LunaEndlessWitch
The understandings that come between characters worlds apart, rendered blissfully through everyday life, from absurd to natural. Nasu's most interpersonal poignant work I feel, largely by nature of being invested in the day-to-day growth between its cast, reflecting on people throughout their days of steely clouds, fallen snow, and fairy tale amusement parks. Ever more blissfully held up by how Type Moon's characters are given such vibrancy, with each interaction always flowing off the page for me into a real group of multifaceted people ^/w/^
I will admit though, that I found myself wishing there was more to chew on than what's here. There's a crazy good juxtaposition between the changing architecture, the diametrically opposed functions of old and new, nostalgic and living-in-the-present, but it ends up becoming more cornerstones of the players of life rather than delved into thinkpieces. Which is largely the point, after all, as this is coming-of-age in its truest form. Everything is open, wide, and turning pages into a more difficult cityscape that demands resolution from you as you're just starting to figure out what you're looking for. And in that way the platitudes, the stories of making the most of your life, the ending divvying up of regrets you still have of the life you've led so far, all culminate together into something deeply fulfilling.
It's a wonderfully graceful work with all that. I'll really have to think on it a lot more as I leave it.
I will admit though, that I found myself wishing there was more to chew on than what's here. There's a crazy good juxtaposition between the changing architecture, the diametrically opposed functions of old and new, nostalgic and living-in-the-present, but it ends up becoming more cornerstones of the players of life rather than delved into thinkpieces. Which is largely the point, after all, as this is coming-of-age in its truest form. Everything is open, wide, and turning pages into a more difficult cityscape that demands resolution from you as you're just starting to figure out what you're looking for. And in that way the platitudes, the stories of making the most of your life, the ending divvying up of regrets you still have of the life you've led so far, all culminate together into something deeply fulfilling.
It's a wonderfully graceful work with all that. I'll really have to think on it a lot more as I leave it.
Genuinely the best feeling 3D platformer I've played innnnnn gotta be at least 5 years. It's, just, pouring out the seams with charm and earnest love, to the point where the polish feels homemade with its partly-crusty lining. Sometimes for woe though, of course, like when the geometry can ~occasionally~ disagree with your particular momentum and existence. Otherwise it feels as clean as it should be!
It has the makings of doing the Super Mario Odyssey flowchart of hat-tricking, but with detours and digressions from that linear track, encouraged both for score and conserving momentum. Sonic but not-quite-Sonic sprinklings on top, and that all flows together phenomenally. What's altogether more stunning though is it's the only work of its ilk that bothers to really have "level design." There's real guidance through its stages in a way that lets you go absolutely hogwild with its toolkit without ever being 'too open' or 'too constrained.' You can reasonably skip as much as you'd like to by mastering the speed of yo-yo tricks well enough, but there's always some things you Need to do. It's so super encouraging of going for the One-Combo 100% run through its stages, to the point where I actually went and did a few. I can't say a game like this has done that to me! It helps that the music is so bouncy and blissful, and stages never outstay their welcome to where the prospect of "you need to do this entire stage again" is a "absolutely hun let's do even better this time".
My only ~real~ issue is that the swinging and twirling, sadly, lacks enough bite, at least for me. I don't think there's a single stage or moment where the game challenged me, and this is AFTER doing every bonus stage. Sure I can do the one-combos and those can be difficult but with all the skips it's only really as hard as I let it be? Even though it's not uncharacteristic for such a clearly soft platformer, I find myself so unsatisfied with the lengths the game really went to, especially when the final boss was more of a wet fart than a real demonstration of the game's skills, or like, your performance as an artist!!! Give it an encore! A real spicy star road!
