Didn't think Nintendo could get any better at platformers but somehow they did. Controls so good you can use the thumbstick and feel perfectly in control. Incredible visuals. Fun level gimmicks. Great game.
2012
Played through backwards compatibility on Xbox One which apparently has issues with the voice commands.
Lots of cool concepts here but nothing fleshed out enough to make an impact. Nightmare boss fights. Multiple sequences where you get downed in an instant, revived, and downed again before you can move or take cover. Fighting bosses you never feel like you're doing anything to most of them until they're dead. The story and characters were the highlight but because of how absurd it gets sometimes. Only played because it's by RGG studios and don't know if I would've touched it otherwise on its own merits.
Maybe I could appreciate it more if I felt driven to replay to get different cutscenes and outcomes but, the game isn't fun enough for me to want to do that.
Lots of cool concepts here but nothing fleshed out enough to make an impact. Nightmare boss fights. Multiple sequences where you get downed in an instant, revived, and downed again before you can move or take cover. Fighting bosses you never feel like you're doing anything to most of them until they're dead. The story and characters were the highlight but because of how absurd it gets sometimes. Only played because it's by RGG studios and don't know if I would've touched it otherwise on its own merits.
Maybe I could appreciate it more if I felt driven to replay to get different cutscenes and outcomes but, the game isn't fun enough for me to want to do that.
A polished up PS3 port that is an alright time.
Pretty soon after I got into the Yakuza franchise (thanks to the PC Port of 0 in 2018) I learned that there were two spinoff games that take place in the real historical japanese past, with characters from the franchise filling in like actors of real historical figures. Immediately I wanted these two games to come out in the west. Reading up on them some people consider Ishin to be one of the best stories done in the franchise. But hey now that one of them is here (Hoping for Kenzan to get some kind of re-release as that one sounds more interesting from a narrative standpoint, Miyamoto Musashi was quite the character) does it live up to the hype? Eh, sorta.
Immediately I just viewed this game as all my friends from Kamurocho putting on a play, it's much funnier that way and I don't know enough Japanese history to be able to draw comparisons to the actual accounts of this period so anything crazy there is lost on me. It's fun seeing which characters appear and what roles they have in the story. I'm aware that a decent portion were recast to give parts to characters from Y:LaD and Y0, not a huge loss as I don't think I remember most of the people replaced when I looked them up. Some of the choices felt odd like Shibusawa being the sworn brother to Kiryu's Sakamoto Ryoma, or Adachi being the head of the Shinsengumi. However on the other end I'm glad that Mine plays a major role in this story as Hijikata who stays a close ally of Sakamoto. I felt that his character was underdeveloped in 3 and had the building blocks of someone who could've really been great. Majima also goes method and is himself even in 1800s japan. My view of it being a play is reinforced by the directors statements on the lack of Kasuga Ichiban being that joining a murderous samurai group would be against his morals. All the historical theming is fun really, I enjoyed the historical renditions of karaoke songs.
The narrative is fine enough, even if its based off of history its also just the usual Yakuza story but with samurai. I wasn't ever wowed or super engrossed with the story but there are some interesting moments and cool creative decisions along the way.
The combat is probably the best it's ever been for the traditional RGG game, even better than Lost Judgment. Each fighting style has its Pros and Cons, it feels necessary to switch between them depending on the situation, and they all feel great to use. It's especially funny to pull out a gun and blast down bandits with a 45 combo like the modern day Kiryu would. Equipment also matters for the first time in the franchise! Even if its tied to a pointlessly in-depth Monster Hunter crafting system that the game really doesn't need with how not varied combat really is. Different weapons have different effects and you can customize your weapons if you really get into it! probably helpful for harder difficulties/side content/Samurai Amon. Not a lot to say about Trooper Cards, I just equipped the celebrity guest ones and forgot about it, used the abilities but didn't worry about the intricacies too much.
On the other end of things this game is so clearly a weird inbetween of a remaster and a remake of a PS3 game. The combat is tightned up, areas are combined, and the visuals look nicer than the Yakuza Remastered Collection BUT the maps are bafflingly laid out+annoying to navigate and the story has the same pacing issues I feel plagued all 3 of the PS3 games with short chapters and rushed developments. I don't have any huge huge complaints but I ust felt underwhelmed with the game by the end. I don't see myself going back and finishing any of the side stuff here either, none of it feels all that compelling to visit.
Not a bad time by any means but it's so average it didn't feel like it was a super necessary play to me. If you want to get into the franchise but see that there's 8, soon to be 9 main games with 2 handheld spinoffs, a zombie what if, 2 samurai spinoffs, a whole side franchise in the same city, and a recently released side story for the main character of the first 7 games and start to feel overwhelmed OR you're on the fence. You can probably skip this or wait for a sale.
