Lynxelot
2011
This review contains spoilers
Enjoyable to be sure, but it never felt like it truly captivated me. I still have a lot to say about it, though, 'cause of course I do.
I found the pacing to easily be the most impressive thing about this game, moving about at a solid clip that only really slowed down for a couple bumps in the road and never got too overly quick either. I would have liked for there to be more opportunities for the party to interact with each other as that felt lacking due to how near-breakneck the pace often was.
I gotta say, I don't really like ATB! I already hadn't liked it back when I played some of these games as a kid, and now it's not really felt any better. The lack of direct party synergy (think Chrono Trigger's combo techs) made the system in this game feel much like traditional turn-based battling with extra steps that waste time. What made it feel most tolerable in FF4, though, is that the game is paced and balanced pretty damn well to the point of having no notable grinds, meaning simply taking most battles as they come and using autobattle where needed is enough to get through relatively unscathed. It's horribly unengaging as I've found ATB to typically be, but again, it became tolerable for virtue of its brevity.
The different classes and growth for the party were a piece I did enjoy plenty, with some asterisks. First I found it a little anticlimactic how Rydia and Tellah both sort of just... got most of their powers all at once instead of them coming over time. However, I think those were balanced out by the sheer breadth and variety of different classes that made up the party by the end of the game, with pretty much everyone being unique and memorable save for the twins (whose 'generic' roles were by design!). Learning about how endgame stat growths change is really cool and gave me even more respect for the good ol' spoony bard Edward. Spells felt mostly well balanced and all the various weapons had their use cases come and go, plus armor and weapon progression felt natural and flowing instead of abrupt or too repetitive. In short, a lot of the more subtle background elements of this game's mechanics that one easily takes for granted are honestly really well done when put under a microscope.
When considering the writing of this game, I found some of the characters were compelling even with things moving along too quickly for comfort. Cecil comes to mind, of course, but also Edward and to a degree Rydia have a lot to show for themselves. Most of the rest of the cast was enjoyable, but their lack of scenes and interactions felt particularly hefty whenever sacrifices were made and congratulations were had. I found it hard to feel invested in the characters when they only had one or two scenes each to even get a feel for their characterizations on average. It often felt as if the plot were simply happening to them and they were along for the ride rather than really reacting to it, once again save for the three characters I mentioned above (and Cid).
The plot as a whole was surprisingly rich for how tiny the world felt and how frugal the game's sense of efficiency was. It was straightforward in a pretty charming way and I found that it was executed as a whole pretty well. I'd call it concise but interesting, with very little feeling like bad filler aside from Edge's everything. Nothing was too terribly deep when it came to the worldbuilding, but I didn't mind much. The world of the game in general is quite puny so trying to be too overly epic would feel off. I wish the world of the summons/eidolons would have been expanded upon more, though, as much of Rydia's development there happening entirely off screen felt disappointing and like a huge well of untapped potential.
To give some very brief thoughts on my favorite characters of FF4, I found Cecil's redemption to be at times more subtle and slow-burning than I've seen people give it credit for. Edward being interactable after many major story events while he's bedridden was a great touch for a character whose whole screentime was both memorable and enjoyable. As a result, I found that despite his lack of prominence in the latter half of the game he still felt plenty present. His scene of playing a song to help the party in the cave was extremely heartwarming and hit me way harder than expected for such a light one. As for Rydia, she was cooler in concept than in execution, but she got far more characterization from the earlygame than most of the rest got across the whole thing, so good for her! She and Cecil feel almost like very mild foils in a way that I considered endearing for them both.
I'm not sure where else to put this, so I'll add it here: I felt that there was an occasional weirdly sexist tint to this game that it couldn't quite shake off. Rosa's lack of meaningful characterization other than "she loves Cecil" for 90% of the game felt almost artificial when one recalls her one personality-filled scene with Rydia. She had a sense of fierceness and mystique there that felt more magelike and even sagelike than pretty much any of the actual mages and sages in the game ever did. Rosa presented in just one moment some effective wisdom, a mix of blunt truthfulness yet gentle understanding. It felt as if, if they had tried or realized they could, the writers could easily have passed the Bechdel test in plenty of scenes, but for whatever reason they just had to dumpster their women instead.
For the expected party compositions throughout the game things were arranged such that the player nearly always had a reason to put the women in the back and the men in the front with only the one male child being the exception. Even when paired with a more frail male party member like Edward or Tellah, one still felt encouraged to have them up front with Cecil simply because the twins or Rydia felt more frail, or Rosa needed more bodies in front of her to avoid being pummeled and lose the player their healer. Rosa as something of an object was treated as a prize for Cecil's arc as a 'necessary' story piece despite the arc in a vacuum being the reward in itself. He's also given a whole kingdom afterward which is also a little random. That weird scene toward the end where Edge seemed to call both grown women 'kids' while he helped shoo them off of the ship away from danger with the other men agreeing? Yeah, that was dumb too. Edge in general was pretty slimy and shitty in a way that felt more like he was intended to be quirky but failed horribly.
