Tunic is a much better Fez than Fez and a much worse Dark Souls than Dark Souls. The combat has its moments, but they're spread thin between frustrating fights with clashing systems and exacting technical demands. But the puzzles... oh, the puzzles are so good. I spent my first four hours of this game barely "playing" in the traditional sense, only making enough progress to get more text so I could decode its pervasive script.

I felt like a genius once I cracked it, but there was so much more to uncover. My discord full of pals and I bounced theories and ideas back and forth among ourselves, eventually uncovering a close enough approximation of all there is to uncover to leave us basking in puzzle euphoria. Everything fits together so cleanly, all part of an organic whole, with each a-ha moment shedding new light on everything you already know.

There's plenty of room to play this game how you want, but if you want my recommendation: find a few friends, hop in voice chat, and just disengage from the combat challenges by enabling no-fail mode.

Elden Ring is the confirmation that one of the worst mentalities of the videogame world has taken over one of the best authors: that more is better.

Possibly From Software's most unnecessary game. Unnecessary because it is a Greatest Hits of the company with a new bonus track titled Open World that what it does is tarnish the whole, because what hurts it most is what most are praising: its open world and its immense content.

The longer Elden Ring is, the worse it is. It doesn't matter if the different regions of the game have different enemies, biomes or even the sky: if before entering a new region I as a player know that there will be a dragon swarming, some statues that point to dungeons inside which will be the same mini gargoyles hidden in the corners protecting an iron door that will open by a lever to face the boss, a giant rider with his horse circling, a giant being with a bell as a belly and a long etcetera the coherence and ambience go down the toilet. There is nothing more efficient that eliminates the memorability of certain moments than repeating them.

That is why the best part of the game is its first 20 hours while we explore, because it is the first time we are surprised by a dragon flying through the skies, the first time we enter dungeons or catacombs with the shield raised wondering what is coming, the first time we hear the rumbling of the bells and follow their sound excited and learning the rules of their world. But the moment we live two, three or more times the same thing is when the thought ``ah well'' appears in my head. This little thought is the destroyer of open worlds that pretend to have some environmental and narrative coherence. It is the one that tells me that this is not going to be a living and coherent world, but a series of video game challenges repeated and scattered around the stage with its relevant level increase to see how the number of damage we do increases until the credits roll.

Another point that is hurt by the immense content of the work are the bosses. Except for 6 or 7 of the main story, the rest are the same mediocrity to which From has been accustoming us since Dark Souls 3: super strong and ultra fast enemies with endless combos that defy all known laws and whose way to defeat them is to learn those moves, dying several times in the process. With a good soundtrack, of course. Now it's the same, multiplying the negative by all the times you face the same boss. Before there was no good combat design, now there is no narrative coherence at the slightest glance at the same enemy in different parts.
I remember most bosses in Demon's Souls, where you had to take advantage of the scenery, some weakness, use your brain, basically. Good times.

The only point that comes to my mind where it does benefit from this massive multiplication are the secret scenarios. There were also in previous games, but here they can perfectly be a third of the game and apart from giving more layers of depth to the map, commenting with someone a place that you think is the main one but it turns out that the other has not seen is an excellent sensation.

Where Elden Ring shines the most is when we are discovering the possibilities of its world and when we find ourselves in a labyrinth of interconnected corridors, attentive to any strange sound and using the verticality of the environment. The former lasts 20 hours and the latter is given to you from the previous Souls. This makes me question the need for open world in this type of game or even the need for this type of game when the previous ones already exist. And it also makes me perplexed when most of the media value it as the way forward in the industry, because if they refer to the type of massive content, it's what is going to be outdated the fastest. They only have to release GTA VI or Witcher 4, just to give some examples, with their endless hours and secondary games.

If I want good combat I go to Demon's Souls. If I want a coherent atmosphere and lore with intricate scenarios I go to Dark Souls. If I want frenetic and dodge infinite combos in the last instant like a Shonen I go to Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne. I can't think what I want to go back to the Lands Between.

