I came into Crisis Core with low expectations due to its portable origin, lower critic scores, and deviation from the normal FF formula. The game certainly has its flaws: an overcomplicated story, cringe-inducing dialogue, and often painfully obvious PSP design in terms of vacuously simple and brisk mission structure. That all said, however, Crisis Core is greater than the sum of its parts. Its cringiness ends up possessing intentional charm, most clearly seen in the cheery protagonist Zack. Its combat is a smooth and nimble take on action RPG battles. And as a prologue to FF7, it provides both great fan service and intriguing backbone to the original title. In the end, it's hard to hate the vision at the heart of Crisis Core, and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. So if you were to ask a rating from me? Gongaga.

Looking back, Oblivion feels a bit like the awkward teenage years of the Elder Scrolls. TES was transitioning from a more hardcore, CRPG, - borderline niche - approach in Morrowind to eventually become the mega successful and more approachable manifestation in Skyrim. While Oblivion had some of the set dressing of older RPGs, and also was a more accessible title, it traded off a lot of depth from Morrowind while still retaining a lot of jank (most prominently displayed in the awkward NPC interactions). Nevertheless, Oblivion carried the Elder Scrolls torch forward and despite making many mistakes, has an undeniable charm in its lighthearted fantasy approach and variety and quality of quests. It's another amazing world to get lost in and play for hundreds of hours, and it holds a special place in my heart.

Despite its recency making it difficult to nail down exactly how I feel about Tears, I do know it contains one of the greatest worlds in gaming. Nintendo took a hammer and chisel to every aspect of Breath of the Wild's world and filled every nook and cranny with engaging content, from caves, to wells, NPCs, side quests, puzzles, enemy encampments, more shrines, and of course even more Koroks. This game is FILLED with fun stuff to do and discover despite "re-using" the previous map, and the new core mechanics of the insanely innovative ultrahand as well as the additional areas in the sky and depths mean playing TOTK is always a blast.