One of the best fighting game of all time, but requires effort to not be a brainless sandbag to really grasp the amazing work behind the fight system and command list of characters.

There was a reason is was one of the top fighting games for years in Japan Game Centers.

Perfect balance between a simulation and an arcarde game.
Really an amazing gem.

This man has and continues to change my life the more I play through the intense, heart wrenching moments of his life. Joryu's performance shines so bright and has some incredible moments throughout the 5 chapters of this interlude between LAD 7 and 8. Dragon engine makes the beat em' up style and continues to improve with every entry and beautiful visuals especially with the Osaka Castle, some serious neon lit eye candy. Kuroda's voice acting and all the raw emotion he puts into this was some of his best and I can't wait for infinite wealth, especially after playing the demos and his chemistry with Ichiban is great and definitely will lead to some unforgettable moments. Love his attitude which was kind of a throwback to how he was in the original Yakuza as well as the others, he is that man that will do whatever it takes to protect the people important in his life, I can't help but respect it and want to grow up just like him truly!

Akame was a fantastic character throughout the story and I hope this is not the last we have seen of her. The only thing I did not care for was the plethora of side content for such a much shorter story. It's good to have some to get the bang for your buck, but I found myself getting a bit burned out on it at the moment as some things were very repetitive such as the little exclamation point side quests, and how they link the upgrades with an extra currency that you can only get from doing the side content. Gadgets were fantastic, especially the OP Serpent gadget thats a blast to use.

As far as the finale for this game goes in typical Ryu Ga Gotoku fashion it absolutely fucks in everyway. I live for these over the top ending sequences with crazy twists and endgame cinematic showdowns. (That last fight woo doggie!) I had heard everyone talk about the tears and it hit even worse considering how I got into this series and which game I started with and how far Kiryu's story has come all the way up to this point. I get how people say Kiryu's story should of ended in Song of Life, but this and 7 prove otherwise to me and I couldn't be happier they have not closed the curtain on this incredible man's story just yet. Whatever comes next, my body is ready with open arms.

Picked up this game with Gotham Knights last year during Black Friday and thought this was some souls like type of game, but came to find out it was a DMC clone which in my opinion was a sigh of relief considering that I have several soulslikes already to get to in my gigantic backlog.

Loved the designs of the characters and the bleak world they made for the environments until everything in the game nearly looked so similar with not much variety. The first half of the game for the most part was just screaming out mediocrity as I was on the verge of feeling like I made a mistake until the story started to get more interesting. Seeing the Berserk and Claymore heavy inspirations also made me more interested and the fact I absolutely loved Lute she was such a great character, pretty cool sister dynamic there.

The rapture form was like a typical type of rage mode, but the cool part was the different finishers you can do based on which of Lutes skills you decide to purchase and can change from time to time, also Lute in combat was so damn helpful too not like other AI that don't do much, she was there helping and saving me in dangerous fights from time to time which helped a lot since I decided to play the game on a harder difficulty. The berserk mode was such a cool concept and I really like how it was your kind of anime-style going insane and nearly uncontrollable unless you master it, which in turn had major consequences and could actually kill you.

Some bigger fights with the elite enemies can feel like a chore as you can't fight the way you want and have to constantly switch these two ethereal rifts to damage certain enemies. Its a conflicting beast as the more you learn the abilities and weapons switching it can be really fun, but sometimes it can be frustrating at times. The amount of depth the combat system has is unique and some fights can destroy you and cause you to use all consumables based on your mistakes which increase the initiative to not screw up as much and try different weapons and combos since some work better against certain enemy types compared to others.

One of the coolest powerups you get is like Devil trigger, but unfortunately for story reasons you do not receive it until the last few chapters in the game. Story has some cliche types of situations, but also its on spin with the world building and setting it creates with an unexpected ending that leaves on a cliff-hanger. I feel like they have something really special here and a good bit of things to improve on. I would love to play the sequel if it gets made, but a good chunk of things could use some work like making some fights more engaging and more diverse locations to look at and not so much blue everything. This game certainly won't be for everyone, but for the most part I came out liking it more in the end. The Soulstice does have some "Soul" in it that's for sure.

