LoreW001
1971
BRO A THIEF STOLE 9 OXES FROM ME. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE??!?
Actually incredible game. Like goddamn, man what an experience. The gameplay and OST absolutely beautiful. Seriously this OST gives me life, it's so damn good. The glow up from DonPachi to this has to be studied. Now this is a game I'd replay constantly if I had an actual arcade.
But there's one problem....and that's the second half of the game. Which you can only get to if you not lose a single life not use a bomb, and score of 120 million points. Then I have to beat Ura Loop which has more red bullets and blue suicide bullets. And finally I have to beat the True Final Boss without dying once.
This is my SECOND SHUMP EVER...I literally can't do this. I'm still bad at this genre. Though I will say I was dodging a lot better in this game than in DonPachi. No clue if that was because it was "easier" or because the gears in my head are starting to turn with this genre. But it sucks that I can't see the second half of the game nor fight the True Final Boss unless I beat those conditions. Obviously I want to do it at some point. Unfortunately not now but hopefully and eventually later!
But there's one problem....and that's the second half of the game. Which you can only get to if you not lose a single life not use a bomb, and score of 120 million points. Then I have to beat Ura Loop which has more red bullets and blue suicide bullets. And finally I have to beat the True Final Boss without dying once.
This is my SECOND SHUMP EVER...I literally can't do this. I'm still bad at this genre. Though I will say I was dodging a lot better in this game than in DonPachi. No clue if that was because it was "easier" or because the gears in my head are starting to turn with this genre. But it sucks that I can't see the second half of the game nor fight the True Final Boss unless I beat those conditions. Obviously I want to do it at some point. Unfortunately not now but hopefully and eventually later!
1995
This is my first SHUMP game and yeah.....I get it now. I understand, I comprehend, I see, I follow....
I...can keep going on but yeah this was so much fun even though I died a lot. It's really hard, no clue how one could go through this deathless seriously. There's way too many bullets on the screen at one time, the game literally had a few slowdowns because of it and they're so fast. I encountered many situations were I could not dodge so I just died. My heart goes out to the poor souls who had to spend a billion dollar just to beat 10 levels.
Music is ok, you aren't really paying much attention to it. Since the shooting sfx is so loud, it's basically just background noise. I mostly used the blue ship/jet because....it was blue and I like blue...yea. I accidently choose the green one once and I didn't really like it but I was so used to the blue one by that point so that could be one reason.
Regardless, I'm excited to go through this series and see how it grows and adapts through each proceeding entry.
I...can keep going on but yeah this was so much fun even though I died a lot. It's really hard, no clue how one could go through this deathless seriously. There's way too many bullets on the screen at one time, the game literally had a few slowdowns because of it and they're so fast. I encountered many situations were I could not dodge so I just died. My heart goes out to the poor souls who had to spend a billion dollar just to beat 10 levels.
Music is ok, you aren't really paying much attention to it. Since the shooting sfx is so loud, it's basically just background noise. I mostly used the blue ship/jet because....it was blue and I like blue...yea. I accidently choose the green one once and I didn't really like it but I was so used to the blue one by that point so that could be one reason.
Regardless, I'm excited to go through this series and see how it grows and adapts through each proceeding entry.
2020
My first Mana game ended up being a lot more fun than I expected. The gameplay was so much fun, luckily hard mode wasn't extremely annoying like most are. My party consisted of Kevin, Riesz, and Hawkeye. At first, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy playing them but as they got more and more abilities and stat upgrades they become more fun. Though I did use Kevin the most.
The story isn't really much to write home about, so I won't bother. But I definitely enjoyed Kevin's side for than the others. Probably because I get to see more of the deep turmoil with him, his father, and Goremand. Kinda wish they allowed you to do the same with your party members but I guess they have to be my MC for that to be possible. But I just felt so blue balled after seeing Riesz's and Hawkeye's dialogue with Belladonna just for it to end on a nothing note.
The OST is great but isn't one I'd listen to a bunch. The voice acting is awful, straight up. I still found the dialogue to be endearing but not as enjoyable to listen to like Kingdom Hearts or Star Ocean. The lock on system is also trash like geez it's bad, honestly better to never use it.
