Dark Souls 1 is an interesting case because it was actually the last of the Fromsoft "soulslikes" (or whatever you want to call them) that I ended up playing. You already know I started with Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and loved those. After that though, I played Dark Souls II and Demons Souls and then way later Sekiro. I didn't end up actually beating those three until after this game but in terms of simply playing the games, yeah this was dead last for me. I don't personally know anyone that played this one last, but it was definitely a good one to end on cuz I had a great time with it. Coming back to it in 2024 however, despite some glaring issues in the endgame that bring it down, I still think this is a classic and a must play for any video game fan.

Souls games aren't very "story" focused, as in they aren't super heavy on cutscenes or an in-your-face plot. Rather, they rely on the player discovering the story for themselves by reading item descriptions or talking to NPC's and completing obscure quest lines. It's not for everyone but the game relies on environmental storytelling which I really. There is still an overarching plot, about overthrowing Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight so you can usher in a new age (of fire or dark depending on what you choose). When it comes to DS1, I do find the general lore and plot interesting. Solaire and Siegmeyer originated in this game and they're iconic. The four main bosses that were shown in the initial cutscene are very memorable as well, and so is Gwyn. I think this game does a very good job at making its general cast of characters memorable through the gameplay encounters, even if there's barely any actual "story".

The gameplay in Dark Souls 1 compared to future entries is a bit different. You have less movement options when locked on, you can only roll in 4 directions, but I think its fine enough for the type of fights you go through. Besides that, your attack animations and controls feel good and comparable to the rest of the series. With this playthrough, I was kind of boring and stuck with the claymore for pretty much the entire run but it did really well (tho I decided to switch to the black knight sword when fighting Gwyn).

The bosses in this game are generally alright to great but there are a few stinkers. Bosses like Quelaag and Sif were really good and also memorable (especially Sif man it makes me sad every time he limped or tripped). Ornstein and Smough are still probably my favorite fight in the game and are one of the best duo fights in the series. Idk man, I never found them frustrating and they're iconic as hell and just a blast to fight. I had to beat them with a full havel's armor originally but this time I didn't cheese them and it felt really good. Gwyn is probably the hardest boss in the game, including DLC for me. He hits like a truck and can be tough if you don't parry him, which I didn't in this run, otherwise he's easy af. Still, the atmosphere and the song that plays during his battle easily makes him one of the most memorable in the series. On the bad side of things now, the demon ruins and lost izalith bosses. Holy shit were they not cooking here. Ceaseless discharge, honestly, I have no issue with it cuz you can cheese it but in an intended and funny way. Demon firesage is a reskin of stray demon which was already a reskin of asylum demon. It's the epitome of lazy. Centipede demon is just a mess of a fight and the arena it is in is full of lava which you can only go through safely if you have a ring. You get this ring by cutting off its tail or killing it outright. So, either way you'll have to deal with the lava, which is incredibly dangerous without the ring, no matter what. Before I mention the last boss in this section, yeah cutting off boss tails to get items is a thing. Interesting concept tho it can be frustrating depending on the boss. Its only in this game and hasn't returned since, would kinda be cool if something similar was implemented in a future game. Anyways, back to the bosses. Bed of chaos is then the single worst boss in the series. I know it, you know it. If it wasn't for the fact it can instakill you by knocking you into pits, it would be braindead easy so its not even satisfying to fight. The near the end you literally have to platform, and with this games form of a jump it does not work in the slightest. Thank god it saves your progress between phases, this run I died every single time it went to a new phase lol. Anyways yeah, these couple areas have the worst set of bosses in the game. That is if were not counting the capra demon, which we are. He sucks purely because he's in tiny ass arena with three dogs. You're either gonna be ganged up right away or you kill the dogs and then you're golden cuz the capra demon isn't hard by itself. Besides these blunders, I do think there are generally more good/decent bosses than bad or mediocre ones. Still, you wouldn't play the game for its bosses I'd say.

