Ratchet2332
What an introduction, the opening of Final Fantasy VII Remake takes you back to ‘97 with that opening. A bombastic zoom out shot of midgar that highlights the scale and fidelity of this game with unreal music to accompany it, it’s a one to one remake of the original’s opening and it’s just as powerful now as it was over 25 years ago. I unfortunately don’t believe the rest of this remake lives up to what that intro made me feel, but it certainly gives it its best shot.
One of the biggest concerns coming into FF7R was the combat for many, going from turn based to real time action had many concerned. But I believe Square nailed it, Square compromised by having the moment to moment combat be real time but to cast spells or issue commands you swap to a menu where the game nearly freezes around you while you choose what to do. It’s a brilliant compromise that combines flashy sword swings with tactical decision making for spells. It’s not perfect though, I think it lacks depth and can be super underbaked depending on the character you’re playing, and when there’s only four playable party members that becomes a big problem. But overall I believe this was a great combat system that still is fun now even with lacking depth.
The story was also a hot point of concern before the game’s launch, as for my opinion? I… like the direction they took. It has to be noted that a lot of what is in Remake’s story is padding, as the Midgar section of the original is just a few hours long and Remake’s upwards of 40 hours, but I think what they added, although unnecessary at times was fun and enjoyable, and yes I like the ending, I like the direction they’re taking the remake trilogy, serving as more of a pseudo sequel/reimagining, it’s not a true remake, and I agree the title is misleading, but the story itself is fine.
I will say this though, there are some low points in the middle that drag the game down, most of these chapters are relatively the same length as any other chapter though, so it’s not like they take up an absurd amount of time. It’s just a shame that Square couldn’t handle the momentum the first couple chapters granted them and take it all the way through the rest of the game.
But back on a positive note let me talk about the music and visuals, they’re mind blowing! One of the best soundtracks ever put into a video game, I’d expect nothing less of Uematsu and Square, I still listen to many of these tracks causally 4 years later.
And the visuals? For a PS4 game? Unreal, I still think Remake looks better than most games released in the 9th generation, including Rebirth. Yeah there’s some muddy textures and some weird backgrounds and moments but overall Remake’s one of the most consistently gorgeous games I’ve EVER played.
Not everything about this game is perfect though, the level design is severely lacking as an example, it harkens back to FF13 with absurdly limited and linear design. I wish Remake branched out more and showed me more of what the world of FF7 has to offer, hell even Midgar you hardly get to explore despite the overwhelming scale of the city. I don’t need the game to be an open world, but I would enjoy seeing more than the few sections Square let’s us explore, some optional areas would be nice.
Speaking of optional content, the side content in Remake is laughable, there’s very little there and what is there is, to put it simply, shit. For a Final Fantasy game it’s severely underwhelming.
The voice acting also leaves much to be desired, I don’t even think most of the VAs were bad, I just think they were given awful material and direction. So many anime grunts and gasps in every scene with cheesy lines and often flat delivery. There are standout moments in more impactful scenes, but overall I find Remake to have some of the weakest voice acting out of any Final Fantasy game since X.
Overall, Remake isn’t perfect, but I do considering it a damn fine title and a worthy game to have the Final Fantasy 7 title. With some of my issues corrected we could have an amazing game on our hands, luckily we have 2 more games to look forward to in this saga.
7.5/10 but closer to a 7 than an 8
One of the biggest concerns coming into FF7R was the combat for many, going from turn based to real time action had many concerned. But I believe Square nailed it, Square compromised by having the moment to moment combat be real time but to cast spells or issue commands you swap to a menu where the game nearly freezes around you while you choose what to do. It’s a brilliant compromise that combines flashy sword swings with tactical decision making for spells. It’s not perfect though, I think it lacks depth and can be super underbaked depending on the character you’re playing, and when there’s only four playable party members that becomes a big problem. But overall I believe this was a great combat system that still is fun now even with lacking depth.
The story was also a hot point of concern before the game’s launch, as for my opinion? I… like the direction they took. It has to be noted that a lot of what is in Remake’s story is padding, as the Midgar section of the original is just a few hours long and Remake’s upwards of 40 hours, but I think what they added, although unnecessary at times was fun and enjoyable, and yes I like the ending, I like the direction they’re taking the remake trilogy, serving as more of a pseudo sequel/reimagining, it’s not a true remake, and I agree the title is misleading, but the story itself is fine.
I will say this though, there are some low points in the middle that drag the game down, most of these chapters are relatively the same length as any other chapter though, so it’s not like they take up an absurd amount of time. It’s just a shame that Square couldn’t handle the momentum the first couple chapters granted them and take it all the way through the rest of the game.
But back on a positive note let me talk about the music and visuals, they’re mind blowing! One of the best soundtracks ever put into a video game, I’d expect nothing less of Uematsu and Square, I still listen to many of these tracks causally 4 years later.
And the visuals? For a PS4 game? Unreal, I still think Remake looks better than most games released in the 9th generation, including Rebirth. Yeah there’s some muddy textures and some weird backgrounds and moments but overall Remake’s one of the most consistently gorgeous games I’ve EVER played.
Not everything about this game is perfect though, the level design is severely lacking as an example, it harkens back to FF13 with absurdly limited and linear design. I wish Remake branched out more and showed me more of what the world of FF7 has to offer, hell even Midgar you hardly get to explore despite the overwhelming scale of the city. I don’t need the game to be an open world, but I would enjoy seeing more than the few sections Square let’s us explore, some optional areas would be nice.
Speaking of optional content, the side content in Remake is laughable, there’s very little there and what is there is, to put it simply, shit. For a Final Fantasy game it’s severely underwhelming.
The voice acting also leaves much to be desired, I don’t even think most of the VAs were bad, I just think they were given awful material and direction. So many anime grunts and gasps in every scene with cheesy lines and often flat delivery. There are standout moments in more impactful scenes, but overall I find Remake to have some of the weakest voice acting out of any Final Fantasy game since X.
Overall, Remake isn’t perfect, but I do considering it a damn fine title and a worthy game to have the Final Fantasy 7 title. With some of my issues corrected we could have an amazing game on our hands, luckily we have 2 more games to look forward to in this saga.
7.5/10 but closer to a 7 than an 8
Rebirth similar to its predecessor starts out on a thunderous note with an enthralling opening. Like Remake, Rebirth uses that opening to create strong opening in the first half of the game with a captivating story, enthralling music and a unique but very well executed combat system.
But also just like Remake, the game starts to wane and fumble in the second half, killing its own momentum with some brutal pacing and half assed story sections that act as padding.
So what went wrong? And why am I giving this game 4/5 stars despite what I’ve just said?
To start, the game introduces you to a new open world, divvied up into 7 unique sections with some being bigger than the entire playable section of Remake’s Midgar in Remake. This sounds impressive but it’s not inherently a good thing, the world at first is rather captivating with strong side content and fun things to discover from side quests. But you discover very quickly that this world is not what it was initially cracked up to be, there is virtually no exploration with everything being lazily revealed to you from Ubisoft esque radio towers that point out points of interest. From Junon onward you also discover that these points of interest don’t change from region to region, and are just slightly remixed, if you do all side activities in one region then you’ve done them all.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, as I mentioned already Rebirth does have a compelling story with strong characters and writing, it’s hard to mess up the slam dunk that is the original FF7 story so altering it rightly had people concerned. Fortunately I believe Square and CBU1 did an excellent job in creating a compelling pseudo reimagining/sequel to the original FF7, even in spite of some major pacing issues in the second half.
To follow up from that, what is wrong with the pacing? Initially nothing, but from chapter 9 to 11 or so the chapters drag pretty heavily, with boring mandatory sections and major padding.
To talk about my last major complaint the visuals are horrid, I was astonished to see how bad the texture work was, outside of cutscene the character models are atrocious and a downgrade from Remake. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly picky when it comes to visuals, but when your game looks worse than the past 3-4 mainline entries of your game there’s a problem, hell FFXIII looks better in some regards.
Alright but what does Rebirth actually do BETTER than its predecessor? Luckily quite a lot, the combat is a good example, with far more party members to choose from and new mechanics allowing for far more player expression. Zero complaints from me, as someone who already quite enjoyed Remake’s combat Rebirth is just a straight upgrade in nearly every way.
The music was already a strong suit of Remake as well, but Rebirth has far more tracks used to great effect. Some of the most powerful and emotional moments in the game got a reaction out of me not because of the story but because of the music, it’s genuinely moving and powerful. One of the best soundtracks in gaming, I’d expect nothing less from an FF game.
I mentioned it earlier when talking about the world, but the side content, it can’t be understated how much better it is than Remake. Dozens of side activists with enough depth to keep you hooked while usually being optional, there’s so much here it would make a Yakuza game blush, it’s genuinely impressive how much is packed in here in that regard. Don’t want to do the main story right now? No problem, go Chocobo racing, or go play some queens blood, maybe go hunt the protorelics or fight summons.
As a side note the voice acting has received a major upgrade from Remake as well, with the actors receiving better material and direction. It’s not perfect and still suffers from some anime tropes, but as one of my annoyances from Remake I feel it’s worth noting it has received significant improvements.
To close this out, Rebirth is a game of peaks and valleys, what should have been one of the best FF games ever is bogged down by a poorly designed world and frustrating pacing in the second half. But the combat and genuinely interesting story with these beloved characters is enough to raise it up and keep it at a respectable 7.5/10 rating, with it being closer to an 8 than a 7.
But also just like Remake, the game starts to wane and fumble in the second half, killing its own momentum with some brutal pacing and half assed story sections that act as padding.
So what went wrong? And why am I giving this game 4/5 stars despite what I’ve just said?
To start, the game introduces you to a new open world, divvied up into 7 unique sections with some being bigger than the entire playable section of Remake’s Midgar in Remake. This sounds impressive but it’s not inherently a good thing, the world at first is rather captivating with strong side content and fun things to discover from side quests. But you discover very quickly that this world is not what it was initially cracked up to be, there is virtually no exploration with everything being lazily revealed to you from Ubisoft esque radio towers that point out points of interest. From Junon onward you also discover that these points of interest don’t change from region to region, and are just slightly remixed, if you do all side activities in one region then you’ve done them all.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, as I mentioned already Rebirth does have a compelling story with strong characters and writing, it’s hard to mess up the slam dunk that is the original FF7 story so altering it rightly had people concerned. Fortunately I believe Square and CBU1 did an excellent job in creating a compelling pseudo reimagining/sequel to the original FF7, even in spite of some major pacing issues in the second half.
To follow up from that, what is wrong with the pacing? Initially nothing, but from chapter 9 to 11 or so the chapters drag pretty heavily, with boring mandatory sections and major padding.
To talk about my last major complaint the visuals are horrid, I was astonished to see how bad the texture work was, outside of cutscene the character models are atrocious and a downgrade from Remake. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly picky when it comes to visuals, but when your game looks worse than the past 3-4 mainline entries of your game there’s a problem, hell FFXIII looks better in some regards.
