''This world, wants to take everything from you. Everything. Your homes, your freedom, your very lives. So them--are you going to stand by let that happen to you?''

2 years since the first trailer of this game came out and honestly didnt care that much when it came out but after this year, this game picked my interest to try FF and tried OG FF7 and loved pretty much everything about it, especially the soundtrack itself.

I've been trying to dodge spoilers like crazy but now today i finished it and honestly i'm out of the words of how this game just blows my expectations and how much creativity in making eikon fights, or the straight forward story (which it's probably my favorite thing about this game) or the sidequests being really good, especially in the second half/endgame.

Final Fantasy 16 cast is one of the things that really feels alive to me especially going through their own struggles especially if you go through their sidequests and i'm honestly so glad that i did all of them, i've never saw a cast this consistent in a while. Shoutout to Torgal/Jill one cuz that one really broke my soul.

''Life is about having a choice. Take that away, and we might as well be dead.''

Final Fantasy 16 core being death, opression and hopelessness is so strong and you can geniuely tell the pain and the pure struggle to live in this world. The first hours in the game you can geniuely tell there's a inferiority with
Bearers(people with a mark) on their face or even outlaws and love it gets expanded the more you go through. Clive's story and getting tied with Cid later on showing their hardships of trying to restore a hope to a people that are oppressed and their conflict later in the game, i love how you go through this path you can see how hopeless it is especially to even try. The writting seems delicate and sometimes very bold especially Clive's character arc which is one of my favorite things about this game, it's so good seeing a character that grows in this journey and feels very mature and endearing.
I've always seen the potential of this character but it got to the point that i was so amazed of how simple good Clive is.


Either way, i'm glad that i have played this game blind and barely getting spoiled in anything so i could experience this amazing game and sharing with my friends on VC.

Thank you Yoshi-P team.

Before I start this review I need to preface that this game is an extremely good game there's no reason to deny the sheer quality and scope of such a project.

With that said, was it a completely satisfying game to me ? A long time Zelda fan who also happened to have the original BOTW ranked super highly as one of my favorite game of all time ?

Heeeeh not quite

By the time I'm writing this review I have completed every single shrine, gotten every single light roots, gotten every single bubul frog crystals, done a couple of the most important mission, got all the dragon tears and ofc finished the 5 temples as well as defeating the evil Ganondorf.

So I'm confident in saying that while all of this was still a relatively fun and addicting experience, there's a lingering feeling at the back of my head telling me that this wasn't really that great of a sequel to BOTW

But why ? Why did I have this awkward feeling ?

I guess it's because BOTW was such a unique experience on release, one that could be difficult to top even with the best of effort, it's such a unique take on Zelda going back to its roots and giving the series the proper evolution it needed after years of stagnant attempt at recapturing the magic of OOT with more or less good success.

It was an ode to freedom, to adventure, it was a game that had the balls to throw away 20 years of Zelda convention and was making no compromise to deliver the best experience possible.

It's hard to deny how much of an amazing title BOTW was when the only people complaining about it are game design illiterate Zelda fans who thought it wasn't "Zelda enough" (which in my book was a good thing) and personally speaking it was hard to recapture a similar experience.

TOTK feels more like what happens when you're bored of playing Minecraft Vanilla and you want to spice things up with some mods to add more stuff to do and that's how I feel about most of the new features in this game, nothing that truly enhances the original game experience in any significant way but just add more stuff on top of what was already a pretty meaty game.

But in doing so, I don't feel that the new stuff was thought with the same minutia or the same sense of vision that BOTW did.

I start with the big elephant in the room which is the map of the game.

As you may know, the map of TOTK is mostly lifted off of the one from BOTW, the surface world isn't entirely devoid of new stuff but it's still relatively the same world just slightly touched up.

The problem with this is that it completely change the way you experience the world, in BOTW I was discovering the world, I was letting myself go loose and absorb the entirety of the game in all of its scope, in TOTK the exploration feels a bit more processed.

I know these plains, I've climbed these mountains, I've sailed those seas, I've been there so I don't approach the world of TOTK the same way I did the one in BOTW.

BOTW felt like actually exploring a world and creating your own adventure, TOTK feels like checking a list of stuff to revisit to see what's different as well as progressing through the very disjointed story of the game (more on that later).

But TOTK has 2 more layers to its map, the sky and the depths !

These were the main selling point of the game (especially the sky) and the two biggest addition to BOTW's world and what do I think of both of them ?

They're honestly not that amazing, there are very few sky islands and most of them outside of the starting area are just the same copy pasted layout of one island with a rotating platform, a distributor and an empty shrine you have to bring a crystal to either by going to an island with an underground where it lies or going to an island where the same cube boss guards it on its back.

There's only maybe 2 or 3 sky island that are actually different and offer a different set of challenges and going to them is kind of bothersome with no proper way to traverse the sky (unless you decide to create an airbike), at some point the sky islands were becoming a bit too predictable but at least they were better than...

The Depths...

So ok, when I first entered the depths my jaw dropped to the floor, these crazy mf made an entire map under the map ???