No, I think the main reason you play this game is for its world. Simply put, Dark Souls 1 is unlike any of the other Souls game purely because of how interconnected it is. Sure some of the games have connecting areas that give you that "a-ha" moment but not nearly as much as this game. People have called this game a metroidvania and honestly, yeah it pretty much is with how much stuff you can do out of order or earlier than intended. Firelink is the main hub of sorts, a really memorable one too because you'll be going to it a lot with how it connects to several areas. I think the most memorable time a part of the game connected back to Firelink was when you find that lift in the Undead burg church, god that shortcut is so useful too. You're gonna need plenty of shortcuts since you cannot warp at all in the first half of the game. Which is fine! The world is so well designed you won't' even be blatantly backtracking a lot. I'd say my least favorite area in the early game was depths maybe? Only because I got lost easily, I don't really dislike any area in the first half of the game however. Yeah even blighttown, in fact I think it's kinda good. The 2nd half is kind of a different story but it also not as bad as people say. Okay yes Demon ruins and Lost Izaalith suck on a level design aspect. They're extremely lazy, straightforward paths filled with copy and paste past bosses or giant skeleton dino butts in Lost Izalith's case. However visually I think the areas are kinda cool and I don't find them frustrating, so I never hated them. Tomb of the giants tho I still don't like. You NEED a light source for it and even then, the skeletons are still obnoxious and can easily kill you or knock you off the ledges. Besides that, however, I don't have an issue with the other late game areas. The great hollow is a very vertical level but I never found it annoying and ash lake, while not containing much is just amazing visually. New Londo ruins is very spooky and while the ghosts which you can only damage while using a specific item, can be annoying I don't have an issue with the area. The duke's archives I actually enjoy, and crystal caves is nice visually and again I don't have an issue with it. The best area in the game though is still Anor Londo. God the scope is just so good, and I love the visuals it goes for, a top tier area for sure. The areas are fine enough on their own but again, what really makes them great are how they connect to each other. While the 2nd half dips in quality and they don't connect to each other as well as the first half, I still think they're mostly fine.

The soundtrack is also really good, especially for a Souls game as it has some of my favorite songs in the series. Gwyn's Theme being the stand out for sure, holy fucking shit is it amazing. It just portrays Gwyn, the sad old man clinging to his age of fire, perfectly. The fact it's not like an over the top, "epic" final boss theme makes it so unique as well. Sif's theme and Ornstein and Smough's theme were otherwise easily the most memorable boss themes in the game. I don't usually come back to souls' music but for these guys I have in the past. Also, a shoutout to Firelink Shrine for being such of a relief to listen to when returning back there, it's a solid hub world theme. Overall, while I don't usually listen to a lot of souls music outside of their respective game, this game does have several pieces where I do so I have to commend it for that.

I do like future entries more than this game I think, Bloodborne for example will always be my favorite, however this one is definitely still worth going back to. Purely because of it being super unique in its interconnectivity but it also just has many iconic bosses and areas that make you wanna come back. Sure, it has its low points, it has hands down the worst boss in the series for example, but that doesn't stop the high points from being great. I'm glad I went back to this one. I know I didn't talk about the DLC, and that's because I'm going to write a separate review on it so look forward to that next!

Oracle of Seasons is the 2nd Zelda game I had yet to play prior to this marathon. I had played most of Link's Awakening years ago because I had it on my 3DS but I never had the Oracle games, not until they were added to NSO around a year ago. They were probably my most anticipated Zelda games I had yet to play, besides Minish Cap. After finally playing Oracle of Seasons, while I have issues with it, it's still a decent time.

The story for this game is more typical of most other Zelda games rather than being mysterious and unique like its Gameboy counterpart, Link's Awakening. The first scene has Link on horseback discovering a castle in the distance. Once inside, he's told that the land of Holodrum is being terrorized by the evil General Onox. Link is then teleported to Holodrum and sees a group of people having fun. Link also meets Din and dances with her for a bit before Onox decides to capture her inside of a crystal. It turns out she's the Oracle of Seasons and the seasons in Holodrum start running amok because of her being captured. You then talk to the Maku tree and he tasks you with finding the eight essences of nature (which are basically the instruments from Link's Awakening) as then you can stop Onox once you do. After clearing the first dungeon, you eventually encounter these portals that teleport you to the underground land of Subrosia. You eventually obtain the Rod of Seasons which let's you change the seasons yourself and after that you clear the other seven dungeons and defeat Onox. Overall, the story is alright. The concept of the seasons changing is pretty cool but otherwise it's just your typical save the princess story, only here you're saving Din and not Zelda. I really do much prefer the story from Link's Awakening and it's the single biggest reason I prefer that game over this one. Link's Awakening had such a unique dream-like atmosphere that's just absent in this game. I don't mind more basic Zelda stories but it's hard not to compare when Link's Awakening was much more out there with its story and it came out 8 years prior. Still, the story does get the job done I suppose.