Either way, I'm all on for the Mana series. I'll most likely play the first one next to see how the series was originally.
The story isn't really much to write home about, so I won't bother. But I definitely enjoyed Kevin's side for than the others. Probably because I get to see more of the deep turmoil with him, his father, and Goremand. Kinda wish they allowed you to do the same with your party members but I guess they have to be my MC for that to be possible. But I just felt so blue balled after seeing Riesz's and Hawkeye's dialogue with Belladonna just for it to end on a nothing note.
The OST is great but isn't one I'd listen to a bunch. The voice acting is awful, straight up. I still found the dialogue to be endearing but not as enjoyable to listen to like Kingdom Hearts or Star Ocean. The lock on system is also trash like geez it's bad, honestly better to never use it.
Either way, I'm all on for the Mana series. I'll most likely play the first one next to see how the series was originally.
1992
Fire 'n Ice or Solomon's Key 2 is a spectacular puzzle game for the NES. It surprises me that this is on this console, it's look amazing; something I would expect from an SNES.
You play as a young upstart Ice Wizard named Dana who is given the task to save their home Coolmint Island from the dreaded Fire Wizard Druidle.
You go through 10 worlds each having 9 levels and 1 boss battle using the power of ice to defeat fire enemies. But not inn the conventional way.
The fire enemies are in odd locations so you create the ice blocks to use them as platforms and attack from above or the sides. It similar to tactical games where you need to pinpoint how to set up your ice blocks without getting yourself stuck or making it impossible to defeat the enemy.
It's pretty difficult (for me) the farther you get into the game mostly because it doesn't come with a tutorial. Certain stuff I didn't know I could do with the ice blocks until I consulted a guide. But once you understand the puzzles become fun and addictive.
I recommend giving it a shot if you have NSO. Rewind helps if you make a mistake since movement is a bit wonky. Never played a puzzle game like this before but it was great. But it makes me sad that we never had a full on series with this game. Hopefully it gets a remake or sequel eventually because I believe this game was made ahead of it's time and deserves to basking in the light once more.
You play as a young upstart Ice Wizard named Dana who is given the task to save their home Coolmint Island from the dreaded Fire Wizard Druidle.
You go through 10 worlds each having 9 levels and 1 boss battle using the power of ice to defeat fire enemies. But not inn the conventional way.
The fire enemies are in odd locations so you create the ice blocks to use them as platforms and attack from above or the sides. It similar to tactical games where you need to pinpoint how to set up your ice blocks without getting yourself stuck or making it impossible to defeat the enemy.
It's pretty difficult (for me) the farther you get into the game mostly because it doesn't come with a tutorial. Certain stuff I didn't know I could do with the ice blocks until I consulted a guide. But once you understand the puzzles become fun and addictive.
I recommend giving it a shot if you have NSO. Rewind helps if you make a mistake since movement is a bit wonky. Never played a puzzle game like this before but it was great. But it makes me sad that we never had a full on series with this game. Hopefully it gets a remake or sequel eventually because I believe this game was made ahead of it's time and deserves to basking in the light once more.
I....love this game. SO GODDAMN MUCHHHHH!!!!
The combat, the characters, the ost, the story, literally everything. I love it all.
Ok so first a synopsis, you play as five different characters with completely different play styles while you go through their own story, their own grief, and their own end. You learn a lot about the world of Erion, all the misgivings and order of each nation. Each person is more or less fighting for their own wants and beliefs while attributing to the prophecies called The Erion Saga that is mentioned many many times throughout the game. While going through the five characters' end you learn the truth of the prophecies and with that knowledge it leads you to endgame.
It's pretty similar to 13 Sentinels if you've played that. Which makes sense since it's made by the same developer.
Basically when you start learning and understanding the world, cutscenes in the game start making more and more of an impact on you the player and you basically experience perfection.
This is not a request, this is an order. Please play this game. I swear it's worth it. I know many people knock it down a peg or two because the game does reuses bosses. But the gameplay is so much fun, it never really bothered me that much. Either way, the enjoyment of experiencing this game is such a rush I'm honestly glad I was able to play this finally.
The combat, the characters, the ost, the story, literally everything. I love it all.