It has the makings of doing the Super Mario Odyssey flowchart of hat-tricking, but with detours and digressions from that linear track, encouraged both for score and conserving momentum. Sonic but not-quite-Sonic sprinklings on top, and that all flows together phenomenally. What's altogether more stunning though is it's the only work of its ilk that bothers to really have "level design." There's real guidance through its stages in a way that lets you go absolutely hogwild with its toolkit without ever being 'too open' or 'too constrained.' You can reasonably skip as much as you'd like to by mastering the speed of yo-yo tricks well enough, but there's always some things you Need to do. It's so super encouraging of going for the One-Combo 100% run through its stages, to the point where I actually went and did a few. I can't say a game like this has done that to me! It helps that the music is so bouncy and blissful, and stages never outstay their welcome to where the prospect of "you need to do this entire stage again" is a "absolutely hun let's do even better this time".
My only ~real~ issue is that the swinging and twirling, sadly, lacks enough bite, at least for me. I don't think there's a single stage or moment where the game challenged me, and this is AFTER doing every bonus stage. Sure I can do the one-combos and those can be difficult but with all the skips it's only really as hard as I let it be? Even though it's not uncharacteristic for such a clearly soft platformer, I find myself so unsatisfied with the lengths the game really went to, especially when the final boss was more of a wet fart than a real demonstration of the game's skills, or like, your performance as an artist!!! Give it an encore! A real spicy star road!
The makings of a full super duper lovely and cute hamtaro season congealed into one very wonderful ~metroidvania-esque~ package. It's really sweet <3 Lot of smiles, lot of wonderfully relaxing and cozy vibes while simply taking care of all the hamsters as you help them find love!!!
2014
Genuinely the most creative set of fps levels I've got to experience <3
The full characteristics of cyriak videos + old-doom level design philosophy congealed into a rocking-rollercoaster of an Office Experience. Smile on my face from start to finish, from just, incredible use of space and wonderful level gimmicks. Big shoutout to the one messing with past/future, titanfall 2 could never /s /s
If anything, my only 'real' issue is that there's a lot of jumps in terms of difficulty (although a lot of the later breathing room makes sense,, some of these maps hold nothing back), as it does always make me giggle when the Hardest challenge was Well Before the halfway point for me. Then again I do feel like just experiencing this pack front-to-back helped me buff out a lot of my amateur-ness with running these maps. I feel more equipped than ever to tackle stuff like Sunlust again.
If you have even the remote interest in trying out a Doom WAD, I think this is the best place to start, just so you can experience the true 9-5 workerman perspective.
The full characteristics of cyriak videos + old-doom level design philosophy congealed into a rocking-rollercoaster of an Office Experience. Smile on my face from start to finish, from just, incredible use of space and wonderful level gimmicks. Big shoutout to the one messing with past/future, titanfall 2 could never /s /s
If anything, my only 'real' issue is that there's a lot of jumps in terms of difficulty (although a lot of the later breathing room makes sense,, some of these maps hold nothing back), as it does always make me giggle when the Hardest challenge was Well Before the halfway point for me. Then again I do feel like just experiencing this pack front-to-back helped me buff out a lot of my amateur-ness with running these maps. I feel more equipped than ever to tackle stuff like Sunlust again.
If you have even the remote interest in trying out a Doom WAD, I think this is the best place to start, just so you can experience the true 9-5 workerman perspective.
2009
Masterclass in indulgence and responsible for too many things in my life.
This one's for all the real witches,,,
This one's for all the real witches,,,
2023
My kneejerk reaction is that l feel super weird about loving what is essentially an architectural achievement. I can't help but have, a sense of unease at a lot of the surroundings of this experience. The basic copypasta-like clearly House of Leaves-rip that doesn't really have much of a personal soul to it, and more the boxings of one, just rides on me (especially if the trauma part of that is actually real, which makes things even more complicated). Especially when it pulls memes and such of the internet to congeal here, and especially when I'm literally in an in-progress read of the book that leaves me too numb to feel the lovings of a homage without kind of scoffing at the quality attempt.