As for characters, there's definitely a lot more here compared to Link's Awakening. Impa is here, and she's all portly which is a stark contrast to her OOT design, and she doesn't do much here but it's cool to see her. Actually, there are a ton of OOT characters in this. The windmill guy, Biggorron and the Gorons, a certain pair of witches, the Deku scrubs, the fairies that look like Navi. Even fricking Malon makes an appearance. It's cool and all but sort of gives the game less identity than it could've had, at least imo. The Subrosian fellas are pretty cool though and so are the skeleton crew. At the very least the world of Holodrum feels pretty alive due to how many characters you encounter.

Speaking of the world itself, I'd say it's overall better than Link's Awakening's Koholint Island. At least when it comes to traversing it, because its layout when backtracking is less annoying. Oracle of Season's gimmick, the seasons, comes into play when traversing the world too. When you jump on a tree stump, depending on what seasons you have obtained, you can cycle through the seasons, and it changes the world up. Winter makes it so snow appears, and it can either block or provide new paths. Summer can make water levels go down and climbable vines grow. Fall lets you pick up mushrooms and Spring lets certain flowers bloom that send you flying upwards. It can still be a bit tedious when it's required to change seasons to progress and backtrack but even despite the two-item slot problem still being a thing, I didn't find myself swapping items as much. The overworld does consist of parts that feel almost ripped out of Link's Awakening, but it also has new areas like the flooded city, this games version of the lost woods and Subrosia. So, Subrosia is like a new overworld entirely pretty much. Like I said, you access it through portals found all over Holodrum and it takes you to this lava-filled place where you can do stuff that lets you progress through the game. It's honestly pretty neat though I also had to look up a lot of stuff just because it can be a bit too cryptic sometimes. It's also a place you have to return to a lot since it contains all four of your seasons.

This game also has these animal friends that provided abilities. Ricky the kangaroo lets you jump over a single hole and also lets you jump up cliffs. Dimitri the Dodongo can swim in water as well as waterfalls. Moosh the bear can perform a ground pound as well as fly over several holes for a bit. They're neat but you can only use one permanently by calling them with their flute. The other two get used for a bit then disappear when not needed. I didn't know this until I had already made Ricky my permanent animal friend but he's probably the best one, so it worked out. Interesting concept but it's not fleshed out much really.

The dungeons are overall less memorable compared to several of the past games but are solid overall. The last couple especially have some nice visuals that make them stand out from the previous ones but also dungeons can get rough in this game. Besides Zelda 2 and maybe Zelda 1, this was the hardest Zelda game to me thus far. Apparently, this game is more combat focused compared to Ages and it shows because not only can the dungeons be rough, but the bosses can also too. Now, I do prefer how the bosses in LA all have dialogue as it really stood out in that game but the bosses in Oracle of Seasons are more complex and are definitely harder usually. The dungeon items, like Link's Awakening, are really solid. You have returning ones like Roc's feather or the power bracelet. You also have items that are upgraded versions of items like the magic slingshot that let's you shoot three seeds at once or Roc's cape which lets you jump over a much longer distance and man is it helpful I must say. The magnetic gloves let you magnetize yourself over to and way from metal balls and weights and man, some of those later puzzles that use it are awesome.