Yet, the vague misogyny of sorts also felt almost too awkward for itself and to me seemed unfitting of the game. I admired the takes on traditional socially-imposed notions of masculinity being shed in favor of a more whole and true self that Cecil's arc had baked into it. I liked that he was not immediately forgiven by everyone everywhere, let alone fully by himself, after becoming a paladin. These things counter what one would expect from a male power fantasy type of arc or story -- it makes the tacked-on bits of uncomfortable 'tradition' seem all the more flimsy, including the free kingdom he was given as mentioned earlier.
The virtuousness of the party aligns fairly directly with their disregard for adhering to common (gender) roles. Yang's straightforwardly warm nature as opposed to a monk's expected stoicism and Cid's more traditional masculinity being channeled into helping and protecting others are both shown to be positive and mature contrasted with Palom and Edge's immature, irrational macho toxicity. Edward and Tellah foil each other well in a similar fashion with their reactions to and subsequent resolves stemming from Anna's death. Lust for revenge through ultimate power is Tellah's undoing that he himself realizes and regrets while the sickly Edward grows into true courage, with his postgame stats even reflecting such. Rydia returns from childhood with a newfound air of agency and independence that make her feel free to be exactly who she is, nothing more and nothing less, and absolutely not tied down by others like Edge trying to infantilize her due to her sex. She finds her own family in the feymarch and it's satisfying.
These things are all here! They're all visible! And it isn't like there's anything wrong with Porom being an emotionally mature feminine presence to contrast with Palom, or with Rosa being in total love with Cecil all game, either! It's just that there are weird bits and pieces of slightly uncomfortable stuff that pop up at seemingly random times. It's inconsistent. It seriously makes me wonder just how much was due to orders from higher up, differing views of level/mechanical designers and writing staff (and art staff, even), or whatever else. The problem is that with how bare the writing often is due to the lack of it, those bits and pieces stick out so much more than they otherwise would. There's a sour taste that was left in my mouth that I wish would have been diluted by more writing, but there wasn't any to do so.
It's due in no small part to the above that I found myself a little nonplussed at times in this playthrough, but I certainly didn't find myself deeply underwhelmed to the point of disliking the game. Again, a lot of what the game does just works. It doesn't have any really huge pitfalls, most of its weak points aren't damning, and it has plenty of small things going for it. Hell, the fact that I'm here ruminating on what it all means suggests that it had quite a lot to think about despite how bare its text was overall. I'd consider that both impressive and valuable. It's almost an enigma just how thought provoking FF4 is through being so vanilla and straightforward and sparse.
I think more than anything else it was absolutely worth playing even just for history's sake. I don't think this would make a favorites list of mine anytime soon, but it definitely felt like the first of these games to challenge the first entry and it did a solid job of it. I can only imagine things get a lot better from here, though. There's plenty of room for it.
I found the pacing to easily be the most impressive thing about this game, moving about at a solid clip that only really slowed down for a couple bumps in the road and never got too overly quick either. I would have liked for there to be more opportunities for the party to interact with each other as that felt lacking due to how near-breakneck the pace often was.
I gotta say, I don't really like ATB! I already hadn't liked it back when I played some of these games as a kid, and now it's not really felt any better. The lack of direct party synergy (think Chrono Trigger's combo techs) made the system in this game feel much like traditional turn-based battling with extra steps that waste time. What made it feel most tolerable in FF4, though, is that the game is paced and balanced pretty damn well to the point of having no notable grinds, meaning simply taking most battles as they come and using autobattle where needed is enough to get through relatively unscathed. It's horribly unengaging as I've found ATB to typically be, but again, it became tolerable for virtue of its brevity.
The different classes and growth for the party were a piece I did enjoy plenty, with some asterisks. First I found it a little anticlimactic how Rydia and Tellah both sort of just... got most of their powers all at once instead of them coming over time. However, I think those were balanced out by the sheer breadth and variety of different classes that made up the party by the end of the game, with pretty much everyone being unique and memorable save for the twins (whose 'generic' roles were by design!). Learning about how endgame stat growths change is really cool and gave me even more respect for the good ol' spoony bard Edward. Spells felt mostly well balanced and all the various weapons had their use cases come and go, plus armor and weapon progression felt natural and flowing instead of abrupt or too repetitive. In short, a lot of the more subtle background elements of this game's mechanics that one easily takes for granted are honestly really well done when put under a microscope.
When considering the writing of this game, I found some of the characters were compelling even with things moving along too quickly for comfort. Cecil comes to mind, of course, but also Edward and to a degree Rydia have a lot to show for themselves. Most of the rest of the cast was enjoyable, but their lack of scenes and interactions felt particularly hefty whenever sacrifices were made and congratulations were had. I found it hard to feel invested in the characters when they only had one or two scenes each to even get a feel for their characterizations on average. It often felt as if the plot were simply happening to them and they were along for the ride rather than really reacting to it, once again save for the three characters I mentioned above (and Cid).