Alright but what does Rebirth actually do BETTER than its predecessor? Luckily quite a lot, the combat is a good example, with far more party members to choose from and new mechanics allowing for far more player expression. Zero complaints from me, as someone who already quite enjoyed Remake’s combat Rebirth is just a straight upgrade in nearly every way.
The music was already a strong suit of Remake as well, but Rebirth has far more tracks used to great effect. Some of the most powerful and emotional moments in the game got a reaction out of me not because of the story but because of the music, it’s genuinely moving and powerful. One of the best soundtracks in gaming, I’d expect nothing less from an FF game.
I mentioned it earlier when talking about the world, but the side content, it can’t be understated how much better it is than Remake. Dozens of side activists with enough depth to keep you hooked while usually being optional, there’s so much here it would make a Yakuza game blush, it’s genuinely impressive how much is packed in here in that regard. Don’t want to do the main story right now? No problem, go Chocobo racing, or go play some queens blood, maybe go hunt the protorelics or fight summons.
As a side note the voice acting has received a major upgrade from Remake as well, with the actors receiving better material and direction. It’s not perfect and still suffers from some anime tropes, but as one of my annoyances from Remake I feel it’s worth noting it has received significant improvements.
To close this out, Rebirth is a game of peaks and valleys, what should have been one of the best FF games ever is bogged down by a poorly designed world and frustrating pacing in the second half. But the combat and genuinely interesting story with these beloved characters is enough to raise it up and keep it at a respectable 7.5/10 rating, with it being closer to an 8 than a 7.
2023
The one word that always comes up whenever Mario RPG is brought into a conversation is “charm” and it’s not hard to see why. The game oozes with personality from its writing to its premise, it’s just a shame the game seems to trade out substance for that personality.
I never fully understood the hype behind Mario RPG, I tried to play it years ago and put it down fairly quickly, with the release of the 2023 remake though I figured I’d give it another go. I’m glad I did, even if just to understand why the SNES original became a cult classic.
Let’s start by looking at why the game is so beloved, first of all the visuals are extremely unique, both the originals and this remake which manages to preserve the style of the original while prettying it up a little, the toy/mini figure look for the characters is extremely endearing, and the overall look of the world matches that aesthetic well. I think some of the original vision was lost trying to bring this game to modern hardware, but I don’t really blame the game for that, the Switch is obviously far superior hardware to the SNES.
The music has also been brought back for a new generation, and it’s as timeless as ever. Going through this game there was multiple times I stopped because I recognized so many tracks from the internet, so many of these songs have endured the test of time and they’re just as good here as they were nearly 30 years ago.
The combat is… interesting, on one hand the combat using of a mix of traditional turn based and rhythm/timing based inputs to increase the power of the moves was novel for the time and is fun now even though this games successors did this style of combat far better. On the other hand the game fairly quickly devolves into just spamming basic attacks to get fights over with quickly as there’s hardly ever a need for spells and more powerful specials outside of the occasional heal, and most of the time these moves do barely more damage than a standard especially come late game. Which makes the FP usage almost unjustifiable as it’s better spent on a heal. To make matters worse, the remake introduced a new gauge the fills as you get perfect timing on attacks and blocks which charges a new special move depending on who’s in your party further trivializing fights. Overall I think the combat IS still fun but it becomes fairly one note and kind of basic the further you go in the game, I do however appreciate how this combat would be improved upon in the first two Paper Mario games, but that’s to be saved for another review I suppose.
There is one more thing that really stands out beyond what mentioned for this game though, and that’s the writing. It has a very similar tone to Undertale and Earthbound, and I know that’ll make many roll their eyes but considering when this game released I’m not going to hold how oversaturated that style of humor became against it, it’s still funny and cute and I’m sure it’ll get some laughs and chuckles out of most.
But how’s the story and characters? They’re fine, story’s very one note and predictable but for a 15 hour JRPG designed towards children it doesn’t really need to be much else. Characters are ok, most are pretty whatever and serve only as a joke, no one particularly stands out from the original characters except Mallow and Geno the two original characters that become party members. I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the Geno hype? He was really boring and nothing stood out from him apart from his design. Mallow at least gets a completed character arc and some development, I figured he’d be a far more requested Smash character than Geno but I guess not.
As a whole though the game’s decent, a refreshingly low stakes short JRPG geared more towards a younger audience is appreciated, especially seeing as it can be enjoyed by adults as well. I just wish the game was harder and had more depth to its story and combat, seeing as combat is all there really is to the gameplay outside of the occasional mini game or shitty platforming segment.
Glad I played the game though, and I get why it has the reputation it does now, I’d say it’s worth a playthrough seeing how short it is but don’t go in expecting to get wowed.
6.5/10, closer to a 7 than a 6 though.
I never fully understood the hype behind Mario RPG, I tried to play it years ago and put it down fairly quickly, with the release of the 2023 remake though I figured I’d give it another go. I’m glad I did, even if just to understand why the SNES original became a cult classic.
Let’s start by looking at why the game is so beloved, first of all the visuals are extremely unique, both the originals and this remake which manages to preserve the style of the original while prettying it up a little, the toy/mini figure look for the characters is extremely endearing, and the overall look of the world matches that aesthetic well. I think some of the original vision was lost trying to bring this game to modern hardware, but I don’t really blame the game for that, the Switch is obviously far superior hardware to the SNES.
The music has also been brought back for a new generation, and it’s as timeless as ever. Going through this game there was multiple times I stopped because I recognized so many tracks from the internet, so many of these songs have endured the test of time and they’re just as good here as they were nearly 30 years ago.
The combat is… interesting, on one hand the combat using of a mix of traditional turn based and rhythm/timing based inputs to increase the power of the moves was novel for the time and is fun now even though this games successors did this style of combat far better. On the other hand the game fairly quickly devolves into just spamming basic attacks to get fights over with quickly as there’s hardly ever a need for spells and more powerful specials outside of the occasional heal, and most of the time these moves do barely more damage than a standard especially come late game. Which makes the FP usage almost unjustifiable as it’s better spent on a heal. To make matters worse, the remake introduced a new gauge the fills as you get perfect timing on attacks and blocks which charges a new special move depending on who’s in your party further trivializing fights. Overall I think the combat IS still fun but it becomes fairly one note and kind of basic the further you go in the game, I do however appreciate how this combat would be improved upon in the first two Paper Mario games, but that’s to be saved for another review I suppose.
There is one more thing that really stands out beyond what mentioned for this game though, and that’s the writing. It has a very similar tone to Undertale and Earthbound, and I know that’ll make many roll their eyes but considering when this game released I’m not going to hold how oversaturated that style of humor became against it, it’s still funny and cute and I’m sure it’ll get some laughs and chuckles out of most.
But how’s the story and characters? They’re fine, story’s very one note and predictable but for a 15 hour JRPG designed towards children it doesn’t really need to be much else. Characters are ok, most are pretty whatever and serve only as a joke, no one particularly stands out from the original characters except Mallow and Geno the two original characters that become party members. I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the Geno hype? He was really boring and nothing stood out from him apart from his design. Mallow at least gets a completed character arc and some development, I figured he’d be a far more requested Smash character than Geno but I guess not.
As a whole though the game’s decent, a refreshingly low stakes short JRPG geared more towards a younger audience is appreciated, especially seeing as it can be enjoyed by adults as well. I just wish the game was harder and had more depth to its story and combat, seeing as combat is all there really is to the gameplay outside of the occasional mini game or shitty platforming segment.
Glad I played the game though, and I get why it has the reputation it does now, I’d say it’s worth a playthrough seeing how short it is but don’t go in expecting to get wowed.
6.5/10, closer to a 7 than a 6 though.
A masterful Metroidvania from start to finish, Ori and the Will of the Wisps not only fixes every problem I had with the original but it improves everything Blind Forest already did so well. Platforming, visuals, combat, music, characters, map, boss fights, etc. nearly everything outside of maybe the story is a step up from an already good game.
On the topic of the story though, it’s not even really a downgrade, I just personally think the emotional beats and core characters were marginally better in the original.
The only other nitpick I have is that the Metroidvania elements aren’t are strong as I’d like them to be, but when looking at what this game does right these things I’ve mentioned seem like minor issues when they’d be bigger problems in any other game.
I can’t recommend this game enough, if you’re in the mood for a beautiful Metroidvania with some of the best music in the industry coupled with a compelling story and fun combat then look no further.
9/10, quite possibly the best game Microsoft has ever published
On the topic of the story though, it’s not even really a downgrade, I just personally think the emotional beats and core characters were marginally better in the original.
The only other nitpick I have is that the Metroidvania elements aren’t are strong as I’d like them to be, but when looking at what this game does right these things I’ve mentioned seem like minor issues when they’d be bigger problems in any other game.
I can’t recommend this game enough, if you’re in the mood for a beautiful Metroidvania with some of the best music in the industry coupled with a compelling story and fun combat then look no further.
9/10, quite possibly the best game Microsoft has ever published
Blind Forest is a game that nails almost everything it attempts, from its gorgeous presentation, fluid platforming, simple but charming story and mesmerizing music you have a recipe for a near perfect game.
Except there is one fault with the game, and it is unfortunately a big one, the combat. Blind Forest’s combat is painfully boring, slow and offers basically no player expression. In a game with such top tier gameplay across the board when it comes to anything else about the game it’s a shocker one of the most integral aspect about the game is so lackluster. To make things worse there’s really no good fights in the game, some are ok but enemy design is dull.
But as I said almost everything else is perfect about the game, it’s short, well executed with no fluff or filler.
Visually I mean wow, like seriously wow, it’s one of the most visually stunning 2D games ever made.
The music is also exceptional, I still have the soundtrack saved to my phone.
The story is simple, a little boring and predictable at times, but for a game that can be knocked out in 8 hours it doesn’t need to be anything more. It’s a short, moving and well executed story about family and it serves its purpose well.
The platforming is some of the best I’ve ever played, quick, responsive and extremely fluid. The movement and platforming is put on full display in the excellent chase sequences where you have to utilize every tool you have to escape from an enemy or hazard.
Overall the game is top notch and only weighed down by one beyond frustrating aspect, I wish I could give Blind Forest higher as it deserves higher, but for me it’s a 7.5/10
Except there is one fault with the game, and it is unfortunately a big one, the combat. Blind Forest’s combat is painfully boring, slow and offers basically no player expression. In a game with such top tier gameplay across the board when it comes to anything else about the game it’s a shocker one of the most integral aspect about the game is so lackluster. To make things worse there’s really no good fights in the game, some are ok but enemy design is dull.
But as I said almost everything else is perfect about the game, it’s short, well executed with no fluff or filler.
Visually I mean wow, like seriously wow, it’s one of the most visually stunning 2D games ever made.
The music is also exceptional, I still have the soundtrack saved to my phone.
The story is simple, a little boring and predictable at times, but for a game that can be knocked out in 8 hours it doesn’t need to be anything more. It’s a short, moving and well executed story about family and it serves its purpose well.
