in the otherwise somber and atmospheric themes permeating. Overall, I believe the soundtrack largely succeeds in conveying a “sense of loneliness, nostalgia wrapped in a dark old sci-fi feel.” Well done!
Very satisfied with the console port on my PlayStation Four Pro. Had one crash in my 3rd playthrough, but the rest of my runs have been smooth. So maybe an outlier. Did not experience any bugs or glitches. Which I am super thankful for. And I am extremely impressed by how fast menus load. ACV and ACVD took their sweet time from the starting screen to the main menu and the following notifications popping up. Connecting to the internet and adding unnecessary filler. Thankfully none of that bull is here. Enter the menu and bam! We're in the garage! Sick!
Despite all the praise I've been endlessly pulling, I must talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative, but for the sake of transparency I’ll state them below. First, the implementation of new game cycles could be better. Players need to take certain missions in a manner to achieve the NG/NG+ ending. Taking the opposite operations in the 2nd run for the others. Once these two requirements are met a new path will emerge to unlock NG++. It should be noted, starting a 2nd playthrough upon beating NG. Reinstates the protagonist right after the tutorial. Requiring them to complete old missions and adding more than a handful of unfamiliar assignments included. Finishing NG+ rewards extra exclusive missions to complete. I had to follow Powerpyx’s guides, for all endings and one to make sure I finished all the engagements correctly in a manner leaving no doubt for me to head to the final route. I highly recommend looking up a guide for both to not mess up. I feel the punishment for not going in the manner intended will cause possible frustration. To restart and play an unnecessary fourth operation. During my time playing, I was ruminating possible alternatives. Highlight completed ones, and include a warning or another tutorial to inform mercenaries of the unique quests. There are no multiple saves to rely on. You get one save, so make it count. Unless you like backing up your save constantly. Wish the method was easier to prevent accidents. Therefore, allowing anyone to start a fresh operation painlessly.
The illusion of safe ‘difficulty’ throughout is blown to bits upon encountering the 1st boss. The devs have little sympathy whatsoever for throwing you to the pits. In one of the hardest fights in the beginning and asked us to defeat them with starting equipment. Imagine an armed Megatron versus a no weapon Bumblebee. Such a decision seems to be deliberate to convey how future encounters can be, aligning with Yamamura’s decision earlier. And he does succeed. Since I’ve read countless rants, criticism, angry responses, and complaints ad nauseam. The developer team's intention doesn’t always pan out to the masses. So what's the solution? Another mode? Easy mode? Hmmm. Doubt it. Soulsborne + Sekiro and AC I’ve played don’t contain those options available. So what’s next? Well, they contain an in-depth tutorial archive alongside training quests to bring fresh pilots up to speed. And I found their inclusion to be extremely welcoming. Easy accessibility to refer to the archive and see mechanics I can take advantage of. They specifically mention changing your build, if you’re having trouble. Past entries had players accruing debt. Now it is not possible any longer. Retry errands to your heart's content to earn sufficient funds. The added checkpoints, assembly of parts, repair kits, and passive skills via ‘OS Tuning’ create a fair parameter to redo engagements. Lessening the tediousness and frustration by starting square one again. In effect, the quality of life features make the hard-as-nails bouts fairer than before. I still maintain Last Raven is the hardest entry in the franchise. ACVI by comparison hits the halfway point to the zenith of ACLR. Moving on, to remove any misconceptions I am not defending Yamamura’s decision, merely trying to explain there are avenues within to help consumers interested in buying or trying out the newest installment. I didn’t come out unscathed either. The 1st boss and each chapter's end baddie demonstrate a higher ceiling to break through. So I’m worried the latest title might be a little too hard. Nevertheless, I am not saying ‘git gud.’ I hate the phrase a lot when a person who needs help asks genuinely and is given a troll/meme response. Let us be better and lend a helping hand to those who wish to pilot an AC alongside us. Who continues to struggle. Responses such as I wish you luck! Keep on trying! Don’t lose hope! Change your builds. Sell equipment and try other weapons. Replaying operations is a great way to earn money and some can be done in less than two to three minutes. These are far better responses.
Arena I think could’ve had more substance. Felt it was lacking compared to previous ones. Push the AI to its limits to challenge us further. Expose us to similar adversaries like Z, N, K, J? or throw a big wrench and add 2v1, 3v1, or 4v1 conflicts to truly test a player's capabilities. A boss rush mode to practice against arduous enemies. Instead of having to restart from the beginning during a task before combatting the big baddy. Additionally, I wish multiplayer was expanded instead of 1v1 or 3v3 duels. Grant us co-op missions online/offline, and set up super bosses, and SOTC-like robots. In ACVD we faced off a version of Motherwill as a team. Why can’t we do the same in the latest title? I’d love to face our previous opponents beside my teammates. DXM had co-op super clashes to tackle and I thought they were incredibly eye-candy, altered elements and most of all were not present at all in the regular story. They push pilots to cooperate and in doing so defeat them. Makes me think much of the effort was in the single-player portion. A factor I deeply appreciate.
In the end all of these hurdles, doesn’t diminish the sheer strengths too much. AC6 takes all the best qualities since its inception and hones the edge of its moonlight blade so hard I am in awe of it. Bear witness and see how ravens fly above blood-red skies fearlessly. Embracing stronger than usual story, gratifying content in both gameplay options and combat, an excellent soundtrack, and worthwhile quality-of-life options, rides the fine line of integrating nostalgia, but has enough to stand on its own. Expansive levels to explore, fight, and discover hidden secrets. Memorable cast. Both likable and destable. Fair, but challenging difficulty next to an expansive number of customization options for your robot body. High replayability and little to no performance/bugs/glitches mishaps. All collide to a must-play for any newcomer or veteran. Easy recommendation to fans and enthusiasts within the niche genre to see all endings. Overcoming multiple tall walls to reach what I firmly believe is one of the best AC entries I've played thus far. A return to form by FromSoftware. Bravo Masaru Yamamura and his team. Looking forward to your future works as director! This title boldly demonstrates there is still a thriving market for the genre in the videogame industry and I for one am standing right beside them waving in my cheerleading outfit to ask other devs to achieve similar levels of greatness. And while there are plenty of mecha titles to watch out for. I for one highly anticipate a sequel since history has shown evidence to import our equipment and continue the storyline. Good chance to expect one. Excuse me, while I play Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for a 4th bloody time!
9/10
Additional Material:
Z N K J - names & somewhat spoilers throughout the series. With final thoughts on the endings of AC6 - MAJOR spoilers on the endings.
Slight Gundam Witch from Mercury similarities
All Endings guide
All Missions List
VaatiVidya - Souls Lore Guru Makes an AC6 Beginner's Guide?!
Advance Tips from Vaati on AC6
Edited 9-9-23 & 10-20-23 - Adding a proper story section, cleaned up some text formatting, replaced a word.
For those who don’t know AC in general. It is primarily a third-person mecha shooting game. You control a silent protagonist who pilots an Armored Core(AC). Accepting corporate contracts, building up funds, and in doing so, retool their mech when needed. The story is not the strongest you could entice anyone to dip in my opinion. And the IP isn’t renowned to resonate with everyone due to mediocre scores. Outside of outliers. Yet despite all odds the latest installment blasts beyond the mediocre to land among the highest of highs. Penetrating through the nicheness of a twenty-six year long legacy. And still retain the number 1 spot in the UK. Proving without a shadow of doubt, FromSoftware has clearly learned from their past mistakes.
ACVI is no different from its predecessors. But there’s a catch. For the second time in the series, we're not on Earth huh? We're on Rubicon 3. So a new playground awaits us. Coral, a substance found on the planet, is discovered to be both an energy source and a data conduit. Becoming a hot item to advance humanity further by leaps and bounds in the technology sector. Perfect! Our plans proceed on the transhum- until their research causes the Fires of Ibis to occur, combusting the surrounding systems to flames. Fifty years later Coral has been detected once again on Rubicon. And so begins the rush of corporations heading there. To utilize Coral and restart their selfish endeavors regardless of the planet's inhabitants' wishes. As Augmented human C4-621, callsign Raven. You follow orders from a handler named Walter, accepting contracts in the hope you will become free someday. That’s the gist you need to know to get started.
ACVI's story pulverizes its way to being one of the strongest I’ve witnessed in the franchise. And it means a lot compared to previous plot beats. Past games in the story department are usually presented in a simple manner. With hardly any cast to back the main character. Offering no connections, no relatability and no personal motive in conjunction to the protagonist. Recent entries try to break the mold, but more or less most missions are too short and disconnected offering no before or after action report to connect both main/side cast to the narrative. And main objectives all too basic and not noteworthy for a mecha story. For ACVI in comparison, they have all those opposite qualities in spades. Not so much to expect from other powerful games with enthralling story hooks to tell. Here, no hand gently feeds the player, instead we must piece it together from the text given. 621 is offered choices on what divergent missions to accomplish. Therefore, impacting the outcome of the narrative. Equating to three different endings. I find it hauntingly similar to how the Nier series implements them. But not the same. Beyond the corporate duties is a slice of trans humanism and more I won't say due to spoilers. The beats detail unfamiliar roads the first path did not tread. So its a good incentive to keep going past the end credits and see what the rest have to offer. Personally I found it a must to see the fights, new dialogue, new mission structures etc. I like witnessing all the endings and the progression is slightly altered via the storytelling. If I were to rate them. I’d say NG++ = NG+ > NG. The NG is still good in my books. I’ll talk further later since I feel it is an improvement, but there are a few things to be concerned about.
A satisfying gameplay loop emerges in a multitude of factors: the extensive customization in equipping light, medium, and heavy parts to outfit your robot killing machine. Think of it as post-apocalypse deadly legos. Except building a mech twenty to fifty times the size of humans. Become a bulky tank capable of withstanding the hardest of blows. Go for a tetrapod
Building on the older blueprints in the series, there are so many callbacks. AC2 to Verdict Day.
Repair kits are awesome and something I never expected. But holy moly after using them, I’m 1000% onboard. Should be a mainstay in the franchise. Please, Hidetaka Miyazaki, I'm begging you. Granted pilots only hold three charges and no we can’t upgrade them like in the Souls IP. Like ten in our pouches to chug.
AC FA Primal Armor makes a wonderful return now called Assault Armor. Want to surprise attackers by making a 360 degree explosion around your AC? Boy oh boy are they in for one hell of a wake-up call. ACV and Verdict Day scan mode is by the gods gone. No longer a mandatory function, Instead serving as an optional scan mode to display details in your surrounding environment. Highlighting foes, caches for weaponry, data logs, etc. Last-generation games feature a resupply option called ‘Workshop sites’. Now reconfigured whenever a long operation occurs you can resupply and regain all ammo and AP. No cost is necessary.
Level design has changed to incorporate a denser, larger area to cover. Maps are wide and brimming with intricate detail. Broken machinery litter landscapes and factories in production continue to function even if a tourist is snooping where they shouldn’t. Complemented well by smooth transitions into small pathways, corridors instill a claustrophobic nature. Bringing spice to the environmental eye candy. And hell you might see a surprise or two when you see advanced setpieces. Ambushed by an AC duel outta nowhere!? Receive enemy reinforcements partway through a job or encounter divergent objectives throughout. Not all assignments are long to beat. A careful balance emerges to complete levels in less than five minutes or greater depending how many times you reload a checkpoint or comb every inch of a place. Simple objectives in the beginning, gradually increase in complexity as you delve further in a playthrough. Nudging the player to overcome challenges, testing them thoroughly to prove they have the skill and fortitude to go beyond. If one lacks in talent they can make up for it through different builds and playstyle. Of course, results may vary. Just because I had a fine time, isn’t the same for others. In addition to open zones, there are plenty of data logs to find. Detailing lore on individuals in the world, combat logs by defeating mobs of opponents. And I must say the opponent variety is plenty, so you won’t get bored seeing #1 then #2 then #3. No complaints about their design after fifty-nine assignments. I’m hungry to defeat anything in front of me.
The soundtrack composed by Kota Hoshino, Takashi Onodera, and Shoi Miyazawa is just as marvelous as their predecessors. Evoking senses of Bladerunner, Portal and The Division. Hearing Things and New Era convey robust unity and constantly reinforce the numerous allusions and references I found to excellent effect. Inserting Elden Ring vibes into the mix sneakily. I’m astounded at the level of quality. Post-punk, trance, monosynth, and dark synth waves combine in an unexpected product resulting in an eerie, yet soulful and tranquil sound. A consistent flow in haunting rhythms I found to be oddly mesmerizing. Luring me deeper to embrace not only the twisted sense of tension throughout, yet doesn’t detract at all by transforming the whole soundtrack into pleasant humming heavens. A small number of tracks are jazzy and uplifting to the beat. A wonderful surprise, providing a nice change of pace in the otherwise somber and atmospheric themes permeating. Overall, I believe the soundtrack largely succeeds in conveying a “sense of loneliness, nostalgia wrapped in a dark old sci-fi feel.” Well done!
Very satisfied with the console port on my PlayStation Four Pro. Had one crash in my 3rd playthrough, but the rest of my runs have been smooth. So maybe an outlier. Did not experience any bugs or glitches. Which I am super thankful for. And I am extremely impressed by how fast menus load. ACV and ACVD took their sweet time from the starting screen to the main menu and the following notifications popping up. Connecting to the internet and adding unnecessary filler. Thankfully none of that bull is here. Enter the menu and bam! We're in the garage! Sick!
Despite all the praise I've been endlessly pulling, I must talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative, but for the sake of transparency I’ll state them below. First, the implementation of new game cycles could be better. Players need to take certain missions in a manner to achieve the NG/NG+ ending. Taking the opposite operations in the 2nd run for the others. Once these two requirements are met a new path will emerge to unlock NG++. It should be noted, starting a 2nd playthrough upon beating NG. Reinstates the protagonist right after the tutorial. Requiring them to complete old missions and adding more than a handful of unfamiliar assignments included. Finishing NG+ rewards extra exclusive missions to complete. I had to follow Powerpyx’s guides, for all endings and one to make sure I finished all the engagements correctly in a manner leaving no doubt for me to head to the final route. I highly recommend looking up a guide for both to not mess up. I feel the punishment for not going in the manner intended will cause possible frustration. To restart and play an unnecessary fourth operation. During my time playing, I was ruminating possible alternatives. Highlight completed ones, and include a warning or another tutorial to inform mercenaries of the unique quests. There are no multiple saves to rely on. You get one save, so make it count. Unless you like backing up your save constantly. Wish the method was easier to prevent accidents. Therefore, allowing anyone to start a fresh operation painlessly.
The illusion of safe ‘difficulty’ throughout is blown to bits upon encountering the 1st boss. The devs have little sympathy whatsoever for throwing you to the pits. In one of the hardest fights in the beginning and asked us to defeat them with starting equipment. Imagine an armed Megatron versus a no weapon Bumblebee. Such a decision seems to be deliberate to convey how future encounters can be, aligning with Yamamura’s decision earlier. And he does succeed. Since I’ve read countless rants, criticism, angry responses, and complaints ad nauseam. The developer team's intention doesn’t always pan out to the masses. So what's the solution? Another mode? Easy mode? Hmmm. Doubt it. Soulsborne + Sekiro and AC I’ve played don’t contain those options available. So what’s next? Well, they contain an in-depth tutorial archive alongside training quests to bring fresh pilots up to speed. And I found their inclusion to be extremely welcoming. Easy accessibility to refer to the archive and see mechanics I can take advantage of. They specifically mention changing your build, if you’re having trouble. Past entries had players accruing debt. Now it is not possible any longer. Retry errands to your heart's content to earn sufficient funds. The added checkpoints, assembly of parts, repair kits, and passive skills via ‘OS Tuning’ create a fair parameter to redo engagements. Lessening the tediousness and frustration by starting square one again. In effect, the quality of life features make the hard-as-nails bouts fairer than before. I still maintain Last Raven is the hardest entry in the franchise. ACVI by comparison hits the halfway point to the zenith of ACLR. Moving on, to remove any misconceptions I am not defending Yamamura’s decision, merely trying to explain there are avenues within to help consumers interested in buying or trying out the newest installment. I didn’t come out unscathed either. The 1st boss and each chapter's end baddie demonstrate a higher ceiling to break through. So I’m worried the latest title might be a little too hard. Nevertheless, I am not saying ‘git gud.’ I hate the phrase a lot when a person who needs help asks genuinely and is given a troll/meme response. Let us be better and lend a helping hand to those who wish to pilot an AC alongside us. Who continues to struggle. Responses such as I wish you luck! Keep on trying! Don’t lose hope! Change your builds. Sell equipment and try other weapons. Replaying operations is a great way to earn money and some can be done in less than two to three minutes. These are far better responses.