The plot as a whole was surprisingly rich for how tiny the world felt and how frugal the game's sense of efficiency was. It was straightforward in a pretty charming way and I found that it was executed as a whole pretty well. I'd call it concise but interesting, with very little feeling like bad filler aside from Edge's everything. Nothing was too terribly deep when it came to the worldbuilding, but I didn't mind much. The world of the game in general is quite puny so trying to be too overly epic would feel off. I wish the world of the summons/eidolons would have been expanded upon more, though, as much of Rydia's development there happening entirely off screen felt disappointing and like a huge well of untapped potential.
To give some very brief thoughts on my favorite characters of FF4, I found Cecil's redemption to be at times more subtle and slow-burning than I've seen people give it credit for. Edward being interactable after many major story events while he's bedridden was a great touch for a character whose whole screentime was both memorable and enjoyable. As a result, I found that despite his lack of prominence in the latter half of the game he still felt plenty present. His scene of playing a song to help the party in the cave was extremely heartwarming and hit me way harder than expected for such a light one. As for Rydia, she was cooler in concept than in execution, but she got far more characterization from the earlygame than most of the rest got across the whole thing, so good for her! She and Cecil feel almost like very mild foils in a way that I considered endearing for them both.
I'm not sure where else to put this, so I'll add it here: I felt that there was an occasional weirdly sexist tint to this game that it couldn't quite shake off. Rosa's lack of meaningful characterization other than "she loves Cecil" for 90% of the game felt almost artificial when one recalls her one personality-filled scene with Rydia. She had a sense of fierceness and mystique there that felt more magelike and even sagelike than pretty much any of the actual mages and sages in the game ever did. Rosa presented in just one moment some effective wisdom, a mix of blunt truthfulness yet gentle understanding. It felt as if, if they had tried or realized they could, the writers could easily have passed the Bechdel test in plenty of scenes, but for whatever reason they just had to dumpster their women instead.
For the expected party compositions throughout the game things were arranged such that the player nearly always had a reason to put the women in the back and the men in the front with only the one male child being the exception. Even when paired with a more frail male party member like Edward or Tellah, one still felt encouraged to have them up front with Cecil simply because the twins or Rydia felt more frail, or Rosa needed more bodies in front of her to avoid being pummeled and lose the player their healer. Rosa as something of an object was treated as a prize for Cecil's arc as a 'necessary' story piece despite the arc in a vacuum being the reward in itself. He's also given a whole kingdom afterward which is also a little random. That weird scene toward the end where Edge seemed to call both grown women 'kids' while he helped shoo them off of the ship away from danger with the other men agreeing? Yeah, that was dumb too. Edge in general was pretty slimy and shitty in a way that felt more like he was intended to be quirky but failed horribly.
Yet, the vague misogyny of sorts also felt almost too awkward for itself and to me seemed unfitting of the game. I admired the takes on traditional socially-imposed notions of masculinity being shed in favor of a more whole and true self that Cecil's arc had baked into it. I liked that he was not immediately forgiven by everyone everywhere, let alone fully by himself, after becoming a paladin. These things counter what one would expect from a male power fantasy type of arc or story -- it makes the tacked-on bits of uncomfortable 'tradition' seem all the more flimsy, including the free kingdom he was given as mentioned earlier.
The virtuousness of the party aligns fairly directly with their disregard for adhering to common (gender) roles. Yang's straightforwardly warm nature as opposed to a monk's expected stoicism and Cid's more traditional masculinity being channeled into helping and protecting others are both shown to be positive and mature contrasted with Palom and Edge's immature, irrational macho toxicity. Edward and Tellah foil each other well in a similar fashion with their reactions to and subsequent resolves stemming from Anna's death. Lust for revenge through ultimate power is Tellah's undoing that he himself realizes and regrets while the sickly Edward grows into true courage, with his postgame stats even reflecting such. Rydia returns from childhood with a newfound air of agency and independence that make her feel free to be exactly who she is, nothing more and nothing less, and absolutely not tied down by others like Edge trying to infantilize her due to her sex. She finds her own family in the feymarch and it's satisfying.
These things are all here! They're all visible! And it isn't like there's anything wrong with Porom being an emotionally mature feminine presence to contrast with Palom, or with Rosa being in total love with Cecil all game, either! It's just that there are weird bits and pieces of slightly uncomfortable stuff that pop up at seemingly random times. It's inconsistent. It seriously makes me wonder just how much was due to orders from higher up, differing views of level/mechanical designers and writing staff (and art staff, even), or whatever else. The problem is that with how bare the writing often is due to the lack of it, those bits and pieces stick out so much more than they otherwise would. There's a sour taste that was left in my mouth that I wish would have been diluted by more writing, but there wasn't any to do so.