Pretty soon after I got into the Yakuza franchise (thanks to the PC Port of 0 in 2018) I learned that there were two spinoff games that take place in the real historical japanese past, with characters from the franchise filling in like actors of real historical figures. Immediately I wanted these two games to come out in the west. Reading up on them some people consider Ishin to be one of the best stories done in the franchise. But hey now that one of them is here (Hoping for Kenzan to get some kind of re-release as that one sounds more interesting from a narrative standpoint, Miyamoto Musashi was quite the character) does it live up to the hype? Eh, sorta.
Immediately I just viewed this game as all my friends from Kamurocho putting on a play, it's much funnier that way and I don't know enough Japanese history to be able to draw comparisons to the actual accounts of this period so anything crazy there is lost on me. It's fun seeing which characters appear and what roles they have in the story. I'm aware that a decent portion were recast to give parts to characters from Y:LaD and Y0, not a huge loss as I don't think I remember most of the people replaced when I looked them up. Some of the choices felt odd like Shibusawa being the sworn brother to Kiryu's Sakamoto Ryoma, or Adachi being the head of the Shinsengumi. However on the other end I'm glad that Mine plays a major role in this story as Hijikata who stays a close ally of Sakamoto. I felt that his character was underdeveloped in 3 and had the building blocks of someone who could've really been great. Majima also goes method and is himself even in 1800s japan. My view of it being a play is reinforced by the directors statements on the lack of Kasuga Ichiban being that joining a murderous samurai group would be against his morals. All the historical theming is fun really, I enjoyed the historical renditions of karaoke songs.
The narrative is fine enough, even if its based off of history its also just the usual Yakuza story but with samurai. I wasn't ever wowed or super engrossed with the story but there are some interesting moments and cool creative decisions along the way.
The combat is probably the best it's ever been for the traditional RGG game, even better than Lost Judgment. Each fighting style has its Pros and Cons, it feels necessary to switch between them depending on the situation, and they all feel great to use. It's especially funny to pull out a gun and blast down bandits with a 45 combo like the modern day Kiryu would. Equipment also matters for the first time in the franchise! Even if its tied to a pointlessly in-depth Monster Hunter crafting system that the game really doesn't need with how not varied combat really is. Different weapons have different effects and you can customize your weapons if you really get into it! probably helpful for harder difficulties/side content/Samurai Amon. Not a lot to say about Trooper Cards, I just equipped the celebrity guest ones and forgot about it, used the abilities but didn't worry about the intricacies too much.
On the other end of things this game is so clearly a weird inbetween of a remaster and a remake of a PS3 game. The combat is tightned up, areas are combined, and the visuals look nicer than the Yakuza Remastered Collection BUT the maps are bafflingly laid out+annoying to navigate and the story has the same pacing issues I feel plagued all 3 of the PS3 games with short chapters and rushed developments. I don't have any huge huge complaints but I ust felt underwhelmed with the game by the end. I don't see myself going back and finishing any of the side stuff here either, none of it feels all that compelling to visit.
Not a bad time by any means but it's so average it didn't feel like it was a super necessary play to me. If you want to get into the franchise but see that there's 8, soon to be 9 main games with 2 handheld spinoffs, a zombie what if, 2 samurai spinoffs, a whole side franchise in the same city, and a recently released side story for the main character of the first 7 games and start to feel overwhelmed OR you're on the fence. You can probably skip this or wait for a sale.
2020
Really cool game barring some issues that come from trying to adapt Dungeons and Dragons into a video game!
Playing through this game I was repeatedly impressed by the level of creativity I could use in my approach to nearly (NEARLY) every aspect of the game and in narrative situations the game was prepared for what I did, dialogue included. It feels like playing through a tabletop campaign (for the most part) with great visuals and the world feels lived in instead of in service to the player.
Gameplay wise its a great time. I love turn based strategy games and the different ways I can approach combat situations makes each one feel unique. Sure I can just charge into battle, cast spells, and kill everyone. Or I can fly up to a high vantage point and use arrows that push everyone away to throw 4 guys off of a cliff. Everyone's seen the clips of bosses getting nuked by 500 exploding barrels or whatever those are fun BUT that's just part of it, the world is your oyster. I do however wish that the game better prepared you for all of the BIG Act 3 encounters. Each of them has a gimmick attached to them that, up until your first one, has not been something you've exposed to in previous encounters. They're not too difficult to figure out, especially if you've done big raid fights in games like World of Warcraft but the spike in difficulty does feel a bit out of nowhere. The fights are a lot of fun though, even if the Cazador fight was horribly frustrating until I figured out how to cheese it. From a roleplay perspective the gameplay didn't really open up for my character, a bard that was not combat focused at all, until Act 3. I had opportunities before to talk characters into and out of things with my high charisma but being able to busk on the streets of the Lower City was a lot of fun, even more fun when it was just a distraction for Astarion to sneak away and steal something that I couldn't steal by myself.
