Hopeofdespair
16 Reviews liked by Hopeofdespair
Ridge Racer Type 4
1998
People rate this game on vibes alone. I won't lie the vibes are strong with this one, but it's overall marred by the corniest and most cringely executed story in a racing game ever, nonsensical replay value structure, and the fact that, as a Ridge Racer title, this one is pretty mid. The game omits out the upgrade system of Rage Racer or really any freedom to choose what to do next, you're simply dragged from race to race w some dialogue scenes sprinkled in, until it's over. The game is extremely short so, as if to compensate for this, four story arcs are included, but you're taken on the exact same courses each time. You're essentially tricked into playing through the game four times. There's little sense of speed and the drifting also seems to be worse, feels.. stuttery somehow. Honestly it felt like the drifting became slightly worse with each PS1 installment, I didn't mind this in Rage Racer since I felt I was getting something in exchange, but not so with "R4."
Another thing I was hung up on was that the courses weren't connected, which to me was like, it defeats the point of calling it a Ridge Racer title! It's too much just like any other racing game at that point. Granted, this would go on to become the norm for Ridge Racer games (Ridge Racer V would be the last one to do it) but that feels like Namco retconning this game to seem less bad by making future games unremarkable.
I always felt as though there should one day be a remake of this game that addresses the issues, and a better story. But it's admittedly futile seeing as everyone likes this game already, and a game already exists called R Racing Evolution which I've only played briefly but is uncomfortably close to being a spiritual remake of R4, but with even more Ridge Racer elements removed, and still cringey. Any future effort is unlikely to fare better.
Another thing I was hung up on was that the courses weren't connected, which to me was like, it defeats the point of calling it a Ridge Racer title! It's too much just like any other racing game at that point. Granted, this would go on to become the norm for Ridge Racer games (Ridge Racer V would be the last one to do it) but that feels like Namco retconning this game to seem less bad by making future games unremarkable.
I always felt as though there should one day be a remake of this game that addresses the issues, and a better story. But it's admittedly futile seeing as everyone likes this game already, and a game already exists called R Racing Evolution which I've only played briefly but is uncomfortably close to being a spiritual remake of R4, but with even more Ridge Racer elements removed, and still cringey. Any future effort is unlikely to fare better.
Thumper
2016
Thumper
is undoubtedly my game of the year and made its way into one of my all time favorites
Despite identifying as a Rhythm game, I'd argue that it's far similar to reaction intensive action game because of the sheer amount of mechanics and the freedom of choice the game provides in terms of how you play it while remaining obscenely simple and satisfying to play
But the game's simplicity doesn't undermine the game's difficulty at all. In fact, this is one of the hardest games I've played and no it's not because it's a rhythm game and rhythm games are supposedly "hard". The difficulty of this game LITERALLY stems from each and every one of the 9 levels having increasingly more and more difficult tempos. For example, level 6 has a time signature of 6/8 and the successive levels all increase the time signatures to sync up with the level number thus providing a consistent challenge to overcome. So even if you're rhythmically adept this game will definitely still be challenging regardless since it's not just a countless notes falling down in the same tempo which is most rhythm game's way of making things artificially more difficult which I find revolting
Now onto the elephant in the room or more like the lack of one, the music in this game is a whole bunch of nothing. It's all abstract noise but that is intentionally done as it's up to the player to find the rhythm through the gameplay and it's far more intuitive than you might think. I myself was guilty of thinking this was stupid but once I beat a few levels and got accustomed all the different mechanics, it all clicked. Music would only hamper the structure of the game and I'm glad there's none
One of my biggest gripes with your regular rhythm games is the fact that those games constantly shove these obnoxious "Perfect/Great/Good/Okay" text pop up in your screen during gameplay but in Thumper you're either right or you're wrong, no annoying text pop ups cluttering your screen it's all you and the gameplay
This is one game I pretty much have nothing really negative to say simply because of the fact that there's no padding and the game is relatively short. But if I had to squeeze out some nitpicks I'd say the visuals can be a tad bit overwhelming at times and can obfuscate SOME notes but that's rarely an issue and a complete non-issue when you learn to play with the rhythm
As far as Rhythm games go I doubt there will be another game like this, ever. Genuine masterpiece, play it or miss out.
is undoubtedly my game of the year and made its way into one of my all time favorites
Despite identifying as a Rhythm game, I'd argue that it's far similar to reaction intensive action game because of the sheer amount of mechanics and the freedom of choice the game provides in terms of how you play it while remaining obscenely simple and satisfying to play
But the game's simplicity doesn't undermine the game's difficulty at all. In fact, this is one of the hardest games I've played and no it's not because it's a rhythm game and rhythm games are supposedly "hard". The difficulty of this game LITERALLY stems from each and every one of the 9 levels having increasingly more and more difficult tempos. For example, level 6 has a time signature of 6/8 and the successive levels all increase the time signatures to sync up with the level number thus providing a consistent challenge to overcome. So even if you're rhythmically adept this game will definitely still be challenging regardless since it's not just a countless notes falling down in the same tempo which is most rhythm game's way of making things artificially more difficult which I find revolting
Now onto the elephant in the room or more like the lack of one, the music in this game is a whole bunch of nothing. It's all abstract noise but that is intentionally done as it's up to the player to find the rhythm through the gameplay and it's far more intuitive than you might think. I myself was guilty of thinking this was stupid but once I beat a few levels and got accustomed all the different mechanics, it all clicked. Music would only hamper the structure of the game and I'm glad there's none
One of my biggest gripes with your regular rhythm games is the fact that those games constantly shove these obnoxious "Perfect/Great/Good/Okay" text pop up in your screen during gameplay but in Thumper you're either right or you're wrong, no annoying text pop ups cluttering your screen it's all you and the gameplay
This is one game I pretty much have nothing really negative to say simply because of the fact that there's no padding and the game is relatively short. But if I had to squeeze out some nitpicks I'd say the visuals can be a tad bit overwhelming at times and can obfuscate SOME notes but that's rarely an issue and a complete non-issue when you learn to play with the rhythm
As far as Rhythm games go I doubt there will be another game like this, ever. Genuine masterpiece, play it or miss out.
Kannagi Usagi
2023
honestly more devs should just rip off sekiro's combat system
This review contains spoilers
Red Dead Redemption 2
Since my thoughts are a bit all over the place the pros and cons are sort of mixed together but I’ll give it some headings so its more structured and easier to read, tl;dr I really like the game despite how much I hate the last quarter of the game
(+) Characters and Animation
When I talk about character writing and specifically banter writing I can point to RDR2, this is where it shines the most and every single interaction is solid. The attention to detail in this game is insane, I can’t tell how much was captured by mocap or how much was carefully animated by hand, and in either circumstance its hard to even imagine the effort, even towards the end there’s a scene where John is unboxing the present Abigail gave him and he almost tips it, the game loves doing these small things so much so that you can often times forget that you’re even playing a game. I love Dutch as the villain, I love Arthur he’s just one of the best protagonists ever, every character has their traits that uniquely sets them apart and all of them are given plenty of room to develop.
(+) The Plot (Chapter 1 &2)
I feel like the plot as a whole is where Rockstar finds some big hits and some big misses. I think Chapter 1 is a great way to set the stage for Dutch and company, it feels important in retrospect since it also explains why they choose to stick together for so long especially when things go south given the circumstances they had to brave and endure together. Again, with most things in RDR2 it feels like it goes on for a while since you’re subjected to long cutscenes and tutorial missions. Chapter 2 is where the game hands you the reigns and since this is where the game is still in its handholding stage, you’re pretty much doing minimal stuff like catching bears or buying guns etc.
(+) (Chapter 3 & 4)
Chapter 3 sets up a very interesting conflict where two families have a history of friction and as much as I was expecting it to be executed in a more meaningful way, I still enjoyed all that crop burning vigilante stuff that you’re set up to do, this chapter is also where you experience your first death and ends in a spectacular way where you burn the mansion. Chapter 4 is the cream of the crop, Saint Denis starts off kind of stupid with the usual chores where you stop a bunch of grave robbers in exchange for the boy, but then towards the end everything its just this beautiful chaos, this is the strongest point in the whole game quite literally everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Perfect.