It's due in no small part to the above that I found myself a little nonplussed at times in this playthrough, but I certainly didn't find myself deeply underwhelmed to the point of disliking the game. Again, a lot of what the game does just works. It doesn't have any really huge pitfalls, most of its weak points aren't damning, and it has plenty of small things going for it. Hell, the fact that I'm here ruminating on what it all means suggests that it had quite a lot to think about despite how bare its text was overall. I'd consider that both impressive and valuable. It's almost an enigma just how thought provoking FF4 is through being so vanilla and straightforward and sparse.
I think more than anything else it was absolutely worth playing even just for history's sake. I don't think this would make a favorites list of mine anytime soon, but it definitely felt like the first of these games to challenge the first entry and it did a solid job of it. I can only imagine things get a lot better from here, though. There's plenty of room for it.
cheapest shit i have ever seen LOL can we at least get something like this for digimon 2020 so that game doesn't die
1990
i came back to this game on a whim and it fucking sucks, i don't feel like elaborating today
2019
played through all of 2-player mode; it didn't ever feel like the gimmicks and concepts were expanded enough to feel interesting. cute little timewaster though i suppose
Lots of fun, felt more like an extended proof of concept than a fully cooked game though. It's a shame what I've heard about the development and budgetary issues this game went through, cause the mechanical base for it is very sturdy and well crafted but just has very little designed around and beyond it.
Every vocation I tried was a lot of fun barring the Warrior and I really wanted to get through the rest, but the game was not really long enough to let me do so. I'll have to pick up the slack in the second game, or maybe even come back to this one with its apparently lauded NG+. Discovering how to break mechanics was a lot of fun considering how much of it was a mix of numbers and animations rather than just exploiting one or the other.
The NPCs and world were a lot of fun to experience both in the writing and in combat. The quest writing wasn't too interesting but they knew it was meant to take a backseat to the main quest and actual gameplay. When it comes to the main quest writing I wasn't a huge fan of how the endgame lore went, hoping it would be more meta than it was (kinda unusual for me to think so), but the ideas it put forward worked well enough.
I almost wish this game had a dedicated dungeon crawling side mode that might have existed alongside the main game, but it seems the closest thing is just the DLC and sorta the last portion of the game, neither of which spans the whole thing for obvious reasons. The combat definitely serves as the primary draw (that and the vore obviously) and I found that the game weirdly lacked places for it to be pressed beyond either samey skirmishes or unpolished bosses.
The sequel's got me full of hype and hope that they'll do everything they wished they could with this one. I was a bit sad I had to run some kinda humanish character in this but there were plenty of orcish looking options that worked out for me. Beastren stuff in the sequel will be cool I'm sure!
Anyway, the game is soul incarnate. They cooked with this one but just didn't have enough time in the kitchen.
Every vocation I tried was a lot of fun barring the Warrior and I really wanted to get through the rest, but the game was not really long enough to let me do so. I'll have to pick up the slack in the second game, or maybe even come back to this one with its apparently lauded NG+. Discovering how to break mechanics was a lot of fun considering how much of it was a mix of numbers and animations rather than just exploiting one or the other.
The NPCs and world were a lot of fun to experience both in the writing and in combat. The quest writing wasn't too interesting but they knew it was meant to take a backseat to the main quest and actual gameplay. When it comes to the main quest writing I wasn't a huge fan of how the endgame lore went, hoping it would be more meta than it was (kinda unusual for me to think so), but the ideas it put forward worked well enough.
I almost wish this game had a dedicated dungeon crawling side mode that might have existed alongside the main game, but it seems the closest thing is just the DLC and sorta the last portion of the game, neither of which spans the whole thing for obvious reasons. The combat definitely serves as the primary draw (that and the vore obviously) and I found that the game weirdly lacked places for it to be pressed beyond either samey skirmishes or unpolished bosses.
The sequel's got me full of hype and hope that they'll do everything they wished they could with this one. I was a bit sad I had to run some kinda humanish character in this but there were plenty of orcish looking options that worked out for me. Beastren stuff in the sequel will be cool I'm sure!
Anyway, the game is soul incarnate. They cooked with this one but just didn't have enough time in the kitchen.
1987
I played until the emulator crashed. It was sometimes torture but it was really cool torture and when it wasn't torture it was pretty cool! I love short stories and riddles and puzzles so this is super up my alley. I'm just kinda soured by the circumstances behind my run. Likely gonna pick up on the playthrough some other time when I can play it in a more stable environment.
played the main game as well as the included maze game and clock. none of them felt particularly great, also i don't know if the main game even has an ending cause i cleared the whole board with lots of effort and the game just sorta kept on going with no way to quit. the maze's hardest difficulty is also funny as fuck and the clock's plainness even more so
1973
Played the Macintosh rerelease, Maze Wars+! Really charming little game, though I wish I could have played with a whole bunch of people. Apparently even the original 1973 release was an FPS with corner peeking which I find particularly impressive. As cool as having an active map is in this version, though, it takes away from the main graphical interface to the point where I found myself staring more at the map than at the dungeon I was in. I'd love to somehow try the original version one day.
