Megalon
1997
My absolute favorite game of all time. I know saying that is like being a sheep in a herd, but I cannot stress ENOUGH how much I love this video game. I remember playing this on my phone for the first time when I was 13 using some loophole to get around the paywall, but I was glad I did.
Extremely interesting and unforgettable cast (with the exception of Yuffie and Cait Sith), Hollywood-inspired soundtrack, probably the best story I've seen in all of the media ever, phenomenal Materia system, and very interesting lore I, as a 17-year-old at the time of writing, still dive deeper into daily.
My only real problems with this game are the minigames (except the highway chase after Shinra Tower), the Icicle Inn portion after Aerith's death, Cait Sith in general, and Yuffie's lack of development. There are also signs of this game's age, like the graphics, movement, and overall load times, but this game was made before I was born so I can quite honestly excuse some of it.
Extremely interesting and unforgettable cast (with the exception of Yuffie and Cait Sith), Hollywood-inspired soundtrack, probably the best story I've seen in all of the media ever, phenomenal Materia system, and very interesting lore I, as a 17-year-old at the time of writing, still dive deeper into daily.
My only real problems with this game are the minigames (except the highway chase after Shinra Tower), the Icicle Inn portion after Aerith's death, Cait Sith in general, and Yuffie's lack of development. There are also signs of this game's age, like the graphics, movement, and overall load times, but this game was made before I was born so I can quite honestly excuse some of it.
This review contains spoilers
Wow. The FF7 Remake is real and extremely good. Granted, it's only part of the story remade, but the chunk they took and made it EXTREMELY good.
This game made me love characters I didn't think I'd like, such as Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, and expanded on characters I already loved. It reimagined Midgar in ways that were only previously left to the player's imagination, such as daylight in Midgar. It took my favorite soundtrack and made it infinitely better. The material system was preserved perfectly while also adding new materia as a whole. The voice acting was phenomenal.
My problems with this game are the stupidly absurd amount of filler there is in the game, Sephiroth, and the ending.
This game's sidequests do nothing to flesh out the world and are extremely generic; I only did them because I wanted specific dresses for Tifa, Aerith, and Cloud. There are also 18 chapters in this game, and there are entire chapters dedicated to just filler content that has no relevance to the actual plot, such as Chapter 4; where you steal the Shinra ID card from Jessie's dad and infiltrate the warehouse.
The point of Sephiroth in this game was to make you, the veteran player, ask yourself "Why is he here? He's not supposed to be here." Even when he is there, he doesn't really have that much of an impact on anything until the tail end of the game. His appearance, for the most part, was entirely unnecessary and could've been taken out with almost no change to the plot entirely.
Speaking of the ending, oh my GOD this shit was atrocious. Destroying the Whispers allows for the game to progress in ways that make the original game better, but it also leaves the factor of uncertainty. We don't know who the Whispers are, and we don't know what Kitase and Square Enix will do after this. It's just a really confusing mess. To top that off, Zack is now alive (probably), which makes the game even more confusing since he's a character of the past.
Overall, however, this was still one of the best games I played in 2020. Highly recommend to only veteran players, however. New players need to play the original first in order to gain the true understanding on what this game tries to accomplish.
This game made me love characters I didn't think I'd like, such as Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, and expanded on characters I already loved. It reimagined Midgar in ways that were only previously left to the player's imagination, such as daylight in Midgar. It took my favorite soundtrack and made it infinitely better. The material system was preserved perfectly while also adding new materia as a whole. The voice acting was phenomenal.
My problems with this game are the stupidly absurd amount of filler there is in the game, Sephiroth, and the ending.
This game's sidequests do nothing to flesh out the world and are extremely generic; I only did them because I wanted specific dresses for Tifa, Aerith, and Cloud. There are also 18 chapters in this game, and there are entire chapters dedicated to just filler content that has no relevance to the actual plot, such as Chapter 4; where you steal the Shinra ID card from Jessie's dad and infiltrate the warehouse.
