LEGObrionicle
Recently replayed my very first Pokémon game. Though that makes me sound younger than I am, I actually wasn't allowed to play Pokémon until I was 8-years-old, which, isn't that old, but it felt like I was playing video games for a while up until that point, and loved Pokémon for longer.
I hadn't played this game for a while, though, because after playing it for over 15 years, I thought I had exhausted every team I was interested in using and would be bored doing another Kanto team. Though, I gave it a try, found some Pokémon I was interested in using, and had an absolute blast.
There's something about the Kanto region that I love a lot. I think it's really interesting going back to this game and exploring the first Pokémon region after eight generations of different worlds and regions being available to explore. I love Kanto for its urban-ness. It's basically the real world, there are just Pokemon there. There are normal looking apartment buildings, houses, but there's also a casino, a zoo. I don't know, it felt very drab, and not mystical or whimsical at all, missing all of the vast landscapes and flourishing, natural areas. And, that made me love it? Kanto is a dangerous place to live, too; there's not only the organized crime of Team Rocket, but those bikers that are roaming around are also petty thieves and muggers! I think what makes Kanto such an interesting region is a lot more subtle than future installments. When you get to talking to all of the NPCs, you learn more about everything that's going on in this world. There's something so different about newer regions, and how they're designed, and how they look, and how people and Pokémon occupy the environment. Playing this game helped me realize that there is more missing to the feel of newer Pokémon games than I originally thought, though I still don't have all of the words to explain just what it is.
It might be nostalgia, or it might be this is just my perfect Pokémon game, but it's now my favorite Pokémon, and with that, my favorite game, too. This playthrough, I used Venusaur, Clefable, Dodrio, Flareon, Dewgong, and Nidoqueen. Four of which I've never used before. Flareon, the poor bastard, was very good before they split physical and special attacks. Love this game to bits, and makes me really want to play Crystal, again.
I hadn't played this game for a while, though, because after playing it for over 15 years, I thought I had exhausted every team I was interested in using and would be bored doing another Kanto team. Though, I gave it a try, found some Pokémon I was interested in using, and had an absolute blast.
There's something about the Kanto region that I love a lot. I think it's really interesting going back to this game and exploring the first Pokémon region after eight generations of different worlds and regions being available to explore. I love Kanto for its urban-ness. It's basically the real world, there are just Pokemon there. There are normal looking apartment buildings, houses, but there's also a casino, a zoo. I don't know, it felt very drab, and not mystical or whimsical at all, missing all of the vast landscapes and flourishing, natural areas. And, that made me love it? Kanto is a dangerous place to live, too; there's not only the organized crime of Team Rocket, but those bikers that are roaming around are also petty thieves and muggers! I think what makes Kanto such an interesting region is a lot more subtle than future installments. When you get to talking to all of the NPCs, you learn more about everything that's going on in this world. There's something so different about newer regions, and how they're designed, and how they look, and how people and Pokémon occupy the environment. Playing this game helped me realize that there is more missing to the feel of newer Pokémon games than I originally thought, though I still don't have all of the words to explain just what it is.
It might be nostalgia, or it might be this is just my perfect Pokémon game, but it's now my favorite Pokémon, and with that, my favorite game, too. This playthrough, I used Venusaur, Clefable, Dodrio, Flareon, Dewgong, and Nidoqueen. Four of which I've never used before. Flareon, the poor bastard, was very good before they split physical and special attacks. Love this game to bits, and makes me really want to play Crystal, again.
