Lachlan_McFall
Best DLC I’ve ever played.
Definitely my favourite Inazuma Eleven game I’ve played so far.
There couldn’t be a better setting for the final game in this football franchise. The FFI is a great excuse to introduce a bunch of diverse teams, consisting of unique and interesting characters. My personal favourite has to be Hector Helio, captain of Little Gigantes. However it’s also worth noting the racism in this game. Many characters have pretty racist designs, particularly the African and German teams. The German goalkeeper literally wears a gas mask. Jesus. Overall however, the new characters introduced are excellent.
Another excellent addition is the gameplay. It’s largely the same as in previous games, except for the new addition of special tactics. They’re pretty fun and a great way to turn the tide of a match. However some definitely outclass others. By the end of the game, you’ll practically only use Rolling Thunder, as it’s by far the best. The only part of the gameplay I would say is definitively worse than 1 and 2 is the scouting and recruitment system. The gacha machine sucks. It takes way too long and just isn’t fun. What’s even worse is that you can’t recruit the vast majority of players from other teams until postgame. These are two baffling changes that I don’t understand the need for.
When it comes to the story, it hits the same spot as the last games. Extremely over the top and entertaining. Everyone in the main cast (except Thor) got some level of focus. It’s difficult to juggle a cast of 16 characters but this game does it very well.
I know that a large amount of this review has been negative, but I simply can’t convey how much I love this game. An absolute blast from start to end and an incredible ending for the original trilogy. Here’s to hoping that the Go games will be nearly as good.
There couldn’t be a better setting for the final game in this football franchise. The FFI is a great excuse to introduce a bunch of diverse teams, consisting of unique and interesting characters. My personal favourite has to be Hector Helio, captain of Little Gigantes. However it’s also worth noting the racism in this game. Many characters have pretty racist designs, particularly the African and German teams. The German goalkeeper literally wears a gas mask. Jesus. Overall however, the new characters introduced are excellent.
Another excellent addition is the gameplay. It’s largely the same as in previous games, except for the new addition of special tactics. They’re pretty fun and a great way to turn the tide of a match. However some definitely outclass others. By the end of the game, you’ll practically only use Rolling Thunder, as it’s by far the best. The only part of the gameplay I would say is definitively worse than 1 and 2 is the scouting and recruitment system. The gacha machine sucks. It takes way too long and just isn’t fun. What’s even worse is that you can’t recruit the vast majority of players from other teams until postgame. These are two baffling changes that I don’t understand the need for.
When it comes to the story, it hits the same spot as the last games. Extremely over the top and entertaining. Everyone in the main cast (except Thor) got some level of focus. It’s difficult to juggle a cast of 16 characters but this game does it very well.
I know that a large amount of this review has been negative, but I simply can’t convey how much I love this game. An absolute blast from start to end and an incredible ending for the original trilogy. Here’s to hoping that the Go games will be nearly as good.
Boring and clunky af
This review contains spoilers
If I’m honest I don’t really don’t know what to think of this game. For this review I’m going to take a different format than I usually do. I’m gonna list all the positives and negatives I can think of and then decide my final thoughts.
Positives:
KOTOR is surprisingly pretty. Places like Dantooine and Manaan look beautiful.
The new planets introduced are all really cool.
I actually quite like the combat.
I like some of the companions. HK-47 is funny, Mission is sweet, Jolee is goofy.
Overall the side quests are great. The best one by far is that Dantooine detective quest.
I like the introduction of Czerka corporation
The Rakata and their Infinite Empire are a great addition to the lore.
That section where you get captured by the Sith and can choose to go on a jailbreak mission as any of the companions is cool. (Obviously you pick HK-47)
I liked learning more about both the Jedi and Sith philosophies.
Love all the ancient sith lore.
The ability to tackle the planets in largely any order is very impressive for such an old game.
The plot twist that you’re Revan is pretty sweet.
Negatives:
The AI absolutely sucks. So much of my play through was spent waiting for party members to catch up to me, before the game would allow me to go to the next area.
Walking speed is far too slow.