Ok so first a synopsis, you play as five different characters with completely different play styles while you go through their own story, their own grief, and their own end. You learn a lot about the world of Erion, all the misgivings and order of each nation. Each person is more or less fighting for their own wants and beliefs while attributing to the prophecies called The Erion Saga that is mentioned many many times throughout the game. While going through the five characters' end you learn the truth of the prophecies and with that knowledge it leads you to endgame.
It's pretty similar to 13 Sentinels if you've played that. Which makes sense since it's made by the same developer.
Basically when you start learning and understanding the world, cutscenes in the game start making more and more of an impact on you the player and you basically experience perfection.
This is not a request, this is an order. Please play this game. I swear it's worth it. I know many people knock it down a peg or two because the game does reuses bosses. But the gameplay is so much fun, it never really bothered me that much. Either way, the enjoyment of experiencing this game is such a rush I'm honestly glad I was able to play this finally.
2017
The combat system is boring. The story is boring. Most of the quest are boring. The dialogue is boring. Dungeon exploring is boring. The puns are annoying and boring. The ending is boring.
This game is honestly too simple in literally everything. It's just so incredibly bare and boring. There's honestly not that much else to say about this game.
This game is honestly too simple in literally everything. It's just so incredibly bare and boring. There's honestly not that much else to say about this game.
1992
Wow this game plays worst than Wii
This is truly a new low
This series doesn't want me to like it at all I suppose
This is truly a new low
This series doesn't want me to like it at all I suppose
81 hours later and I finally finished one route out of five
Hoo boy....
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this game a lot. I mean I was bound to. It's basically everything I like about Fire Emblem and more.
I picked the Golden Deer house because I've heard so many memes about this route and I wanted context. And yep, it's pretty damn wacky, especially the final map.
The combat is great as usually, I love the freedom of choice between classes. I do wish there were more weapons in the game. I had a lot lance users because more of the classes require leveling up lances. But eh, I wouldn't say that's a con or anything.
The English VAs are great, none come to the same level as SoV VAs but that's alright. I appreciate them going out of their way to voice everything.
The ost is alright, I'm not crazy about it. But now thinking about it, I never really a huge fan of FEs ost in general, aside from SoV.
The supports in this game are really wild. They range from really fantastic to absolutely awful. Which hurts a lot of characters who have really good premises but horrible execution cough cough Manuela, Ingrid cough cough.
The pacing in this route can be really off. Which is a very unique con to have on a FE game for me personally. The first half of the game is alright no problems there. But the second half, is kind of a big yikes.
(Spoilers) We spend so many chapters just preparing to attack defeat the Flame Emperor. And then we just get the full meat of the overall plot for Byleth and lore all dumped to us in the last two chapters.
WHAT?! HUH?! WHY?!
That's so lame, so much missed opportunities. I wanted to learn more about Shambhala, it looks so futuristic. Especially compare to the rest of Fódlan. Even learning about who the Shambhala descendants are, doesn't explain anything about the place. We also don't learn anything about the Final Boss, like why are they evil. I get why the one we fight is evil but why was the real one evil. I needed more, so much of the context felt heavily mishandled. Especially Rhea and Jeralt, they could do so much more with them but they don't. They hype up these characters but in the plot they serve as a hinderance more than anything else. (End of Spoilers)
Anyways, like I said earlier, this was only one of five other routes. Maybe they have hidden away some of my greater interest in the other routes or maybe not and I'll forever feel sad.
Hoo boy....
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this game a lot. I mean I was bound to. It's basically everything I like about Fire Emblem and more.
I picked the Golden Deer house because I've heard so many memes about this route and I wanted context. And yep, it's pretty damn wacky, especially the final map.
The combat is great as usually, I love the freedom of choice between classes. I do wish there were more weapons in the game. I had a lot lance users because more of the classes require leveling up lances. But eh, I wouldn't say that's a con or anything.
The English VAs are great, none come to the same level as SoV VAs but that's alright. I appreciate them going out of their way to voice everything.
The ost is alright, I'm not crazy about it. But now thinking about it, I never really a huge fan of FEs ost in general, aside from SoV.
