TheOnesWhoAre
BACKER
My relationship with this game is a complicated one.
Back in early 2019, I had just come off of my first playthrough of Xenoblade 1, and even though I had just played Xenoblade 2 and Torna the year before, I was still desperate more more Xenoblade content. So, of course, I decided to play X. I managed to grab a preowned copy at GameStop, somehow, and I started it, expecting yet another masterpiece.
...that's not what I got.
I was a much less patient man back then, so I dropped it almost immediately. Past the opening cutscene nothing about the game, especially the story, really grabbed me like the rest of the series did. This almost became a cycle. When Xenoblade DE released, i tried to go back to X, and dropped it again. When Pyra and Mythra were announced for smash, i tried to go back to X, and dropped it again. This kept happening for basically every Xenoblade related announcement that happened, up until very recently.
The recent Xenoblade 3 DLC trailer had me hyped to no end, so of course, I yet again returned to X, hoping for it to finally click. This time was different, though. I told myself that no matter how bored I got, no matter how annoyed I became, I would finally beat this game that had been stuck in my backlog for so long. And I did. I finally did.
It was hard, at first. The beginning of this game, past the tutorial, is so unbelievably boring. I found the side quests to be almost akin to Xenoblade 1's infamously boring fetch quests at that point, and like I said earlier, the story wasn't really grabbing me yet. The only two things that kept me going was the gameplay, and the idea of skells. I found the soul voice system to be an incredibly interesting way to implement healing, and I had heard that once you get skells, the game got infinitely better. Well, it took a while, but I finally managed to get the skell license, and after all this time, it finally clicked.
I finally understood all of the ravings. While I still find it to be so insanely dumb to have a story that takes 50 hours to get good, the gameplay and side quests had me so consumed that I didn't care nearly as much any more.
I was riding on this high for basically the rest of the game, right up until the last chapter. Not gonna spoil anything, of course, but holy shit. the final boss of this game is ASS. Maybe my ground gear was just garbage, but even on easy mode, I had zero chance of beating this five phase monstrosity for the longest time. I grinded xp and money (to get a level 50 skell) for FIFTEEN. FUCKING. HOURS. And still, the only saving grace I found, and the only reason I finally beat the final boss, was this sort of half assed infinite overdrive using Elma, since I hadn't gotten the FMJ class on my custom character and I was not willing to grind any more. I am a strong believer that a bad final boss can sour a mostly good experience, and i feel like that's the case here, as i was originally planning on rating this a 9/10 instead of an 8/10.
Despite all of my complaining I still think that, as a whole, Xenoblade X is a great game. I had a great time losing myself in the amazing world that is Mira. I just hope that, whenever X2 finally rolls around, they tell a story of similar quality of the mainline games, while maintaining the gameplay and exploration quality of this one.
Back in early 2019, I had just come off of my first playthrough of Xenoblade 1, and even though I had just played Xenoblade 2 and Torna the year before, I was still desperate more more Xenoblade content. So, of course, I decided to play X. I managed to grab a preowned copy at GameStop, somehow, and I started it, expecting yet another masterpiece.
...that's not what I got.
I was a much less patient man back then, so I dropped it almost immediately. Past the opening cutscene nothing about the game, especially the story, really grabbed me like the rest of the series did. This almost became a cycle. When Xenoblade DE released, i tried to go back to X, and dropped it again. When Pyra and Mythra were announced for smash, i tried to go back to X, and dropped it again. This kept happening for basically every Xenoblade related announcement that happened, up until very recently.
The recent Xenoblade 3 DLC trailer had me hyped to no end, so of course, I yet again returned to X, hoping for it to finally click. This time was different, though. I told myself that no matter how bored I got, no matter how annoyed I became, I would finally beat this game that had been stuck in my backlog for so long. And I did. I finally did.