The platforming is some of the best I’ve ever played, quick, responsive and extremely fluid. The movement and platforming is put on full display in the excellent chase sequences where you have to utilize every tool you have to escape from an enemy or hazard.
Overall the game is top notch and only weighed down by one beyond frustrating aspect, I wish I could give Blind Forest higher as it deserves higher, but for me it’s a 7.5/10
Reviewing a two hour demo and treating it like a standard game is fairly difficult, but if I had to here’s what I’d say:
First we need to get the obvious out of the way, the game is very heavy handed in its story and themes, way too much so. Subtlety unlike the original SH games was not Short Message’s strong suit. Everything is shoved down your throat with very little care, this would be fine if a lot of these themes were executed appropriately and overall well, but I unfortunately don’t think they were despite tackling many different topics.
The narrative and writing drag down what should be an overall decent horror game to a mediocre one, which is a real shame as there is a lot to appreciate here.
The soundtrack is top tier, they brought in Akira Yamaoka the composer of the original Silent Hill games and it shows, he’s just as talented as ever.
The monster designs are top notch, the Sakura Tree monster is a phenomenal design, and just like the music they brought in another veteran for it, Masahiro Ito who created Pyramid Head.
On top of all that the world is beautiful environments look next gen, the design of the other world is jaw dropping and it’s fantastic to see it in this way with SH being gone for so many years. It’s unfortunate that the character models look so hideous to counter this, Anita looks like she was pulled from a PS3 game.
But the most important question is if it’s scary, and I’d say so, not for the entire game but certainly in specific portions. The opening apartments area is very well done and eerie, the other world and choice sequences are very well crafted and stressful, and the overall atmosphere makes you worried you’re not alone.
I want to give this game a higher score, but sadly the narrative of this game up until the last 20/30 minutes or so really is that bad and that detrimental to the game and drags it down so much lower than the game should be.
Overall? It’s a 5.5, but leaning more towards a 5 than a 6 after reflecting on the game.
Don’t be fooled by the score though, if you can look past the F tier writing (which does improve over the course of the game mind you) then there is a decent horror game here, and with how short it is, it is worth your time.
First we need to get the obvious out of the way, the game is very heavy handed in its story and themes, way too much so. Subtlety unlike the original SH games was not Short Message’s strong suit. Everything is shoved down your throat with very little care, this would be fine if a lot of these themes were executed appropriately and overall well, but I unfortunately don’t think they were despite tackling many different topics.
The narrative and writing drag down what should be an overall decent horror game to a mediocre one, which is a real shame as there is a lot to appreciate here.
The soundtrack is top tier, they brought in Akira Yamaoka the composer of the original Silent Hill games and it shows, he’s just as talented as ever.
The monster designs are top notch, the Sakura Tree monster is a phenomenal design, and just like the music they brought in another veteran for it, Masahiro Ito who created Pyramid Head.
On top of all that the world is beautiful environments look next gen, the design of the other world is jaw dropping and it’s fantastic to see it in this way with SH being gone for so many years. It’s unfortunate that the character models look so hideous to counter this, Anita looks like she was pulled from a PS3 game.
But the most important question is if it’s scary, and I’d say so, not for the entire game but certainly in specific portions. The opening apartments area is very well done and eerie, the other world and choice sequences are very well crafted and stressful, and the overall atmosphere makes you worried you’re not alone.
I want to give this game a higher score, but sadly the narrative of this game up until the last 20/30 minutes or so really is that bad and that detrimental to the game and drags it down so much lower than the game should be.
Overall? It’s a 5.5, but leaning more towards a 5 than a 6 after reflecting on the game.
Don’t be fooled by the score though, if you can look past the F tier writing (which does improve over the course of the game mind you) then there is a decent horror game here, and with how short it is, it is worth your time.
1999
Silent Hill is one of the scariest games I’ve ever played, but kind of a mixed bag in every other department
I recently beat the original Silent Hill for the first time after being interested in the series for years. And as I said in the title, it’s one of the scariest games I’ve ever played, but I routinely found myself getting frustrated by the game and it kept taking me out of the experience.
First the good, as I said this game despite its age is horrifying, and this is coming from someone who’s played a majority of the horror games you could probably list off. It’s even scarier than its sequel which I also recently completed, by a fair bit too. I struggled to try and figure out why this was, as SH2 in its own right was also really scary, but SH1 for some reason had me on edge for most of the game. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is because of the transitions into the other world that happened a couple times throughout the game.
The transitions into the other world are apparent immediately, a loud tornado siren blares in the distance to signal that a transition is starting, the sky starts turning dark, and the entire world begins rusting around you, giving this eerie orange look to your surroundings. These transitions not only sound and look scary, but they make your life harder too, making you dread them over time. Monsters become more frequent and it becomes significantly harder to see.
On that note, I’d be remiss to not mention Silent Hill’s most iconic feature, the fog. The fog was added to the game because of the PS1’s hardware restraints, but it makes the game so much scarier then it would be without it, it cripples your visibility and makes it so you often hear threats coming towards you before you actually see them. This coupled with a radio you get at the beginning of the game that starts screeching at you whenever enemies are around makes every encounter spine chilling even if the enemy ahead of you is a basic enemy you can kill in a couple hits with a steel pole.
Needless to say, Silent Hill has top notch atmosphere and scare factor, it never needs to rely on loud noises or cheap jumpscares to make you afraid because the fundamental systems baked into the game will handle that. I can only recall one moment in the entire game that I would classify as a jumpscare and it was handled expertly.
Before I move on to my other points, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the music and sound design, other elements that contribute to the games horror. It’s stupid good, the music especially sends shivers up my spine, the boss themes as well sound like they were dug up from hell, the audio in general though is fantastic, the radio, the noises enemies make, the ambient sounds are all superb and contribute greatly to the game. The only thing related to the audio that doesn’t hold up is the pretty bad voice acting sounds like everyone phoned in their performances, which isn’t out of place for the PS1, but it is worth mentioning.
I’d now like to talk about the visuals… it’s a PS1 game what do you want me to say? It looks like a 25 year old game because it almost is. However, the FMVs/cutscenes in the game are VERY impressive, and deserve props as they are comparable to some stuff you’d find on the PS2. But the art direction is a different discussion from raw visual fidelity, and on that note I have to say the game is great, with the other world sections being the highlight with the rust and blood covered surfaces looking extremely distinct and grotesque.
But that’s where my praise for the original Silent Hill kind of ends. The story is the next thing I’d like to bring up, the story sounds solid enough on paper, man crashes his car and daughter goes missing in supernatural fog coated town, so he has to track her down and uncovers a cult and a plot to revive “god”. But it’s not executed particularly well in my opinion. The initial hook works well enough, with Silent Hill being an intriguing enough setting to carry the opening. But beyond that things get needlessly convoluted and it’s hard to feel invested in the later moments in the game as the focus shifts to the cult and Alessa (who is apparently a girl who >!split her soul in half and created your daughter, Cheryl and a dark half which she gave in to, creating the supernatural element of Silent Hill!<)
The plot as a whole is fine I suppose, but again, I don’t think they execute it or explain it well enough with me having to look up plot details after it was over to understand most of it. Especially all the stuff with characters like Kaufmann and his whole side story. But with that said the psychological angle they take to Alessa and the town are interesting, just not handled great in my opinion, especially when the psychological manifestation element is handled infinitely better in its sequel.
On one final note about the plot and story, I just don’t really care about the characters and don’t think any of them are that interesting, with Lisa and Alessa being the only two exceptions. Kaufmann is interesting as well but there’s so much cryptic nonsense surrounding him that I find it difficult to care about him. Harry is also a whatever protagonist.
The gameplay is the next thing that I struggle with when it comes to this game. The combat is fine and the controls in general are clunky and hard to use, like most horror games from this time I suppose, tank controls in general I find to be deeply flawed, incredibly dated, and unfun. The bosses are a mixed bag, some are interesting and have unique gimmicks, with others being annoying and frustrating. The camera can be a major pain in the ass, sometimes it just works, but often times it can go haywire and make an encounter far more difficult then it needs to be.
The puzzles vary in quality, some are fun and interesting to solve, others are complete horseshit and near impossible to solve if you don’t have a guide.
The sidequests also don’t work in my opinion, the Kaufmann sidequest is required to get a better ending and is nearly impossible to complete without a guide.
The level design also varies quite dramatically, you have the exceptional Midwich elementary school, and the hospital, but you also have places like nowhere which is just nauseating to navigate (albeit a pretty cool idea) and the frustrating and flat out boring sewers.
But, with that all said, Silent Hill is a solid horror game that I absolutely recommend, however Silent Hill 2 is an infinitely better game in almost every category that is arguably a better starting point for anyone looking to get into the series.
TLDR: Silent Hill is a horrifying experience, but a mixed bag of a game with great, bad, and middling aspects that I ultimately recommend to anyone remotely intrigued by the series.
6/10
Thanks for reading, feedback is always greatly appreciated, I’m still very new to writing reviews here and am not a great writer in general. I’m also very open to discussion in the comments and would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this classic.
I recently beat the original Silent Hill for the first time after being interested in the series for years. And as I said in the title, it’s one of the scariest games I’ve ever played, but I routinely found myself getting frustrated by the game and it kept taking me out of the experience.
First the good, as I said this game despite its age is horrifying, and this is coming from someone who’s played a majority of the horror games you could probably list off. It’s even scarier than its sequel which I also recently completed, by a fair bit too. I struggled to try and figure out why this was, as SH2 in its own right was also really scary, but SH1 for some reason had me on edge for most of the game. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is because of the transitions into the other world that happened a couple times throughout the game.
The transitions into the other world are apparent immediately, a loud tornado siren blares in the distance to signal that a transition is starting, the sky starts turning dark, and the entire world begins rusting around you, giving this eerie orange look to your surroundings. These transitions not only sound and look scary, but they make your life harder too, making you dread them over time. Monsters become more frequent and it becomes significantly harder to see.
On that note, I’d be remiss to not mention Silent Hill’s most iconic feature, the fog. The fog was added to the game because of the PS1’s hardware restraints, but it makes the game so much scarier then it would be without it, it cripples your visibility and makes it so you often hear threats coming towards you before you actually see them. This coupled with a radio you get at the beginning of the game that starts screeching at you whenever enemies are around makes every encounter spine chilling even if the enemy ahead of you is a basic enemy you can kill in a couple hits with a steel pole.
Needless to say, Silent Hill has top notch atmosphere and scare factor, it never needs to rely on loud noises or cheap jumpscares to make you afraid because the fundamental systems baked into the game will handle that. I can only recall one moment in the entire game that I would classify as a jumpscare and it was handled expertly.
Before I move on to my other points, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the music and sound design, other elements that contribute to the games horror. It’s stupid good, the music especially sends shivers up my spine, the boss themes as well sound like they were dug up from hell, the audio in general though is fantastic, the radio, the noises enemies make, the ambient sounds are all superb and contribute greatly to the game. The only thing related to the audio that doesn’t hold up is the pretty bad voice acting sounds like everyone phoned in their performances, which isn’t out of place for the PS1, but it is worth mentioning.