(-) (Chapter 5& 6)
Chapter 5 is the worst in the main chapter line-up, I hated Guarma, I hated the negro rebellion, and even less did it make sense why they return to Saint Denis despite how charismatic and convincing Dutch is, I know they wanted to really set up how he’s completely losing it since he also kills the woman there in cold blood and comes up with a “prey or be preyed” explanation for it, but instead of sowing the seeds of distrust and cracks in Dutch’s authority it just overall felt so out of place. Anyways this chapter SUCKS. The only contribution this chapter makes is by pushing Sadie into the spotlight as a huge person of interest in the climax.
Chapter 6 is the one that really confused me, all of a sudden you’re part of this NOTHING plot with the Indians and the game has this weird explanation that they want to create a lot of sound so that the army is focused on a separate matter altogether, but then you’re also participating in the fight…. Oh nvm it was all part of Dutch’s plan now he gets to steal the bonds from the oil plant…. Or something? Again towards the end it felt like game was fucking around, none of the characters seem to get it either. I really liked the idea of Dutch unravelling and in the game’s own words its not that he’s changing, its moreso that he’s becoming what he really is, it seems to encompass the entirety of Dutch’s arc, but truly what I felt towards the end was the main plot was more interested in what would happened after Arthur’s death than whatever precedes it, which almost made his death feel way less intense and meaningful than what the game delivered on. I don’t want John to deliver Micah’s judgement at the end of a trenchantly long epilogue, I want it to be Arthur.
(-) Epilogue
Rockstar flops in this regard, it wanted to make the ending more deep and cinematic in nature by having John be the one to deliver the final blow to Micah but it just makes everything feel messy and honestly? The epilogue ruined the game for me, its hard to separate it from the main chapters because the way the chapter 6 ends is just incomplete. To settle the score you have to build a home for your nagging wife and be subjected to “you can’t outrun your sins” – the epilogue. I can respect so much in this game but I just could not for the life of me wrap my head around this epilogue, why does it exist? Who is it for? I would rather have seen a bunch of montages and a final showdown, unless RDR2 is the last in this franchise I’d understand them subjecting everyone to this misery, I saw more interesting things in the ending credits than I participated in in the epilogue. It makes me NOT recommend this game.
(-) Final thoughts on the Last Quarter
Chapter 5, 6 and the Epilogue feel misguided when it comes to the main plot. Rockstar doesn’t want to have one point of conflict it feels like it HAS to compound two varieties of it in order to be interesting, which is not the case. By the end of the game your two major rivals, Leviticus Cornwall and Colm O’ Driscoll die in uninteresting ways and are replaced by the Army and the Milton Agency which you really don’t even care about to begin with, and for the Epilogue your villain is Micah but instead of having to journey to him the game wants you to do chores and many hours later you have a full circle moment of killing him at a place similar to where the game started. The story doesn’t seem poetic when Dutch has nothing to say, instead of feeling like he’s a broken man, it feels like the game just doesn’t have much of anything to do with him, and I felt like the epilogue under-delivers on Dutch’s fate which is probably the only thing I was interested in after Arthur’s death.
(-) Gunplay
This is the primary form of combat you engage in and I don’t know WHO told Rockstar that there needs to be this many shooting encounters, its insane. Oh a stealth mission? Must end in a gunplay section, there’s no such thing as a covert operation or killing discretely in the universe of RDR2, everyone is an esper who instantly knows at the end of a chapter as some wizard wiggles his finger instantly alerting everyone and you have to fight off gangs and gangs and gangs and gangs it got annoying, and when I say there’s a lot of gunplay, its almost like there’s nothing BUT gunplay.
There’s some missions I enjoyed like the one where you’re scamming some losers on a ship by winning at a poker game but no that also ends in a gunplay section. They only have variety towards the very end in Chapter 6 where you are being physically chased by men wielding machetes and sniping sections but its just not much of anything in my opinion.
(+) Side quests
Admittedly I did as many were in my path, I made peace with the woman whose husband gave me TB, I helped Penelope Braithwaite escape, I helped my ex-love to get her brother back from the cult, I helped the army officer get vaccines for the kids at Rainfall’s camp, I collected debts for Strauss, I helped two brothers help impress a girl by shooting bottles off their heads, I met up with some legendary sharp shooters and took pictures of them to remember their legacy, I helped a man take photos and not getting devoured by wolves, and I know there is so…. So much more to the world of RDR2, I barely touched the surface and hopefully I can go back and play some more. I remember having really high honor already before I started collecting it at the end since I was always donating to the blind or sucking out poison from someone’s thigh or escorting someone to the village, which I still think is one of the stronger points of RDR2 because it really keeps you immersed in the world.
(-/+) Soundtrack
I liked the audio mixing and like some of the scenes are really well staged with the music and get you really hype I might revisit a few tracks but not any tracks that I am absolutely dying to hunt down
(+) Environment Design
Its just really good, every area is instantly recognizable and its just a beautiful game that is probably going to age very gracefully
(-) Linearity and Physics
This is a complain that I had from very early on in the game, it hates when you don’t execute things in a very linear way, I just could not understand it, GTA games have always been very flexible in terms of how you approach missions and circumstances and this game just does NOT like you doing that, every scenario felt so hand-hold-ey because the game just wouldn’t quit telling me to execute everything in a specific order, its just fucking annoying.
This also plays into the second part of the sub-heading, physics. The physics is just really volatile in this game, you can get fucked or smushed around places or have your horse knocked out for the dumbest reasons, where I would find this endearing in other games just getting up and moving in this game is so weird. Like just getting on your horse can just be such an awkward maneuver I don’t know why, because the game is also linear you’re often supposed to go over a long distance and listen to a very long conversation but if you “accidentally” crash you are subjected to hearing that long conversation all over again. It was SO FUCKING ANNOYING, IT HAPPENED SO MUCH.
Conclusion
I love this game for many reasons but the sunk cost fallacy you face when you’re done with Chapter 6 and have to sit through the epilogue makes me think twice before recommending. Rockstar had this game in the bag up till the halfway point but then just made so many questionable decision thereafter, its still one of the best stories ever told and one of the most interesting open-world that a game can offer, when Rockstar delivers in this game it delivers HARD.
Good job Rockstar, despite the flops.
Since my thoughts are a bit all over the place the pros and cons are sort of mixed together but I’ll give it some headings so its more structured and easier to read, tl;dr I really like the game despite how much I hate the last quarter of the game
(+) Characters and Animation
When I talk about character writing and specifically banter writing I can point to RDR2, this is where it shines the most and every single interaction is solid. The attention to detail in this game is insane, I can’t tell how much was captured by mocap or how much was carefully animated by hand, and in either circumstance its hard to even imagine the effort, even towards the end there’s a scene where John is unboxing the present Abigail gave him and he almost tips it, the game loves doing these small things so much so that you can often times forget that you’re even playing a game. I love Dutch as the villain, I love Arthur he’s just one of the best protagonists ever, every character has their traits that uniquely sets them apart and all of them are given plenty of room to develop.
(+) The Plot (Chapter 1 &2)
I feel like the plot as a whole is where Rockstar finds some big hits and some big misses. I think Chapter 1 is a great way to set the stage for Dutch and company, it feels important in retrospect since it also explains why they choose to stick together for so long especially when things go south given the circumstances they had to brave and endure together. Again, with most things in RDR2 it feels like it goes on for a while since you’re subjected to long cutscenes and tutorial missions. Chapter 2 is where the game hands you the reigns and since this is where the game is still in its handholding stage, you’re pretty much doing minimal stuff like catching bears or buying guns etc.
