Around the end of the game, when you enter the alternate dimension that the antagonists of the game came from, Cortex remarks that there were supposed to be two dimensions, "but we ran out of time". Due to everything I had been through with this game while playing it, hearing this felt like when your friend makes a self-deprecating joke that's just a little too revealing and makes everyone uncomfortable.

I'm kind of baffled by how many people have given this game a pass when it comes to all its bugs, glitches, and general sloppiness. Don't get me wrong, this is a solid idea for a new Crash game, turning it into a more linear Jak and Daxter has its appeal and makes sense for when it came out. There are little moments where this new format works; when the platforming takes advantage of the more open levels and the crate mechanics of previous Crash games. But these moments don't last long and are replaced with mid-at-best gimmick sections. These gimmick sections start off kind of interesting, but nearly all of them immediately fall into the pitfall of the game's broken nature. Rolling around as a ball is neat until you have to make a precise jump and all of a sudden you launch thirty feet into the air. Rolling Cortex around in a barrel seems promising until one nudge rolls him off the stage immediately. Sliding stages require you to use a jump that only works half of the time, and the Nina Cortex level involves extremely brainless wall-jumping mechanics. Some stuff like Crash having to drag Cortex through levels and playing as Cortex aren't too bad, but man games in this era sure loved just giving as many different types of gameplay as possible, and considering Twinsanity is constantly falling apart, it does not do this game any favors.

But let's focus on just playing as Crash, going through levels with the usual jumping and spinning and whatnot. As I said, it sometimes works, but it often feels like they forced Crash-style platforming challenges into a 3D space and it doesn't feel great. I had several moments of falling into pits due to not being able to judge the distance of a jump, or not being able to see the jump at all, which rarely happened in previous Crash games. The worst part is anything involving platforming on steel crates, on which you can't see your shadow. This makes platforming on such sections a complete hassle, and I often ignored the gems that involved them due to how hard it was to find out how to land properly on them. In general, many of the crate bouncing challenges that are reminiscent of previous games are pretty bad here, and the game is at its best when it just acts like crates don't exist outside of TNT and nitro crates.

I have some other gripes, like how Aku Aku is basically useless since it seems every obstacle is instant death, how dogshit checkpointing can be sometimes (it really is inspired by Jak and Daxter), and the unskippable cutscenes, but really the main reason I can't recommend this game is how broken it is. I had three straight-up crashes/soft locks while playing, one of which sent me way too far back, one moment where I couldn't progress past a combat section because knocking an enemy into a pit didn't count as killing them, and a couple of moments of losing all the music for some time, and several other glitches. So many things just killed me without explanation that I went through most of the game scared for my life that a random seam on the floor would take my last life and send me back to the last autosave. Anyone else jump on that one boss's dead body, thinking it was safe, only to have it kill you and make you do the whole boss again? I could also talk about how the story feels like only half of it was told, the cutscenes that desperately need actual sound effects, and countless sloppy little things.

Obviously, no one sets out to make a game like this on purpose, it was the result of crunch, disputes between different parts of development and with the publisher, and having to scrape together different, unfinished versions of this game that went through multiple changes way too rapidly. There's a version of this game that fully realizes what Traveler's Tales set out to do, and it's sad we'll probably never see it considering the Crash series has both come back and died before it could get to giving this the full-on remake it needs. Some people can enjoy it for what it is, I personally had a rough as hell time and would not recommend this to anyone, especially since emulating it still seems to be an involved process. The music stands out as the only fully realized and wholly enjoyable part of this game. I need to stop trusting the taste of 3D platformer fans though, have you seen the way they talk about this game, it's like they played a different game I swear.

There's a type of design philosophy that I have been trying to define when it comes to shoot 'em ups. A combination of the feeling of a perfect level of speed, combined with excellent enemy placement and bullet patterns that never slow down, with music complimenting the action that creates an incredible feeling of adrenaline with each and every action the player takes; a "high" that lasts for the entire duration of the game, that never ends, until you hit that credits screen, and you're ready to do it all over again, because it was a meditative experience that comes once in a lifetime.