I’d now like to talk about the visuals… it’s a PS1 game what do you want me to say? It looks like a 25 year old game because it almost is. However, the FMVs/cutscenes in the game are VERY impressive, and deserve props as they are comparable to some stuff you’d find on the PS2. But the art direction is a different discussion from raw visual fidelity, and on that note I have to say the game is great, with the other world sections being the highlight with the rust and blood covered surfaces looking extremely distinct and grotesque.
But that’s where my praise for the original Silent Hill kind of ends. The story is the next thing I’d like to bring up, the story sounds solid enough on paper, man crashes his car and daughter goes missing in supernatural fog coated town, so he has to track her down and uncovers a cult and a plot to revive “god”. But it’s not executed particularly well in my opinion. The initial hook works well enough, with Silent Hill being an intriguing enough setting to carry the opening. But beyond that things get needlessly convoluted and it’s hard to feel invested in the later moments in the game as the focus shifts to the cult and Alessa (who is apparently a girl who >!split her soul in half and created your daughter, Cheryl and a dark half which she gave in to, creating the supernatural element of Silent Hill!<)
The plot as a whole is fine I suppose, but again, I don’t think they execute it or explain it well enough with me having to look up plot details after it was over to understand most of it. Especially all the stuff with characters like Kaufmann and his whole side story. But with that said the psychological angle they take to Alessa and the town are interesting, just not handled great in my opinion, especially when the psychological manifestation element is handled infinitely better in its sequel.
On one final note about the plot and story, I just don’t really care about the characters and don’t think any of them are that interesting, with Lisa and Alessa being the only two exceptions. Kaufmann is interesting as well but there’s so much cryptic nonsense surrounding him that I find it difficult to care about him. Harry is also a whatever protagonist.
The gameplay is the next thing that I struggle with when it comes to this game. The combat is fine and the controls in general are clunky and hard to use, like most horror games from this time I suppose, tank controls in general I find to be deeply flawed, incredibly dated, and unfun. The bosses are a mixed bag, some are interesting and have unique gimmicks, with others being annoying and frustrating. The camera can be a major pain in the ass, sometimes it just works, but often times it can go haywire and make an encounter far more difficult then it needs to be.
The puzzles vary in quality, some are fun and interesting to solve, others are complete horseshit and near impossible to solve if you don’t have a guide.
The sidequests also don’t work in my opinion, the Kaufmann sidequest is required to get a better ending and is nearly impossible to complete without a guide.
The level design also varies quite dramatically, you have the exceptional Midwich elementary school, and the hospital, but you also have places like nowhere which is just nauseating to navigate (albeit a pretty cool idea) and the frustrating and flat out boring sewers.
But, with that all said, Silent Hill is a solid horror game that I absolutely recommend, however Silent Hill 2 is an infinitely better game in almost every category that is arguably a better starting point for anyone looking to get into the series.
TLDR: Silent Hill is a horrifying experience, but a mixed bag of a game with great, bad, and middling aspects that I ultimately recommend to anyone remotely intrigued by the series.
6/10
Thanks for reading, feedback is always greatly appreciated, I’m still very new to writing reviews here and am not a great writer in general. I’m also very open to discussion in the comments and would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this classic.
1986
The original Castlevania has aged fairly well for a 36 year old game
When I think of the NES library, and what games are actually worth playing today, very few games come to mind. The Super Mario Bros games, the two Legend of Zelda’s, a couple Megamans, Kirby’s Adventure, Final Fantasy 1-3 and… the original three Castlevania games. There are others of course, but these are the ones that come to mind because I believe they had the biggest impact for their time, with many of them aging very well, even the original Castlevania.
But why is that? Well it’s for a number of reasons, let me detail a couple of them.
Aesthetic
Castlevania actually looks pretty good today, not amazing, but pretty gorgeous for a game from ‘86 to the point where other games are trying to mimic its style (obviously with much more detail and color, but still trying to mimic the NES look of Castlevania 1 & 3 nonetheless.) such as the Bloodstained Curse of the Moon games.
It’s honesty pretty impressive what they managed to pull off given the hardware’s limitations. Right from the beginning you’re graced with more detail than you’re average NES game, with Simon standing in front of the gates to Dracula’s castle, with the castle itself looming ominously in the distance while the moon illuminates your surroundings.
And this reaches over into gameplay as well, with each level having a distinct look with different architecture, colors, and enemies being present.
And while the style of the game holds up very well, that’s not all the game has going for it.
Music
I was pleasantly surprised by the score, it’s not amazing, it still has to be constrained to the NES, but despite their limitations, they managed to create a pretty fantastic soundtrack. With each stage having a memorable and distinct track to accompany the gameplay.
Vampire Killer, Wicked Child, Stalker, Heart of the Fire, so many great tracks that I actively sought out to listen to after I completed the game. It’s kind of a shame the music of the original doesn’t get more recognition, as I consider it extremely underrated.
Difficulty
Castlevania is widely regarded as one of the most difficult games ever made, but to be honest? I find it WAY more fair and forgiving than most other NES titles. Sure it has obnoxious difficulty spikes, yes restarting a level after losing all lives is obnoxious, yes some bosses feel nearly impossible unless you have a specific backup weapon. But compared to games like the original Super Mario Bros that will send you back to the beginning of the game if you lose all your lives? Or Lost Levels which just has completely bullshit difficulty that only serves to piss you off? It feels much more reasonable.
I debated making this a full section, but I feel it’s important to highlight the difficulty of Castlevania as although it’s hard, it feels the developers had a bit more foresight than most NES developers, and realized the game would be nearly impossible if not for the fairly generous checkpoints they implemented.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Castlevania is… okay, some aspects actually feel pretty good, and elevate the game. Other parts are obnoxious and not nearly as well fine tuned. Such as the platforming, which sometimes feels fine, but other times makes Simon feel way to heavy and difficult to control. I think the platforming is where the bulk of frustration comes from in terms of Castlevania’s gameplay, Simon just feels like a sack of bricks every time he jumps, you are given no control after you make the input, and just have to hope you were precise enough to make a tricky jump.
But how about the combat? It feels solid actually, whip feels like it has enough range when maxed out to let you have enough breathing room so you don’t have to get right up into an enemy and risk getting hit. The whip also feels very punchy, and feels like it has weight behind it, with it temporarily stunning enemies whenever you hit them. This can lead to some pretty satisfying combos against bosses where you string together hits with your whip and secondary weapon in quick succession.
Speaking of the secondary weapons though, I want to touch on them real quick. Some are absolutely incredible, and wildly broken, like the stop watch and holy water. While others just suck and make me ask why I would ever pick them up, like the axe and dagger. You find these secondary weapons out in the levels leading up to the bosses, and like I said, the balance for some of these is kind of unreal, and some really needed to be made better then they were.
Highlighting Negatives
However, Castlevania is not without fault, it is a 36 year old game, and while it’s impressive the game holds up as well as it does, I need to point out its issues.
Firstly, performance, the game will constantly stutter extremely often, mainly when there’s too many enemies on screen.
I mentioned how frustrating the platforming was before, but I’ll bring it up again. Simon is way too heavy, and you have basically no control after you’ve already input a jump.
Although the difficulty is more fair than most NES games, Castlevania is still riddled with obnoxious difficulty spikes (the hallway leading to death being a great example) and nearly impossible bosses that will drain all your lives if you don’t have a good secondary weapon to counter them.
The game does not make it clear how to get extra lives or if it’s even possible.
Etc. The game has more problems, but it’s hard to really dive into a game this simple, and pick out every issue the game has without seeming very nit-picky. I could mention the story but… come on it’s an NES game.
In Conclusion
Castlevania has aged better than 99% of the NES library, and is honestly worth revisiting, the combat feels good but the platforming is frustrating, the game looks and sounds great, however the game is also ludicrously difficult even if it is more fair than almost every other NES game.
TL;DR:
The game’s aged relatively well, and is worth checking out.
5/10
When I think of the NES library, and what games are actually worth playing today, very few games come to mind. The Super Mario Bros games, the two Legend of Zelda’s, a couple Megamans, Kirby’s Adventure, Final Fantasy 1-3 and… the original three Castlevania games. There are others of course, but these are the ones that come to mind because I believe they had the biggest impact for their time, with many of them aging very well, even the original Castlevania.
But why is that? Well it’s for a number of reasons, let me detail a couple of them.
Aesthetic
Castlevania actually looks pretty good today, not amazing, but pretty gorgeous for a game from ‘86 to the point where other games are trying to mimic its style (obviously with much more detail and color, but still trying to mimic the NES look of Castlevania 1 & 3 nonetheless.) such as the Bloodstained Curse of the Moon games.
It’s honesty pretty impressive what they managed to pull off given the hardware’s limitations. Right from the beginning you’re graced with more detail than you’re average NES game, with Simon standing in front of the gates to Dracula’s castle, with the castle itself looming ominously in the distance while the moon illuminates your surroundings.
And this reaches over into gameplay as well, with each level having a distinct look with different architecture, colors, and enemies being present.
And while the style of the game holds up very well, that’s not all the game has going for it.
Music
I was pleasantly surprised by the score, it’s not amazing, it still has to be constrained to the NES, but despite their limitations, they managed to create a pretty fantastic soundtrack. With each stage having a memorable and distinct track to accompany the gameplay.
Vampire Killer, Wicked Child, Stalker, Heart of the Fire, so many great tracks that I actively sought out to listen to after I completed the game. It’s kind of a shame the music of the original doesn’t get more recognition, as I consider it extremely underrated.
Difficulty
Castlevania is widely regarded as one of the most difficult games ever made, but to be honest? I find it WAY more fair and forgiving than most other NES titles. Sure it has obnoxious difficulty spikes, yes restarting a level after losing all lives is obnoxious, yes some bosses feel nearly impossible unless you have a specific backup weapon. But compared to games like the original Super Mario Bros that will send you back to the beginning of the game if you lose all your lives? Or Lost Levels which just has completely bullshit difficulty that only serves to piss you off? It feels much more reasonable.
I debated making this a full section, but I feel it’s important to highlight the difficulty of Castlevania as although it’s hard, it feels the developers had a bit more foresight than most NES developers, and realized the game would be nearly impossible if not for the fairly generous checkpoints they implemented.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Castlevania is… okay, some aspects actually feel pretty good, and elevate the game. Other parts are obnoxious and not nearly as well fine tuned. Such as the platforming, which sometimes feels fine, but other times makes Simon feel way to heavy and difficult to control. I think the platforming is where the bulk of frustration comes from in terms of Castlevania’s gameplay, Simon just feels like a sack of bricks every time he jumps, you are given no control after you make the input, and just have to hope you were precise enough to make a tricky jump.
