Moon Fantasy IV is a sizable step up from Final Fantasy III in regards to narrative and character ambition. Giving each playable character you come across a name, class, and history in part of a larger story outside of simply collecting the crystals to save the world is what the series needed to keep itself fresh in the early 1990's. While the story pails in comparison to what the series would later have in FFVI/VII and beyond, I was shocked at the amount of effort put into making this piece of antiquity a memorable experience. Cecil as a protagonist was actually pretty alright, having a simple hero's journey from dark to light and a responsibility to protect those around him that he held so dear. Kaine's evolution as his sidekick was well done, Rosa as Cecil's effectively betrothed was a good inclusion for overall character depth, Rydia having a background of her own with the summoners is a great way to give a character out of the initial limelight some depth, and Edward despite not being playable for much of the latter half acted as a great voice of valor and motive. For a game that came out when it did, this was a much better plot experience than I initially thought after knocking out the Pixel Remaster of FFIII however many years ago. The overall story isn't too in depth, there is a big bad that has a sinister motive that uses other big bads to do his bidding, but it was enough to keep me going from one destination to the other. Outside of the improvement to the story, the music (as per usual with FF) was top notch and the pixel remastering of the sprites and world was again well done.

Where the experience waned for me occurred in a few places. One major issue being that the frequent party switches interrupted a lot of ryhthm and preferential party makeups throughout the game. There were times where I felt like I didn't have enough melee options, then not enough magic options, and had to constantly equip and re-equip party members that would be leaving and coming back. While I liked this story more than FFIII, I felt like the ability to level in III towards the end game made more sense and was overall easier. I got my jobs in III all to the level I needed and pretty much waltzed through to the final boss. In FFIV I spent a decent bit grinding just to be at an acceptable level for the game's final dungeon, which was adequate but made me sweat a little more than I'd like. Outside of those slightly minute detractions, the world was pretty bland across the main map, underworld, and moon. I know this is partially evidence of the system and time, but man it's hard to run around these towns and areas and have any sense of belonging or want to spend any extra time in this fantasy world. FFVI came out just three years later and greatly improved upon making these areas mildly enjoyable. The world in FFIV was devoid of flavour and greatly bland. In relation to that, making it from point a to point b in dungeons and on the overworld was a grand chore because of the annoyingly high random encounter rate.

Overall I'd recommend Final Fantasy IV as a necessary stepping stone for fans of the Final Fantasy series. It's a good time generally speaking and has some memorable moments, sounds, and characters held within.

Dark Souls II: Problems with the Second Game

I began my Souls journey many a moons ago in 2011 after the release of the original Dark Souls, playing on a friends PS3 and watching them toil and struggle with what was a new formidable experience. Just over a decade later and I've made serious leeway into Fromsoft's renaissance repertoire, completing Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1, Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and now Dark Souls 2. The experience itself has been hit or miss, but I'm afraid I've already played the best effort that they've put forth in Elden Ring, and with each title that go and black from a chronologically retroactive standpoint, they just don't feel good. While I am glad I played Dark Souls 2 and eventually will play 3, I let out an audible "this sucks man" too many times to warrant a higher rating.

The good of DS2 as I'll abbreviate it begins with Fromsoft's legendary level design. Scale isn't the same as it was in the first Dark Souls game, which felt more top to bottom filled with locations and interesting happenings, but rather a more level oriented approach like Demon Souls had. You have your hub world in Majula, which has one of the most beautiful ambient themes you'll find in a video game, but outside of that you're travelling via bonfire or mysterious teleportation to areas far outside the reaches of your central hub. These areas weren't all sunshine and rainbows (The Lost Bastille, The Gutter etc) but were varied and quite seperate from one another in atmosphere and vibe. I liked the Land of the Fallen Giants as an initial area as it felt distinctly Dark Souls with its luscious greenery and decayed medieval architecture. As the game goes on you get more fantasy with the Dragon's Aerie, Shrine of Amala, and DLC areas. It's this intricacy and care that Fromsoft puts into creating its levels that are always a captivating part of their games, and with DS2 this was no different.

I once again was a fan of the enemy/boss design throughout the game from an artistic standpoint. The way these enemies are designed to fit in with the mysteriously rich lore of the series as well as their degree of difficulty is pretty dang cool. Though I had issues with a large number of boss battles in this game (more to come later,) I enjoyed a few of the one on one battles I had with humanoid bosses... that much like the last DLC boss from DS1 felt like a true duel of skill and vigor.

Where I start to depart from liking Dark Souls 2 is when I actually sit back and ponder about the "Dark Souls" elements of the game, aka the stuff that sends your brain into a fritz upon contact. The first issue I had with DS2 that I rectified almost immediately was the forced HP % Cutoff on death as a part of the hollowing. I understand that hollowing is a key piece of Dark Souls lore and a major aspect of the first game, but I think they did it well enough in DS1 in that it just gated you off from some content like NPC Summons. I didn't love it, but I guess that was a compromise I just said "yeah okay" with, much better than the HP Halving of Demon Souls upon death. Unlike Demon Souls though, Dark Souls 2 doesn't alleviate your HP issues when you kill the area boss, but rather if you burn an item. The issue with this concept is the eternal "phoenix down" conundrum, you'll be dying quiiiiiite a bit (it's a Fromsoft game after all,) so what is the best time to burn your human effigy? You can make a list of rules for yourself to use it after a certain % of HP Loss but man, there were times where I'd die over and over again in runbacks to a boss or item and DID NOT want to mess with that. If you want to disregard my review because I used a script that removed this mechanic, then feel free, but I liked to call it "DS1 Mode" and it saved my remaining enjoyment for the game.

Souls games have a notoriety for being "difficult" and wherein does that difficulty lie? In my experience its usually not with the bosses, who do prove to be an issue from time to time (and especially as the series ages,) but rather in the frustrating set of hallways, crevaces, paths, and ramps one must conquer on route ot their next bonfire or boss are absolutely brutal. There were a few moments where I was in genuine disbelief, particularly in the Sunken King DLC's first forray into the tower and then also in the area that houses the Smelter Demon. I get there being a reason to punish the player for playing in a manner that is overtly aggressive and non-patient but man... having to patiently wait through encounters one by one by one by one forever to get to a boss who may kill you in two hits because of some errant mistake you made all to have to do it again is simply bad design.