Arena I think could’ve had more substance. Felt it was lacking compared to previous ones. Push the AI to its limits to challenge us further. Expose us to similar adversaries like Z, N, K, J? or throw a big wrench and add 2v1, 3v1, or 4v1 conflicts to truly test a player's capabilities. A boss rush mode to practice against arduous enemies. Instead of having to restart from the beginning during a task before combatting the big baddy. Additionally, I wish multiplayer was expanded instead of 1v1 or 3v3 duels. Grant us co-op missions online/offline, and set up super bosses, and SOTC-like robots. In ACVD we faced off a version of Motherwill as a team. Why can’t we do the same in the latest title? I’d love to face our previous opponents beside my teammates. DXM had co-op super clashes to tackle and I thought they were incredibly eye-candy, altered elements and most of all were not present at all in the regular story. They push pilots to cooperate and in doing so defeat them. Makes me think much of the effort was in the single-player portion. A factor I deeply appreciate.
In the end all of these hurdles, doesn’t diminish the sheer strengths too much. AC6 takes all the best qualities since its inception and hones the edge of its moonlight blade so hard I am in awe of it. Bear witness and see how ravens fly above blood-red skies fearlessly. Embracing stronger than usual story, gratifying content in both gameplay options and combat, an excellent soundtrack, and worthwhile quality-of-life options, rides the fine line of integrating nostalgia, but has enough to stand on its own. Expansive levels to explore, fight, and discover hidden secrets. Memorable cast. Both likable and destable. Fair, but challenging difficulty next to an expansive number of customization options for your robot body. High replayability and little to no performance/bugs/glitches mishaps. All collide to a must-play for any newcomer or veteran. Easy recommendation to fans and enthusiasts within the niche genre to see all endings. Overcoming multiple tall walls to reach what I firmly believe is one of the best AC entries I've played thus far. A return to form by FromSoftware. Bravo Masaru Yamamura and his team. Looking forward to your future works as director! This title boldly demonstrates there is still a thriving market for the genre in the videogame industry and I for one am standing right beside them waving in my cheerleading outfit to ask other devs to achieve similar levels of greatness. And while there are plenty of mecha titles to watch out for. I for one highly anticipate a sequel since history has shown evidence to import our equipment and continue the storyline. Good chance to expect one. Excuse me, while I play Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for a 4th bloody time!
9/10
Additional Material:
Z N K J - names & somewhat spoilers throughout the series. With final thoughts on the endings of AC6 - MAJOR spoilers on the endings.
Slight Gundam Witch from Mercury similarities
All Endings guide
All Missions List
VaatiVidya - Souls Lore Guru Makes an AC6 Beginner's Guide?!
Advance Tips from Vaati on AC6
Edited 9-9-23 & 10-20-23 - Adding a proper story section, cleaned up some text formatting, replaced a word.
Ys IV Part II : The Dawn of Peak Fiction
In the 80’s there were few developers who actually knew what they were doing more than Hudson Soft, these guys are probably single handedly responsible for Nintendo opening itself to third party developers to make the NES/Famicom the legendary console we know today. Hudson Soft first and foremost were people who didn’t just like video games as a way to make money on a newly expanding market, these guys were very passionate about new technology and the wonders of gaming as a whole.
But eventually, when you enjoy making games so much, you start to become ambitious and soon Hudson Soft will partner with NEC the prime micro-computer manufacturer (and creator of the famous “porn game machine” known as the PC-98) under a share common interest of building the game console of the future : The PC-Engine otherwise known as the Turbografx 16 outside of Japan. The PCE was a really impressive machine for the time and even today, I’m still kind of blown away by the technical capabilities of the console which only has an 8 bit processor but packs a lot of punch otherwise especially with the CD Add-on that they’ve adopted earlier than many other companies at the time.
However, they were releasing a new console on an highly competitive market, Sega and Nintendo were fiercely competing for domination and other companies who dared venture on hardware territory knew that it was complicated to stand out amongst the crowd and that’s when Hudson had a brilliant idea, they will partner with Falcom to port their classic Ys title to their console. Ys 1 and Ys 2 were already considered classic of NEC micro-computers system and they have already existed many ports of the game to pretty much all available platforms at the time including the NES and the Master System but Hudson’s version on their PC-Engine was going to be different, it wasn’t just going to be a port, it was going to be a full-on REMAKE !
Ys Book 1&2 took the first two games in the series and combined them together into a single one like it was originally planned for the first time and the game will receive the most premium treatment imaginable ! A graphical overhaul which put new life into the game, touched up gameplay that made the experience smoother to play, smoother leveling curves which mitigated the grinding, new tracks to accompany certain important moment with new remixes on the absurdly insane sounding PCE soundchip which was able to make freaking miracle happened, it had animated cutscenes and full fucking voice-acting for a game released in 1989 and they did it both in Japanese and in English as this was the first game in the series to be shipped internationally (not counting the weird European port of Ys 1 on the Master System) !
Everyone’s mind was freaking blown away by how much love and care was put into this new iteration, gamers who were alive to see it happen before their very eyes as children couldn’t believe their eyes ! It was a true epic adventure with all the proper care put into its presentation to heightened that sense of wonder. It’s clear that probably the reason why Ys even got so popular in the first place and managed to stay relevant was because of this port right there, the game was well received pretty much everywhere and magazines sang the tales of how Hudson made Ys 1 & 2 a legendary game going beyond its simple ambition !
And all of this before Zelda or any other company was able to release their next-gen titles !
The PC-Engine version of Ys 1&2 was a massive success and single-handedly was enough of a reason for people to even buy a PC-Engine in the first place. It was clear that Hudson Soft didn’t just enjoy Ys, they didn’t just like Ys heck they didn’t even love Ys ! THEY WERE TRULY PASSIONATE ABOUT YS ! So much so that Hudson was allowed to port Ys III for the PC-Engine too with the same level of care and polish as what they did for Ys 1&2 even tho no amount of polish managed to make the game any good in the end and they botched the localization of it but oh well…
So when Falcom couldn’t make Ys IV themselves, Hudson seemed like the obvious choice to direct and create a new entry in their series ! But making a game from scratch with only a design document full of concept arts, a few guidelines and no lines of code or any prototype was a vastly different task than just taking an already existing game and polishing it to completion but unlike Tonkin House who was this small no-name company playing with their turds trying to make a barely playable game to satisfy the guideline, Hudson had something that they didn’t, they had experiences with making successful cult classic games but most importantly they had PASSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCmsS8eD_XY
From the moment you boot up the game you understand that the level of production value here is through the fucking roof ! You ain’t playing some dinky ass, poopy ass, budget ass, Tonkin Ass, Cold Steel Era Falcom ass “product” ! YOU ARE PLAYING A REAL VIDEOGAME ! MADE BY REAL DEVELOPERS ! WITH REAL TALENT ! REAL PASSION AND A REAL BUDGET TO GIVE THEM THE MEAN TO PRODUCE A MASTERPIECE AND YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE GONNA TAKE THE CHANCE ! THERE IS NO BRAKE ON THIS TRAIN ! DAWN OF YS IS A GAME THAT’S GOING TO SHOW MODERN FALCOM PLAYERS HOW WE USED TO DO IT BACK IN THE 9 TO THE TIES ! A PRODUCT MOLD IN THE VOLCANO OF LOVE AND FORGED BY THE FINEST SOUL-MAKER IN THE INDUSTRY !
What made Ys 1&2 so legendary already was the visual presentation of it all, it made the original script of those games popped even more than they originally did in spite of the limited presentation and the added animated character portrait, voice acting and even cutscenes really added a lot of flair to the original two games. But Ys 1&2 Hudson was merely adding on top of the original game. With Dawn of Ys, they had full control over the game's presentation and how it would fit inside of the game ! And I’m happy to report they did a phenomenal job on just the visual presentation and scene direction level !
The first few minutes of Dawn of Ys already introduce the game in a much better way than Tonkin's version did. After coming back from one of their travels, Adol and Dogi stop by Esteria. It's been 2 years since the event of their adventure there and everyone is waiting for them ! A lot of things have changed already, Goban has opened a shop, Lilia now lives among the people of Esteria and is constantly waiting for Adol’s return and her health got better too ! Sarah is alive and managed to survive the assault of Dark Fact and his army after mysteriously disappearing in Ys 1 ! As you walk toward the city, the title of the game fades on top of the screen, everyone is celebrating Adol’s return ! This section feels like a genuine victory lap and a great way to welcome us back to the world of Ys after so long and I love every single minute of it and it’s all done really well !
One thing that’s clear from the game’s visual presentation is that the game will put more of an emphasis on its narration and especially how it’s going to be told through its visuals, you have much more scripted events the likes of other RPGs at the time where you lose control of Adol’s character for a moment to witness dialogues and scenes ! The general artstyle of the game oozes of that timeless 90’s anime charm, the character design is pretty damn excellent and on par with the striking designs of the original game, many characters from the first two games even got a face lift for the occasion, each of the game’s portrait and cutscenes are superbly animated and full of details ! That recreation of Ys II final battle is only a technical flex before the game bombards you with an avalanche of colors which pops out of your screen and invites you to live the adventure of a lifetime !
While the in-game graphics might be less impressive than the anime style portrait, cg’s and animation I just love how colorful the game looks which complimented by the extremely varied environments the game make you go through from lush forest to snowy mountains to a creepy abandoned mansion and even more, the visuals manage sometimes to pull off some really cool things with the environment and it definitely make the journey feel more alive than ever !
One particularly impressive thing about Dawn of Ys is that while text boxes are still the norm for dialogues with regular NPC’s most of the big story scene are entirely dubbed with animated character portraits popping on the screen and sometimes even CG’s much like in visual novel to highlight some of the more important moments, the original Japanese performance is honestly pretty stellar and I’m still shocked at how cleanly the voice acting sound on such an old hardware.
However this raised an issue when it came to the availability of the game for the longest time as much like Mask of the Sun, Dawn of Ys remained a Japanese exclusive and in the case of Dawn while an english fan translation already existed for a while most of the important dialogue remained untranslated simply because they couldn’t display subtitles during the game numerous voiced only segments. Thankfully nowadays this is no longer an issue thanks to a group of talented but amateurish voice actors who banded together with the goal to bring a fandub of the entire game !
While it’s not quite as professionally well made as the official dub of Ys 1&2 with the only professional voice actor here being Alan Oppenheimer, third cousin of THE Oppenheimer and voice of Skeletor in the He-Man series giving his voice to Darm in the intro of the game. That doesn’t mean that the rest of the crew delivered a hack job and I think that on average, they did manage to at least capture the feel of that era of voice-acting. I think it was probably something the dubbing team wanted to transmit with their performance, something that sound like it was recorded by a bunch of voice actors going off way too much in a at times goofy, at times overly serious and badass tone and I just think it works really well and definitely feel like the game actually did came out in the west. The only issue with the English Dub however is that the general audio mixing is rather poor, you can feel each member of the team had different mike quality and the voice acting can sometimes be a bit muffled by the music or sound effect playing in the background and with no option to arrange the audio mixing yourself in the settings you’ll have to sometimes open your ear wide to understand what the hell are they saying. Be sure to check their website at : https://www.ysutopia.net/downloads/ys4/Ys%20IV%20Dub%20Readme/readme.html
But back to the story, as Adol is celebrating with his friends, Sara the local fortune teller tells him about the distant land of Celceta. While she was escaping the forces of Dark Fact she discovered a connection between the black pearl and some ruins recently found on the mainland and she asked Adol to investigate it ! Without losing a single minute, Adol answered the call to adventure and in the dark of night set out to Celceta the mysteries of this ancient land ! But in the shadows, a sinister group of individual are trying to perform a dark ritual shown in a metal as fuck way too fucking gory for this franchise animated cutscenes before the game starts off with this absolute BANGER !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK9JTh0gAXs
GODDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN MY DUDE THESE SAXOPHONES ARE MAKING MY ASS WETTER THAN A FOUNTAIN ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON JESUS CHRIST !
One of the strongest aspect of the Ys series ever since its infancy has always been its amazing soundtrack, baring some exceptions, you know that an Ys game is going to own several asses just going by the soundtrack alone and I must report that the soundtrack for Dawn of Ys is once again completely out of this world ! For the first time in the history of the franchise, it’s the Falcom Sound JDK team handling the soundtrack. The Falcom JDK team is Falcom's very own personal rock-band. Composed of many prominent members joining in and out as the company evolve with time, the JDK team was originally founded to make CD quality audio version of Falcom’s soundtrack to sell them as promotional material but eventually, the JDK team took a more prominent role in development and as the advent of technology and sound quality went on, the JDK team now started actually composing for Ys as well as other Falcom titles.
Ys IV soundtrack was composed before the game ever began development and most of the music were made on CD’s that were later released as the “Ys IV Perfect Collection” but while the original album is freaking phenomenal on its own, that doesn’t take away the excellent instrumentalisation that went into translating the original composition into something that could be played by the PCE absolutely insane sound chip ! It’s simple, the soundtrack for Dawn of Ys might be my favorite soundtrack in the entire series ! While Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack for the original 2 Ys games was already an absolute joy for the ear, his departure didn’t mean that the JDK team couldn’t up the ante and provide a soundtrack which tells a million words with only a few notes !
The synths, the guitars, the FREAKING SAXOPHONE in the intro of the game, everything about this OST oozes from pure 90’s funk and pop with a lot variety in the composition, of course you get your adventure tracks that make you pump to rush into battle like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWYZDs0ARqg but you also get more ambient music that makes you feel like you’re adventuring in a scary yet sacred place and you don’t belong there with ominous sound reverberating through the room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QRx_ZBoSrE then you fight a boss and the music goes : https://youtu.be/4HNEPXbNEK4?si=oaBREVaNcJIG7zqj !
There is so much variety and energy to the soundtrack that to me it easily rivals some of the greats like Final Fantasy, Megaman, Castlevania or even Donkey Kong Country with which Dawn of Ys shares its sense of harmony and insane instrumentalisation which seems impossible to do on such ancient hardware but yet it does !
And I even like a lot of the creative choice they make when remaking old tracks, Fountain of Love, Tears of Sylph and the Syonin for example is composed with an instrumentalisation closer to that of the PC-98 instead of how it was in the PCE version of Ys 1 to clearly separate the homely, familiar and old-school feeling of Adol’s quasi home-town which contrasts with the rest of the adventures which uses more elaborate instrumentalisation as Adol dives into the unknown, the same way Adol evolves and his adventure get more grandiose and epic, the soundtrack get crazier and more complex in return !
Heck at some point in the game, you return to Darm Tower which is about to crumble and fall, they could’ve done some weird melancholic version of the tune but nah, your return to Darm Tower is accompanied by some funky, jazzy upbeat version of the original tune, what once used to be the base of operation of a great evil and Adol’s greatest challenge yet is now a freaking dance party !!! You’re dancing to the beat of your old enemies main theme and desecrate their corpses because that’s how strong and confident Adol became through his adventure and to him the Darm Tower isn’t a place of challenge to him but a leisurely walk to the DANCEFLOOR BABY : https://youtu.be/hMnq4RSmZtI?si=mxLh4IP0a_1t2QcR
Theme of Adol 1993, Field, A Great Ordeal, Temple of The Sun, Karna, A Kiss from Eldeel, so many great tracks henched into my brain thanks to Ryo Yonemitsu exquisite arrangements of the JDK’s masterclass of a soundtrack for the PC-Engine ! I’m not a music theorist so I can’t really explain with technical terms how and why these tracks work for me but the vibes are genuinely immaculate !
The Ys franchise is first and foremost about adventure, about this intoxicating feeling of wanting to give everything up, grab our bags and journey to places unknown ! Pushing with relentless motion through the different places Adol visits on his journey and a soundtrack this energetic and varied only emphasize that feeling even more !
But fear not my friend because Dawn of Ys isn’t just a really cool aesthetic served on silver platter of banger tracks, it’s also first and foremost an EXCELLENT videogame ! Once again, we’re back to Bump Combat and I know that after everything I’ve just said that might’ve gotten you a little bit too excited you’ll probably say something of the likes of : “Oh really ? We’re doing this ancient ass, clunky ass, stupid ass bump system again ?” and ladies and gentle straw men who live in my head, I’ve heard your plight !
After all, Bump Combat is such an acquired taste that I had to spend two whole reviews talking about the strengths of a well executed version of such a system as well as its merits when it comes to the flow and the momentum of the game and the cracks that shows when this balance isn’t respected by badly coded hitboxes, stilted movement, terrible boss design and so forth. But Ok I know this can be a turn-off to some people but once again put your bias aside because Dawn of Ys took Bump Combat and made it EXCELLENT ! It’s easily the best game featuring bump combat in the entire series (it’s also the last one if we don’t count all of the countless ports of Ys 1&2 for modern platforms).
Dawn of Ys, much like Mask of The Sun, decides to take the same basic moveset as Ys II, with the same sets of magic to unlock too. One might think of this decision as lazy since the game doesn’t really offer much novelty from a strict gameplay sense but while your toolkit may be the same, the way Hudson uses that toolkit is much more different and the game is full of surprises at every turn. The only real difference now is that you now possess the power of DIAGONAL movement which is an actual god sent for fighting enemies or just traversing the map and offers a greater degree of freedom when it comes to positioning and even puzzles !