The point of Sephiroth in this game was to make you, the veteran player, ask yourself "Why is he here? He's not supposed to be here." Even when he is there, he doesn't really have that much of an impact on anything until the tail end of the game. His appearance, for the most part, was entirely unnecessary and could've been taken out with almost no change to the plot entirely.
Speaking of the ending, oh my GOD this shit was atrocious. Destroying the Whispers allows for the game to progress in ways that make the original game better, but it also leaves the factor of uncertainty. We don't know who the Whispers are, and we don't know what Kitase and Square Enix will do after this. It's just a really confusing mess. To top that off, Zack is now alive (probably), which makes the game even more confusing since he's a character of the past.
Overall, however, this was still one of the best games I played in 2020. Highly recommend to only veteran players, however. New players need to play the original first in order to gain the true understanding on what this game tries to accomplish.
2008
This review contains spoilers
One of the best games ever made. Apart from one flaw I can think of (which is a nitpick at best), I can honestly say this is a perfect game. The pacing of the story is flawless for a 20-hour game, gameplay being perfect with no grinding whatsoever, all the characters are amazing (my personal favorites being Frog and Magus), the soundtrack is something which I will always love, and this game truly lives up to the name of "being made by the Dream Team."
My only gripe about this game is the fight against Lavos. I found it kind of annoying how you have to go through several phases of all the bosses in the game, then fight the shell, then fight the core, and then, finally, fight the pots and the dummy. It's just really tedious to me, but I can excuse it sometimes due to just how perfect this game is otherwise.
This game needs to get more recognition. It's the underrated GOAT that Square put out and I think everyone should give this a chance and enjoy it.
My only gripe about this game is the fight against Lavos. I found it kind of annoying how you have to go through several phases of all the bosses in the game, then fight the shell, then fight the core, and then, finally, fight the pots and the dummy. It's just really tedious to me, but I can excuse it sometimes due to just how perfect this game is otherwise.
This game needs to get more recognition. It's the underrated GOAT that Square put out and I think everyone should give this a chance and enjoy it.
Inferior version to the sequel, but I still enjoyed it. Typical Pokémon game in terms of gameplay, story was good, music was phenomenal, setting with 3D graphics looked shockingly well, and locking out of older Pokémon until the postgame was good to stress the importance of Unova. Did have a few problems with it though.
The seven sages were all irrelevant, the rivals would battle you constantly, the gym leaders would almost always make you run an errand before actually fighting them, and the story is just inferior to its sequel.
Overall, not bad. I don't think it lives up to all the hype, but comes close to it in my opinion.
The seven sages were all irrelevant, the rivals would battle you constantly, the gym leaders would almost always make you run an errand before actually fighting them, and the story is just inferior to its sequel.
Overall, not bad. I don't think it lives up to all the hype, but comes close to it in my opinion.
This review contains spoilers
Entirely superior to its predecessor, but I do think there are some pacing issues, and Hugh being horrible.
I did feel that there were some pacing issues with Coballion, Terrakion, and Virizion appearing almost randomly. I knew that they are set encounters but I didn't know where they were set at and would forget to save beforehand. I knew you could come back to them postgame, but I didn't want to do that since I wanted to move on to other games after this one. And the whole Plasma Frigate business right after the 8th gym. I just wanted to go to the Pokémon League after this, but nope, can't do that. Colress fight was cool though :)
I don't think you need to play BW1 first, so if you want to, dive right into this one if you want. If Gen 4 didn't steal my heart, I'd say this is the best Pokémon game ever.
I did feel that there were some pacing issues with Coballion, Terrakion, and Virizion appearing almost randomly. I knew that they are set encounters but I didn't know where they were set at and would forget to save beforehand. I knew you could come back to them postgame, but I didn't want to do that since I wanted to move on to other games after this one. And the whole Plasma Frigate business right after the 8th gym. I just wanted to go to the Pokémon League after this, but nope, can't do that. Colress fight was cool though :)
I don't think you need to play BW1 first, so if you want to, dive right into this one if you want. If Gen 4 didn't steal my heart, I'd say this is the best Pokémon game ever.