Apart from Korriban and Dantooine, each planet has a severe flaw. Taris is way too long, especially considering that it’s the first planet. Manaan has that painfully slow underwater section. Tatooine is mostly empty and boring. Kashyyyk has those fucking monkeys that screech literally every 5 seconds. Finally Lethon has way too much backtracking.
That mini game that sometimes plays when you travel between planets is not fun at all and is just a nuisance.
You have very little reason to use any companions other than Jedi. The Jedi characters are all significantly better than the rest of your companions, making 2/3 of them redundant.
I don’t really feel as though any of the companions are given enough development. Carth is boring. Mission doesn’t really have much beyond her brother. Zaalbar is just kinda there. I think it’s a stretch to consider T3 a character. Canderous and Juanita had potential that was just never realised. HK is really funny but I don’t think he was utilised enough. Jolee is also funny, but isn’t really given much apart from that quest on Manaan. Finally Bastilla is just too predictable. It’s immediately obvious that she would fall to the dark side and of course be redeemed and fall in love with Revan. Way too many companions, not enough screen time.
The Star Forge is so utterly infuriating. I cannot stand the constantly respawning enemies with absolutely no variety. They’re just so tedious.
There’s hardly any nuance in choices. You can either do the obvious and reasonable thing or kill anyone who even looks at you.
Malak is the most Star Wars villain ever. The writers really want you to know that he’s evil and nothing else. Nothing to him other than being a baddy.
Final thoughts:
So this game is only alright at best. Its biggest strength is probably the lore introduced like Czerka corp, Korriban and the Selkath. Even then, I mainly just like these things because they’re later expanded on in SWTOR. But overall KOTOR is a very clunky mess, that has some charm sprinkled along the way.
I’m really hopeful that I’ll like KOTOR 2 as I’ve seen many Star Wars fan hail it as one of the best parts of the franchise.
Positives:
KOTOR is surprisingly pretty. Places like Dantooine and Manaan look beautiful.
The new planets introduced are all really cool.
I actually quite like the combat.
I like some of the companions. HK-47 is funny, Mission is sweet, Jolee is goofy.
Overall the side quests are great. The best one by far is that Dantooine detective quest.
I like the introduction of Czerka corporation
The Rakata and their Infinite Empire are a great addition to the lore.
That section where you get captured by the Sith and can choose to go on a jailbreak mission as any of the companions is cool. (Obviously you pick HK-47)
I liked learning more about both the Jedi and Sith philosophies.
Love all the ancient sith lore.
The ability to tackle the planets in largely any order is very impressive for such an old game.
The plot twist that you’re Revan is pretty sweet.
Negatives:
The AI absolutely sucks. So much of my play through was spent waiting for party members to catch up to me, before the game would allow me to go to the next area.
Walking speed is far too slow.
Apart from Korriban and Dantooine, each planet has a severe flaw. Taris is way too long, especially considering that it’s the first planet. Manaan has that painfully slow underwater section. Tatooine is mostly empty and boring. Kashyyyk has those fucking monkeys that screech literally every 5 seconds. Finally Lethon has way too much backtracking.
That mini game that sometimes plays when you travel between planets is not fun at all and is just a nuisance.
You have very little reason to use any companions other than Jedi. The Jedi characters are all significantly better than the rest of your companions, making 2/3 of them redundant.
I don’t really feel as though any of the companions are given enough development. Carth is boring. Mission doesn’t really have much beyond her brother. Zaalbar is just kinda there. I think it’s a stretch to consider T3 a character. Canderous and Juanita had potential that was just never realised. HK is really funny but I don’t think he was utilised enough. Jolee is also funny, but isn’t really given much apart from that quest on Manaan. Finally Bastilla is just too predictable. It’s immediately obvious that she would fall to the dark side and of course be redeemed and fall in love with Revan. Way too many companions, not enough screen time.
The Star Forge is so utterly infuriating. I cannot stand the constantly respawning enemies with absolutely no variety. They’re just so tedious.
There’s hardly any nuance in choices. You can either do the obvious and reasonable thing or kill anyone who even looks at you.
Malak is the most Star Wars villain ever. The writers really want you to know that he’s evil and nothing else. Nothing to him other than being a baddy.