Speaking of getting hit, another one of my chief complaints... why are i-frames in a roll tied to a stat??? I was shocked when I attempted to roll out of combat against an enemy early in the game, leading me to frustratingly google "does rolling suck in DS2" only to be met with commenters providing the answer: it's tied to your adaptability stat. This is just puzzling, and I'm quite confused as to why it's even a mechanic at all? it feels like a pointless stat to level just to get your character to feel slightly good moving in a series where rolling is as important as it is. Combat otherwise was... okay, I went my typical strength build and didn't have too hard of a time against normal enemies or bosses but there were some moments of frustration later on in the game (those crystal porcupine enemies in the Ivory King dlc for example.) I had a +10 Great Club and Broadsword, and I liked having to swap them for certain encounters. Humanoid bosses that I had to react fast against, I'd use my quick sword... for larger bosses and world enemies, my great club. That was neat. What wasn't neat was when I was fighting a few bosses (Sunken King DLC especially) and was slapped with a hastened weapon degredation mechanic... literally why? Why reveal this to the player midway through a fight? I had a backup weapon but because the series doesn't allow for pausing, I'd perish trying to make the quick inventory swap in between boss moves. Other issues I had with combat include not being able to move while using estus flasks (and the general length of doing so,) and the upgraded difficulty in summoning NPC's (felt a little too high of an HP buff to bosses.)

In all, Dark Souls 2 was simply one of the games I've beaten. I'd recommend it to any Souls player who is making their way through Fromsoft's catalog but wouldn't necessarily advise series newcomers to jump straight to it.

Star Wars Jedi: Survived

Like many who have graced this earth with their astral presence since the inaugural release of Star Wars: Episode IV in 1977, I grew up a fan of the multi-media giant in its games, novels, and movies. As time went on that interest only rose, growing up with Phantom Menace and then the Clone Wars into a golden era of Star Wars games, I felt and still do feel so lucky to be alive in a world where that universe is realized to its fullest extent. Come 2015 with the release of the new trilogy and the Force Awakens, I remember my eyes lighting up seeing the X-Wings first roll in. Come Episode VIII, IX, the Battlefront reboots, and the general Disnefication of the series, my interest greatly waned... resembling something of a galactic nosedive from Pluto into the Sun. One thing managed to refurbish my enjoyment for Star Wars and that jubilant youth we all eternally chase: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. While imperfect, it felt like it did the nature and magic of Star Wars correctly. The story beats were tropey in nature, as are many Star Wars origin stories, but the gameplay was fresh and Cal Kestis + his crew were a great group to experience this IP with. I came out of Fallen Order with great expectations toward its inevitable sequel, hoping Respawn could keep the ball rolling on an enjoyable, actual Jedi-Like Star Wars experience. I unfortunately didn't feel that way in the exit interview.

Survivor's PC release was marred with technical difficulty, and I figured as a later buyer that I would bypass these problems on a higher end rig. Unfortunately, performance was far below what should be considered acceptable in 2023. I had AMD's FSR feature turned on to "quality" on medium graphics for the majority of my runtime, peaking at around 70 FPS though on Koboh and certain locations dipping down into 40 or lower. When I said I wanted more Bloodborne after playing it last year, I meant I wanted more well executed Souls-likes with captivating settings, not more Souls-likes that run at sub 30 fps when movement timing is paramount. The world, the characters, the gameplay was beautiful and mostly fluid, but being able to see it at an archaic performance level was miserable. Thankfully I only crashed once and that was fittingly when adjusting settings to turn the FSR into "performance" based. I only did this for the last level or so which made the game feel like I was playing without my glasses on... just blurry all over and the lack of texturing was very offputting.

The gameplay itself was mostly the same as it was in Fallen Order, but I'm a few years and many games removed from playing that so my memory may be a tad bit foggy. You have a set of stances attached to you as Cal Kestis, only being able to use two at a time. I opted for the single saber as it felt the most "jedi" and versatile, along with the gun-saber combo you get later on because again... I'm always chasing that Bloodborne dragon. One on One combat in Survivor is a ton of fun, the lightsaber Cal uses lends itself to a mostly fluid parry and dodge based experience, and there is a plethora of encounters in which this dual fighting occurs. Where my largest issue with the combat of this game happens is in its group battles... and for every one on one, it feels like there are ten larger scale fights. This isn't the worst in theory, as most of the droids and basic stormtroopers go down in a single swing, but when special enemies and distance is added into the equation, it feels like you're being slapped one second after the next. Pretty much everything stutters Cal and I don't think there are any I-frames for being hit, at least the final boss fight proved that to be true. If you get hit/staggered by an enemy with a staff/saber, you'll sputter about for a second and get hit by another person doing the same. If you try to take one of these blade wielder's on, you'll get hit by an off-screen laser and it will stagger you again. In an event to not cry the sour grapes excuse, I don't think this is a skill issue but rather an effort of poor game design. You are greatly punished for trying to feel cool in this game when it comes to fighting more than one enemy. Jedi's are cool, I want to feel cool. Successful Souls games greatly limit such encounters as a result, you will get those multi-enemy fights, but often they allow for the duel to take place first before everybody tries to swing at you. In Survivor, I felt like I was the guy with a pack of gum and everybody wanted a piece. I will say though, the battles against non humanoids felt pretty good in this game and mostly muted in length, which is a nice touch.

The world as one would expect is beautiful and rich in detail. Respawn did a great job yet again in fulfilling one of the key tennants of Star Wars media: making it feel alive. Beginning with a cold open on the population heavy Coruscant and then cascading into the more desolate Koboh and Jedha, the world of Jedi: Survivor is colorful and teeming with flora & fauna. This was the part I expected Survivor to excel in the most and I'm glad it lived up to the billing. Traversal through these locations is again extremely Uncharted-esque and I won't say it was actively problematic or lead to a negative score, but running around felt mostly menial and like a chore.

Cal Kestis is a great protagonist but his arc in this game felt so predictable and kinda... mediocre? I think mediocre is a great way to describe a lot of the characters and their interactions with the villains in Jedi: Survivor. You meet new friends and foes, and reunite with old ones, and none of them managed to do a great job for me at creating new interesting memories. Merrin is a great character, Greez is great, Cere is Cere, but I didn't feel the magic of any of them being a fun crew like I did in Fallen Order. They join you on your mission and help you toward your end goal, but its just more of the same. I get that this journey overall is meant to be a lot more personal to Cal and his experience as a Jedi and the personal turmoil that comes with it, but part of the greatness in Star Wars stems from the interaction with the characters in the world. Maybe this is Star Wars fatigue striking me once more, but I just didn't find any reason to care for the characters of Survivor. The story just kinda happens as it happens, I had to ask myself multiple times after stopping and picking it back up about "What am I actually doing? What is my goal? Why is the villain doing this?" and having no real answer. The villains of this game also just felt weak and lacking of both clear motive and decent writing. Fallen Order didn't necessarily have a Pullitzer narrative either but I felt like the story of Survivor was generally listless.

If you're starved for Star Wars content or want a game where there's a lot of content to clear, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is your game. If you're like me and fatigued by Star Wars, don't wish to encounter sub-optimal performance, or would feel tarnished by the above, then it would probably be a title to avoid. I do not recommend Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Ghost Tricked.

I don't know where I went wrong but Ghost Trick is the first game in a long time where I can say I'm completely indifferent to the experience I just had. There will be no longform writeup on my end other than to commend the updated visuals from the DS original and witty humor that graces this beloved puzzle game along with some slight negations. I lost myself in the story and couldn't really be asked to care about any of the characters as I didn't find them compelling or interesting in any real sense. I'm glad others had fun with Ghost Trick but it's a game I'll probably forget, and unfortunately makes me less willing to ever place Ace Attorney.