2022
have just finished chapter 10 and figured i have my thoughts about summed up already. a really interesting approach to monster collecting franchises paired with a not-so-interesting take on SRPG mechanics. level design is incredibly simple and instead, skills, stats, and attributes have some depth but can mostly be ignored with grinding and basic knowledge of skills and equipment. a good SRPG, i think, as a seasoned Fire Emblem fan, is one that can be enjoyed without really getting a grip on every layer of it, but is most satisfying when you bother to pay attention to everything, and Digimon Survive is very much in there with the rest of them. the only other thing is that it’s not the most polished game, and the localization has a lot of weird errors that i wouldn’t think would pass QA in any other studio but i’m sure this game’s development was weird. oh, and the UI is not great and the fact that the camera is fixed to isometric POVs makes me lose my shit, especially since even in older SRPGs you can freely move the camera. all in all, it met my expectations of “Fire Emblem but with Digimon” and the story surpassed my expectations enough where i’d be happy to trudge through the slowest start to a game ever in order to play it again.
This review contains spoilers
I haven’t played this for a while. Even as I picked up new playthroughs of other games throughout February and March I always found sometime to give an hour to this game, but sometime early this month I found myself burnt out.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is probably one of the best things to ever happen to Pokémon, but it’s missing a little something-something here and there that definitely make me think, “This is not where this kind of Pokémon game peaks.” I think it’s missing not only some concrete, clever storytelling ability, but also some finality.
I think they set up this mystery of why you were brought back in time by Arceus, but that mystery isn’t really played on and also, the biggest thing that bothers me about this story, is that the player character doesn’t get to go back. I think really good emotional beats could come from the player character expressing grief from not knowing if they’ll be able to go home at all. Then, in the end, if you complete the quest Arceus had for you and he offers to let you home, the player character has a tough choice to leave everything behind (or do they even have to?)
The stakes become a lot lower when it’s set up that the player character isn’t just another ancestor, but is from somewhere else, but there’s no urgency in going home. Of course, this is done because a lot of Pokémon is designed around the fact that the first 20 hours of any of these games that makes up the main story is maybe the first 20 out of 200 hours that people will then spend, exploring, catching, shiny hunting, etc. So there can’t be finality because then the story would end. But, I don’t know, I think Legends has so much potential to be a more story-driven Pokémon series but there’s still a lot of stuff they need to shake off, or on the other hand, commit to in order to really make these games amazing.
It felt like a lot of the past few mainline games were leading up to something like this, but seeing it all in hindsight, this still seems like a stepping stone towards the best Pokémon that we will get, eventually. I can’t wait to revisit this once the next update comes out, and maybe there will be more story to come in future updates, but for now, I’ll be moving on.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is probably one of the best things to ever happen to Pokémon, but it’s missing a little something-something here and there that definitely make me think, “This is not where this kind of Pokémon game peaks.” I think it’s missing not only some concrete, clever storytelling ability, but also some finality.
I think they set up this mystery of why you were brought back in time by Arceus, but that mystery isn’t really played on and also, the biggest thing that bothers me about this story, is that the player character doesn’t get to go back. I think really good emotional beats could come from the player character expressing grief from not knowing if they’ll be able to go home at all. Then, in the end, if you complete the quest Arceus had for you and he offers to let you home, the player character has a tough choice to leave everything behind (or do they even have to?)
The stakes become a lot lower when it’s set up that the player character isn’t just another ancestor, but is from somewhere else, but there’s no urgency in going home. Of course, this is done because a lot of Pokémon is designed around the fact that the first 20 hours of any of these games that makes up the main story is maybe the first 20 out of 200 hours that people will then spend, exploring, catching, shiny hunting, etc. So there can’t be finality because then the story would end. But, I don’t know, I think Legends has so much potential to be a more story-driven Pokémon series but there’s still a lot of stuff they need to shake off, or on the other hand, commit to in order to really make these games amazing.
It felt like a lot of the past few mainline games were leading up to something like this, but seeing it all in hindsight, this still seems like a stepping stone towards the best Pokémon that we will get, eventually. I can’t wait to revisit this once the next update comes out, and maybe there will be more story to come in future updates, but for now, I’ll be moving on.
Found this for a handful of dollars at a game store in an area near me and Cubix was a show from my childhood so I snagged it. I’d played another top-down GBC racer as a kid (LEGO Racers, I think) and they’re so funny. Really show how the jump from Game Boy to GBC and then to GBA is actually a bigger improvement than one would think. Think about playing this and then being handed F-Zero for GBA, lol.
