PieniondzPS
1986
Revolutionary for its time, definitely, but looking back at it, it's clear how the poor NES wasn't ready for a game like this. Ambition can only do so much when you need to spam bombs/lamps to find that one specific tile to destroy or have to deal with extremely short and vague hints or "hints". At least the instruction manual is an excellent resource on what to do, if you have enough patience to go through the game legitimately ofc.
Surprisingly, the game is enjoyable with just touch controls, as long as you play on real hardware. My only major sour point would be the obvious Temple of the Ocean King.
I mean, what else do you expect from a licensed game that was made as cheaply as possible?
It's not all bad tho. There was some thought behind the level design. Woody's story, which is the main portion of the game, doesn't overwhelm you with gimmicks. It's just a short, but solid and decently challenging series of 3D platforming with some 2D segments added here and there. You'd be done with it in an hour or two. And if it was just that I could have maybe recommended that game for those into PS2 era B-tier games.
And then they made these two kids playable, and the experience gets much more miserable. Their stories are even shorter, and half of these levels reuse Woody's ones. But boy do they make up for it with half of them being a nasty reminder of Battletoads' "Turbo Tunnel". I'm not joking. These stories are a pure exercise of patience, and the bonus minigame you unlock after going through it all is an insult. Oh and obligatory YouTuber remark, these cutscenes and voiceovers are completely unhinged.
Overall, play Woody's story, play the rest only if you're really curious.
It's not all bad tho. There was some thought behind the level design. Woody's story, which is the main portion of the game, doesn't overwhelm you with gimmicks. It's just a short, but solid and decently challenging series of 3D platforming with some 2D segments added here and there. You'd be done with it in an hour or two. And if it was just that I could have maybe recommended that game for those into PS2 era B-tier games.
And then they made these two kids playable, and the experience gets much more miserable. Their stories are even shorter, and half of these levels reuse Woody's ones. But boy do they make up for it with half of them being a nasty reminder of Battletoads' "Turbo Tunnel". I'm not joking. These stories are a pure exercise of patience, and the bonus minigame you unlock after going through it all is an insult. Oh and obligatory YouTuber remark, these cutscenes and voiceovers are completely unhinged.
Overall, play Woody's story, play the rest only if you're really curious.
2023
Basically Genshin Lite. There's plenty of genuine improvements. It doesn't waste as much time, the process of grinding got some much needed QoL improvements, you can automate lots of battles, roguelite mode is excellent and there's plenty of humor in the story... So why am I rating this lower than Genshin?
This game should have launched with more content. The main story that currently is there can be done in a really short time for an RPG, and it cuts off right before the 2nd world's climax. A limited pool of characters means there's not a lot you can do with teambuilding. And the end-game and gacha grinds are just as obnoxious as in Genshin, if not even more in certain cases. If you're tired with Genshin, I don't think this game is going to keep you for long.
Whatever I played of Star Rail, I legitimately enjoyed. There's just too little of it to recommend the game right now. Maybe in 1-2 years things will get better.
This game should have launched with more content. The main story that currently is there can be done in a really short time for an RPG, and it cuts off right before the 2nd world's climax. A limited pool of characters means there's not a lot you can do with teambuilding. And the end-game and gacha grinds are just as obnoxious as in Genshin, if not even more in certain cases. If you're tired with Genshin, I don't think this game is going to keep you for long.
Whatever I played of Star Rail, I legitimately enjoyed. There's just too little of it to recommend the game right now. Maybe in 1-2 years things will get better.
2020
There's no denying how good of a deal this game is. Its huge open world is an excellent playground for exploration, and there is some charm in uncovering bits and pieces of stories, however trivial they usually tend to be. Plus elemental reactions are so fun to activate and build teams around.
...Thing is, when you do run out of main story content (or you're gatekept with player rank requirement), you're left with one of the most obnoxious grinds in modern games. Doing the same thing million times just to bring one character up to speed is not only time-consuming, but also tiring in the long run. It's definitely in a dire need of an overhaul, or at least some QoL fixes.
Gacha is definitely the defining factor of whether you'll like this game or not. I'm not fully against it, partially because you don't need to go hard to actually enjoy the main content. You'll get enough rolls from quests that you're guaranteed to get a couple of 5-star characters. But there's no denying how in order to get the characters you want, you either need to be a no-life, be extremely lucky or cough up monies.
This game is the most enjoyable when you're discovering new places and learn more about the world. So my best advice would be to just do that, and take a long break whenever you're done with main quests.
...Thing is, when you do run out of main story content (or you're gatekept with player rank requirement), you're left with one of the most obnoxious grinds in modern games. Doing the same thing million times just to bring one character up to speed is not only time-consuming, but also tiring in the long run. It's definitely in a dire need of an overhaul, or at least some QoL fixes.
Gacha is definitely the defining factor of whether you'll like this game or not. I'm not fully against it, partially because you don't need to go hard to actually enjoy the main content. You'll get enough rolls from quests that you're guaranteed to get a couple of 5-star characters. But there's no denying how in order to get the characters you want, you either need to be a no-life, be extremely lucky or cough up monies.
This game is the most enjoyable when you're discovering new places and learn more about the world. So my best advice would be to just do that, and take a long break whenever you're done with main quests.