Unlike Tonkin House who understood so little of the appeal of the bump combat system they implemented elements of game design which came in contradiction to it, Hudson decided to play with that element of constant motion with sometimes really clever movement based puzzle making almost each dungeon in the game pop with creativity and flair they couldn’t really achieve back then. Like I said in my first review, the secret of the early Ys games was their simplicity and ease of access but also its constant sense of motion which made you rush into battle to the tunes of power metal ! But while simplicity is indeed charming, ambition is definitely more enthralling !
While Ys II chose the route of streamlining the game to be more accessible and focus more greatly on its narration by designing their game in a more linear fashion, Hudson decided to take the freedom of Ys 1 and the varied setpieces of Ys 2 to create the perfect synthesis of the Ys formula imaginable. Dawn of Ys is a game which never stops going and always comes up with new and exciting ideas for your adventure !
When you arrive on the mainland to start your adventure, boom you’re confronted by the Romun Empire and sent to prison where they take your cool ass equipment from your adventures in Ys II and you’re mad as shit about this but you break-out with the help of cool characters such as Durgen and Karna and you realize that sometimes the game will make you fight with ally who also deals with enemies the same as you ! One time you’re on a raft and have to survive an onslaught of enemies, one time you’re in a volcano ! One time you’re turned into a monster and have to find a way to turn back to normal ! One time you’re in Esher Space and the gravity is flipped upside down and so much more !
What about the bosses tho ? Well Hudson also pushed themselves on that front, Dawn of Ys possesses more than 15 bosses compared to Mask of The Sun mere 9 and it’s one more boss than both Ys 1&2 combined (proving once again that Dawn of Ys is the true Ys II if the first two games are combined into one complete experience). With bump combat and magic available much like in Ys II we can imagine that there would be an imbalance between the two mechanics but nope, each boss of Dawn of Ys is extremely well designed and fun to fight !
All of the bosses strike a good balance between having to use bump combat and magic to defeat them and when it comes to pattern and all, I have absolutely nothing to complain about here, some of the later bosses are true marvel of boss design which fully plays into the strength of the somewhat simple yet effective battle system of the series so far ! A friend of mine once told me that the Twin Head boss in Ys 1 was the best they could do with Bump Combat and he was immediately proven wrong upon playing Dawn of Ys for the first time and realizing that even the first boss of that games tops any boss from either Ys 1 or Ys 2. Dawn of Ys is a game of constant wonder that always finds a way to surprise you at every turn with its setpieces, and each one of them go by so fast that you don’t get to see the time pass ! This game's sense of flow and pacing is so immaculate that not a single moment of it is boring and you feel like you’re living a really epic adventure with twists and turns and revelations at every corner ! The game may be short, it can be completed in a little over 10 h but these 10h are so intense and filled with stuff that you feel like the adventure is 10 times more epic and grand than what you can imagine !
And this proves that a game can make us feel and experience many things with more intensity no matter the actual game time, something that Falcom seems to have forgotten with time ! It’s not about how long and how stuffed with content a game is, it’s not about how much you can pad out a game to give the illusion of something richer, deeper and more interesting. It’s about making the most of what the content you have to truly impact the minds of the player who experiences your art ! And if length and only length was a determining factor some medium like films wouldn’t be so successful and Hudson understood it perfectly.
The story of Dawn of Ys is also one that I wanted to give a lot of credit towards. While Mask of The Sun followed the guideline of the design document to a T without attempting anything fancy (and with how awkwardly the story was told here, they didn’t attempt to even follow it right imo), Hudson took the idea of a direct sequel to Ys 1&2 further and did a lot of really cool things with the continuity and the established lore at the time ! The game is called “The Dawn of Ys” because more than just a new adventure in a brand new land, Adol was about to discover the secret of what he went through in the first two games ! It seems that Celceta holds the answers to all the events that lead to the corruption of the Black Pearl and the fall of Ys before Adol’s arrival in the first game and as you explore Celceta, you find yourself uncovering these answers and I absolutely love the connections they made here !
From the relationship the twin goddesses had with the inhabitant of Celceta, to the origins of Darm and the Black Pearl, to how certain things in Esteria and Ys relate to things in Celceta and how everything played into one another. One of my absolute favorite moment of the game is when during one of the game many info-dump flashbacks, you not only learn the real name of Dark Fact but also it’s revealed to you that one of the items you’ve been using in Ys 1 is actually a super important item in the global lore of the series ! Meaning that you now have to depart for Esteria and revisit the map of Ys 1 now free of all the demons ! Can you imagine the absolute flex that it is ? They didn’t have to do this and yet they did ! And it’s so good seeing all the characters from the first two games but also the different places and what they became after Adol’s departure, Ys 1 which used to be so simple, is now relegated to a small chapter inside of a much more ambitious whole ! Sure, it’s not on the level of say, the second half of DQ3 or the Kanto reveal in Pokemon Gold and Silver to name a similar exemple but man I’m a sucker for that type of stuff !
Everything about Dawn of Ys to its presentation, to its music, to its story, to level design, to the way the game builds on the basis of Ys 1&2 and plays with its continuity make the game feel like a non-stop constantly moving grand epic to which we never see the time passes ! They took everything that made Ys 1&2 so iconic and perfected it, Hudson didn’t just want to create yet another title in the prestigious Ys saga, they wanted to create the Ultimate Ys game !
The game is a love letter to the series and what Masaya Hashimoto and Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, now too busy to work on their own project accomplished years ago and in many ways they managed to surpass them (well at least as far as making a Ys game goes !) and I believe that no one understood the appeal of Ys more than the team at Hudson Soft.
However, Falcom had other plans for the franchises and didn’t want to let go of Adol and the series and with Hudson hopping a bit too much above the initial guidelines to make a conclusion to the series instead of yet another episode, they decided that the game would now be considered not canon and Mask of The Sun will therefore be the version of reference for every subsequent Ys title. On one hand, I get it, this isn’t Hudson’s series, it was Falcom’s and if they wanted to continue with this series they just couldn’t let something like the ending of Dawn of Ys happen and give the series the proper closure it deserves.
Personally speaking, while what Hudson Soft did can be compared to mere fanfiction, it’s really good fanfiction and aside from coming into conflicts with the modern lore of the series and offering an epilogue that could have easily been acknowledged by Falcom without actually hurting the continuity, I think that what Hudson did here is phenomenal, the ending of Dawn of Ys is perhaps my favorite ending in the series despite and never fail to make me emotional. So many of Hudson’s ideas for the lore and continuity of the series at least in my opinion could’ve been reworked into the main timeline as I do think that some ideas here are actually better than what Falcom will eventually do with them !
Much to my dismay, that means that for how excellent Dawn of Ys is, its legacy is now forgotten, even Falcom seems to be really keen on ignoring the game’s existence or any influence Hudson might’ve had on the franchise (in fact : in the modern port of the older titles, you can play every OST’s of each version of Ys 1,2 and 3 but not the PC-Engine version but I bet it’s due to copyright issues rather than pettiness) and I think this is a great injustice.
I really do implore you, if you enjoy Ys especially Ys 1&2, I urge yourself to try out Dawn of Ys even more so if you were disappointed by Falcom’s own take on the game they did 20 years later with “Memories of Celceta” (but that will be a story for another time !). It’s really a masterpiece and easily amongst the best the series has to offer, a true labor of love and passion made by people who probably loved and understood Ys more than its original creators.
The next game in the series will be handled by Falcom themselves and who knows, maybe they won’t fuck it up… right ?
See you next time, as we take a look at “Ys V” the game, the game which almost killed the Ys franchise !
In the 80’s there were few developers who actually knew what they were doing more than Hudson Soft, these guys are probably single handedly responsible for Nintendo opening itself to third party developers to make the NES/Famicom the legendary console we know today. Hudson Soft first and foremost were people who didn’t just like video games as a way to make money on a newly expanding market, these guys were very passionate about new technology and the wonders of gaming as a whole.
But eventually, when you enjoy making games so much, you start to become ambitious and soon Hudson Soft will partner with NEC the prime micro-computer manufacturer (and creator of the famous “porn game machine” known as the PC-98) under a share common interest of building the game console of the future : The PC-Engine otherwise known as the Turbografx 16 outside of Japan. The PCE was a really impressive machine for the time and even today, I’m still kind of blown away by the technical capabilities of the console which only has an 8 bit processor but packs a lot of punch otherwise especially with the CD Add-on that they’ve adopted earlier than many other companies at the time.
However, they were releasing a new console on an highly competitive market, Sega and Nintendo were fiercely competing for domination and other companies who dared venture on hardware territory knew that it was complicated to stand out amongst the crowd and that’s when Hudson had a brilliant idea, they will partner with Falcom to port their classic Ys title to their console. Ys 1 and Ys 2 were already considered classic of NEC micro-computers system and they have already existed many ports of the game to pretty much all available platforms at the time including the NES and the Master System but Hudson’s version on their PC-Engine was going to be different, it wasn’t just going to be a port, it was going to be a full-on REMAKE !
Ys Book 1&2 took the first two games in the series and combined them together into a single one like it was originally planned for the first time and the game will receive the most premium treatment imaginable ! A graphical overhaul which put new life into the game, touched up gameplay that made the experience smoother to play, smoother leveling curves which mitigated the grinding, new tracks to accompany certain important moment with new remixes on the absurdly insane sounding PCE soundchip which was able to make freaking miracle happened, it had animated cutscenes and full fucking voice-acting for a game released in 1989 and they did it both in Japanese and in English as this was the first game in the series to be shipped internationally (not counting the weird European port of Ys 1 on the Master System) !
Everyone’s mind was freaking blown away by how much love and care was put into this new iteration, gamers who were alive to see it happen before their very eyes as children couldn’t believe their eyes ! It was a true epic adventure with all the proper care put into its presentation to heightened that sense of wonder. It’s clear that probably the reason why Ys even got so popular in the first place and managed to stay relevant was because of this port right there, the game was well received pretty much everywhere and magazines sang the tales of how Hudson made Ys 1 & 2 a legendary game going beyond its simple ambition !
And all of this before Zelda or any other company was able to release their next-gen titles !
The PC-Engine version of Ys 1&2 was a massive success and single-handedly was enough of a reason for people to even buy a PC-Engine in the first place. It was clear that Hudson Soft didn’t just enjoy Ys, they didn’t just like Ys heck they didn’t even love Ys ! THEY WERE TRULY PASSIONATE ABOUT YS ! So much so that Hudson was allowed to port Ys III for the PC-Engine too with the same level of care and polish as what they did for Ys 1&2 even tho no amount of polish managed to make the game any good in the end and they botched the localization of it but oh well…
So when Falcom couldn’t make Ys IV themselves, Hudson seemed like the obvious choice to direct and create a new entry in their series ! But making a game from scratch with only a design document full of concept arts, a few guidelines and no lines of code or any prototype was a vastly different task than just taking an already existing game and polishing it to completion but unlike Tonkin House who was this small no-name company playing with their turds trying to make a barely playable game to satisfy the guideline, Hudson had something that they didn’t, they had experiences with making successful cult classic games but most importantly they had PASSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCmsS8eD_XY
From the moment you boot up the game you understand that the level of production value here is through the fucking roof ! You ain’t playing some dinky ass, poopy ass, budget ass, Tonkin Ass, Cold Steel Era Falcom ass “product” ! YOU ARE PLAYING A REAL VIDEOGAME ! MADE BY REAL DEVELOPERS ! WITH REAL TALENT ! REAL PASSION AND A REAL BUDGET TO GIVE THEM THE MEAN TO PRODUCE A MASTERPIECE AND YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE GONNA TAKE THE CHANCE ! THERE IS NO BRAKE ON THIS TRAIN ! DAWN OF YS IS A GAME THAT’S GOING TO SHOW MODERN FALCOM PLAYERS HOW WE USED TO DO IT BACK IN THE 9 TO THE TIES ! A PRODUCT MOLD IN THE VOLCANO OF LOVE AND FORGED BY THE FINEST SOUL-MAKER IN THE INDUSTRY !
What made Ys 1&2 so legendary already was the visual presentation of it all, it made the original script of those games popped even more than they originally did in spite of the limited presentation and the added animated character portrait, voice acting and even cutscenes really added a lot of flair to the original two games. But Ys 1&2 Hudson was merely adding on top of the original game. With Dawn of Ys, they had full control over the game's presentation and how it would fit inside of the game ! And I’m happy to report they did a phenomenal job on just the visual presentation and scene direction level !
The first few minutes of Dawn of Ys already introduce the game in a much better way than Tonkin's version did. After coming back from one of their travels, Adol and Dogi stop by Esteria. It's been 2 years since the event of their adventure there and everyone is waiting for them ! A lot of things have changed already, Goban has opened a shop, Lilia now lives among the people of Esteria and is constantly waiting for Adol’s return and her health got better too ! Sarah is alive and managed to survive the assault of Dark Fact and his army after mysteriously disappearing in Ys 1 ! As you walk toward the city, the title of the game fades on top of the screen, everyone is celebrating Adol’s return ! This section feels like a genuine victory lap and a great way to welcome us back to the world of Ys after so long and I love every single minute of it and it’s all done really well !
One thing that’s clear from the game’s visual presentation is that the game will put more of an emphasis on its narration and especially how it’s going to be told through its visuals, you have much more scripted events the likes of other RPGs at the time where you lose control of Adol’s character for a moment to witness dialogues and scenes ! The general artstyle of the game oozes of that timeless 90’s anime charm, the character design is pretty damn excellent and on par with the striking designs of the original game, many characters from the first two games even got a face lift for the occasion, each of the game’s portrait and cutscenes are superbly animated and full of details ! That recreation of Ys II final battle is only a technical flex before the game bombards you with an avalanche of colors which pops out of your screen and invites you to live the adventure of a lifetime !
While the in-game graphics might be less impressive than the anime style portrait, cg’s and animation I just love how colorful the game looks which complimented by the extremely varied environments the game make you go through from lush forest to snowy mountains to a creepy abandoned mansion and even more, the visuals manage sometimes to pull off some really cool things with the environment and it definitely make the journey feel more alive than ever !
One particularly impressive thing about Dawn of Ys is that while text boxes are still the norm for dialogues with regular NPC’s most of the big story scene are entirely dubbed with animated character portraits popping on the screen and sometimes even CG’s much like in visual novel to highlight some of the more important moments, the original Japanese performance is honestly pretty stellar and I’m still shocked at how cleanly the voice acting sound on such an old hardware.
However this raised an issue when it came to the availability of the game for the longest time as much like Mask of the Sun, Dawn of Ys remained a Japanese exclusive and in the case of Dawn while an english fan translation already existed for a while most of the important dialogue remained untranslated simply because they couldn’t display subtitles during the game numerous voiced only segments. Thankfully nowadays this is no longer an issue thanks to a group of talented but amateurish voice actors who banded together with the goal to bring a fandub of the entire game !
While it’s not quite as professionally well made as the official dub of Ys 1&2 with the only professional voice actor here being Alan Oppenheimer, third cousin of THE Oppenheimer and voice of Skeletor in the He-Man series giving his voice to Darm in the intro of the game. That doesn’t mean that the rest of the crew delivered a hack job and I think that on average, they did manage to at least capture the feel of that era of voice-acting. I think it was probably something the dubbing team wanted to transmit with their performance, something that sound like it was recorded by a bunch of voice actors going off way too much in a at times goofy, at times overly serious and badass tone and I just think it works really well and definitely feel like the game actually did came out in the west. The only issue with the English Dub however is that the general audio mixing is rather poor, you can feel each member of the team had different mike quality and the voice acting can sometimes be a bit muffled by the music or sound effect playing in the background and with no option to arrange the audio mixing yourself in the settings you’ll have to sometimes open your ear wide to understand what the hell are they saying. Be sure to check their website at : https://www.ysutopia.net/downloads/ys4/Ys%20IV%20Dub%20Readme/readme.html
But back to the story, as Adol is celebrating with his friends, Sara the local fortune teller tells him about the distant land of Celceta. While she was escaping the forces of Dark Fact she discovered a connection between the black pearl and some ruins recently found on the mainland and she asked Adol to investigate it ! Without losing a single minute, Adol answered the call to adventure and in the dark of night set out to Celceta the mysteries of this ancient land ! But in the shadows, a sinister group of individual are trying to perform a dark ritual shown in a metal as fuck way too fucking gory for this franchise animated cutscenes before the game starts off with this absolute BANGER !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK9JTh0gAXs
GODDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN MY DUDE THESE SAXOPHONES ARE MAKING MY ASS WETTER THAN A FOUNTAIN ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON JESUS CHRIST !