But how about the combat? It feels solid actually, whip feels like it has enough range when maxed out to let you have enough breathing room so you don’t have to get right up into an enemy and risk getting hit. The whip also feels very punchy, and feels like it has weight behind it, with it temporarily stunning enemies whenever you hit them. This can lead to some pretty satisfying combos against bosses where you string together hits with your whip and secondary weapon in quick succession.
Speaking of the secondary weapons though, I want to touch on them real quick. Some are absolutely incredible, and wildly broken, like the stop watch and holy water. While others just suck and make me ask why I would ever pick them up, like the axe and dagger. You find these secondary weapons out in the levels leading up to the bosses, and like I said, the balance for some of these is kind of unreal, and some really needed to be made better then they were.
Highlighting Negatives
However, Castlevania is not without fault, it is a 36 year old game, and while it’s impressive the game holds up as well as it does, I need to point out its issues.
Firstly, performance, the game will constantly stutter extremely often, mainly when there’s too many enemies on screen.
I mentioned how frustrating the platforming was before, but I’ll bring it up again. Simon is way too heavy, and you have basically no control after you’ve already input a jump.
Although the difficulty is more fair than most NES games, Castlevania is still riddled with obnoxious difficulty spikes (the hallway leading to death being a great example) and nearly impossible bosses that will drain all your lives if you don’t have a good secondary weapon to counter them.
The game does not make it clear how to get extra lives or if it’s even possible.
Etc. The game has more problems, but it’s hard to really dive into a game this simple, and pick out every issue the game has without seeming very nit-picky. I could mention the story but… come on it’s an NES game.
In Conclusion
Castlevania has aged better than 99% of the NES library, and is honestly worth revisiting, the combat feels good but the platforming is frustrating, the game looks and sounds great, however the game is also ludicrously difficult even if it is more fair than almost every other NES game.
TL;DR:
The game’s aged relatively well, and is worth checking out.
5/10
This review contains spoilers
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has one of the greatest sci-fi stories I’ve ever experienced
Note: This review will not contain any story spoilers other then stuff you can find in the first couple hours. However I’ll probably be discussing spoilers in the comments, so if you haven’t played the game, I’d recommend you steer clear of the comments. This game’s story is one of a kind, and is worth going in blind.
I finished 13 Sentinels yesterday and… wow, where do I even begin? The game shocked me, and I can confidently say it’s a work of art. I don’t know what to say, other then this game is worth your time.
Story
I’m going to first try and explain why the story is so incredibly impressive to me, and why you need to experience it.
But first, a little context, 13 Sentinels has two different game modes for you to play, “Remembrance” and “Destruction” Remembrance is a visual novel, while Destruction is an RTS/Tower Defense, while Destruction does have important story, it also takes place (for the most part) after the events of Remembrance, and doesn’t have nearly as much story packed into it. So for the most part, in this section I’ll be discussing Remembrance unless I say otherwise.
Now, Remembrance as I said, is a visual novel, and is where the majority of you’re playtime will be spent. At the beginning you’ll only have the ability to select and play the stories of seven of the thirteen protagonists however, as time goes on you’ll have the ability to play the stories of all thirteen protagonists. This to me, is one of the most impressive things about 13 sentinels, not the fact that you have 13 playable characters, but the fact that all their stories are so drastically different, while all still contributing to the overarching plot going on.
And like I said, all characters stories are drastically different, there will be times where the 13 characters cross paths in one another’s stories, that happens more often then not in some characters stories, but despite this there’s not a ton of overlap, and all characters have different things going on. For example, one character is stuck in a Groundhog Day style loop, another has crippling amnesia and needs to find out what happened before he lost his memories, while another has to go back and forward in time to help a robot find his sentinel. (Sentinels are massive robots that the protagonists pilot)
Another thing that made me quite impressed is how unconventional the story telling is. As I’ve said there are 13 protagonists that you are allowed to swap between at any time, the fact that there isn’t one main character alone is already fairly unconventional. But the fact that you can swap between any of them on a whim and aren’t forced to play through their stories one at a time? That’s something you won’t see very often. That sounds like it’s a recipe for disaster, and would very easily make the story a convoluted nightmare, right? I thought it would be that way too, but no, the story is extremely comprehensive, no matter what characters story you play, and when, which leads into my next point.
I’d argue the most impressive thing about the story of this game, and the thing that sold it for me, is how easy to follow it is. Despite the fact that you can swap between 13 stories at any time, despite the fact that the story takes place between half a dozen different time periods, and despite the fact that this game tackles multiple convoluted and difficult to understand sci-fi concepts, like time travel, parallel universes, simulations, extraterrestrials, etc. Despite all that, I understood what was happening in the story at almost all times, I’m not sure why I did, or how they pulled it off, other then the fact that this game is written very well, and has great dialogue.
The story is one of this games strongest aspects, and I hope I got that across as it really is something to behold, but with that said let me touch on some of the other aspects of this game.
Characters
This section kinda goes hand in hand with the last, but I wanted to talk about this separately from the story because I do have a fair amount to talk about here.
All of the characters are great, let me get that out of the way first thing, all of them are very distinct from one another, not just in personality, but in character design, motivations, and goals. They all feel like real high-schoolers that are slowly being dragged into something bigger, wether they know it or not.
This doesn’t just apply to the playable protagonists either, all side characters are all very distinct and integral to the overall story. And they all feel they could have a story section dedicated to them in remembrance and it would have worked.
This is all without even mentioning one of the things that makes these characters so great, the voice work. You can play in either Japanese or English, and it doesn’t matter which you do, because the English dub is phenomenal, and has a lot of great talent that’s worked on other big games attached to it. Personally, I recommend the English dub, so you don’t have to read 20+ hours worth of text, but no matter which you choose, both versions are superb.
Visuals
Next, let me talk about another exceptional thing about this game, the visuals are drop dead gorgeous. The art style they went with is a unique hand painted look that’s present in the entirety of Remembrance (Destruction goes for a wire frame look that’s… fine? Just not nearly as pretty as Remembrance) every environment is beautiful, and unique from one another, you constantly revisit environments, but you always know where you are because as I said, no two places look the same.
Performance
Just quickly going to throw this in here, the performance is solid, I played on a base model PS4 and was doing 1080 60 consistently, with the occasional dip in the later stages of Destruction. Not sure how important performance is to you all in a game like this, but it felt important to mention.
Gameplay
We’ve finally hit the section that will push quite a few people away from 13 Sentinels, and I’m going to be blunt about this, the gameplay is mediocre at its best, and a visual novel at its worst.
Remembrance doesn’t have any gameplay to it, not really anyway, there’ll be times you have to figure out where to go next, and will have to think about previous chapters and what you’ve already done, but that’s it.
No, the real bulk of the gameplay is in Destruction, as I mentioned earlier it’s an RTS. So how is it? It’s fine, nothing more nothing less, you play through Destruction when the game forces you to in order to progress in Remembrance and that’s about the only time you’ll be playing it until you finish Remembrance.
So why is it only fine? Because it never changes, it never grows, it’s the same thing when you start it, and it’s the same thing when you end it. It’s just so basic and has no real depth to it, the goal is to defend an Aegis for a certain amount of time or to kill all the enemies in the area. Here’s what you do, you grab two gen 1 sentinels (melee) that have an upgraded demolish blade, two gen 2 (all rounders) sentinels to place down turrets, one gen 3 (long range) to destroy missiles and destroy stragglers, and a gen 4 (support) for shield support. You do that every mission, rinse and repeat and you’re basically guaranteed an S on 90% of all missions. There’s no real strategy involved, some missions towards the end get harder for sure, but not until the last two missions or so. You never even really need to upgrade your sentinels or abilities, the game no matter what difficulty is a cake walk until the very end. I guess what I’m saying is, that for an RTS, there’s not a lot of strategy going on.
It’s just kind of a shame, the best part of Destruction is the interactions between characters and the very occasional story moments, so basically the few things it borrows from Remembrance.
Other
Alright I’m gonna wrap this up with some stuff I didn’t want to dedicate a full section to.
The music is great, and almost always fits the tone, there’s a couple tracks in particular that I’ll be adding to my playlist.
There’s another mode in the game that’s dedicated to explaining the story, or specific concepts or moments in the game if you happen to need it, it’s a nice tool and helps to give more contents on certain moments and characters.
The ending is beautiful, and it alone is worth playing through Destruction, it ties up all loose ends and explains some things you may still be confused with by the end.
The game has a pretty slow start, and the first couple hours can be kind of a drag, because at this point you have no idea what’s going on and don’t care about the characters. It’s not a big deal, but I felt it was important enough to mention.
Closing Remarks
13 Sentinels has one of the greatest stories I’ve ever experienced, and it is worth your time, but if you can’t stand visual novels then I don’t think I’d personally recommend it, as there’s not much more here for you unless you can find enjoyment in the hollow RTS/Tower Defense aspect of the game.
8/10
TL;DR:
One of the best stories I’ve ever seen in a game, with some great visuals, not worth it if you’re only interested in the gameplay and couldn’t care less about the story.
Note: This review will not contain any story spoilers other then stuff you can find in the first couple hours. However I’ll probably be discussing spoilers in the comments, so if you haven’t played the game, I’d recommend you steer clear of the comments. This game’s story is one of a kind, and is worth going in blind.
I finished 13 Sentinels yesterday and… wow, where do I even begin? The game shocked me, and I can confidently say it’s a work of art. I don’t know what to say, other then this game is worth your time.
Story
I’m going to first try and explain why the story is so incredibly impressive to me, and why you need to experience it.
But first, a little context, 13 Sentinels has two different game modes for you to play, “Remembrance” and “Destruction” Remembrance is a visual novel, while Destruction is an RTS/Tower Defense, while Destruction does have important story, it also takes place (for the most part) after the events of Remembrance, and doesn’t have nearly as much story packed into it. So for the most part, in this section I’ll be discussing Remembrance unless I say otherwise.
Now, Remembrance as I said, is a visual novel, and is where the majority of you’re playtime will be spent. At the beginning you’ll only have the ability to select and play the stories of seven of the thirteen protagonists however, as time goes on you’ll have the ability to play the stories of all thirteen protagonists. This to me, is one of the most impressive things about 13 sentinels, not the fact that you have 13 playable characters, but the fact that all their stories are so drastically different, while all still contributing to the overarching plot going on.
And like I said, all characters stories are drastically different, there will be times where the 13 characters cross paths in one another’s stories, that happens more often then not in some characters stories, but despite this there’s not a ton of overlap, and all characters have different things going on. For example, one character is stuck in a Groundhog Day style loop, another has crippling amnesia and needs to find out what happened before he lost his memories, while another has to go back and forward in time to help a robot find his sentinel. (Sentinels are massive robots that the protagonists pilot)
Another thing that made me quite impressed is how unconventional the story telling is. As I’ve said there are 13 protagonists that you are allowed to swap between at any time, the fact that there isn’t one main character alone is already fairly unconventional. But the fact that you can swap between any of them on a whim and aren’t forced to play through their stories one at a time? That’s something you won’t see very often. That sounds like it’s a recipe for disaster, and would very easily make the story a convoluted nightmare, right? I thought it would be that way too, but no, the story is extremely comprehensive, no matter what characters story you play, and when, which leads into my next point.
