I really tried to see what other people are seeing in this game but while I enjoyed the game overall the difficulty balancing and the combat left me with mixed feelings.

The experience of playing AC6 is valleys of boredom induced by tepid mission design that poses zero threat to the player interspersed with massive difficulty spikes from set piece bosses a la Souls games. It's incredibly uneven and frankly baffling that this made it into a commercial game in 2023. This problem is extremely pervasive and negatively affects what I assume is the core appeal of AC: the customization. The ideal should be that you can create your personal mech and change weapons when problems arise for it with a variety of solutions that are viable and fun. But once a wall hits you and you start experimenting with the weapons, you realize only a small selection of weaponry is good enough to defeat the difficulty spikes without taking obscene amounts of time(i ran out of ammo on bosses even when i wasn't using the "correct" build). I am sure there is other ways to do it, this is my first AC after all and it's very likely I'm missing some build or specific weapon usage, but I couldn't find anything better than an extremely stagger heavy build with high damage weapons(like shotguns). You can beat the whole game with this setup and everything else i tried felt terrible to use in comparison. This made the customization of the game feel pointless to me. What's the point of customizing further when most content is steamrolled regardless of your mech and bosses require such high DPS and stagger? That's what i mean by the difficulty balancing issue being pervasive. It compromises what I assume is the appeal of AC.

I think one of the contributing factors to the limited feeling customization in AC6 is how stagger was implemented. If you are doing DPS and the enemy isn't staggered, you are basically just doing chip damage. Which is fine against AC's, but when you are against the set piece bosses it feels terrible. They simply have far too much HP to not feel like endurance tests rather than engaging fights. So staggering is the best strategy against most boss encounters. I also think stagger on the player just feels bad. You get punished extremely hard by being forced to stand still for a second which is death on lighter mechs. Stagger as a mechanic should have stayed in Sekiro.

Despite all of this, The AC duels are really fun. You can actually customize meaningfully in a personalized manner and still have fun! The fights are fast, brutal, and frantic and it's how i imagined AC was going to be. If the entire game was just AC fights I wouldn't have any complaints besides the stagger, which unfortunately still plays a role in these fights. Regardless, the arena and the story AC fights are the best parts of the game bar none. The fantasy of being a skilled mecha pilot was truly realized here.

Back onto the mission design, i think that it would have been vastly improved if they had attrition elements and resource management baked into the game's systems. Apparently previous AC games had you make financial decisions and struggle with debt which I find more interesting than what we got. There's no struggle with ammo management, you can sell parts for 100% refund, and you get obscene amounts of money from most missions. All this make me feel like money is a waste of time in this game. All it does is save you from menuing more often when you accumulate a lot of it. As for the ammo management, it makes every mission just spray and prey with no thought involved, especially since you take very little damage. Since the mission design is so trivial, they should have put these elements back in so there is some element of conflict going on here. As is it's extremely boring and easy. The lack of meaningful exploration and encounter design also really doesn't help.


I do quite like the feel of the mecha in this game, and the story isn't half bad once the real plot starts going on in the last third of the game. I also think the aesthetics are on point, the blazing sky illuminating hellish abominations of machinery and metal are quite striking and the mecha designs are pretty sick. I complained a lot in this review but I still enjoyed enough to say that I think the game is alright. But It's certainly the weakest fromsoft game I've played. It feels like a janky PS2 game in all the good ways and bad ways with a sloppy implementations of modernization on top of it that hurt the experience more than it helps.

The misery, stress, and tedium of Sisphyus given form in video game mechanics. A true evolution of using the medium of video games to elevate storytelling and thematic arcs to greater heights. The beauty of Lobotomy Corporation lies in how the suffering, perseverance, and the eventual release of the characters is viscerally felt within the very experience of playing the game. The catharsis found in the summit that is day 50 after the long, grueling trek through lobcorp's many unfair trials makes it worth the struggle.

I'm aware that Lobotomy Corporation's hostile and abrasive approach to game design will filter a lot of people, and the jank and intentional tedium will filter even more, but I think the experience here is at least worth trying. Don't skip this game or only read the cutscenes for library of ruina. Give it a real shot and only give up when you feel too frustrated to continue. It's really something special. The gameplay isn't pure misery either. Learning how to control abnormalities and the core suppressions are genuinely fun and memorable gameplay experiences. The twists and subversions on the management sim foundation are honestly brilliant. Of course, your mileage may vary, but there's a lot to love here. If you can gel with it, it's one of the most unique and impactful games out there.