Going into other items that play a big role in the game, the seeds. Throughout the game, you collect different seeds that have various uses. Ember seeds let you light up enemies and torches. Pegasus seeds let you run fast. Gale seeds let you warp to the different trees that you get these seeds from (and I must say the warping is so much better in this game).
Alongside the seeds, are the rings. Throughout the game you can collect rings from different places and when you go to this guy in the starting area, he can appraise them and let you equip them. They have various uses and are cool to hunt down, but they aren't required at all and getting all 64 of them is a major pain in the ass that I would never do. Getting every piece of heart, there is only 12 here yet again like LA, can also be a pain just because of Maple. Maple is this witch that can randomly fly around the screen after defeating enough enemies. If you bump into her, yours and her items get thrown all around and its a race to collect what you can. The thing is, she randomly has a piece of heart and its a low chance to get it. I had to save state to get it and I'm not afraid to admit it, just because I had failed twice to obtain it since she goes for it right away if it appears and sometimes you can be screwed with its placement. There's also a heart piece you get from the trees you can plant and that one probably would've been an issue for me usually, but I got lucky and was able to get it without trying. Otherwise, the other heart pieces are pretty standard for a Zelda game.

I do like how fast the text speed is in this game as well as there not being much text for the compass and map. Rupees are now color coded and vary in size like they should be compared to LA's single color for its rupee's. The game in general is more visually impressive though that's bound to happen with an 8 year gap and it being on the GBC.

The soundtrack is honestly not as good as I was expecting tbh. It mostly reuses Link's Awakening music as well as has remixes from OOT. The new songs aren't too memorable to me though I did like the Tarm Ruins/Lost Woods theme, that was really nice. Otherwise, one of the more forgettable Zelda soundtracks to me personally just because so much of it is reused songs.

Overall, I sadly didn't like this as much as Link's Awakening and found it to be more of a mixed experience overall, but it was still a solid time. I'll still take this over the first two Zelda games any day. I'm gonna replay a couple of games before I dive into Oracle of Ages, and I'm interested to see how that whole linked game feature works, but yeah I'm hoping I end up liking that one more!

I bought Shin Megami Tensei V when it launched back in 2021. It was the first mainline I had ever beaten at that point, (I did play a bit of SMT4 years prior but never got far), and I very much enjoyed my time with it. I had thought its story and characters sucked but had also thought the soundtrack, combat and exploration were awesome. Since then, I've beaten 4 as well as both Nocturne and Strange Journey. Those last two are my favorite mainlines now, and having played a lot of the big mainlines at this point, I'm a bit more critical towards SMTV nowadays. While I do still like those two more than Vengeance, this is definitely the definitive version of SMTV and kind of makes the original switch version of SMTV completely irrelevant. I don't think I'd quite say this is what SMTV should have been, as the things that hold it back are mostly tied to the original, but I am going to lower the original to a 7 and have Vengeance take its place at an 8.

I guess I'll start with the thing that's changed the most and is maybe the thing I'm most conflicted on. At the beginning of starting a game, you will be given the choice of picking the original SMTV campaign or the new Vengeance route. Well first, this is the reason why the original SMTV is obsolete. The original campaign is here so there's no reason to ever touch the Switch version. I didn't choose that however, since I beat that path back in 2021, I chose the Vengeance route. Yoko is the new female character Atlus loves to add to their rereleases and the way they go about her and Tao is interesting. They act like the Chaos and Law reps of this game, which compared to the creation route, is VERY different and I think it's an improvement here cuz the alignment reps of the original sucked. They do chime in a bit too much at times and some of the stuff Yoko says is super on the nose and can make her come off as obnoxious at times but yeah it's generally solid. The newly added Qaditsu I really like character-wise and their designs are peak. Mastema from SJ and 4 is also here and I think his involvement in the story is cool, especially if you get the ending I did. I do think there are some really cool changes, like the utilization of some characters are better, but I still think it's held back somewhat by base SMTV. Area 3's story bits are great, but the first two areas are mostly the same. The last area's story bits are remixed somewhat, but the goal is also still the same. I still don't like Daizai or Yuzuru and his sister, even if they're utilized better. Honestly, it would've been more interesting if this route was redone from scratch rather than using a lot of the same story beats from the base game.
The story is improved, and it has great parts throughout, but I don't think it's great overall. For that reason, I much prefer the more minimal and atmospheric story of Nocturne or the best mainline story in SJ.