It was hard, at first. The beginning of this game, past the tutorial, is so unbelievably boring. I found the side quests to be almost akin to Xenoblade 1's infamously boring fetch quests at that point, and like I said earlier, the story wasn't really grabbing me yet. The only two things that kept me going was the gameplay, and the idea of skells. I found the soul voice system to be an incredibly interesting way to implement healing, and I had heard that once you get skells, the game got infinitely better. Well, it took a while, but I finally managed to get the skell license, and after all this time, it finally clicked.
I finally understood all of the ravings. While I still find it to be so insanely dumb to have a story that takes 50 hours to get good, the gameplay and side quests had me so consumed that I didn't care nearly as much any more.
I was riding on this high for basically the rest of the game, right up until the last chapter. Not gonna spoil anything, of course, but holy shit. the final boss of this game is ASS. Maybe my ground gear was just garbage, but even on easy mode, I had zero chance of beating this five phase monstrosity for the longest time. I grinded xp and money (to get a level 50 skell) for FIFTEEN. FUCKING. HOURS. And still, the only saving grace I found, and the only reason I finally beat the final boss, was this sort of half assed infinite overdrive using Elma, since I hadn't gotten the FMJ class on my custom character and I was not willing to grind any more. I am a strong believer that a bad final boss can sour a mostly good experience, and i feel like that's the case here, as i was originally planning on rating this a 9/10 instead of an 8/10.
Despite all of my complaining I still think that, as a whole, Xenoblade X is a great game. I had a great time losing myself in the amazing world that is Mira. I just hope that, whenever X2 finally rolls around, they tell a story of similar quality of the mainline games, while maintaining the gameplay and exploration quality of this one.
ace attorney if it was good
more game companies need to do april fools jokes like this
more game companies need to do april fools jokes like this
masterpiece. still the absolute most well realized and fun to explore open world I've ever had the pleasure to experience. the story may be minimalist, but it's effective (memory 16 and 17 had me tearing up yet again). tears of the kingdom can't come soon enough.
2020
i couldn't give less of a shit that this game isn't finished, its still the absolute number 1 greatest fps i have EVER played, finally dethroning Titanfall 2. devil may quake, what a fucking concept, but it makes sense, and they pull it off perfectly here. soundtrack is banging, the one voiced character puts in 500% in his performance, and every single boss fight is incredible. 3-2 and 6-2, genuinely two of the greatest boss fights i've ever seen in a shooter, maybe even in any game ever. Act III cannot come soon enough. might even break my top 25 by then, if it hasn't already. i haven't decided. support these devs, this stuff is amazing.
honestly, i went into this game assuming i'd hate it, and yeah it's really outdated and can be frustrating sometimes (COUGH QUEEN METROID COUGH) but I honestly had a great time with it. its pretty linear, which would usually be a downside for a metroid game, but considering the lack of a map, i think it helped. still, if you're gonna play any version of metroid 2, just play samus returns or am2r, they are much better experiences.
Honestly, of all the action yakuza games, this one definitely has my favorite combat. still gets old by the end, but the sword and wild dancer styles were still a lot of fun to use for a while. story is pretty good, if not a tad boring in the middle, but i enjoyed it. very glad this finally got localized.
This game is quite literally if you took a 2D metroid game and made it 3D. shows its age a bit, but it's still quite good. If prime 4 is this but with modern game polish? oooooh boy.
2023
Not only the best rhythm game I've ever played but straight up the best action game I've ever played, combat wise. The combat is unbelievably satisfying. everything lines up with the beat, so pulling off combos, parries, etc always feels incredible. The game looks amazing, I haven't seen a game rock a style as well as Hi-Fi Rush does in a long time. I don't think there's a single character I dislike here, they're all just so fun, especially the main cast. The story, and the game itself, doesn't take itself too seriously, but has some genuinely touching moments when it needs to. Also, the soundtrack is absolutely banging and never lets up, I don't think there was a single level where I wasn't bopping my head to the music the entire time. I just can't bring myself to give this game anything less than a 10/10, it just nails everything it needs to perfectly.
also, theres a xenogears reference, which means the devs are unfathomably based LMAO
also, theres a xenogears reference, which means the devs are unfathomably based LMAO
2022
make the graphics better and the gameplay more like legends arceus and this is without a doubt the best pokemon game. despite its myriad flaws, theres so much stuff here that I loved. the story and characters blew away my expectations, and this is without a doubt my favorite pokemon cast now, and the soundtrack is, as you would expect with pokemon, amazing. I really hope the DLC rumors are true because I am in desperate need of more SV content.