One of the strongest aspect of the Ys series ever since its infancy has always been its amazing soundtrack, baring some exceptions, you know that an Ys game is going to own several asses just going by the soundtrack alone and I must report that the soundtrack for Dawn of Ys is once again completely out of this world ! For the first time in the history of the franchise, it’s the Falcom Sound JDK team handling the soundtrack. The Falcom JDK team is Falcom's very own personal rock-band. Composed of many prominent members joining in and out as the company evolve with time, the JDK team was originally founded to make CD quality audio version of Falcom’s soundtrack to sell them as promotional material but eventually, the JDK team took a more prominent role in development and as the advent of technology and sound quality went on, the JDK team now started actually composing for Ys as well as other Falcom titles.
Ys IV soundtrack was composed before the game ever began development and most of the music were made on CD’s that were later released as the “Ys IV Perfect Collection” but while the original album is freaking phenomenal on its own, that doesn’t take away the excellent instrumentalisation that went into translating the original composition into something that could be played by the PCE absolutely insane sound chip ! It’s simple, the soundtrack for Dawn of Ys might be my favorite soundtrack in the entire series ! While Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack for the original 2 Ys games was already an absolute joy for the ear, his departure didn’t mean that the JDK team couldn’t up the ante and provide a soundtrack which tells a million words with only a few notes !
The synths, the guitars, the FREAKING SAXOPHONE in the intro of the game, everything about this OST oozes from pure 90’s funk and pop with a lot variety in the composition, of course you get your adventure tracks that make you pump to rush into battle like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWYZDs0ARqg but you also get more ambient music that makes you feel like you’re adventuring in a scary yet sacred place and you don’t belong there with ominous sound reverberating through the room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QRx_ZBoSrE then you fight a boss and the music goes : https://youtu.be/4HNEPXbNEK4?si=oaBREVaNcJIG7zqj !
There is so much variety and energy to the soundtrack that to me it easily rivals some of the greats like Final Fantasy, Megaman, Castlevania or even Donkey Kong Country with which Dawn of Ys shares its sense of harmony and insane instrumentalisation which seems impossible to do on such ancient hardware but yet it does !
And I even like a lot of the creative choice they make when remaking old tracks, Fountain of Love, Tears of Sylph and the Syonin for example is composed with an instrumentalisation closer to that of the PC-98 instead of how it was in the PCE version of Ys 1 to clearly separate the homely, familiar and old-school feeling of Adol’s quasi home-town which contrasts with the rest of the adventures which uses more elaborate instrumentalisation as Adol dives into the unknown, the same way Adol evolves and his adventure get more grandiose and epic, the soundtrack get crazier and more complex in return !
Heck at some point in the game, you return to Darm Tower which is about to crumble and fall, they could’ve done some weird melancholic version of the tune but nah, your return to Darm Tower is accompanied by some funky, jazzy upbeat version of the original tune, what once used to be the base of operation of a great evil and Adol’s greatest challenge yet is now a freaking dance party !!! You’re dancing to the beat of your old enemies main theme and desecrate their corpses because that’s how strong and confident Adol became through his adventure and to him the Darm Tower isn’t a place of challenge to him but a leisurely walk to the DANCEFLOOR BABY : https://youtu.be/hMnq4RSmZtI?si=mxLh4IP0a_1t2QcR
Theme of Adol 1993, Field, A Great Ordeal, Temple of The Sun, Karna, A Kiss from Eldeel, so many great tracks henched into my brain thanks to Ryo Yonemitsu exquisite arrangements of the JDK’s masterclass of a soundtrack for the PC-Engine ! I’m not a music theorist so I can’t really explain with technical terms how and why these tracks work for me but the vibes are genuinely immaculate !
The Ys franchise is first and foremost about adventure, about this intoxicating feeling of wanting to give everything up, grab our bags and journey to places unknown ! Pushing with relentless motion through the different places Adol visits on his journey and a soundtrack this energetic and varied only emphasize that feeling even more !
But fear not my friend because Dawn of Ys isn’t just a really cool aesthetic served on silver platter of banger tracks, it’s also first and foremost an EXCELLENT videogame ! Once again, we’re back to Bump Combat and I know that after everything I’ve just said that might’ve gotten you a little bit too excited you’ll probably say something of the likes of : “Oh really ? We’re doing this ancient ass, clunky ass, stupid ass bump system again ?” and ladies and gentle straw men who live in my head, I’ve heard your plight !
After all, Bump Combat is such an acquired taste that I had to spend two whole reviews talking about the strengths of a well executed version of such a system as well as its merits when it comes to the flow and the momentum of the game and the cracks that shows when this balance isn’t respected by badly coded hitboxes, stilted movement, terrible boss design and so forth. But Ok I know this can be a turn-off to some people but once again put your bias aside because Dawn of Ys took Bump Combat and made it EXCELLENT ! It’s easily the best game featuring bump combat in the entire series (it’s also the last one if we don’t count all of the countless ports of Ys 1&2 for modern platforms).
Dawn of Ys, much like Mask of The Sun, decides to take the same basic moveset as Ys II, with the same sets of magic to unlock too. One might think of this decision as lazy since the game doesn’t really offer much novelty from a strict gameplay sense but while your toolkit may be the same, the way Hudson uses that toolkit is much more different and the game is full of surprises at every turn. The only real difference now is that you now possess the power of DIAGONAL movement which is an actual god sent for fighting enemies or just traversing the map and offers a greater degree of freedom when it comes to positioning and even puzzles !
Unlike Tonkin House who understood so little of the appeal of the bump combat system they implemented elements of game design which came in contradiction to it, Hudson decided to play with that element of constant motion with sometimes really clever movement based puzzle making almost each dungeon in the game pop with creativity and flair they couldn’t really achieve back then. Like I said in my first review, the secret of the early Ys games was their simplicity and ease of access but also its constant sense of motion which made you rush into battle to the tunes of power metal ! But while simplicity is indeed charming, ambition is definitely more enthralling !
While Ys II chose the route of streamlining the game to be more accessible and focus more greatly on its narration by designing their game in a more linear fashion, Hudson decided to take the freedom of Ys 1 and the varied setpieces of Ys 2 to create the perfect synthesis of the Ys formula imaginable. Dawn of Ys is a game which never stops going and always comes up with new and exciting ideas for your adventure !
When you arrive on the mainland to start your adventure, boom you’re confronted by the Romun Empire and sent to prison where they take your cool ass equipment from your adventures in Ys II and you’re mad as shit about this but you break-out with the help of cool characters such as Durgen and Karna and you realize that sometimes the game will make you fight with ally who also deals with enemies the same as you ! One time you’re on a raft and have to survive an onslaught of enemies, one time you’re in a volcano ! One time you’re turned into a monster and have to find a way to turn back to normal ! One time you’re in Esher Space and the gravity is flipped upside down and so much more !
What about the bosses tho ? Well Hudson also pushed themselves on that front, Dawn of Ys possesses more than 15 bosses compared to Mask of The Sun mere 9 and it’s one more boss than both Ys 1&2 combined (proving once again that Dawn of Ys is the true Ys II if the first two games are combined into one complete experience). With bump combat and magic available much like in Ys II we can imagine that there would be an imbalance between the two mechanics but nope, each boss of Dawn of Ys is extremely well designed and fun to fight !
All of the bosses strike a good balance between having to use bump combat and magic to defeat them and when it comes to pattern and all, I have absolutely nothing to complain about here, some of the later bosses are true marvel of boss design which fully plays into the strength of the somewhat simple yet effective battle system of the series so far ! A friend of mine once told me that the Twin Head boss in Ys 1 was the best they could do with Bump Combat and he was immediately proven wrong upon playing Dawn of Ys for the first time and realizing that even the first boss of that games tops any boss from either Ys 1 or Ys 2. Dawn of Ys is a game of constant wonder that always finds a way to surprise you at every turn with its setpieces, and each one of them go by so fast that you don’t get to see the time pass ! This game's sense of flow and pacing is so immaculate that not a single moment of it is boring and you feel like you’re living a really epic adventure with twists and turns and revelations at every corner ! The game may be short, it can be completed in a little over 10 h but these 10h are so intense and filled with stuff that you feel like the adventure is 10 times more epic and grand than what you can imagine !
And this proves that a game can make us feel and experience many things with more intensity no matter the actual game time, something that Falcom seems to have forgotten with time ! It’s not about how long and how stuffed with content a game is, it’s not about how much you can pad out a game to give the illusion of something richer, deeper and more interesting. It’s about making the most of what the content you have to truly impact the minds of the player who experiences your art ! And if length and only length was a determining factor some medium like films wouldn’t be so successful and Hudson understood it perfectly.
The story of Dawn of Ys is also one that I wanted to give a lot of credit towards. While Mask of The Sun followed the guideline of the design document to a T without attempting anything fancy (and with how awkwardly the story was told here, they didn’t attempt to even follow it right imo), Hudson took the idea of a direct sequel to Ys 1&2 further and did a lot of really cool things with the continuity and the established lore at the time ! The game is called “The Dawn of Ys” because more than just a new adventure in a brand new land, Adol was about to discover the secret of what he went through in the first two games ! It seems that Celceta holds the answers to all the events that lead to the corruption of the Black Pearl and the fall of Ys before Adol’s arrival in the first game and as you explore Celceta, you find yourself uncovering these answers and I absolutely love the connections they made here !
From the relationship the twin goddesses had with the inhabitant of Celceta, to the origins of Darm and the Black Pearl, to how certain things in Esteria and Ys relate to things in Celceta and how everything played into one another. One of my absolute favorite moment of the game is when during one of the game many info-dump flashbacks, you not only learn the real name of Dark Fact but also it’s revealed to you that one of the items you’ve been using in Ys 1 is actually a super important item in the global lore of the series ! Meaning that you now have to depart for Esteria and revisit the map of Ys 1 now free of all the demons ! Can you imagine the absolute flex that it is ? They didn’t have to do this and yet they did ! And it’s so good seeing all the characters from the first two games but also the different places and what they became after Adol’s departure, Ys 1 which used to be so simple, is now relegated to a small chapter inside of a much more ambitious whole ! Sure, it’s not on the level of say, the second half of DQ3 or the Kanto reveal in Pokemon Gold and Silver to name a similar exemple but man I’m a sucker for that type of stuff !
Everything about Dawn of Ys to its presentation, to its music, to its story, to level design, to the way the game builds on the basis of Ys 1&2 and plays with its continuity make the game feel like a non-stop constantly moving grand epic to which we never see the time passes ! They took everything that made Ys 1&2 so iconic and perfected it, Hudson didn’t just want to create yet another title in the prestigious Ys saga, they wanted to create the Ultimate Ys game !
The game is a love letter to the series and what Masaya Hashimoto and Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, now too busy to work on their own project accomplished years ago and in many ways they managed to surpass them (well at least as far as making a Ys game goes !) and I believe that no one understood the appeal of Ys more than the team at Hudson Soft.
However, Falcom had other plans for the franchises and didn’t want to let go of Adol and the series and with Hudson hopping a bit too much above the initial guidelines to make a conclusion to the series instead of yet another episode, they decided that the game would now be considered not canon and Mask of The Sun will therefore be the version of reference for every subsequent Ys title. On one hand, I get it, this isn’t Hudson’s series, it was Falcom’s and if they wanted to continue with this series they just couldn’t let something like the ending of Dawn of Ys happen and give the series the proper closure it deserves.
Personally speaking, while what Hudson Soft did can be compared to mere fanfiction, it’s really good fanfiction and aside from coming into conflicts with the modern lore of the series and offering an epilogue that could have easily been acknowledged by Falcom without actually hurting the continuity, I think that what Hudson did here is phenomenal, the ending of Dawn of Ys is perhaps my favorite ending in the series despite and never fail to make me emotional. So many of Hudson’s ideas for the lore and continuity of the series at least in my opinion could’ve been reworked into the main timeline as I do think that some ideas here are actually better than what Falcom will eventually do with them !
Much to my dismay, that means that for how excellent Dawn of Ys is, its legacy is now forgotten, even Falcom seems to be really keen on ignoring the game’s existence or any influence Hudson might’ve had on the franchise (in fact : in the modern port of the older titles, you can play every OST’s of each version of Ys 1,2 and 3 but not the PC-Engine version but I bet it’s due to copyright issues rather than pettiness) and I think this is a great injustice.
I really do implore you, if you enjoy Ys especially Ys 1&2, I urge yourself to try out Dawn of Ys even more so if you were disappointed by Falcom’s own take on the game they did 20 years later with “Memories of Celceta” (but that will be a story for another time !). It’s really a masterpiece and easily amongst the best the series has to offer, a true labor of love and passion made by people who probably loved and understood Ys more than its original creators.
The next game in the series will be handled by Falcom themselves and who knows, maybe they won’t fuck it up… right ?
See you next time, as we take a look at “Ys V” the game, the game which almost killed the Ys franchise !
Lies of P
2023
A cynical liquefaction of Bloodborne. It has the vague trappings of a dying world and knows that addictive gameplay loop inherent to Souls-similar third person action rpgs. On the surface perfectly competent, but ultimately a collection of half understood tropes and overwrought boss battles to rage at (or watch others do so).
I could give it credit for enemy variety, the weapon dissembling system, or the legion arms and say it made Lies of P memorable but I'd be lying.
I could give it credit for enemy variety, the weapon dissembling system, or the legion arms and say it made Lies of P memorable but I'd be lying.
Probably my least favorite of the SNES Goemon games I've played so far (that is to say the first three). It's super ambitious but that ambition never really congeals into anything coherent, maybe due to rushed development. It's trying to focus more on exploration, with an AlttP-style overworld and dungeons, but that feels unsuccessful. Some of the dungeons are grueling slogs (for whatever reason, there's a super punishing lives system, which the previous game, a more traditional side-scrolling platformer, didn't have, and it totally ruins exploration) and some of them are basic as hell or just nonexistent (as I mentioned, the game is obviously rushed. One level is literally two rooms before the boss, and the endgame is just a massive fetch quest). In short I think it loses a lot as a 2D platformer, and doesn't gain much as a metroidvania or whatever you wanna call it.
Some random thoughts:
- The Impact boss battles are MUCH easier compared to Goemon 2. This is appreciated, though a bit anticlimactic.
- The comedy in this game is weirdly crass and even mean-spirited, especially regarding LGBT folks. I'm not exactly paying for the game so it doesn't bother me too much, but I wish it wasn't there.
- Still a very pretty game but it didn't blow my mind as much as 2.
- The aforementioned AlttP overworld is only introduced halfway into the game, which is very weird.
- There's four player characters and they all feel pretty distinct in gameplay and useful in exploration. Yae was my favorite for most of the game, until I got Goemon's chain-pipe.
- Boss battles are mostly one-note but thankfully not too hard.
- Overall the stage design of the last third of the game feels like a whole lot of nothing, and it's weird that the game starts at its most demanding and mechanically complex only to become easier and simpler.
Not a bad game but not really a must-play either. Hoping Ganbare Goemon 4's better.
Some random thoughts:
- The Impact boss battles are MUCH easier compared to Goemon 2. This is appreciated, though a bit anticlimactic.
- The comedy in this game is weirdly crass and even mean-spirited, especially regarding LGBT folks. I'm not exactly paying for the game so it doesn't bother me too much, but I wish it wasn't there.
- Still a very pretty game but it didn't blow my mind as much as 2.
- The aforementioned AlttP overworld is only introduced halfway into the game, which is very weird.
- There's four player characters and they all feel pretty distinct in gameplay and useful in exploration. Yae was my favorite for most of the game, until I got Goemon's chain-pipe.
- Boss battles are mostly one-note but thankfully not too hard.
- Overall the stage design of the last third of the game feels like a whole lot of nothing, and it's weird that the game starts at its most demanding and mechanically complex only to become easier and simpler.
Not a bad game but not really a must-play either. Hoping Ganbare Goemon 4's better.
Almost the entire time of playing Star Wars Jedi Survivor I was constantly tryin to compare it to the first game and asking myself "Is this any better than the first game or is this actually worse?" Reflecting back to my time with Fallen Order I remember liking the game more than I thought i would and in my head i had labeled it the Uncharted of Star Wars games in the gameplay department. Survivor though, I do not get that sensation at all.
The core gameplay loop of exploring large open worlds and finding a bunch of collectibles along the game is pretty fun and using star wars abilities to take out classic star wars enemies does have a novelty to it but when looking at Survivor objectively i think it struggles to become better than average. The game has a huge amount of places to explore and is littered with a ton of collectibles in every nook and craney. Survivor does a decent job of making these items equal part exporation and skill balanced with having the right skill to get the job done. The vast majority of the play time is exploring and finding things, hunting down foes, exploring puzzle temples and checking various objectives off a list. If your a player that loves platforming with light puzzle solving with having DK64 levels of collecting then this game is for you. I really liked the cosmetics options they added to this one as I really liked switching up how Cal looks on the regular and how it was reflected in cutscenes and everything. Lots of different options and what makes up most of the collectibles. Speaking of that the vast majority of collectibles are light saber parts and different BD1 parts and unlockable color pallets for those things. Which im sure even the most die hard of star wars fans could care less about the small light saber details. And collecting 20 different shades of gray is bloated crap. But you gotta have something in those 100's of chests in the game.
