MasaMatters
2 reviews liked by MasaMatters
This is going to be long.
I want to preface this by saying that I do like this game. I love it, in fact. I think it's amazing and something any fan of mecha, or even just action games in general will greatly enjoy.
This review is going to be about one very specific aspect of the game, and how I feel it harms it severely, and how it is an aspect of how you remember a videogame that is often overlooked.
Music.
Music is EXTREMELY important in a videogame, up to the point where it can salvage a lot of mediocre or mundane moments in videogames. Take NieR: Replicant as an example; exploring the areas in that game is made significantly more exciting and immersive thanks to the music accompanying it, or even take examples from other From Soft games like Soulsborne; the bombastic and grand orchestras make so many of the series' bossfights as memorable as they are, or give it an entirely new atmosphere like the final confrontation with Gwyn in Dark Souls 1. Music is what makes these moments, or at the very least helps them as much as the moments themselves do.
With all of that said; Armored Core 6's OST is not good.
There is like 4 or 5 good songs in this entire game; that is ONE TENTH of the whole soundtrack's length. This is the most bombastic and spectacle filled game From Soft has ever made, and most of it is accompanied by what I could best describe as FNaF2 Ambiance Epic Cinematic Remix. It sucks.
The worst part is that when I remember those 4 or 5 songs that I DO like, it makes me so much angrier because those are like, my favorite and most memorable moments in the entire game precisely because it's when the music decides to be FUCKING GOOD.
For christ's sake, I tried putting two completely unrelated songs over footage of two of the three final bosses; take a wild fucking guess at what made me feel more.
I want you to do something for me, go listen to a video of the full ost of the game and try and identify when the song actually changes.
If you can do that, I'll be impressed, because I went to take a listen to it after beating the game to see if maybe I was just being too harsh, I looked away for like 5 minutes and legitimately couldn't tell you when a song ended and another one started.
And you want to know the worst part? Those 4 stars I'm giving the game? That would EASILY be a 5 if the music was good.
I am someone who cares and values music in videogames a lot, and I simply can't ignore how much the mediocre and forgettable OST hinders my enjoyment and memorability of the game.
I REALLY hope the composer gets his act back together if they decide to do DLC for this game, or whenever Armored Core VII happens, because the ost for the previous AC games is actually really good! I have absolutely zero clue what the fuck happened with this game.
tldr Yuka Kitamura clears
I want to preface this by saying that I do like this game. I love it, in fact. I think it's amazing and something any fan of mecha, or even just action games in general will greatly enjoy.
This review is going to be about one very specific aspect of the game, and how I feel it harms it severely, and how it is an aspect of how you remember a videogame that is often overlooked.
Music.
Music is EXTREMELY important in a videogame, up to the point where it can salvage a lot of mediocre or mundane moments in videogames. Take NieR: Replicant as an example; exploring the areas in that game is made significantly more exciting and immersive thanks to the music accompanying it, or even take examples from other From Soft games like Soulsborne; the bombastic and grand orchestras make so many of the series' bossfights as memorable as they are, or give it an entirely new atmosphere like the final confrontation with Gwyn in Dark Souls 1. Music is what makes these moments, or at the very least helps them as much as the moments themselves do.
With all of that said; Armored Core 6's OST is not good.
There is like 4 or 5 good songs in this entire game; that is ONE TENTH of the whole soundtrack's length. This is the most bombastic and spectacle filled game From Soft has ever made, and most of it is accompanied by what I could best describe as FNaF2 Ambiance Epic Cinematic Remix. It sucks.
The worst part is that when I remember those 4 or 5 songs that I DO like, it makes me so much angrier because those are like, my favorite and most memorable moments in the entire game precisely because it's when the music decides to be FUCKING GOOD.
For christ's sake, I tried putting two completely unrelated songs over footage of two of the three final bosses; take a wild fucking guess at what made me feel more.
I want you to do something for me, go listen to a video of the full ost of the game and try and identify when the song actually changes.
If you can do that, I'll be impressed, because I went to take a listen to it after beating the game to see if maybe I was just being too harsh, I looked away for like 5 minutes and legitimately couldn't tell you when a song ended and another one started.
And you want to know the worst part? Those 4 stars I'm giving the game? That would EASILY be a 5 if the music was good.
I am someone who cares and values music in videogames a lot, and I simply can't ignore how much the mediocre and forgettable OST hinders my enjoyment and memorability of the game.
I REALLY hope the composer gets his act back together if they decide to do DLC for this game, or whenever Armored Core VII happens, because the ost for the previous AC games is actually really good! I have absolutely zero clue what the fuck happened with this game.
tldr Yuka Kitamura clears
my rating is only for ffx, not x-2, as i didn't finish that game.
ffx is a game that is completely and utterly lost on me. though some people like it, i find the art "style" horrifically ugly, although i, somewhat controversially, like the character design-- i find it slots in extremely well into the world that's been created, which most (as i too) would agree is an excellent one. but aside from the general atmosphere of the game and the music, i don't like pretty much anything else. the graphics are atrocious, the characters range from boring to annoying, as a tales fan the story is completely and utterly unremarkable to me (i mean this with full sincerity, play tales of symphonia for a better version of this game in every single regard), unskippable blitzball sequences is a legit crime, the gameplay is EXTREMELY frustrating, the camera work is AWFUL, and the main draw of this game, the relationship between tidus and yuna, did not at ALL resonate with me.
again, play tales of symphonia for a better version of this game in literally every single regard. to illustrate what greater strides symphonia takes than this game, let me just say that ffx takes its entire runtime to tell a story that symphonia expresses in its first few hours.
as for x-2, i think people are unnecessarily shitty to it because it's a game with a female-only party. i played a little bit of it until the difficulty spiked really hard and i just didn't care enough to put up with it, but it was actually INSANELY fun. the job mechanic is both super stylish and super fun, and the game doesn't HAVE to be anything better than stylish and fun. y'know?
ffx is a game that is completely and utterly lost on me. though some people like it, i find the art "style" horrifically ugly, although i, somewhat controversially, like the character design-- i find it slots in extremely well into the world that's been created, which most (as i too) would agree is an excellent one. but aside from the general atmosphere of the game and the music, i don't like pretty much anything else. the graphics are atrocious, the characters range from boring to annoying, as a tales fan the story is completely and utterly unremarkable to me (i mean this with full sincerity, play tales of symphonia for a better version of this game in every single regard), unskippable blitzball sequences is a legit crime, the gameplay is EXTREMELY frustrating, the camera work is AWFUL, and the main draw of this game, the relationship between tidus and yuna, did not at ALL resonate with me.
again, play tales of symphonia for a better version of this game in literally every single regard. to illustrate what greater strides symphonia takes than this game, let me just say that ffx takes its entire runtime to tell a story that symphonia expresses in its first few hours.
as for x-2, i think people are unnecessarily shitty to it because it's a game with a female-only party. i played a little bit of it until the difficulty spiked really hard and i just didn't care enough to put up with it, but it was actually INSANELY fun. the job mechanic is both super stylish and super fun, and the game doesn't HAVE to be anything better than stylish and fun. y'know?