------


Elden Ring es la constatación de que una de las peores mentalidades del mundo del videojuego se ha apoderado de uno de los mejores autores: que más es mejor.

Posiblemente el juego más innecesario de From Software. Innecesario porque se trata de un Greatest Hits de la compañía con una nueva canción extra titulada Open World que lo que hace es manchar el conjunto, pues lo que más le perjudica es lo que la mayoría está alabando: su mundo abierto y su inmenso contenido.

Cuanto más largo es Elden Ring, peor es. Da igual que las distintas regiones del juego tengan enemigos, biomas o incluso el cielo diferentes: si antes de entrar a una nueva región yo como jugador sé que va a haber un dragón pululando, unas estatuas que apuntan a mazmorras dentro de las cuales estarán las mismas mini gárgolas escondidas en las esquinas protegiendo una puerta de hierro que se abrirá mediante una palanca para enfrentarse al jefe, un jinete gigante con su caballo dando vueltas, un ser gigantesco con una campana como vientre y un largo etcétera la coherencia y ambientación se van por el retrete. No hay nada mas eficiente que elimine la memorabilidad de ciertos momentos que repetirlos.

Por eso la mejor parte del juego son sus primeras 20 horas mientras vamos explorando Necrolimbo, porque es la primera vez que nos sorprende un dragón surcando los cielos, la primera vez que entramos a mazmorras o catacumbas con el escudo alzado preguntándonos que se nos viene encima, la primera vez que escuchamos el retumbar de las campanas y seguimos su sonido emocionados y aprendiendo las reglas de su mundo. Pero en el momento que vivimos dos, tres o más veces lo mismo es cuando aparece en mi cabeza el pensamiento ``ah vale ´´. Este pequeño pensamiento es el destructor de mundos abiertos que pretenden tener cierta coherencia ambiental y narrativa. Es el que me dice que esto esto no va a ser un mundo vivo y coherente, sino una serie de desafíos videojueguiles repetidos y repartidos por el escenario con su pertinente incremento de nivel para ver como el numero de daño que hacemos aumenta hasta que salgan los créditos.

Otro punto que sale perjudicado con el inmenso contenido de la obra son los bosses. Salvo 6 o 7 de la historia principal, el resto son las mismas mediocridades a las que que From nos viene acostumbrando desde Dark Souls 3: enemigos super fuertes y ultra veloces con combos interminables que desafían todas las leyes conocidas y cuya forma de derrotarlos es aprenderse esos movimientos, muriendo varias veces en el proceso. Con buena banda sonora, eso sí. Ahora es lo mismo multiplicando lo negativo por todas las veces que te enfrentes al mismo boss. Antes lo que no había era un buen diseño de combate, ahora es que ni hay coherencia narrativa a la mínima que mires con lupa por que está este mismo enemigo en diferentes partes.

Recuerdo la mayoría de bosses de Demon´s Souls, donde había que aprovechar el escenario, alguna debilidad, utilizar el cerebro, básicamente. Buenos tiempos.

El único punto que me viene a la cabeza donde sí sale beneficiado de esta multiplicación masiva son los escenarios secretos. También los había en anteriores juegos, pero aquí perfectamente pueden ser un tercio del juego y aparte de otorgar mas capas de profundidad al mapa comentar con alguien un lugar que tu crees principal pero resulta que el otro no ha visto es una sensación excelente.

Donde más brilla Elden Ring es cuando estamos descubriendo las posibilidades de su mundo y cuando nos encontramos en un laberinto de pasillos interconectados entre sí atentos a cualquier sonido extraño y usando la verticalidad del entorno. La primera dura 20 horas y la segunda le viene dada de los Souls anteriores. Esto hace que me cuestione la necesidad de mundo abierto en este tipo de juego o incluso la necesidad de este tipo de juego cuando ya existen los anteriores. Y también hace que me quede perplejo cuando la mayoría de medios lo valoran como el camino a seguir en la industria, pues si se refieren al tipo de contenido mastodóntico, es lo que más rápido va a quedar desfasado. Solo tienen que salir GTA VI o Witcher 4, por poner algunos ejemplos, con sus tropecientas horas y secundarias.