The supports in this game are really wild. They range from really fantastic to absolutely awful. Which hurts a lot of characters who have really good premises but horrible execution cough cough Manuela, Ingrid cough cough.
The pacing in this route can be really off. Which is a very unique con to have on a FE game for me personally. The first half of the game is alright no problems there. But the second half, is kind of a big yikes.
(Spoilers) We spend so many chapters just preparing to attack defeat the Flame Emperor. And then we just get the full meat of the overall plot for Byleth and lore all dumped to us in the last two chapters.
WHAT?! HUH?! WHY?!
That's so lame, so much missed opportunities. I wanted to learn more about Shambhala, it looks so futuristic. Especially compare to the rest of Fódlan. Even learning about who the Shambhala descendants are, doesn't explain anything about the place. We also don't learn anything about the Final Boss, like why are they evil. I get why the one we fight is evil but why was the real one evil. I needed more, so much of the context felt heavily mishandled. Especially Rhea and Jeralt, they could do so much more with them but they don't. They hype up these characters but in the plot they serve as a hinderance more than anything else. (End of Spoilers)
Anyways, like I said earlier, this was only one of five other routes. Maybe they have hidden away some of my greater interest in the other routes or maybe not and I'll forever feel sad.
This has got to be the most cheesiest B movie game I've ever played. But I loved it. The game was honestly something special. I did not expect anything this game had to offer in it's plot.
Mostly because I...uh didn't play the first game. This has to be like the third or fourth time I've done this. I personally don't search up information about a game because I wanna go in blind. Sure I played the demo but it gave a completely different feel from the full game. Anyways back to my feelings on the game.
The music was ok, I didn't hate it but I can't say I had a song I really liked or love. The dungeon design was pretty lame, they were just simple paths (sometimes with puzzles) and splits leading to the treasure. And that was it, so yeah dungeon exploring is one of the worst part of this game. The second and last worst part of the game is random encounters. They're all ready annoying, especially on hard. I literally just grinded up a bunch in the ghost place and then turned off encounters for the rest of the game (aside one other area).
Now onto the gameplay. It was fantastic, I loved playing with classes and the Bravely/Default mechanic. I loved it so much I decided I was going to 100% this game. Unfortunately that resulted in burnout. So while I was burnt out from this game I had started and finished FFV before finishing this game. So I can comment on which game did the class system game the best.
Both. They are really good in their own ways. I genuinely cannot choose one over the other.
Second to last, the story. I will say the pacing pretty rough. Especially with them giving a just cause for every "villain". It can get pretty long and odd within the monologues. But regardless, it was alright. It gave me B movie vibes as I said before but it didn't downright ruin anything for me. I actually like the side quest stories way more than the main one, not gonna lie. They had a heavy amount of intrigue to them, especially the E's and Yew's finales.
Finally the characters. They were pretty damn good. I really loved how easy it was to see and tell they were friends with each other with needing side events. Seems to be something that's hard for stories to do for some reason. And party chat and camp event, were pretty fun. I will say I got kind of tired of the food joke tropes after the first time but I'm just not a fan of that trope. I really loved E and Magnolia. They felt really well written. Not that Yew and T didn't , they had their share of cool moments too. I just enjoyed E and Magnolia more.
Either way TLDR I still plan on 100% this game. I truly did have a fun time. And would recommend anyone to play this, especially the side quests. And yes I plan on playing the first game.
Mostly because I...uh didn't play the first game. This has to be like the third or fourth time I've done this. I personally don't search up information about a game because I wanna go in blind. Sure I played the demo but it gave a completely different feel from the full game. Anyways back to my feelings on the game.
The music was ok, I didn't hate it but I can't say I had a song I really liked or love. The dungeon design was pretty lame, they were just simple paths (sometimes with puzzles) and splits leading to the treasure. And that was it, so yeah dungeon exploring is one of the worst part of this game. The second and last worst part of the game is random encounters. They're all ready annoying, especially on hard. I literally just grinded up a bunch in the ghost place and then turned off encounters for the rest of the game (aside one other area).