I really should get to watching Claymore one of these days..

I did 100%. The formula for Nintendo platformers is so perfected at this point that it almost doesn't even feel like it's worth talking about without repeating myself on how masterfully designed games like this and Forgotten Land are, but it's the endless creativity and charm and life and joy emanating from every single second of gameplay from the more recent big Nintendo Switch outings of this kind that has really been incredible to witness - and this game is absolutely no exception. This is good as fuck. It's the kind of 2D Mario platformer i've been craving for years now, it has never felt this lively and funny before. I'd still say World is my favorite 2D Mario because I like its ambition for level design a bit more, but this is a very close second. An indisputable must-play if you own a Switch.

Last year I decided to replay Luigi's Mansion after having first played it back in 2018. I had a fantastic time and decided I would replay it every October. Well, Spooky season is now back so it's time for the annual replay. Yeah it's still a ton of fun.

As I stated before in my other review, the short length of this game makes it an ideal one to replay every year I think. I beat it in a day which is perfect since I'm a lot busier than I used to be. The shortness combined with the unrivaled atmosphere, funkiness and control scheme makes this the definitive Luigi's Mansion game in my eyes. There's just little things I love about this game that the other's lack. Like the funky jingle that plays when you pickup keys and stuff or how when you're not interacting with anything, Luigi calls out to Mario when you press the A button. He even has different calls when you're low on health. The one here at 0:04 is my absolutely favorite, has me laughing every time.

This game has that weird 6th gen GameCube charm that I love. 2 and 3 while not bad, both feel sterile in comparison. Idk, nothing is as raw as that ending where Luigi just starts crying and laughing at the fact he's finally reunited with Mario, it's genuinely so heartwarming I love it so much.

As I said in my other review, it does have its faults. I don't particularly like Boolossus. I just think they made it way too tedious to hit the boos with the ice. The high HP boos are also still somewhat annoying, though I feel like they weren't too bad this time around. Again, if they just didn't give them massive amounts of health...or even better just don't let them fly into different rooms, then that issue would be alleviated.

In the end though, I do love this game. Definitely a game I'd like to continue to replay every October and definitely one of my favorite GameCube games. After this I plan on playing Dead Space and Silent Hill, hopefully I'm able to get them in before Super Mario Bros Wonder comes out cuz I'm definitely playing that day 1 lol.

P.S: Oh yeah, this time around I decided not to get all gold portraits. Last year I did and while I'm glad I accomplished that feat, having to gold Sir Weston again doesn't sound like a fun time. I did get mostly golds though which is cool. I also didn't forget the gold diamond in the plant this time around so thank god. Because of that my score was 122,000,000 something which aint half bad. I also forgot to mention I played the hidden mission this time around. I wanna say I played the hidden one back in 2018 as well but i forget if I beat it back then. Enemies do more damage, there's more of them apparently (I didn't really notice a difference) and your vacuum sucks way faster now which was super fun and helpful with those portrait ghosts.

There are always those monumental works within their respective mediums that I encounter from time to time. Each instance is a hard challenge when it comes to deconstruction, at least from my perspective. Whether I'm trying to outline my thoughts or writing down all my collective reflections, serving them justice becomes a tough task to do so.

No matter how hard I attempt to pen-down my thoughts about the game, Capturing my feelings becomes more complex. "Ico" undoubtedly stands as a masterpiece within its genre, largely due to its exceptional atmosphere that's constructed through various artistic elements. The impeccable interplay of sound design, the expansive yet isolating design of the castle, the vividly expressive animations of the characters – all of these combine to create an experience that invokes a powerful blend of hopelessness and determination. Furthermore, the game's exceptional cinematic camera work immerses players even further. My memory fails to recall a gaming experience evoked feelings of both hopelessness and nervous anticipation. The struggle to navigate the game armed solely with a stick, while simultaneously solving puzzles that practically rewired my approach, was truly stress-inducing. The philosophy approached here was pure minimalism, universal gameplay design choices weren't a thing which made the game feel unique and unforgettable.

This game stands as a remarkable experience that defies conventions. Incredible & exceptional design and storytelling, leaving me a profound impact that's hard to express.