One of the biggest improvements Vengeance made is being on platforms other than the Switch. Idk how the Switch version runs compared to the original but the PS5 version runs amazingly. I'm not even an FPS whore but it would be very difficult to go back to the original after playing this version. I already loved the post-apocalyptic aesthetic of the original game but, coupled with the expansive new third area, this game is beautiful artistically AND it runs well so it lets appreciate the aesthetics entirely now.

Speaking of the new third area, that's another big change. The third area, while not bad, was probably the weakest area in the original. It kind of just felt like more area 3 but less memorable. The Vengeance route scraps that area entirely in favor of a (imo) superior area that feels like a precursor to area 4 because of its color scheme. I really loved how near the end of your time there, it eventually wrapped around to the opposite of the area and became connected which was really cool. There is a specific part of the area that could be really annoying to traverse and get items in through, but I can appreciate the more complicated level design despite that. Area 4 is still my favorite due to the song that plays there and the more open-ended level design that lets you explore more than the other areas, however area 3 is still great and is an improvement over the original area 3.

Now for some miscellaneous changes that maybe aren't quite as impactful but add to the game. The biggest one of these is the scaling. This was nutso in the original and if you were only like 3-4 levels below an enemy or boss, you wouldn't even be able to touch it. This is luckily changed in this version of the game, to the point where I was able to defeat a boss 15 levels above me. This also makes the 4th area, which had crazy level jumps, more tolerable to people that disliked it originally. It still has those level jumps, but the fights are doable now if you haven't been doing every quest or exploring every area. Personally, I didn't even have an issue in the original since I did everything I could up to that point but it's definitely better in this version. I didn't need to grind at all before I got to the area bosses, because I did every quest and because of the scaling changes which is great. The first Magatsuhi skill you get is the critical one, but near the 2nd half of the game you get one that lets you perform a move four times. This can be crazy but by the end of the game, I actually started using other skills I found really good. My point is, I don't remember using Magatsuhi skills much other than the critical one but here I used different ones a lot. Magatsu rails are these grind rails you can find that take you to new little areas or provide shortcuts. I didn't realize dyad compendium fusion was a new thing in this version but holy shit, hands down the best demon fusion thus far. It's so easy to get the demons you want, and quick which is nice. I also didn't realize the ON/OFF toggle for the map icons was an addition too and I used that all the time lol. The demon haunt is a cool addition that lets you talk to your demons and get items/stat boosts/new skills from them. It's a nice addition and the Nahobino every so often can get 3 extra stat points which is nice. There's other smaller additions like new demons, innate skills, group skills, magatsuhi demons, a new difficulty and levelcap, new virtual battles and more that I wont get into but all of it just changes up the game which is nice. I do also like that the Demi-fiend DLC is included, though it should've been from the start. Guest characters are also a thing and they're kinda cool but make the game feel more like Persona or DDS than mainline. I also think having the ability to save anywhere can make the game too easy, especially since the new grind rails already provided nice shortcuts but I guess it's not a huge deal. Either way, this version of the game is filled to the brim with content, and a lot of new content at that, which is nice.

The soundtrack in the original was great and that's no exception to this version. My favorite songs from the original were Humans, Demons, and..., Da'at: Taito and Tokyo-Daybreak. As for the new tracks, honestly they didn't stick out as much to me until I got to area 3. Besides the Qaditsu battle theme, that one is a banger. Area 3 though had my favorite area theme in the game, Da'at Shinjuku 3rd block. This track really surprised me as it felt very different from the rest of the soundtrack but it's really great. I did also like the Da'at West Shinjuku song cuz its a remix of the Qaditsu theme which was a nice touch considering the story events that happen around that point. Either way, the new tracks are pretty nice, and the original ones are still bangers so yeah, the soundtracks awesome overall.

All in all, this is the version of SMTV you should play if you haven't already. Not only because the Vengeance route is superior to the original route, but it comes with the original route too just with all the additions Vengeance added. So, no need to play the OG version unless you want the game to run worse and be more grindy. I still like Nocturne and Strange Journey more, but Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance is great and is definitely my third favorite mainline as of now.

Phew, Vengeance is finally done. I know I haven't played a Zelda game in a while but the game I plan on playing next is Oracle of Seasons. So, look forward to Zelda coming back fellas!