,,,on that same token though, it is a homage. A very carefully crafted one that manages to utilize its medium in ways that lift the ech-beginnings into something that emotionally feels haunting and winding. It's a very terrible reduction, but sometimes being a meticulous, loving director can help transcend a pretty shitty script. I really was terrified constantly. I found each exploration vast and visceral. Cheating (because this derg, is scared) doesn't even help when more often than not you get lost in ways that unnerve. Walking down the first long corridor and hitting ~The Labyrinth~ I immediately closed the WAD reflexively knowing there was a beast around the corner. I don't want to even talk about the dogs.
There's a big inner giddiness of "gosh I want to see more like this", a nerd-like love from experience looking at the ins-and-outs of WAD-making, feeling the rush when it's all demystified and going "gosh how did they do this??? Amazing!!" Sicker than suburbs have any real right to be. Manages to defy my usual personal distaste for the 'innovative' meta without a concrete narrative heart (e.g. Inscryption (sorry), Pony Island (not sorry), etc.).
,,,on that same token though, it is a homage. A very carefully crafted one that manages to utilize its medium in ways that lift the ech-beginnings into something that emotionally feels haunting and winding. It's a very terrible reduction, but sometimes being a meticulous, loving director can help transcend a pretty shitty script. I really was terrified constantly. I found each exploration vast and visceral. Cheating (because this derg, is scared) doesn't even help when more often than not you get lost in ways that unnerve. Walking down the first long corridor and hitting ~The Labyrinth~ I immediately closed the WAD reflexively knowing there was a beast around the corner. I don't want to even talk about the dogs.
There's a big inner giddiness of "gosh I want to see more like this", a nerd-like love from experience looking at the ins-and-outs of WAD-making, feeling the rush when it's all demystified and going "gosh how did they do this??? Amazing!!" Sicker than suburbs have any real right to be. Manages to defy my usual personal distaste for the 'innovative' meta without a concrete narrative heart (e.g. Inscryption (sorry), Pony Island (not sorry), etc.).
The cutest thing about this is making like 5+ something name replacements of Limewire-and-related stuff of the time for like 3 scenes, that I'm absolutely not going to give you the context for because I think exploring haunted libraries about your trauma is fun for everyone.
2017
"Please stop taking over my life."
"Aw but don't you want the full motion tracking for-"
"NO"
"Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to immerse yourself lying down and-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
"Just get that model too hun. You want it."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"Aw but don't you want the full motion tracking for-"
"NO"
"Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to immerse yourself lying down and-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
"Just get that model too hun. You want it."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
2020
please free my SO she's 50 hours deep still in act 1 and keeps sharing snippits of wanting to fuck the vampire I can no longer reach her
2023
This review contains spoilers
I ended up stopping rather early because many things about it were starting to make me very uncomfortable over time. I was,, kind of enjoying myself I feel half the time. The lovely ~next gen~ presentation, a level of genuine aesthetic fidelity that actually gave power to how scenes evolved, rather than feeling fleeting or weightless. Combat for the most part kind of rode that roller coaster too, being technical and combo-y and rather fun to mash. It's not deep enough for me to personally come back, not as far as I got anyway, but the functions of it were kinesthetically lovely, and I liked to optimize where I could. Also the general vibe was making me really like,, two of the characters. Clive in particular, which I feel is probably obvious, as the narrative certainly favors him by design. But he feels really human, very much at odds with a sense of broken adolescence and vengenace and multiple levels of emotion he lets pull him and be earnest with. Side quests especially make that apparent, and those are all good I liked those!! They're fun and hammy and Worldbuilding and feel a kind of neatly alive in a way I like about 7R's sidequests but with just more of that flavor here (also especially the way Clive acts in response he's so cute).
There's also Cid, who's kind of just hot, but like, really really hot. His smoked-several-thousands-of-packs voice had me off my talons a little, you know? And there's that very YA ooo he's dealing with some demons in the dark but he's holding strong OOOO.