The game's narrative is (mostly) good. The first act establishes the Origin characters well with their own lives and stories that really feel like they existed before you came along and the big battle at the grove feels like a major turning point for your character with the subsequent party being your characters last real moment before things really kick in. Act 2 does a great job at establishing Ketheric Thorm as the big bad guy of the area, while fleshing out the conflict as you continue your journey. Act 3 is where things really feel open as you get a sprawling city packed with people, stories, and resolutions to most of your party members stories. I liked a lot of these! people confronting their abusers, learning the truth of their reality, coming to terms with their life and choices. All great stuff! I just wish the actual ending of the game held up in that regard.
The overall writing of the game is impressive as well, I was regularly surprised at what was actually put into the game and voice acted as a response to my actions. Whether its causing a mess in a store, beating people up, OR stealing an item that a character is supposed to give you and they actually notice its gone and then react accordingly. Small details that most people would look over and wouldn't make the game worse if they weren't there but they're there!
Hey the negative, its not a totally perfect game. It's limited by the system it uses and is further limited by development time and the scope of a video game. Most of my gripes come from times that I wished I could do more than the game had in it. I didn't like that if I wanted to save the Tieflings, I had to side with the Druids. I did not care about the druids but they had a big set piece that I was railroaded into, and while the later segments that also did this weren't as frustrating to me it still hurts as someone who likes to play non-combat focused characters in D&D. Skills like Disguise Self are mostly useless as you just turn into a character of a different race. Good for not taking the blame for theft or talking to a dead body but not much else. Fighting people with Non-Lethal damage rarely has any practical use beyond a handful of encounters or if you're fighting off people you stole from otherwise the game just counts them as Dead. A lot of the game does fall apart in Act 3 even if it's the most interesting act of the game. Quests that don't have real resolutions, softlocking out of certain areas that you have to look up guides on how to get to. They've fixed some stuff and hopefully the post-launch support fixes those issues. Lastly that ending is a dud, following a giant battle you get a few lines of dialogue from all the origin characters in your party that are relevant to the outcome of their personal quest and then it rolls credits. It doesn't feel like a conclusion for anyone! I got the patched in Karlach cutscene but like, Let me have a party with everyone? let everyone enjoy a final night together before they go separate ways? really odd. Hope its patched in or DLC or something? I would like to feel like my time with them is over or a new adventure is just around the corner instead of like. The DM realizing they have to work earlier than they thought tomorrow and we'll finish the conclusion next session (that keeps getting rescheduled)
Great game though! recommend it to anyone even slightly curious about it!
Playing through this game I was repeatedly impressed by the level of creativity I could use in my approach to nearly (NEARLY) every aspect of the game and in narrative situations the game was prepared for what I did, dialogue included. It feels like playing through a tabletop campaign (for the most part) with great visuals and the world feels lived in instead of in service to the player.
Gameplay wise its a great time. I love turn based strategy games and the different ways I can approach combat situations makes each one feel unique. Sure I can just charge into battle, cast spells, and kill everyone. Or I can fly up to a high vantage point and use arrows that push everyone away to throw 4 guys off of a cliff. Everyone's seen the clips of bosses getting nuked by 500 exploding barrels or whatever those are fun BUT that's just part of it, the world is your oyster. I do however wish that the game better prepared you for all of the BIG Act 3 encounters. Each of them has a gimmick attached to them that, up until your first one, has not been something you've exposed to in previous encounters. They're not too difficult to figure out, especially if you've done big raid fights in games like World of Warcraft but the spike in difficulty does feel a bit out of nowhere. The fights are a lot of fun though, even if the Cazador fight was horribly frustrating until I figured out how to cheese it. From a roleplay perspective the gameplay didn't really open up for my character, a bard that was not combat focused at all, until Act 3. I had opportunities before to talk characters into and out of things with my high charisma but being able to busk on the streets of the Lower City was a lot of fun, even more fun when it was just a distraction for Astarion to sneak away and steal something that I couldn't steal by myself.