(+) (Chapter 3 & 4)
Chapter 3 sets up a very interesting conflict where two families have a history of friction and as much as I was expecting it to be executed in a more meaningful way, I still enjoyed all that crop burning vigilante stuff that you’re set up to do, this chapter is also where you experience your first death and ends in a spectacular way where you burn the mansion. Chapter 4 is the cream of the crop, Saint Denis starts off kind of stupid with the usual chores where you stop a bunch of grave robbers in exchange for the boy, but then towards the end everything its just this beautiful chaos, this is the strongest point in the whole game quite literally everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Perfect.
(-) (Chapter 5& 6)
Chapter 5 is the worst in the main chapter line-up, I hated Guarma, I hated the negro rebellion, and even less did it make sense why they return to Saint Denis despite how charismatic and convincing Dutch is, I know they wanted to really set up how he’s completely losing it since he also kills the woman there in cold blood and comes up with a “prey or be preyed” explanation for it, but instead of sowing the seeds of distrust and cracks in Dutch’s authority it just overall felt so out of place. Anyways this chapter SUCKS. The only contribution this chapter makes is by pushing Sadie into the spotlight as a huge person of interest in the climax.
Chapter 6 is the one that really confused me, all of a sudden you’re part of this NOTHING plot with the Indians and the game has this weird explanation that they want to create a lot of sound so that the army is focused on a separate matter altogether, but then you’re also participating in the fight…. Oh nvm it was all part of Dutch’s plan now he gets to steal the bonds from the oil plant…. Or something? Again towards the end it felt like game was fucking around, none of the characters seem to get it either. I really liked the idea of Dutch unravelling and in the game’s own words its not that he’s changing, its moreso that he’s becoming what he really is, it seems to encompass the entirety of Dutch’s arc, but truly what I felt towards the end was the main plot was more interested in what would happened after Arthur’s death than whatever precedes it, which almost made his death feel way less intense and meaningful than what the game delivered on. I don’t want John to deliver Micah’s judgement at the end of a trenchantly long epilogue, I want it to be Arthur.
(-) Epilogue
Rockstar flops in this regard, it wanted to make the ending more deep and cinematic in nature by having John be the one to deliver the final blow to Micah but it just makes everything feel messy and honestly? The epilogue ruined the game for me, its hard to separate it from the main chapters because the way the chapter 6 ends is just incomplete. To settle the score you have to build a home for your nagging wife and be subjected to “you can’t outrun your sins” – the epilogue. I can respect so much in this game but I just could not for the life of me wrap my head around this epilogue, why does it exist? Who is it for? I would rather have seen a bunch of montages and a final showdown, unless RDR2 is the last in this franchise I’d understand them subjecting everyone to this misery, I saw more interesting things in the ending credits than I participated in in the epilogue. It makes me NOT recommend this game.
(-) Final thoughts on the Last Quarter
Chapter 5, 6 and the Epilogue feel misguided when it comes to the main plot. Rockstar doesn’t want to have one point of conflict it feels like it HAS to compound two varieties of it in order to be interesting, which is not the case. By the end of the game your two major rivals, Leviticus Cornwall and Colm O’ Driscoll die in uninteresting ways and are replaced by the Army and the Milton Agency which you really don’t even care about to begin with, and for the Epilogue your villain is Micah but instead of having to journey to him the game wants you to do chores and many hours later you have a full circle moment of killing him at a place similar to where the game started. The story doesn’t seem poetic when Dutch has nothing to say, instead of feeling like he’s a broken man, it feels like the game just doesn’t have much of anything to do with him, and I felt like the epilogue under-delivers on Dutch’s fate which is probably the only thing I was interested in after Arthur’s death.
(-) Gunplay
This is the primary form of combat you engage in and I don’t know WHO told Rockstar that there needs to be this many shooting encounters, its insane. Oh a stealth mission? Must end in a gunplay section, there’s no such thing as a covert operation or killing discretely in the universe of RDR2, everyone is an esper who instantly knows at the end of a chapter as some wizard wiggles his finger instantly alerting everyone and you have to fight off gangs and gangs and gangs and gangs it got annoying, and when I say there’s a lot of gunplay, its almost like there’s nothing BUT gunplay.
There’s some missions I enjoyed like the one where you’re scamming some losers on a ship by winning at a poker game but no that also ends in a gunplay section. They only have variety towards the very end in Chapter 6 where you are being physically chased by men wielding machetes and sniping sections but its just not much of anything in my opinion.
(+) Side quests
Admittedly I did as many were in my path, I made peace with the woman whose husband gave me TB, I helped Penelope Braithwaite escape, I helped my ex-love to get her brother back from the cult, I helped the army officer get vaccines for the kids at Rainfall’s camp, I collected debts for Strauss, I helped two brothers help impress a girl by shooting bottles off their heads, I met up with some legendary sharp shooters and took pictures of them to remember their legacy, I helped a man take photos and not getting devoured by wolves, and I know there is so…. So much more to the world of RDR2, I barely touched the surface and hopefully I can go back and play some more. I remember having really high honor already before I started collecting it at the end since I was always donating to the blind or sucking out poison from someone’s thigh or escorting someone to the village, which I still think is one of the stronger points of RDR2 because it really keeps you immersed in the world.
(-/+) Soundtrack
I liked the audio mixing and like some of the scenes are really well staged with the music and get you really hype I might revisit a few tracks but not any tracks that I am absolutely dying to hunt down
(+) Environment Design
Its just really good, every area is instantly recognizable and its just a beautiful game that is probably going to age very gracefully
(-) Linearity and Physics
This is a complain that I had from very early on in the game, it hates when you don’t execute things in a very linear way, I just could not understand it, GTA games have always been very flexible in terms of how you approach missions and circumstances and this game just does NOT like you doing that, every scenario felt so hand-hold-ey because the game just wouldn’t quit telling me to execute everything in a specific order, its just fucking annoying.
This also plays into the second part of the sub-heading, physics. The physics is just really volatile in this game, you can get fucked or smushed around places or have your horse knocked out for the dumbest reasons, where I would find this endearing in other games just getting up and moving in this game is so weird. Like just getting on your horse can just be such an awkward maneuver I don’t know why, because the game is also linear you’re often supposed to go over a long distance and listen to a very long conversation but if you “accidentally” crash you are subjected to hearing that long conversation all over again. It was SO FUCKING ANNOYING, IT HAPPENED SO MUCH.
Conclusion
I love this game for many reasons but the sunk cost fallacy you face when you’re done with Chapter 6 and have to sit through the epilogue makes me think twice before recommending. Rockstar had this game in the bag up till the halfway point but then just made so many questionable decision thereafter, its still one of the best stories ever told and one of the most interesting open-world that a game can offer, when Rockstar delivers in this game it delivers HARD.
Good job Rockstar, despite the flops.
Nioh 2
2020
Nioh 2 + All 3 DLCs
Before I say anything even remotely positive, let me preface this by saying that the first 60% of this game is irredeemably bad with contrived artificial difficulty that mostly stems from the fact that you're deprived off rudimentary abilities of your overall kit while simultaneously put up against incompetently designed boss encounters that don't take all the handicaps into account and can often lead to a one/two shot. But once you're past the pit of garbage that is the early to mid game you'll find one of the best souls-likes ever made with a quite solid boss roster (except for the deluge of NPC fights) that rivals even DS3
- Combat -
Compared to other Team Ninja titles (FF Origins and Wo Long) I've played combat here is far more polished and balanced out which is tied to the fact that the enemies were designed with the stamina/ki depleting system in mind unlike in the other games where they just slapped Nioh enemies in a deflection based combat
Also for the longest time I held quite the negative preconceived notion about this game's combat system because of the stance mechanic but after finally playing through the entirety of the game the stance switching aspect of it sold the combat to me since the weapon of choice for me was the Switch Glaive. I've messed around with the other weapons a bit at the start but stance switching feels gimmicky at best unless you're using the weapon the mechanic was intended for. Switching between stances here is quite seamless and there's a practicality to the whole thing instead of just being meant for meaningless style points like in DMC
But there's a massive caveat to ALL of this. That is, by the point you get to the actual meaty part of the game's combat system you'll quite literally be done with the game. By the time the combat clicked with me (I unlocked the mystic arts for my main weapon) I was well into the DLCs. And that is all because of the gazillion different skill trees that take FOREVER to progress
- Skill Trees -
The skill trees are one of the major contributors as to why early to mid game feels like absolute torture to sit through. So you get 4 different main skill trees and each for the 11 different weapon types which houses significant gameplay and QoL improvements. So, without those you're handicapped to the point most of the early content becomes exasperated to sit through. To make things even worse the more useful upgrades are intentionally hidden behind dozens of utterly useless ones. So basically without prior knowledge about the skill trees it can take a huge chunk of your playtime to the point you'd unlock the ones that are actually useful.