But, to dig down on something, 'favored by the narrative'. There is a stringent commonality on who is actually 'favored', at all times. The first time I felt rather taken aback is with Clive's mom, a scene where she is clearly disfavorable of him, and then further when the dad is not just keenly aware of that but practically works around the ~crazy uncaring figure~. And then WOW it turns out she's spoilers sleeping with him still for political gain and didn't really care about any of them. Oh and the other girl lead we've seen so far is sleeping with guys in a way she doesn't enjoy for political again. Oh and Jill is there in an explicitly subserviant role to the family, even if she is family. Oh and next time we see her she's in chains and smacked down to the ground before we free her. Oh and next time we see Benadiktra or whatever it becomes a thing that Cid knows about and she's soooo bad to herself and her body. Oh and there's more violence against women scene to scene. Oh it's NOT stopping??
Yeah it's gross I don't feel good about it. The further I went the less charity I had. The more time I spent away from it around like, chapter 6(?), the more I didn't feel good about myself and what this game might be for. It's not like I couldn't push aside some of this stuff and jive with the dudesss rock a little,,
So I sat through the whole story on youtube because I wasn't planning on spending too many hours on it, just needed peace of mind. Like maybe it gets better? Maybe what I feel is just some negative nanny while everyone else is enjoying themselves! Not the first time it's happened really.
I got to the Garuda scene and promptly lost what remained of good will. Almost closed it out but kept going just to see where it ends.
I shelve it now instead of dropping because I know, I love final fantasy too fucking much. Maybe I'll read someone's thing that opens up a whole new door for me for it, or something. But until that time comes I detest this shit. God awful FF. Do NOT go down the rabbit hole further trying to justify the development somewhere (this lead writer made Heavensward?? What the fuck happened??), you might find out shit like this https://twitter.com/aitaikimochi/status/1688248192968912896?s=20
There's also Cid, who's kind of just hot, but like, really really hot. His smoked-several-thousands-of-packs voice had me off my talons a little, you know? And there's that very YA ooo he's dealing with some demons in the dark but he's holding strong OOOO.
But, to dig down on something, 'favored by the narrative'. There is a stringent commonality on who is actually 'favored', at all times. The first time I felt rather taken aback is with Clive's mom, a scene where she is clearly disfavorable of him, and then further when the dad is not just keenly aware of that but practically works around the ~crazy uncaring figure~. And then WOW it turns out she's spoilers sleeping with him still for political gain and didn't really care about any of them. Oh and the other girl lead we've seen so far is sleeping with guys in a way she doesn't enjoy for political again. Oh and Jill is there in an explicitly subserviant role to the family, even if she is family. Oh and next time we see her she's in chains and smacked down to the ground before we free her. Oh and next time we see Benadiktra or whatever it becomes a thing that Cid knows about and she's soooo bad to herself and her body. Oh and there's more violence against women scene to scene. Oh it's NOT stopping??
Yeah it's gross I don't feel good about it. The further I went the less charity I had. The more time I spent away from it around like, chapter 6(?), the more I didn't feel good about myself and what this game might be for. It's not like I couldn't push aside some of this stuff and jive with the dudesss rock a little,,
So I sat through the whole story on youtube because I wasn't planning on spending too many hours on it, just needed peace of mind. Like maybe it gets better? Maybe what I feel is just some negative nanny while everyone else is enjoying themselves! Not the first time it's happened really.
I got to the Garuda scene and promptly lost what remained of good will. Almost closed it out but kept going just to see where it ends.