Quite honestly one of my favorite Pokémon games as a whole, but revisiting this after a while this game is WAY slower than I remember. Still amazing if you can bear how god-awfully slow battles would go.
2011
I only have 2 problems with this game: it's too short, and the atmosphere is worse than the original game. But those are nitpicking at best. This game is a fucking masterpiece. It might not be in my favorite games list, but oh BOY does it feel good to just sit down and play this. This is the peak puzzle game experience. Even if it is a decade old I would recommend this game to absolutely EVERYONE.
This was the version I played FF4 on, and I feel like I would've liked this a lot more if I were born earlier. This game's story, characters, etc. felt way too generic for someone in 2021. While there were really good highs, such as the entirety of Cecil's development, I did think most of this game was a slog as the narrative and characters were definitely not up to par with later entries in the series. Still, I do think that this is a great starting point for someone who just wants to get into Final Fantasy.
This game was wonderful. No way I could not recommend this to someone. The only reasons why I took off half a star were that I found the lack of diverse cases a bit boring (it was all murder cases), the logic to be a bit stretched sometimes, and the gameplay to be a bit boring as time goes on.
But even after that, this crime drama is something that you cannot be deemed a gamer for if you haven't played this at ALL.
But even after that, this crime drama is something that you cannot be deemed a gamer for if you haven't played this at ALL.
This review contains spoilers
I'm surprised I never wrote a review on this, but here goes. This game is amazing. I played with the restoration patch, so I don't have to complain about audio and visuals.
What I liked about this game was that it has Kefka, probably the best villain in all forms of storytelling. Also, the fact that Kefka splits this game into 2 acts, with the latter being better, makes this game far more impactful. Most (keyword here) of the characters have their own dedicated development scenes, which allows you as the player to decide which one you feel is the main protagonist. The opera scene of World of Balance was a masterpiece to go through.
What I didn't like was the fact that a good chunk of characters gets zero development, or that their development is ruined by a censoring Nintendo. I understand that there are 14 characters, but Gogo, Relm, Strago, and Umaro didn't need to exist. There are also the characters you don't use who get left out in development. Finally, there's a whole plot point of magic no longer existing and that when your team finally gets magic you use it to stop Kefka, but there has to be a fine line between making magic accessible for plot reasons and making it insanely overpowered. There was a tower in World of Ruin where it felt like "spam Ultima or die."
There's just a lot of missed potential, but this game is still probably one of the best Final Fantasy games ever. Too bad it doesn't get nearly as much attention as 7. I would really love to see a FF6R just like the FF7R.
What I liked about this game was that it has Kefka, probably the best villain in all forms of storytelling. Also, the fact that Kefka splits this game into 2 acts, with the latter being better, makes this game far more impactful. Most (keyword here) of the characters have their own dedicated development scenes, which allows you as the player to decide which one you feel is the main protagonist. The opera scene of World of Balance was a masterpiece to go through.
What I didn't like was the fact that a good chunk of characters gets zero development, or that their development is ruined by a censoring Nintendo. I understand that there are 14 characters, but Gogo, Relm, Strago, and Umaro didn't need to exist. There are also the characters you don't use who get left out in development. Finally, there's a whole plot point of magic no longer existing and that when your team finally gets magic you use it to stop Kefka, but there has to be a fine line between making magic accessible for plot reasons and making it insanely overpowered. There was a tower in World of Ruin where it felt like "spam Ultima or die."
There's just a lot of missed potential, but this game is still probably one of the best Final Fantasy games ever. Too bad it doesn't get nearly as much attention as 7. I would really love to see a FF6R just like the FF7R.
1999
This review contains spoilers
This one leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. There were some things that I felt were great, but most of this game either falls flat or just outright stinks.