That is Mushihimesama. My favorite shoot 'em up, and one of the best games ever developed. For the love of Ikeda, play this one.

Pokemon Puzzle League is an interesting game to give a score. The game is fun because Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon is fun. The thing is that's the only thing good about this game. The UI is that of a 2000s flash game, the soundtrack is composed of terrible renditions of the Pokemon anime music, and progression through the single-player campaign is even ruined by the fact that you can't reach the end on anything but hard mode. If this game invented Panel de Pon and was the only way to play it then this game would get more of a pass and at the end of the day, the gameplay would supersede the terrible way this game is presented. But it isn't the only way to play Panel de Pon so what does this game actually have to offer. Giving this game a good score would feel like giving every match-three game on the app store a good score because the concept of match-three games is solid. This is a bad version of a good game. Now I'm going to go play a version of Panel de Pon that doesn't feature Ash screaming every two seconds.

The most refined Touhou game to date. It takes everything good about Mountain of Faith, its smooth game-play, well designed patterns and bullets, it's well designed background and visuals, and fitting music and makes those aspects even better. The smooth game-play remains the same, but the designs and patterns feel even more unique than before, and in return, makes this game a lot more enjoyable and re-playable, knowing you get to replay very fun stages if you decide to replay this is a good motivator.

The presentation is my most favorite in the series, each stage feels so iconic, from the ancient city in hell crowded by evil spirits to the firey core of the nuclear reactor, everything feels so fitting and you truly feel like you're in these locations. Not only that but these amazing visuals are only enhanced by the even better music, the music feels more and more dramatic, and more and more energetic as the game goes on and the locations in which these stages take place become even crazier. This whole game feels like its getting more and more intense and when you finally reach Utsuho, this stage becomes absolutely crazy.

btw this game introduces koishi so obviously its a ten out of ten

L2AGO #5

The more I play Ys Origin, the more convinced I become of its greatness.

Ys Origin takes place 700 years before the events of Ys I, and deals with events of desperation and devastation; the land of Ys has been flooded with torrents of disasters, and the Goddesses have gone missing overnight, leaving Solomon Shrine in danger and its denizens fearful. A search party has descended down to the land to try and make sense of the chaos, and in its wake stumble upon Darm Tower, where demons have suspiciously gathered. If you've played Ys I & II, many of the same bosses return here in Darm Tower from Ys I, only with Darm Tower serving as the whole ecosystem. The Tower itself has been greatly expanded and varied, with a plethora of different environments and enemies to keep you on your toes. And yet it's extremely thoughtful and condensed dungeon crawling; the levels are laid out neatly with virtually no labyrinths (I guess you could argue the Hall of Mirrors is one, though it's fairly short) and I never found myself getting lost due to the fairly straightforward layouts and helpful NPCs located at key points to give you hints if needbe. It also helps that you're encouraged to partake in this aggressive fast paced combat through an EXP multiplier that stays active as long as you keep throwing out successful hitboxes against enemies in levels; time flew by so quickly when traversing Darm Tower, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Where I think Ys Origin really succeeds is allowing for extremely varied gameplay while keeping combat fast and engaging regardless of variation. You've got two starter protagonists and one unlockable "secret" protagonist, and they all play differently. Yunica's your midrange fighter; she's relatively fast and fights with an axe, but later on gains more options to expand her range such as a fast special spin attack and a fire bolt projectile, and thus balancing when to fight upfront vs fight from a distance is necessary to mastering her playstyle. Hugo's the slowest character but works by overwhelming his opponents with projectiles; his specials range from a quick shield to mines, and the key to mastering him is focusing on positioning to make sure he's always in the right place to dish out damage without becoming too susceptible to attacks. Finally, the secret character has some of the fastest and most spammable melee attacks in the game, but as a result he doesn't have much room for safety spacing; as a result, you'll need to know exactly when to go aggro on enemies and when/how to back off to dodge incoming attacks on the fly. Having completed runs with all three characters at this point, I'm happy to report that it didn't feel like there was an obvious "best" character and an obvious "worst" character; they all have their merits, and I would gladly recommend trying all of them out. You'll end up fighting some similar and some different bosses throughout each run, so it's not like the whole experience is just another character thrown into the same design after all.