Lastly: "I GOT EM!"
Lastly: "I GOT EM!"
1999
the high level of soul of this game reminded me of just how important time and place can be for something in this medium. i don't think anything as charming as this could be made in the days following or before its release, and its distinctness from yet resemblance to the i spy source material are perfectly placed in equal measure. worth every second and every penny. in a word, kino.
There's a sense of serenity that comes from this game even in its toughest platforming segments, a sort of playgroundy feeling resembling playing pretend more than just about any other game I can think of.
Sure, the bosses are too backloaded and yes, the inconsistent traction can be irritating while running is too slow, and of course the attack and ear-floating are both a wee bit short... but with pointed and clever design accounting for these things and more, I don't find myself needing to harp on them very much.
Strong direction on many fronts, a dollop of soul, perfect technological timing, and a masterful touching upon the shared experience of childhood dreams bring together a game I would have regretted not playing before I die.
Sure, the bosses are too backloaded and yes, the inconsistent traction can be irritating while running is too slow, and of course the attack and ear-floating are both a wee bit short... but with pointed and clever design accounting for these things and more, I don't find myself needing to harp on them very much.
Strong direction on many fronts, a dollop of soul, perfect technological timing, and a masterful touching upon the shared experience of childhood dreams bring together a game I would have regretted not playing before I die.
2000
i'm glad i played that kellogg's cereal demo of this game something around two decades ago (and yes i can recite the opening dialogue between spider-man and black cat from memory). that bit of not-quite-nostalgia makes this game perfect to come back to every once in a while.
charming in a whole lot of ways, spider-man 2000 has a lot of old-game fun and has plenty of its own fun being cliché that's palpable all the time. replaying this game made me realize just how much i missed things like the numerous cheat codes, a silly bonus mode, and cute unlockables this game features like others in its era and the one just before it.
in exchange for these pluses, though, the level design is a little bit spotty and the game has some of the worst boss fights it probably could have. the whole last two levels of the game feel needlessly gimmicky and the general design feels less deliberate in the final level, but the game up until then is well aware of spider-man's abilities and has the player using most of them frequently. there's too much combat once the main enemy type of the last couple levels appears, but otherwise it's used sparingly and entertainingly up until then.
the controls are a mixed bag, feeling a bit odd, although the different directional inputs for various web moves is pretty creative if a little clunky. it's a respectable level of ambition, with the game then only really being held back by the lack of omnidirectional movement as well as a camera that doesn't quite follow spider-man as well as it can on walls and ceilings.
still, as i've said the game makes up for the majority of its shortcomings with the soul it holds within. it's just so silly and straightforwardly, unapologetically comic book-esque that it feels perfect for what it is. the script is top-notch both in the main campaign and the what-if mode, and dialogue is snappy in a way that's awkwardly brief at times yet engaging to have a very unique feel to its cutscene pacing. the player is given the treat of encountering a nice little slew of some of spider-man's most iconic villains and allies, quite a nice mix for how short the game is. even not being a huge spider-man buff, let alone much of a comics one, i find it very clear that the devs absolutely cared to make sure the game felt exactly as it should. it's spot-on.
i can't stress enough just how much of a must-play this game is for 3d platforming fans, spider-man fans, and late 90s/early 00s gaming fans, and especially for those who fit into any of all of those groups. again, even someone who's fairly casual on comics lore can get a lot out of the fun this game exudes in every scene. it's not perfect, far from it, but it excels at exactly the sorts of things i'd imagine fans would appreciate on top of just being a solid 3d platformer.
charming in a whole lot of ways, spider-man 2000 has a lot of old-game fun and has plenty of its own fun being cliché that's palpable all the time. replaying this game made me realize just how much i missed things like the numerous cheat codes, a silly bonus mode, and cute unlockables this game features like others in its era and the one just before it.
in exchange for these pluses, though, the level design is a little bit spotty and the game has some of the worst boss fights it probably could have. the whole last two levels of the game feel needlessly gimmicky and the general design feels less deliberate in the final level, but the game up until then is well aware of spider-man's abilities and has the player using most of them frequently. there's too much combat once the main enemy type of the last couple levels appears, but otherwise it's used sparingly and entertainingly up until then.
the controls are a mixed bag, feeling a bit odd, although the different directional inputs for various web moves is pretty creative if a little clunky. it's a respectable level of ambition, with the game then only really being held back by the lack of omnidirectional movement as well as a camera that doesn't quite follow spider-man as well as it can on walls and ceilings.