I shelve it now instead of dropping because I know, I love final fantasy too fucking much. Maybe I'll read someone's thing that opens up a whole new door for me for it, or something. But until that time comes I detest this shit. God awful FF. Do NOT go down the rabbit hole further trying to justify the development somewhere (this lead writer made Heavensward?? What the fuck happened??), you might find out shit like this https://twitter.com/aitaikimochi/status/1688248192968912896?s=20
2001
Too kaizo for me but I MUST respect it. Was a blast to go back and play this after growing up on super monkey ball 2 for ages. Definitely one of the “tightest” platformers to exist, and I enjoy some of the proto versions of minigames here that I’m far more familiar with the sequel for ^w^
I did manage to clear Expert but I’m NOT 1cc’ing that holy shit
I did manage to clear Expert but I’m NOT 1cc’ing that holy shit
2018
MMOs and what they mean for its players and how they vibrantly connect people, places, things, etc. is all fertile ground to explore. But I don't think employing its conventions for the sheer sake of, what I feel is just having them for tribute, while having nothing really emotional on offer throughout a painful exchange of 'well, grinding is core to feeling that time and investment yes?', is good. Partner quips and npc dialogue that rudimentarily remark on things-that-people-do-in-mmos is not enough connecting tissue to simulate that there is LIFE here. I would sincerely trade away the game's rather functional and alright combat, and solid zelda-like puzzle design, for something much worse if it meant that there was sincere emotional depth to its personality, history and real internet-like connection between factions and people here, etc etc. Like there's almost something unnerving about playing through an 'mmo' with this much polish. I'm not saying it needs to be more realistic but it feels so ultimately constructed and lacking in every punch put within the first handful of hours. Even your avatar is simply emotive early-on, in a situation I feel would at least incite so much more vulnerability (there's not even, like, real awkwardness or emotional unevenness between any of its cast so far. You think vr mmo players are going to communicate this perfect?). Idk, not every mmo reconstruction needs to be DOTHACK, but gosh does this wish it was dothack
I know there's a happy end ahead.
I know there's a path at the other end of this hell where the grass is green, trees tower, and my wings can extend.
I know there I can be 'me.' A real one, crafted and worked for, built out of my own dreams.
It doesn't make the days easier. The 'struggle'. The weight of a scornful trap looped over my surroundings, the thorns edged up painfully under the skin. The threads are old but they've been there long enough not with weakness but from cold strength. They bind and they encourage an idea that this is what we deserve, what we need, it's NECESSARY to die for it. They have surrounded more people than you will ever know, an endless sprawl of bodies left discordantly across, either painfully close to you or vividly realized in others' words. Even after you think you can violently toss it aside, thinking they're gone, the wounds never heal or SCAR. They stick with you for the rest of your life, the darkness Will follow you everywhere.
Which is why we have to give ourselves our own dream, with our own hands, built to last.
"We’re not who they want us to be. We are us, and that’s ok. I couldn’t accept it before, and it tore our hearts apart. But now, I can accept it. I can accept me."
I know there's a path at the other end of this hell where the grass is green, trees tower, and my wings can extend.
I know there I can be 'me.' A real one, crafted and worked for, built out of my own dreams.
It doesn't make the days easier. The 'struggle'. The weight of a scornful trap looped over my surroundings, the thorns edged up painfully under the skin. The threads are old but they've been there long enough not with weakness but from cold strength. They bind and they encourage an idea that this is what we deserve, what we need, it's NECESSARY to die for it. They have surrounded more people than you will ever know, an endless sprawl of bodies left discordantly across, either painfully close to you or vividly realized in others' words. Even after you think you can violently toss it aside, thinking they're gone, the wounds never heal or SCAR. They stick with you for the rest of your life, the darkness Will follow you everywhere.
Which is why we have to give ourselves our own dream, with our own hands, built to last.
"We’re not who they want us to be. We are us, and that’s ok. I couldn’t accept it before, and it tore our hearts apart. But now, I can accept it. I can accept me."
2022
This is the only phone game I’ve touched that made me go back to do every achievement, feeling ever more things clicking while shooting for the 4-jump-orb only clear, and enjoying myself enough to live through a 9 hour flight with zero wifi. It really does strike the wonderful tonality of an arcade game where you keep finding a thing to master with each stage and learning fruit arc priorities and what combination of the like 3 perks you can have for the 4-clear. Elated when finally got that last medal fucker in the last half hour of the flight home.
It’s just a really good game!! Need more phone games like this :(
It’s just a really good game!! Need more phone games like this :(
2023
If you dislike what FF7R is doing in any reasonable respect but like this game then I don’t think we’ll ever understand each other completely