I was gonna give this game a 6/10 but that ending had me so fucked up so I had to bump it up. anyways, yeah, its a remastered psp game. A pretty damn good one but its still held back quite a lot. still definitely worth playing, though.
1997
I'm sure this game was mindblowing back in the 90s but it really hasn't aged all too gracefully. I respect it a lot, but I don't know if I'll ever replay it (unless ever crisis gets the switch port it deserves).
2022
this game does what very few sequels do: It improves on quite literally everything about the first game. Much better story, Much better characters and character development, much better gameplay, etc. My only complaints really are that the backseating from companions is insane, the pacing is still stretched kinda thin (not nearly as bad as the first one) and I'm still not the biggest fan of the gameplay here. Masterpiece? definitely not, but it is still a great game.
2022
I think of this game in a very similar manner to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Both undeniably flawed in many aspects, but I had so much damn fun playing both that I honestly do not care. The open zone gameplay is insanely fun, the combat is satisfying as hell, the cyberspace levels are awesome (except for 1-2, fuck 1-2 and its bullshit s rank), THE SUPER SONIC BOSS FIGHTS, the writing is actually so much better than any sonic game from the past 10 years it shocked me, the characters are also shockingly great, and holy fucking shit the SOUNDTRACK. this game is honestly worth playing just for the soundtrack. I could not be happier right now, sonic is finally back.
2018
the second half of this game being a 7/10 doesn't stop the fact that the first half of the game is an insanely linear, boring, and predictable 3/10
2018
Dark Souls Remastered- Has the best areas in the trilogy, but area quality drops in the last third of the game. bosses tend to be pretty good, with a couple pretty big exceptions (bed of chaos, capra demon). interconnectivity is awesome, but it is insanely easy to get lost. wonderful graphics and style, and an iconic soundtrack. pretty great game, 8/10.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin- Lore is cool, pretty visually appealing, pretty good soundtrack and I like majula. past that though? yeah this game blows. I don't remember liking a single area, forgettable and bad bosses with very few exceptions, adaptability, slow healing, no fog wall invincibility frames, and it honestly just feels worse to play than any of the other soulsborne games. not worth the pain, 4/10
Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades - Areas are more inconsistant in quality, and the linearity is pretty disappointing, but it makes up for that by being the best playing game in the trilogy with some excellent bosses and probably the best soundtrack in the trilogy. Plus, soul of cinder is probably one of my favorite bosses, ever. 8/10. Same score as DS1 but i do prefer ds3 over it.
This trilogy is legendary, but if i'm being honest, all of them are outmatched by their spinoffs (bloodborne, sekiro, etc) in basically every way. Still, they are all very much worth at least one playthrough (except for ds2 lmao, spare yourself).
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin- Lore is cool, pretty visually appealing, pretty good soundtrack and I like majula. past that though? yeah this game blows. I don't remember liking a single area, forgettable and bad bosses with very few exceptions, adaptability, slow healing, no fog wall invincibility frames, and it honestly just feels worse to play than any of the other soulsborne games. not worth the pain, 4/10
Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades - Areas are more inconsistant in quality, and the linearity is pretty disappointing, but it makes up for that by being the best playing game in the trilogy with some excellent bosses and probably the best soundtrack in the trilogy. Plus, soul of cinder is probably one of my favorite bosses, ever. 8/10. Same score as DS1 but i do prefer ds3 over it.
This trilogy is legendary, but if i'm being honest, all of them are outmatched by their spinoffs (bloodborne, sekiro, etc) in basically every way. Still, they are all very much worth at least one playthrough (except for ds2 lmao, spare yourself).