As for the story of Star Wars Jedi Survivor I feel is a bit muted. For the whole start it feels like it doesn't really have a lingering direction and when it does start to weave one I feel it's mostly kinda stale. The last third of the game does pick up and gets a little interesting but that's only a fraction of the game. I feel like the stakes weren't really there for the most of it and the game could have used some more fun set pieces. In short it just wasn't that memorable and when thinking back to the first game I kinda felt the same there. A story that can be summed up in a sentence or two.
Now the combat of Star Wars Jedi Survivor was the biggest disappointment to me. I struggle really hard to think was the last game like this? Am i misremembering my experiance with Fallen Order? I don't think it was anything to write home about but was it this bad? Or is Surivor just worse? Fighting most droids or storm troopers the combat feels fine. Steam rolling most enemies or depleting a block gauge once and finishing off an enemy can feel satisfying. Using a charged force push against a group of enemies to knock them off a cliff or edge never gets old or sucking an enemy toward you to suspend them in air and make them fire shots at their friends is a good time. It's whenever I have to engaging in the core mechanics of the game is when it becomes a frustrating mess. The mechanics of Survivor are not good. They feel sluggish and uncooperitive. I can't count the number of times I could be locked onto an enemey and every swipe of my light saber misses somehow. Outside of enemies that die in a hit or two regular enemies have a crazy amount of hits they can take. Anytime an enemy has a block meter they will block every damn attack no matter what until thier block meter is depleted. This is fine in princible, in fact I like this in many other games but in Survivor it is not balanced right. Most enemies if you strike them when they have block meter will auto block the attack and deplete a bit of thier block gauge. So most encounters go like this, you strike and enemey once or twice and do a little block damage, the enemy pushes you away, you strike the enemy once or twice and do a little block damage and then the enemy pushes you away. Once the block is depleted you are free to do real damage. So you strike one or two hits and their block meter completly refills and you rinse and repeat. What the heck. I can't even pull off my basic 3 hit combo sometimes it recovers so quick. It's really whack. It feels like a mash dance a lot of the time. Block block push block block push block block push hit hit and repeat. It doesn't feel good at all. And yes I know there is a parry system in place to delete block damage faster but I think that mechanic is problematic as well. Most times I can't sit and wait to parry an opponents attack because most encounters have many blaster weilding snipers that are constantly shooting you to play the wait and bait game. That on top of the enemies of this game love to throw out so many unparryable attacks in the game you could be waiting quite awhile to be able to parry someone. It's ridiculous. I swear most enemies will throw out like three unblockable moves in a row because they know you are waiting for it, so it's better to just stun lock the bastards. Also why do enemies take so so long to kill. They are either one shot or can take like two dozen strikes, no medium here. The dodge is also hilariously bad. It doesn't seem to dodge anything. Insert simpsons gif of the dodge! It does notthing! If your not pixel perfect you taking huge damage. You barely move at all when dodging it's more like a shuffle. When a lot of attacks are constantly unable to be blocked having a good dodge would help. Hell all these unlockable perks and none of them improve the basic dodge at all when it is soarily needed.
Also special shout out to one of the most frustrating bosses I have played against in quite some time. The dual frog bosses can go straight to hell. The put all this games combat problems on a pedestal and show it off as it's a major accomplishment. I rarely call bosses cheap but the frog boss from the first game revisited is one of the cheapest peices of garbage I've played against in forever. Nothing about this boss is designed well. It only has like four or so attacks and you would think with that simple patteren that you could learn and overcome easily but no. This guy has a bite attack combo that can go on forever and break your block easily and parrying it does almost nothing as he has no block meter and can spam that shit all he wants. There is no window of oppurtinity to attack. Think he's done. Sike. Waited and baited your attack your health drops down in seconds. He can also jump and belly flop which causes a shock wave all around that can't be blocked or evaded that well and you have to pretty much be out of range to avoid it so trying to weave to the frogs back to gets some hits in you can be very suseptible to this attack. He has a puke attack which makes the area in front of him sticky and you take damage on. Lastly in the biggest bullshit attack is a charge attack that spits his tongue out at you and if you are hit by it you are instantly killed. The tracking and range on this attack is so crazy it's practiclly a 360 hit range. It will grab you at his sides, in the air, in mid dodge or anywhere. If you don't time a hit perfectly and i mean perfectly you are dead. I have died so many times to this attack in bullshit ways that I wanted to through the controller at the TV. That and in combination of the endless barrage of bites I never felt safe anywhere or felt like I had a good game plan. It was just abusing certain moves and hoping the boss would wig out or do something stupid and just hope he didn't use bullshit moves and hope to see if I could inflict damage. Cause there were so many times where there was never an oppurtinity to attack or get away at all and it just felt cheap. In the first game there was a trophy for force pulling out their tongue and making that unusable except they most of forgotten that in Survivor because you can't do that here, doing it will get you insta killed. Then they have the gull to do a duo frog boss challange in a small circle room. Fuck off with that. This bosses personafies everything I hate about the combat in this game.
Uh tangent and ranting aside though. Star Wars Jedi Survivor isn't a great game but I found it to still be enjoyable enough. I do like a lot of the characters and am interested to see where the next one goes but I don't feel like this is the "Empire" of the Jedi game series. If you concentrated on just the story stuff and only did a few quests here and there this is easily a ten hour game but for completionists it's easily a 40 hour game. Collecting everything really makes me wish there was a better map system in this game. Waypoints and in game tracking would have helped so much in the post game. Made collecting more frustrating than it needed to be. If your looking for a decent 3rd person star wars game than Survivor will definitly scratch that itch. In the end my memory is telling me that I liked Fallen Order more but if I went and replayed it would I really feel that way?
Platinum #188
The core gameplay loop of exploring large open worlds and finding a bunch of collectibles along the game is pretty fun and using star wars abilities to take out classic star wars enemies does have a novelty to it but when looking at Survivor objectively i think it struggles to become better than average. The game has a huge amount of places to explore and is littered with a ton of collectibles in every nook and craney. Survivor does a decent job of making these items equal part exporation and skill balanced with having the right skill to get the job done. The vast majority of the play time is exploring and finding things, hunting down foes, exploring puzzle temples and checking various objectives off a list. If your a player that loves platforming with light puzzle solving with having DK64 levels of collecting then this game is for you. I really liked the cosmetics options they added to this one as I really liked switching up how Cal looks on the regular and how it was reflected in cutscenes and everything. Lots of different options and what makes up most of the collectibles. Speaking of that the vast majority of collectibles are light saber parts and different BD1 parts and unlockable color pallets for those things. Which im sure even the most die hard of star wars fans could care less about the small light saber details. And collecting 20 different shades of gray is bloated crap. But you gotta have something in those 100's of chests in the game.
As for the story of Star Wars Jedi Survivor I feel is a bit muted. For the whole start it feels like it doesn't really have a lingering direction and when it does start to weave one I feel it's mostly kinda stale. The last third of the game does pick up and gets a little interesting but that's only a fraction of the game. I feel like the stakes weren't really there for the most of it and the game could have used some more fun set pieces. In short it just wasn't that memorable and when thinking back to the first game I kinda felt the same there. A story that can be summed up in a sentence or two.
Now the combat of Star Wars Jedi Survivor was the biggest disappointment to me. I struggle really hard to think was the last game like this? Am i misremembering my experiance with Fallen Order? I don't think it was anything to write home about but was it this bad? Or is Surivor just worse? Fighting most droids or storm troopers the combat feels fine. Steam rolling most enemies or depleting a block gauge once and finishing off an enemy can feel satisfying. Using a charged force push against a group of enemies to knock them off a cliff or edge never gets old or sucking an enemy toward you to suspend them in air and make them fire shots at their friends is a good time. It's whenever I have to engaging in the core mechanics of the game is when it becomes a frustrating mess. The mechanics of Survivor are not good. They feel sluggish and uncooperitive. I can't count the number of times I could be locked onto an enemey and every swipe of my light saber misses somehow. Outside of enemies that die in a hit or two regular enemies have a crazy amount of hits they can take. Anytime an enemy has a block meter they will block every damn attack no matter what until thier block meter is depleted. This is fine in princible, in fact I like this in many other games but in Survivor it is not balanced right. Most enemies if you strike them when they have block meter will auto block the attack and deplete a bit of thier block gauge. So most encounters go like this, you strike and enemey once or twice and do a little block damage, the enemy pushes you away, you strike the enemy once or twice and do a little block damage and then the enemy pushes you away. Once the block is depleted you are free to do real damage. So you strike one or two hits and their block meter completly refills and you rinse and repeat. What the heck. I can't even pull off my basic 3 hit combo sometimes it recovers so quick. It's really whack. It feels like a mash dance a lot of the time. Block block push block block push block block push hit hit and repeat. It doesn't feel good at all. And yes I know there is a parry system in place to delete block damage faster but I think that mechanic is problematic as well. Most times I can't sit and wait to parry an opponents attack because most encounters have many blaster weilding snipers that are constantly shooting you to play the wait and bait game. That on top of the enemies of this game love to throw out so many unparryable attacks in the game you could be waiting quite awhile to be able to parry someone. It's ridiculous. I swear most enemies will throw out like three unblockable moves in a row because they know you are waiting for it, so it's better to just stun lock the bastards. Also why do enemies take so so long to kill. They are either one shot or can take like two dozen strikes, no medium here. The dodge is also hilariously bad. It doesn't seem to dodge anything. Insert simpsons gif of the dodge! It does notthing! If your not pixel perfect you taking huge damage. You barely move at all when dodging it's more like a shuffle. When a lot of attacks are constantly unable to be blocked having a good dodge would help. Hell all these unlockable perks and none of them improve the basic dodge at all when it is soarily needed.
Also special shout out to one of the most frustrating bosses I have played against in quite some time. The dual frog bosses can go straight to hell. The put all this games combat problems on a pedestal and show it off as it's a major accomplishment. I rarely call bosses cheap but the frog boss from the first game revisited is one of the cheapest peices of garbage I've played against in forever. Nothing about this boss is designed well. It only has like four or so attacks and you would think with that simple patteren that you could learn and overcome easily but no. This guy has a bite attack combo that can go on forever and break your block easily and parrying it does almost nothing as he has no block meter and can spam that shit all he wants. There is no window of oppurtinity to attack. Think he's done. Sike. Waited and baited your attack your health drops down in seconds. He can also jump and belly flop which causes a shock wave all around that can't be blocked or evaded that well and you have to pretty much be out of range to avoid it so trying to weave to the frogs back to gets some hits in you can be very suseptible to this attack. He has a puke attack which makes the area in front of him sticky and you take damage on. Lastly in the biggest bullshit attack is a charge attack that spits his tongue out at you and if you are hit by it you are instantly killed. The tracking and range on this attack is so crazy it's practiclly a 360 hit range. It will grab you at his sides, in the air, in mid dodge or anywhere. If you don't time a hit perfectly and i mean perfectly you are dead. I have died so many times to this attack in bullshit ways that I wanted to through the controller at the TV. That and in combination of the endless barrage of bites I never felt safe anywhere or felt like I had a good game plan. It was just abusing certain moves and hoping the boss would wig out or do something stupid and just hope he didn't use bullshit moves and hope to see if I could inflict damage. Cause there were so many times where there was never an oppurtinity to attack or get away at all and it just felt cheap. In the first game there was a trophy for force pulling out their tongue and making that unusable except they most of forgotten that in Survivor because you can't do that here, doing it will get you insta killed. Then they have the gull to do a duo frog boss challange in a small circle room. Fuck off with that. This bosses personafies everything I hate about the combat in this game.
Uh tangent and ranting aside though. Star Wars Jedi Survivor isn't a great game but I found it to still be enjoyable enough. I do like a lot of the characters and am interested to see where the next one goes but I don't feel like this is the "Empire" of the Jedi game series. If you concentrated on just the story stuff and only did a few quests here and there this is easily a ten hour game but for completionists it's easily a 40 hour game. Collecting everything really makes me wish there was a better map system in this game. Waypoints and in game tracking would have helped so much in the post game. Made collecting more frustrating than it needed to be. If your looking for a decent 3rd person star wars game than Survivor will definitly scratch that itch. In the end my memory is telling me that I liked Fallen Order more but if I went and replayed it would I really feel that way?
Platinum #188
One of the coolest games I've ever played with one of the coolest boss fights in an RPG with one of the best localizations I've ever seen with some of the best music in the genre BUT ALSO one of the worst-paced games I've ever played with the single worst boss fight in an RPG with one of the most annoying localizations I've ever seen. The only thing I'm not conflicted about is the quality of the music, this shit is otherworldly. Everything else is a constant pendulum swing to being incredible or insufferable. Awesome game! Awful game! I'm still not really sure how it exists!!
Baldur's Gate
1998
(This is a review of the original release with the expansion, not the Enhanced Edition)
It's impressive how dedicated a young and inexperienced Bioware was to faithfully recreating the low level D&D experience. This unfortunately includes all the not-so fun parts of it like random oneshots from low level enemies and mages who can't do shit. Unfortunately for Baldur's Gate it lacks all the cool ancillary elements that help you forget about this like eating pizza while joking around with your pals and a cognizant DM to paper over the rough patches of the game.
If you can get past this early-game roughness though you'll find that slowly but surely the game opens up and starts to become something really interesting. I think it was around the Nashkel Mines that it finally began to win me over. With some levels under our belts battles finally felt a little more like I was winning by strategy rather than luck and exploration became feasible. A whole lot of your time for the first half of the game is going to be spent wandering around random woodlands and chopping through hobgoblins and wolves, praying you don't get ambushed by a clearly unwinnable battle on map transition. Baldur's Gate is roughest when you begin and only grows better the more you play.
By the time you reach the titular city proper you'll finally be in a level range that you'll feel competent just in time for the game to open up and give you the opportunity to take on more or less any sidequests you want. There's a ridiculous amount of optional stuff going on here and I didn't even come close to doing all of it, probably not even half if I had to guess.
The Real Time With Pause combat the game uses has become contentious over the years. For many players the need to frequently interrupt the action by pausing to issue commands sort of defeats the benefits of real time. The only occasions you get to enjoy seeing your characters actually chop through enemies unimpeded is during fights with mindless trash mobs. Outside of that you'll be tapping that space bar every few seconds to issue commands. The hybrid gameplay fails to fully capitalize on the tension and finesse of a full time system or the relaxed planning of a turn based one.
Despite my issues with the system and even with its faults there are genuinely fun and engaging encounters to be found across the game. There were plenty of times I came up against a tough battle that I had to really think, strategize and plan my party around to tackle without any losses. The game is also really good at distributing fun tools like wands, potions and spells that give you creative opportunities for how you want to tackle each encounter. I was always finding cool ways to use these to help in fights that seemed insurmountable otherwise.
Pathfinding in this game is a pain in the ass. When you click on a location your characters will frequently take the most roundabout path possible or start to go in the completely opposite direction cause they bumped into another npc or minor obstacle. It requires you to babysit them a lot and is just annoying. They also have a frustrating tendency to break formation meaning you'll often end up with your squishy mages and thieves standing in the front lines if you aren't constantly engineering for them to sit in the back. It just adds a whole lot of busywork without real value to the simple act of moving around. This is exacerbated by the dungeon designs which use tabletop-style narrow corridors that your party is going to constantly get stuck moving through.
I also found the attempt to simulate rest and travel ambushes to just be annoying. The fatigue mechanic makes it clear that playing without resting wasn't the developer's intent. But getting ambushed early on can be a death sentence, especially if you really needed to recharge your spells, and having it happen in the late game is nothing more than a minor nuisance. It really feels awkwardly implemented and like they just never found a satisfying way to balance the system.
The story in Baldur's Gate does as much as possible to stay out of the player's way for as long as possible. The majority of the game is going to be whatever you make of it, adventuring and doing random odd jobs for NPCs like getting their items back from some monsters who stole it or the like. Companions are likewise very barebones, most consisting of just an introductory recruitment and possibly a single questline. There's only occasional party banter and no one has much of anything to say. There are a ton of different NPCs to recruit though meaning you'll have a lot of freedom in how you want to build out your party.
It's only in the final third of the game or so that the plot that has been slowly building up starts to come together. Ultimately there's not much to be said about it unfortunately save for the fact that the antagonist's methods are surprisingly well thought out and there are some interesting revelations that are built up to well. But really this isn't a game that puts much emphasis on its major plot. Baldur's Gate seems more interested in letting the player make it the kind of story they want to.