I’d argue the most impressive thing about the story of this game, and the thing that sold it for me, is how easy to follow it is. Despite the fact that you can swap between 13 stories at any time, despite the fact that the story takes place between half a dozen different time periods, and despite the fact that this game tackles multiple convoluted and difficult to understand sci-fi concepts, like time travel, parallel universes, simulations, extraterrestrials, etc. Despite all that, I understood what was happening in the story at almost all times, I’m not sure why I did, or how they pulled it off, other then the fact that this game is written very well, and has great dialogue.
The story is one of this games strongest aspects, and I hope I got that across as it really is something to behold, but with that said let me touch on some of the other aspects of this game.
Characters
This section kinda goes hand in hand with the last, but I wanted to talk about this separately from the story because I do have a fair amount to talk about here.
All of the characters are great, let me get that out of the way first thing, all of them are very distinct from one another, not just in personality, but in character design, motivations, and goals. They all feel like real high-schoolers that are slowly being dragged into something bigger, wether they know it or not.
This doesn’t just apply to the playable protagonists either, all side characters are all very distinct and integral to the overall story. And they all feel they could have a story section dedicated to them in remembrance and it would have worked.
This is all without even mentioning one of the things that makes these characters so great, the voice work. You can play in either Japanese or English, and it doesn’t matter which you do, because the English dub is phenomenal, and has a lot of great talent that’s worked on other big games attached to it. Personally, I recommend the English dub, so you don’t have to read 20+ hours worth of text, but no matter which you choose, both versions are superb.
Visuals
Next, let me talk about another exceptional thing about this game, the visuals are drop dead gorgeous. The art style they went with is a unique hand painted look that’s present in the entirety of Remembrance (Destruction goes for a wire frame look that’s… fine? Just not nearly as pretty as Remembrance) every environment is beautiful, and unique from one another, you constantly revisit environments, but you always know where you are because as I said, no two places look the same.
Performance
Just quickly going to throw this in here, the performance is solid, I played on a base model PS4 and was doing 1080 60 consistently, with the occasional dip in the later stages of Destruction. Not sure how important performance is to you all in a game like this, but it felt important to mention.
Gameplay
We’ve finally hit the section that will push quite a few people away from 13 Sentinels, and I’m going to be blunt about this, the gameplay is mediocre at its best, and a visual novel at its worst.
Remembrance doesn’t have any gameplay to it, not really anyway, there’ll be times you have to figure out where to go next, and will have to think about previous chapters and what you’ve already done, but that’s it.
No, the real bulk of the gameplay is in Destruction, as I mentioned earlier it’s an RTS. So how is it? It’s fine, nothing more nothing less, you play through Destruction when the game forces you to in order to progress in Remembrance and that’s about the only time you’ll be playing it until you finish Remembrance.
So why is it only fine? Because it never changes, it never grows, it’s the same thing when you start it, and it’s the same thing when you end it. It’s just so basic and has no real depth to it, the goal is to defend an Aegis for a certain amount of time or to kill all the enemies in the area. Here’s what you do, you grab two gen 1 sentinels (melee) that have an upgraded demolish blade, two gen 2 (all rounders) sentinels to place down turrets, one gen 3 (long range) to destroy missiles and destroy stragglers, and a gen 4 (support) for shield support. You do that every mission, rinse and repeat and you’re basically guaranteed an S on 90% of all missions. There’s no real strategy involved, some missions towards the end get harder for sure, but not until the last two missions or so. You never even really need to upgrade your sentinels or abilities, the game no matter what difficulty is a cake walk until the very end. I guess what I’m saying is, that for an RTS, there’s not a lot of strategy going on.
It’s just kind of a shame, the best part of Destruction is the interactions between characters and the very occasional story moments, so basically the few things it borrows from Remembrance.
Other
Alright I’m gonna wrap this up with some stuff I didn’t want to dedicate a full section to.
The music is great, and almost always fits the tone, there’s a couple tracks in particular that I’ll be adding to my playlist.
There’s another mode in the game that’s dedicated to explaining the story, or specific concepts or moments in the game if you happen to need it, it’s a nice tool and helps to give more contents on certain moments and characters.
The ending is beautiful, and it alone is worth playing through Destruction, it ties up all loose ends and explains some things you may still be confused with by the end.
The game has a pretty slow start, and the first couple hours can be kind of a drag, because at this point you have no idea what’s going on and don’t care about the characters. It’s not a big deal, but I felt it was important enough to mention.
Closing Remarks
13 Sentinels has one of the greatest stories I’ve ever experienced, and it is worth your time, but if you can’t stand visual novels then I don’t think I’d personally recommend it, as there’s not much more here for you unless you can find enjoyment in the hollow RTS/Tower Defense aspect of the game.
8/10
TL;DR:
One of the best stories I’ve ever seen in a game, with some great visuals, not worth it if you’re only interested in the gameplay and couldn’t care less about the story.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was a frustrating game as a newcomer, that grew on me over time
A couple days ago, I finished up Ace Combat 7, after taking a rather long break from the game, and I’m rather surprised with how much I enjoyed the game when everything was said and done.
However the game is riddled with issues, especially to people who have never played a game like this before, which I just so happen to be.
Firstly, the story and characters are… not good, the story picks up and I feel gets a bit better as the game goes on, same with the characters, but they never come close to hitting the level they should. I can count the amount of characters I remember anything about on one hand, despite AC7 (Ace Combat 7) introducing probably two dozen or so characters that serve a purpose throughout the story over the course of the game.
And the worst part? The most interesting characters that you actually want to learn more about don’t interact with the player, or do really much of anything until the last three or so chapters. They get the majority of their screen time in cutscenes where they explain what they’re doing periodically.
And the story in general is weak, as I said I do feel it picks up towards the end, but overall the narrative is mediocre at its best.
Another major problem I have with the game, is how poor a job it does explaining its mechanics, it was admittedly fun and rewarding to figure out some of these mechanics on my own. But despite these being some of the more advanced mechanics that the game clearly wants you to figure out on your own, they are far too important not to be explained to the player. The best example I can think of is the High-G turn, a mechanic that allows you to turn your plane much quicker then normal. I don’t believe this mechanic is ever explained to you, and if it is it’s glossed over, despite being crucial for later missions.
That’s another problem, the mission structure is pretty bad, half the missions are just racking up as many points as possible from destroying ground units and shooting down other pilots. These missions are long, tedious, hard as hell, and far too frequent.
Which is a real shame, because some of the later missions are so incredibly fun and unique when you’re not scrambling around trying to get as many points as possible, but I’ll be back to that point later.
The game has some ludicrous difficulty spikes that most won’t be ready for as well.
I only have one more point as a negative, and that’s the shop/buying parts and planes. It’s pretty bad, it’s structured like a skill tree where you need to buy multiple things before you can get to what you want. This… doesn’t work well, and almost incentivizes you to have prior knowledge before you dedicate yourself to try and unlock something. I mean it took me 18 out of the 20 missions in the game before I finally got the plane I wanted, and at that point I would have had to farm for hours if I wanted to go buy something else in a different path. It’s a really bad system that should never have been implemented.
Now, with all that said, I still loved AC7 for what it was, even as a person who has never played a game even remotely like it before. And despite all its shortcomings it’s still a very good game, and here’s why.
First and foremost, the gameplay feels phenomenal, the planes control brilliantly, dog fights are challenging and very rewarding, and overall everything feels fine tuned to make this a definitive fighter sim experience. I seriously can’t praise it enough, I could spend extensive time practicing with the movement and combat just to learn it better, it’s that good.
Also, despite many missions being… okay at best, many missions, especially the later ones are awesome! They have incredible set pieces and moments that are designed to make you feel like a badass. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s staggering how good the later missions are and how creative they are compared to the earlier ones.
On the topic of being a badass, AC7 tries very hard to make you feel like one. It makes you feel like the Ace that it makes Trigger out to be, and it succeeds. From the excellent boss fights to the later set pieces, to your allies on comms praising you, everything is designed to give you a power fantasy.
The music is also top notch, not what I was expecting, but still phenomenal none the less.
And graphically? It’s gorgeous, the game looks stunning, the cutscenes and gameplay alike almost look like they were designed with the 9th generation in mind, which, of course, they weren’t.
One of my favorite things about this game is how it rewards experimentation, it rewards you making the game more challenging on yourself by using the advanced controls by making more high level maneuvers and mechanics easier to pull off with this control scheme. But even without advanced controls, the game encourages you to think outside the box, mix up your strategy, try out different planes and special weapons to see what works best for you in specific missions. And I honestly feel that’s one of the best things about this game, and something it gets right.
And even with all that said, AC7 has so much more to it then just the campaign, stuff I haven’t even touched yet, such as a multiplayer and VR mode. You can really feel the love packed into this game by Project Aces and it’s incredible.
So, overall, how is Ace Combat 7? It’s a game that’s rough around the edges, a game that makes some amateurish mistakes, and a game that’s alienating to people not familiar with the genre. But it’s also incredibly well tuned in all of its core gameplay systems, a game loaded with plenty of optional content, and a game that is genuinely fun and a game that rewards creativity. It’s a very good game, and I’m excited to work my way back through the rest of the series now that I’ve completed it.
7/10
A couple days ago, I finished up Ace Combat 7, after taking a rather long break from the game, and I’m rather surprised with how much I enjoyed the game when everything was said and done.
However the game is riddled with issues, especially to people who have never played a game like this before, which I just so happen to be.
Firstly, the story and characters are… not good, the story picks up and I feel gets a bit better as the game goes on, same with the characters, but they never come close to hitting the level they should. I can count the amount of characters I remember anything about on one hand, despite AC7 (Ace Combat 7) introducing probably two dozen or so characters that serve a purpose throughout the story over the course of the game.
And the worst part? The most interesting characters that you actually want to learn more about don’t interact with the player, or do really much of anything until the last three or so chapters. They get the majority of their screen time in cutscenes where they explain what they’re doing periodically.
And the story in general is weak, as I said I do feel it picks up towards the end, but overall the narrative is mediocre at its best.
Another major problem I have with the game, is how poor a job it does explaining its mechanics, it was admittedly fun and rewarding to figure out some of these mechanics on my own. But despite these being some of the more advanced mechanics that the game clearly wants you to figure out on your own, they are far too important not to be explained to the player. The best example I can think of is the High-G turn, a mechanic that allows you to turn your plane much quicker then normal. I don’t believe this mechanic is ever explained to you, and if it is it’s glossed over, despite being crucial for later missions.
That’s another problem, the mission structure is pretty bad, half the missions are just racking up as many points as possible from destroying ground units and shooting down other pilots. These missions are long, tedious, hard as hell, and far too frequent.
