Wahfuu
I don't think the game is really that bad, but man is it disappointing. It feels like a lot of the metal gear charm just zipped away. The weird but hilarious boss fights, the over the top villains, the cliche and overcomplicated but sincerely told plot... it's all just kind of missing. The game feels spiritless, like it was a metal gear game that Shang Tsung walked over and ripped its soul out.
The gameplay is probably the best in the series, not that it's a super high bar, but it does get old pretty quickly. There's a good reason why none of the previous games were all that long.
The gameplay is probably the best in the series, not that it's a super high bar, but it does get old pretty quickly. There's a good reason why none of the previous games were all that long.
2013
A rather boring movie with... not terrible gameplay to accompany it.
I do wish that The Last of Us didn't oversaturate the gaming world with "white protagonist loves his daughter" stories so strongly, but what can you do. The game was very technically impressive at the time and there's some good voice acting and set pieces, but I think the game really struggles in the middle. Nothing in the middle ever really feels like it matters, it's just all this interchangeable blob of "stuff that happened so we could grow closer." The only big game changer is the ending of the game.
Not a bad game, but pretty overrated in my honest opinion.
I do wish that The Last of Us didn't oversaturate the gaming world with "white protagonist loves his daughter" stories so strongly, but what can you do. The game was very technically impressive at the time and there's some good voice acting and set pieces, but I think the game really struggles in the middle. Nothing in the middle ever really feels like it matters, it's just all this interchangeable blob of "stuff that happened so we could grow closer." The only big game changer is the ending of the game.
Not a bad game, but pretty overrated in my honest opinion.
2012
I know it's probably unfair to rate not only a game, but an entire trilogy, based on the last 15 minutes of the last game, but I cannot in good conscience rate this game any higher, regardless of how cool I thought the quarian/geth plotline was. The last 15 minutes is a flabbergasting disaster of which I have never seen before. I have truly never seen anything near such a writing catastrophe as I have seen in this game.
It should be mentioned, though, that not everything about the game prior to the ending is perfect. The krogans plotline, especially with Wrex in charge, is pretty baffling. But still, those could be look past if the ending was not what it was.
And honestly, the gameplay did not get any meaningfully better from two, and it ultimately cemented the death of Bioware. It sucks, but it is what it is.
It should be mentioned, though, that not everything about the game prior to the ending is perfect. The krogans plotline, especially with Wrex in charge, is pretty baffling. But still, those could be look past if the ending was not what it was.
And honestly, the gameplay did not get any meaningfully better from two, and it ultimately cemented the death of Bioware. It sucks, but it is what it is.
What more can be said about Dark Souls at this point? It paved the way for a whole breed of styles that would seek to capture its charm, and a whole bunch of games that realized that it is infact fine to be difficult.
I've always thought that the level design was pretty overrated myself. It is kind of a cool look at what metroidvania design would have been like if it survived the transition to 3D, but I find the levels themselves to be pretty.. cobbled together and empty of things to find. Like, it's cool that you can go throuhg the valley of drakes to get to different spots, but the valley of drakes sucks. And this isn't even mentioning how obviously half finished the 2nd half of the game is.
It is still the parent of not just a game style, but also a meme. And for good reason, too. Praise the sun and all that.
I've always thought that the level design was pretty overrated myself. It is kind of a cool look at what metroidvania design would have been like if it survived the transition to 3D, but I find the levels themselves to be pretty.. cobbled together and empty of things to find. Like, it's cool that you can go throuhg the valley of drakes to get to different spots, but the valley of drakes sucks. And this isn't even mentioning how obviously half finished the 2nd half of the game is.
It is still the parent of not just a game style, but also a meme. And for good reason, too. Praise the sun and all that.
2005
Did some things in action games that have never been replicated as well across any game, with a fun emphasis on positioning instead of attacking.
Unfortunately, being based on positioning is really unfortunate when your camera is some of the worst thats ever been seen in character action. The terrible balance of this game also leads to game that gets significantly harder, but gets absurdly boring as it does. The harder the game gets and the more you learn, the less of your entire kit you use, prefering to just run jump evade forever, use one or two moves, then repeat. The games horrible balance across usable attacks means that the game gets absurdly repetitive as you learn more of it.
It still has some of the most satisfying movement to pull off for a protagonist though, and I do wish more games borrowed from its way of changing the game through difficulty options. Flawed gem.
Unfortunately, being based on positioning is really unfortunate when your camera is some of the worst thats ever been seen in character action. The terrible balance of this game also leads to game that gets significantly harder, but gets absurdly boring as it does. The harder the game gets and the more you learn, the less of your entire kit you use, prefering to just run jump evade forever, use one or two moves, then repeat. The games horrible balance across usable attacks means that the game gets absurdly repetitive as you learn more of it.
It still has some of the most satisfying movement to pull off for a protagonist though, and I do wish more games borrowed from its way of changing the game through difficulty options. Flawed gem.
2021
Good aesthetic and sound design but gameplay is pretty mechanically barren, dungeon design feels like it was always on the cusp of doing something interesting but never moved behind 'light every torch in the room' type of puzzles. Not bad, but not memorable.
A great case if not doing a ton original, but doing everything well. Superb atmosphere, fun combat that never gets too hard but has some bite to it, satisfying progression. Maybe my only complaint is a couple of the late game bleed into eachother a little too hard in aesthetics, and I would have liked the final boss to be harder.
2007
This has not aged very well.
I would still say it's the most consistent writing effort within the mass effect trilogy, and this was before the choice wheel was in its full form, so the dialogue with npcs is alot better on average. The squadmates don't hold a candle to the sequel, though, and it's hard not to sour on the games plot ending on a cliffhanger when we now know what it's all leading to. The gameplay and the mako segments are truly hideous by now too.