Of the expansion content I only engaged seriously with Durlag's Tower and found it to be a really fun experience. It was easily the best dungeon in the entire game and full of interesting encounters, traps, puzzles and some surprisingly effective storytelling, with Durlag's story serving almost as a sort of cautionary tale toward the potential fate of our would-be hero. Absolutely worth playing through.
If you can get past the rough opening and the cumbersome nature of the pathfinding you'll find a game that I think is well worth experiencing and enjoying. At the very least it's worthwhile to get to the city of Baldur's Gate so you can enjoy the full sandbox experience the game has to offer of traveling and adventuring.
It's impressive how dedicated a young and inexperienced Bioware was to faithfully recreating the low level D&D experience. This unfortunately includes all the not-so fun parts of it like random oneshots from low level enemies and mages who can't do shit. Unfortunately for Baldur's Gate it lacks all the cool ancillary elements that help you forget about this like eating pizza while joking around with your pals and a cognizant DM to paper over the rough patches of the game.
If you can get past this early-game roughness though you'll find that slowly but surely the game opens up and starts to become something really interesting. I think it was around the Nashkel Mines that it finally began to win me over. With some levels under our belts battles finally felt a little more like I was winning by strategy rather than luck and exploration became feasible. A whole lot of your time for the first half of the game is going to be spent wandering around random woodlands and chopping through hobgoblins and wolves, praying you don't get ambushed by a clearly unwinnable battle on map transition. Baldur's Gate is roughest when you begin and only grows better the more you play.
By the time you reach the titular city proper you'll finally be in a level range that you'll feel competent just in time for the game to open up and give you the opportunity to take on more or less any sidequests you want. There's a ridiculous amount of optional stuff going on here and I didn't even come close to doing all of it, probably not even half if I had to guess.
The Real Time With Pause combat the game uses has become contentious over the years. For many players the need to frequently interrupt the action by pausing to issue commands sort of defeats the benefits of real time. The only occasions you get to enjoy seeing your characters actually chop through enemies unimpeded is during fights with mindless trash mobs. Outside of that you'll be tapping that space bar every few seconds to issue commands. The hybrid gameplay fails to fully capitalize on the tension and finesse of a full time system or the relaxed planning of a turn based one.
Despite my issues with the system and even with its faults there are genuinely fun and engaging encounters to be found across the game. There were plenty of times I came up against a tough battle that I had to really think, strategize and plan my party around to tackle without any losses. The game is also really good at distributing fun tools like wands, potions and spells that give you creative opportunities for how you want to tackle each encounter. I was always finding cool ways to use these to help in fights that seemed insurmountable otherwise.
Pathfinding in this game is a pain in the ass. When you click on a location your characters will frequently take the most roundabout path possible or start to go in the completely opposite direction cause they bumped into another npc or minor obstacle. It requires you to babysit them a lot and is just annoying. They also have a frustrating tendency to break formation meaning you'll often end up with your squishy mages and thieves standing in the front lines if you aren't constantly engineering for them to sit in the back. It just adds a whole lot of busywork without real value to the simple act of moving around. This is exacerbated by the dungeon designs which use tabletop-style narrow corridors that your party is going to constantly get stuck moving through.
I also found the attempt to simulate rest and travel ambushes to just be annoying. The fatigue mechanic makes it clear that playing without resting wasn't the developer's intent. But getting ambushed early on can be a death sentence, especially if you really needed to recharge your spells, and having it happen in the late game is nothing more than a minor nuisance. It really feels awkwardly implemented and like they just never found a satisfying way to balance the system.
The story in Baldur's Gate does as much as possible to stay out of the player's way for as long as possible. The majority of the game is going to be whatever you make of it, adventuring and doing random odd jobs for NPCs like getting their items back from some monsters who stole it or the like. Companions are likewise very barebones, most consisting of just an introductory recruitment and possibly a single questline. There's only occasional party banter and no one has much of anything to say. There are a ton of different NPCs to recruit though meaning you'll have a lot of freedom in how you want to build out your party.
It's only in the final third of the game or so that the plot that has been slowly building up starts to come together. Ultimately there's not much to be said about it unfortunately save for the fact that the antagonist's methods are surprisingly well thought out and there are some interesting revelations that are built up to well. But really this isn't a game that puts much emphasis on its major plot. Baldur's Gate seems more interested in letting the player make it the kind of story they want to.
Of the expansion content I only engaged seriously with Durlag's Tower and found it to be a really fun experience. It was easily the best dungeon in the entire game and full of interesting encounters, traps, puzzles and some surprisingly effective storytelling, with Durlag's story serving almost as a sort of cautionary tale toward the potential fate of our would-be hero. Absolutely worth playing through.
If you can get past the rough opening and the cumbersome nature of the pathfinding you'll find a game that I think is well worth experiencing and enjoying. At the very least it's worthwhile to get to the city of Baldur's Gate so you can enjoy the full sandbox experience the game has to offer of traveling and adventuring.
Final Fantasy II
2021
I wanted to like this game.
A narrative based, gameplay focused, dungeon crawler with a freeform leveling system, elaborate dungeon designs and interesting encounters? That sounds extremely like my type of game. It's a shame every single aspect of Final Fantasy 2 is built with seemingly player annoyance in mind.
For starters "narrative based" is being a generous term. Yes, there is an actual linear plot in FF2 compared to FF1 which was more freeform. However, while FF1 was effectively not interested in making a cohesive plot for the sake of player freedom and exploration, FF2 builds itself around defeating the evil empire, forsaking said exploration. Every event in FF2 is structured around moving a central plot. Your party is composed of 3 young adults who lost their families at the hands of the Empire, now joining the rebel forces in order to fight back. There is a sense of urgency and dread at the very beginning of the game that is exciting and tantalizing. You can feel the Empire's strength and how powerless you are. They bomb villages, they kidnap important npcs, they kill party members. It's all great stuff that helps you buy in into this world. However, as you progress through the game, this feeling runs dry. The narrative beats quickly become few and far between. You would spend anywhere between 1-2 hours in a dungeon, just to get 3 boxes of dialogue that moves the plot forward, before being sent back to another 1–2-hour dungeon. Ultimately it becomes another key item collector just like FF1, with much worse execution.
Let's talk about the dungeons since they are such a prevalent part of the game. When I say FF2 is a dungeon crawler, I really mean it. You will spend anywhere between 80-90% of the game neck deep in a dungeon somewhere. They are constant. It is so crazy that at certain points there are dungeons inside dungeons. And these are not modern jrpg dungeons which are essentially hallways with some side paths to explore; these are actual mazes. Traps and winding looping paths are everywhere. FF2 is more than happy to send you down elaborate multiple floor path that leads to a trap. Not even treasure, a trap. Some crazy paths do actually lead you to treasure...like a potion. On top of that, the enemy encounters are fairly difficult. The game loves throwing tricky enemy formations at you. You'll have classic formations of big tank + healer; or status inflictor + damage dealer. But later on, you'll have even crazier formations, including enemies that straight up one hit kills you or turn the party against each other. You need to always be on your guard and plan strategically cause some random encounters can very much cause a party wipe. Bosses are very difficult as well, coming from the philosophy of "there's only one way to defeat me and I'll provide no clues on what that is". These dungeons are downright devious. As an Etrian Odyssey fan, I love long elaborate dungeons with traps and difficult encounters, but the sheer volume of which FF2 comes at you is simply too much. I was already fatigued of it all by about the halfway point. By the time I reached pandeamonium, I was basically running away from every encounter just to be done with it.
The absolute worst thing about the game, however, is the encounter rate. The encounter rate is beyond absurd. It's worse than absurd, it's omnipresent. You cannot even breathe without triggering a random encounter. It completely drains and sours every aspect of the game, causing everything to be a test of patience. Want to explore the world? Have fun dealing with random mobs every 4-5 steps. Want to see what is at the end of that hallway in a dungeon? Just know that you'll have to fight at least 5 different encounters before you reach the end. It is just so freaking annoying. I dreaded every moment of the game because the encounter rate would simply never let up. It very much ruined the experience for me.
One last thing I'll mention is the leveling system. The infamous leveling system was about the only thing I knew of the game going in. I thought it was going to be this obtuse thing that I needed to spend dedicated time to learn so I can engage with it. But it ended up being totally natural? The system boils down to leveling up the stats that you use. So, if you use physical attacks, your strength will go up; if you use magic, your magic attack stat will go up. I ended up playing naturally and it never became an issue. This could be because I'm simply built different, but I anticipate that this was another case of the internet overreacting.
Ultimately, I appreciate FF2's ambition and what it was trying to achieve. It would have been a much safer option just to make a bigger FF1, but instead the team decided to make something expressly different. And while I enjoyed some of the ideas that was conveyed, I feel like this execution was more failure than success.
A narrative based, gameplay focused, dungeon crawler with a freeform leveling system, elaborate dungeon designs and interesting encounters? That sounds extremely like my type of game. It's a shame every single aspect of Final Fantasy 2 is built with seemingly player annoyance in mind.
For starters "narrative based" is being a generous term. Yes, there is an actual linear plot in FF2 compared to FF1 which was more freeform. However, while FF1 was effectively not interested in making a cohesive plot for the sake of player freedom and exploration, FF2 builds itself around defeating the evil empire, forsaking said exploration. Every event in FF2 is structured around moving a central plot. Your party is composed of 3 young adults who lost their families at the hands of the Empire, now joining the rebel forces in order to fight back. There is a sense of urgency and dread at the very beginning of the game that is exciting and tantalizing. You can feel the Empire's strength and how powerless you are. They bomb villages, they kidnap important npcs, they kill party members. It's all great stuff that helps you buy in into this world. However, as you progress through the game, this feeling runs dry. The narrative beats quickly become few and far between. You would spend anywhere between 1-2 hours in a dungeon, just to get 3 boxes of dialogue that moves the plot forward, before being sent back to another 1–2-hour dungeon. Ultimately it becomes another key item collector just like FF1, with much worse execution.
Let's talk about the dungeons since they are such a prevalent part of the game. When I say FF2 is a dungeon crawler, I really mean it. You will spend anywhere between 80-90% of the game neck deep in a dungeon somewhere. They are constant. It is so crazy that at certain points there are dungeons inside dungeons. And these are not modern jrpg dungeons which are essentially hallways with some side paths to explore; these are actual mazes. Traps and winding looping paths are everywhere. FF2 is more than happy to send you down elaborate multiple floor path that leads to a trap. Not even treasure, a trap. Some crazy paths do actually lead you to treasure...like a potion. On top of that, the enemy encounters are fairly difficult. The game loves throwing tricky enemy formations at you. You'll have classic formations of big tank + healer; or status inflictor + damage dealer. But later on, you'll have even crazier formations, including enemies that straight up one hit kills you or turn the party against each other. You need to always be on your guard and plan strategically cause some random encounters can very much cause a party wipe. Bosses are very difficult as well, coming from the philosophy of "there's only one way to defeat me and I'll provide no clues on what that is". These dungeons are downright devious. As an Etrian Odyssey fan, I love long elaborate dungeons with traps and difficult encounters, but the sheer volume of which FF2 comes at you is simply too much. I was already fatigued of it all by about the halfway point. By the time I reached pandeamonium, I was basically running away from every encounter just to be done with it.
The absolute worst thing about the game, however, is the encounter rate. The encounter rate is beyond absurd. It's worse than absurd, it's omnipresent. You cannot even breathe without triggering a random encounter. It completely drains and sours every aspect of the game, causing everything to be a test of patience. Want to explore the world? Have fun dealing with random mobs every 4-5 steps. Want to see what is at the end of that hallway in a dungeon? Just know that you'll have to fight at least 5 different encounters before you reach the end. It is just so freaking annoying. I dreaded every moment of the game because the encounter rate would simply never let up. It very much ruined the experience for me.
One last thing I'll mention is the leveling system. The infamous leveling system was about the only thing I knew of the game going in. I thought it was going to be this obtuse thing that I needed to spend dedicated time to learn so I can engage with it. But it ended up being totally natural? The system boils down to leveling up the stats that you use. So, if you use physical attacks, your strength will go up; if you use magic, your magic attack stat will go up. I ended up playing naturally and it never became an issue. This could be because I'm simply built different, but I anticipate that this was another case of the internet overreacting.
Ultimately, I appreciate FF2's ambition and what it was trying to achieve. It would have been a much safer option just to make a bigger FF1, but instead the team decided to make something expressly different. And while I enjoyed some of the ideas that was conveyed, I feel like this execution was more failure than success.
Final Fantasy XVI
2023
“I am Joshua’s Shield. I’m sworn to protect him… He takes too many risks. I only wish I could save him from himself.”
“Clive, you... Well, if you’re not going to pray to Metia for your safe return, I shall just have to do it for you.”
These lines are spoken in the very first hour, and detail three crucial details. His duty as Joshua’s Shield. How much he cares for his brother, and how Jill prays for his safe return. It’s simple, to the dot, and captures the player’s attention immediately. Statements are said with conviction, will, and resolve. Told during the halcyon days of their youth. Ahhh. But terrible storms gather nearby. For Clive, Jill, and Joshua their fates will change forevermore…
Final Fantasy(FF) is no stranger to taking risks. And each iteration boldly goes where the previous ones have not walked. And FFXVI is no different. We follow Clive Rosfield’s journey as a young lad into something more. For better or worse, he and others are embroiled in a political drama within Valisthea. A large continent with six nations all with their factions, agendas, and notorious individuals with nefarious goals. And Rosfield is the poor sod who has to survive, kill and go past his limits. Make no mistake, out of all the FF games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Sixteen consumed my waking thoughts, and remained a constant as I went through the daily motions and as the days passed into weeks. I am astonished by how much there is to do, uncover and learn. I have gone the distance to see as much as I possibly can within two playthroughs. And here I am staring at my google docs page after an exhaustive duel, spending countless hours figuring out if it deserves to reach my top 5 FFs. And it does. I don’t say that statement lightly, since I love the series since starting with thirteen and have enjoyed over twenty-two entries. So you could say I am very familiar. Now then it is time to review the latest entry to one of Square Enix’s(SE) long-running IPs.
Combat is addicting. I couldn’t get enough of it. Experimenting with new skills and outfitting my kit. Or rushing to face numerous bosses that are both fair and hit the right spots. Tweaking the difficulty at your leisure from story or action focused. The former grants free rings at the start to aid you. The latter, you don’t acquire automatically. But you can freely switch difficulties at any time, so you won’t miss out. Equip accessible rings to make combat easier for ya. Auto dodge, auto combo, auto potion, and more are available. A nice way to make fights easier or harder depending on your preference. With the help of Kingdom Hearts developers and PlatinumGames. And signing up Ryota Suzuki. A Capcom veteran and one who has worked on the Devil May Cry franchise. A triple alliance emerges between these forces and at the helm is Creative Business Unit III(CBU3) joining to make an impressive quad squad. The titular and amazing Naoki Yoshida(Nicknamed Yoshi-P) is the producer. A man who has worked tirelessly to reform the original FFXIV launch into one of the most successful MMORPGs today. So you could say these guys are in very safe hands. Unafraid of taking risks, each FF entry strives to make combat innovative, but also familiar to entertain both veterans and sprouts(newbies). Traditional turn-based gameplay has radically shifted since its foundation, shifting into real-time action. And as someone who favors the turn-based approach, I don’t mind the change to real-time. I appreciate it. There is a fluid momentum persisting as you dodge, parry, and execute Eikon's abilities. Goblins? Move over Goblin Slayer, Dude will incinerate them to kingdom come. Phoenix shifting, with relentless fury as if the wind has blessed him with deadly claws. I didn’t find clunky movements wherever I treaded, making battles go smoothly. Transitions into these skirmishes are near instant. So don’t be afraid of a lengthy wait. Quick and nimble is the key here. And I had no problem acquiring different abilities to experiment and juggle my enemies. Didn’t find an issue with the experience. The gain was fair. Both in leveling up and upgrading my skills. I was satisfied to a degree of wanting more and the developers gave me that and extra.
The soundtrack is subtle, but full of magic. Composed by Masayoshi Soken Who has worked just as tirelessly as Yoshi-P in composing FFXIV melodies. Sixteen’s composition is distinct from the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu(FF1->10), Masashi Hamauzu(FF13 trilogy), Yoko Shimomura(FF15), and other composers. More in line with Hitoshi Sakimoto's works. Of FF Tactics and Vagrant Story fame. Subtle, in a good way. I think most if not all tracks work in favor of providing a layer I don’t find as bombastic, full of vocals, or orchestral. Going more tranquil, peaceful, and in some cases filled with tension creates a tightrope to induce fear and bravery. There is meaning and weight to these songs. Triumphant lyrics are largely missing in favor of the solemn and at times contemplative ambient sounds gracing our ears. Pleasant, soothing, and incredibly transformative. Didn’t hear the same old repetitive track again and again. Always something unfamiliar to hear, and listen to when I travel new places around the block. I could say more, but for the life of me, I cannot describe it justice enough. Just know when the epic tunes hit they hit bloody hard. There is a payoff in going subtle here. And if Uematsu could hear this, I think he would clap in joy for Soken’s work.
