JackBros
495 Reviews liked by JackBros
I did it , I finally completed xc3 ! a delay spanned over 3 months cause i had my college to attend to , and yuzu broke down multiple times ( at some point even straight up glitched so bad i was thinking of dropping this ) but amidst all that here we are ! What a ride it has been , I was sold to this game by around chapter 1 , not completely but it sucked me in. I loved the plot , and the overall theme they were going for ( forgot to mention but no major game breaking spoilers in this review ) it kinda resonated with me , cause i am right now going through something similar. loved the cast , i think there arent any bad or bland characters had such but like some were quite generic , and while i do have some qualms over how the bond episodes kinda get flat ignored while talking about the main story or how the final dungeon kinda sucked it was overall a pleasant experience. I'm glad i got to play this and experience this. Might not be my favorite xenoblade title , but it has certainly awaken some appreciation for the other titles which i did drop but i'm planning to go back and pick em up. Not now , ofcourse and i wont be planning to play the dlc as of now , i want to go through the other titles first for the optimal experience. nonetheless a solid game , which most jrpg fans can get behind and ofcourse monolithsoft fans too. 8/10 from my side its been fun. special thanks to @JB for recommending this to me.
persona from ohio 💀
still a better mystery than persona 4
Lost Judgment
2021
Kuwana is the only vaper I respect!
"I don't care if I get hate because of this opinion, but this is my favorite paper mario final boss song."
- Lunar1314
- Lunar1314
An absolutely soulful game with easily the strongest cast out of the numbered Xenoblade games (can't speak for X or Future Redeemed yet), the most complete battle system, and an amazing story.
My one lasting gripe is that a majority of the maps in XC3 are unmemorable, especially in the early game, and while they are tightly designed and have some wonderful vistas, they lack any real staying power.
I dunno if I like 3 more than 1 just yet, as 1 was able to consistently elicit an emotional response from me, while 3 had trouble with that consistency. However, that isn't to say that the story is bad, because while 3 had lower floor, it made the many moments that hit hard feel like pure gold.
In short, while the whirlwind that is this game left me with muddled thoughts I probably haven't articulated super well, this game is easily one of my favorites of all time.
My one lasting gripe is that a majority of the maps in XC3 are unmemorable, especially in the early game, and while they are tightly designed and have some wonderful vistas, they lack any real staying power.
I dunno if I like 3 more than 1 just yet, as 1 was able to consistently elicit an emotional response from me, while 3 had trouble with that consistency. However, that isn't to say that the story is bad, because while 3 had lower floor, it made the many moments that hit hard feel like pure gold.
In short, while the whirlwind that is this game left me with muddled thoughts I probably haven't articulated super well, this game is easily one of my favorites of all time.
I'm very conflicted on this game. Its story and themes work well but it also tries to act as (and was advertised as) the final part of a big, interconnected story. I really think the advertising played a big role in how I feel about this game and I believe I would have liked it more if I went in fully blind. It does play well with building on and subverting 1 and 2's messages, so thematically it works as a finale, but not well in a more literal sense. Future Redeemed alleviated some of these problems but there are still many questions left unanswered and part of me wishes they went with a different direction for this entry and kept this type of story for whatever they did next instead, free of the shackles and expectations of being the final part of a trilogy. Combat and exploration were fun though and the character writing is among the best of any game I've ever played. However I was also plagued with tons of bugs, glitches, and crashes when I played through it at launch that unfortunately helped sour my opinion of the game, but most of these seem to have been fixed with patches, and from what I've seen, I'm the only person to have even experienced this many technical issues.
Pikmin
2001
Woke propaganda that teaches players to pick men as their sexual partners
Randy’s really that guy, Tio-tot’s adorable, Lloyd bout tht action, Elie elegant af, the seeker sisters are queens, and the geofront theme goes hard
Not much more I can say that you can't already infer from as a guy who has literally had the online username / nickname "Neku" since I was like 12 in 2007.
Amazing game full of heart and soul, great soundtrack, loveable characters you warm up to. You can really tell that the team behind this game and its creators / translators had a lot of fun and honestly cared a lot about the project. That feeling always elevates the experience for me and imo you can tell when that's usually the case for a good piece of media.