Si quiero buenos combates voy a Demon´s Souls. Si quiero ambientación y lore coherentes con escenarios intrincados voy a Dark Souls. Si quiero frenetismo y esquivar combos infinitos en el ultimo instante cual Shonen voy a Dark Souls 3 o Bloodborne. No se me ocurre que es lo que puedo querer para volver a las Tierras Intermedias.

Hacía mucho que un juego no me ponía de tan mal humor, y no, no lo digo por su dificultad.
Sinceramente me gustaría que a los videojuegos se les catalogara más por las emociones(terror, suspenso, drama) y menos por las mecánicas (RPG, shooter, hack n slash) . Me da igual que al tacto sea lo más pulido, dinámico y responsivo, me da igual que como "RPG de acción" sea lo más cómodo y accesible. Digo que me da igual porque nada de eso sirve cuando todo lo que me rodea tiene nula inspiración. Elden Ring es, no estoy segura pero quizás, el peor o uno de los peores juegos de aventura y fantasía que he tocado en mi vida.
Porque nada de lo que pretende lo cumple, pero NADA.
Creo que hasta empecé a sentir un poco más de aprecio y respeto por el hype que se había ganado Dragon Quest en su lugar y tiempo, ahi dentro de todo lo puedo entender, pero esto? Para esto ya estamos en los 2020's, la información abunda y no hay que ser Holmes para ver que la fórmula de los juegos de Miyazaki se volvieron en el nuevo McDonalds.
No entiendo bien que valor tiene Elden Ring cuando buena parte de lo que propone ya lo hicieron un montón de juegos, otra vez, como el caso de Dragon Quest pero mucho mucho peor.
Digo, está bien pretender solo dar un juego de mundo abierto destacable (ponele) con fantasía y epicidad sin pensarlo mucho al jugarlo, pero es que justamente ESO ya nos lo dieron otros juegos y mucho mejores.
Curiosamente antes de jugar Elden Ring jugué Dragon's Dogma, un juego de mundo abierto con fantasía heroica y medieval. Superficialmente ese juego es mucho más genérico, pero esconde un montón de decisiones puestas con mucha cabeza y corazón para poder transmitir al máximo ese clásico estereotipo de fantasía medieval, yo no le pido más porque supo centrarse enteramente en eso.
Elden Ring no sirve ni para eso porque no ha habido tan solo un encuentro que realmente diga algo, lo pretende todo. Es de lejos una máscara imposible de creerle.

Don't think you're the hero, be the hero

Elden Ring gets caught into the trap of the open-world design: bigger always means better.

There is a sense of discovery in the first 20 hours or so, where you slowly uncover the elements that form the world (characters, enemies, levels, systems...). Many of them are well-known by now, as everyone has pointed out, given their iterative nature. But it's in how is iterated that I think lies the magic of those first 20 hours. The caves, dungeons and mines are my favourite part, having to keep your lantern with you at all times, not knowing where those little assholes will come you from. Little passages, some secrets, a nice boss battle at the end and out. A little adventure in the midst of all that grandiosity.

Sadly, those 20 hours of discoveries and secrets comes to an end rather abruptly, when the iterative becomes repetitive. The same locations, the same enemies, the same bosses, the same items, the same strategy, the same vistas. A boring mosaic. All the magic got swept away for the sake of squeezing all those hours that become junk.

There is much more than just small dungeons, of course. The rest is an extension of dark souls 3, not dark souls 1, with very big and intricate castles, and at the end a stupidly giant mega boss awaiting to be slayed and make a fucking super epic moment, which in many cases read as very similar encounters. I would lie if I'd say that i didn't enjoy (very much enjoy) some of those battles, mainly Radahn and Rennala. They offered something more varied and interesting than just battle, and very refreshing.

