Before I start I'm just gonna preface this by saying that this is not a normal review and what I'm saying might not even make any sense. My thoughts on this game are strange. These are just the drawn out incoherent ramblings of someone who, minutes before writing, just finished the game at 2 AM. And despite the rating, I ended up feeling kind of conflicted.

So, Xenoblade Chronicles, right. I was saving this game specifically for my 400th game milestone, as 90% of the people I've ever known who enjoy video games have built it up as a perfect masterpiece. And while I have learned to keep my expectations in check, I was pretty confident that it would live up to those statements.

And I was kind of right, because Xenoblade does so much that it's sort of overwhelming. It had really engaging gameplay, a great story, amazing characters and breathtaking visuals. Looking at the comparisons between the original game on Wii and the Switch remaster is like night and day. The soundtrack is one of the best this medium has to offer. There is so much stuff in the game I can't even mention it all. I'm even wondering if it's possible for me to play through it all... which is kind of where my problem comes in.

When does a game have too much content?

I'm probably not gonna be able to answer that properly here (Refer back to the 2 AM rambling thing I said) but I was thinking about it during my playthrough a lot, because although I had fun through the whole game, I found myself getting weirdly annoyed in the last few chapters.

Long game length usually isn't too big of an issue for me. In fact, it took me around 50 hours to beat this, which is less than half the amount of time it took for me to beat one of my favourite games, Persona 5 Royal. It's not as if the game is paced badly either, the story progresses naturally and so does the gameplay.

(Not saying Persona 5 and Xenoblade should really be compared mechanically, they're very different, I just needed a comparison to another long game lol)

But whatever the reason was, I started getting mad a bit. I felt like a lot of it was unnecessary. Maybe I was just getting burned out, maybe it was the rising difficulty. But that final stretch felt like it could've been condensed to a shorter runtime and I would've enjoyed it just as much.

Don't get me wrong! The content that was there was all really amazing! It was an incredibly well made game! Everything that was there made perfect sense! But I can't stop myself from feeling like it could've been shorter and I could've avoided that feeling of being burned out. If you're reading this and you don't get what I'm saying, that's fine, because I don't even get it myself!

So what we've got is an incredible game that feels too long and pissed me off for some incomprehensible reason. Maybe I'll write an actual review later so I can pinpoint exactly why I feel this way. I guess overall though, the people that hyped this game up to me were right. It's absolutely worth playing.

Despite that though, this is probably the first time I'm giving something 5 stars due to it's technical quality rather than my own opinion. I'm doing this because I feel like my current feelings are being a bit too unfair and I need to think about it more. I know that it's odd to be so negative in a 5 star review. I love this game. But maybe the rating will stay at 5 stars or dip to 4. I don't know. I'm going the hell to sleep.

It was interesting starting Super Metroid as someone who's essentially been playing the 2D Metroid games in reverse order. From what I've seen, each Metroid I've played so far has been held in very high regard, but Super Metroid was on another level. Built up as a landmark title and one of the best of all time. I wasn't expecting this to top Fusion or Dread. I'm not usually one to assume that older games in a series are "worse" than newer entries, but based on my experience with the aforementioned games, Dread especially, I predicted that I would think of Super as a great foundation for the Metroidvania genre, but not much more. But now, I don't think any Metroid after this point could ever strive to be as brave as this one.

Super Metroid gives the player almost no direction, not telling you where to go at almost every point. It really just says, "The Space Pirates have stolen the last Metroid. Go get it back", and then leaving the player to their own devices. This was seen as an issue by many and was changed in later games. While this did make the series more accessible, I've realised that it took away some of the magic from this game. Don't get me wrong; this doesn't make the later games bad at all (Fusion especially uses this to its advantage in the narrative). They're great games. But the core appeal of Metroid is the feeling of growth. To go from a common soldier with a pitiful arsenal to an absolute powerhouse. Super Metroid does this the best because, shockingly, the issues other people have with it, to me, are the same ways it rises above its sequels.

Yes, the controls are awkward at first. But this enforces the feeling of growth because, by the end, you've mastered them, and you think nothing of controlling Samus because it's just natural.

Yes, the game often requires you to shoot at walls with no indication that they'll open the path you need to take. But this enforces the feeling of growth because it makes you feel like you're carving out a path for yourself. In real life, the way forward is never going to be clear. You need to find it yourself.

Yes, the game gives you no direction. But this makes the journey truly your own.

These "issues" make this game feel much more interesting to me. Getting to tear through areas and bosses with new power-ups has always been a strong point of Metroid, but Super pulls it off the best. Finding an upgrade in Super Metroid is way more satisfying than almost any other video game because it truly feels like I found it myself. I got stronger. This also helps better define Samus as a character in the later games: Someone who lost everything but rose back up and found her own strength.

I don't know. Am I wrong for liking what others see as archaic design choices just because I feel they suit the game better? Maybe. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe not having these "issues" would make the game better. Maybe a remake of this game with Dread-style movement and QOL changes would be the best game ever made. Maybe. But I don't think it would have as big of a legacy as it does now.