Triple Triad, the soundtrack, and the cities were amazing. I also liked that the junction system allows for exploration of synergies and building of your own unique characters in battle. In the final fight against Ultimecia, I had Squall's stats boosted to the extremes, Zell as the middle ground, and Irvine as a healer thanks to the junction system.
There are some major downsides to this game, however. The junction system, while great for exploration, SUCKS. It gets really tedious and confusing when every character has their own specific stock of magic that acts like reusable items, and the Draw feature that lets you get magic is also the most tedious thing in the world. (Most of) the characters are all flatter than cardboard, which sucks because Squall is one of the more iconic Final Fantasy protagonists. The story is a convoluted mess with no sense of direction at times, which made me realize that "oh shit, this is a love story" instead of it actually being one.
In the end, I think that this game can be picked up by anyone. It is by no means a bad game, but there are definitely better ones in the Final Fantasy department.
Triple Triad, the soundtrack, and the cities were amazing. I also liked that the junction system allows for exploration of synergies and building of your own unique characters in battle. In the final fight against Ultimecia, I had Squall's stats boosted to the extremes, Zell as the middle ground, and Irvine as a healer thanks to the junction system.
There are some major downsides to this game, however. The junction system, while great for exploration, SUCKS. It gets really tedious and confusing when every character has their own specific stock of magic that acts like reusable items, and the Draw feature that lets you get magic is also the most tedious thing in the world. (Most of) the characters are all flatter than cardboard, which sucks because Squall is one of the more iconic Final Fantasy protagonists. The story is a convoluted mess with no sense of direction at times, which made me realize that "oh shit, this is a love story" instead of it actually being one.
In the end, I think that this game can be picked up by anyone. It is by no means a bad game, but there are definitely better ones in the Final Fantasy department.
2013
Revisited this game after over half a decade because I didn't remember much about this game at all. Lo and behold, there wasn't much to remember in the first place.
Like any Pokémon game, this is still quite enjoyable. You will have a good time playing this game. The game really falls short in substance until the end where they shove it all in your face as an excuse to give you the legendary on the cover art.
That's really all I have to say about this game. It's Pokémon but just uncomfortably mid.
Like any Pokémon game, this is still quite enjoyable. You will have a good time playing this game. The game really falls short in substance until the end where they shove it all in your face as an excuse to give you the legendary on the cover art.
That's really all I have to say about this game. It's Pokémon but just uncomfortably mid.
This is the exact same Crisis Core we got in 2007, with the same kind of bad story, awful side quests and the sheer amount of them, and absolutely atrocious villain in the form of Genesis. However, this game presents the ideas and designs of its PSP predecessor in such a way that I enjoyed doing a bunch of the things I disliked in the original game.
Namely just walking around absorbing the reworked music and environments and the updated combat system alone made me enjoy this game a whole hell of a lot more. I found myself going out of my way to experience these things at times away from the game's main story.
Unfortunately, this game does introduce new problems, while also having some of the same problems as the original game. While I don't dislike the new Zack VA, as I do find that he does sometimes shine over the old one, he does unfortunately fall flat on some line deliveries. Also, with the fact that this game came out on pretty much every modern platform, you could tell that this game was meant for handhelds on platforms that aren't the Nintendo Switch, as all the levels in this game are exactly like its predecessor; boring, bland, long, and repetitive pathways that can become exploitable to avoid encounters. Yes, you can still run against walls to avoid encounters.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this game instead of the PSP version to anyone who's played the original FFVII and wants to get into Crisis Core. To the newer fans of the franchise who have only indulged in the Remake, you may either want to hold off on this game until more parts are released or play it to get an idea of who Zack is and his importance to the Remake's chronology.
Namely just walking around absorbing the reworked music and environments and the updated combat system alone made me enjoy this game a whole hell of a lot more. I found myself going out of my way to experience these things at times away from the game's main story.