A deeply authentic and humanistic game. It's perhaps a bit too dry, but the love and respect for history, and its inherent subjective qualities is on full display here. I think i enjoyed the snapshot of 16th century European life more than the actual plot. The passing of time, the depictions of community, and the overwhelming cultural presence of religion were all really cool to see. Of course it's a fictional story, but it's fun to see that we really aren't that different from the people of old.

The only Atelier entry that made me care about the mechanics. I had so much fun with the crafting in this game. I actually had to get good at it too because of the surprisingly well balanced difficulty(on very hard). It never felt unfair but it pushed me to engage beyond the bare minimum. I loved the weather mechanic and the cool level design it let Gust show off too. Just a great time all around.

I found the story to be pretty meandering, despite liking the cast for the most part. The setting intrigued me at first but it spends 90% of its runtime being really underdeveloped and its implications being left on the table. Thankfully, the final dungeon to the end of the game gives the context the story and setting needed. It's such a powerful end of the story arc that I can only forgive how boring the story was at times. Perhaps it goes to show how a strong last impression is all you need for a memorable story.

Went in for the much lauded puzzles and had a bad time with the lousy but punishing combat. After about 7 hours I finally got where I wanted and it was....just bargain bin The Witness and Fez. Admittedly, I found the discovery of the mechanics of the puzzles pretty fun but the act of solving them were an exercise of tedium and frustration. The central mechanic for the end game is awful, I have no idea how it got past playtesting. At least the golden path puzzle is pretty funny in how stupidly long it is.

I guess I enjoyed the level design and sense of discovery but the mechanics of the game were not enjoyable at all. Oh well, at least I got some silly looking notes out of it.

Caligula 2 is a massive improvement over its predecessor, and the most surprising part was that the game is actually fun. The combat always had potential in OD, but the terrible balancing made it way too jank to enjoy. Thankfully this game takes that system and adds QOL and actual game balance to it that makes it not only better than the first, but some of the most satisfying jrpg combat i've played. Juggling enemies never stops being fun and i really enjoyed how avoiding damage and positioning actually matters a lot. I do think that the way floor jack works is kind of jank, it's really strong but you have to gather it before bosses to have access to it at the start of the battle, which felt awkward to me.

I actually really like the story of overdose, but i will admit it's extremely rough around the edges and hard to get into. Caligula 2 on the other hand has no caveats, it's just a damn good story with a well rounded and fleshed out cast, and a strong script. I think one of the best parts about the cast in this one is that it covers a gamut of relatable reasons why young adults are disillusioned and regret. Be it identity issues(gender and otherwise), decision paralysis, anxieties related to aging, etc. I'd be surprised if someone plays this game and doesn't relate to at least one character. The gender stuff in particular was a nice surprise for me because OD's treatment of it is awkward at best. This game actually understand youth and the issues they deal with unlike persona. The game doesn't give a solution to these issues either, they are just discussed and the main character gives prudent advice, and that's that. They aren't magically fixed, they are just given much needed emotional support and validation. In a way this represents what caligula 2 is all about, reality is hell, nothing will change that, but we have places like "redo"(aka media)and also connections with people to find respite and ourselves.

sidenote. While it's not necessary, I highly recommend playing OD and reading the Marie side novel before playing Caligula 2. Some of the strongest moments(esp marie) came from how it plays with your expectations if you experienced either of those things.

Oh Galleria... Where do you even begin with such a massive accomplishment. It's unbelievable that a game of this scale and ambition came out in 2020. Most games just pale in comparison to how much Galleria reaches for the stars, and actually succeeds(for the most part). It's also incredibly hard to overstate how powerful and well written its character writing and emotional arcs are. I think Refrain had vestiges of a plot of this scale(even if Galleria massively exceeds it) but it failed in engaging me to its characters. Galleria fixes this issue and more. I actually ended up liking most of the cast, but especially Natyl and Eureka. Their arcs and relationship are incredibly well-realized and beautiful. Half the reason I was so invested into this game was because i loved them so much. It's genuinely impressive how much the game ties up its massive amount of disparate elements and setting with these two.