My immersion was greatly shattered when I realized how arbitrary the four minute time allowance was on the cases, because it's not anything you have control over but rather sequence timing set by the game.

Final Fantasy XVI: Once More Into the Peak

When words came around that Square Enix had intended to release a sixteenth main title in what is probably the most acclaimed and storied JRPG franchise of all time, the gaming world was put on notice. Outside of FFXIV the series had been in creative freefall for the better part of two decades, with the last unanimously "good" title (FFXII) coming out in 2006. Mishap after mishap, poor writing decisions combined with development issues meant that the legendary series was spiraling towards creative mediocrity. What began in the late 1980's as a dream to keep a fledgling gaming company alive had morphed into a worldwide phenomenon quicker than one could anticipate. Some of the greatest moments, songs, and stories were born by Squaresoft in the 90's and early 2000's. Final Fantasy VI through XII are universally individually respected as some of the greatest titles of all time across any genre. With XVI there were questions, how would the series evolve past XV? XV has its fanbase and their opinions are to be respected, but largely it was panned and unappreciated as it fell victim to a nightmare development cycle and DLC was required to fulfill the true ambitions of the story.

Here comes Final Fantasy XVI, I remember hearing the initial rumors revolving around it and I almost couldn't believe it. I don't remember the exact verbage as some serious time has passed, but the word on the street was that its production was to be helmed by none other than Naoki Yoshida of Square Enix' Creative Business Unit III, and combat was to be done by the man in charge of Devil May Cry 5's action, the most silky smooth the character action genre had ever seen. As a longtime fan and subscriber of the MMO Final Fantasy XIV I was almost in shock, how would Yoshi-P have time to develop an acclaimed and incredible adventure in XIV and then have the time and energy to resurrect the mainline series from its effective grave? I purchased a Playstation 5 in anticipation of this, after the initial trailer rollout and website were released for the game, because I knew of all people that I could trust Yoshida in making a lasting memory out of the FF series. He is a man, with the rest of CBU3 (Koji-Fox and Soken included,) who I trusted more than anything to create a well rounded Final Fantasy experience.

Now for the game itself... though I had initial reservations about playing the demo because I wanted to avoid spoilers, I loaded in and embarked on the two or so hour adventure that serves as the beginning of the game. Initially weary about audio issues and performance on the PS5, my concerns were very quickly waned as I met Clive, Joshua, and Lord Rosfeld. The Game of Thrones influence clear very early on in FFXVI, not only just in the aesthetics and world that Valisthea exists in, but in the approach to quality of realizing a believable and livable low fantasy setting. WIth the demo completed, and my mind absolutely melted at the way it ended, I laid in anticipation of the full game arriving just a few days later... and arrived it did.

What I got in Final Fantasy XVI was genuienly the greatest meld of action, storytelling, music, environmental presentation, and character writing that I could have ever asked for. Beginning with the world, Valisthea is a masterfully constructed dual-continent with its histories carefully created to give each and every nation-state and their peoples their own culture and approach to political and social goings-ons. Reading the FFXVI website before the game actually had come out was a tremendous help to the rich lore within the title, as it lays out the political makeup of Rosaria, Waloed, The Republic of Dhalmekia, the Crystalline Dominion, and most importantly the Holy Republic. Each of these powers are wildly different in the way that they are run administratively, some as a Duchy, others as a loosely allied Republic, and another as a Holy Empire. While these countries are also vastly different in size and makeup, they are privy to a state of Mutually Assured Destruction as a result of beings called Dominants. These Dominants are individuals in the royal families who posses the ability to call upon Eikons, mythical figures of immense size and power who can effectively end conflict in a fell swoop. This is also the fire that begins the conflict of the game as our protagonist Clive Rosfeld does not possess the Dominant of Fire, the Phoenix as the eldest sibling in Rosaria is meant to do. Each of these Dominants are powerful in different ways that bring nuance to their interactions with other nations and combat maneuvers. Surely Titan is the largest and strongest eikon in the Twin Realms... but he is not mobile and deploying him requires a large amount of care. Surely Bahamut is immensely powerful, but can his destructive magicks match the agility of Ifrit? It's with these questions and interactions between the nations of Final Fantasy XVI that such an interesting world is created. These powers differ in how large they are, in how strong their ground millitaries are, but they are at a stand still in their perpetual conflicts because of the power at the fingertips of their royal families. This is what felt so Game of Thrones to me, each country so unique (and a lot of these mirror those in GoT,) but so fragile in the manner of which they combat and invade... I could go on and on about how good of a job CBU3 did in setting this world up, but its already so late and I have more to write about!

The world itself that Clive finds himself is a grim one, and it's here that I would call upon another title that gave me the stark depressing feeling that FFXVI did in its traversal: The Witcher. Now, much of what Clive is doing is trying to restore a hope to a people that are oppressed (more to come on that later,) but the impetus of much of the conflict of the game between the nation states is that a remarkable blight is moving upon their continents, killing their crops and the destroying the homes of those within the affected areas. Like the world that Geralt calls home, much of FFXVI is dark tonally, the medieval setting is already grim as slavery is abundant and there is a remarkably large amount of displaced peoples and families affected by the violence of the heads of state. You are a man who is not respected by much of the world you are interacting with, many of the ruling classes look upon Clive as an outlaw beneath the common man. As he grows and matures, he embarks on a quest with Cidolfus to free the bottom class from their chains of malice that have been placed upon them by the ruling classes. In the world of FFXVI, the oppressed lower class that you spend much of the game assisting and freeing are called bearers, as they naturally have the ability to cast magicks without using crystals for assistance. Its with this prejudice that they are abused, mistreated, tortured, and killed, as the bearers are viewed as freaks and not worthy of being considered as human. Clive, a bearer himself leads a ragtag group of ambitious rebels, along with his ally Cid, to create a world in with the bearers can live as people amongst those not blessed with magic. Thus the conflict within Final Fantasy XVI's story is born, Clive now abandoned from his former state and people by his wretched mother, must unite the world of the Twins under a common banner, as humans. His quest is simple, to remove all from the shackles of class and culture that bind them to hatred. A world in which the bearer is not subhuman.