Worst part of this entire thing is how poorly this game was marketed, the budget they decided to give Nomura and what could've potentially been if some of that Forspoken & Valkyrie Elysium money was instead put into this game. Who knows. Despite this they did an amazing job with whatever they had.
I doubt we may ever see this series again. Maybe that's okay. It wraps things up well. But I'm just glad the original even came out, let alone being lucky enough to see and play a sequel to an all time favorite game I used to daydream about for what the next installment might be.
I'm glad I got to see it even though it's quite different than what 12 year old me thought. 14 years later looking back, I'm glad I just didn't know it would take that long to come out back then!!!!!!
So yeah, love this series. play it. vibe with it. have fun. find how it speaks to you in your own unique way. Let's hope it's not the end of this series
Amazing game full of heart and soul, great soundtrack, loveable characters you warm up to. You can really tell that the team behind this game and its creators / translators had a lot of fun and honestly cared a lot about the project. That feeling always elevates the experience for me and imo you can tell when that's usually the case for a good piece of media.
Worst part of this entire thing is how poorly this game was marketed, the budget they decided to give Nomura and what could've potentially been if some of that Forspoken & Valkyrie Elysium money was instead put into this game. Who knows. Despite this they did an amazing job with whatever they had.
I doubt we may ever see this series again. Maybe that's okay. It wraps things up well. But I'm just glad the original even came out, let alone being lucky enough to see and play a sequel to an all time favorite game I used to daydream about for what the next installment might be.
I'm glad I got to see it even though it's quite different than what 12 year old me thought. 14 years later looking back, I'm glad I just didn't know it would take that long to come out back then!!!!!!
So yeah, love this series. play it. vibe with it. have fun. find how it speaks to you in your own unique way. Let's hope it's not the end of this series
Final Fantasy XVI
2023
The gameplay loop of this game is "Play the most peak fiction boss fight in history" followed by 14 hours of catching chickens.
"Hello, world."
2002
This review contains spoilers
Unlike its predecessor, I have a few comments I would like to make about this game.
When it's good, it is amazing, befitting of the Xenoblade Chronicles mantle for sure. In some ways, 2 beats 1. Dev levels are regional affinity but more fleshed out. The maps are much more interactive, even if it is by hiding content behind arbitrary locks, and combat isn't necessarily better (I miss the action pallette), but it is a very interesting system, even if the game does a notoriously awful job at explaining it. Even though fights can get tedious and repetitive, I have nothing but respect for the novelty.
I have one major gripe with this game that keeps it from being a favorite of mine, and that is the story. It isn't particularly bad. Hell, there are some amazing moments, as well as prevalent themes of the cyclical nature of history, hierarchies, and war (I will go back into detail on this one later). However, this game's story is presented in a very wishy-washy way. The first five or so chapters have such stop-and-go pacing, and I bitched about it constantly because there's so much cool stuff there, but it would never get expanded on. The first five or six chapters are juggling 3 sub-plots:
-Going to Elysium
-The brewing of war between Mor Ardain and Uraya
-Torna
I feel like going to Elysium gets the short end of the stick in the first half, even though it is our main protagonist's call to action. Nothing happens with it, just Rex stating ad nauseam that it's his goal. However, I can get why it's not super important, as all the stuff that starts to make it very important outside of some baseline motivation is saved for all of the twists and climactic stuff at the end.
The absolute worst thing about this game's story is the first half's hyperfixation on war, because it is mentioned so much that "Oh, Mor Ardain and Uraya are on the brink of war," and that "War sucks, but it is what it is." It is easily the primary plot in the first five chapters, but it has very little to do with the story at hand, and that's me being generous about possible implications or themes and stuff like that. For all of this talk of war, nothing comes from it. There is fuck all in the way of payoff, because the war that had been brewing is resolved before anything even happens, so all of this gesturing goes to waste. You could say it gives the whole world a big event to be preparing for, but nothing ever happens with it. The war plot could be completely dropped and the story would be better (hell, it does get better afterwards).
