It's the Mario game that most understands the character's status as the ultimate video game icon. The structure is simple and has been repeated since 1985, but the decision to transform Mario's "world to world" visits into a trip around the globe (with a tour guide) is brilliant.

While I was playing Super Mario Odyssey I couldn't stop thinking about how it's a game similar to One Piece (it'll make sense, I promise). Firstly because: it's a lot about recognizing that the strong feelings you have while playing come much more through the journey than through any conclusion that may exist (and One Piece may end someday, but Mario never will).

Secondly, because like the Gear 5 transformation, it's a game almost entirely about the malleability of Mario's body, how he reacts to the environment, and vice versa. One of the best feelings you can have playing Super Mario Odyssey is catching one of the many Moons and thinking "was it supposed to be done like that?". It doesn't matter how you arrived at the goal, it matters how you played with the geometry of the levels and Mario's moveset.

It's bizarre to write so many words about the thematic importance of a Mario game, but the fact is that this game is very concise and rounded in what it wants to discuss about the character. It's a celebratory game about recognizing Mario's place in the global media canon, and in doing so it needs to recognize the most primal aspect of the character: he's an actor, a jack of all trades; He's a plumber, a kart driver, a tennis player, a doctor, he's Mario.

In this game, Mario is Bullet Bill, Goomba, Hammer Bro, Yoshi... Mario is whoever he needs to be when the situation demands his messianic presence. At first glance, the mechanics of transforming the game into 2D (several times) may seem out of place, but it is building precisely towards this point of adaptability of the figure of Mario.

Mario saved video games with Super Mario Bros., of course, but Mario is also Jump Man; his first appearance is not even in his own game, it is in the Donkey Kong franchise. How could THE video game icon, who was born in a franchise that is not his own, not take the freedom to visit any place? to transform into whoever he wants?

Super Mario Odyssey is a manifesto about freedom, it's a game full of expression and charisma in every corner, it's there to remind you to always be or do what you want. The game ending on the Moon is especially symbolic, because if for human beings visiting it was a moment of great evolution and celebration, for Mario it is another Monday. But it's another Monday that he can only have thanks to having grown up and matured with humanity. Mario has already had two games exploring planets, but the Moon's ambition is palpable; after 32 years Mario was finally able to see planet Earth from there. It's time to realize how great his achievements are, how many people he reached over during his journey.

"Thank you, Mario. It's been an honor walking a mile on your head".

In a lot of circles, Trails to Azure has garnered itself a monolithic reputation as a legendary title within the genre. Suffice to say, I had some really big expectations for this game. As someone who absolutely loved both Sky SC and Zero, I was just about ready to join the choir and sing this game's unending praises.

That being said, did Azure manage to meet said expectations and fully deliver? Well, it's a complicated answer. Because while it did end up becoming my favorite game in the series, the flaws Azure and it's predecessors possess have been made more evident than ever before.

For all intents and purposes, I think Azure is a fantastic game. It's an incredibly refined experience with some of the best scenario writing and most bombastic storytelling the genre has to offer. The stakes are incredibly high and the fact that this game was even able to deliver on most of its ambitions is an absolute marvel to me.

That being said, I think Falcom can be a bit... overzealous with their storytelling in regards to this series. They're always trying to shake and subvert the foundation that the narrative rests upon. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but in retrospect I think they could have exercised a lot more restraint in the process.

Here's a few spoiler free examples of what I'm talking about in the context of this game alone:

Certain half baked conflicts are introduced late into the game, and swept back under the rug just as quickly as they're introduced.

Certain events are played up very heavily, but are lacking in proper consequences which fails to sell their impact.

Certain characters have their entire backstories hidden behind optional scenes that of which you can only see one of per playthrough.

There's a certain plot twist during the finale (If you've played the game you definitely know what I'm talking about) so pointless and diminishing that I've seen it flat out just kill the game for some people.

I say the word "certain" a lot here, because I don't want to sell Azure's completely off the wall writing choices as a ubiquitously bad thing. For every dubious scene or questionably unnecessary plot twist in this game, there's about five more that are completely astonishing and perfectly executed. If Azure commits to anything, it's the proposition of a narrative not content with sitting still and letting things slow down. From the Trade Conference onwards, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire game and never once was I bored.

I can't promise you'll find a perfectly written masterpiece within this game, it's got too many cuts and bruises for me to say that with good conscience. However, what it offers in spite of that is so utterly captivating and unforgettable that I can't help but completely cherish it all the same.

Thief: The Dark Project is a really interesting case for me.

