playing most home ports of arcade fighters before the late 90's isn't that fun. before the ps1 and n64 with analog sticks you're probably dealing with a mushy d-pad, systems couldn't match the power of arcade cabs, and you've got better options that were designed for your console in mind. I get the appeal of bringing the fight home to play with friends and without a bunch of quarters, but its just a no-go nowadays. imo this applies to street fighter, mortal kombat, fatal fury, etc.

luckily, I've got an arcade next to me so ive been able to experience a lot of these games that I didn't really like due to their home console controls. and while street fighter 2 on the arcade is pretty much the same as its home versions, it undoubtably feels better to conquer with a proper stick. give it a shot if you have the chance. it won't turn this into an instant classic, but not having to wrestle with the controls is most of the battle.

gonna edit this review later once I beat it since im over 110 hours in but I still want to talk about this

im so conflicted on this game. most of the time, I love this game so much and think it really shines in its simplicity. i saw someone else refer to this game and dragon quest as a whole as "mom's homemade cooking" and I couldn't agree more. at least with this entry, I still haven't played a ton of the series at this point.

a lot of people might write off the "you're the chosen one??????" plot since its such a beaten to death trope at this point, but they still manage to weave in a fair amount of unexpected twists and turns that I didn't really expect from a game like this. im not talking metal gear or anything here, but ill just say i was surprised to find myself tearing up more than a few times.

however. the BIG however. is that all this tight gameplay with charming characters, etc. feels stapled onto a game design/environmental design model that should've evolved three console generations ago.

for instance, its really cool that you can just play this entire game in 2d mode! they really never had to do that at all and it must've been a ton of work for something that you can just ignore completely! but the fact that a 2017/2019 AAA RPG can be boiled down into a pseudo-16 bit mode shouldn't be possible. it feels like the game isn't really pushing itself to be something thats only possible nowadays.

now im not saying snes rpgs are old and bad, that'd be absolutely stupid of me. but if you look at something like ff4/5/6 compared to ffxvi, you can tell theres been so much experimentation and attempts to try new things. for better or worse, ill admit. but you can't lie to me and say that everyone should still only be using spell charges this far into the series, even as someone who enjoyed them in ff1

and I already know dragon quest earns its reputation through its traditional gameplay and mechanics, which I do like, but there's still ways to make more interesting stuff without going full ff7 remake insane-atb style combat, yknow?

anyway ill finish this later. basically this shit is so fucking awesome but every now and then it just feels like im playing a top down snes rpg that was directly translated into 3d which leaves some parts of the world feeling kinda lifeless, especially compared to its modern day peers. excited to see what dq12 does if we ever see more of it

I couldn't finish it. usually i love going back to see how series started, no matter how busted up and antiquated the first entries are. dmc1 just didn't do it for me. usually when I look at them, the core skeleton gameplay is already there. the ideas are being cooked. it just might need to really be sanded down and smoothed out over the next few entries before it churns out a truly great game.

dmc1 does the opposite though. im a big resident evil fan, and having an action hack n' slash game use things like fixed camera angles as well as a weird save system that discouraged risk-taking (imo) made for a generally not fun experience after the novelty wore off.

I had fun for a bit, up to around the 9th chapter. it was really slowing down and becoming more of a chore rather than something I was genuinely excited to play which sucks. here's to hoping dmc 3 or bayo 1+2 give me a better outlook on the genre, im sure they will

they really fucking knocked it out of the park first try huh? technically they had a 3d minigame on the 3ds, but it was pretty short and didnt have any copy abilities. pretty much a little obstacle course. still, its super impressive how they basically barely tested the waters and landed without any problems.

the only personal complaints I have are with the game's small amount of copy abilities. while its been reduced to 12, each ability can be upgraded which is cool! however, they're still pretty much the same as the base attacks in form so there isn't a lot of variety in terms of gameplay when you upgrade. not bad though, would just like to see a few more odd and unique abilities next time.

really wish this game had some more single player meat on its bones, at the very least a decent online system. theres no way to even set up a lobby, i just have to go to matchmaking at the same time as my friend and connect with them that way. luckily the online is basically dead on switch so its not like I have any trouble finding them

im a huge jojo fan and im still enjoying playing as my favorite characters and seeing them in action along with all the fan service, but that can only take a game so far

keep in mind this is from getting the good ending: I don't think I would've minded it if the difficulty came from well thought out places but instead most of it is fucking same turn reinforcement ambushes, every boss being on a throne resulting in garbage hit rates and also just bad hit rates across the board, most of sacae, etc

it just basically turned into a chore for me when I started the sacae split and i was never really hungry to jump back in for more, it was just to reach the credits

officially a roy fan now though

i actually never beat this until now, when i first had the cartridge i ended up giving it to a friend since got bored. a decade later and my love of fire emblem properly developed, i decided to finally come back and see it through to the end

to more hardcore fans of the franchise who jack off to jugdral and never play anything outside of the kaga games, i understand why they would hate this. even aside from the pair-up aspect, its an easy game that can be broken with just robin. i played on hard classic and still only found a few maps that gave me any honest trouble, not where i made a stupid mistake by playing on autopilot and completely ignoring something. the story also plays it much safer than a lot of the other games, especially in a series that was originally founded on diverting from those standard rpg expectations with darker tones. i understand where the hate is coming from, trust me.

BUT.

it's still not a bad time! it's a pretty good beginner entry, MUCH better than fates. even with a simpler story, it's still executed fine enough with some neat characters. its kinda like mcdonalds I guess, since sure you're not having a REAL burger and you know its not even the best fast food burger and it could be better, it still tastes decent and keeps you nice n full for a bit. you can go to smashburger eventually

im not sure where I went with that but point is awakening successfully did the job it wanted to do, which is being a beginner-friendly srpg with a story anybody can understand and follow along. of course that came at a price, one that me and plenty of others are admittedly still annoyed by, but if it means we still get something like a shadows of valentia every now and then, i'm cautiously still onboard

I don't even know anymore man

update: when this came out, I saw a good handful of people saying that this was what f-zero was "meant to be" SOLELY cause of death race in X which blows my fucking mind. single player f-zero is so much fun and cheesy and needs to come back; focusing entirely on online would gut the series of its charm. if you disagree, play GX rn and get out of my house

but uhhhhhh the game itself needs more maps, add fire field and red canyon pls ty