Final thoughts:
So this game is only alright at best. Its biggest strength is probably the lore introduced like Czerka corp, Korriban and the Selkath. Even then, I mainly just like these things because they’re later expanded on in SWTOR. But overall KOTOR is a very clunky mess, that has some charm sprinkled along the way.
I’m really hopeful that I’ll like KOTOR 2 as I’ve seen many Star Wars fan hail it as one of the best parts of the franchise.
2023
After playing the demo these are my thoughts:
Very impressive for such a small studio. From the little I played of the game, I was impressed by pretty much everything.
Characters are good so far. Normally I object to anime horny-ness but it surprisingly works here. Don’t really know much about the story yet but seems like a decent enough set up.
The art style is great. There’s a lot of nice neon colours throughout that really pop and the environments are great. Something else of note is the lighting. This game is so well lit.
Only real complaint so far are the mouth movements. They look so unnatural and ugly.
I’ll definitely buy the full version of the game after my backlog is cleared and I’ll update this review when that finally happens.
Very impressive for such a small studio. From the little I played of the game, I was impressed by pretty much everything.
Characters are good so far. Normally I object to anime horny-ness but it surprisingly works here. Don’t really know much about the story yet but seems like a decent enough set up.
The art style is great. There’s a lot of nice neon colours throughout that really pop and the environments are great. Something else of note is the lighting. This game is so well lit.
Only real complaint so far are the mouth movements. They look so unnatural and ugly.
I’ll definitely buy the full version of the game after my backlog is cleared and I’ll update this review when that finally happens.
I started this game pretty soon after finishing the first one and it’s definitely the better game.
So right off the bat something that popped out about this game was how beautiful it looked. Having the game take place all across Japan allows for a wide variety of locations, each with distinct looks. The art style of the game really compliments each location. However one problem I do have with the locations is the music. Nearly every city uses the same theme and it just feels like a missed opportunity. Areas like Hokkaido and Okinawa have unique themes so why not Nara or Kyoto?
The story’s surprising really good. There are a lot of complex characters and themes that really surprised me (looking at you Nathan and your steroids metaphor). Despite some unexpected mature parts, the story is still littered with goofiness. And I love it. That whole chapter where the villain of the first game returns and kidnaps a whole city-worth of kids and tries to murder a bunch of 13 year olds by blowing up a ship is absolute comedy gold. This game is not afraid to be silly from an adult perspective. But when looking at it from a child’s view, it’s the coolest thing ever.
My issues from the first game still persist and random encounters still suck. Something I was disappointed by was the postgame. I heard that this was the Inazuma Eleven game that started the trend of great postgames, bursting with content. And yes that is mostly true. However a lot of this content I don’t care for. 90% of the post game is just matches against extremely powerful teams. The main appeal of the game for me is recruiting random characters and making the wackiest team possible. The only thing in the post game that scratched this itch was the match against the version exclusive team and being able to recruit its members after beating them. Sure there’s the characters you get as a reward for S ranking competition routes. But once you reach the point of being able to actually accomplish this Herculean task, your team is already extremely powerful and there’s probably not much point in altering it.
Nevertheless this game is still incredible. I’d rank this game above the first one mainly due to the great new characters, better locations and the absolute godsend that is the improved scouting system. Definitely worth your while.
So right off the bat something that popped out about this game was how beautiful it looked. Having the game take place all across Japan allows for a wide variety of locations, each with distinct looks. The art style of the game really compliments each location. However one problem I do have with the locations is the music. Nearly every city uses the same theme and it just feels like a missed opportunity. Areas like Hokkaido and Okinawa have unique themes so why not Nara or Kyoto?
The story’s surprising really good. There are a lot of complex characters and themes that really surprised me (looking at you Nathan and your steroids metaphor). Despite some unexpected mature parts, the story is still littered with goofiness. And I love it. That whole chapter where the villain of the first game returns and kidnaps a whole city-worth of kids and tries to murder a bunch of 13 year olds by blowing up a ship is absolute comedy gold. This game is not afraid to be silly from an adult perspective. But when looking at it from a child’s view, it’s the coolest thing ever.