Now onto the gameplay. It was fantastic, I loved playing with classes and the Bravely/Default mechanic. I loved it so much I decided I was going to 100% this game. Unfortunately that resulted in burnout. So while I was burnt out from this game I had started and finished FFV before finishing this game. So I can comment on which game did the class system game the best.
Both. They are really good in their own ways. I genuinely cannot choose one over the other.
Second to last, the story. I will say the pacing pretty rough. Especially with them giving a just cause for every "villain". It can get pretty long and odd within the monologues. But regardless, it was alright. It gave me B movie vibes as I said before but it didn't downright ruin anything for me. I actually like the side quest stories way more than the main one, not gonna lie. They had a heavy amount of intrigue to them, especially the E's and Yew's finales.
Finally the characters. They were pretty damn good. I really loved how easy it was to see and tell they were friends with each other with needing side events. Seems to be something that's hard for stories to do for some reason. And party chat and camp event, were pretty fun. I will say I got kind of tired of the food joke tropes after the first time but I'm just not a fan of that trope. I really loved E and Magnolia. They felt really well written. Not that Yew and T didn't , they had their share of cool moments too. I just enjoyed E and Magnolia more.
Either way TLDR I still plan on 100% this game. I truly did have a fun time. And would recommend anyone to play this, especially the side quests. And yes I plan on playing the first game.
Couple steps forward and a couple steps backwards....
I'm finally at the end of this tunnel I put myself through for some reason. This game is the best of the three but that was a pretty easy hurdle to cross.
Not a fan of the first mission. It was a shoot-em-up section, it was four or five screens long but yikes was it janky.
The final boss is super easy in this one but at least it isn't cheap like the second one.
And honestly that it. This is the end. I will never play these ever again but I will force someone else to do so because that sounds fun.
I'm finally at the end of this tunnel I put myself through for some reason. This game is the best of the three but that was a pretty easy hurdle to cross.
Not a fan of the first mission. It was a shoot-em-up section, it was four or five screens long but yikes was it janky.
The final boss is super easy in this one but at least it isn't cheap like the second one.
And honestly that it. This is the end. I will never play these ever again but I will force someone else to do so because that sounds fun.
1994
I hadn't really had an itch for arcade games since I thought I couldn't play any of them. But then I say a video talking about this game and it looks so cool. The fact that the gameplay was similar to fighting game controls, the gorgeous spritework, and the pleasant looking character designs. I became so infatuated by this immediately and decide I wanted to play this game. After several tireless effort, I finally found a way to play this. Did it live hope to the greatness I felt when I first say this?
Well kinda...to be straight with you. I enjoyed the game as you can see. But some of the controls and movement are pretty rough imo. I know it's an old game and was not made with and Xbox controller in mind. So obviously, it's my privilege coming out a little when I say this. There's a few things I wish was a bit better though. Such as being able to running, block and/or dodge, choosing when to reload the gun, picking up weapon by accident not eating my inputs, and depth perception being a pain in my butt. A good chunk of my deaths would have been avoided has I had to ability to move fast enough or not forcefully stopped in my tracks.
Aside from all of that, I still had a blast playing through this. And I glad I actually was able to even play this in the first place. The music was great. The story was very miniscule but that was fine, I don't really know anything about this series so I would have been very confused had there been more. I do wish the game was a bit longer but I get why it wasn't. BTW I mostly played as Linn Kurosawa, she looks so cool so I had to try her out. Which isn't very surprising hearing as she influenced Lyn from Fire Emblem design. And she was very fun to play. I played a little of Predator Warrior and it was good. I might run it back with them at some point.
One day I want to play this on an actually arcade system. If those even exist anymore. I feel like I would enjoy it even more.
Well kinda...to be straight with you. I enjoyed the game as you can see. But some of the controls and movement are pretty rough imo. I know it's an old game and was not made with and Xbox controller in mind. So obviously, it's my privilege coming out a little when I say this. There's a few things I wish was a bit better though. Such as being able to running, block and/or dodge, choosing when to reload the gun, picking up weapon by accident not eating my inputs, and depth perception being a pain in my butt. A good chunk of my deaths would have been avoided has I had to ability to move fast enough or not forcefully stopped in my tracks.