Finally, there's Torna. Torna stole the show whenever they showed up. The group, but primarily Malos and Jin, were super compelling villains (even if Jin skewed a bit too edgy for me), but at most in the first half, you'd only see them for one fight and that's for a good while. These super interesting villains with backstories tied greatly to the world's history got widely shafted for what, a possible war between a nation we are told to have mixed feelings on and another nation we know almost nothing about (seriously for the emphasis on Uraya, barely any time is spent in its capital) with the face of it being a war-profiteering nopon? It's really a shame, but at least Torna made the show its bitch in the last third.
After the war subplot got cut and the other two plots became more deeply connected, leading to actual questions and explorations of characters, the story started its ascent into greatness. For example, any scene with Klaus in it at the VERY end floored me. I just wish the game's first half was written better, or at least executed much better. That first half did a lot of damage to my opinion of a game, taking it from absolutely amazing to just really good. That may not sound that bad, but to me, it is a big deal.
Outside of that, I feel like a lot of the maps feel really small, and the gacha stuff was nowhere near as intrusive as I was fearing it would be.
When it's good, it is amazing, befitting of the Xenoblade Chronicles mantle for sure. In some ways, 2 beats 1. Dev levels are regional affinity but more fleshed out. The maps are much more interactive, even if it is by hiding content behind arbitrary locks, and combat isn't necessarily better (I miss the action pallette), but it is a very interesting system, even if the game does a notoriously awful job at explaining it. Even though fights can get tedious and repetitive, I have nothing but respect for the novelty.
I have one major gripe with this game that keeps it from being a favorite of mine, and that is the story. It isn't particularly bad. Hell, there are some amazing moments, as well as prevalent themes of the cyclical nature of history, hierarchies, and war (I will go back into detail on this one later). However, this game's story is presented in a very wishy-washy way. The first five or so chapters have such stop-and-go pacing, and I bitched about it constantly because there's so much cool stuff there, but it would never get expanded on. The first five or six chapters are juggling 3 sub-plots:
-Going to Elysium
-The brewing of war between Mor Ardain and Uraya
-Torna
I feel like going to Elysium gets the short end of the stick in the first half, even though it is our main protagonist's call to action. Nothing happens with it, just Rex stating ad nauseam that it's his goal. However, I can get why it's not super important, as all the stuff that starts to make it very important outside of some baseline motivation is saved for all of the twists and climactic stuff at the end.
The absolute worst thing about this game's story is the first half's hyperfixation on war, because it is mentioned so much that "Oh, Mor Ardain and Uraya are on the brink of war," and that "War sucks, but it is what it is." It is easily the primary plot in the first five chapters, but it has very little to do with the story at hand, and that's me being generous about possible implications or themes and stuff like that. For all of this talk of war, nothing comes from it. There is fuck all in the way of payoff, because the war that had been brewing is resolved before anything even happens, so all of this gesturing goes to waste. You could say it gives the whole world a big event to be preparing for, but nothing ever happens with it. The war plot could be completely dropped and the story would be better (hell, it does get better afterwards).
Finally, there's Torna. Torna stole the show whenever they showed up. The group, but primarily Malos and Jin, were super compelling villains (even if Jin skewed a bit too edgy for me), but at most in the first half, you'd only see them for one fight and that's for a good while. These super interesting villains with backstories tied greatly to the world's history got widely shafted for what, a possible war between a nation we are told to have mixed feelings on and another nation we know almost nothing about (seriously for the emphasis on Uraya, barely any time is spent in its capital) with the face of it being a war-profiteering nopon? It's really a shame, but at least Torna made the show its bitch in the last third.
After the war subplot got cut and the other two plots became more deeply connected, leading to actual questions and explorations of characters, the story started its ascent into greatness. For example, any scene with Klaus in it at the VERY end floored me. I just wish the game's first half was written better, or at least executed much better. That first half did a lot of damage to my opinion of a game, taking it from absolutely amazing to just really good. That may not sound that bad, but to me, it is a big deal.
Outside of that, I feel like a lot of the maps feel really small, and the gacha stuff was nowhere near as intrusive as I was fearing it would be.