On one hand, it offers one of the most thoughtful and well designed stealth experiences the medium has to offer, completely putting most other takes on the genre to shame nearly thirty years later. This is something particularly shocking to me, considering Thief apparently wasn't even supposed to be a stealth game for most of its development.

And... it kind of shows. The full blown supernatural levels of Thief are the biggest sticking point for a lot of people, me included. Levels like the infamous Down in the Bonehoard are very interesting conceptually, but in practice feel mechanically incongruent an a way that can really drag down the overall experience for me. It's safe to say I don't really like these levels, but the way they work in tandem with Thief's overall tone is so well executed that I could never see myself ever outright disliking them.

Thief is extremely dark, brooding, and aggressively late 90's. And when I say that, I mean in the most sincere and endearing way possible. Stuff like the opening cutscene and Stephen Russel's portrayal of Garrett have this angst to them that does an outstanding job at setting the mood for the rest of the game. That combined with the fascinating setting and killer ambient tracks elevate this game to something that me and many others will look back on fondly for more than just it's revolutionary take on the stealth genre.

When Thief puts its best foot forward, it strikes me as one of the most immersive and standout games that I've played this year, but it doesn't really play things straightforward. A decision that despite being for better or worse, resulted in a game that was able to steal my heart in spite of it all.

Carl is garbage to play as but all the other characters are so broken that it almost makes the game balanced and you know what its good. The story seems interesting but then it starts throwing phrases around like "quantum superpositional manipulation" (thats a real thing thats actually said) and by the end of it makes so little sense that I could probably figure out the definite ending to Inception first. Despite that most of the characters are unique and enjoyable and Noel is a whole ass cutie. Very curious to play more of this series. New facebook relationship status: would like to be smothered by Litchi and im not ashamed of it

A flawed masterpiece. Dark Souls changed gaming - its deep and abiding respect for the player is oftentimes conflated with its infamous difficulty in a way that is extremely unfortunate. What is really revolutionary about Dark Souls is the degree of trust it bestows on the player. The game trusts you to intelligently experiment with its myriad character builds and weapons. The game trusts you to navigate its expertly designed world without the aid of a map. The game trusts you to learn the patterns of the enemies and use those lessons to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable at first glance. In many ways, what makes Dark Souls so special is simple: it is an action game that assumes the player is an intelligent human being with a decent attention span rather than a dimwit constantly seeking instant gratification. It seems so obvious, but it’s hard to overstate how much of a sea change this was - the action genre before Dark Souls was dominated by simplistic games that spent their entire runtimes content to dangle a carrot on a stick in front of the player’s eyes.

The first half of Dark Souls is quite possibly the most satisfying gaming experience I’ve ever had. The common criticism, which is that game’s quality declines after the midway point, is accurate, which is why I refer to this as a flawed masterpiece. But make no mistake, this is a very great game - both for its joy as a play experience and for its impact on a wide variety of future games.

I have yet to play more Ys games at the time of this review, having only beaten this, Seven, and Monstrum Nox, but this is quite literally peak Ys and peak Action RPG in general. I'm dead serious, it's up there with Kingdom Hearts 2.

The combat is fast-paced, frantic, simple, yet so rewarding and addicting. The characters are well designed and mostly likeable, and the story is mysterious and intriguing. I may have a bias since it's my first Ys game but god if this wasn't an amazing experience.

Also has a fuckin banger soundtrack and I'm a proud owner of the complete OST on CD. Ripped to FLAC and I always give it a listen in Foobar. It's so damn good.

I first played P3-5 in 2019, and since then I played 4 and 5 a few more times, but never 3 which I always had ranked below them. After finally securing a European copy of FES (very expensive) I decided to finally revisit it that way on my CRT. Man... I GET Persona 3 now. I finally understand why people love it so much. After playing other SMT games and growing accustomed to the difficulty and quirks, it was now a walk in the park and a lot of the criticisms I had don't matter to me anymore. I enjoy grinding Tartarus, the boss fights, really enjoy the higher difficulty than 4 and 5, and I even grew to like the weird stuff - ordering AIs with tactics, tiredness, reverse social links. I guess it made it feel more realistic and made me approach it differently to other RPGs. I tore through the story and didn't find any of the pacing issues I remembered and wow, this is a super consistent story with probably my favorite finale in the series. I don't love all of the cast but they are generally well written. It's undoubtedly the most flawed of the modern Personas and it's not gonna be for everyone, but I love it now. I've been thinking about it so much. 9/10 for the experience