The writing in FFXVI is careful and deliberate. I've already touched upon the way the world is set up, but the avenue that the story goes through it's extensive runtime is constructed such a way that few games of recent can hold a candle to. I don't like to divulge spoilers are per usual, but I everyday that I wrapped up playing the game I would message my friends who were of similar progress about the twists and turns that the narrative had left us with. This game will make you angry at its villains, tear up with its heroes, and feel general angst at the suffocating world at large. Game of Thrones did a superb job in creating despicable characters from the get go who were easy to hate, and FFXVI picks up on that to the T. You have a general disgust for Anabella, for Hugo, for Barnabas, their motives laid bare for the player to pick apart and challenge. Clive is an impressive protagonist, and a refreshing one in the realm of Final Fantasy as he's finally an adult character. Sure you spend the initial sequence as an adolescent, and it's hard to truly drive home, but it was SO refreshing to have a character this mature in a JRPG that is willling to express love and hate to such a degree. He's a grizzled himbo, a true boy-toy, but he's not willing to depart from nuanced discussions with his foes and turn them into bouts of true malice. There is an eloquence in writing protagonists to be more diplomatic in their dialogue with the antagonists (Cloud in FFVII for example,) but it was marvelous to hear Clive conscious of his guilt, of his actions of violence. In a world as dark as the one in Valisthea, it's not possible to take the road that appeases all. Clive is aware of the blood that was required to be spilled to realize his dream of uniting the land under a common social norm. It is here that my comparisons with the Witcher continue, in true Geraltian fashion Clive doesn't shy away from the tough decisions he has to make, there is no "happy ending" and he is aware of that. There are moments in which he bursts into a fit of rage (one early on in the demo for example,) and you as the player cannot help but empathize with the amount of anger you would likely have in that situation as well. This is unique in my now storied history with Final Fantasy as a franchise, this was the first time I could see a protagonist truly come to terms with the tragedies of the dark reality their world was now engrossed in. Clive does what he can to help those in need, but he's not afraid to combat those who are actively bringing the world down. He is compassionate and respected amongst his peers and friends like Jill, Gav, Cid, and Charon, but a nightmare in waiting to his enemies.

The cast outside of Clive were crafted into a resounding success, beginning with the Archduke of Rosaria, Elwin Rosfeld himself who is one of the first characters you meet, all the way to the minor characters you meet and leave right before the game ends. There are a plethora of NPC's both in the villages you pass through (Martha and Lu'bor for example) that will stick with you and interact with Clive multiple times throughout the story, as well as his own group of outlaws that journey with him and share the same hideout. These characters like Tarja, Midadol, Otto, Charon, Gav, Jill, and Harpocrates to name a few will stick with you throughout a treacherous and longform journey. These aren't just people that stick around you and interact with you for their various gimmicks (Charon is the shoplady, Harpocrates the loremaster etc,) but occasional party members and frequent requestors of Clive's aid. They don't all just have one sidequest either, often multiple through the long journey which helps make them feel a real member of the family. Much like Mass Effect and its loyalty mission in ME2, FFXVI has a questline for seemingly every NPC Ally that Clive has, which can seem like it simply just inflates the runtime, but rather produces a believable relationship between player character and his constituents. I felt an actual connection to everybody that calls the hub home and helps Clive along on his mission, and for a game this long and in the weeds, that is a huge +1 to its overall composition. Without going into it too much, it's revitalizing to have a character like Jill in a Final Fantasy game. Their "romance" is written so well, and in true Final Fantasy fashion she is FAR from a damsel in distress. She quickly became one of my favorite female characters in a video game that I've played, and the emotional maturity and power in her story had me clutching my tear strings at a few points.

Now that I've covered the story, world, and characters, I would like to get into the fun parts! Oh my GOSH is this game beautiful. Unfortunately brought down a peg by its jail sentence on the PS5 30 FPS, this game in its entirety is eye candy... from the characters to the fights to the environment itself. Now with the investment that this game probably gets from Sony and Square Enix, a budget to make all this possible isn't too surprising, but this game contains a vast amount of cutscene time done in the legendary Square visual fidelity fashion. Characters are downright beautiful, portrayed in a way (much like FF7R) that they feel and look real. Anytiime I got a closeup of Jill, Clive, or Cid I held my hand on the screenshot button waiting to take a visual imprint of their beautiful faces. I don't know if this habit will ever die, but I'm still shocked by games nowadays and how far they've come in their portrayal of characters. Not only did they look good from a clarity standpoint, but the design choices in making each character stand out from one another was a resounding success. I loved Dr. Castlevania Clive, and the azure clothing that Jill wears. Cid dons a regal outfit befit of a Chad, Gav a orange/grey shirt that works great for a mysterious rogue, Dion a beautifully piece of armor and long robe to match his suave and regality. Outside of the characters, the fights were a thing of beauty. Multiple times during the eikon battles and Clive 1 on 1s I had to pause and let out an audible "Holy S***" at what I was looking at. Games have come so far, but Square realized this to the best extent in FFXVI. The world, grim as it may be, was visually striking as well. In the cities and the hub world, I found myself just simply strolling along with no end quite a few times to the world and beautiful Masayoshi Soken soundtrack. Be it Uematsu, Hamauzu, Shimomura, or Soken, this series has been blessed to have such a rich group of talented composers. Again as a fan of FFXIV, I knew Soken would do a good job scoring XVI, but I was blown out of the water by his soundtrack at multiple times... all the way to the end credits. This title is a home run and a half for so many reasons.

The day has finally come, from the evolutions begun in FFXII, into making Final Fantasy a series with a pure action game. From 2006's beloved entry on, Square has toyed and shifted more and more into making Final Fantasy no longer a turn based ATB action series, but one where the fighting got faster and faster with each title. FFXIII was a vast mis-step, effectively able to be played by only pressing the space bar, FFXV another step toward action with some unfortunate funk to it, and FF7R even more action intensive with a cool pause menu to select spells and items. All this considered, the series had never completely made the leap until it tapped DMCV combat director Ryota Suzuki to be in charge of crafting a captivating combat system for the sixteenth game in the Final Fantasy franchise... and lo and behold he did it to an absolute success. This game plays a lot like a DMC or Bayonetta, but with even more tools at your disposal that fit that of the FF Intellectual property. You need to make use of parries, perfect dodges, and quick attack windows to stagger your opponents and rack the damage up when you can. Clive not only has his sword and trusty pup Torgal in every encounter, but is able to utilize the power of the eikons he claims along his journey. Beginning with that of the Phoenix, Clive can use fire spells as part of his combos. This never gets old, even after playing north of seventy hours of the game. I loved mixind and matching the eikons I used, the spells that come with said eikons, and the combos you can craft by simply feeling out the game. I would love to go into greater detail about which eikons make for the best combat experience, but that would include spoiling the story content. I will say, in most titles that have them I don't find myself going outside of my general wheelhouse to fight super bosses or optionial hunt targets, however I managed to clear every single one in FFXVI. I didn't care if I was twelve levels down, I was having such a fun time with the combat system of this game that I wanted to play with it as much as I could. I would scream in joy after defeating the S Rank hunts with how far removed from the recommended level I was. This game just feels so smooth and the tough battles are beyond rewarding when you are done with them. Combat was so DMC down to the Devil Trigger button, that I could simply not give it up.

As a fan of Devil May Cry, as a Game of Thrones, as a fan of the Witcher, as a fan of Final Fantasy XIV, as a fan of Final Fantasy, and lastly as a fan of good video games... Final Fantasy XVI is one of the greatest video games I've ever played. A frontrunner for GOTY of 2023 quite easily for me, and an instant inclusion into my personal Top 10, I am still in disbelief that it is over. For anyone with a PS5, and anyone with a PC when it inevitably launches there, I strongly recommend Final Fantasy XVI.