My issues from the first game still persist and random encounters still suck. Something I was disappointed by was the postgame. I heard that this was the Inazuma Eleven game that started the trend of great postgames, bursting with content. And yes that is mostly true. However a lot of this content I don’t care for. 90% of the post game is just matches against extremely powerful teams. The main appeal of the game for me is recruiting random characters and making the wackiest team possible. The only thing in the post game that scratched this itch was the match against the version exclusive team and being able to recruit its members after beating them. Sure there’s the characters you get as a reward for S ranking competition routes. But once you reach the point of being able to actually accomplish this Herculean task, your team is already extremely powerful and there’s probably not much point in altering it.
Nevertheless this game is still incredible. I’d rank this game above the first one mainly due to the great new characters, better locations and the absolute godsend that is the improved scouting system. Definitely worth your while.
2008
As someone who’s ever only watched the anime when I was young, finally being able to play this game was very cathartic.
First and foremost the main appeal to me is the absolutely ginormous array of characters. I loved being able to create a team consisting of the most random and bizarre players possible. (Shoutout to the MVP Ashley Fay)
The gameplay is spilt into two sections: RPG and football matches. Walking around the world during the RPG section is really nice. All the environments look stunning and the movement is pretty fluid, being able to even move diagonally. The football matches are also very good. I absolutely love the freedom given to the player during matches. Being able to pick the players, their moves, the formation is just great. The only real complaint I have with the gameplay is the random encounters. I understand that this is an RPG but I wish there was more variety. You’ll be fighting the same opponents constantly due to random encounters, with not much difficulty. Luckily by the end of the game you can obtain an item that outright prevents any random encounters but by that point the game is practically over so there’s not much use. Overall however, the gameplay is still excellent.
When it comes to the story it’s pretty good. Now I like deep and complex stories, but I can also appreciate dumb fun like this. At the end of the day it’s just kids playing football and that’s all the story needed to be. Sometimes stories like this can tend to be bland but luckily Inazuma Eleven doesn’t fall into that trap due to its fun cast of characters. Pretty much everyone is entertaining. So yeah, the story’s pretty good.
In conclusion Inazuma Eleven has a lot to offer. Considering that this is only the first entry in the series and it’s so good makes me very optimistic about the other games.
First and foremost the main appeal to me is the absolutely ginormous array of characters. I loved being able to create a team consisting of the most random and bizarre players possible. (Shoutout to the MVP Ashley Fay)
The gameplay is spilt into two sections: RPG and football matches. Walking around the world during the RPG section is really nice. All the environments look stunning and the movement is pretty fluid, being able to even move diagonally. The football matches are also very good. I absolutely love the freedom given to the player during matches. Being able to pick the players, their moves, the formation is just great. The only real complaint I have with the gameplay is the random encounters. I understand that this is an RPG but I wish there was more variety. You’ll be fighting the same opponents constantly due to random encounters, with not much difficulty. Luckily by the end of the game you can obtain an item that outright prevents any random encounters but by that point the game is practically over so there’s not much use. Overall however, the gameplay is still excellent.
When it comes to the story it’s pretty good. Now I like deep and complex stories, but I can also appreciate dumb fun like this. At the end of the day it’s just kids playing football and that’s all the story needed to be. Sometimes stories like this can tend to be bland but luckily Inazuma Eleven doesn’t fall into that trap due to its fun cast of characters. Pretty much everyone is entertaining. So yeah, the story’s pretty good.
In conclusion Inazuma Eleven has a lot to offer. Considering that this is only the first entry in the series and it’s so good makes me very optimistic about the other games.
The first and only time I’ve quit a game because the writing was that awful
I have never played any other FPS game in my life.
This game is really fun. It’s not just a so-so FPS with a Star Wars coat of paint on it. I adored the squad commanding mechanics and how essential they were to progressing.
Can’t forget to mention how fun the characters were. Delta Squad had such a fun dynamic and I wish we got to see more of them just hanging out and talking.
If you got an extra £12 then why not?
This game is really fun. It’s not just a so-so FPS with a Star Wars coat of paint on it. I adored the squad commanding mechanics and how essential they were to progressing.
Can’t forget to mention how fun the characters were. Delta Squad had such a fun dynamic and I wish we got to see more of them just hanging out and talking.
If you got an extra £12 then why not?