still, as i've said the game makes up for the majority of its shortcomings with the soul it holds within. it's just so silly and straightforwardly, unapologetically comic book-esque that it feels perfect for what it is. the script is top-notch both in the main campaign and the what-if mode, and dialogue is snappy in a way that's awkwardly brief at times yet engaging to have a very unique feel to its cutscene pacing. the player is given the treat of encountering a nice little slew of some of spider-man's most iconic villains and allies, quite a nice mix for how short the game is. even not being a huge spider-man buff, let alone much of a comics one, i find it very clear that the devs absolutely cared to make sure the game felt exactly as it should. it's spot-on.
i can't stress enough just how much of a must-play this game is for 3d platforming fans, spider-man fans, and late 90s/early 00s gaming fans, and especially for those who fit into any of all of those groups. again, even someone who's fairly casual on comics lore can get a lot out of the fun this game exudes in every scene. it's not perfect, far from it, but it excels at exactly the sorts of things i'd imagine fans would appreciate on top of just being a solid 3d platformer.
I think what says the most about my time with this game was that I played almost the entirety of the first page's duelists as well as a solid chunk of the second page before I decided to soft-stop my run. I'm still gonna come back to it every once in a while to build more decks and try to 100% the card pool if I can, but for all intents and purposes I've completed the game to my original desire of finishing as many characters' stories as I had in 5.
Tag Force 6 is without a doubt the best of its subseries, and it's a total shame that it didn't get an official translation at all. The recent-ish fan translation is awesome and works well enough for the main content but is unfinished and it shows. It's still great, though, and I was glad to play through numerous characters' stories and see the alternate endings they had for 5D's in general. Getting to use Xyz monsters was really cool, too, and gave me the same feeling of devious joy that using Synchro monsters in Tag Force 3 had.
Despite my initial praise, though, there's still the obvious lack of a super high score on this entry. It's even the same score I initially gave 3 and 5. The reason for this is that, sadly, Tag Force never really evolved all that much. I do find that the formula for 4-6 ultimately works a bit better than 2-3's and 1's but it's hardly different enough to warrant a much more positive judgment. Furthermore, mechanically 5 and 6 are nearly identical, with me only preferring 6 because of its card pool as well as the ending of the story being handled much better than in the actual show.
Sadly I don't really have much else to say on this entry because of just how similar it is to 5, and how similar 5 is to 4... you get the idea. I wish Tag Force had become more than what it was and it saddens me to see that it never did. It's now too late to get any sort of reboot for it given the lack of YGO anime that exist now for the main game, and with Master Duel around there's no reason to make a competitor of sorts for it. I'm happy these were made, though. They're fun time-wasters and serve as helpful time capsules for some of the most memorable formats in Yu-Gi-Oh's history.
Out of this subseries I'd say the most worthwhile ones to play are still just 3, 5, and this one, but that's a lot more than I've been able to say for the other main subseries of World Tournament games. Who knows, though, as I finish up my runs of those maybe there's be a golden trio on that side as well. Looking back I kinda miss the times of having so much left of this subseries to play and so much hope for grand improvements, but I'm still pretty satisfied with where it ended up. Maybe I'll try the far-off seventh game if that ever gets a decent translation like this one did...
Tag Force 6 is without a doubt the best of its subseries, and it's a total shame that it didn't get an official translation at all. The recent-ish fan translation is awesome and works well enough for the main content but is unfinished and it shows. It's still great, though, and I was glad to play through numerous characters' stories and see the alternate endings they had for 5D's in general. Getting to use Xyz monsters was really cool, too, and gave me the same feeling of devious joy that using Synchro monsters in Tag Force 3 had.
Despite my initial praise, though, there's still the obvious lack of a super high score on this entry. It's even the same score I initially gave 3 and 5. The reason for this is that, sadly, Tag Force never really evolved all that much. I do find that the formula for 4-6 ultimately works a bit better than 2-3's and 1's but it's hardly different enough to warrant a much more positive judgment. Furthermore, mechanically 5 and 6 are nearly identical, with me only preferring 6 because of its card pool as well as the ending of the story being handled much better than in the actual show.
Sadly I don't really have much else to say on this entry because of just how similar it is to 5, and how similar 5 is to 4... you get the idea. I wish Tag Force had become more than what it was and it saddens me to see that it never did. It's now too late to get any sort of reboot for it given the lack of YGO anime that exist now for the main game, and with Master Duel around there's no reason to make a competitor of sorts for it. I'm happy these were made, though. They're fun time-wasters and serve as helpful time capsules for some of the most memorable formats in Yu-Gi-Oh's history.
Out of this subseries I'd say the most worthwhile ones to play are still just 3, 5, and this one, but that's a lot more than I've been able to say for the other main subseries of World Tournament games. Who knows, though, as I finish up my runs of those maybe there's be a golden trio on that side as well. Looking back I kinda miss the times of having so much left of this subseries to play and so much hope for grand improvements, but I'm still pretty satisfied with where it ended up. Maybe I'll try the far-off seventh game if that ever gets a decent translation like this one did...