PS: I apologize at the likely high amount of syntax and diction errors in writing this review. I almost always do my writeups immediately after completing the game and this one was long and it's very late at night here! This is probably one of my weaker writing jobs from a skill standpoint, but I have so much to talk about and so little patience to wait to do it!

Okay-mi

Okami is one of those titles that was impossible to avoid if you were present in soaking in games media in the early-mid 2000's. Everywhere it was, that cool new Capcom title starring that adorable dog Amaterasu that featured some beautiful stylized cell shading and took place in Japan of yore. I never had a PS2 so I didn't play the initial release, and I had a Wii but was admittably too stupid to play a game like it back then. Why am I finally playing it? A friend recommended I play it and I figured I had some time to kill before FFXVI releases, and thus into the world of Okami and old Nippon I journeyed, once into the breach to defeat the big bad evil as gaming's most beloved pup. I figured this would be a fun title going into it as Hideki Kamiya's works have had a tremendous influence on my enjoyment of games and even though I'm mostly a newbie, I've come to like my experiences with the Legend of Zelda series (of which Okami effectively is.) What I got after nearly fourty hours of trotting and barking my way through Japan was decisively not a good time... but as they say: "No Regrets."

The good of Okami is the most apparent material if you take a look at gameplay or anyone streaming it, it's absolutely gorgeous. The art team over at Capcom/Clover Studio did a bang up job making this game feel unique from its Nintendo/Zelda influence in its visual style, a graphical tone that I hadn't seen and still haven't seen replicated in any way. Each zone was a gorgeous watercolour, the characters all distinctly different in composition and away from gaming norm. I enjoyed the conversations with the characters all over Japan, from the valleys that you start in to the snowy mountains you discover later. Outside of the design, there was a very Kamiya silly charm to the characters in which humor was always present and whitty remarks were oft in conversation. Even though there were a plethora of interactions/cutscenes that dragged on a little too long, I frequently chuckled at the bits and gags. Issun having the hots for every girl Amaterasu came across was funny in the way they treated the interactions, even if its a tired trope. As one of those kids who grew up reading mythos from various cultures, I enjoyed the way Okami treated the criminally under-represented Japanese pantheon and mythology from ages prior. Amaterasu herself being the main character is neat, so is the existence of characters like Yamata no Orochi, Susano, Princess Kaguya, and Issun.

Unfortunately my praise for Okami pretty much ends there... it's at the end of the day nearly fourty hours that I won't be able to get back... which is alright because I played the entierty of it while talking and streaming to my pals. Starting with combat, this is definitely Kamiya's weakest journey and while that makes sense given the material, is a little much for as long as the game is. Fighting is effectively one button (X) to attack and using your brush strokes to side swipe during weak points, plant bombs that do massive damage, and occasionally slow down time. For how much time you spend, the brush gimmick never really feels old or over reliant, but the x to attack being your best bet of DPS for most of the game is a little lackluster... especially after playing a DMC or Bayonetta which you do a lot of the same but at a pace meant to match the gameplay. Okami plays pretty slow and these fights tend to drag, even learning the dodge mechanic at the dojo doesn't feel like a great improvement. The final boss did its best Kingdom Hearts impression as well, consisting of a boss rush just beforehand and a five phase battle of some sandpaper-esque combat. I couldn't even muster up an emotion after completing it, I was simply indifferent.

My next point of contention is something I've already touched on quite a few times: the runtime. The way the story is setup portrays the game as if it will end somewhere around the fifteen hour mark, which is the perfect length for a game like this. You don't have a sense of scope like you do in its Zelda influencers, you don't know that Ganon is waiting for you over at Hyrule Castle or whatnot, you have no real scope of what the ending of Okami is meant to bring. Okami builds it up for you though, a resounding battle agains the foe that nearly brought upon the end of the world 100 years prior. The result of this battle would have a player who didn't know any better thinking that they had purged Japan of its agressor and could move on to the next title, but alas that would be very wrong. In the most Wonderful 101 way, this game just keeps on going...and going... and going... and going. Each Mcguffin leads to another Mcguffin, the dungeons are alright in practice but have the most minute and lackluster reason for existence. If you need one item to penetrate a spiritual barrier that hampers your progression, it is gated behind another dungeon. If you need a brush technique to progress the story, it is gated behind a dungeon. I have a lot of Zelda left to play but my experience with the series thus far has been a lot more kind to dungeons in advancement of the plot. Even recently with Breath of the Wild, I understood why the Divine Beasts needed to be activated from the get go. In Okami you learn of all these items as the story progresses, and that each new one you need requires another hour long jaunt through platformer/action slog. I spent fourty hours (some of that being AFK time) trudging through a gameplay experience not really meant for me, and once I got past that first battle that felt like it should have been the end point... the rest of it felt like it was eating at my enjoyment overall.

Amaterasu is adorable, I mean everybody likes a cute dog but man... this game did not have the charm it seems like it has for everybody else I know. I genuinely feel bad about the way I received this game, my good friends I think thought I would really enjoy it, and I really wanted to! Okami is a cool game on the eyes, but with its poor narrative construction, Mcguffin reliant plot, lackluster combat, and lack of direction in questing, I can't recommend it.

A Space for the Pleasant Surprise.

I'm a little bit apprehensive about pixel games, because there's a lot of titles out there with charming visuals and music to match but no bite to meet their bark. Couple that with a developer I'm not familiar with (though I do know the producer Toge,) and A Space for the Unbound by all means should have been a game that escaped my radar. The reception to this title is what set it apart for me, it seems like everywhere I looked be it Steam, Backloggd, or my insular JRPG Youtube space that this game had been getting rave reviews. A consumer none the wiser I jumped in... and honestly I'm glad I did.

Since it's practically a VN, I can't speak too much about the story but to say that it is touching, however missed the mark in its early-mid game delivery to me. When I got to the end, I felt the emotional spark the game set out to hit, though I personally wasn't as Affected as I was in games like the To the Moon franchise of which Space for the Unbound reminded me quite a bit of. A Space for the Unbound touches on depression, anxiety, and familial abuse and the way it affects those around us, and to that I think the team did a very good job from not shying away from said actions while also not making the story too dark.

Gameplay here was a bigger part of the miss for me, and that feels a bit unfair in a game as story heavy as this is, but I came away with the conclusion as I was playing that each elementary puzzle was taking my enjoyment away more and more as I played. None of them are particularly difficult, just tedious and plentiful. The Spacedive mechanic is alright, however it didn't captivate me as a primary gameplay loop since you're using it over and over to do these light puzzles. Whether its making cakes or hiding from wolves... I could have done without the attempted intricacy.