I would still say it's the most consistent writing effort within the mass effect trilogy, and this was before the choice wheel was in its full form, so the dialogue with npcs is alot better on average. The squadmates don't hold a candle to the sequel, though, and it's hard not to sour on the games plot ending on a cliffhanger when we now know what it's all leading to. The gameplay and the mako segments are truly hideous by now too.
Fantastic stuff.
The game is definitely getting better with every patch, and is already much better than kingmaker was initially. There are still some rough patches, though, and I don't think anything can fix the crusade mode, which is a good idea that lacks both consequence to the story and interesting gameplay outside of being a money dump.
The plot seems like your typical fantasy affair, and it is at it's core, but Mid Act 3 and on the game starts to bare its true scale, and it becomes engrossing to follow. The setting is a little overwritten still considering it's tabletop parentage, but mostly all what you need to know is kept within the confines of the worldwound and you, so it doesn't feel overindulgent.
The gameplay, if you're a fan of slower paced stuff, is rewarding to get the hang of, especially if you're someone who loves to pour over rpg mechanics and make builds for something. There is a rather large problem in that it can take a ton of time, every single encounter, to prepare every single buff you're going to want to do. It's a sad bit of busywork that plagues the game, again, because of its tabletop origins. I hope theres a solution to it, maybe in a patch in the future or (if there is going to be one) their next installment.
Either way, good stuff, one of my favorite CRPG's as of now.
The game is definitely getting better with every patch, and is already much better than kingmaker was initially. There are still some rough patches, though, and I don't think anything can fix the crusade mode, which is a good idea that lacks both consequence to the story and interesting gameplay outside of being a money dump.
The plot seems like your typical fantasy affair, and it is at it's core, but Mid Act 3 and on the game starts to bare its true scale, and it becomes engrossing to follow. The setting is a little overwritten still considering it's tabletop parentage, but mostly all what you need to know is kept within the confines of the worldwound and you, so it doesn't feel overindulgent.
The gameplay, if you're a fan of slower paced stuff, is rewarding to get the hang of, especially if you're someone who loves to pour over rpg mechanics and make builds for something. There is a rather large problem in that it can take a ton of time, every single encounter, to prepare every single buff you're going to want to do. It's a sad bit of busywork that plagues the game, again, because of its tabletop origins. I hope theres a solution to it, maybe in a patch in the future or (if there is going to be one) their next installment.
Either way, good stuff, one of my favorite CRPG's as of now.
2013
I'm going to try and pretend that the devs of this game weren't outright antagonistic to original Devil May Cry fans.
The plot is dribbling shit, and Dante in this game is both hard to sympathize with and hard to like, with some of the most immature dialogue I've ever heard. But honestly, I think the combat get's too much flak. It isn't THAT bad, even if the alternate weapons outside of 2 aren't all that fun to use, and the devil trigger is dumb, and... okay, it's not super great, but it has the spirit of devil may cry in it.
You can still be pretty stylish (and the meter was adjusted post release to reflect this instead of being childishly easy to get) and this game actually has real level design, unlike the rest of the series. So it's not a total wash. It's conflicting, since I was one of the DMC fans annoyed at this pre release, but I don't think it's as bad as people say.
The plot is dribbling shit, and Dante in this game is both hard to sympathize with and hard to like, with some of the most immature dialogue I've ever heard. But honestly, I think the combat get's too much flak. It isn't THAT bad, even if the alternate weapons outside of 2 aren't all that fun to use, and the devil trigger is dumb, and... okay, it's not super great, but it has the spirit of devil may cry in it.
You can still be pretty stylish (and the meter was adjusted post release to reflect this instead of being childishly easy to get) and this game actually has real level design, unlike the rest of the series. So it's not a total wash. It's conflicting, since I was one of the DMC fans annoyed at this pre release, but I don't think it's as bad as people say.
Monster hunter at its finest. If you have a band of friends to play with this is pretty much some of the most fun you can have. The endgame seems endless, the amount of set customization is almost overwhelming, and there's so, so many monsters. The only issues are the console it's on is garbage, and not having a circle pad pro will destroy the center of your hands. Otherwise, the best in the series.
2021
Fun game with a bit of an uneven balance spread and some rooms of... nothing, but the last stage in particular was very good. Last save goes on for a little too long.
2021
Great aesthetic and world-sense with some fun narration, but largely a boring slog through repetitive enemies and caves doing fetch quests for currency that barely matters.
2021
Every time I wanted to keep playing I felt the need to runback to a save, since theres no boss or enemy retry in the year of our lord 2021
basically a dressed up SNES game, doesn't offer much.
basically a dressed up SNES game, doesn't offer much.
The anti messiah game. It's hard to tell how much to bizarrely eerie and dark tone was really intended. Going from ocarina of time to this is so jarring. Cartoon characters are screaming about how they don't want to die, nightmarish transformation sequences as you adopt the lives and faces of others who perished. It's so weird. The atmosphere is basically unlike anything I've ever seen.
Not that the game is perfect, far from it. It's easy to get stressed out by the timer, especially while doing dungeons, and the ways to mitigate it are... somewhat cryptic. It can feel unrewarding to do a full plotline, reset, and then see all your work undone. The uh... everything about controlling goron rolling. But man, this game is something else in terms of what it offers. Nothing else like it.
Not that the game is perfect, far from it. It's easy to get stressed out by the timer, especially while doing dungeons, and the ways to mitigate it are... somewhat cryptic. It can feel unrewarding to do a full plotline, reset, and then see all your work undone. The uh... everything about controlling goron rolling. But man, this game is something else in terms of what it offers. Nothing else like it.