I really wish I could give this a higher score because at its core it is fun, awesomely designed game and a substantial improvement over Fallen Order, but the performance issues and general bugginess were high enough that I feel it'd be disingenuous to pretend things were peachy the whole way through. The environments are awesome and the models detailed with everything spouting boatloads of beautiful color and effects, but what good is all that if the game can't run at a good framerate, let alone all the miscellaneous glitches?
There's more to the game than just looks and glitches, though. I was very much satisfied and pleasantly surprised by the movement and acrobatics this game provides. It feels like a total reinvention of this short series and takes inspiration seemingly from the 3D platformers of old. Indeed, rather than being a straight-up action game, this entry comes across as being a search-action platformer that has relatively fun combat.
The way Cal moves and feels in this game comes across as exactly how I'd want to if I were a Jedi, which I'd imagine fueled a lot of how the developers decided upon what to give him (well, that and replaying some Mario 64 and Sunshine). The various platforming challenges were a treat and I had a feeling that more than a few casual gamers were given a sharp introduction to 3D platforming tech many of us take for granted. I thank the game for this, buuuut I also scold them for adding an artificial death-by-falling plane that persists no matter the environments. Allowing for more sequence breaking would have made the semi-open nature of this game infinitely more rewarding than it already is.
Still, the amount of toys and tools Cal gets in his movement kit are clear indicators that the devs behind this game were given much more free reign over the core design of the game than the much more safe first one, and I find that great. Throughout my run I had to remind myself repeatedly that this was a AAA venture; there was just so much more soul and good stuff packed into an innocuous prestige-game-adjacent work that I nearly forgot it was so. Of course, a lot of the hand holding and forced cinematics took me out of that high of sorts but those still felt more like vestigial bits of fluff to ignore rather than things that actively got in the way of the fun.
The combat is largely the same as the first game, but I found the new stances (particularly the first of the two new ones) to be a lot of fun to play around with. The perks you can get in this game are a handy feature to use and the new skills for each stance feel very impactful. I do take issue with how clunky a lot of the force abilities felt, though, and using the force in general felt almost unresponsive at times. Whatever priority system is used for overlapping button presses just does not feel very good, and any buffering seems to be either bugged or nonexistent. This also goes for using heals, which are worryingly unresponsive at times as I recall had been a problem with the first game as well.
The minigames and extra bonus modes and such were a welcome surprise, and I was glad they expanded wildly upon the minor plant-growing mode from Fallen Order with a whole rooftop garden in this one. I was a bit worried things would be too straightforward and little innovation would be made, but clearly the devs did want to put together something with a lot of staying power. I'm honestly hoping some sort of Chao Garden-esque mode is in the third game, that'd be awesome.
Back to the main game, though, this time around I enjoyed the majority of the writing but found it fell a bit flat toward the end. Five or so 'final bosses' in a row became tiring and a lot of the tragedy you'd expect in a Star Wars middle entry came all at the very end, leaving the game's tone and feel a bit unbalanced. I also was not a fan of some of the boss and twist choices they picked for this last section, though I rather like the ultimate status quo established by the end of this game. It's an end whose means I disagree with as a set of narrative choices.
I'm not a huge fan of the mildly forced romance in this game either; it comes across as executive meddling, and while the writers definitely did what they could to make it all believable, it felt a bit meaningless when it came to the overall character arcs for those involved in it. Still, most of the character writing was great with a huge ensemble cast adding pieces upon pieces to the quality of the overall package.
It helps that the voice acting quality in this game is high as the sky, which I'd imagine isn't a huge unprecedented thing to say about a AAA venture but I think is still worth noting. Performances were believable and just the right mix of camp and solemnity that embodies the best of Star Wars. Clear passion was put into even the side characters' voices, and I applaud the devs for putting so much effort into immersing the players in the world with well-sprinkled voice acting that feels like it serves far more than just reading through the game's script. With the side dialogue and the solid environmental sound design mixing together with a soft but present soundtrack, I always felt like I was unfolding a Star Wars story with how cinematic yet unpretentious it all was.
Again, I do wish this game was wholeheartedly able to get my stamp of approval for what I hope to see going forward with AAA in general, let alone the third entry. I can't, though. With all the positives I have to throw at this game, it still crashes, it still has game-breaking bugs that force hard resets, it has massive framerate dips that make me fear for my console, and it's uncompressed to a point of ridiculousness.
It's all the things that I would hope would not be allowed for a game to ship with, but clearly the ones up top don't care about that. They care about the fact that the Star Wars name will sell copies like hotcakes for better or for worse. More dev freedom? Sure, so long as they don't ask for more time to make the game fully presentable, apparently. I can only hope that by some miracle enough of the higher-up EA execs who are involved with this game are thrown out to the point where the final entry is allowed to actually flourish. Fallen Order was a solid start and this game was a promise of potential greatness, but the third game may not be allowed to be at its best if things stay as they are. I guess we'll just have to see if EA can be redeemed.