Gratifying gameplay loop that is cyclical, interconnected and works in tandem with the other systems in place. Get too tired with combat? That's fine. Take a breather with some side quests(SQ) that are almost perfect. Hitting the near-zenith of Witcher 3 SQ quality combined with consistently powerful worldbuilding I haven’t seen since I last played through The Legend of Heroes IP. Specifically, the Sky trilogy, Crossbell duology, and Cold Steel tetralogy. There is so much depth, I am left in wonder and awe to study more about the history of Valisthea and its denizens. More often than not you will encounter chunks of lore. To varying degrees. Religion and societal customs included. Unexpected discoveries in interpersonal relationships with folks I didn’t expect. Helping people in need at the main hub to assist strangers out in the wild. And these are not pointless to do, since the rewards can range from increasing your potions limit to rewarding items, weapons, equipment, materials, and key items. Worth it, both in the physical and knowledge aspects. Easily, the strongest SQs are the ones related to the main character(MC), his party members, and by extension those who are allied with him. Granting a decent to lengthy quest chains to learn more. Bond further and even partner up! Worthwhile to do and I encourage everyone to complete as many as they possibly can. Some of these connect with quests benefiting players and heck if you’re bored you can even undertake a hunt mission. Which are like bounties to defeat unique monsters out in the wild. Fun to do and a worthwhile conflict awaits. A solid way, building up renown to earn supplementary rewards. It's gotten to the point I couldn’t wait to finish the main story quests(MSQ) so I can complete new SQs/hunts popping up on my radar.
And Clive. Bless his soul. Doesn’t mind at all aiding those in need. Especially to offer a guiding hand to Bearers. People who are essentially slaves and can use magic. Commonfolk can’t use magic innately. Used by slave masters, nobility as a means of cheap labor. Bearers are human tools. Do you want your garden trimmed? Let the boy use wind magic to trim the bushes into a presentable state. No need to work yourself and use bladed shears. Need clothes to dry quickly rather than letting the sun do the work? Let the Bearer use wind magic again to blow air on your wet clothes becoming a human dryer. Oh, need consistent fire for your blacksmithing duties? Grab one of those filthy Bearers and order them to use their magic to cast fira. Heating the stones instead of using natural fire. I kid you not these instances I saw plenty throughout and equally jaw-dropping tales inside. In some cases, my emotional state stewed in conniptions. I was immensely saddened to see a mirror image of our world’s history of slavery. And the developers(devs) have managed to capture these horrific moments in ways I was reeling. I won’t go into the exact details, but my heart bled for each one. And I quickly without hesitation became the shield for these unfortunate souls who were suffering without end.
Worldbuilding is quality across the board. I usually have problems with worldbuilding in other Japanese Role-Playing Games(JRPGs). Some go too far. Gorging the player on unnecessary details. Others have too little and need more of the former. It’s been a long time since I was so engrossed in the lore and history. Sixteen manages to do it in such a way I am left hungry for more. Complementing this is a handy codex in the form of Active Time Lore(ATL for short). Where you can see relevant information during any part of the story. Yes, this includes cutscenes. Incredibly well-thought-out and as a lore nut. The feature is very satisfying to use when I need a refresher on what this legend is supposed to be. Why do we keep calling places ‘Storm’ and ‘Twins?’ What are Bearers? The plot, quests, and your companions will continually talk about these elements in rich detail. I could gush more but I think you see the picture. Wish other JRPGs and Non-RPGs learn from this.
An evolving world is persistent here. Each time a major or minor event has been resolved whether by SQ’s or MSQ. The state of NPC's is adjusted to reflect that. And the very essence of Valisthea wherever you travel to also shares the same evolution. Oh, a major event took place at [redacted]? Time to head back to and check for differences in the citizenry. This is just one example of how places may vary over time. Very reminiscent of my time with the Trails franchise. I eagerly looked forward to returning to the main hub and conversing with my comrades on the latest gossip, new information about the state of the realm, or the odd tip here and there you may not see coming. I cherished these NPCs and I would go so far as to call some, my dear friends. They all play a big role in shaping not just MC’s story, but their tales and stories are interwoven with his. Leaving me with an everlasting impression. The gentle giant Goetz, Sharp eyes Gav, the gentle but stern Tarja, the wise Harpocrates, and of course we can't forget the wise, venerable and slick leader. These individuals have their struggles, and quests from which we witness. Cooperate and in doing, so we are treated to a fantastic cast willing to shoulder our burdens. To care for our wounds. To sustain us with supplies and support us through thick and thin. Against all odds. We stand together.
There are however mixed feelings I have with this entry. Won’t say names. Since this is a non-spoiler review and certainly not a positive or a negative. But for the sake of transparency, I'm noting down here. One character in particular needed more fleshing out, some villains and to a lesser degree other persons. I felt I didn't grasp their entire being more than others. Which is funny because I adore my party. Sadly, I’ve already devoured the game as much as I possibly could in search of critical and related information I may have missed the first time around with no success. And I doubt a third go around would change my thoughts. Anyway, I think further context on the background and subsequent encounter with the MC needed more ‘meat’ so to speak for lack of better words to create a dynamic that would immerse me further. Extra side quests regarding ‘x’ nation concerning their status, additional scenes, and heavier amounts of banter, especially during battles to alleviate some silence. There is some banter, though I think the devs could’ve added a healthy amount to spare. Tease me with interconnected lore concerning their powers I wouldn’t expect. Past entries in the series had parties where I can comfortably say I know their personality, likes, dislikes, habits, quirks, relationships with others, etc. And while this one individual didn’t have to that extent. I enjoyed their presence, actions, and the precious moments they had in the story. Granted, including my suggestions would inflate the base content more in hours, but I think it's a small price to pay to receive more fleshed-out people. I’m not asking for five hours extra.Although I wouldn’t mind it. Just an hour or two. Be that as it may, it doesn't diminish the game all that much.
Wish we could control other party members and while this doesn’t make a lot of sense due to spoilers in the story. Conceptually I think it could’ve worked to give further spice to the combat capabilities. Adding a greater emphasis to my earlier point of fleshing out the characters. Since some member’s ability kit is not as varied as the MC’s which would perhaps make the players feel more lacking in the combat. However, internally I’m torn with the idea since I think this would’ve created somewhat a lesser emphasis on his story. And at its core, there is an extremely high plateau of which we the audience bear witness to his struggles, failures, and triumphs through his eyes. If we take out our(his) eyesight and perspective, then these incredible experiences we see perhaps may not have had a greater impact. Balance is key here and while I could sprout more suggestions I could see why the developer chose not to do so. It’s a troublesome matter. I've long since debated whether more or less should be added for games.
Style over substance is here. Should be noted, I don’t perceive this notion in a negative light. I can see the merits, demerits with shades in the middle. For Style It is simply amazing to behold the Eikon fights. But it becomes rinse and repeat as we continue to reuse a repetitive formula. Spamming our attacks amid downtimes of our cooldown abilities, interspersed with quick time events(QTE) to add a flourish making battles memorable. Sure there are moments when this evolves to keep the combat fresh amidst these epic David Vs. Goliath clashes. Tynan Sylvester goes deep into the subject of this in his article on "Style and Substance in Game Design" Here he posits:
“The designs all become too similar to each other because they're all simulations of the same things. The style is decided upon and a simulation is built before the substance gets tweaked. This means that the fundamentals of the games are all the same; they are just variations on one another.”
We see this clearly with the Eikon fights and perhaps in some respects with the combat system in the non-Eikon battles. Nevertheless, it is fitting in a narrative sense due to how the plot and sequences are constructed. I think I would’ve preferred a more tactical aspect here. Instead of having mandatory engagements like these. Include more natural surprises to the player. Raising their eyebrows. Make us fight using different aspects of an Eikon. Outwitting my opponents using subterfuge, and backstabbing, Let us use the environment to our advantage, add in human enemies to avoid clashes, and instill a sense of unpredictability by introducing our loveable party members into the equation. Give us choices or perhaps go bolder where it's not even a fight, but merely a duel of words. I could say more, but I’ll withhold myself. I can’t help but begrudgingly praise how well these Eikonic clashes were done in a cinematic sense, but also what they accomplish in the story. The substance is here too. Good lord, there are simply too many to my utter joy and I’ve already said earlier regarding the worldbuilding, sidequests, and how that wonderfully ties together into not just Clive’s struggles, but the cast alongside him. Man has conflict everywhere.
FF16 RPG elements are barely within and while I think the commentary article does have some truth. I believe for the narrative this was sacrificed necessarily to focus entirely on his journey. I am not defending Sixteen by saying this, merely trying to infer based on what I've seen. There is a clear vision from which the devs have led from beginning, middle, and end for the player to see. And I for one applaud the move to risk in their grand vision, by sacrificing some RPG elements. As a result, I am given less time managing and micromanaging my units stats and equipment, in favor of returning to action. Is this a conscious effort by the team to do so? Perhaps. Should Final Fantasy have the bare minimum of RPG elements like tweaking stats, combat, and more to make it as JRPG as other entries in the past have done? I don’t know. I for one am no developer nor am I an expert in determining the correct answer to such a question. I don’t think there is even a perfect one out there from which we can all unanimously agree.maybe Chrono Trigger? Without a pedantic fella hollering “Well actually…” Comparisons will be made of course. And in tradition, we see these constant debates online. In my opinion, as long as the elements are satisfying to the player, then I think that system serves its purpose. I don’t play FF solely for the role-playing experience. Although I don’t mind if it's in-depth like say Bravely Default or other Square Enix IPs For me, I play FF to become engrossed in the story, characters, music, themes, settings, gameplay etc. And to this end, CBU3 delivers in chests full of Mythril.
The dungeons(these are places from which we fight.) Could be improved level-wise. To allow more freedom to explore. Why can’t I search for a castle more thoroughly? Why am I stuck in yet another forced battle to clear out a room of enemies and goodness by the almighty grace of Greagor please not another forced skirmish? As a consequence, a formulaic method rises as we go through the corridor and room to fight familiar enemies before we can progress. I don’t think this is a bad design. I simply believe other avenues were available. Don’t make some fights mandatory. Allow us to free-roam, and inject some npc’s to raise an eyebrow. Drop some lore papers around ruins so I have something else to do beyond fighting enemy mobs who think they have a chance of opposing me. Be bolder and go the distance by granting loads of enemies to clash with, akin to Dynasty Warriors. Scores of deadly mobs push me to the limit. To play devil's advocate, I can see why the devs didn’t do so, since sixteen is already ambitious. And the pace of how the story beats are granted is logical to me. Overall I think aesthetically they’re great, and the mini-boss/regular boss fights are a thrill to test my mettle. The dev’s don’t miss on constructing these encounters. Using their mmo skills to bring in their expertise to a single player game is a 200 IQ move.
Final Fantasy Mode seems to be the intended difficulty. Unlocked after beating the story. Featuring better tweaks by removing button prompts during QTE's and relying on visual cues to press. Adding exclusive content(in the form of upgraded weapons and accessories), increasing enemy strength, and more enemies in areas you wouldn't expect in a 1st playthrough. I feel this mode ought to be available from the start. Granting a balanced challenge to players looking for a bitter bout. But I think I understand why the developers didn’t unlock it in the beginning. Some areas felt like padding by adding a miniboss in areas when the base game didn’t have one. Which is an interesting choice. Alternatives I was thinking to alleviate this were adding 10-25% more enemy variety and injecting these instead of more mandatory fights. Nevertheless, I am a bit eh on the FF mode. Although, It is a delightful affair for those who seek it.
That’s it for my mixed feelings. Despite the unholy amount I spouted, I don’t believe they bring the entire product down a great deal. Think of these ultimately as food for thought. The rest are minor nitpicks not worth mentioning. Two last notes before I head out and I am so sorry for writing more than I thought possible. But in the writing here. I savor every word. Very mature and filled with layers deep with rich dialogue. Considering it was spearheaded from creative director/lead writer by Kazutoyo Maehiro Who was mentored by Yasumi Matsuno(He directed FFT, Vagrant Story, FFXII among others). Therefore, the writing is beautifully well crafted. Not to the extent of flowery as the Shakespearan translation of FF Tactics: War of the Lions. But a cross between Vagrant Story & FFXIV dialogue in a modern take. Resulting in naturally organic voiced scenes. I frequently traveled back to cities, towns, and my main hub and listened to unique dialog every time. No need to hit a button to converse. Simply walk by and you can hear their chatter. The MSQ cutscenes between every important individual on-screen are handled with care and delicateness. Villains too. This attention to detail is given the same treatment as we go through the SQs and man it is so worth it. Clear amounts of nuance here where you will see neither side winning or losing. But full of shades of gray in the dialogue, and how some quests are resolved in unexpected, yet realistic outcomes.
Clive’s story from start to finish is such a breathtaking journey every FF fan needs to experience. Wonderful development, in my honest opinion. I was deeply moved by how raw Ben Starr voices the MC and how these give so much intensity to candid and countless natural conversations. Hell, even the voice actors aside from Ben deserve praise. A solid crew who tests, questions, and guides. Their counterparts, the villains, provide a powerful incentive to beat. Make no mistake. His story is not for the faint of heart. But, as much as there is darkness here, so too is light and it is without a doubt impeccably strong to behold. Cuteness and priceless moments are here to counter the stormy Valisthea political climate.
Final Fantasy has always been near and dear to my heart. I have witnessed innumerable stories that resonated so powerfully. Likable to loveable casts I reminiscence from time to time. Soundtracks never failing to capture the spirit of fantasy. Gameplay that can be a hit, miss or somewhere in between. And while some entries stagger and sputter without gas. Each one has a special place in my heart. From the foundation in one to three. Ascending to greater heights than before from four to six and taking a more bold and experimental graphical change from seven to nine. Transitioning into an advanced engine from ten to thirteen. And while I haven’t played FFXII yet. By the Founder, trust me, I’ll get there. FFXIV & FFXV still kept my faith. And now for FFXVI to grace our presence I am left in awe at the immense weight of it all. The sheer depth at stake here, when analyzed under a fine magnifying glass is a bloody tour de force. I applaud Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III. Rarely do I become so absorbed in such a captivating narrative of Clive’s story. Seeing his growth from his younger days as he ages is such a vital aspect to soak in. For those who still doubts the series, this is a title that is simply a must-play and CANNOT be missed. For any newcomer to JRPGs, I envy you greatly if you start with one of the finest Final Fantasy games I’ve had the pleasure of playing.
Bravo Yoshi-P, Hiroshi Takai, Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, Masayoshi Soken, Kazutoyo Maehiro, Mitsutoshi Gondai, Ryota Suzuki, Yusuke Hashimoto, Hiroshi Minagawa, Kazuya Takahashi, and so many more who helped develop this raw title. And most of all thank you to anyone who read this long review. You guys are the best.
9/10
Note: If any links are not working please let me know and I'll update them accordingly. Worried about some FFXVI OST YT videos getting removed.
“Clive, you... Well, if you’re not going to pray to Metia for your safe return, I shall just have to do it for you.”
These lines are spoken in the very first hour, and detail three crucial details. His duty as Joshua’s Shield. How much he cares for his brother, and how Jill prays for his safe return. It’s simple, to the dot, and captures the player’s attention immediately. Statements are said with conviction, will, and resolve. Told during the halcyon days of their youth. Ahhh. But terrible storms gather nearby. For Clive, Jill, and Joshua their fates will change forevermore…
Final Fantasy(FF) is no stranger to taking risks. And each iteration boldly goes where the previous ones have not walked. And FFXVI is no different. We follow Clive Rosfield’s journey as a young lad into something more. For better or worse, he and others are embroiled in a political drama within Valisthea. A large continent with six nations all with their factions, agendas, and notorious individuals with nefarious goals. And Rosfield is the poor sod who has to survive, kill and go past his limits. Make no mistake, out of all the FF games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Sixteen consumed my waking thoughts, and remained a constant as I went through the daily motions and as the days passed into weeks. I am astonished by how much there is to do, uncover and learn. I have gone the distance to see as much as I possibly can within two playthroughs. And here I am staring at my google docs page after an exhaustive duel, spending countless hours figuring out if it deserves to reach my top 5 FFs. And it does. I don’t say that statement lightly, since I love the series since starting with thirteen and have enjoyed over twenty-two entries. So you could say I am very familiar. Now then it is time to review the latest entry to one of Square Enix’s(SE) long-running IPs.