- Levels -
The areas are all extremely one note to the point all of them look and play out exactly the same. It's always either a forest or a city ruins that loops back to the checkpoints through ladders or doors. Visually and Mechanically the level designs are as repetitive as they come. Definitely one of the worst aspects of the game
- Bosses -
If there's ever an incentive to come back to this game or play through the NG+ cycles it's because of the boss fights. Even though a huge chunk of the bosses are human-type punching bags that you can stunlock into oblivion the boss roster houses some extremely fun fights such as Otakemaru, Shibata Katsuie, Ushiwakamaru, Raikou and Tate Eboshi. And Tate Eboshi single handedly being one of the best bosses ever made, genuinely had the time of my life mastering the fight
- Music -
The music in this game is surprisingly strong. It's consistently good and keeps getting progressively better and better. Some tracks like Raikou/Ushiwakamaru, Otakemaru, Azai Nagamasa and Tate Eboshi's themes are consistently on loop for me these days. The metric I use to judge video game music is that if I listen to the tracks outside of the game they're good if I don't they're garbage and Nioh 2 definitely falls into the former category
Closing thoughts:
If you're into soulslikes Nioh 2 is a game that will give you the highest of highs while simultaneously giving you lowest of lows leaving you conflicted on whether you even like the game or not
2/5
Before I say anything even remotely positive, let me preface this by saying that the first 60% of this game is irredeemably bad with contrived artificial difficulty that mostly stems from the fact that you're deprived off rudimentary abilities of your overall kit while simultaneously put up against incompetently designed boss encounters that don't take all the handicaps into account and can often lead to a one/two shot. But once you're past the pit of garbage that is the early to mid game you'll find one of the best souls-likes ever made with a quite solid boss roster (except for the deluge of NPC fights) that rivals even DS3
- Combat -
Compared to other Team Ninja titles (FF Origins and Wo Long) I've played combat here is far more polished and balanced out which is tied to the fact that the enemies were designed with the stamina/ki depleting system in mind unlike in the other games where they just slapped Nioh enemies in a deflection based combat
Also for the longest time I held quite the negative preconceived notion about this game's combat system because of the stance mechanic but after finally playing through the entirety of the game the stance switching aspect of it sold the combat to me since the weapon of choice for me was the Switch Glaive. I've messed around with the other weapons a bit at the start but stance switching feels gimmicky at best unless you're using the weapon the mechanic was intended for. Switching between stances here is quite seamless and there's a practicality to the whole thing instead of just being meant for meaningless style points like in DMC
But there's a massive caveat to ALL of this. That is, by the point you get to the actual meaty part of the game's combat system you'll quite literally be done with the game. By the time the combat clicked with me (I unlocked the mystic arts for my main weapon) I was well into the DLCs. And that is all because of the gazillion different skill trees that take FOREVER to progress
- Skill Trees -
The skill trees are one of the major contributors as to why early to mid game feels like absolute torture to sit through. So you get 4 different main skill trees and each for the 11 different weapon types which houses significant gameplay and QoL improvements. So, without those you're handicapped to the point most of the early content becomes exasperated to sit through. To make things even worse the more useful upgrades are intentionally hidden behind dozens of utterly useless ones. So basically without prior knowledge about the skill trees it can take a huge chunk of your playtime to the point you'd unlock the ones that are actually useful.
- Levels -
The areas are all extremely one note to the point all of them look and play out exactly the same. It's always either a forest or a city ruins that loops back to the checkpoints through ladders or doors. Visually and Mechanically the level designs are as repetitive as they come. Definitely one of the worst aspects of the game
- Bosses -
If there's ever an incentive to come back to this game or play through the NG+ cycles it's because of the boss fights. Even though a huge chunk of the bosses are human-type punching bags that you can stunlock into oblivion the boss roster houses some extremely fun fights such as Otakemaru, Shibata Katsuie, Ushiwakamaru, Raikou and Tate Eboshi. And Tate Eboshi single handedly being one of the best bosses ever made, genuinely had the time of my life mastering the fight
- Music -
The music in this game is surprisingly strong. It's consistently good and keeps getting progressively better and better. Some tracks like Raikou/Ushiwakamaru, Otakemaru, Azai Nagamasa and Tate Eboshi's themes are consistently on loop for me these days. The metric I use to judge video game music is that if I listen to the tracks outside of the game they're good if I don't they're garbage and Nioh 2 definitely falls into the former category
Closing thoughts:
If you're into soulslikes Nioh 2 is a game that will give you the highest of highs while simultaneously giving you lowest of lows leaving you conflicted on whether you even like the game or not
2/5
This game despite being only 6 hours long bored the ever living crap out of me as I had to take MULTIPLE breaks from it just to see the credits roll. It has a severe identity crisis as it tries to be a puzzle platformer, a collectathon and a third person shooter all at the same time and manages to be hot garbage at all 3. Basically, a hodge-podge of nothingness meant to showcase the power of a next-gen console and its graphical/technical competency
The artstyle is extremely bland to the point its detrimental to the actual gameplay as breakable items easily blend in with the environment. And of course the game shares the obnoxious trait of every other playstation exclusives, relying too much on presentation and restricting the player freedom to a mere button input
Garbage game, can't even be called "popcorn entertainment"
Just don't play it
The artstyle is extremely bland to the point its detrimental to the actual gameplay as breakable items easily blend in with the environment. And of course the game shares the obnoxious trait of every other playstation exclusives, relying too much on presentation and restricting the player freedom to a mere button input
Garbage game, can't even be called "popcorn entertainment"
Just don't play it
Despite playing through mostly everything, completing every single shrine and lighting up entirety of the depths along with most of the important side quests, I still find myself super torn on this game, part of me really likes the mechanical freedom it allows and just how fun and convenient it is to simply get from point A to point B while another part of me absolutely despises how little the open world has changed even though it's a full blown sequel to BoTW (which lead me to stall finishing the game for quite some time)
Pros (I'll mostly just be comparing and contrasting to its direct predecessor)
(+) The new abilities are hands down the best part of this game. The amount of freedom Ultrahand, Fuse and Ascend gives to the player is absolutely unparalleled. Compared to these three BoTW's abilities feel useless and yes that includes stasis which everyone would abuse to solve shrines with endless trial and error
(+) This game takes the most tedious part of BoTW and turns it into the most fun part of the game, flying over Hyrule feels like the intended way of traversing its messy and uneven topography. A simple hoverbike with 2 fans can take you anywhere and everywhere in this game pretty efficiently unlike BoTW where your only method of travelling faster was using the stupid horse which was a genuine nightmare to control
(+) The sky Islands aren't ground breaking or anything but still a decent addition to the open world and the puzzles deeply implement the newer mechanics making it feel something exclusive to the game unlike the other addition to the map I'll be talking about later
(+) ToTK fixes most of the issues in BoTW and amplifies all of its positives in the most unorthodox way imagineable. Prime example of this would be how the combat in this game is still pretty bad and the weapon durability system is just as obnoxious as ever but the inclusion of zonai devices here actually incentivizes you to come up with multiple different ways of massacring mobs instead of just avoiding them all together because you might break your weapons
(+) The shrines here are actually varied enough to justify hunting for every single one and there are plenty of ones that actually have you interact with the surrounding environment to solve the shrines, which is an infinitely better approach than having them be completely removed from the open world. The combat shrines here are basically miniature edition of Eventide Island where you have to survive with limited equipment which is also a drastic improvement over fighting the same one mob 50 different times
(+) Exploration in general feels way more rewarding here than in BoTW and because of the gazillion different indicators helping you discover caves shrine or anything remotely hidden plus the fact that you can get to everywhere in the map just from the towers that instantly shoot you into the stratosphere alone also makes it far more convenient and not a stupid chore