The game's narrative is (mostly) good. The first act establishes the Origin characters well with their own lives and stories that really feel like they existed before you came along and the big battle at the grove feels like a major turning point for your character with the subsequent party being your characters last real moment before things really kick in. Act 2 does a great job at establishing Ketheric Thorm as the big bad guy of the area, while fleshing out the conflict as you continue your journey. Act 3 is where things really feel open as you get a sprawling city packed with people, stories, and resolutions to most of your party members stories. I liked a lot of these! people confronting their abusers, learning the truth of their reality, coming to terms with their life and choices. All great stuff! I just wish the actual ending of the game held up in that regard.
The overall writing of the game is impressive as well, I was regularly surprised at what was actually put into the game and voice acted as a response to my actions. Whether its causing a mess in a store, beating people up, OR stealing an item that a character is supposed to give you and they actually notice its gone and then react accordingly. Small details that most people would look over and wouldn't make the game worse if they weren't there but they're there!
Hey the negative, its not a totally perfect game. It's limited by the system it uses and is further limited by development time and the scope of a video game. Most of my gripes come from times that I wished I could do more than the game had in it. I didn't like that if I wanted to save the Tieflings, I had to side with the Druids. I did not care about the druids but they had a big set piece that I was railroaded into, and while the later segments that also did this weren't as frustrating to me it still hurts as someone who likes to play non-combat focused characters in D&D. Skills like Disguise Self are mostly useless as you just turn into a character of a different race. Good for not taking the blame for theft or talking to a dead body but not much else. Fighting people with Non-Lethal damage rarely has any practical use beyond a handful of encounters or if you're fighting off people you stole from otherwise the game just counts them as Dead. A lot of the game does fall apart in Act 3 even if it's the most interesting act of the game. Quests that don't have real resolutions, softlocking out of certain areas that you have to look up guides on how to get to. They've fixed some stuff and hopefully the post-launch support fixes those issues. Lastly that ending is a dud, following a giant battle you get a few lines of dialogue from all the origin characters in your party that are relevant to the outcome of their personal quest and then it rolls credits. It doesn't feel like a conclusion for anyone! I got the patched in Karlach cutscene but like, Let me have a party with everyone? let everyone enjoy a final night together before they go separate ways? really odd. Hope its patched in or DLC or something? I would like to feel like my time with them is over or a new adventure is just around the corner instead of like. The DM realizing they have to work earlier than they thought tomorrow and we'll finish the conclusion next session (that keeps getting rescheduled)
Great game though! recommend it to anyone even slightly curious about it!
2018
great game! Fun to revisit after finishing It Takes Two earlier this year. Everything in It Takes Two is a refinement of gameplay concepts presented in A Way Out or streamlining certain things that end up slowing the flow of the game down.
Great story here too! by the end you're fully bought in and the twist is heartbreaking.
Great story here too! by the end you're fully bought in and the twist is heartbreaking.
2015
Moba that absolutely outclassed DOTA or League but failed to bring players who put 129972402 hours into a game because it wasn't just a copy of it. Maps were more fun and required actual teamwork (common complaint I was told is you can't solo carry which why play a team based game) and was a great crossover Between all of blizzards games.
Picked up the game in 2020 to play with the vtuber Amelia Watson, I made her rage quit and then immediately got the most kills in the game after having not touched the game for 3 years. Felt good.
Picked up the game in 2020 to play with the vtuber Amelia Watson, I made her rage quit and then immediately got the most kills in the game after having not touched the game for 3 years. Felt good.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Finished the story mode! As always a fun time with NRS silly writing with this franchise.
There was story DLC for 11 so I anticipate the same will be happening for this. I hope so at least. It was really fun to see Liu Kang's recreated "perfect" timeline. Changing the background and good guy/bad guy alignment for a lot of the cast was really interesting, I hope to see more good guy Baraka someday. I like the new previously unseen character dynamics with regular human Raiden and Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Kenshi becoming friends, Shao Kahn being relegated to a General under Sindel, and Mileena and Kitana finally truly being sisters. The characters all feel pretty fresh because of it, except Johnny Cage he's arguably more johnny cage in this timeline than ever before. The story beats weren't very predicatble either! I had foolishly assumed the timeline nonsense would be mostly absent from this one as I figured we'd be all in on this new timeline but man I was not expecting it to go the way it did. The ending being at an Armageddon Pyramid of Argus style setpiece with infinite universe versions of every fighter was nuts. Li-Mei as Quan Chi? Subzero Nitara? Baraka Johnny Cage? Massive brain decisions going on at NRS. In-between there's very sweet fanservice moments like Mileena and Tanya's relationship being made more than a tower ending, Kitana Sindel and Mileena getting to see King Jarrod again, Raiden taking Liu Kangs place as Earthrealms champion, The Deadly Alliance joining sides WITH Liu Kang. They're truly on the highest level of comic book nonsense inspiration. Hope to see more guys being bros with Kenshi, Cage, Raiden and Kung Lao.