Speaking of which, the bosses. One of my biggest complaints with Ys: The Oath in Felghana was that 80% of the bosses felt like an endurance test; you spend the vast majority of fights just dodging enemy attacks left and right until the boss decides that they're okay with letting you attack them, with the boss out of range or in an invulnerable state until then. Playing through Ys Origin is fortunately a much different experience. Almost every boss can be actively engaged with at all times; there's almost always an opportunity to deal damage or pressure to a boss to progress fights, and generally they will attempt to dissuade you from wailing on them by sending out hitboxes and dishing damage to overly aggressive players rather than entering invulnerability or leaving the arena. Even the two bosses that don't play by this rule (the centipede and the lava punchy boss) are constantly throwing themselves out there for you to strike back, giving you a stronger sense of player agency over the fight and allowing for significantly less "downtime" than many of the boss fights in Oath in Felghana. Understanding the push & pull of boss fights in Ys Origin is key to mastering the game; there's no dodge roll or shield to save you here, so you'll have to think fast on your feet and jump/dodge attacks manually while juggling in the necessary offense as your win condition.

Let's talk briefly about the story too. Ys Origin's narrative is very simply told; there's only about 10 minutes max of exposition and dialogue to set up the story near the beginning, and then you're more or less let loose to start your ascent up the tower. Throughout your run, you'll learn more about the state of affairs around you as well as the protagonist's backstory, and all three of the protagonists stand out in this regard. Yunica's dealing with the loss of her close parental figures and struggles to get through the shadow of her past. Hugo's constantly comparing himself to those around him, and wonders what more it's going to take for him to finally achieve recognition and self-actualization. And the secret character? Let's just say that he's dealing with his wavering beliefs, and he's stuck in the middle wondering what to do with those who remain. While combat remains the focus of Ys Origin, its tale told via three different timelines (of three different protagonists) definitely plays a huge part of the experience; it won't take up too much of your time, but the worldbuilding and characterization that Falcom's staked a reputation off of remains fairly solid here.

And finally, I've basically stated this with different words for every Falcom game review I've done, but the soundtrack is phenomenal. Ys Origin in particular has some of the best tunes that I think Falcom Sound Team jdk has ever produced. Just give them a listen and you'll see what I mean.

At the end of the day, Ys Origin is just a goddamn fun game to play. The combat feels so great to engage with, the controls are extremely responsive, there's tons of variety via different protagonists and different attacks, boss fights are super flashy and enthralling, the soundtrack is fire, and there's a solid story packaged with this phenomenal gameplay that doesn't feel intrusive whatsoever. If I really had to nitpick, there are some enemies near the end that can reverse your controls temporarily with confusion (that fortunately can be somewhat alleviated through buying upgrades in the statue) and you can grind to make some boss fights more trivial by dealing more damage while taking less, though it's not always necessary as long as you're constantly engaging with overworld enemies. And once you beat the game with all three protagonists, you'll also unlock an arena where you can just hack away at enemies all day to your pleasure to unlock more rewards in a bonus shop, or partake in the classic boss rush. This is one of the easiest recommendations I can give for tightly constructed action-adventure games, and in my opinion, Ys Origin should not just be known as one of the best hidden gems of the 2000s, but as one of the greatest games of all time. I keep meaning to put this down, but it just keeps getting better. For a game set at the apocalyptic beginning, Ys Origin just refuses to age.

The world is a cruel and unjust place.
There is no harmony in the universe.
The only constant is suffering.
Minutes later
OMG YUNICA, HI 🥰🥰🥰