Which is a real shame, because some of the later missions are so incredibly fun and unique when you’re not scrambling around trying to get as many points as possible, but I’ll be back to that point later.
The game has some ludicrous difficulty spikes that most won’t be ready for as well.
I only have one more point as a negative, and that’s the shop/buying parts and planes. It’s pretty bad, it’s structured like a skill tree where you need to buy multiple things before you can get to what you want. This… doesn’t work well, and almost incentivizes you to have prior knowledge before you dedicate yourself to try and unlock something. I mean it took me 18 out of the 20 missions in the game before I finally got the plane I wanted, and at that point I would have had to farm for hours if I wanted to go buy something else in a different path. It’s a really bad system that should never have been implemented.
Now, with all that said, I still loved AC7 for what it was, even as a person who has never played a game even remotely like it before. And despite all its shortcomings it’s still a very good game, and here’s why.
First and foremost, the gameplay feels phenomenal, the planes control brilliantly, dog fights are challenging and very rewarding, and overall everything feels fine tuned to make this a definitive fighter sim experience. I seriously can’t praise it enough, I could spend extensive time practicing with the movement and combat just to learn it better, it’s that good.
Also, despite many missions being… okay at best, many missions, especially the later ones are awesome! They have incredible set pieces and moments that are designed to make you feel like a badass. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s staggering how good the later missions are and how creative they are compared to the earlier ones.
On the topic of being a badass, AC7 tries very hard to make you feel like one. It makes you feel like the Ace that it makes Trigger out to be, and it succeeds. From the excellent boss fights to the later set pieces, to your allies on comms praising you, everything is designed to give you a power fantasy.
The music is also top notch, not what I was expecting, but still phenomenal none the less.
And graphically? It’s gorgeous, the game looks stunning, the cutscenes and gameplay alike almost look like they were designed with the 9th generation in mind, which, of course, they weren’t.
One of my favorite things about this game is how it rewards experimentation, it rewards you making the game more challenging on yourself by using the advanced controls by making more high level maneuvers and mechanics easier to pull off with this control scheme. But even without advanced controls, the game encourages you to think outside the box, mix up your strategy, try out different planes and special weapons to see what works best for you in specific missions. And I honestly feel that’s one of the best things about this game, and something it gets right.
And even with all that said, AC7 has so much more to it then just the campaign, stuff I haven’t even touched yet, such as a multiplayer and VR mode. You can really feel the love packed into this game by Project Aces and it’s incredible.
So, overall, how is Ace Combat 7? It’s a game that’s rough around the edges, a game that makes some amateurish mistakes, and a game that’s alienating to people not familiar with the genre. But it’s also incredibly well tuned in all of its core gameplay systems, a game loaded with plenty of optional content, and a game that is genuinely fun and a game that rewards creativity. It’s a very good game, and I’m excited to work my way back through the rest of the series now that I’ve completed it.
7/10
2023
Final Fantasy XVI Review
Final Fantasy XVI (16 for those losers who can’t read Roman numerals) was announced almost three years ago now as one of PlayStation’s high end console selling exclusives, three years later the game has set up ridiculous expectations for itself, does it live up to them?
I’d say mostly, the combat is fun, the story is captivating enough, the world is gorgeous and the soundtrack is the level of quality you’d expect from a mainline Final Fantasy game. However there are too many issues, big and small for this game to be the genre defining game that people hoped it would be. The world design, side content, lackluster antagonist and other small issues drag down the games score, and take away from an otherwise exceptional game.
Even some of the games highlights have frustrating properties, the game’s combat for example can most definitely shine, but there is always a feeling that with a little more depth, we could have had something on par with DMC5. Alas, the game doesn’t reach that high, while you can do some incredible looking combos, there’s hardly an incentive for it, usually you’re just dragging out an otherwise quick encounter, by trying to do something flashy when spamming your skills will almost always get the job done quicker. On top of that it’s usually quite challenging to get these combos off, not because they’re hard to do, but because the enemies die so incredibly quickly, and for the ones that don’t such as the mini-bosses, you can’t pull off the more interesting combos because mini-bosses and bosses can’t be knocked into the air, which sort of leads into my next critique.
The game is piss easy, even the toughest bosses in the game rarely provide any meaningful challenge unless you come in severely under leveled. Which that in itself is actually also difficult to pull off, seeing as I was almost always the same level as all enemies around me, if not slightly higher. It’s just so disappointing that the game has such a fun combat system if you’re willing to really dig into it, but the game never rewards or incentivizes you to do so. However as I mentioned earlier, I still enjoy the combat, I think it’s flashy, I think it’s enjoyable and I think there’s enough depth to be found with it if you’re willing to really see what it can do, just a shame there really is no reason to.
One thing I’m unable to list a single negative for is the game’s top notch soundtrack. Final Fantasy has always had critically acclaimed soundtracks even in some of its weakest entries, but 16 takes it to another level, some of the most astonishing music I’ve ever heard in a video game. To be honest if this doesn’t win the award for best ost at the game awards, something’s rigged there as it’s a genuine masterpiece.
Another thing I can’t praise enough is the boss fights, I don’t mean the occasional tiger looking thing or humanoid boss fights you’ll occasionally find at the end of a mission, no I mean the big Eikon boss fights. From time to time in FF16, the protagonist, Clive, will transform into Ifrit, to challenge one of the many Eikons in FF16, Eikons are the replacement for summons in this game, instead of calling in a massive beast to do a devastating attack, you transform attack on Titan style into one of these behemoths instead to fight in a massive kaiju battle against another Eikon. And every single one of them provides jaw dropping spectacle, with some providing some of the best boss fights I’ve ever encountered in a game. These were the highlight of the game to me, and I hope we get something similar in the next mainline final fantasy as each and every single one of these fights were an absolute treat.
What wasn’t an absolute treat in this game though was one of my biggest complaints with this game, the world/level design. FF16 has a massive world map with points you can fast travel to at any time. So like an open world? No, there are a couple distinct areas that link together to create smaller open worlds that get bigger the more missions you complete, but the map itself never fully opens up, you’re still always relegated to these half baked zones to explore. I think as they get larger they improve, but the world never feels good, personally I wish they either went further with the idea, it went back on the idea and just created levels, instead what we have is an inbetween, and I don’t think it works, it always feels super awkward.
To make things worse, this map feels incredibly dead and empty, there’s very rarely anything of note to find in this map, which is a shame as the world is gorgeous and there are some jaw dropping landmarks, but outside of those the map itself is incredibly shallow, with a couple monsters and items scattered around and that mostly being it. There is special monsters that I think try and make up for this, they’re called hunts, and they have you explore certain points of the map to track them down and kill then for a huge reward, while these are pretty fun with some actually offering a fair amount of challenge compared to the bulk of the game, they’re not enough to save this incredibly barren world CBU3 (creative business unit 3, the developers) have created.
It’s not all bad though, the story for FF16 is quite good in my opinion, yeah there are some weird pacing issues, and some underdeveloped characters, such as the main antagonist, generally FF16’s story feels great. I think it starts out stronger and begins to taper off by around the 1/2 mark, with it picking back up at the end, for the most part the story was captivating despite some odd pacing issues. The game’s story is worth experiencing and I feel it’s made a strong case for one of the best narratives we’ve gotten in this console generation so far. I wish we had delved into more of the political intrigue aspects of the story a bit more, but apart from that I have few complaints with the direction.
Another positive I can give to the game is its visuals, the game is drop dead gorgeous and one of the most stellar looking games of all time. However, this and other factors harm performance, which is worth mentioning, if you play in fidelity mode, the game will for the most part stay at a consistent 30, but performance mode is not the same story, dips are frequent, going all the way down to sub 40 in certain areas, this isn’t all the time though, and I feel the game held up when it needed to the most, mainly in the tight combat encounters.
Alright to wrap up this review let me rapid fire off a couple more positives and negatives, for the positives the voice acting is top notch, and sounds so much better than any other Final Fantasy that’s come before it, every VA gives a fantastic performance worthy of an award. The writing also was great (most of the time) there were a couple bizarre lines but usually the writing team came through with good dialogue. And finally, while I touched on this earlier, the characters are usually great, most are extremely well written, with some standouts being Cid, Dion, Hugo and Clive.
Now for some negatives, the enemy variety is extremely lacking, it doesn’t feel as big of a deal as there’s enough and most levels get capped off with a great boss fight in the end, but it is worth pointing out that for a mostly action game, there’s not enough variety from enemies. I touched on this earlier also, but man, the antagonists kinda suck, the earlier ones are pretty damn good, Benedikta, Hugo and the emperor of Sanbreque all have great motivations and I wanted to learn more about all of them. However they get shoved to the side in the late second act/third act in favor of far less interesting and less developed characters. Also, man the side quests in this game are awful, there are some standouts, to be sure, but most are generic fetch quest garbage you’d find in an MMO. Now for one more complaint, the RPG mechanics, despite Final Fantasy being a JRPG franchise, the actual options you have for gear and more traditional RPG mechanics are extremely lackluster, to be honest, I don’t think it really detracts from the game, it’s just there, and I wish they either went further with it and really fleshed it out, or they cut the rpg mechanics entirely as they clearly weren’t a priority.
In summary, FF16 gets what it needs to get right, right, in its combat, story, exceptional soundtrack, characters, visuals and boss fights. But so many aspects of the game from its world to its RPG mechanics to the terrible side content drag the game down, and make what could have been a game to rival the PS1/2 Final Fantasies a game that while great, doesn’t reach its full potential.
7/10
Final Fantasy XVI (16 for those losers who can’t read Roman numerals) was announced almost three years ago now as one of PlayStation’s high end console selling exclusives, three years later the game has set up ridiculous expectations for itself, does it live up to them?
I’d say mostly, the combat is fun, the story is captivating enough, the world is gorgeous and the soundtrack is the level of quality you’d expect from a mainline Final Fantasy game. However there are too many issues, big and small for this game to be the genre defining game that people hoped it would be. The world design, side content, lackluster antagonist and other small issues drag down the games score, and take away from an otherwise exceptional game.
Even some of the games highlights have frustrating properties, the game’s combat for example can most definitely shine, but there is always a feeling that with a little more depth, we could have had something on par with DMC5. Alas, the game doesn’t reach that high, while you can do some incredible looking combos, there’s hardly an incentive for it, usually you’re just dragging out an otherwise quick encounter, by trying to do something flashy when spamming your skills will almost always get the job done quicker. On top of that it’s usually quite challenging to get these combos off, not because they’re hard to do, but because the enemies die so incredibly quickly, and for the ones that don’t such as the mini-bosses, you can’t pull off the more interesting combos because mini-bosses and bosses can’t be knocked into the air, which sort of leads into my next critique.