Aside from all of that, I still had a blast playing through this. And I glad I actually was able to even play this in the first place. The music was great. The story was very miniscule but that was fine, I don't really know anything about this series so I would have been very confused had there been more. I do wish the game was a bit longer but I get why it wasn't. BTW I mostly played as Linn Kurosawa, she looks so cool so I had to try her out. Which isn't very surprising hearing as she influenced Lyn from Fire Emblem design. And she was very fun to play. I played a little of Predator Warrior and it was good. I might run it back with them at some point.
One day I want to play this on an actually arcade system. If those even exist anymore. I feel like I would enjoy it even more.
2017
I know I made a review for this game several months ago but I replayed it and I just want to gush again on how fun of a game this is. The combat, the music, the animations, and plenty more is just perfect. Literally perfect. This game brings me insanely high levels of enjoyment. This is just fun. That is what it is. It accomplishes so much to me. This is why I love playing video games. I just love this sense of desire, to relax and have a good time. I honestly feel happiness whenever I play this. I really hope it never goes away.
This game is insanely fun, it's so easy to pick up and play. But to master is a different beast. The combos are so fun and feels very creative. The moon system and counter block are pretty cool even if I forget they exist like 80% of the time. Fights are so fast-paced that if you're not use to it you might get annoyed constantly. But that's why you practice if you truly want to get use to it.
I heard people were negative about this game so I went in with low expectations but I don't see anything I would consider bad or terrible. The music isn't bad and the stages are really pretty.
I may not know much about the characters but most of their design isn't god awful. Sure, some are boring than most but I don't really care, I'm not playing those characters so it's whatever.
Anyways it's a really fun game and I see myself playing it whenever I'm in the mood for it.
I heard people were negative about this game so I went in with low expectations but I don't see anything I would consider bad or terrible. The music isn't bad and the stages are really pretty.
I may not know much about the characters but most of their design isn't god awful. Sure, some are boring than most but I don't really care, I'm not playing those characters so it's whatever.
Anyways it's a really fun game and I see myself playing it whenever I'm in the mood for it.
It's been 3 long years since I first experienced this game on the PSP. I had just recently finished First Departure and was locked in for this series. And every since then I've been carving to play the rest of this series. And lo and behold we get a beautiful remake with QOL and gameplay enhancements. COUNT ME IN!
The graphic redesign of all the areas in the game were great. I never really though twice about them before but now I can't stop thinking about that. The new OST is pretty good, a few I wasn't too big on but for the ones I liked originally were done right. The new portrait art look amazing, a little bland in showing emotion compared to the PSP ver. but are objectively better looking. They made mages better and their moves look incredible. The new combat, formations and Assaults were all great additions, they made an already fun battle system even better. Also fishing.....it's ok but I liked Reef and her design.
The QOL is literally what I was wishing for when I played 3 years ago. I loved being able to see when PA were available, I missed some good one back then. Fast travel will always be a godsend. IC/Specialty made things a lot easier to understand. The new cutscenes were very good, a certain event had more impact thanks to it. The Challenge Mission and Sidequest were good additions, made me pay more attention to all the systems in the game. Being able to see FP/RP at anytime was significant better than having to go to Fun City, I could get several endings without it being a pain.
I see myself playing this game several times throughout my life. This remake is perfect.
The graphic redesign of all the areas in the game were great. I never really though twice about them before but now I can't stop thinking about that. The new OST is pretty good, a few I wasn't too big on but for the ones I liked originally were done right. The new portrait art look amazing, a little bland in showing emotion compared to the PSP ver. but are objectively better looking. They made mages better and their moves look incredible. The new combat, formations and Assaults were all great additions, they made an already fun battle system even better. Also fishing.....it's ok but I liked Reef and her design.
The QOL is literally what I was wishing for when I played 3 years ago. I loved being able to see when PA were available, I missed some good one back then. Fast travel will always be a godsend. IC/Specialty made things a lot easier to understand. The new cutscenes were very good, a certain event had more impact thanks to it. The Challenge Mission and Sidequest were good additions, made me pay more attention to all the systems in the game. Being able to see FP/RP at anytime was significant better than having to go to Fun City, I could get several endings without it being a pain.
I see myself playing this game several times throughout my life. This remake is perfect.