Dark souls games have been compered to Berserk ad nauseam, pointing at all the homages and references to Miura's biggest work. It is considered that Dark Souls 3, even this one, kept some of the spirit of the manga faithfully. Recently, I was once again listening to Susumu Hirasawa's ost for the anime while re-reading the manga, and when this song started https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZa0Yh6e7dw, I realised that we view Berserk through different lenses, because there is no moment in all Elden Ring that even resembles this.

If that wasn't enough, I've also been replaying Dark Souls 1 at the same time, and it's really jarring the comparison. People destroyed Dark Souls 2 for not capturing the essence of the first one, but I now think they only meant the world wasn't fully interconnected, because Elden Ring is nothing like the first one in the worst ways! DS1 gets much better the spirit of Berserk, the melancholy of a dark and twisted world, full of violence but with traces of hope to continue. Some of the characters you meet along the journey are too cynical to keep going, some of them still hold the will to go forward, many will fall into despair, madness and death, but every single one of them are bound to the strength needed to dream a different future. The idea that the world is not going to die this time. Some still believe it, some stopped believing a long time ago. You yourself keep persevering in a world that has died so many times that it doesn't make sense anymore. Buildings are not going down, but the concept of architecture itself is fading. Ugliness can be felt in the colors of the walls, in the faraway trees and landmasses. Elden Ring is too concrete and clean to show that ugliness, and is too convoluted with power plays to make character interactions tragic or memorable (also, maybe having much more characters doesn't help). The only exception is the woman's hug in The Round Table, something that could perfectly have been in DS1.

I read someone explaining the game as "imagine the moment in DS3 when you saw Irithyll for the first time. That's Elden Ring all the time", implying that it was something great. For me, it's not. I got saturated of so much "beauty", so much brightness, so much clarity, so many perfect compositions that it didn't strike me anymore. Since you are going to be traversing a world for a long time, they decided to make STUNNING VISTAS all the time, every time. An attempt to naturalistic open-worlds. In Spanish, there is a word that perfectly describes my sensations: relamido.

Yes, the gameplay is obviously good. Its the previous games with more weapons, which translates in fun ways to approach fights. But I find pretty underwhelming that the thing this game has going for is what people criticise constantly: polish. A bigger and uniform forest with polished trees.

Maybe I'm being more harsh with this game than with any other, but seeing the comparisons with previous games and Berserk, and spending maybe 70 hours with no moving or alienating experiences unlike the previous ones, has made me more bitter towards this spouting of thoughts. Beware games, don't make me play for that long.

There are two keys to Mudrunner. The first is the joy of moving through the mud. I can't quite describe why it is, it's a bit of a childish taste like kids stepping in puddles just because, you just feel at ease being in constant play with and against this peculiar resistance. The main character of the physics is the terrain here, it molds and deforms with the passing of your wheels, leaving traces that not only remain as an aesthetic reminder, but also create their own physical scar for the tires that pass by later during the game. This taste of physicality is everywhere.

Every little stone can cause a catastrophe, the confidence given by the speed of the asphalt can be another tragedy, a tree is both a blockage and a hitch from which to borrow strength. My favorite interactions have to do with those between trucks. Going on a trip with two of your machines together, pushing and pulling each other when the wheels are buried, or my favorite moments of all when one truck manages to turn another partner around by pulling with all its might, a humbly heroic moment in the middle of the forest without any music or fanfare, after the rescue there is simply a route to continue.

The second key starts to appear here: the adventure. Because the game knows how to put all its physical bases in a very good context. Despite how misleading the heavy metal guitars of the main menu may be, the adventure is relaxed, with vehicles moving in first gear 99% of the travel, that is when they are moving at all, with hours passing between day and night but without any pressure, each at its own pace, whether you deliver the logs one at a time or in one trip, whether you meet all the secondary objectives or none at all. I still recommend unlocking all the watchpoints and garages, as in addition to making the main deliveries lighter they add their own adventurous layer. There is a little bit of everything here, with the journey into the unknown with smaller vehicles in order to uncover the map and some logistics to complete the various assignments by looking at the state of the map and the vehicles at hand. Of course, there can be no adventure without improvisation. If what I enjoyed most about the physicality was the rescue of an inactive vehicle, it's probably because it involved a series of adventures and misadventures. Starting with the unfortunate accident that leaves the vehicle idle for some reason, posing what rescue options there are and finally carrying out, or at least trying to, the action.