Most story heavy jrpg's have gameplay that is either shallow fun or a chore to get through for more cutscenes. Galleria bucks this trend by having a loop that is extremely demanding of the player(I played the game on easy, and I was still forced to learn 90% of its systems to beat the game), and oftentimes frustrating. I think this is a great thing, though, because it only makes the game even more satisfying when you think back about what exactly you had to do to earn the story(like grinding or item farming). This isn't a meta-narrative thing, either. The player character is a direct avatar of the player behind the screen which might sound cheesy, but it's executed well and the characters acknowledge what you are doing for them in a touching way. The post game is the best success of this, though. You have to trek through a 3651 floor dungeon with a ton of rng elements like random checkpoints and elevators. It's a daunting task but it serves great purpose in asking the player how far are you willing to go to see the best ending for the characters. It's one of the most interesting experiences I've seen in a video game, and I am glad to see that so many people ended up completing it according to psn achievements. The absurd challenge of the final dungeon makes the already rewarding story even moreso. The very design of the game is great as well, i should mention. The level design is fantastic and it changes how the gameplay works multiple times despite staying in a DRPG framework. The balance is pretty wack and there is a lot of elements i can only describe as kuso but it's honestly endearing to me and i still appreciate them(except for the UI, that needs a lot of work)

I wonder how Galleria will fare once it hits more mainstream audiences in the west. I think most people won't be able to stick through it or give enough engagement for it to really payoff. I think the story is as demanding of the player as the gameplay, it just expects you to remember and appreciate its foreshadowing from 60 hours past. But for those willing to give the attention and dedication this game demands then it's one of the best and most rewarding video game experiences out there. It's not without its flaws, of course. In addition to the aforementioned gameplay hiccups I think the story falters with some characters and setting ideas. But considering the development hell this game went through this is one hell of an accomplishment. There's more to cover about this game(especially the themes it has, but it's difficult to talk about them without giving away plot beats) , but I want to respect the game's marketing and let people discover it for themselves. Izumi should be proud of himself, it might not have came out like he wanted but it's still one of the best games I've played.

I struggle to find reasons to recommend Refrain to someone. It has frankly unlikable characters, gameplay that I'd describe as tedious and laborious, far too disparate in regards to its story and gameplay, and it being a huge time and effort investment. I think only the most dedicated of people can even finish this game(I think the post game is necessary to do, it has the best story events in the entire game). So why do I still give this game a decent rating?

Refrain is just an interesting and memorable game, it has content that you'll never expect to see in a commercial jrpg and really bold character and setting decisions. I deeply respect what the game was trying to accomplish, even if it doesn't always land. The post game is a long, arduous, and oftentimes frustrating journey where you have to REALLY get attuned to the systems. There was hours of mind-numbing stuff to do but I won't lie, it was really satisfying to finally have my party come together(after 10+ hours of grinding!). This was my first DRPG so I had no idea what to expect but the game really kicks your ass for not doing soul transfers properly until post game.

I think the story scenes have way too much brevity, and the gameplay is pretty dissonant with it, but the overall plot is really cool. I can't really go into any specifics because it spoils the whole game but i particularly found the setting to be impressive, it's massive and doesn't handhold the audience at all in regards to understanding the scale and importance of it all. Unfortunately i think most of the characters are poorly characterized, I think I only like Luka and that owl guy(idk how to romanize his name) by the end. Dronya is interesting but i don't think her pisspoor behavior is ever properly explored or justified besides cheap humor(haha child abuse).

I don't recommend this game unless you are masochistic and also love drpg's. I kind of hate it but i also think it's quite good. Looking forward to Galleria making me hate myself as I grind for a poorly balanced boss.

A triumph of what video games are capable of with regards to forming connections with virtual characters. The game puts you into the mindspace of the main character Ao effortlessly, with excellent writing and enough player agency to offset feeling disconnected from her. All of the relationships are so thoughtful and given so much care, no character is a weakpoint, they are all given appropriate time and attention.

The game's structure fully facilitates this kind of storytelling, with a plethora of side content in the "dates", where there is over 100 unique events, all giving either genuinely funny comedy or extremely heartfelt bonding. A lot of the nuanced writing is seen here, too. It's inspiring seeing Ao navigate these relationships with so much sincerity; she wants to empathize with them and is extremely self aware. I am jealous of her ability to be so effortlessly intimate with other people.