2013
Yeah this game is easy as hell. But if you wanted a hard JRPG then why are you playing a children’s game? Just go play SMT.
Man the art style for this game is gorgeous.
I absolutely adore Kalos itself. The fact that the region has the player exploring through the four seasons is such great level design that hardly anyone notices.
God I love this game.
Man the art style for this game is gorgeous.
I absolutely adore Kalos itself. The fact that the region has the player exploring through the four seasons is such great level design that hardly anyone notices.
God I love this game.
This review contains spoilers
To address the elephant in the room, the fact that this game was made by just ONE person is absolutely incredible. The amount of effort and talent showcased here is phenomenal.
Your Turn To Die has kinda been fighting an uphill battle from the start against Danganronpa. The game’s similarities and inspiration taken from Danganronpa is very apparent. However this has caused the two to be infinitely compared to each other. Despite this, YTTD has managed to separate itself from its influence and stand on its own two feet.
The gameplay is mostly good. I enjoy the puzzles and new gameplay elements added in each chapter. However the highlight is undoubtedly the main game segments. Trying to figure out inconsistencies in arguments is really fun and this is only heightened by the story during these parts.
The story itself is decent enough. It’s a pretty generic setup as death game stories go, with characters being abducted and being forced to cooperate with strangers, as the cast slowly whittles down. One subversion I really did like was the fact that many characters died before you even met them. I loved the mystery surrounding them in the first two chapters and once you reach chapter three it is very rewarding meeting them in person. Other than that however, the story is just so-so. Pretty much the same as anything else in the genre.
However where this game particularly shines is its characters. Each one is fairly fleshed out and entertaining. And of course Sou (Shin) is the best of them all. I always love characters whose purpose is to drive the protagonist insane, like Nagito Komaeda or Joshua Kiryu and Sou works very well in that regard. I found his relationship with Kanna particularly interesting. Normally these types of characters have no real close bonds, but Kanna and Sou’s relationship with each other surprised me and made me appreciate both characters even more. However Sou definitely becomes burnt out by the time chapter 3 begins. Because I chose to kill Kanna and save Sou, he was prevalent during chapter 3. I kept him alive since he was my favourite character and I was highly anticipating his interactions with Midori. However I was sorely disappointed as soon as the character began. Sou just had no presence anymore. He wasn’t allowed to do anything interesting because the story couldn’t deviate too for depending on who was and wasn’t alive. Midori himself replaced Sou as the psycho for the chapter, and honestly he felt very cliché. Midori was just a guy who was insane just because. However I can’t fault the game too much for these issues considering that it was only made by one person. Being able to create any game by yourself is no small task, so many of my criticisms aren’t that big of a deal considering the circumstances.
Overall I still prefer Danganronpa. But Your Turn To Die is still a very enjoyable time with such fun characters and I hope my opinion on some of the later elements will change after I play through the emotion route.
Your Turn To Die has kinda been fighting an uphill battle from the start against Danganronpa. The game’s similarities and inspiration taken from Danganronpa is very apparent. However this has caused the two to be infinitely compared to each other. Despite this, YTTD has managed to separate itself from its influence and stand on its own two feet.
The gameplay is mostly good. I enjoy the puzzles and new gameplay elements added in each chapter. However the highlight is undoubtedly the main game segments. Trying to figure out inconsistencies in arguments is really fun and this is only heightened by the story during these parts.
The story itself is decent enough. It’s a pretty generic setup as death game stories go, with characters being abducted and being forced to cooperate with strangers, as the cast slowly whittles down. One subversion I really did like was the fact that many characters died before you even met them. I loved the mystery surrounding them in the first two chapters and once you reach chapter three it is very rewarding meeting them in person. Other than that however, the story is just so-so. Pretty much the same as anything else in the genre.