Even if games like these exist thanks to Tetris, the difference between it and the rest is that Tetris can survive by itself being purely monochromatic (when it is). Panel de Pon or Puyo Puyo, just to name a few, need to be coloured action-puzzle games, and just that implies that they do not have that kind of coldness, but an approach to learning and the existence of rules to follow. At least more than the two inmediate verbs that are part of Tetris's core: amount and align.

The best aspect of PdP originates when it becomes more than it appears to be and the "action" part shines, specially when you are against the foes in VS mode. It's like a boss rush, but with the difference that every boss fights you the same way (and you too). Even so, you have to learn new tactics in this only combat if you pretend to improve and reach Cordelia, one of the best final challenges I've seen in any videogame to test your skills. Only available at the end of the Hard mode.

The adrenaline transforms this game. During the heat of a fight it no longer is a puzzle game, and becomes a tactical one with management, due to the different portions of the space you have where you're being attacked. Is it better to retire blocks (units) from above to make some space due to the panels (monsters) that were sent to you by the other foe? Or you should block-pierce those panels from below? It's up to you.
The interesting part about this last tactic is that this is the only moment where it kinda reminds me of Tetris, because when the monster panel reveals all of the blocks of which it is composed, they're all gonna fall. And the more you prepare the place they'll fall, the more succesfully will all fall: it's the hardcore part of alignment in this game, and it rocks.

In a sense, I feel like the block nature of this game is like Tetris but in a molecular level. Tetris is about the shapes of the tetraminos. Panel de Pon is about the blocks of those figures.

I've rolled credits, but I'm far from done with this yet. Aside from the baffling level of detail, and its execution - which to me is the firmest evidence yet that we could indeed be living inside of a simulation - for me, the thing I'll remember of GT7 is how it felt to experience it.

The closest analogue I can think of is something like the experience of sitting at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when the person next to you starts talking about something you know next to nothing about. Great, you think, all I wanted was to get on the bus, and here I am now, trapped in a wonky plastic wind shelter, only a third of my arse is supported by the tiny metal rail that's ostensibly installed as a bench, and I have to endure whatever this conversation is going to be.

Hours and buses go by, and there you still are, enraptured, deeply uncomfortable and worried for the future state of your arse, and suddenly an expert in manufacturing innovations. Did you know rally can trace its roots to medieval times? No, me neither. What a weird, wild ride it is.

===[Modos]===
✔️Un jugador.
❌Cooperativo.
❌Cooperativo Local.
❌Multijugador.

===[Personajes]===
❌Muy malos.
✔️Malos.
❌Normales.
❌Correctos.
❌Buenos.
❌Muy buenos.
❌Excelentes.

===[Precio/calidad ]===
❌Cómpralo No seas rata.
❌Espera a conseguirlo en un bundle.
✔️Espera a que baje de precio.
❌Acorde a lo que ofrece.
❌Pide reembolso si puedes.
❌No lo compres.
❌Its, free. (Solo el multijugador)

===[Funciona en]===
❌Pc´s antiguos.
❌Pc´s Medio.
❌Pc´s Gaming.
✔️Mucha potencia.
✔️Ordenador de la NASA.

===[Dificultad]===
❌Muy fácil.
❌Fácil.
❌Fácil de aprender/difícil de dominar.
✔️Dificultad media.
❌Difícil.
❌Muy difícil.
❌Extremo.

===[Duración]===
❌Muy corto (menos de 2 horas).
❌Corto (2 - 8 horas).
❌Tiempo de juego medio (de 8 a 12 horas historia normal).
❌Largo (más de 12 horas).
✔️Muy Largo (de 20 horas en adelante).
❌Extra Largo (de 50 horas en adelante).
❌Lo que le quieras dedicar (Juego online).