The game plays alright I'm getting a vague hang of things but it's so much faster than MK11 or SF6 that it'll take longer.
Megan Fox's acting is really bad though.
There was story DLC for 11 so I anticipate the same will be happening for this. I hope so at least. It was really fun to see Liu Kang's recreated "perfect" timeline. Changing the background and good guy/bad guy alignment for a lot of the cast was really interesting, I hope to see more good guy Baraka someday. I like the new previously unseen character dynamics with regular human Raiden and Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Kenshi becoming friends, Shao Kahn being relegated to a General under Sindel, and Mileena and Kitana finally truly being sisters. The characters all feel pretty fresh because of it, except Johnny Cage he's arguably more johnny cage in this timeline than ever before. The story beats weren't very predicatble either! I had foolishly assumed the timeline nonsense would be mostly absent from this one as I figured we'd be all in on this new timeline but man I was not expecting it to go the way it did. The ending being at an Armageddon Pyramid of Argus style setpiece with infinite universe versions of every fighter was nuts. Li-Mei as Quan Chi? Subzero Nitara? Baraka Johnny Cage? Massive brain decisions going on at NRS. In-between there's very sweet fanservice moments like Mileena and Tanya's relationship being made more than a tower ending, Kitana Sindel and Mileena getting to see King Jarrod again, Raiden taking Liu Kangs place as Earthrealms champion, The Deadly Alliance joining sides WITH Liu Kang. They're truly on the highest level of comic book nonsense inspiration. Hope to see more guys being bros with Kenshi, Cage, Raiden and Kung Lao.
The game plays alright I'm getting a vague hang of things but it's so much faster than MK11 or SF6 that it'll take longer.
Megan Fox's acting is really bad though.
2020
cute little game, I love the GBC Zelda games and this hits that really well both in art style and in dungeon design. A bit short but that would be mostly fine except I know for a fact I missed a LOT of the game. It feels really bad considering that there's very little guidance and I was playing the game how I'd normally play these.
I wish there were any sort of rails here. I know I missed plenty of the game because I ended with only 8/40 achievments on Steam and a good portion of the inventory filled with question marks. Looking at the wiki I've now seen that there's quite a few side quests. Why make them side at all? or at least guide me to them better. I talked to NPCs consistently so I could see what was going on and hardly got anything. I'm sure its tied to the in-game time system and I have to go to certain parts at certain times of day but man. I would've loved to get to know some more people. I didn't even get marriage done.
I wish there were any sort of rails here. I know I missed plenty of the game because I ended with only 8/40 achievments on Steam and a good portion of the inventory filled with question marks. Looking at the wiki I've now seen that there's quite a few side quests. Why make them side at all? or at least guide me to them better. I talked to NPCs consistently so I could see what was going on and hardly got anything. I'm sure its tied to the in-game time system and I have to go to certain parts at certain times of day but man. I would've loved to get to know some more people. I didn't even get marriage done.
2023
Great piece about the importance of music and art.
Edit after I 100% the game: I abhore the notion of "post-game" in almost any game. There is no post game, the game is over when you're done with it or when the credits roll. Don't give me 5 more hours of narrative after the credits that I gotta do. The gameplay loop following the conclusion is better than anything its main inspiration has done or will do.
A really fun little game! Well worth the $20 price tag or checking out on Xbox Game Pass. I worked at a record store for 2 years so themeing everything around physical media and music is already enough to peak my interest, and hey the music here is great. The variation of music is nice and I really love how they bring in vocals to the score at times to make the piece feel really more impactful.
The biggest standout for me when starting this up is how this game addresses the problems I ahve with most games that take inspiration from Pokemon. So many Not-Pokemon Pokemon have the designs of "we have pokemon at home". The designs here are great! I enjoy seeing these little critters and watching them transform. It also deviates from Pokemon with how its typing system works. Instead of just creating its own rock-paper-scissors they opted to have types affect other types. Ever wondered why Charizard doesn't melt Ice pokemon? Why doesn't Blastoise make the Ice type bigger? This adds more to think about to the combat and you can approach things differently in a way that just casually playing Pokemon doesn't really let you do (no one's using trick room strats against gym leaders) but there's not just pokemon it draws influence from. Taking cues from SMT/Persona you're also leveling up your character separate from the monsters, leading to really fun quick battles where you obliterate their starter and ALSO the person transforming into the monsters. Fusion stuff is neat too though I'm not smart enough to truly use it to my advantage.