Unfortunately, this game does introduce new problems, while also having some of the same problems as the original game. While I don't dislike the new Zack VA, as I do find that he does sometimes shine over the old one, he does unfortunately fall flat on some line deliveries. Also, with the fact that this game came out on pretty much every modern platform, you could tell that this game was meant for handhelds on platforms that aren't the Nintendo Switch, as all the levels in this game are exactly like its predecessor; boring, bland, long, and repetitive pathways that can become exploitable to avoid encounters. Yes, you can still run against walls to avoid encounters.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this game instead of the PSP version to anyone who's played the original FFVII and wants to get into Crisis Core. To the newer fans of the franchise who have only indulged in the Remake, you may either want to hold off on this game until more parts are released or play it to get an idea of who Zack is and his importance to the Remake's chronology.
This review contains spoilers
From a gameplay perspective, I think this DLC is a lot more fun than the base game. It felt really weird that I didn't get control of Sonon, as I would have really liked to see him following my camera instead of listening to the somewhat useless AI. However, just playing as Yuffie alone was super fun. She provides some much-needed aerial combat and ranged combat like Aerith and Barret.
From a story perspective, they still kept the more linear PS2-era dungeon design for exploring both Sector 7 and Deepground. Felt more like a chore to crawl through the story. However, I still loved Nero at the very end of the story. Even on Normal mode, his boss fight was pretty challenging, especially considering his darkness would drain out your HP pretty quickly. It got to the point where casting Cura wouldn't happen in time and Sonon would have to self-sacrifice, which is both intriguing and frustrating. The story itself is also very sad towards the end of it and I really love that there isn't a happy ending here.
Overall a solid 4/5.
From a story perspective, they still kept the more linear PS2-era dungeon design for exploring both Sector 7 and Deepground. Felt more like a chore to crawl through the story. However, I still loved Nero at the very end of the story. Even on Normal mode, his boss fight was pretty challenging, especially considering his darkness would drain out your HP pretty quickly. It got to the point where casting Cura wouldn't happen in time and Sonon would have to self-sacrifice, which is both intriguing and frustrating. The story itself is also very sad towards the end of it and I really love that there isn't a happy ending here.
Overall a solid 4/5.
2022
This was my first foray into Pokémon on the Switch, I just wanted to put that out there for this review.
I think this game is one of the best Pokémon games of the last decade. The story is good (for a Pokémon game), the designs are excellent, and the music as always is chock full of bangers. I especially liked the mechanic of riding around on Koraidon in the open world of this game. I loved Arven and Penny; their arcs were pretty good. There's a bit of everything for everyone in this game too, with the three storylines for Titans, Gym Challenges, and Starfall Street. Finally, the ending of the game genuinely blew me away with how stunning and oddly serene it was with such eerie opera music.
My main criticisms are that the open world is just too dull at times and far too expansive. Items would be thrown at your face constantly. The Star Raids are just way too boring and don't take anywhere near as long as the 10 minutes they give you for one. The gym challenges are also painfully easy, with some of them not even being challenges that would traditionally be found in older games. Nemona was just a one-dimensional brat too. Finally, the towns you get to on the map are boring and you only really need to be there for the gyms.
Definitely a good refresher and a nice reminder of how good this series can be at times.
I think this game is one of the best Pokémon games of the last decade. The story is good (for a Pokémon game), the designs are excellent, and the music as always is chock full of bangers. I especially liked the mechanic of riding around on Koraidon in the open world of this game. I loved Arven and Penny; their arcs were pretty good. There's a bit of everything for everyone in this game too, with the three storylines for Titans, Gym Challenges, and Starfall Street. Finally, the ending of the game genuinely blew me away with how stunning and oddly serene it was with such eerie opera music.
My main criticisms are that the open world is just too dull at times and far too expansive. Items would be thrown at your face constantly. The Star Raids are just way too boring and don't take anywhere near as long as the 10 minutes they give you for one. The gym challenges are also painfully easy, with some of them not even being challenges that would traditionally be found in older games. Nemona was just a one-dimensional brat too. Finally, the towns you get to on the map are boring and you only really need to be there for the gyms.
Definitely a good refresher and a nice reminder of how good this series can be at times.