===[Historia] ===
❌No tiene.
❌Pasa desapercibida.
✔️Del montón.
❌Buena.
❌Fantástica.
❌Obra de arte.

===[Misiones secundarias]===
❌No tiene.
❌Coleccionables solamente.
✔️Estan ahi para molestar al jugador.
❌De recadero y alguna interesante.
❌Muy bien escritas y distintas entre si.

===[Jugabilidad]===
✔️Deficiente.
❌Aceptable.
❌Regular.
❌Buena.
❌Muy Buena.
❌Excelente.

===[Gráficos]===
❌Malos.
❌Deficientes.
❌Mediocres.
✔️Buenos.
❌Notables.
❌Muy Buenos.
❌Excelentes.

===[Momentos épicos]===
❌No hay como tal.
❌Carecen de importancia.
✔️Normales.
❌Memorables.
❌De lo mejor que existe.

===[Bugs]===
❌El juego en si es un bug.
❌Los bugs empañan la experiencia.
❌Muchos bugs.
❌Algunos bugs.
✔️Puedes utilizar los bugs para pasarte el nivel.
❌Apenas tiene y no empañan la experiencia.
❌No tiene.

===[Experiencia]===
❌Injugable.
✔️Pasable.
❌Buena.
❌Excelente.
❌Única.

===[En resumen]===
❌No te lo recomiendo por nada del mundo.
✔️Poco recomendable.
❌Solo recomendable si te gusta la propuesta.
❌Recomendable.
❌Muy recomendable si te gusta la propuesta.
❌Recomendadísimo.
❌Lo mejor que he probado en mi vida.

Y yo que pensaba que tras Dark Souls 3 las cosas sólo podían ir a mejor. La formula souls ya es un hecho, si es como empezó o como fue planeada es cosa del pasado, la gente con los años se armó una visión. Así como parece que en un punto todos nos creímos la mentira de que Doom es frenético, gore y badass, todos nos creímos que Dark Souls es morir, trollear, peleas 1 vs 1 contra jefes épicos de dos o tres fases.
Elden Ring sigue esa fantasía que se volvió realidad con Bloodborne. Por muy libre que te deje el mundo, y por tantas catacumbas o zonas enteras secretas que haya, el juego siempre tiene el mismo fin, jefe gigante, rodar, atacar. Cambia un poco el moveset, un par de delays aquí y allá, pero siempre lo mismo. Escenarios vacíos, amplios, sólo el jefe y vos (Hay alguna variación, un enemigo normal con más vida de lo normal o pelearle a dos jefes previos a la vez). Pero el combate no da para más, tras Sekiro esperaba como mínimo una aproximación más original, pero no nos engañemos, esto pide la gente.
Es entendible lo decepcionante que puede ser pelearle 5 veces al mismo jefe, al árbol ese con martillo o al flaco con una túnica de piel humana. Pero más nefasto es que te teletransporten a arenas aisladas del mapa para pelear con los jefes de verdad importantes. Lo de los jefes secundarios repetidos se podría decir que es una metáfora de lo que se convirtieron los combates, todos iguales. Lo de los principales no tiene perdón, son entidades aisladas de todo, viviendo en arenas gigantes esperando a que te teletransportes y los revientes a palos.
El juego se vendió como el "más accesible que nunca" "el juego para entrar en la saga", ahora se pueden invocar enemigos para que te ayuden, sortear zonas enteras con parkour o la clásica magia a distancia de siempre. Pero buena suerte contra este enemigo que se cura al atacarte.
Uso invocaciones entonces: se cura al atacarlas
Voy a distancia: hace gap closers y no te deja castear hechizos
Voy full tanque: se cura golpeando tu escudo también
solución? suena la campanita. Rodar y atacar.
Uno de los jefes finales es un hombre musculoso que te empieza a hacer movimientos de lucha libre mientras grita lo genial que es. ¿Por qué no puedo tener esa pelea en un juego de acción de verdad? si todos lo quieren, From lo quiere, la gente lo quiere, no es necesario seguir anclados a una formula la cual la acción nunca fue su principal fuerte. Ya ni hablo de que sea al revés, y en vez que transformarse vuelvan a sus raíces, porque soñar se queda corto.
Se me ocurrian un montón de cosas que decir del Elden Ring mientras lo jugaba, pero en un punto pensé en que ni valía la pena, incluso que si escribía algo iba a ser porque era el juego de moda y quiero aportar a la charla más que nada. No me siento muy suelto hablando del juego y me da bronca que no me salga escribir así tampoco de juegos que últimamente jugué y me gustaron mucho.
Pero bueno, no se como encajarlas pero ahí van las cosas que pese a todo me gustaron de Elden Ring:
Pelear contra Miriam, contra mi doppelganger y contra Radhan. Llegar a la zona de Caelid y ver la maquinaria temática del área. La bifurcación de caminos en Liurna y las langostas gigantes de su valle. Parches. Entrar en la torre divina de Caelid. Invertir la torre divina de Liurna. Encontrar como volver a la mini zona del inicio del juego. Desinstalarlo tras jugar 90 horas en una semana y pelearle al peor boss final de cualquier souls, je.