Played through this last year, and it was not only my first time playing Resident Evil 4, it was my first time playing through any Resident Evil game. I don't normally do action games, and I definitely don't do horror games, so I was super outside of my comfort zone here, so beating this game was probably my biggest gaming accomplishment. It's one of my favorite games, now, and one of my favorite playthroughs I've done for my twitch channel. A campy, fun, perfect game, and I honestly think playing it on Wii is what allowed me to enjoy it as much as I did. Perfect game.
an immersive interactive experience so easily creates an atmosphere around the player. but ‘milk outside a bag…’ not only creates an experience that makes you feel what someone with mental illness can feel, but it gets so much use out of how this medium usually facilitates its relationship with its audience. something i noticed is that there’s not a whole lot of choice in the dialog options you’re given. because the protagonist and the game are not really asking for your input as the player, but is using your interaction to help move along the protagonist’s inner train of thought in order to reach a catharsis they can see but can’t get to on their own. the player as an observer, but not an omniscient one, one that pushes the character in the direction the game wants it to go. the protagonist knows they should take their medication, but is only after a conversation with the player that they decide to do it. that scenario is written out already, though. it should happen, and your button presses are what gets what should happen to be what’s happening. ugh, so juicy. i love video games.
Very hilarious of me to not close this log back when I first tried it out thinking I would have the energy or desire to really put in multiple sessions into it. What can I say? I don’t play horror games and I did not grow up with adventure games, but I did think this was a wacky title to be a part of Nintendo Switch Online’s Game Boy player right on launch. Though, after playing it, I understand why they might want it alongside hits like Kirby and Mario Land. This game is one of those 2001 Game Boy Color games that really stretches the limits of what a handheld can do. Definitely really interesting to see how the resolution on this handheld is handled when adapting this type of game. While I think it doesn’t work at all at the end of the day, mainly because of how it handles combat (quick time events I think would’ve been better, lol), this definitely deserves to be a part of a little showcase of what the Game Boy Color tried to do.
Insanely not what I was expecting, in every aspect. Was expecting just, a Sonic RPG, but from the UI to the art work, this felt like a weird fan game. Can only imagine this was not supposed to be a Sonic game until a year into development. Every game mechanic had me so confused, like every choice this game makes in game design is so not what I would expect from a Sonic game. Was expecting maybe a hidden gem but this game is forgotten for a reason. An ugly, weird, unfortunate piece of Sonic history.
A great definitive Hoenn experience. Really like how the scenario plays out with Teams Aqua and Magma both playing a role as antagonists. I think this also helps reduce the “chosen one-ness” that I hate for Pokémon protagonists to have. May meets with Rayquaza atop Sky Pillar, but she doesn’t enter the Cave of Origin, Rayquaza solves the dilemna, at the end of the day. Really great story scenario, I think. Wish the contest circuit wasn’t nearly fully replaced with Battle Tents, though it is interesting that in this version of Hoenn, people care about battling so much more. There’s the battle tower, battle tents, the battle frontier. The culture of Hoenn in Emerald Version is that Pokémon battling is everything, it’s the region’s favorite past-time. Where, in the Kanto region, Pokémon battling feels like something people happen to do, and in Johto, it’s something people do because of tradition, to bond. Hoenn is the first time where it really feels like the sport that later installments make a big spectacle of.
I also like Wallace as the Champion. It makes sense that the Water-type specialist beat the Rock-type specialist, especially in such a place like the Hoenn region, where Water-type Pokémon are so plentiful.
Gym leader rematches, the Battle Frontier, along with all of the other great content this game has. A good JRPG has content that isn’t overbearing but always enhances the experience, and I always thought Hoenn had the best side content out of all of the regions. Berries are so well used, not only for contests this time but also for the Safari Zone, which really makes it worth it to go out and find rare ones to make good Pokéblocks. Going to get a lot of hours out of this post-game. A really amazing version of Pokémon and the best way to experience what I think is one of the most interesting regions to explore.