Narrative is light but fun enough, a run-of-the-mill isekai story where you're trying to get back home. All your companions have issues they're running away from and hint at through the adventure but is made more interesting as you start to realize that people aren't just from different time periods but alternate histories in general. It's fun watching as the absurdities of this world start to unravel more as you play, You can battle against a greek philosopher its great. They're romanceable as well if you're into that. I just wish there was more to the narrative to make the ending sequence have more impact.
Funny enough like the big problem I have with the latest entry in Pokemon is that following the tutorial segments the game sets you up with an implication that it's a large open world and you're free to explore however you want. With that being proven untrue pretty quickly by gating you off with monster levels and needing specific skills from catching specific monsters to progress past certain points. Really frustrating to find a quest interesting but have to wait awhile to even touch it because you can't catch a beast you need to get past the obstacles in the way. The other major issue for me is how Not Fun the main boss fights are. I have a big problem when RPGs let me equip my guys with a bunch of skills but the skills aren't usable against bosses. This is increased by the main big bad bosses not having any typing or visual indicator or heads up as to what might be helpful against the Archangels so more often than anything I'd just get destroyed the first attempt and be annoyed and go somewhere else until I wanted to try again.
I'm hoping the planned DLC gives me more fun adventures in this world and isn't just more monsters to record. I have a punk british gf I want to watch more movies with.
Edit after I 100% the game: I abhore the notion of "post-game" in almost any game. There is no post game, the game is over when you're done with it or when the credits roll. Don't give me 5 more hours of narrative after the credits that I gotta do. The gameplay loop following the conclusion is better than anything its main inspiration has done or will do.
A really fun little game! Well worth the $20 price tag or checking out on Xbox Game Pass. I worked at a record store for 2 years so themeing everything around physical media and music is already enough to peak my interest, and hey the music here is great. The variation of music is nice and I really love how they bring in vocals to the score at times to make the piece feel really more impactful.
The biggest standout for me when starting this up is how this game addresses the problems I ahve with most games that take inspiration from Pokemon. So many Not-Pokemon Pokemon have the designs of "we have pokemon at home". The designs here are great! I enjoy seeing these little critters and watching them transform. It also deviates from Pokemon with how its typing system works. Instead of just creating its own rock-paper-scissors they opted to have types affect other types. Ever wondered why Charizard doesn't melt Ice pokemon? Why doesn't Blastoise make the Ice type bigger? This adds more to think about to the combat and you can approach things differently in a way that just casually playing Pokemon doesn't really let you do (no one's using trick room strats against gym leaders) but there's not just pokemon it draws influence from. Taking cues from SMT/Persona you're also leveling up your character separate from the monsters, leading to really fun quick battles where you obliterate their starter and ALSO the person transforming into the monsters. Fusion stuff is neat too though I'm not smart enough to truly use it to my advantage.
Narrative is light but fun enough, a run-of-the-mill isekai story where you're trying to get back home. All your companions have issues they're running away from and hint at through the adventure but is made more interesting as you start to realize that people aren't just from different time periods but alternate histories in general. It's fun watching as the absurdities of this world start to unravel more as you play, You can battle against a greek philosopher its great. They're romanceable as well if you're into that. I just wish there was more to the narrative to make the ending sequence have more impact.
Funny enough like the big problem I have with the latest entry in Pokemon is that following the tutorial segments the game sets you up with an implication that it's a large open world and you're free to explore however you want. With that being proven untrue pretty quickly by gating you off with monster levels and needing specific skills from catching specific monsters to progress past certain points. Really frustrating to find a quest interesting but have to wait awhile to even touch it because you can't catch a beast you need to get past the obstacles in the way. The other major issue for me is how Not Fun the main boss fights are. I have a big problem when RPGs let me equip my guys with a bunch of skills but the skills aren't usable against bosses. This is increased by the main big bad bosses not having any typing or visual indicator or heads up as to what might be helpful against the Archangels so more often than anything I'd just get destroyed the first attempt and be annoyed and go somewhere else until I wanted to try again.
I'm hoping the planned DLC gives me more fun adventures in this world and isn't just more monsters to record. I have a punk british gf I want to watch more movies with.
Severely, disappointingly lacking in content for a wrestling game and works as an example as to what bothers me about All Elite Wrestling 3 1/2 years or so into its existence. Don't want to turn this into a soapbox about what I don't like about AEW but hey if it fits.