But then you actually explore the depth and realize its depressingly void of interest, it's the same biomes and structure repeated infinitely with little to nothing of value to be found in here and the only real appeal of it is making surface shrines easier to find (due to the map being symetrical) and grinding for Zonite Ore to upgrade your battery (and I guess that neat little quest with the Yiga Clan but even that got dull pretty fast), every trip down here ended in disappointment and felt like a massive waste of my time until I decided to make an air bike to skip on most of the cumbersome traversal (because god the geography of the depth coupled with the limited light sources just makes me loose my mind)

The best addition to the world at least to me are the caves and wells, these should've been more advertised because these are awesome ! They're the kind of places that feels like it actually belonged in the original game map, they have unique and interesting layouts and they hold lots of surprises within them without feeling too samey and I wish the Sky Islands and The depths were designed with the same philosophy as them.

Another problem arise when discussing the story of the game. See BOTW structure really doesn't mesh well with a more narratively driven story and it shows, you can feel that there was an intended order in how you're supposed to experience what the game has to offer but if you played BOTW before, you don't wanna do that, you just want to explore the world and do things in whatever order you want !

But TOTK encourages to qualm your drive to explore and go on an adventure because not doing so will lead to a worst narrative experience, sometimes you get cutscenes out of order, you experience story segment out of order and the whole story gets broken because the first memory you get is of Zelda traveling to time and the second could be Ganon transforming into a demon and there's like 15 different step you just skipped.

It's sad because it makes some of the stronger more controlled moment of the story less effective as a result

In conclusion TOTK is a game that I enjoyed but it lacks the cohesiveness of the original game even if its fun to play around with the new ability

A perfect send off to the DS series, and one of the best action games ever. So many banger boss fights in this one, especially in the DLC and the fights are beautifully cinematic as they are fun to play. The story and lore was great as well, does it do a lot of DS1 callbacks? Yes but I freaking love DS1 so who cares! Also the soundtrack in this game is one of the best things I've heard in my life, everything from the grand and epic battle songs (Soul of Cinder, the princes theme, etc.) to even the ambient music of the shrine were all so beautiful. Only complaint was that the world wasn't as interesting to explore and the areas could be kind of bland, but the amazing bosses at the end of them made up for that most of the time for me.

THEY COOKED

Raging Loop has been on my radar for a long time but always got pushed back for one reason or another. Following a bad storm and a long power outage with nothing to do, I saw a good opportunity and went ahead and jumped on it. A very comfortable ~25 hour experience split into a few nice binging sessions. Anything “999-coded” (murder mystery with a flowchart and remembering things that you shouldn’t be able to remember!!!) is always going to speak to me on a deeply personal level because it is simply the greatest of all time every time it’s implemented, but in all honesty I really wasn’t feeling Raging Loop during its first route. I was considering dropping the game after the conclusion of the first route, in fact, but I’m glad I persevered because the middle stretch of the game was much more consistently engaging and well-paced.

Raging Loop is interesting because I think it really shines in this middle section, where the player is just familiar enough with the setting, its cast, and the “ruleset” of the game to feel like an active participant in the deduction-making while still leaving plenty of room for the inevitable “you haven’t seen anything yet” reveals. The ending suffers from some pacing issues and lack of satisfying buildup and closure for certain characters/plot points but there are some undeniably great scenes so it isn’t anything too egregious. I was especially impressed with how much I came around on the main character who went from actively taking away my enjoyment in the first route to a surprisingly endearing lead in the game’s final hours. At no point did I ever really care about the “romance” aspect the game seemed so hell-bent on trying to spoon-feed to me. I was definitely not buying what Raging Loop was selling on that front, sadly.

It’s not perfect but it was a very fun read, I’m glad I finally got around to it.

It's kinda hard for me to fully articulate my thoughts on a game that essentially existed for a solid 8 years while I've rushed through the story content in only two months. There are feelings I've not been able to quite feel due to my lack of history, and important context I can't help but lament missing.

So I speak here not as an old veteran, or even as someone with at least some history with the franchise like I had with FFXIV, but as someone who was sapped into this game this very year for a silly reason and couldn't help but forge through to the end.

Okay, so, game's good. I don't think I have much of interest to say concerning the gameplay, it's fairly engaging hack n' slash that does its job at worst, and uses fairly inventive tricks to heighten the story moments at its best (especially impressive for a mobile game).
What I signed up for, and I was really interested in however, was the story. I have an...acquiantance shall we say (wink) who had started this game around last year and praised it a very decent amount. I held strong for a while, but in the end I just needed to know what the deal was. What was she seeing, feeling, that I was missing out on. And I...understand now. Honkai's story is a heartfelt, beautiful ode to a lot of the themes that person and I hold dear in our chests, it's a deeply emotional plot that generally always kept me wanting to see more of the world and setting. It goes beyond the game and into the multimedia too. The numerous mangas, the two VNs, the numerous animations, the silly chibis, everything works together wonderfully to create what is one of the most comprehensive and insanely "full" experiences I've had with any story.

