25 reviews liked by Pandsu
If you had told me Bloober team made this, I would have believed you. I just have no more patience for the first person, walking sim, run away from any threat horror games ignoring the fumbling of the writing and content warning that ruined any atmosphere for the next 5 minutes after they appeared. The game looks fine visually, the monster design I'd put on the lower end of "good" for the series and getting Yamaoka back for the music are the good things I can say about it
Disregarding the clunky dialogue, the aimless exploration of any of its themes and lack of really anything to say about any of them or even the fact that Konami will only let this franchise be Silent Hill 2 forever now: the climax of this game is that a woman is talked down from the roof by the prospect of shopping. Come the fuck on.
Offensively Bad. Makes you wonder if Silent Hill was ever good
garbage
Pokémon Picross
TBD
Yeah I can see why they didn't release this. It has a neat concept, but it has the same problem as the other GB Picross games where the tiny screen prevents it from having larger boards, except this one feels like it's going out of it's way to be pathetically easy.
The fact that the boards aren't even actually the pictures but only "revealing" the pictures below them also just makes this feel incredibly lame.
The fact that the boards aren't even actually the pictures but only "revealing" the pictures below them also just makes this feel incredibly lame.
Alrighty, so here's the end to the "Erdrick trilogy". first off, I'll say that I honestly didn't know DQ3 was so heavily loved and revered. I went into to the series very blind only knowing about slimes and this series predated Final Fantasy...that's about it, OH and that this game had a job/class system, but that's where it ends for my knowledge of this game prior to playing it.
This'll be the last time I have to say this about the graphics and artstyle...again I really like it. It's colorful, it pops out, and the monster and level designs look great, though because I played this on the DQ Collection on the Switch based off the mobile port, all three games used the same style and looks with only certain tweaks here and there to show some progression. Still, it looks great and enjoyed everything about it, but it does feel weird playing the three games and having them look VERY identical to each other like this...tis the nature of playing that kind of collection.
Usually I'd go into gameplay here, but skip that for now, because I feel explaining the music and sound ties into the same point I made above. They used the same engine when making these three games for the collection, so a lot of sounds and music while very good and this game had more tracks and the music was spread out much better...it still shares some of the same sounds and some of the tracks with the others. Again, very good music, probably the best of the three.
Alright, here's the bulk of what makes this game great. The job/class system aka the Vocation system. I complained before that one of the things DQ1 and DQ2 lacked was customization, the characters had set roles and were as bare boned as mages and knights...that's about it. DQ3 opened the door to thieves, warriors, martial artist (my favorite) and more. This brought me back to Final Fantasy and made the gameplay soooo much more fun. I mean yes, it's still like the prior games, turn based battles, dungeons, towns, yada yada, no real change there, but to now have 4 characters in which 3 can be whichever Vocation you want with different equips and spells and rules for what they can do. This made the game twice as good than it had any right to be.
I'm not done though...see on top of this new Vocation system, characters have personalities which effect their stat growth, which is VERY important because as I said before 3 characters can be created and given Vocations, but the main character can not. They are given Hero as a Vocation and mostly work like the main characters of DQ1 and DQ2, so their personality is important, because you can build them how you want stat wise, but they can't change Vocation and they rely on gear and the stat growth more than the others. All this leads to a very interesting and engaging party building experience. Granted everything is still in the same bubble as the past two DQ games, but this system makes it feel soooo much grander.
Whew, now to the story. This one's kinda hard to talk about because I think it has the same problem as the prior two games for the most part, though it does fix that near the end. The story for the most part is pretty non existent aside from, "Hero go save the world from the big evil." but if you have any interest in this series I urge you to play this one for the story...I know that sounds weird to say, but the little bits of story sprinkled into the whole adventure does make up for itself near the end and I feel it makes the story worth it.
So, the cons for this game...I honestly can't really thing of too many issues the game has overall, but I will list the few nitpicks, just because it is worth expressing.
- In order to understand the Personality system you HAVE to use a guide, otherwise you'll be barely utilizing it properly. You can still beat the game without knowing any of it, but you're missing some of the fun of stat building proper.
- While by the end the story was worth it, I really wish it had a little bit more depth earlier.
I absolutely loved this game, there's not too many games where I would go to work and think about the game and could wait to get home and play it like this game. It's earned it's reputation as one of the best RPGs.
This'll be the last time I have to say this about the graphics and artstyle...again I really like it. It's colorful, it pops out, and the monster and level designs look great, though because I played this on the DQ Collection on the Switch based off the mobile port, all three games used the same style and looks with only certain tweaks here and there to show some progression. Still, it looks great and enjoyed everything about it, but it does feel weird playing the three games and having them look VERY identical to each other like this...tis the nature of playing that kind of collection.
Usually I'd go into gameplay here, but skip that for now, because I feel explaining the music and sound ties into the same point I made above. They used the same engine when making these three games for the collection, so a lot of sounds and music while very good and this game had more tracks and the music was spread out much better...it still shares some of the same sounds and some of the tracks with the others. Again, very good music, probably the best of the three.
Alright, here's the bulk of what makes this game great. The job/class system aka the Vocation system. I complained before that one of the things DQ1 and DQ2 lacked was customization, the characters had set roles and were as bare boned as mages and knights...that's about it. DQ3 opened the door to thieves, warriors, martial artist (my favorite) and more. This brought me back to Final Fantasy and made the gameplay soooo much more fun. I mean yes, it's still like the prior games, turn based battles, dungeons, towns, yada yada, no real change there, but to now have 4 characters in which 3 can be whichever Vocation you want with different equips and spells and rules for what they can do. This made the game twice as good than it had any right to be.