(+) The main dungeons are way less of a headache and you're given plenty of freedom to solve them however you wish just like most of the dungeons
Cons (New issues plus ones that roughly remained the same from BoTW)
(-) Depths is an absolute worthless addition to Hyrule, it's a bloated whole bunch of nothing which has no right to be as massive as the entire map as hyrule. The most fatigued I was ever playing this game is when I was trying to explore the entirety of the map, it contains absolutely nothing of interest, the entire reason you'd ever go into the depths is to farm for zonaite which is directly tied to the most fun part of the game, which leads me to my second biggest gripe with this game
(-) This game will constantly in every opportunity blue ball you from having fun and forcing you to go into the depths and mine zonaite whenever you run out and trust me you run out a lot. At one point I got so fed up that I started exploiting the dupe glitch, I can't be assed to go into the depths and mine the same place just so I can make a hovercraft
(-) The major boss fights in this game are just shameless interactive movies with ONE gimmick and that's it
(-) The open world bosses remained roughly the same as BoTW with few new additions which are also extremely boring to fight and are spread out throughout the map way too many times
(-) The major bosses get reused several times in the Depths only to lose their uniqueness
(-) The durability system became much worse because of the introduction of decayed/pristine weapons but I won't give them too much slack here since zonai devices can pretty much kill every single mob in the game with ease but then again tying the pristine weapons to RNG and in the DEPTHS was one of the worst decisions they made, would have made so much more sense if they were chest/quest rewards
(-) Just like BoTW the main dungeons all play out exactly the same giving the whole game a sense of repetitiveness in the process
I enjoyed my time with the game but I also found myself burnt out on multiple different occasions. BoTW truly is a shitty tech demo compared to ToTK
Pros (I'll mostly just be comparing and contrasting to its direct predecessor)
(+) The new abilities are hands down the best part of this game. The amount of freedom Ultrahand, Fuse and Ascend gives to the player is absolutely unparalleled. Compared to these three BoTW's abilities feel useless and yes that includes stasis which everyone would abuse to solve shrines with endless trial and error
(+) This game takes the most tedious part of BoTW and turns it into the most fun part of the game, flying over Hyrule feels like the intended way of traversing its messy and uneven topography. A simple hoverbike with 2 fans can take you anywhere and everywhere in this game pretty efficiently unlike BoTW where your only method of travelling faster was using the stupid horse which was a genuine nightmare to control
(+) The sky Islands aren't ground breaking or anything but still a decent addition to the open world and the puzzles deeply implement the newer mechanics making it feel something exclusive to the game unlike the other addition to the map I'll be talking about later
(+) ToTK fixes most of the issues in BoTW and amplifies all of its positives in the most unorthodox way imagineable. Prime example of this would be how the combat in this game is still pretty bad and the weapon durability system is just as obnoxious as ever but the inclusion of zonai devices here actually incentivizes you to come up with multiple different ways of massacring mobs instead of just avoiding them all together because you might break your weapons
(+) The shrines here are actually varied enough to justify hunting for every single one and there are plenty of ones that actually have you interact with the surrounding environment to solve the shrines, which is an infinitely better approach than having them be completely removed from the open world. The combat shrines here are basically miniature edition of Eventide Island where you have to survive with limited equipment which is also a drastic improvement over fighting the same one mob 50 different times
(+) Exploration in general feels way more rewarding here than in BoTW and because of the gazillion different indicators helping you discover caves shrine or anything remotely hidden plus the fact that you can get to everywhere in the map just from the towers that instantly shoot you into the stratosphere alone also makes it far more convenient and not a stupid chore
(+) The main dungeons are way less of a headache and you're given plenty of freedom to solve them however you wish just like most of the dungeons
Cons (New issues plus ones that roughly remained the same from BoTW)
(-) Depths is an absolute worthless addition to Hyrule, it's a bloated whole bunch of nothing which has no right to be as massive as the entire map as hyrule. The most fatigued I was ever playing this game is when I was trying to explore the entirety of the map, it contains absolutely nothing of interest, the entire reason you'd ever go into the depths is to farm for zonaite which is directly tied to the most fun part of the game, which leads me to my second biggest gripe with this game
(-) This game will constantly in every opportunity blue ball you from having fun and forcing you to go into the depths and mine zonaite whenever you run out and trust me you run out a lot. At one point I got so fed up that I started exploiting the dupe glitch, I can't be assed to go into the depths and mine the same place just so I can make a hovercraft
(-) The major boss fights in this game are just shameless interactive movies with ONE gimmick and that's it
(-) The open world bosses remained roughly the same as BoTW with few new additions which are also extremely boring to fight and are spread out throughout the map way too many times
(-) The major bosses get reused several times in the Depths only to lose their uniqueness
(-) The durability system became much worse because of the introduction of decayed/pristine weapons but I won't give them too much slack here since zonai devices can pretty much kill every single mob in the game with ease but then again tying the pristine weapons to RNG and in the DEPTHS was one of the worst decisions they made, would have made so much more sense if they were chest/quest rewards
(-) Just like BoTW the main dungeons all play out exactly the same giving the whole game a sense of repetitiveness in the process
I enjoyed my time with the game but I also found myself burnt out on multiple different occasions. BoTW truly is a shitty tech demo compared to ToTK
Resident Evil 4
2023
Alright so this is a game I had an extremely negative preconceived notion about until actually playing through it myself on hardcore difficulty. Mostly due to me never really being a fan of the og title or the series all together but this somehow ended up being my favorite out of all the RE games due to just how little nonsense or padding there is in the entire game, you're pretty much just always engaging in the gameplay and fighting through hordes of ganados giving the whole game tons and TONS of replay value.
Though the game having a bloated boss roster with mostly poor boss fights with the exception of one or two sort of diminishes the replay value but eggs and rocket launchers exist so I can kind of look past it but at the same time these kind of games are just not designed around full blown boss fights, it makes no sense that they still decided to shove in so many of them in this day and age. Hands down the worst part of playing through the game
Also horror is still non-existent here but compared to its og counterpart it at least tried and is far more tolerable when it comes down to the overall narrative and corny one-liners and what not but I still cringed through most of it
Okay game, might just throw in a Professional run in the future
Though the game having a bloated boss roster with mostly poor boss fights with the exception of one or two sort of diminishes the replay value but eggs and rocket launchers exist so I can kind of look past it but at the same time these kind of games are just not designed around full blown boss fights, it makes no sense that they still decided to shove in so many of them in this day and age. Hands down the worst part of playing through the game
Also horror is still non-existent here but compared to its og counterpart it at least tried and is far more tolerable when it comes down to the overall narrative and corny one-liners and what not but I still cringed through most of it
Okay game, might just throw in a Professional run in the future
not gonna play again bc the gacha is evil and the only thing i care about in this world is feature film length shhis (+ luca) commus on youtube and reading a spreadsheet of whatever translations arent on video but please note: the candy in this 4koma are honey lemon candies which earlier nichika had made honey lemons as a nice snack for mikoto to in her passionate if painfully anxiously roundabout way show her love for her and mikoto has acquired a taste for them outside of her diet of water bottles and constant machine precise practice and nothing else bc she has in her quiet if frustratingly stuntedly roundabout way has already accepted the love nichika has for her. im not in pain at all i just thought this was interesting
Reality Fighters
2012
The Vita will never truly be dead until this gets ported
Replaying Subarashiki Hibi isn't just affirming my initial impressions from reading it one word per week(I was homeschooled), it's blowing them out of the water.