Combat is addicting. I couldn’t get enough of it. Experimenting with new skills and outfitting my kit. Or rushing to face numerous bosses that are both fair and hit the right spots. Tweaking the difficulty at your leisure from story or action focused. The former grants free rings at the start to aid you. The latter, you don’t acquire automatically. But you can freely switch difficulties at any time, so you won’t miss out. Equip accessible rings to make combat easier for ya. Auto dodge, auto combo, auto potion, and more are available. A nice way to make fights easier or harder depending on your preference. With the help of Kingdom Hearts developers and PlatinumGames. And signing up Ryota Suzuki. A Capcom veteran and one who has worked on the Devil May Cry franchise. A triple alliance emerges between these forces and at the helm is Creative Business Unit III(CBU3) joining to make an impressive quad squad. The titular and amazing Naoki Yoshida(Nicknamed Yoshi-P) is the producer. A man who has worked tirelessly to reform the original FFXIV launch into one of the most successful MMORPGs today. So you could say these guys are in very safe hands. Unafraid of taking risks, each FF entry strives to make combat innovative, but also familiar to entertain both veterans and sprouts(newbies). Traditional turn-based gameplay has radically shifted since its foundation, shifting into real-time action. And as someone who favors the turn-based approach, I don’t mind the change to real-time. I appreciate it. There is a fluid momentum persisting as you dodge, parry, and execute Eikon's abilities. Goblins? Move over Goblin Slayer, Dude will incinerate them to kingdom come. Phoenix shifting, with relentless fury as if the wind has blessed him with deadly claws. I didn’t find clunky movements wherever I treaded, making battles go smoothly. Transitions into these skirmishes are near instant. So don’t be afraid of a lengthy wait. Quick and nimble is the key here. And I had no problem acquiring different abilities to experiment and juggle my enemies. Didn’t find an issue with the experience. The gain was fair. Both in leveling up and upgrading my skills. I was satisfied to a degree of wanting more and the developers gave me that and extra.
The soundtrack is subtle, but full of magic. Composed by Masayoshi Soken Who has worked just as tirelessly as Yoshi-P in composing FFXIV melodies. Sixteen’s composition is distinct from the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu(FF1->10), Masashi Hamauzu(FF13 trilogy), Yoko Shimomura(FF15), and other composers. More in line with Hitoshi Sakimoto's works. Of FF Tactics and Vagrant Story fame. Subtle, in a good way. I think most if not all tracks work in favor of providing a layer I don’t find as bombastic, full of vocals, or orchestral. Going more tranquil, peaceful, and in some cases filled with tension creates a tightrope to induce fear and bravery. There is meaning and weight to these songs. Triumphant lyrics are largely missing in favor of the solemn and at times contemplative ambient sounds gracing our ears. Pleasant, soothing, and incredibly transformative. Didn’t hear the same old repetitive track again and again. Always something unfamiliar to hear, and listen to when I travel new places around the block. I could say more, but for the life of me, I cannot describe it justice enough. Just know when the epic tunes hit they hit bloody hard. There is a payoff in going subtle here. And if Uematsu could hear this, I think he would clap in joy for Soken’s work.
Gratifying gameplay loop that is cyclical, interconnected and works in tandem with the other systems in place. Get too tired with combat? That's fine. Take a breather with some side quests(SQ) that are almost perfect. Hitting the near-zenith of Witcher 3 SQ quality combined with consistently powerful worldbuilding I haven’t seen since I last played through The Legend of Heroes IP. Specifically, the Sky trilogy, Crossbell duology, and Cold Steel tetralogy. There is so much depth, I am left in wonder and awe to study more about the history of Valisthea and its denizens. More often than not you will encounter chunks of lore. To varying degrees. Religion and societal customs included. Unexpected discoveries in interpersonal relationships with folks I didn’t expect. Helping people in need at the main hub to assist strangers out in the wild. And these are not pointless to do, since the rewards can range from increasing your potions limit to rewarding items, weapons, equipment, materials, and key items. Worth it, both in the physical and knowledge aspects. Easily, the strongest SQs are the ones related to the main character(MC), his party members, and by extension those who are allied with him. Granting a decent to lengthy quest chains to learn more. Bond further and even partner up! Worthwhile to do and I encourage everyone to complete as many as they possibly can. Some of these connect with quests benefiting players and heck if you’re bored you can even undertake a hunt mission. Which are like bounties to defeat unique monsters out in the wild. Fun to do and a worthwhile conflict awaits. A solid way, building up renown to earn supplementary rewards. It's gotten to the point I couldn’t wait to finish the main story quests(MSQ) so I can complete new SQs/hunts popping up on my radar.
And Clive. Bless his soul. Doesn’t mind at all aiding those in need. Especially to offer a guiding hand to Bearers. People who are essentially slaves and can use magic. Commonfolk can’t use magic innately. Used by slave masters, nobility as a means of cheap labor. Bearers are human tools. Do you want your garden trimmed? Let the boy use wind magic to trim the bushes into a presentable state. No need to work yourself and use bladed shears. Need clothes to dry quickly rather than letting the sun do the work? Let the Bearer use wind magic again to blow air on your wet clothes becoming a human dryer. Oh, need consistent fire for your blacksmithing duties? Grab one of those filthy Bearers and order them to use their magic to cast fira. Heating the stones instead of using natural fire. I kid you not these instances I saw plenty throughout and equally jaw-dropping tales inside. In some cases, my emotional state stewed in conniptions. I was immensely saddened to see a mirror image of our world’s history of slavery. And the developers(devs) have managed to capture these horrific moments in ways I was reeling. I won’t go into the exact details, but my heart bled for each one. And I quickly without hesitation became the shield for these unfortunate souls who were suffering without end.
Worldbuilding is quality across the board. I usually have problems with worldbuilding in other Japanese Role-Playing Games(JRPGs). Some go too far. Gorging the player on unnecessary details. Others have too little and need more of the former. It’s been a long time since I was so engrossed in the lore and history. Sixteen manages to do it in such a way I am left hungry for more. Complementing this is a handy codex in the form of Active Time Lore(ATL for short). Where you can see relevant information during any part of the story. Yes, this includes cutscenes. Incredibly well-thought-out and as a lore nut. The feature is very satisfying to use when I need a refresher on what this legend is supposed to be. Why do we keep calling places ‘Storm’ and ‘Twins?’ What are Bearers? The plot, quests, and your companions will continually talk about these elements in rich detail. I could gush more but I think you see the picture. Wish other JRPGs and Non-RPGs learn from this.
An evolving world is persistent here. Each time a major or minor event has been resolved whether by SQ’s or MSQ. The state of NPC's is adjusted to reflect that. And the very essence of Valisthea wherever you travel to also shares the same evolution. Oh, a major event took place at [redacted]? Time to head back to and check for differences in the citizenry. This is just one example of how places may vary over time. Very reminiscent of my time with the Trails franchise. I eagerly looked forward to returning to the main hub and conversing with my comrades on the latest gossip, new information about the state of the realm, or the odd tip here and there you may not see coming. I cherished these NPCs and I would go so far as to call some, my dear friends. They all play a big role in shaping not just MC’s story, but their tales and stories are interwoven with his. Leaving me with an everlasting impression. The gentle giant Goetz, Sharp eyes Gav, the gentle but stern Tarja, the wise Harpocrates, and of course we can't forget the wise, venerable and slick leader. These individuals have their struggles, and quests from which we witness. Cooperate and in doing, so we are treated to a fantastic cast willing to shoulder our burdens. To care for our wounds. To sustain us with supplies and support us through thick and thin. Against all odds. We stand together.
There are however mixed feelings I have with this entry. Won’t say names. Since this is a non-spoiler review and certainly not a positive or a negative. But for the sake of transparency, I'm noting down here. One character in particular needed more fleshing out, some villains and to a lesser degree other persons. I felt I didn't grasp their entire being more than others. Which is funny because I adore my party. Sadly, I’ve already devoured the game as much as I possibly could in search of critical and related information I may have missed the first time around with no success. And I doubt a third go around would change my thoughts. Anyway, I think further context on the background and subsequent encounter with the MC needed more ‘meat’ so to speak for lack of better words to create a dynamic that would immerse me further. Extra side quests regarding ‘x’ nation concerning their status, additional scenes, and heavier amounts of banter, especially during battles to alleviate some silence. There is some banter, though I think the devs could’ve added a healthy amount to spare. Tease me with interconnected lore concerning their powers I wouldn’t expect. Past entries in the series had parties where I can comfortably say I know their personality, likes, dislikes, habits, quirks, relationships with others, etc. And while this one individual didn’t have to that extent. I enjoyed their presence, actions, and the precious moments they had in the story. Granted, including my suggestions would inflate the base content more in hours, but I think it's a small price to pay to receive more fleshed-out people. I’m not asking for five hours extra.
Wish we could control other party members and while this doesn’t make a lot of sense due to spoilers in the story. Conceptually I think it could’ve worked to give further spice to the combat capabilities. Adding a greater emphasis to my earlier point of fleshing out the characters. Since some member’s ability kit is not as varied as the MC’s which would perhaps make the players feel more lacking in the combat. However, internally I’m torn with the idea since I think this would’ve created somewhat a lesser emphasis on his story. And at its core, there is an extremely high plateau of which we the audience bear witness to his struggles, failures, and triumphs through his eyes. If we take out our(his) eyesight and perspective, then these incredible experiences we see perhaps may not have had a greater impact. Balance is key here and while I could sprout more suggestions I could see why the developer chose not to do so. It’s a troublesome matter. I've long since debated whether more or less should be added for games.
Style over substance is here. Should be noted, I don’t perceive this notion in a negative light. I can see the merits, demerits with shades in the middle. For Style It is simply amazing to behold the Eikon fights. But it becomes rinse and repeat as we continue to reuse a repetitive formula. Spamming our attacks amid downtimes of our cooldown abilities, interspersed with quick time events(QTE) to add a flourish making battles memorable. Sure there are moments when this evolves to keep the combat fresh amidst these epic David Vs. Goliath clashes. Tynan Sylvester goes deep into the subject of this in his article on "Style and Substance in Game Design" Here he posits:
“The designs all become too similar to each other because they're all simulations of the same things. The style is decided upon and a simulation is built before the substance gets tweaked. This means that the fundamentals of the games are all the same; they are just variations on one another.”
We see this clearly with the Eikon fights and perhaps in some respects with the combat system in the non-Eikon battles. Nevertheless, it is fitting in a narrative sense due to how the plot and sequences are constructed. I think I would’ve preferred a more tactical aspect here. Instead of having mandatory engagements like these. Include more natural surprises to the player. Raising their eyebrows. Make us fight using different aspects of an Eikon. Outwitting my opponents using subterfuge, and backstabbing, Let us use the environment to our advantage, add in human enemies to avoid clashes, and instill a sense of unpredictability by introducing our loveable party members into the equation. Give us choices or perhaps go bolder where it's not even a fight, but merely a duel of words. I could say more, but I’ll withhold myself. I can’t help but begrudgingly praise how well these Eikonic clashes were done in a cinematic sense, but also what they accomplish in the story. The substance is here too. Good lord, there are simply too many to my utter joy and I’ve already said earlier regarding the worldbuilding, sidequests, and how that wonderfully ties together into not just Clive’s struggles, but the cast alongside him. Man has conflict everywhere.
FF16 RPG elements are barely within and while I think the commentary article does have some truth. I believe for the narrative this was sacrificed necessarily to focus entirely on his journey. I am not defending Sixteen by saying this, merely trying to infer based on what I've seen. There is a clear vision from which the devs have led from beginning, middle, and end for the player to see. And I for one applaud the move to risk in their grand vision, by sacrificing some RPG elements. As a result, I am given less time managing and micromanaging my units stats and equipment, in favor of returning to action. Is this a conscious effort by the team to do so? Perhaps. Should Final Fantasy have the bare minimum of RPG elements like tweaking stats, combat, and more to make it as JRPG as other entries in the past have done? I don’t know. I for one am no developer nor am I an expert in determining the correct answer to such a question. I don’t think there is even a perfect one out there from which we can all unanimously agree.
The dungeons(these are places from which we fight.) Could be improved level-wise. To allow more freedom to explore. Why can’t I search for a castle more thoroughly? Why am I stuck in yet another forced battle to clear out a room of enemies and goodness by the almighty grace of Greagor please not another forced skirmish? As a consequence, a formulaic method rises as we go through the corridor and room to fight familiar enemies before we can progress. I don’t think this is a bad design. I simply believe other avenues were available. Don’t make some fights mandatory. Allow us to free-roam, and inject some npc’s to raise an eyebrow. Drop some lore papers around ruins so I have something else to do beyond fighting enemy mobs who think they have a chance of opposing me. Be bolder and go the distance by granting loads of enemies to clash with, akin to Dynasty Warriors. Scores of deadly mobs push me to the limit. To play devil's advocate, I can see why the devs didn’t do so, since sixteen is already ambitious. And the pace of how the story beats are granted is logical to me. Overall I think aesthetically they’re great, and the mini-boss/regular boss fights are a thrill to test my mettle. The dev’s don’t miss on constructing these encounters. Using their mmo skills to bring in their expertise to a single player game is a 200 IQ move.
Final Fantasy Mode seems to be the intended difficulty. Unlocked after beating the story. Featuring better tweaks by removing button prompts during QTE's and relying on visual cues to press. Adding exclusive content(in the form of upgraded weapons and accessories), increasing enemy strength, and more enemies in areas you wouldn't expect in a 1st playthrough. I feel this mode ought to be available from the start. Granting a balanced challenge to players looking for a bitter bout. But I think I understand why the developers didn’t unlock it in the beginning. Some areas felt like padding by adding a miniboss in areas when the base game didn’t have one. Which is an interesting choice. Alternatives I was thinking to alleviate this were adding 10-25% more enemy variety and injecting these instead of more mandatory fights. Nevertheless, I am a bit eh on the FF mode. Although, It is a delightful affair for those who seek it.
That’s it for my mixed feelings. Despite the unholy amount I spouted, I don’t believe they bring the entire product down a great deal. Think of these ultimately as food for thought. The rest are minor nitpicks not worth mentioning. Two last notes before I head out and I am so sorry for writing more than I thought possible. But in the writing here. I savor every word. Very mature and filled with layers deep with rich dialogue. Considering it was spearheaded from creative director/lead writer by Kazutoyo Maehiro Who was mentored by Yasumi Matsuno(He directed FFT, Vagrant Story, FFXII among others). Therefore, the writing is beautifully well crafted. Not to the extent of flowery as the Shakespearan translation of FF Tactics: War of the Lions. But a cross between Vagrant Story & FFXIV dialogue in a modern take. Resulting in naturally organic voiced scenes. I frequently traveled back to cities, towns, and my main hub and listened to unique dialog every time. No need to hit a button to converse. Simply walk by and you can hear their chatter. The MSQ cutscenes between every important individual on-screen are handled with care and delicateness. Villains too. This attention to detail is given the same treatment as we go through the SQs and man it is so worth it. Clear amounts of nuance here where you will see neither side winning or losing. But full of shades of gray in the dialogue, and how some quests are resolved in unexpected, yet realistic outcomes.
Clive’s story from start to finish is such a breathtaking journey every FF fan needs to experience. Wonderful development, in my honest opinion. I was deeply moved by how raw Ben Starr voices the MC and how these give so much intensity to candid and countless natural conversations. Hell, even the voice actors aside from Ben deserve praise. A solid crew who tests, questions, and guides. Their counterparts, the villains, provide a powerful incentive to beat. Make no mistake. His story is not for the faint of heart. But, as much as there is darkness here, so too is light and it is without a doubt impeccably strong to behold. Cuteness and priceless moments are here to counter the stormy Valisthea political climate.
Final Fantasy has always been near and dear to my heart. I have witnessed innumerable stories that resonated so powerfully. Likable to loveable casts I reminiscence from time to time. Soundtracks never failing to capture the spirit of fantasy. Gameplay that can be a hit, miss or somewhere in between. And while some entries stagger and sputter without gas. Each one has a special place in my heart. From the foundation in one to three. Ascending to greater heights than before from four to six and taking a more bold and experimental graphical change from seven to nine. Transitioning into an advanced engine from ten to thirteen. And while I haven’t played FFXII yet. By the Founder, trust me, I’ll get there. FFXIV & FFXV still kept my faith. And now for FFXVI to grace our presence I am left in awe at the immense weight of it all. The sheer depth at stake here, when analyzed under a fine magnifying glass is a bloody tour de force. I applaud Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III. Rarely do I become so absorbed in such a captivating narrative of Clive’s story. Seeing his growth from his younger days as he ages is such a vital aspect to soak in. For those who still doubts the series, this is a title that is simply a must-play and CANNOT be missed. For any newcomer to JRPGs, I envy you greatly if you start with one of the finest Final Fantasy games I’ve had the pleasure of playing.
Bravo Yoshi-P, Hiroshi Takai, Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, Masayoshi Soken, Kazutoyo Maehiro, Mitsutoshi Gondai, Ryota Suzuki, Yusuke Hashimoto, Hiroshi Minagawa, Kazuya Takahashi, and so many more who helped develop this raw title. And most of all thank you to anyone who read this long review. You guys are the best.
9/10
Note: If any links are not working please let me know and I'll update them accordingly. Worried about some FFXVI OST YT videos getting removed.