Piratestorm787
36 reviews liked by Piratestorm787
Please tell me Alan Wake II's gameplay loop is more than 'point flashlight at (in)animate object'.
There’s some really clever stuff here, loving how this is continuing Alan’s arc story wise. But this became ragingly difficult for some reason. Still good in the story department
Really emphasizes how dogshit the dodge is in this game
The Foundation is the first DLC for Control, where director Jesse descends down to the caverns beneath the Bureau's foundation to repair damage to their reality. While I really enjoyed the base Control game, I really didn't care for this at all. A major reason I liked the original game was its setting, set inside a government building containing some of the world's greatest secrets. This DLC does add a little bit of lore and plot, but it feels rather lacking, and in most other aspects as well. The entire DLC is an honestly quite small collection of caves, and the goal boils down to completing four areas then beating a boss fight. It would be a fairly barebones chapter of the main game, let alone its own DLC. They do add some new abilities which mesh well with the pre-existing moveset, but the gameplay is just mindless enemy fighting. I was honestly only interested in playing the second DLC, but I was hoping this first addition would've been more than it was.
You can Rickroll yourself while doing a boss battle! Plenty of in game unlockable costumes/cosmetics without having to shill out real life money for any of them also.
Very fun, but not a fan in big doses. Works best in small sessions. rabbid funni
Final Fantasy XV
2016
When I first got a PS4, I was mainly looking forward to two games: Final Fantasy XV and Type-0. Since this is a XV review, I won’t talk about the latter here, but while the next mainline entry was still nearly 2 years away from release, I was still beyond hyped. Now, back then, I don’t think I was all that aware of the long and troubled development cycle that this game had gone through and how it originally started life as a XIII spin-off. We’ll probably never know how much better the game could have been had the original vision come to fruition, but I digress. This game was the first mainline title in the series to be released after I became a fan (if you don’t count A Realm Reborn). Games like FFVI and VII were pivotal in cementing my love for JRPGs as a whole (despite never having finished them at the time). This new title was shaping up to be an incredible game. An open-world, action-oriented Final Fantasy in a more modern/semi-realistic setting seemed unreal to a younger, teenage me. I pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition. My body and my mind were so ready. I popped that sucker in to my PS4 aaaaaand…
No, despite what you are thinking, I actually did enjoy it from the get-go. In fact, I was enthralled. But this was less a sign of the game’s quality and me just being starstruck by the visuals and the fact that the game was real. I was driving a car in a Final Fantasy game. It cannot get any cooler than that. It was around Chapter 6 however, that I paused the game for several months. Not because I got bored, mind you, but this was just a nasty habit I’ve always had where I just stop playing for long periods of time for seemingly no reason. Came back and beat another couple of chapters and then I paused again… for almost 6 years.
I didn’t come back and finish this game until recently, but hindsight is 20/20, and the years I left this game in the backlog got me thinking of just how much wasted potential this game had, and these thoughts were further cemented once I actually finished it. Sure, the game is fun, but each new mainline FF is worthy of a celebration. A series that has been as monumental and long-lasting as this getting a new game is always worthy of discussion and much anticipation, and while the series had certainly been on a downward spiral for many years to many, at least a game like XIII felt complete. XV is not. It’s a mishmash of interesting ideas with flawed execution. The combat is simple, and yet somehow a bit infuriating in how precise dodging has to be for certain bosses and encounters. Its simplicity may also be a contention for bad gameplay, but I still found it enjoyable enough, personally. The open world is ambitious, but feels incredibly barren, with little to do outside of often middling sidequests. It doesn’t help that driving is a semi-automatic affair in the world’s slowest convertible (though future upgrades give you more freedom).
And the story… this is where the cracks really show. Countless people have been vocal about how the story is simply unfinished, and I don’t think anyone can argue against that, not even the hardcore defenders of this game. If you want to get the full story, there’s a movie, an anime, a side game, four DLC episodes, and even a novel. Yes, a NOVEL. This game can give the Kingdom Hearts series a run for its money. Granted, if you’re looking for a relatively complete “self-contained” experience, you only need the DLC episodes, but it really didn’t need to be! It’s insane how quickly the story starts to progress after Chapter 9 or so. It feels like they were running out of time or budget and just needed to ship the game out ASAP.
There’s a lot of flaws, that much is obvious, but at the very least, it’s still an endearing game. While I don’t think it’s a great FF game, it’s still good in its own right, and the vibes of going on an adventure with your three best bros are immaculate. It’s the character moments, both large and small, that really define this game and make for a cozy experience. By the end of it all, I felt like I was personally saying goodbye to my best friends. There’s definitely enough heart here to make it worth playing, and whether you’re already a fan of the series or a newbie, I think it helps to set your expectations a bit low, and you may just end up enjoying your time with it.