Final Fantasy XVI
2023
a chain can always be broken...as long as one has the will to break it.
as a longtime ff fan, it's been a hot minute since the last mainline title was released with the exception of xiv's numerous expansions, but it's been an even longer time since a mainline game has been this good!
fear not, i won't spoil anything but the story here was probably the aspect i was most worried about going into it, and after all is said and done, i'm glad to say that i really enjoyed it, loved it even! it starts out fairly riveting given the revenge story motivations it's got going out for it and despite the dark fantasy aesthetic the tone is handled so well that it never feels needlessly edgy. so for those going into this expecting game of thrones with chocobos, you'll be sorely disappointed to find that it's very much an entry that's in touch with the legacy of final fantasy and its conventions.
a lot of the narratives i've come to love are often those concerning human relationships and while the game might present itself as a revenge story it becomes so much more than that over the course of the game. contrary to a lot of people it seems, i think the cast here is pretty well written! sure some characters inevitably get sidelined but i really enjoyed both clive ( literally me ) and jill's ( i love you queen ) journey and i found their dynamic really engaging and heartwarming. there's also a dynamic in here between clive and another dominant that i found really riveting and both the english and japanese va's really go all out and sell you on the rivalry with some riveting va work!
it's tackling a lot here and while it can be a bit lopsided at times i think it handles a lot of interesting perspectives on identity, loss, and what it means to be human without shying from the darker aspects of the human experience as well. it's such a life-affirming perspective on human willpower in dark times and for that, i can't help but unabashedly love it for what it's going for.
of course, much like other mainline titles, this one is not without its faults as i've found the rpg elements to take a fairly large backseat in favor of the more character action-focused gameplay. in regards to the gameplay actually, it does really feel a bit button mashy in the beginning. still, once the game opens up a bit and you have access to more abilities it feels great pulling off devastating combos since a lot of the game does actually reward you for risk-taking! a lot of the side content like hunts are fairly enjoyable as with previous entries that had those as well but the sidequest content can vary between being pretty fun to feeling like fetch quests entirely unfortunately. thankfully, it's more of the former in my experience!
another thing i'd like to mention is that the eikon fights in this game are not only really fun but also breathtakingly beautiful at times. final fantasy has long established the power of summons within it's narratives but never on a scale like this before. it's really such a visual feast for the eyes (which most of the game is already to be fair save for the motion blur at times) that truly feels like a next-gen experience and a step forward for the series. people discounting this as a purely dark fantasy aesthetic really have no idea what they're missing out on given how much this game is very clearly inspired by the older final fantasy games.
besides being a visual feast, the soundtrack in this game is phenomenal. so much so that after finishing, i've already ordered the soundtrack ! this isn't really a surprise though since soken has done incredible work on xiv and the way he's continued to showcase his sound with different instrumentation from usual is really a joy to experience! the main motif here is also so so good and comes into play at the perfect moments. the usage of it within cutscenes is really tasteful as well given that it plays appropriately to establish a mood and it elevates the overall game. easily one of the best soundtracks in recent years!
it's been such a long time since i've played a triple a game like this where the amount of passion and work put into is permeating through almost every aspect here. i went into this fairly apprehensive given my lapsing appreciation for square enix over the years but this is an especially strong case that with enough time and proper planning, they've still got people who are truly in tune with what makes the series special for so many. it's a game i'll be thinking about for a while and one i hope i'll continue to revisit in years to come.
" clive is literally me "/10
additional notes :
- it's also been such a long time since i've really played a game " all day " so thank you for those sleepless four nights ffxvi i'd do it all over again in a heartbeat 🐱👍
- a little tidbit for the film students but the visual direction of some of the cutscenes are pretty beautiful too with some tasteful usage of pans and other stuff framed as practical camera setups. there's a lot of rack focuses in here too that convey meaning beyond dialogue and the lighting in these scenes are really great in creating these warm/cold tones when they're required. very lovely stuff indeed :p
- english va was exceptional as was the script ! haven't finished the entirety of it with the jp script yet but the little that i've heard so far is really great as well so the loc team headed by koji fox did a good job as always ! a lot of it here feels pretty close to tactics ogre or matsuno's stuff in general so i definitely loved it !