Visuals are beautiful and the music is quite nice. Writing is also well done in making these characters feel like actual friends in a real place. Speaking of the setting, it's absolutely awesome that I got to play a title based in 1990's Indonesia, a country and time that are woefully under-represented in media. I spent some time this weekend at a museum learning about the instruments of Southeast Asia and Indonesia specifically... it's pretty neat to play a game set in that location by an Indonesian team as well!

Overall I had a good time... some nitpicks and this game is definitely not perfect, however I'd recommend this to people looking for a neat medium length pixel adventure that deals with heavy topics.

Fuga 2 took everything about Fuga 1 that I disliked and kept it while making other elements of the game worse. The story in Fuga 1 wasn't great but it was servicable, it may be non-existant in 2. The miserable mechanics in the first such as: no manual saves, no healing to full after chapter complete, characters stay injured and depressed until intermissions, and overwhelming combat encounters way early in the game so that you never feel adequately powerful all return.

The thing that got me to stop, a trooper as I usually am, was when I was hit for massive damage by the boss of chapter five and was forced to load a character into the Soul Cannon to be used as a win condition. Knowing what I know about the first game, this is how you gimp yourself of the true ending. In Fuga 2 if you go below a certain HP threshold, this happens automatically. I really, really, really, REALLY dislike this mechanic and after it happening I immediately alt f4'd and moved on. I consider myself patient, but I didn't want to have to micro-manage my HP as hard as I was going to going forward. Part of the JRPG/Tactics charm is hedging your HP against the enemy, that doesn't exist in this game. I was hit for a massive amount of damage by the boss with no indicator, and boom, sacrifice of a party member that significantly dampers my chances for success going through the game. That's bad game design... IMO.

Maybe I'm a stick in the mud or "too young" to understand how unforgiving older games were, but this is a new game, this is a new generation of gamers. It's not fun to the player to penalize them to the degree this game does with its lack of save states and frustrating Soul Cannon mechanics. I enjoy Souls games, I beat my face against a wall playing Sekiro... but I knew that I could lose and get back up again. Here lies Fuga 2, frustrating and a complete unimprovement from its oddly refreshing predecessor.

The sad thing is I liked the risk this game takes with one of its characters early on and there is some serious sauce to the art, the music, and the Slay-The-Spire esque presentation of its routes, but to quote Boygenius: "The way I am, I'm not strong enough to be your man."

I guess if you're into it... play Fuga 2, however I just couldn't keep going on. There are games out there that have me interested far more. Space for the Unbound, Okami, and Street Fighter 6 on my radar to tinker around with until FFXVI.

I'm real glad this was on Game Pass again.

More than 13 Sentinels: Aegis Pacific Rim is an enthralling visual novel that will take the player through a proverbial and literal loop in its phenomenal take on the science fiction and artificial intelligence.

For those familiar with my writeups, they'll know I don't really touch on story spoilers and that holds especially true with visual novels such as this. I will say, this story had me interested the whole way throughout even if my retention of said story was questionable at best. It gets rather convoluted, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The entire game being voice acted helped an astronomic amount with being able to parse the story's intricate narrative and keep me awake through its north of fourty hour (for me) runtime. Even reading a synopsis right now of what I couldn't fully understand/missed out on has helped me pull together what an awesome story this is. If you're a sucker for time travel in science fiction, 13 Sentinels is the game for you.

Previously I had been very adverse to Vanillaware's trademark character art style, but it really showed through in their most recent bout. Characters are all unique and varied from one another, realistic, and easy to remember... but the real hero is the drop-dead gorgeous environment/background art. Colours shine through and help breathe air into making the living parts of the game feel real. Trees have a beautiful green/red sheen to them, the sun shines on the school and cityscape with an artistic flare, and the actual city itself is strikingly detailed.

Gameplay in the RTS segment was funadmentally basic but also quite enjoyable. It's the right level of difficulty in a game like this where you have to think a little bit as to not destroy your party, but don't have to sweat it out in thirty minute long battles like you would in an Advance Wars. The visuals here were like eye candy for me though, lots of awesome bright colors, explosions, and lasers... what more could you ask for!

I'd strongly recommend 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for any fans of science fiction and/or visual novels.

Rip and tear until it is... wait a minute this is Warhammer.

I knew next to zero about Warhammer until about a few weeks ago and my major takeaway is that the lore is absolutely insane. Learning about Papa Nurgle and his homie Tzeentch had me wanting more of this universe that had escaped me for however many years. Come Boltgun I saw an opportunity for me to jump into Warhammer as I'm an FPS guy and the DOOM gameplay loop is a pretty basic/easy to understand one.

This game is pretty barebones which is... actually alright. You fight the same group of enemies throughout, none of which are too gimmicky, with the only issue being health bars that can sometimes inflate to Thanksgiving Day Floats. Outside of that you have a rudimentary arsenal of guns that are varied in damage and scope, making each one feel unique and useful. Ammo and health are mostly plentiful across the games twenty plus levels which lent for this experience to be a seemless point a to point b kill everything in your path endeavour, something I greatly appreciate for this genre. Visuals are pretty good, emulating that DOOM/Quake era style with spruced up textures to fit and run well on modern computing. Music is there, providing a good rhythm to your onslaught of attacks but is mostly a non factor. I don't know Warhammer well enough to gauge the story too well, but it didn't seem like there was much of one here either.

I'd say Boltgun loses points on its length, lack of above narrative, and wonky boss fights. I clocked in at a bit over eight hours (some AFK time included,) which if this game was like DOOM (2016) or even Eternal with levels of sheen/story would be alright, but the game felt like it just dragged on as it went. My score isn't to say this game was bad, I think it's above average, but lacks some things to make it stand out and feel "special."

War has changed.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is an achievement in fiction not just as a game or "movie" as some would describe it, but as a work of transformative art made only possible by a man as intricate and fascinating as Hideo Kojima. What Guns of the Patriots is able to do is close a chapter on the world of a franchise born in the eighties, with poignant and predictive storytelling truly ahead of its time. There is nothing like Metal Gear Solid in media today, there was nothing like it before, and there may be nothing like it after. The way MGS and Kojima were able to weave meta commentary on politics, war, and sociocultural impact is nothing short of miraculous. Touching on this story without devolving into spoilers is rather difficult, but I will say to anyone willing to embark on this incredible journey, it is worth it. This is the first time in a long time that I am truly speechless and having a tough time writing my post gameplay review. They almost always flow naturally from my fingertips, written as if they were a stream of consciousness... but alas Kojima has checkmated anything I could put to proverbial paper.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a conjunction of MGS2/3's sneaking playstyle and the storytelling of a feature film. There's countless moments where you as the player are invited to put down your controller and watch a narrative maestro at work, carefully weaving together histories and plotlines that developed fifty years before this game takes place. In a way Chekov's gun reigns true, as KojiPro was able to close almost every conceivable plotline and moment from the series in this title alone in the way of convenient plot elements and character monologues/soliloquy. The story that began with the hero known as Snake aka Big Boss, Zero, Ocelot, and Eva all comes to a halt as does the hatred that drove them and the world all apart. The control of information and the puppetering of the war economy become a driving force for the antagonists as they steer humanity into a dark age of conformance. Can Solid Snake, Otacon, and their crew of problematic miscreants save the world in a myserious war against their psyches? The answer is provided in Guns of the Patriots, and it will take you and your creative whimsy into a previously untapped locale of media.