For better or worse the game plays exactly like the N64 wrestling many kids (not me I played the PS1 games) grew up with. Holds up decently well but all the things that frustrated me back then still apply here, mainly the nonexistent health bars. The back and forth of matches is fun enough, I like making the people I watch on TV do the moves I see on TV. It's fun enough.
Problem is, Not enough of the people I like are in this. Specifically there's hardly any women. I'm a big fan of women's wrestling and Tony Khan acts like its a nuisance Much like their weekly programming AEW doesn't care about women and the game itself doesn't give a shit about women. There's 12 when you boot up the game, 13 after you unlock Aubrey Edwards, and there will be 14 once the Season Pass DLC gives The Bunny. compared to the 40+ Men, despite there being 30+ women signed to All Elite Wrestling. The game can't even pretend to try to care about women in Road to Elite mode either. Chapter 1 you win the Women's title, then immediately got asked to fill in for a Men's match since you're a badass #girlboss that's just as strong as the boys, then immediately my story went the same exact path that my Male wrestler went through except that I won the TBS title on a random Rampage without ever talking to anyone about setting it up. No mention of ever winning the titles after they happen in Road to Elite, really cheapens the feeling of becoming champion.
Wrestler customization is pathetically slim, moves are there but there's nothing there when it comes to appearances. I like making myself in these games and couldn't get anything to look near myself which is frustrating when there's a guy who looks like me on the roster.
In its current state I can't recommend paying $60+Applicable Tax. Worth it if you can catch it on sale.
For better or worse the game plays exactly like the N64 wrestling many kids (not me I played the PS1 games) grew up with. Holds up decently well but all the things that frustrated me back then still apply here, mainly the nonexistent health bars. The back and forth of matches is fun enough, I like making the people I watch on TV do the moves I see on TV. It's fun enough.
Problem is, Not enough of the people I like are in this. Specifically there's hardly any women. I'm a big fan of women's wrestling and Tony Khan acts like its a nuisance Much like their weekly programming AEW doesn't care about women and the game itself doesn't give a shit about women. There's 12 when you boot up the game, 13 after you unlock Aubrey Edwards, and there will be 14 once the Season Pass DLC gives The Bunny. compared to the 40+ Men, despite there being 30+ women signed to All Elite Wrestling. The game can't even pretend to try to care about women in Road to Elite mode either. Chapter 1 you win the Women's title, then immediately got asked to fill in for a Men's match since you're a badass #girlboss that's just as strong as the boys, then immediately my story went the same exact path that my Male wrestler went through except that I won the TBS title on a random Rampage without ever talking to anyone about setting it up. No mention of ever winning the titles after they happen in Road to Elite, really cheapens the feeling of becoming champion.
Wrestler customization is pathetically slim, moves are there but there's nothing there when it comes to appearances. I like making myself in these games and couldn't get anything to look near myself which is frustrating when there's a guy who looks like me on the roster.
In its current state I can't recommend paying $60+Applicable Tax. Worth it if you can catch it on sale.
2023
The game is fine, whatever.
The quality of this game is more of a testament to Xbox Game Pass than anything else. I have like 2 years of that service stacked on my account and because of it I can play this ALWAYS ONLINE LIVE SERVICE GAME that my friends will be bored with in a month without having to spend $60 on it and watch it die as we never play it again after Starfield comes out. It's an alright game fun enough to play with friends but you're nuts if you think I'm going to drop $60 on this by itself.
The quality of this game is more of a testament to Xbox Game Pass than anything else. I have like 2 years of that service stacked on my account and because of it I can play this ALWAYS ONLINE LIVE SERVICE GAME that my friends will be bored with in a month without having to spend $60 on it and watch it die as we never play it again after Starfield comes out. It's an alright game fun enough to play with friends but you're nuts if you think I'm going to drop $60 on this by itself.
2023
Reviewing this after finishing World Tour mode and wow, this might be the best fighting game single player content out there in terms of actually preparing you to play against other human beings. I enjoy the NRS Style of giving you chapters as most of the roster making it easy to see what guys you like, ArcSys having visual novel story modes and RPG style endless modes are neat, Soul Calibur has had engaging story modes in the past that have taken leaps I wouldn't expect (the strategy mode in SC3 comes to mind) But none of them have actually made me better at playing the game against other people.
World Tour is a much more enjoyable and engaging route of learning a game than running tutorials and combo trials like I've always been told to do for ArcSys games, or jumping into online and getting my ass beat for 60+ hours like I was told to do with Street Fighter V.