However where this game particularly shines is its characters. Each one is fairly fleshed out and entertaining. And of course Sou (Shin) is the best of them all. I always love characters whose purpose is to drive the protagonist insane, like Nagito Komaeda or Joshua Kiryu and Sou works very well in that regard. I found his relationship with Kanna particularly interesting. Normally these types of characters have no real close bonds, but Kanna and Sou’s relationship with each other surprised me and made me appreciate both characters even more. However Sou definitely becomes burnt out by the time chapter 3 begins. Because I chose to kill Kanna and save Sou, he was prevalent during chapter 3. I kept him alive since he was my favourite character and I was highly anticipating his interactions with Midori. However I was sorely disappointed as soon as the character began. Sou just had no presence anymore. He wasn’t allowed to do anything interesting because the story couldn’t deviate too for depending on who was and wasn’t alive. Midori himself replaced Sou as the psycho for the chapter, and honestly he felt very cliché. Midori was just a guy who was insane just because. However I can’t fault the game too much for these issues considering that it was only made by one person. Being able to create any game by yourself is no small task, so many of my criticisms aren’t that big of a deal considering the circumstances.
Overall I still prefer Danganronpa. But Your Turn To Die is still a very enjoyable time with such fun characters and I hope my opinion on some of the later elements will change after I play through the emotion route.
This review contains spoilers
Alright so on the whole this is a pretty accurate depiction of streamer culture and the degeneracy of the internet. The gameplay managed to go hand-in-hand with the story and I must commend the developers for that. Plus the art style is just so vibrant and energetic. Usually I groan at needless references, but due to the game’s focus on the internet I didn’t really mind it as much. THEY MADE A FUCKING TWILIGHT SYNDROME REFERENCE LIKE HELLO???
However I feel like the game is dragged down by a few tedious features. Having to reply to Ame every day is just annoying, especially considering that you’ll likely play the game multiple times and go through the same handful of messages. Also the streams themselves are just boring. I admit the dialogue is funny, but the actual gameplay is just so uninteresting and dull. Finally we get to the main twist of the story: P-chan is just a figment of Ame’s imagination. On paper this seems like a pretty good twist, however I just simply cannot accept it. This is due to the texting system between P-chan and Ame. So you’re telling me that she was texting herself on a different phone the whole time?
Overall it’s still worth your while. For only around £13 it’s a pretty decent deal.
However I feel like the game is dragged down by a few tedious features. Having to reply to Ame every day is just annoying, especially considering that you’ll likely play the game multiple times and go through the same handful of messages. Also the streams themselves are just boring. I admit the dialogue is funny, but the actual gameplay is just so uninteresting and dull. Finally we get to the main twist of the story: P-chan is just a figment of Ame’s imagination. On paper this seems like a pretty good twist, however I just simply cannot accept it. This is due to the texting system between P-chan and Ame. So you’re telling me that she was texting herself on a different phone the whole time?
Overall it’s still worth your while. For only around £13 it’s a pretty decent deal.
I had literally seen nothing on Espio before playing this game
I now love Espio
I now love Espio
Look this is basically just KOTFE but infinitely better.
KOTFE had a lot of pacing issues after chapter 9, but here the story stays focused and very entertaining.
Star Wars at it’s peak.
KOTFE had a lot of pacing issues after chapter 9, but here the story stays focused and very entertaining.
Star Wars at it’s peak.
This review contains spoilers
So close. This game was so close to perfection.
So to the obvious out of the way; the models look absolutely awful, especially Clover. I really just wish they kept the art style of 999. There’s only really one other complaint I have aside from generic anime BS, but we’ll get to that later.
As it goes, this game is one of the most interesting narrative experiences I have ever had. I cannot state how much I adore the branching paths this game offers and how each one reveals a different mystery. What’s better yet is that each path can be experienced in largely any order. What I love about this is that it results in every player experiencing the story in a completely different order and solving mysteries at completely different points. For example I first got Tenmyouji’s ending. So this ending reveals information like what Zero looks like, Tenmyouji’s relation to Akane and the fact that Tenmyouji knew who Zero was the whole time. I then had this information stored in my mind for the rest of the game, trying to piece together information. But what’s amazing about this is that if I simply chose a different path I would be storing completely different knowledge. If anyone were to play this game for the first time, I would undoubtedly nudge them towards the Dio ending for the first time. That ending particularly revolves so much seemingly random information that it’s incredibly fun to just try and figure out how it relates to anything else in the game.