There's more to the game than just looks and glitches, though. I was very much satisfied and pleasantly surprised by the movement and acrobatics this game provides. It feels like a total reinvention of this short series and takes inspiration seemingly from the 3D platformers of old. Indeed, rather than being a straight-up action game, this entry comes across as being a search-action platformer that has relatively fun combat.
The way Cal moves and feels in this game comes across as exactly how I'd want to if I were a Jedi, which I'd imagine fueled a lot of how the developers decided upon what to give him (well, that and replaying some Mario 64 and Sunshine). The various platforming challenges were a treat and I had a feeling that more than a few casual gamers were given a sharp introduction to 3D platforming tech many of us take for granted. I thank the game for this, buuuut I also scold them for adding an artificial death-by-falling plane that persists no matter the environments. Allowing for more sequence breaking would have made the semi-open nature of this game infinitely more rewarding than it already is.
Still, the amount of toys and tools Cal gets in his movement kit are clear indicators that the devs behind this game were given much more free reign over the core design of the game than the much more safe first one, and I find that great. Throughout my run I had to remind myself repeatedly that this was a AAA venture; there was just so much more soul and good stuff packed into an innocuous prestige-game-adjacent work that I nearly forgot it was so. Of course, a lot of the hand holding and forced cinematics took me out of that high of sorts but those still felt more like vestigial bits of fluff to ignore rather than things that actively got in the way of the fun.
The combat is largely the same as the first game, but I found the new stances (particularly the first of the two new ones) to be a lot of fun to play around with. The perks you can get in this game are a handy feature to use and the new skills for each stance feel very impactful. I do take issue with how clunky a lot of the force abilities felt, though, and using the force in general felt almost unresponsive at times. Whatever priority system is used for overlapping button presses just does not feel very good, and any buffering seems to be either bugged or nonexistent. This also goes for using heals, which are worryingly unresponsive at times as I recall had been a problem with the first game as well.
The minigames and extra bonus modes and such were a welcome surprise, and I was glad they expanded wildly upon the minor plant-growing mode from Fallen Order with a whole rooftop garden in this one. I was a bit worried things would be too straightforward and little innovation would be made, but clearly the devs did want to put together something with a lot of staying power. I'm honestly hoping some sort of Chao Garden-esque mode is in the third game, that'd be awesome.
Back to the main game, though, this time around I enjoyed the majority of the writing but found it fell a bit flat toward the end. Five or so 'final bosses' in a row became tiring and a lot of the tragedy you'd expect in a Star Wars middle entry came all at the very end, leaving the game's tone and feel a bit unbalanced. I also was not a fan of some of the boss and twist choices they picked for this last section, though I rather like the ultimate status quo established by the end of this game. It's an end whose means I disagree with as a set of narrative choices.
I'm not a huge fan of the mildly forced romance in this game either; it comes across as executive meddling, and while the writers definitely did what they could to make it all believable, it felt a bit meaningless when it came to the overall character arcs for those involved in it. Still, most of the character writing was great with a huge ensemble cast adding pieces upon pieces to the quality of the overall package.
It helps that the voice acting quality in this game is high as the sky, which I'd imagine isn't a huge unprecedented thing to say about a AAA venture but I think is still worth noting. Performances were believable and just the right mix of camp and solemnity that embodies the best of Star Wars. Clear passion was put into even the side characters' voices, and I applaud the devs for putting so much effort into immersing the players in the world with well-sprinkled voice acting that feels like it serves far more than just reading through the game's script. With the side dialogue and the solid environmental sound design mixing together with a soft but present soundtrack, I always felt like I was unfolding a Star Wars story with how cinematic yet unpretentious it all was.
Again, I do wish this game was wholeheartedly able to get my stamp of approval for what I hope to see going forward with AAA in general, let alone the third entry. I can't, though. With all the positives I have to throw at this game, it still crashes, it still has game-breaking bugs that force hard resets, it has massive framerate dips that make me fear for my console, and it's uncompressed to a point of ridiculousness.
It's all the things that I would hope would not be allowed for a game to ship with, but clearly the ones up top don't care about that. They care about the fact that the Star Wars name will sell copies like hotcakes for better or for worse. More dev freedom? Sure, so long as they don't ask for more time to make the game fully presentable, apparently. I can only hope that by some miracle enough of the higher-up EA execs who are involved with this game are thrown out to the point where the final entry is allowed to actually flourish. Fallen Order was a solid start and this game was a promise of potential greatness, but the third game may not be allowed to be at its best if things stay as they are. I guess we'll just have to see if EA can be redeemed.
---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☑ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☐ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☑ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☑ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☑ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☑ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☑ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☑ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☐ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☑ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☑ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☑ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☑ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☑ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
heart and soul. may this game never be cursed by a c&d.