The story is whatever, if you're looking for a strong narrative go play something else. Though I will put here that getting to know the roster as "Masters" does create some fun endearing moments like teaching Ryu how to text message or Cammy pretending to send you on a mission just to send her cat pictures. Underrated aspect of Street Fighter is the characters likes and dislikes.
Every aspect of the World Tour is a teaching tool! The Master Style system gets you easily acquainted with any of the characters as you level it up and know how to insert the skills into the gameplan. Random encounters help you learn to react under pressure, give easy opportunities to practice special move inputs, and provide quick missions to try different tactics and get bonus items. Minigames that teach you certain aspects of the game like Hado Pizza teaching quick inputs. Board Breaking teaching Highs Mids and Lows. Ka-Ra-Te teaching charge inputs. Ball Block Blitz teaching you Drive Parries. Being able to practice and learn these things in a fun setting made picking up this game way more enjoyable and I'm way more confident heading into online that I have been with any other title.
World Tour is a much more enjoyable and engaging route of learning a game than running tutorials and combo trials like I've always been told to do for ArcSys games, or jumping into online and getting my ass beat for 60+ hours like I was told to do with Street Fighter V.
The story is whatever, if you're looking for a strong narrative go play something else. Though I will put here that getting to know the roster as "Masters" does create some fun endearing moments like teaching Ryu how to text message or Cammy pretending to send you on a mission just to send her cat pictures. Underrated aspect of Street Fighter is the characters likes and dislikes.
Every aspect of the World Tour is a teaching tool! The Master Style system gets you easily acquainted with any of the characters as you level it up and know how to insert the skills into the gameplan. Random encounters help you learn to react under pressure, give easy opportunities to practice special move inputs, and provide quick missions to try different tactics and get bonus items. Minigames that teach you certain aspects of the game like Hado Pizza teaching quick inputs. Board Breaking teaching Highs Mids and Lows. Ka-Ra-Te teaching charge inputs. Ball Block Blitz teaching you Drive Parries. Being able to practice and learn these things in a fun setting made picking up this game way more enjoyable and I'm way more confident heading into online that I have been with any other title.
1990
A perfect video game. Went and played this after beating the GBA version and man. Still great 33 years later.
Just went up on Switch Online so I had to do a quick run and beat bowser (with rewinding)
Still an incredible game! Feels weird that I still know all the exits! If there's a romhack of the snes version with the extra audio sound effects, replayable castles, and playable Luigi I'd love it. Playing it on a switch has me noticing for the first time that the colors are super washed out for the GBA Screen and the audio does sound more tinny even being emulated.
This game does have some changes from the original, there's extra checkpoints and the layouts are slightly different (like the secret donut world ghost house has a yoshi coin by the secret exist door) but still a great way to experience the game
Still an incredible game! Feels weird that I still know all the exits! If there's a romhack of the snes version with the extra audio sound effects, replayable castles, and playable Luigi I'd love it. Playing it on a switch has me noticing for the first time that the colors are super washed out for the GBA Screen and the audio does sound more tinny even being emulated.
This game does have some changes from the original, there's extra checkpoints and the layouts are slightly different (like the secret donut world ghost house has a yoshi coin by the secret exist door) but still a great way to experience the game
Finished just in time for Zelda. Overall a fun little rhythm game. I'll be 100% all of these again if they're ported to Xbox or Steam ever.
I still miss the dancing themed narrative from 4 dancing but the social links in this helped satiate what I wanted more out of in 3 Portable. Despite the "you'll forget everything from this dream" framing there wasn't any frustrating moments that are undercut by it. Just nice chats between characters and getting more interaction with them. Also Makoto gets to regularly be an asshole which is still really funny.
I wish there were more song options, it felt even shorter than 5 dancing which is a shame because I think the song selection here fits the Dancing theme the best out of the 3 spinoffs and the actual Dancing seen in this game is better than the other games too.
Hopefully I can find some time between tears of the kingdom and street fighter 6 to get through all the story in P4AU.
I still miss the dancing themed narrative from 4 dancing but the social links in this helped satiate what I wanted more out of in 3 Portable. Despite the "you'll forget everything from this dream" framing there wasn't any frustrating moments that are undercut by it. Just nice chats between characters and getting more interaction with them. Also Makoto gets to regularly be an asshole which is still really funny.
I wish there were more song options, it felt even shorter than 5 dancing which is a shame because I think the song selection here fits the Dancing theme the best out of the 3 spinoffs and the actual Dancing seen in this game is better than the other games too.
Hopefully I can find some time between tears of the kingdom and street fighter 6 to get through all the story in P4AU.