Moving away from the story, the gameplay is really well done. I felt with 999 that the puzzles were well made, however not necessarily too hard. VLR however is a whole other story. I found many rooms fairly challenging and this wasn’t because they were poorly designed (except that fucking dice puzzle) but instead because they were expertly made. The game does however tend to leave you in the dark with clues, meaning that you’ll be scratching your head for a long time with puzzles. However this is ignoring the difficulty options. Having an optional easy mode that reveals clues for you is a great feature that I wished carried over into ZTD. It allowed those who wanted as complex puzzles as possible to experience that with no hints. But also allows those who simply want to find a solution to finish quickly. A particular stand out between the puzzles is the GAULEM Bay. This room is easily my favourite in the series for a multitude of reasons and anyone who plays this game will see why.
Now we finally get to what ruined the game. The ending. Look I can tolerate bad endings, however when they ruin everything thus far I cannot ignore it. Sigma being an old man the entire time makes no sense at all. This reveals relies on the fact that conveniently nobody seems to mention the fact that you look like an old man. Sure is lucky that Sigma never even scratched his face an realised that he has wrinkles. Sure is lucky that Sigma never saw his reflection despite interacting with reflective surfaces numerous times. And it sure is damn fucking lucky that Sigma never noticed that HE IS MISSING AN EYE. How do you not notice you’re missing an eye almost immediately?
All in all, VLR is undeniably a post-modern masterpiece when it comes to its structure. Hell, I never even mentioned stuff like Schrödinger’s Cat and its role in the timelines. If you play this game, you do it purely for the unique structure and maybe because you enjoy puzzles. But be prepared for the literal worst ending to any game I have ever played.
So to the obvious out of the way; the models look absolutely awful, especially Clover. I really just wish they kept the art style of 999. There’s only really one other complaint I have aside from generic anime BS, but we’ll get to that later.
As it goes, this game is one of the most interesting narrative experiences I have ever had. I cannot state how much I adore the branching paths this game offers and how each one reveals a different mystery. What’s better yet is that each path can be experienced in largely any order. What I love about this is that it results in every player experiencing the story in a completely different order and solving mysteries at completely different points. For example I first got Tenmyouji’s ending. So this ending reveals information like what Zero looks like, Tenmyouji’s relation to Akane and the fact that Tenmyouji knew who Zero was the whole time. I then had this information stored in my mind for the rest of the game, trying to piece together information. But what’s amazing about this is that if I simply chose a different path I would be storing completely different knowledge. If anyone were to play this game for the first time, I would undoubtedly nudge them towards the Dio ending for the first time. That ending particularly revolves so much seemingly random information that it’s incredibly fun to just try and figure out how it relates to anything else in the game.
Moving away from the story, the gameplay is really well done. I felt with 999 that the puzzles were well made, however not necessarily too hard. VLR however is a whole other story. I found many rooms fairly challenging and this wasn’t because they were poorly designed (except that fucking dice puzzle) but instead because they were expertly made. The game does however tend to leave you in the dark with clues, meaning that you’ll be scratching your head for a long time with puzzles. However this is ignoring the difficulty options. Having an optional easy mode that reveals clues for you is a great feature that I wished carried over into ZTD. It allowed those who wanted as complex puzzles as possible to experience that with no hints. But also allows those who simply want to find a solution to finish quickly. A particular stand out between the puzzles is the GAULEM Bay. This room is easily my favourite in the series for a multitude of reasons and anyone who plays this game will see why.
Now we finally get to what ruined the game. The ending. Look I can tolerate bad endings, however when they ruin everything thus far I cannot ignore it. Sigma being an old man the entire time makes no sense at all. This reveals relies on the fact that conveniently nobody seems to mention the fact that you look like an old man. Sure is lucky that Sigma never even scratched his face an realised that he has wrinkles. Sure is lucky that Sigma never saw his reflection despite interacting with reflective surfaces numerous times. And it sure is damn fucking lucky that Sigma never noticed that HE IS MISSING AN EYE. How do you not notice you’re missing an eye almost immediately?
All in all, VLR is undeniably a post-modern masterpiece when it comes to its structure. Hell, I never even mentioned stuff like Schrödinger’s Cat and its role in the timelines. If you play this game, you do it purely for the unique structure and maybe because you enjoy puzzles. But be prepared for the literal worst ending to any game I have ever played.