I also like Wallace as the Champion. It makes sense that the Water-type specialist beat the Rock-type specialist, especially in such a place like the Hoenn region, where Water-type Pokémon are so plentiful.
Gym leader rematches, the Battle Frontier, along with all of the other great content this game has. A good JRPG has content that isn’t overbearing but always enhances the experience, and I always thought Hoenn had the best side content out of all of the regions. Berries are so well used, not only for contests this time but also for the Safari Zone, which really makes it worth it to go out and find rare ones to make good Pokéblocks. Going to get a lot of hours out of this post-game. A really amazing version of Pokémon and the best way to experience what I think is one of the most interesting regions to explore.
playing through Generation I for the first time since before the Switch even came out feels funny, and for me there’s an added effect that I did not grow up with these games. My first game was FireRed; and i always forget how old these first few games feel even compared to Gold, Silver, and Crystal. it’s like digging through your parents’ stuff and using their old technology and remembering what they didn’t have back then that you’re so used to now. “ah, yes, that type match-up was different back then,” or “riiight, that mechanic wasn’t introduced until the next generation.” it made doing a nuzlocke a lot more interesting, because there were moments that caught me off guard because i was playing a game i wasn’t used to like the others. I know FireRed and LeafGreen like the back of my hand, and playing these games and finding out what i know and what i thought i knew was fun. it’s also just so fun to play this and realize where it improves on Red & Blue versions and realizing how much the stars perfectly aligned for this broken game to become such a phenomenon. When newer Pokémon games come out and seem unfinished and clunky but are still fun as hell, that’s just Game Freak’s style!
A surprisingly competent playformer with a rhythm mini-game that has an actual difficulty curve that forced me to be focused and responsive through the entire song. An actual challenge and was fun to complete and has a New Game +?? I got this game along with a couple other old, obscure movie games and this is the only one I actually went back to and played more of. Fun, interesting, and actually provides a challenge that, instead of coming from being barely playable, comes from actually good game design. Who’d have thought?
2023
I’ve not finished the main story but I don’t care because I’ve seen enough of the gameplay to know this may be my favorite post-Awakening Fire Emblem game. The way Engage course-corrects this series, gameplay-wise, back from where Three Houses was taking it makes me so happy. Battles are more fun, maps are really interesting, hub world errands are insanely more efficient (they’re not CHORES), grinding is so much less of a pain, I mean I could go on. Emblem rings as a way to develop units’ skills and allow them access to branch out of their base class is also so cool. Also Emblems just being a character’s stand but also having fusions that look sick as all fuck, like come on! Character design is great, too. The royals are hard to rank, and I’m only on Ch. 18, so I might find some room in my heart for more units, but this whole batch, in general, has been hard to pick a favorite out of. The story is borrowing a lot from Awakening, Fates, etc., though you gotta hand it to them, it’s really funny that right there at the start of the prologue the game goes “oh, no, yeah, you’re the God dragon.” Love this game.
1999
Got a physical cart of this for pretty cheap! and i finally got some use out of a custom backlit Gameboy Light that i impulse-bought back when i had clenches fist spending money... I’ve been dying for a little game like this that I can easily pick up and play for a couple minutes whenever I need to do something with my hands and this is the perfect fit. Only has two maps, but after playing for around an hour-plus it definitely is fun enough (and one of the maps is stupid harder than the other). Pokémon Pinball, folks!
We sure are spoiled with Pokémon spin-offs these days. It's funny playing an older one like this and seeing the sprites, the mechanics, and I don't know! You look at New Pokémon Snap and it makes me think, "Wow, we live in an age where the Pokémon world and aesthetic is so clear that it's hard for anyone to make a game that doesn't feel a part of Pokémon." Definitely makes it feel retro in more ways than one. I'm really, really interested in seeing what the Ruby & Sapphire version of this game looks like after playing this.