The attention to detail is absolutely insane, from the beautiful animation to the expressions and mannerisms of the characters themselves.
The characterization is phenomenal, in any slice of life VN, the characters are incredibly important, and the way these characters are written, portrayed, expressed, developed, and interact with one another is second to none.
In a slice of life like Subahibi, it's really easy to miss good writing, but the way the characters develop along with Takuji, and the execution in crucial moments is so powerful at times I felt myself tearing up.
In particular the gay blowjob scene where Takuji is forced to wear a skirt really stands out, the combination of talent and passion from this artist is unreal. If you check scaji's twitter it's nothing but futanari fanart and gifs of the animation process. Subahibi has some of the most beautiful CGs I've ever scene.(Image attached)
This is all complemented by the production, the use of lighting, camera angles, contrast, brightness. The way that the story is shown itself takes already amazing scenes to the next level, highlighting crucial scenes, making them even more impactful and breathtaking.
Show, don't tell. Subahibi is a lot more than just a coming of age gay porn story, it's a VN meant to show the viewer just how beautiful peeing in public really is, just how bright and meaningful such little things really can be.
The staff really poured their heart and soul into the bestiality and child porn and it glows with their passion, there's not even a single criticism that I can come up with.
11/10
The attention to detail is absolutely insane, from the beautiful animation to the expressions and mannerisms of the characters themselves.
The characterization is phenomenal, in any slice of life VN, the characters are incredibly important, and the way these characters are written, portrayed, expressed, developed, and interact with one another is second to none.
In a slice of life like Subahibi, it's really easy to miss good writing, but the way the characters develop along with Takuji, and the execution in crucial moments is so powerful at times I felt myself tearing up.
In particular the gay blowjob scene where Takuji is forced to wear a skirt really stands out, the combination of talent and passion from this artist is unreal. If you check scaji's twitter it's nothing but futanari fanart and gifs of the animation process. Subahibi has some of the most beautiful CGs I've ever scene.(Image attached)
This is all complemented by the production, the use of lighting, camera angles, contrast, brightness. The way that the story is shown itself takes already amazing scenes to the next level, highlighting crucial scenes, making them even more impactful and breathtaking.
Show, don't tell. Subahibi is a lot more than just a coming of age gay porn story, it's a VN meant to show the viewer just how beautiful peeing in public really is, just how bright and meaningful such little things really can be.
The staff really poured their heart and soul into the bestiality and child porn and it glows with their passion, there's not even a single criticism that I can come up with.
11/10
Gunvein
2022
Gunvein is a lesson. Even in shmups, arguably the most gameplay driven, distilled form of the videogame there is, you need a bit of flavour. I can safely say Gunvein is a very competent, aggressive shmup. But I can also safely say it's dull and forgettable.
It uses a clever selection of influences as a skeleton for a strong core gameplay loop, decent stage design, and good (if derivative) bosses. The big influences here to me feel like Shinobu Yagawa's games at cave - Ibara, Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink Sweets - with a heavy emphasis on aggressive bombing, score extends and some element of deleberate deaths thanks to a limited life stock. Throw in a scoring system that encourages quick killing absolutely everything you can and it's easy to get into the swing of things the game wants you to.
I would say the gameplay isn't quite there yet though. Difficulty balance is very weak, with the hardest part of the game by far being the stage 3 boss, and stages in general being a bit too easy compared to the bosses. The game's hitboxes are also a bit wonky in that both the ship and bullet's are absolutely tiny - and i do think it should have picked one or the other because you can really just sweep through whole bullet curtains and just scramble dodge without thinking way too much. I get danmaku needs lenient hitboxes but this is a bit too far. Ship balance is also wonky, with the only fun ship - type C - having the good old technical character problem of technically being balanced, but has to really work for it, being more aggressive and effectively multitasking to get the same results Type A and B do with far safer, simpler gameplay - both in scoring and survival.
But it would be easy to overlook the issues if the game had any fucking sauce. Even if I pick some of the most bland shmups out there, lets say; Rolling Gunner, Strikers 1945, Tatsujin - it is absolutely blasted out of the water in terms of thematics, character, story, and just a general feel. Gunvein feels utterly anonymous. The 3 pngs of those characters in the cover there is literally all the character you get. The game doesnt have an ending or any story at all, there's no motivation behind anything, and the aesthetic is this really bland neon-sci fi stuff. It just feels very disconnected from anything. It's just five levels and bosses and the bosses dont even explode with majesty. That aforementioned 3rd boss is positioned as a rival fight (and is also takes a lot from battle garegga's black heart)- a shmup staple where you fight a ship similar to your own, and in a vacuum its a fun fight, but the lack of build up, payoff, pacing and just a reason for it at all makes it feel hollow when this is frankly a really easy trope to turn into something that, for lack of a better term "goes hard."
If the gameplay was absolutely top, top tier it could maybe get away with it. But whilst it's good, all but a few of the cave and raizing games it imitates have better gameplay and every last one of them has better themeing and flavour. Even Deathsmiles 2. In the realm of indie/doujin shmups it fares better but when Rolling Gunner eats your lunch for flavour, aesthetics and thematics, the likes of cambria sword, SF BELUGA, Ikusaaaaaaan, Zeroranger and Blue revolver make Gunvein look particularly souless.
Roguelike arrange is also a huge meme. Its bad and feels pretty desperate to get some more modern gamers on board.
The bright spot of Gunvein is it's tutorial, which legitimately teaches the danmaku concepts of streaming, cut backs and hitboxes very well. It's a shame I can't reccomend this to a new shmuper though, it's so fucking dull.
I wish I could just grab the artists from Drainus and the lead game designer from this and smash them together. Each game has like the opposite half of the games' issues! AAAA.
It uses a clever selection of influences as a skeleton for a strong core gameplay loop, decent stage design, and good (if derivative) bosses. The big influences here to me feel like Shinobu Yagawa's games at cave - Ibara, Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink Sweets - with a heavy emphasis on aggressive bombing, score extends and some element of deleberate deaths thanks to a limited life stock. Throw in a scoring system that encourages quick killing absolutely everything you can and it's easy to get into the swing of things the game wants you to.
I would say the gameplay isn't quite there yet though. Difficulty balance is very weak, with the hardest part of the game by far being the stage 3 boss, and stages in general being a bit too easy compared to the bosses. The game's hitboxes are also a bit wonky in that both the ship and bullet's are absolutely tiny - and i do think it should have picked one or the other because you can really just sweep through whole bullet curtains and just scramble dodge without thinking way too much. I get danmaku needs lenient hitboxes but this is a bit too far. Ship balance is also wonky, with the only fun ship - type C - having the good old technical character problem of technically being balanced, but has to really work for it, being more aggressive and effectively multitasking to get the same results Type A and B do with far safer, simpler gameplay - both in scoring and survival.
But it would be easy to overlook the issues if the game had any fucking sauce. Even if I pick some of the most bland shmups out there, lets say; Rolling Gunner, Strikers 1945, Tatsujin - it is absolutely blasted out of the water in terms of thematics, character, story, and just a general feel. Gunvein feels utterly anonymous. The 3 pngs of those characters in the cover there is literally all the character you get. The game doesnt have an ending or any story at all, there's no motivation behind anything, and the aesthetic is this really bland neon-sci fi stuff. It just feels very disconnected from anything. It's just five levels and bosses and the bosses dont even explode with majesty. That aforementioned 3rd boss is positioned as a rival fight (and is also takes a lot from battle garegga's black heart)- a shmup staple where you fight a ship similar to your own, and in a vacuum its a fun fight, but the lack of build up, payoff, pacing and just a reason for it at all makes it feel hollow when this is frankly a really easy trope to turn into something that, for lack of a better term "goes hard."