The game is piss easy, even the toughest bosses in the game rarely provide any meaningful challenge unless you come in severely under leveled. Which that in itself is actually also difficult to pull off, seeing as I was almost always the same level as all enemies around me, if not slightly higher. It’s just so disappointing that the game has such a fun combat system if you’re willing to really dig into it, but the game never rewards or incentivizes you to do so. However as I mentioned earlier, I still enjoy the combat, I think it’s flashy, I think it’s enjoyable and I think there’s enough depth to be found with it if you’re willing to really see what it can do, just a shame there really is no reason to.
One thing I’m unable to list a single negative for is the game’s top notch soundtrack. Final Fantasy has always had critically acclaimed soundtracks even in some of its weakest entries, but 16 takes it to another level, some of the most astonishing music I’ve ever heard in a video game. To be honest if this doesn’t win the award for best ost at the game awards, something’s rigged there as it’s a genuine masterpiece.
Another thing I can’t praise enough is the boss fights, I don’t mean the occasional tiger looking thing or humanoid boss fights you’ll occasionally find at the end of a mission, no I mean the big Eikon boss fights. From time to time in FF16, the protagonist, Clive, will transform into Ifrit, to challenge one of the many Eikons in FF16, Eikons are the replacement for summons in this game, instead of calling in a massive beast to do a devastating attack, you transform attack on Titan style into one of these behemoths instead to fight in a massive kaiju battle against another Eikon. And every single one of them provides jaw dropping spectacle, with some providing some of the best boss fights I’ve ever encountered in a game. These were the highlight of the game to me, and I hope we get something similar in the next mainline final fantasy as each and every single one of these fights were an absolute treat.
What wasn’t an absolute treat in this game though was one of my biggest complaints with this game, the world/level design. FF16 has a massive world map with points you can fast travel to at any time. So like an open world? No, there are a couple distinct areas that link together to create smaller open worlds that get bigger the more missions you complete, but the map itself never fully opens up, you’re still always relegated to these half baked zones to explore. I think as they get larger they improve, but the world never feels good, personally I wish they either went further with the idea, it went back on the idea and just created levels, instead what we have is an inbetween, and I don’t think it works, it always feels super awkward.
To make things worse, this map feels incredibly dead and empty, there’s very rarely anything of note to find in this map, which is a shame as the world is gorgeous and there are some jaw dropping landmarks, but outside of those the map itself is incredibly shallow, with a couple monsters and items scattered around and that mostly being it. There is special monsters that I think try and make up for this, they’re called hunts, and they have you explore certain points of the map to track them down and kill then for a huge reward, while these are pretty fun with some actually offering a fair amount of challenge compared to the bulk of the game, they’re not enough to save this incredibly barren world CBU3 (creative business unit 3, the developers) have created.
It’s not all bad though, the story for FF16 is quite good in my opinion, yeah there are some weird pacing issues, and some underdeveloped characters, such as the main antagonist, generally FF16’s story feels great. I think it starts out stronger and begins to taper off by around the 1/2 mark, with it picking back up at the end, for the most part the story was captivating despite some odd pacing issues. The game’s story is worth experiencing and I feel it’s made a strong case for one of the best narratives we’ve gotten in this console generation so far. I wish we had delved into more of the political intrigue aspects of the story a bit more, but apart from that I have few complaints with the direction.
Another positive I can give to the game is its visuals, the game is drop dead gorgeous and one of the most stellar looking games of all time. However, this and other factors harm performance, which is worth mentioning, if you play in fidelity mode, the game will for the most part stay at a consistent 30, but performance mode is not the same story, dips are frequent, going all the way down to sub 40 in certain areas, this isn’t all the time though, and I feel the game held up when it needed to the most, mainly in the tight combat encounters.
Alright to wrap up this review let me rapid fire off a couple more positives and negatives, for the positives the voice acting is top notch, and sounds so much better than any other Final Fantasy that’s come before it, every VA gives a fantastic performance worthy of an award. The writing also was great (most of the time) there were a couple bizarre lines but usually the writing team came through with good dialogue. And finally, while I touched on this earlier, the characters are usually great, most are extremely well written, with some standouts being Cid, Dion, Hugo and Clive.
Now for some negatives, the enemy variety is extremely lacking, it doesn’t feel as big of a deal as there’s enough and most levels get capped off with a great boss fight in the end, but it is worth pointing out that for a mostly action game, there’s not enough variety from enemies. I touched on this earlier also, but man, the antagonists kinda suck, the earlier ones are pretty damn good, Benedikta, Hugo and the emperor of Sanbreque all have great motivations and I wanted to learn more about all of them. However they get shoved to the side in the late second act/third act in favor of far less interesting and less developed characters. Also, man the side quests in this game are awful, there are some standouts, to be sure, but most are generic fetch quest garbage you’d find in an MMO. Now for one more complaint, the RPG mechanics, despite Final Fantasy being a JRPG franchise, the actual options you have for gear and more traditional RPG mechanics are extremely lackluster, to be honest, I don’t think it really detracts from the game, it’s just there, and I wish they either went further with it and really fleshed it out, or they cut the rpg mechanics entirely as they clearly weren’t a priority.
In summary, FF16 gets what it needs to get right, right, in its combat, story, exceptional soundtrack, characters, visuals and boss fights. But so many aspects of the game from its world to its RPG mechanics to the terrible side content drag the game down, and make what could have been a game to rival the PS1/2 Final Fantasies a game that while great, doesn’t reach its full potential.
7/10
I recently ordered the physical edition of Baldur’s Gate 3, and while I wait for it to arrive I decided to try the first game in the franchise, and although many aspects were very well done and still hold up, as a complete package Baldur’s Gate was boring and tedious to get through.
BG1’s legacy is undeniable, a legendary game that shook up and set the standard for RPGs going forward that also put BioWare on the map. So going in I expected to enjoy it, and at times I did, but by the end I was bored and ready to put the game down for good.
Let me back up a little bit, the game opens fine enough, I create my character, I get through the prologue, I grab Imoen as a companion and I set off on my journey. But it didn’t take me long to run into issues, firstly the combat, oddly the “real time with pause” (RTWP) system wasn’t what I necessarily had a problem with. Pausing the game at each combat encounter to let you strategize before the combat actually started was fine in my opinion, maybe it would have been better to go with a more traditional turn based system or fully lean into real time with no pause, I’m not sure, regardless I didn’t think that RTWP was inherently what I had a problem with.
What I did have a problem was the THAC0 system and how either slow every encounter was or how impossible to understand the larger encounters were. You’d either have 20 attacks miss stalling the fight to a ludicrous degree or have 50 enemies on screen where you can’t see where you and your party members are, let alone what’s actually happening.
Don’t even get me started on the early game and how unfair the combat feels, until you get a couple level ups under your belt (which can take hours) you’re constantly getting one or two tapped even on core rules or normal.
Luckily once you get past this early game hump, the game does feel like it opens up a lot, and that leads to my favorite thing about BG1, the exploration. The map is absolutely massive, with tons of unique locations, you really can spend dozens of hours going around the map, completing side quests, and discovering more new locations. It really blew me away considering the game is over 25 years old.
I brought up the side quests already, and although most of them are monotonous side quests that don’t really contribute much to the game, but the writing for a lot of them is usually pretty clever, and makes them worth doing.
That’s kind of where my big compliments for the game end though, as my complaints keep mounting. Another big one I have is about the companions, they have no character or personality, they barely ever talk outside of maybe one quest dedicated to them. It’s one of the most frustrating things about this game as I want to know more and get closer to the 5 people that will be traveling with me for 50+ hours but the game doesn’t let me.
I do have other gripes with the game but they’re all minor nitpicks compared to what I’ve laid out here. I understand what BG1 has done for the RPG genre, and I respect the hell out of the game and I get why people love it, I’m just disappointed I’m not one of them.
Overall, I give the game a 5/10
BG1’s legacy is undeniable, a legendary game that shook up and set the standard for RPGs going forward that also put BioWare on the map. So going in I expected to enjoy it, and at times I did, but by the end I was bored and ready to put the game down for good.
Let me back up a little bit, the game opens fine enough, I create my character, I get through the prologue, I grab Imoen as a companion and I set off on my journey. But it didn’t take me long to run into issues, firstly the combat, oddly the “real time with pause” (RTWP) system wasn’t what I necessarily had a problem with. Pausing the game at each combat encounter to let you strategize before the combat actually started was fine in my opinion, maybe it would have been better to go with a more traditional turn based system or fully lean into real time with no pause, I’m not sure, regardless I didn’t think that RTWP was inherently what I had a problem with.
What I did have a problem was the THAC0 system and how either slow every encounter was or how impossible to understand the larger encounters were. You’d either have 20 attacks miss stalling the fight to a ludicrous degree or have 50 enemies on screen where you can’t see where you and your party members are, let alone what’s actually happening.
Don’t even get me started on the early game and how unfair the combat feels, until you get a couple level ups under your belt (which can take hours) you’re constantly getting one or two tapped even on core rules or normal.
Luckily once you get past this early game hump, the game does feel like it opens up a lot, and that leads to my favorite thing about BG1, the exploration. The map is absolutely massive, with tons of unique locations, you really can spend dozens of hours going around the map, completing side quests, and discovering more new locations. It really blew me away considering the game is over 25 years old.
I brought up the side quests already, and although most of them are monotonous side quests that don’t really contribute much to the game, but the writing for a lot of them is usually pretty clever, and makes them worth doing.
That’s kind of where my big compliments for the game end though, as my complaints keep mounting. Another big one I have is about the companions, they have no character or personality, they barely ever talk outside of maybe one quest dedicated to them. It’s one of the most frustrating things about this game as I want to know more and get closer to the 5 people that will be traveling with me for 50+ hours but the game doesn’t let me.
I do have other gripes with the game but they’re all minor nitpicks compared to what I’ve laid out here. I understand what BG1 has done for the RPG genre, and I respect the hell out of the game and I get why people love it, I’m just disappointed I’m not one of them.
Overall, I give the game a 5/10
2015
Bloodborne, although maybe not a perfect game, is one of the finest games of the past ten years. It’s hard to put into words why this game and its dlc are so spectacular, the boss fights, weapons and combat in general, are all top notch and some of the best From has ever crafted.
On top of that, the lore, atmosphere, level design, setting, music, enemy design and characters are all top notch and represent Fromsoft at their creative peak.
I can only hope that one day a performance upgrade will arrive in some form, as 30 fps (along with other minor nitpicks, such as chalice dungeons or a shitty online) are some of the only things holding this game back from being one of the best games of all time.
However, despite that Bloodborne stands triumphantly as one of the best games of the 2010’s, one of the best games Fromsoft has ever made, and one of the best, no, the best soulslike ever made.
On top of that, the lore, atmosphere, level design, setting, music, enemy design and characters are all top notch and represent Fromsoft at their creative peak.
I can only hope that one day a performance upgrade will arrive in some form, as 30 fps (along with other minor nitpicks, such as chalice dungeons or a shitty online) are some of the only things holding this game back from being one of the best games of all time.
However, despite that Bloodborne stands triumphantly as one of the best games of the 2010’s, one of the best games Fromsoft has ever made, and one of the best, no, the best soulslike ever made.