We sure are spoiled with Pokémon spin-offs these days. It's funny playing an older one like this and seeing the sprites, the mechanics, and I don't know! You look at New Pokémon Snap and it makes me think, "Wow, we live in an age where the Pokémon world and aesthetic is so clear that it's hard for anyone to make a game that doesn't feel a part of Pokémon." Definitely makes it feel retro in more ways than one. I'm really, really interested in seeing what the Ruby & Sapphire version of this game looks like after playing this.
2020
Okay, I get it, now. It’s plenty fun and addicting, enough content to keep a strictly free-to-play player like me satisfied. I’m having a lot of fun with it all, and I’ve really been looking for something I can pick up and play for an hour when I need to twiddle my thumbs.
I’m just about to complete Part 1 on what will be my third playthrough of this game, and my first in a couple of years. This game is so confusing because there are so many glaring problems in game design and visual animation, problems that make this such an unpolished product that pales in comparison to the franchise’s past three titles released on weaker hardware. But, good God, it is so, so fun.
Unlike other weak installments of this series, Three Houses benefits from having really good characters and really fun gameplay structure. I don’t know how! A lot of the characters are based on anime tropes, but they’re charming! And a lot of the gameplay is bogged down but grinding, but it’s fun! I think what Three Houses mastered is unit customization, and how watching a unit grow in these games is the driving force to getting through a meaty story and grindy chapter structure. All those dozens of auxiliary battles you’ll have to do is worth watching a unit be amazing. Getting into those tougher story battles and watching your schoolchildren all band together and be amazing is satisfying and getting them through the route of class upgrades that I want them to go through, meticulously raising their skill points every week myself, I find a lot of enjoyment in it all.
My problems are that the battle UI is fucking ugly. Having bright, 2D sprites and a bird’s-eye view of a battlefield was really the way to go, because some of these maps are such a strain on the eyes while coupled with the muted, realistic 3D models. The look of this game, I cannot stress enough, is so bad. The animations, especially during dialog moments, are so basic and boring that it makes me wonder why they bothered with them at all. It makes me miss the 3DS games’ portraits-only dialog scenes. The support sequences, especially, are annoying because the animations are boring during them! It makes it harder to watch through them all, and I think a big problem with modern FE is the idea that every character needs to have support with each other. Every character has so many support options and there are already so many characters! Bring back old Fire Emblem’s mechanic of every character having 5-7 characters they can support with. I am not watching all of this, man.
Unlike other weak installments of this series, Three Houses benefits from having really good characters and really fun gameplay structure. I don’t know how! A lot of the characters are based on anime tropes, but they’re charming! And a lot of the gameplay is bogged down but grinding, but it’s fun! I think what Three Houses mastered is unit customization, and how watching a unit grow in these games is the driving force to getting through a meaty story and grindy chapter structure. All those dozens of auxiliary battles you’ll have to do is worth watching a unit be amazing. Getting into those tougher story battles and watching your schoolchildren all band together and be amazing is satisfying and getting them through the route of class upgrades that I want them to go through, meticulously raising their skill points every week myself, I find a lot of enjoyment in it all.
My problems are that the battle UI is fucking ugly. Having bright, 2D sprites and a bird’s-eye view of a battlefield was really the way to go, because some of these maps are such a strain on the eyes while coupled with the muted, realistic 3D models. The look of this game, I cannot stress enough, is so bad. The animations, especially during dialog moments, are so basic and boring that it makes me wonder why they bothered with them at all. It makes me miss the 3DS games’ portraits-only dialog scenes. The support sequences, especially, are annoying because the animations are boring during them! It makes it harder to watch through them all, and I think a big problem with modern FE is the idea that every character needs to have support with each other. Every character has so many support options and there are already so many characters! Bring back old Fire Emblem’s mechanic of every character having 5-7 characters they can support with. I am not watching all of this, man.