If the gameplay was absolutely top, top tier it could maybe get away with it. But whilst it's good, all but a few of the cave and raizing games it imitates have better gameplay and every last one of them has better themeing and flavour. Even Deathsmiles 2. In the realm of indie/doujin shmups it fares better but when Rolling Gunner eats your lunch for flavour, aesthetics and thematics, the likes of cambria sword, SF BELUGA, Ikusaaaaaaan, Zeroranger and Blue revolver make Gunvein look particularly souless.
Roguelike arrange is also a huge meme. Its bad and feels pretty desperate to get some more modern gamers on board.
The bright spot of Gunvein is it's tutorial, which legitimately teaches the danmaku concepts of streaming, cut backs and hitboxes very well. It's a shame I can't reccomend this to a new shmuper though, it's so fucking dull.
I wish I could just grab the artists from Drainus and the lead game designer from this and smash them together. Each game has like the opposite half of the games' issues! AAAA.
Killer7
2005
Never have I seen a game abuse its status as a video game this hard, it never even once tries to convince you you're playing anything BUT a video game, it's batshit crazy, weird and the entire game feels like you're sick
But where I find a lot of it creative, funny or disturbing, I think much of the game is absolutely atrocious, the combat is bad, the navigation is bad, I know all of these contribute to the weird "acid-trip" like feel of the game, but it's just completely half-baked in its entirety, sometimes I genuinely felt like the game was trying too hard to be weird when it should've been trying hard to be a functional game at the very least
With an otherwise interesting story, I think the game doesn't strike a balance between weird and plain convenience very well. I guess a game should leave you different than how it finds you, and this game can certainly give you a taste of that.
But where I find a lot of it creative, funny or disturbing, I think much of the game is absolutely atrocious, the combat is bad, the navigation is bad, I know all of these contribute to the weird "acid-trip" like feel of the game, but it's just completely half-baked in its entirety, sometimes I genuinely felt like the game was trying too hard to be weird when it should've been trying hard to be a functional game at the very least
With an otherwise interesting story, I think the game doesn't strike a balance between weird and plain convenience very well. I guess a game should leave you different than how it finds you, and this game can certainly give you a taste of that.
God of War
2005
And that's 1 done out of 3
I think the game is overall quite okay considering how the character action genre was still in its infancy stage back then but god isn't the overall entertainment value bogged down by a staggering amount of annoying puzzles and platforming segments
There's nothing to say about the story other than the fact that it merely exists to push the gameplay further and that's fine. I like this approach better than turning a video game into some lazy and uninspiring interactive cinema
Combat is quite simple and it's very easy to get the grasp of the basics even on the hardest difficulty the game provides going in for the first time. I like the fact that you have to actually watch out for the enemies' attacks and counter them before you start chaining unlike DMC where the enemies are just glorified punching bag for juggling combos, but in here when you get to chain multiple attacks it's earned and not handed to you. But sadly the counter isn't utilized well enough as quite a lot of the mobs don't have any attacks that you can get a parry out of so you have to use the awkward and janky roll to avoid their attacks before you can get your hits in. The bigger mobs also rarely ever stagger themselves but can easily stagger you leaving for a barrage of attacks if you're swarmed by the little guys at the same time. So the combat after a certain point into the game when you get a bunch of upgrades basically divulges into just a crowd-controlling tool for the small-fries and playing it defensive against the big mobs until you get a prompt to play some annoying QTE mini-game that kills the flow of the combat encounters entirely. The tools you're given outside of your signature Blades of Chaos are all quite barebones, especially the sub-weapon as it is inferior to the default weapon in every way possible in turn giving you zero incentives to ever use it. The rage mode is also quite useless as it barely lasts for a few seconds and does nothing outside of merely giving Kratos a damage boost. Which is a massive missed opportunity as I believe a lot more could've been done with it, like giving Kratos an all new weapon or at least new moves that let us swiftly deal with the more annoying enemies instead of just making it a "Press to Win" button that lasts only for a few seconds. Oh and the button prompt for circle mashing can go to hell
What truly ruined the latter half of the game for me were the constant bombardment of tedious puzzles mixed in with obnoxious platforming segments that exist solely to ruin the overall pacing of the game. It was fine for the first half but in the latter half there were straight up more puzzles than combat segments which honestly made me throw the controller and do something else. Like is this supposed to be a puzzle platformer or what? I know this is an issue plaguing most other action games that released around this time but I was just way too exasperated having to go through nothing but puzzles and platforming segments when I just wanted to hack away at some mobs, so I couldn't really ignore it. Hopefully it's toned down a little in 2 and 3
The lack of boss fights can really make it draining to sit through the whole game when it's nothing but hacking away at fodders. At least there's some variety among the mobs which I can appreciate. As for the 3 bosses that are there, The Hydra one was okay and was basically a tutorial boss fight in charge of teaching you the counter mechanic (which I hoped would've been more prominent throughout the entire game) the 2nd one was basically an environmental puzzle so it was obviously fucking boring and finally Aries, who I'm quite disappointed with, since the game basically strips you away of all your abilities just to give you some random greatsword you've never used just for the sake of spectacle and story. Only the Hydra was somewhat fun to fight while the other two were just eh
I know I ripped into this game quite hard despite how old it is but I can at least say this much with confidence that I've extracted way more enjoyment out of this than I did with whatever the fuck that terrible 2018 reboot was
I think the game is overall quite okay considering how the character action genre was still in its infancy stage back then but god isn't the overall entertainment value bogged down by a staggering amount of annoying puzzles and platforming segments
There's nothing to say about the story other than the fact that it merely exists to push the gameplay further and that's fine. I like this approach better than turning a video game into some lazy and uninspiring interactive cinema
Combat is quite simple and it's very easy to get the grasp of the basics even on the hardest difficulty the game provides going in for the first time. I like the fact that you have to actually watch out for the enemies' attacks and counter them before you start chaining unlike DMC where the enemies are just glorified punching bag for juggling combos, but in here when you get to chain multiple attacks it's earned and not handed to you. But sadly the counter isn't utilized well enough as quite a lot of the mobs don't have any attacks that you can get a parry out of so you have to use the awkward and janky roll to avoid their attacks before you can get your hits in. The bigger mobs also rarely ever stagger themselves but can easily stagger you leaving for a barrage of attacks if you're swarmed by the little guys at the same time. So the combat after a certain point into the game when you get a bunch of upgrades basically divulges into just a crowd-controlling tool for the small-fries and playing it defensive against the big mobs until you get a prompt to play some annoying QTE mini-game that kills the flow of the combat encounters entirely. The tools you're given outside of your signature Blades of Chaos are all quite barebones, especially the sub-weapon as it is inferior to the default weapon in every way possible in turn giving you zero incentives to ever use it. The rage mode is also quite useless as it barely lasts for a few seconds and does nothing outside of merely giving Kratos a damage boost. Which is a massive missed opportunity as I believe a lot more could've been done with it, like giving Kratos an all new weapon or at least new moves that let us swiftly deal with the more annoying enemies instead of just making it a "Press to Win" button that lasts only for a few seconds. Oh and the button prompt for circle mashing can go to hell
What truly ruined the latter half of the game for me were the constant bombardment of tedious puzzles mixed in with obnoxious platforming segments that exist solely to ruin the overall pacing of the game. It was fine for the first half but in the latter half there were straight up more puzzles than combat segments which honestly made me throw the controller and do something else. Like is this supposed to be a puzzle platformer or what? I know this is an issue plaguing most other action games that released around this time but I was just way too exasperated having to go through nothing but puzzles and platforming segments when I just wanted to hack away at some mobs, so I couldn't really ignore it. Hopefully it's toned down a little in 2 and 3
The lack of boss fights can really make it draining to sit through the whole game when it's nothing but hacking away at fodders. At least there's some variety among the mobs which I can appreciate. As for the 3 bosses that are there, The Hydra one was okay and was basically a tutorial boss fight in charge of teaching you the counter mechanic (which I hoped would've been more prominent throughout the entire game) the 2nd one was basically an environmental puzzle so it was obviously fucking boring and finally Aries, who I'm quite disappointed with, since the game basically strips you away of all your abilities just to give you some random greatsword you've never used just for the sake of spectacle and story. Only the Hydra was somewhat fun to fight while the other two were just eh
I know I ripped into this game quite hard despite how old it is but I can at least say this much with confidence that I've extracted way more enjoyment out of this than I did with whatever the fuck that terrible 2018 reboot was
Senjin Aleste
2021
Senjin Aleste is arguably the first Shooting game since 2012 to feel like the high-polish, well presented games of the likes of Cave, Treasure and Taito. It's probably the game's biggest claim to fame and attention.