El cambio estético de la arquitectura a lo largo de los años y cómo se difuminan nuestras memorias, dejando lo más definitorio de cada uno de los lugares recorridos a través de una vida que va llegando a su fin hacen de Promesa una exploración física y bastante silenciosa de la nostalgia. Pero incluso yo, una persona a la cual le pegan de cerca los pasillos, habitaciones, calles (y hasta un mate) que me topé a lo largo del viaje, creo que esta forma de navegación de espacios está perdiendo peso. Aprecio la meticulosidad, pero cada componente me queda como elemento de paso, casi como en un museo.

Not only I’m interested in people telling the history of their places, away from the USA and Japan, in videogames, but here you also have at least the influence of an older person that I think it’s very necessary in a medium as juvenile as this. And sure, I can understand where some of the critiques of the game regarding a voyeur or a tourist approach come from, the end credits telling you that you don’t see the same thing in every playthrough and a scene selector with places locked behind a question sign unfortunately give weight to this argument. But ultimately, I think the game really comes from a more honest place. To have a touristic voyeur approach to these kinds of places we already have too many action games that disregard the rest of the world as cool setpieces at best or amusement parks at worst. To me the slow pace of your walking in Promesa seems to be a responsive contrast to such a fast paced careless view (maybe it’s representing someone who cannot move as fast anymore too).

Even thinking that Promesa is honestly interested in the places and histories that it contains, I also think that the game doesn’t trust those enough. Julián Palacios puts a lot of care into recreating something that is, or was, existent and habited. It’s when the game just puts you in a mundane place with mundane sounds in the background where I feel it achieves the most. The street that you walk each day or the home where you have lived for years tell more about the life of someone than anything else.

But in its insecurity of not believing in the inherent expressive strength of these places, numerous abstract sections will appear oftenly. Not only seeing a distorted view of the aforementioned real places while flying strips any of the mundane sense that there could be, but the evocative aspects are also a lot weaker in comparison. When you lose someone that has been living with you for all your life it isn’t hard because you see a floating dress in your dreams. It’s hard because you turn your head while sitting in your own home and you’ll notice that they are not there anymore.

You know when you’re in the queue at, like, Disneyland, or Universal Studios, or whatever, and they have those videos where Christopher Lloyd is pretending to be Doc Brown from Back to the Future or something like that, telling you about the ride you’re about to go on and doing all the little catchphrases from the movie, but it’s sorta hollow - they sound so tired, and it doesn’t last long enough to fill your time in the queue, so you keep hearing it over and over again, this same shit, for what feels like years? Maybe even decades? Yeah. Super annoying! I hate that kind of stuff.