And here comes the part where I'm gonna be a stinky poo poo and complain about gacha again. Yes it's a gacha, yes I hate those, and yes I hate that this game is one too. In fact, if all my praise thus far is to the highest degree, I think the medium of the game still halts it from becoming a true and tried favorite in my heart. It's an unfortunate moral shield I still hold, but I cannot in good conscience praise this game again and again without the very large asterisk of: this game is still of the genre that aims to suck out your money with edulcorated gambling.

However. I praised this game first because what I saw, what I played and what I felt throughout my whole experience, from the writing to the characters truly did take their roots in me. Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, Elysia, and all the others who've had numerous arcs across multiple media and chapters were written genuinely and with a sincerity that affected me to my deepest core. So I want to emphasize that while I abhor this game's medium, it's something I can't really fully blame the writers, animators, designers and developers on. (Who am I blaming then? Capitalism.)

In short (lol); Honkai Impact 3rd is a beautifully written game with some stumbles here and there, especially in the first half of the game where it's clear the general outline of the plot was not quite as well defined. The gameplay is as fun as it should be and the multiple strong emotional moments have had their effects on me, to the point I'm a slightly different person for having experienced all of what Honkai had to offer. I just have to lament that this isn't a game one can ethically consume. And this will apply to any gacha I play in the future, which I guess makes me slightly part of the problem too, even despite my f2p status.

But I can blame capitalism all day (and I DO), in the end it's these complicated and mixed feelings that make up the bulk of my thoughts. I love this game, i love the world it developed around it, and I love the stories it made me go through.
But more than any of that, I love the insight it gave me into the passion of the person I hold dearest in this whole world.

Thanks Alise, may we keep fighting for all that is beautiful in the world, together.

I expected nothing and I still got blown away, a very simple yet terribly smart game which reminded of my experience trying to figure out the first Zelda back in the day with the same level of confusion

The later half is definitely more on the cryptic side of things but holy shit it's also the smartest part of the game

There's tons of secrets I probably missed but I got the true ending and found the golden path on my own and I love gaming fr

While the game is nowhere near “completion” at the time I’m writing this, with ~45 hours logged and all of the currently available main story content finished, I feel like I’ve had enough time in the game to justify sharing some sentiments.

It is imperative that I mention how much I despise gachas, battle passes, games with “dailies”, all that stuff; they are systems put in place to prey on as much of your time and money as possible, it’s an irrefutable fact and one that these types of games usually barely even try to disguise. That’s not something I would ever feel comfortable with outright dismissing or excusing in any way, so to make it perfectly clear: I do not agree with any of those decisions, and it’s absolutely a knock against the game. With all of that being said, it’s hugely impressive that my unwavering belief in the absolute artistry Project Moon has proven themselves capable of crafting twice before in Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina supersedes my vehement hatred for the format. I was more than willing to download the game and give it a shot because I need more of the world they’ve so loving and carefully crafted, and I’m really happy with my decision to do so.

To my complete and utter lack of surprise, most of everything that makes these games so phenomenal is still here in full effect. Going from having a small, isolated piece of the world in Lobotomy Corporation with only a vague understanding of outside happenings, to a more concrete understanding of how the world is structured and how society works in Library of Ruina, to being able to actually explore through that world from the perspective of characters who are actually there is really satisfying. It’s such a natural stream of progression but it’s executed brilliantly. I’ve played a lot of games, and there are very few that can come anywhere close to Project Moon’s world-building prowess.

I was initially a bit concerned about leaving the cast we’ve grown comfortable with since Lobotomy Corporation behind in favor of replacing them with an entirely new menagerie of characters, but it turns out those worries were totally unfounded because the Sinners are great. It took me a little while to warm up to the Lob Corp cast, but I’ve loved the Sinners from their introduction and it only got better as the story went along (and will only continue to get better from here, I’m sure). As a Kid Icarus: Uprising and Higurashi super maniac, character chemistry and the enjoyability that ensues from character back and forths is just as important (if not moreso) than how “good” a character is individually. The Sinners all bounce off of each other really well, whether they’re brutally eviscerating/maiming one another or sharing a nice chicken kebab. Lots of room for the characters to grow, too, even though there have already been clear-cut examples of development. The found family vibes are STRONG.

The one area I’m kinda down on the game about is the actual gameplay. To put it bluntly, Limbus Company’s gameplay feels like everything Library of Ruina already did…but worse. There’s not a single thing it does better in my eyes, which is really disappointing considering that Ruina has one of the best gameplay systems I've ever encountered. An ok Ruina is still pretty good though even if things can feel a little too luck dependent for my liking sometimes, especially in the Chapter 3 difficulty spike where a lot of difficult fights are made difficult because you have no control over which enemies you’re attacking. I'd chalk things up to "it's a necessary evil to water things down, it needs to be easily digestible" if not for the fact that a better version of the game's combat system literally already exists within the game itself. The abnormality and boss fights, while still not perfect, are much more enjoyable simply on the merits of giving the player control over what clashes happen, what enemy you're attacking, etc. I think with some slight improvements, they could really be onto something even if I personally doubt it’s going to ever quite reach the highs of Ruina’s snappy, tactical moment to moment gameplay (I would love to be proven wrong though!)

So yeah, really excited to see where things go next with this one. #LimbusSweep and Don Quixote will be the first character in history to have one Limbillion fans.