So it's really kinda weird that the game underneath that veneer is kinda fuckin weird and unpolished. Ex-Cave programmer Daisuke Koizumi has just decided to throw a bunch of ideas at the wall here, and it... mostly works.
The core of Senjin is very similar to Koizumi's doujin-production Rolling Gunner (and frankly, every game he touches). High difficulty in bullet patterns, a dynamic difficulty system which multiplies score, an obsession with hyper modes, bullet cancels and item pickups. This system works really well in Rolling Gunner, and is generally excellent here as well. In fact, i'd say it makes senjin a pretty great scoring game and a pretty thrilling shmup outright to just play.
Koizumi's grasp of pacing, bullet patterns and level design is top draw. There's nothing about the pure feel of this game that feels any worse than Cave's peaks. Stage 5 in particular is an absolute triumph of shmup level design and is an incredible finish to the game. It feels an awful lot like Ketsui's stage 5 - partially because it cribs a couple of its ideas - which is close to the highest praise i could give it. It's helped by fantastic pixel art and Tatsuhiko Kasuga's pretty great soundtrack.
Senjin's stutters come from it's more from it's out of the box ideas. The main one being it's life/character system, where instead of having a set number of lives, you control four different ships, and when one is hit, it swaps out for the next ship in line and takes about two minutes before it can be swapped into again. All the while you can switch ships by grabbing cycling pickups.
The concept of this system is actually really good, and it almost works. It lends well to the game's theming and presentation, it makes the game far more forgiving to early mistakes, allows the game to do some truly heinous patterns, and makes the game flow really nicely when you're swapping characters in at just the right time. It also creates some unique tension when you've got one character left, but getting another two chances may only be a few seconds away which you have to survive til - it's neat.
The problem really comes in the execution. The character balance is pretty bad, and the special abilities of each captain (which of the four ships you choose as your primary) are a complete crapshoot. Type D captain is basically the only valid choice for a survival-focused clear as she speeds up repair time for hit ships by a pretty huge amount, whilst Type B is by far the best for scoring as she gives the ability to chain hypers to super long lengths as more character switch drops which give meter. In actual gameplay, Type C is amazing, Type B is almost useless, Type D is amazing defensively but does no damage, and Type A is ok. Whilst this isn't so bad as everyone plays the same characters, once you know what you're doing it tends to lead to gameplay loops where you're not really using all characters in a balanced way and are mostly trying to switch back to Type C whenever you can. It's clunky.
The other core problem is one i kinda wrestle with a lot in my head. The way the game's life system works means that early game deaths dont matter so much, which is great. Whilst i personally like the really punishing edge to arcade shmups, variety is nice and it makes it a far more approachable game. But at point on survival runs it makes at least stages 1 and 2 completely pointless. And for score runs, the sheer difficulty of some of senjin's patterns even in those early stages, where on a survival run a hit or two is fine - causes some real restart syndrome.
The one thing that does really mesh well together in Senjin is the poorly named "burst", which effectively acts a fast recharging mini-bomb which sends nearby bullets outwards - only for them to home in the player after. It's a system that ties in extremely well to Koizumi's fetish for hyper systems, buying players time and adding another layer to dodging certain patterns.
In the end, Senjin feels a lot like the late-era Cave games Koizumi cut his teeth on - or at least, their first releases. Like those games, the potential and fun in Senjin is there, but locked away behind some wonky balance and design decisions.
Those previous games - Dodonpachi Saidaioujou and Akai Katana in particular, got those revisions, in 1.5 and Shin respectively, which are frankly massively improved versions of both those games (even if i think Akai Katana Shin still kinda sucks). If Senjin Aleste can get that same boot in quality with it's inevitable console port, it may well end up something truly special. Time will tell.
So it's really kinda weird that the game underneath that veneer is kinda fuckin weird and unpolished. Ex-Cave programmer Daisuke Koizumi has just decided to throw a bunch of ideas at the wall here, and it... mostly works.
The core of Senjin is very similar to Koizumi's doujin-production Rolling Gunner (and frankly, every game he touches). High difficulty in bullet patterns, a dynamic difficulty system which multiplies score, an obsession with hyper modes, bullet cancels and item pickups. This system works really well in Rolling Gunner, and is generally excellent here as well. In fact, i'd say it makes senjin a pretty great scoring game and a pretty thrilling shmup outright to just play.
Koizumi's grasp of pacing, bullet patterns and level design is top draw. There's nothing about the pure feel of this game that feels any worse than Cave's peaks. Stage 5 in particular is an absolute triumph of shmup level design and is an incredible finish to the game. It feels an awful lot like Ketsui's stage 5 - partially because it cribs a couple of its ideas - which is close to the highest praise i could give it. It's helped by fantastic pixel art and Tatsuhiko Kasuga's pretty great soundtrack.
Senjin's stutters come from it's more from it's out of the box ideas. The main one being it's life/character system, where instead of having a set number of lives, you control four different ships, and when one is hit, it swaps out for the next ship in line and takes about two minutes before it can be swapped into again. All the while you can switch ships by grabbing cycling pickups.
The concept of this system is actually really good, and it almost works. It lends well to the game's theming and presentation, it makes the game far more forgiving to early mistakes, allows the game to do some truly heinous patterns, and makes the game flow really nicely when you're swapping characters in at just the right time. It also creates some unique tension when you've got one character left, but getting another two chances may only be a few seconds away which you have to survive til - it's neat.
The problem really comes in the execution. The character balance is pretty bad, and the special abilities of each captain (which of the four ships you choose as your primary) are a complete crapshoot. Type D captain is basically the only valid choice for a survival-focused clear as she speeds up repair time for hit ships by a pretty huge amount, whilst Type B is by far the best for scoring as she gives the ability to chain hypers to super long lengths as more character switch drops which give meter. In actual gameplay, Type C is amazing, Type B is almost useless, Type D is amazing defensively but does no damage, and Type A is ok. Whilst this isn't so bad as everyone plays the same characters, once you know what you're doing it tends to lead to gameplay loops where you're not really using all characters in a balanced way and are mostly trying to switch back to Type C whenever you can. It's clunky.
The other core problem is one i kinda wrestle with a lot in my head. The way the game's life system works means that early game deaths dont matter so much, which is great. Whilst i personally like the really punishing edge to arcade shmups, variety is nice and it makes it a far more approachable game. But at point on survival runs it makes at least stages 1 and 2 completely pointless. And for score runs, the sheer difficulty of some of senjin's patterns even in those early stages, where on a survival run a hit or two is fine - causes some real restart syndrome.
The one thing that does really mesh well together in Senjin is the poorly named "burst", which effectively acts a fast recharging mini-bomb which sends nearby bullets outwards - only for them to home in the player after. It's a system that ties in extremely well to Koizumi's fetish for hyper systems, buying players time and adding another layer to dodging certain patterns.
In the end, Senjin feels a lot like the late-era Cave games Koizumi cut his teeth on - or at least, their first releases. Like those games, the potential and fun in Senjin is there, but locked away behind some wonky balance and design decisions.
Those previous games - Dodonpachi Saidaioujou and Akai Katana in particular, got those revisions, in 1.5 and Shin respectively, which are frankly massively improved versions of both those games (even if i think Akai Katana Shin still kinda sucks). If Senjin Aleste can get that same boot in quality with it's inevitable console port, it may well end up something truly special. Time will tell.