With the recent news of the revival of MGS for modern platforms, I am cautiously optimistic for a new generation of gamers to encounter (heh) the incredible world that Metal Gear truly is. I hope they are able to dissect the commentary that is written in about our future and our past from the game they are playing. I hope they can laugh in one moment to ponder the existence of memetics as a cultural driving force in the next.

Shine on Big Boss, Solid Snake, Otacon, and Hideo Kojima.

War has changed.

My name is Zone of the Enders: the 2nd Runner and I have cable.

And my name is Zone of the Enders, and I have DirectTV.

The difference between my enjoyment of the two legendary Kojima-led mecha games is staggering and quite unfortunate. The first ZoE is a fairly rudimentary mech game, controlling and playing out almost as if it released in arcades. Controls are basic, enemies are easy to defeat, and the bosses are pretty one note "find the weakspot" encounters with some unique designs. Voice acting/localization was refreshingly cringe and there was almost no plot, but I had a pretty damn good time piloting a mech and fulfilling my power fantasy of smashing big ol' robots to bits. The plot was basically driven by "go here and do this" for the sole reason of defeating the bad guys and moving on to the next objective, but that was... okay? I didn't find anything really wrong with this game other than that it was milquetoast in its narrative ambition. For a game that came out gee, twenty-two years ago, it controlled quite intuitively when factoring in the amount of movement necessary to make it fun.

The 2nd Runner on the other hand felt like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from... which is unfortunate because it was visually beautiful with the touched up HD graphics and had a somewhat understandable plot, great codec-esque conversations, and excellently animated cutscenes. Outside of that though? The game felt like a chore and a half to actually play, and not an easy chore like taking out the garbage. Instead it was like taking a toothbrush to clean your entire home by hand. Levels were... unique in the least enjoyable ways, three were of note. The first in which you have to follow your AI's directions from beginning to end otherwise you would be bombarded by offscreen cannons and have to start all the way back at the beginning. A second one in which you were tasked with leading a small squadron of mechs across a plateau with enemy forces that outnumbered yours by fifty to one, with you serving as the sole medic of all of your forces. And a third which saw you have to destroy five cruisers that each had anti-air rounds and waves upon waves upon waves of enemy forces respawning between them. These don't sound too bad in theory, but in practice played out like eating pounds of molasses with a fork. Each level went on too long, there were far too many enemies and respawning waves, and the in game map just kinda sucked. I could go on but it would be moot, the bottom line is that even if the narrative was far superior and the levels themselves were designed better (as in linear versus zone-based missions from the first game,) it felt far worse to play.

Bosses in the 2nd Runner were all gimmicks too, which as a fan of Metal Gear Solid isn't a shocker to get out of Kojima Productions but there wasn't even a modicum of similarity in how any two bosses were defeated. I don't really understand how a game can rely on a certain style of play to defeat its world enemies and then throw it out come boss time... and there's quite a few bosses. Red Letter Media had a great trope with the "No-one's ever really gone" meme with the Star Wars sequels, and it rings true with ZoE (especially the second game.) Bosses don't die, you kill them once and they'll reappear an hour later, that just makes each fight feel frivalous and even when the credits rolled I couldn't be sure that the boss I'd just beaten three times was really dead. I'm also used to tough bosses, and my favorite boss fight of all time (the ultimate boss fight of DMC3) is/was rather difficult but it felt fair if you understood the enemy timing and combo's. In ZoE2, the final boss just feels cheap and unenjoyable with the way that they block every attack unless you have the cognizance to use the correct one that hadn't been asked by the game to use until said engagement. It just felt anticlimactic, a final boss should use the summation of skills learned from your runtime with the game, not a surprise of mechanic coupled with perfect timing.

I was happy to start this collection and now I'm happier to be done with it. I'm also a little dejected that I haven't found that mech game that will click for me despite so many mecha anime being really dang cool. I can't recommend Zone of the Enders unless you're a fan of Kojima Productions or a sucker for pain.

Breath of the Wild Too.

Years ago I purchased a Nintendo Switch at Best Buy along with one game: Breath of the Wild. The game had been out for maybe a year, if even, but I'd heard from numerous friends and publications that it was one of, if not the greatest games of all time. I played it, enjoyed my first solo playthrough of a Zelda game, but largely dissented from enjoyment as a result of the game's lack of narrative focus, recycled dungeons/bosses, and weapon durability. I like to think of myself as malleable and approachable to change, so when Tears of the Kingdom was announced many moons ago, I got excited for a change to re-try the BotW formula. What I got in this go around was... an experience all too familiar.

Tears of the Kingdom begins on a high note... literally. You effectively start high above the fields of Hyrule in the sky aisles that had appeared after the events of the prequel title. This was a major focus of media marketing for the game and subject to a majority of promotional material, adding a whole new vertical element to an already expansive game. Here you go through a sort of proving grounds and tutorialization of Link's new "powers" which are completely different from BotW. No longer do you have the ability to magnet and slingshot items across the map as it is replaced with spells that let you freely attach materials together, fuse items to your weapons, and ascend through almost any vertical challenge. While these were really neat from a physics standpoint and added an invaluable amount to the already peak sandbox that was BotW, it removes a sense of integrity from the way the game is "meant" to be played, but more on that later. You have a few hours of messing around up here before you're thrown into the familiar world of Hyrule and tasked to track down the Princess of the land herself, Zelda. Stop me if you've heard that one before.

From here your gameplay loop remains largely the same, not only from the way you experience the sandbox itself, but who you interact with on your mission to stop the Upheavel and defeat the series' longstanding antagonist. I won't touch on story spoilers but I think most players of BotW have a sense of where this game is heading. Traversal across Hyrule is a bit of a hodgepodge of utilizing the shrine network, towers, Zonai contraptions, and new powers gifted to you by one of the four civilizations you visit. Horses as a method of movement are pretty much completely outclassed by the above. Shrines give you a place to fast travel to and for the love of all that is good in this world, are much more entertaining and enticing to complete in TotK than in BotW. Where the shrine monotony comes into play for me in the previous title was that a lot of the solutions relied upon combat endeavours against Guardians or pinball-esque flip games that relied on the Switch's faulty Gyro to complete. In Tears of the Kingdom, there was a great deal of thought put into making these unique from one another, relying heavily on the new powers link is given to complete. The unfortunate byproduct of this is that you can absolutely cheese and bypass the intended way of completion for these shrines with your fuse/ultrahand powers. I'm a strong proponent of cheesing certain mechanics in games to get solutions, but with the amount of it you can do in Tears to completely move aside from the way the game wants the player to solve puzzles... it just feels kinda dirty. I mean if you can do something faster, then for efficiency's sake, why wouldn't you? So the shrines are more innovative, but easier to break. Towers are a great way to move across the vast world, and give you a tremendous insight into what to attack next. You can see almost the whole world, and with the right amount of stamina it practically is all reachable. I thoroughly loved going into the sky in each region's tower, which also fills in the area on your map, and identifying all the shrines, villages, and general points of interest on my map that I could so that I could eventually tackle them. It was the first few days in TotK of playing that I felt my greatest joy, because the world felt so tangible and achievable, I could see it all and do it all.