No, despite what you are thinking, I actually did enjoy it from the get-go. In fact, I was enthralled. But this was less a sign of the game’s quality and me just being starstruck by the visuals and the fact that the game was real. I was driving a car in a Final Fantasy game. It cannot get any cooler than that. It was around Chapter 6 however, that I paused the game for several months. Not because I got bored, mind you, but this was just a nasty habit I’ve always had where I just stop playing for long periods of time for seemingly no reason. Came back and beat another couple of chapters and then I paused again… for almost 6 years.
I didn’t come back and finish this game until recently, but hindsight is 20/20, and the years I left this game in the backlog got me thinking of just how much wasted potential this game had, and these thoughts were further cemented once I actually finished it. Sure, the game is fun, but each new mainline FF is worthy of a celebration. A series that has been as monumental and long-lasting as this getting a new game is always worthy of discussion and much anticipation, and while the series had certainly been on a downward spiral for many years to many, at least a game like XIII felt complete. XV is not. It’s a mishmash of interesting ideas with flawed execution. The combat is simple, and yet somehow a bit infuriating in how precise dodging has to be for certain bosses and encounters. Its simplicity may also be a contention for bad gameplay, but I still found it enjoyable enough, personally. The open world is ambitious, but feels incredibly barren, with little to do outside of often middling sidequests. It doesn’t help that driving is a semi-automatic affair in the world’s slowest convertible (though future upgrades give you more freedom).
And the story… this is where the cracks really show. Countless people have been vocal about how the story is simply unfinished, and I don’t think anyone can argue against that, not even the hardcore defenders of this game. If you want to get the full story, there’s a movie, an anime, a side game, four DLC episodes, and even a novel. Yes, a NOVEL. This game can give the Kingdom Hearts series a run for its money. Granted, if you’re looking for a relatively complete “self-contained” experience, you only need the DLC episodes, but it really didn’t need to be! It’s insane how quickly the story starts to progress after Chapter 9 or so. It feels like they were running out of time or budget and just needed to ship the game out ASAP.
There’s a lot of flaws, that much is obvious, but at the very least, it’s still an endearing game. While I don’t think it’s a great FF game, it’s still good in its own right, and the vibes of going on an adventure with your three best bros are immaculate. It’s the character moments, both large and small, that really define this game and make for a cozy experience. By the end of it all, I felt like I was personally saying goodbye to my best friends. There’s definitely enough heart here to make it worth playing, and whether you’re already a fan of the series or a newbie, I think it helps to set your expectations a bit low, and you may just end up enjoying your time with it.
Final Fantasy XV
2016
carried entirely by its main characters, which are fantastic. gameplay's pretty mindless albeit fun, and the story's a bit of a mess but the dlc all but makes up for it at this point. misunderstood and overly bashed by longtime fans
You know what they say about playing with fire...
This review contains spoilers
Completed all routes, endings, and supports, so here is my personal breakdown (mild spoilers):
Gameplay: 2/5
This was my first Warriors-esque game and unfortunately the battle system didn't really click with me. I do appreciate the variety in play styles across all the characters, it always made a new recruit interesting to try out and once you get the hang of fighting and traversing the maps it becomes very fast paced and easy to breeze through battles. However, once you level enough and settle into your preferred characters, the gameplay stales quickly and capturing anywhere from 5 - 10 territories became a chore that had me sighing. Granted, the game is good about giving you options to streamline gameplay - for instance, on NG+ you can spend Renown points to purchase an item that allows you to capture territories instantly, but if you're a completionist like me then doing anything less than S ranking every battle on the map just isn't it, even though doing so will become incredibly repetitive and annoying.
In terms of the social aspect/micromanaging, Hopes is a vast improvement over Houses with a smaller base that allows you to locate units quickly as well as a multitude of activities that can greatly boost support points without you having to resort to putting the units you're trying to boost in battles over and over again. To put it into perspective Houses took me around 400 hours to fully complete while Hopes took less than half that time, and much of that was due to the ease of support grinding. Really, I would say almost every time I had a thought like "I hope they have this/added that/etc" Hopes came through, the attention to improvement over Houses is evident in this area.
Characters: 4/5
Highlight of the game for me by far; seeing supports between characters who may not have had an opportunity to interact in Houses or characters who had their relationships changed due to the new course of events was so interesting to see. Even Byleth had more nuance added to their character, apart from actually being voiced, and grew much more on me vs the blank slate they were before. Shez is punchy and likeable and where Sothis can come off bossy and childish towards her vessel, Arval is notably more endeared/attached and views Shez as a true partner (which they will let you know MANY times lmao). The only drawback is that playing through Houses is pretty much a requirement in order to be able to fully appreciate all the character detail, but it's still fun to see them all interact regardless.