Anyway, remember when the Nintendo Switch came out? Those were great times. Feels like forever ago since I first did a Zelda dungeon while taking a shit. That feeling when you first slid the joycons onto their rails and heard that satisfying click... Oh yeah! The little minigame in 1-2 Switch where you could feel the balls moving around in the pad? So awesome. When was that again... 2016? 2017? Five years ago?! Wow! I remember that first weekend it launched, my friend brought his with him to the pub in the pocket of his cargo pants! Crazy, right? We all played Bomberman round a table, just like in those adverts Nintendo made to promote the console, laughing and smiling and shit. So much fun. What a system. Good times, man, good times.

A very conservative platformer that still manages to surprise by virtue of its inmense diversity and great characters. You really feel like you're the leader of the gang by the time you're done with the first world, and the fact that the game doesn't diverge much from its main course makes it very enjoyable. The main thing that I would set against it (aside from some implementation and camera issues) is the fact that you don't really get to know these characters beyond their superficial introduction, which is a shame because it seems like they could come to life if given more room to breathe.

In theory, in spirit, in abstraction, choose the inexact term of your preference, I really like this. The game honestly treasures its silly adolescent spirit, a spirit about people wanting to save the world from its, supposedly, destined doom. Not exactly the most original thing in the universe right (though I won’t stop liking it because of that), but there’s a bit more.

The reason why the group ends up deciding to attempt to defy a greater power, a colossal global act, takes root in a very personal and intimate place. It all starts from the desire of Lightning and Snow to save Serah, their sister and bride to be respectively. It’s not only them, Hope needs to find a way to move on after losing his mother and the other three characters also have the root of their cause in someone close, though they hide it for some time. The thing is that at the start of the adventure all of them are blinded and need to put the blame on whatever they have at hand. From self repulsion to putting all the weight in someone concrete that, even if still has some responsibility to account, isn’t the truly villainous force.

It’s not hard to understand why they point fingers so easily. The real culprit here is a more abstract force beyond any human, easy to guess they end up fighting godlike figures, because of course they do, though not necessarily religious gods. There are clear influences of religion here and there, but these forces are embodied in machinery monstrosities, beings that can literally produce food and other essential goods to keep humans happy. They also can curse the people in order to carry their will. At the moment that this curse is cast there are only two options: you fail at your abstractly told task and turn into a zombie or you succeed and gain eternal life aka turn into a crystal forever. A curse for eternity.

Talking about killing gods may sound like getting into unbearable pretentiousness (partially true, I guess, but also cool) that in reality ends up leading nowhere, but it never really feels like the game is trying to be smarter than it is. It’s not so much about screaming out loud about the possibility of change through a serious way, but about what comes before, the burning desire of that possibility existing. To believe in miracles just before fighting to make them come true. It is the moment the cast starts realizing that to save Serah or anyone dear to them the only real way is to fight for that greater shift that saves everyone.

Unfortunately, the game has many problems. I could start with everything related to combats, in short, they try something but it isn’t compromised enough nor good enough and ends up being a mess. In any case, what really keeps me from liking it is this messiness in other places.

It’s surprising to see how Hope's conflict with the loss of his mother is considerably well handled, letting see what goes on until he can come clear with himself and then have Sazh conflict. In about 30 minutes (of a really long game) a grown up guy, not a child like Hope, gets in a similar situation in which he blames someone that is just very partially at fault, then realizes that revenge will solve nothing, then thinks about ending his life in a small cliffhanger and the next time he appears he’s all cool everything clear. In a flashback showing Lightning’s birthday, the only moment where she tried to stop being a soldier and act as a human being, the gift that she receives from her just-cursed-about-to-be-married dear sister is… a combat knife.

Even the moments that work to some extent fall short of what I feel they should be. Watching Snow and Serah being together is cute, but with a couple around twenty years old planning on building a family and assuring that not even godly curses will stop their love, “cute” shouldn’t be enough. And it’s like that through the whole game, I keep coming back to its concepts, to the burning passion that is in its abstraction, but when I reach my hand to try to get a handle on anything, the game is, ironically, incapable of truly crystallizing.