The overall plot and the main themes of the game are definitely nothing you haven't seen before, but it's told with so much earnestness that I never felt it was hackneyed or trite. Though it has an amazing canon lesbian relationship, which is certainly unique and it's probably my favorite part of the game.

I should also mention that the music in this game is incredible. Unlike BR 1, the music perfectly fits into the game and is used really well. Sadly it has no massive songs like Sayonara but it more than makes up for it with beautiful ambient and exciting dnb battle tracks. I loved how all the kokorotope music reflects it, like the bittersweet tones of Rena's kokorotope theme.

My favorite game of 2021. 2 days late but I will say it counts. (also i couldn't find a place to put my thoughts on the combat systems but basically they're good but the game's balancing is too easy on normal, i am sure the NG+ difficulties bring out how fun the combat system can be though).

A game about the horrors of conflict and how automated warfare will lead humanity into endless wars and despair. I think it's easy to read this game as being about how amazing fighter pilots are but I interpreted the game as being about how with human conflict, there is always a chance of peace. With automated warfare, there is no hope, there is only an algorithm that continuously destroys as programmed. I think it was genius to have the final boss be two highly intelligent drones with no fanfare. No tragic enemy ace backstory, just two murder machines that are mimicking the protagonist's flight skills.

The gameplay is at its most interesting in the series, too. It's directly not about enjoying flying your jet. You are constantly thrown into situations with weather interrupting your jet's flight systems or targeting systems gone awry as the war is thrown into chaos. You actually feel the anxiety and fear of being a jet pilot better here than ever before. I think the mission "Lost Kingdom" portrays conflict at its rawest in the AC series, with the player being tasked with destroying any opposition from a peaceful newly established country just so your allies can get supplies and food from them. It's some real anti game design type shit and i loved it.

I do think the game romanticizes jet pilots to a degree. It has motifs that play on tales of chivalry with knights, mythologically named drones, princesses needing to be saved in a grand tower, etc. But i think the game does this to allude to heroism. The protagonist ends up being a representative of humanity against the eldritch horror that is automated drones. Does this glorify war in some way? Maybe, but I think the horrors this game's mechanics and moments show provide a good counter argument to the idea that heroism is something "desired". The protagonist's actions end up being futile as well, because we know that despite the optimistic ending all of this leads to AC3.

The best AC game imo, it has the strongest anti war themes and the strongest gameplay. It does have some narrative problems in the cutscene but overall i really enjoyed this game and it was a nice capoff after playing the rest of the other games this year. Also Daredevil is better than ZERO don't @ me

Incredibly vapid in every way besides the soundtrack. Every idea is given only a brief amount of time before rapidly going to the next. It's hard to give a damn about anything when characters are given two conversations on average to deliver their entire character arc. The setting is dumped in an uninteresting way, too. It's just given to you in exposition and doesn't bother exploring any of the implications of the Common or any other setting detail. It's a shame because some parts of the narrative are interesting, the setting and a few choice character arcs especially, but they are given so little time and attention that they are forgettable in the end. Also the lecherous camera shots, weirdly high detail wet clothing, and the gratuitous clothing available makes the game feel really fetishy and voyeuristic, lol. As for gameplay, it feels bloated and underexplored. I think the battle system is pretty fun in concept but the encounter design doesn't let it flourish at all. The bosses are all the same, for example. They all have parts you destroy and then you hit the main body and that's it. As for the bloat, there is just way too many fragments and skills and it makes optimizing damage tedious, especially because numbers are invisible besides damage numbers. Despite these flaws I still found the game somewhat playable, mostly due to how short the game's playtime is and there is some decent fun to be had when an interesting combat encounter happens once in a blue moon. The music is the main saving grace for this game, absolutely fantastic ethereal piano/violin lead dnb anthems that rival zts's prowess with this genre. I enjoy the more ambient leaning tracks as well. Unfortunately the game doesn't utilize the ost well at all, with awkward phase changes in boss battles and poorly timed bgm in character conversations. It's better to listen to it on its own.

I hope the sequel game is better. I am in the process of watching the anime and it's far more interesting than this game ever was. So I have hope.