Narrative: 3/5
I'll go ahead and lead off this part with the fact that NONE of these routes have a satisfying ending. I understand that the structure of this game and Houses doesn't really allow for a "canon" ending, as the narrative changes drastically depending on which leader you side with and what perspective they have on their world. However, that doesn't excuse sloppy, inconsistent, and unfinished writing. The reason I gave an average score is because the routes all start out on very interesting premises - especially the side stories like Dimitri's desire to discover the truth about Duscur and make amends with its people and Claude's balancing of being the leader of Leicester while also being an heir to Almyra. Edelgard's route sadly was the most disappointing; she was a favorite of mine in Houses but she was somewhat watered down in personality and her route felt meandering, she had no real arc to her character as Dimitri and Claude did - not even touching the fact that her character was completely ruined during Dimitri's route for no sensible reason. Arval and Shez also have no cohesive storyline nor delve too deeply into their pasts; there are bits of information that you can put together for a vague understanding of who or what Arval is - and good luck if you fail to recruit Byleth because you will be locked out of a whole chapter that even addresses what happens to Arval by the end. Basically, each route has a strong setup that completely fumbles its ending with abrupt and open ended conclusions.
All in all, I feel this game is best suited for people who enjoy Warriors games and people who want to see more interaction and expansion on the Houses characters and relationships. If you're going in for anything else, my suggestion is to temper expectations.
Gameplay: 2/5
This was my first Warriors-esque game and unfortunately the battle system didn't really click with me. I do appreciate the variety in play styles across all the characters, it always made a new recruit interesting to try out and once you get the hang of fighting and traversing the maps it becomes very fast paced and easy to breeze through battles. However, once you level enough and settle into your preferred characters, the gameplay stales quickly and capturing anywhere from 5 - 10 territories became a chore that had me sighing. Granted, the game is good about giving you options to streamline gameplay - for instance, on NG+ you can spend Renown points to purchase an item that allows you to capture territories instantly, but if you're a completionist like me then doing anything less than S ranking every battle on the map just isn't it, even though doing so will become incredibly repetitive and annoying.
In terms of the social aspect/micromanaging, Hopes is a vast improvement over Houses with a smaller base that allows you to locate units quickly as well as a multitude of activities that can greatly boost support points without you having to resort to putting the units you're trying to boost in battles over and over again. To put it into perspective Houses took me around 400 hours to fully complete while Hopes took less than half that time, and much of that was due to the ease of support grinding. Really, I would say almost every time I had a thought like "I hope they have this/added that/etc" Hopes came through, the attention to improvement over Houses is evident in this area.
Characters: 4/5
Highlight of the game for me by far; seeing supports between characters who may not have had an opportunity to interact in Houses or characters who had their relationships changed due to the new course of events was so interesting to see. Even Byleth had more nuance added to their character, apart from actually being voiced, and grew much more on me vs the blank slate they were before. Shez is punchy and likeable and where Sothis can come off bossy and childish towards her vessel, Arval is notably more endeared/attached and views Shez as a true partner (which they will let you know MANY times lmao). The only drawback is that playing through Houses is pretty much a requirement in order to be able to fully appreciate all the character detail, but it's still fun to see them all interact regardless.
Narrative: 3/5
I'll go ahead and lead off this part with the fact that NONE of these routes have a satisfying ending. I understand that the structure of this game and Houses doesn't really allow for a "canon" ending, as the narrative changes drastically depending on which leader you side with and what perspective they have on their world. However, that doesn't excuse sloppy, inconsistent, and unfinished writing. The reason I gave an average score is because the routes all start out on very interesting premises - especially the side stories like Dimitri's desire to discover the truth about Duscur and make amends with its people and Claude's balancing of being the leader of Leicester while also being an heir to Almyra. Edelgard's route sadly was the most disappointing; she was a favorite of mine in Houses but she was somewhat watered down in personality and her route felt meandering, she had no real arc to her character as Dimitri and Claude did - not even touching the fact that her character was completely ruined during Dimitri's route for no sensible reason. Arval and Shez also have no cohesive storyline nor delve too deeply into their pasts; there are bits of information that you can put together for a vague understanding of who or what Arval is - and good luck if you fail to recruit Byleth because you will be locked out of a whole chapter that even addresses what happens to Arval by the end. Basically, each route has a strong setup that completely fumbles its ending with abrupt and open ended conclusions.
All in all, I feel this game is best suited for people who enjoy Warriors games and people who want to see more interaction and expansion on the Houses characters and relationships. If you're going in for anything else, my suggestion is to temper expectations.