as a longtime ff fan, it's been a hot minute since the last mainline title was released with the exception of xiv's numerous expansions, but it's been an even longer time since a mainline game has been this good!
fear not, i won't spoil anything but the story here was probably the aspect i was most worried about going into it, and after all is said and done, i'm glad to say that i really enjoyed it, loved it even! it starts out fairly riveting given the revenge story motivations it's got going out for it and despite the dark fantasy aesthetic the tone is handled so well that it never feels needlessly edgy. so for those going into this expecting game of thrones with chocobos, you'll be sorely disappointed to find that it's very much an entry that's in touch with the legacy of final fantasy and its conventions.
a lot of the narratives i've come to love are often those concerning human relationships and while the game might present itself as a revenge story it becomes so much more than that over the course of the game. contrary to a lot of people it seems, i think the cast here is pretty well written! sure some characters inevitably get sidelined but i really enjoyed both clive ( literally me ) and jill's ( i love you queen ) journey and i found their dynamic really engaging and heartwarming. there's also a dynamic in here between clive and another dominant that i found really riveting and both the english and japanese va's really go all out and sell you on the rivalry with some riveting va work!
it's tackling a lot here and while it can be a bit lopsided at times i think it handles a lot of interesting perspectives on identity, loss, and what it means to be human without shying from the darker aspects of the human experience as well. it's such a life-affirming perspective on human willpower in dark times and for that, i can't help but unabashedly love it for what it's going for.
of course, much like other mainline titles, this one is not without its faults as i've found the rpg elements to take a fairly large backseat in favor of the more character action-focused gameplay. in regards to the gameplay actually, it does really feel a bit button mashy in the beginning. still, once the game opens up a bit and you have access to more abilities it feels great pulling off devastating combos since a lot of the game does actually reward you for risk-taking! a lot of the side content like hunts are fairly enjoyable as with previous entries that had those as well but the sidequest content can vary between being pretty fun to feeling like fetch quests entirely unfortunately. thankfully, it's more of the former in my experience!
another thing i'd like to mention is that the eikon fights in this game are not only really fun but also breathtakingly beautiful at times. final fantasy has long established the power of summons within it's narratives but never on a scale like this before. it's really such a visual feast for the eyes (which most of the game is already to be fair save for the motion blur at times) that truly feels like a next-gen experience and a step forward for the series. people discounting this as a purely dark fantasy aesthetic really have no idea what they're missing out on given how much this game is very clearly inspired by the older final fantasy games.
besides being a visual feast, the soundtrack in this game is phenomenal. so much so that after finishing, i've already ordered the soundtrack ! this isn't really a surprise though since soken has done incredible work on xiv and the way he's continued to showcase his sound with different instrumentation from usual is really a joy to experience! the main motif here is also so so good and comes into play at the perfect moments. the usage of it within cutscenes is really tasteful as well given that it plays appropriately to establish a mood and it elevates the overall game. easily one of the best soundtracks in recent years!
it's been such a long time since i've played a triple a game like this where the amount of passion and work put into is permeating through almost every aspect here. i went into this fairly apprehensive given my lapsing appreciation for square enix over the years but this is an especially strong case that with enough time and proper planning, they've still got people who are truly in tune with what makes the series special for so many. it's a game i'll be thinking about for a while and one i hope i'll continue to revisit in years to come.
" clive is literally me "/10
additional notes :
- it's also been such a long time since i've really played a game " all day " so thank you for those sleepless four nights ffxvi i'd do it all over again in a heartbeat 🐱👍
- a little tidbit for the film students but the visual direction of some of the cutscenes are pretty beautiful too with some tasteful usage of pans and other stuff framed as practical camera setups. there's a lot of rack focuses in here too that convey meaning beyond dialogue and the lighting in these scenes are really great in creating these warm/cold tones when they're required. very lovely stuff indeed :p
- english va was exceptional as was the script ! haven't finished the entirety of it with the jp script yet but the little that i've heard so far is really great as well so the loc team headed by koji fox did a good job as always ! a lot of it here feels pretty close to tactics ogre or matsuno's stuff in general so i definitely loved it !
Pikmin 1
2023
1141 deaths on my first playthrough