I'm not done though...see on top of this new Vocation system, characters have personalities which effect their stat growth, which is VERY important because as I said before 3 characters can be created and given Vocations, but the main character can not. They are given Hero as a Vocation and mostly work like the main characters of DQ1 and DQ2, so their personality is important, because you can build them how you want stat wise, but they can't change Vocation and they rely on gear and the stat growth more than the others. All this leads to a very interesting and engaging party building experience. Granted everything is still in the same bubble as the past two DQ games, but this system makes it feel soooo much grander.
Whew, now to the story. This one's kinda hard to talk about because I think it has the same problem as the prior two games for the most part, though it does fix that near the end. The story for the most part is pretty non existent aside from, "Hero go save the world from the big evil." but if you have any interest in this series I urge you to play this one for the story...I know that sounds weird to say, but the little bits of story sprinkled into the whole adventure does make up for itself near the end and I feel it makes the story worth it.
So, the cons for this game...I honestly can't really thing of too many issues the game has overall, but I will list the few nitpicks, just because it is worth expressing.
- In order to understand the Personality system you HAVE to use a guide, otherwise you'll be barely utilizing it properly. You can still beat the game without knowing any of it, but you're missing some of the fun of stat building proper.
- While by the end the story was worth it, I really wish it had a little bit more depth earlier.
I absolutely loved this game, there's not too many games where I would go to work and think about the game and could wait to get home and play it like this game. It's earned it's reputation as one of the best RPGs.
Octopath Traveler
2018
A beautiful homage to old JRPGs, fantastic music and visuals, and the gameplay is addictive and thrilling. The characters are mostly enjoyable but their stories could have been told much better. Heard the sequel improves a lot on the first game’s faults so I’m excited to play it:)
Do you like a good and compelling story with fantastic music to accompany it? Do you like good and/or eccentric characters? How about a very good boi? Do you like puzzles with interesting mechanics and solutions? Do you enjoy Shu Takumi's work? If you don't know who that is, its the man who made Ace Attorney also worked on Dino Crisis 1 and 2. While I think this remaster is really great in all regards I did see some weird stuttering in animations with a certain character on screen.
I love this game so much. This game is a cult classic a reason. Don't sleep on this game people!
I love this game so much. This game is a cult classic a reason. Don't sleep on this game people!
That was pretty tight. Really invoked memories of playing Turtles in Time as a kid when it was an unlockable in TMNT 3:Mutant Nightmare
Moémon Mega FireRed
2017
I was honestly surprised by this. I had the played the original moemon a bit back when it first released and I didn't think it would be getting new variants now. This hack was more competent than I thought it would be as its not just a sprite swap despite otherwise just being firered again. If anyone cares my team was Tyranitar, Garchomp, Metagross, Venusaur, Staraptor, Gyarados
What it does well:
The sprites were great, I didn't see a single bad one in my whole run
The mons you can find on routes were varied and many
New areas were added to find mons in (one of which let me get a Larvitar as soon as getting cut so that gives this bonus points)
The gym leaders and elite 4 have ample coverage and use strategies but not to the extent where you'll need to waste your time EV training (I even beat the elite 4 before any of my party was level 60, while the champion and lance are in said 60's to 70)
TMs are infinite use
The move reminder is free
Shows the stats effected by a mons nature for those of us who can't be bothered to memorize the table
You can buy all evolution stones and items at the Celedon department store including the link cable item for trade evos
Mega evolutions are in (to me this isn't a plus but to most it is)
Fairy type, physical special split and pokemon at least up to gen 6 are in
What it does bad
Opening the national dex in this version (the most recent as of July 2023) crashes the game
Mega evolution does not work in double battles
Mega stone selection is limited (despite 5/6 of my team being capable of mega evolving only 2 of the stones were in the game)
The level jumps in the back half were a bit steep for my liking. (Basically just added almost 10 levels to everyone in the back half and not much to allow for faster leveling outside of the usual lucky egg grinding)
So while it has some kinks to work out, I had my fun with it. I'm glad it wasn't a tryhard hack cuz I would rather buy a rope for myself than spend any amount of time EV training. The sprites were well done and it asked you to strategize more than just run a team of sweepers without being frustrating to do so.
What it does well:
The sprites were great, I didn't see a single bad one in my whole run
The mons you can find on routes were varied and many
New areas were added to find mons in (one of which let me get a Larvitar as soon as getting cut so that gives this bonus points)
The gym leaders and elite 4 have ample coverage and use strategies but not to the extent where you'll need to waste your time EV training (I even beat the elite 4 before any of my party was level 60, while the champion and lance are in said 60's to 70)
TMs are infinite use
The move reminder is free
Shows the stats effected by a mons nature for those of us who can't be bothered to memorize the table
You can buy all evolution stones and items at the Celedon department store including the link cable item for trade evos
Mega evolutions are in (to me this isn't a plus but to most it is)
Fairy type, physical special split and pokemon at least up to gen 6 are in
What it does bad
Opening the national dex in this version (the most recent as of July 2023) crashes the game
Mega evolution does not work in double battles
Mega stone selection is limited (despite 5/6 of my team being capable of mega evolving only 2 of the stones were in the game)
The level jumps in the back half were a bit steep for my liking. (Basically just added almost 10 levels to everyone in the back half and not much to allow for faster leveling outside of the usual lucky egg grinding)
So while it has some kinks to work out, I had my fun with it. I'm glad it wasn't a tryhard hack cuz I would rather buy a rope for myself than spend any amount of time EV training. The sprites were well done and it asked you to strategize more than just run a team of sweepers without being frustrating to do so.