I've played a lot of open world games at this point, most of us have, and it takes a great deal to set them apart and make them feel fun. In my opinion the games that never get me to stop and ask "why am I doing this?" are the good ones. One of my favorite games of all time came out last year, Elden Ring. I scoped what felt like the entire map from top to bottom, taking on each and every boss fight, sifting through each and every cave I could, just because it felt rewarding in and of itself. In the hallmark Bethesda titles I chased each guild/faction subquestline, did all the sidequests I could, just because it felt rewarding. I began to do that in Tears of the Kingdom, in fact I did it almost exclusively for the first few days of playing, but I hit a "why" and never really turned back. In my initial run of Tears of the Kingdom, I went shrine hunting, solved all of the glyphs, helped every villager I could in the game's major settlements. I had a great time personally with the silly little town of Hateno Village, with its exceptionally cozy soundtrack and perfect-for-Zelda quirky constituents as I tried to play mediator in a mayoral race between two polar opposites. It was here that I found I was at my greatest enjoyment of the world, I wasn't asking myself any questions, I was just basking in the game's moment to moment quirkyness and personality. After I unlocked more shrines and completed some more sidequests, I realized that I was at the same point I'd reached in Breath of the Wild. I had completed two of the four major questlines in the game, which utilized the same exact races from BotW, mostly including the same exact people. Despite having been across the entire map and decyphering the truth behind the numerous glyphs, I still had to help the same exact peoples I had done a few years ago. Stop me if you've heard this before: Link must approach the Rito, Gerudo, Goron, and Zora and obtain the help of their champion and embark on a short quest to bring you one step closer to defeating the great evil, which involves using their one gimmick power to complete a dungeon in which you must find four-five macguffins to reach a final boss, of which is a largely mechanically uninteresting fight. I was greatly let down, again with the way this game had approached dungeoneering, which was previously a staple of the franchise. I had my qualms with Skyward Sword being TOO much of a dungeon-dungeon-dungeon game, but at least they felt unique and different from another. In Tears, just as was the case in Breath of the Wild, they all kinda felt... the same. I had hoped Nintendo would put a greater focus into this after the first game, but I was gravely wrong. Doing these dungeons is almost completely futile too if you've already solved the mysteries behind the glyph's, it's completely pointless, but you still have to do it for the sake of the storry. I made the mistake of doing the Rito and Gerudo, doing all of the glyphs, and then doing the Zora and Goron, which helped me realize how futile this endeavour truly was. I said I wouldn't spoiler above, so I won't, but if you've beaten it, you'll know. To end the commentary on dungeons, the final two-three dungeons in this game are genuinely awful and as anticlimactic you can get for a game that was six years in the making and has as much lore implications as Tears of the Kingdom does. The game starts off with a bang in the sky, then gets you going into the four-race dungeons, and then ends on a few wet noodles... it was beyond disappointing.

Weapon durability was a bad idea in the first place, and it's one of the few points of contention that I will not back away from. In a game where exploration is as big of a focus as it is, why should the player be de-incentivized from engaging in combat if they know that their best weapons are going to be destroyed in just a few strikes, even with the assistance of the fuse power? Again to harken back to Elden Ring, other than wasting my time, there was no negative element to engaging in frivalous combat. If I saw something I wanted to kill, I could do it knowing that the worst that would happen would be a simple respawn. In Tears of the Kingdom, I still had to wager my the next major fight I was going to do against taking out a group of world enemies for a sidequest. It was here again where I'd ask myself the "why," of engaging in the open-world exploration of this game, why would I ruin my best gear if I don't know how beneficial the end result is going to be? Doing some of these sidequests reward you with powerful weapons too, but why would I even take or use those if I know a few hits against a moblin is going to tarnish them forever? I don't get it, I didn't get it beforehand either. The argument that it enforces the player to use their surroundings and take advantage of what the world offers is a weak one to me too, because this to me does the opposite of what a game like Zelda should do, it fights against the power fantasy. You play as the damn Hero of Hyrule, why shouldn't you be able to take on any group of bokoblins or moblins that you see without destroying your gear? I just genuinely don't understand the developer appreciation for this, nor why the "fuse" power was supposed to be the saving grace for this as a detriment, it just prolongs the inevitable. I don't mean to prop up Skyward Sword as the magnum opus of the series, as I still have yet to play a great deal (myself, not as a younger sibling watching,) but the combat was snappy, and I felt like I could and SHOULD engage with each of the enemies I came across.

Now I've spent a lot of time dunking on this game, and in my humble opinion (shocker,) it has been rightfully so, there is a lot of sauce in Tears of the Kingdom that made it a generally enjoyable experience. Despite what I would call a miserable way to end the game, Tears was full of that Zelda/Nintendo magic that's brought them to where they are now. Even if the game doesn't run very well and is bottlenecked by the Switch, the artstyle is beyond gorgeous. Hyrule in its moments of Link flying and running around holds a plethora of jaw dropping beauty within the unique biomes and meticulously crafted cities and environments. The characters are again intricately designed and filled with personality through their design. Link, Zelda, Purah, Riju, Impa, and everyone else have been brought to life in such an impressive way. This game is eye candy, and even if its not in a completely new engine, another great moment in Nintendo world/character design. Even if it soured on me eventually, my first few days of exploration were filled with memorable moments of interaction with the game's engine, as well as fun moments of discovery into the seemingly endless hidden nooks and cranny's that there is to offer. Zelda, much like Metroid to me, is an IP that has the advantage of having some really damn cool lore, and it's at great display in Tears of the Kingdom. One of the chief complaints I had with Breath of the Wild is that much of the story exposition, like almost all of it, was resigned to flashback cutscenes which is a pretty bad way to tell a story. Now, that's not entierly different with Tears of the Kingdom, but the amount of story they manage to tell through the glyphs and temples is far greater than it was in BotW. I found myself sitting up and revelling in the cutscenes that TotK had to offer, as there was so much to pack up and take away that I could use to solve the game's mystery. I enjoyed that, and it's almost exclusively because of that, that I rated this game higher than its predecessor. I felt like Nintendo and the Zelda team sucessfully navigated the complaints about narrative and made a rather positive change.

In all, most people that are reading this, if any have actually read this in its entirety, are probably already playing/played TotK or are going to. I had fun, but I highly doubt this will be my game of the year, and probably not a game I'll return to.