50 reviews liked by annabelle


I got Doxxed by a speedrunner of this game and yet even with that mission 6-4 is still the worst crime this game has committed against me.

I can barely form a coherent thought about what I just finished but I feel weirdly seen by Final Fantasy VIII and its protagonist in particular as this understanding of specific feelings of capitalist alienation that I've been unable to articulate for the longest time. I don't have any official diagnosis and especially do not want people I barely know armchair diagnosing me online but Squall's struggles to process the most basic social interactions in terms of anything other than capitalist obligations like school or work, "shut up and get the job done" mentality, and specific jaded outlook are core parts of myself I never expected to see reflected in this fashion. While I narrowly prefer the basic bitch choices of VI and VII in terms of Final Fantasy games, this surreal response to the cultural zeitgeist of the latter game and weird as fuck (complimentary) use of Marxist theory (specifically the "annihilation of space by time" described in Grundrisse and expanded upon over a century later by David Harvey) in the same way that most RPGs use religious/mythological concepts solely because it sounds cool is a game that will no doubt have a special place in my heart from now on.

Limbo

2010

Aesthetics this, theories that, the actual takeaway from this game is that the children yearn for the Belmont jump.

I reckon waxing on about what a game like Undertale meant for someone like me as a somewhat emotionally stunted and depressed teenager on a review for something like this is preaching to the choir. Undertale was a game that came at the perfect time in my life, at the time it felt like the perfect game to me, and while I suppose it isn’t that, it might as well still be for me. I survived the “cringe trenches” of 2016-17 of a bunch of mostly harmless teenagers (like myself at the time) making AUs, remixes, fan-art, the works that made a lot of very strange people upset, before Deltarune and cultural reflection inevitably made Undertale cool again. Truth be told, as someone who was heavily invested in Undertale when I was younger, I never really paid any of the fanworks outside of strictly the main game much of a fair shake. Not sure why, I’m not exactly above that sort of material, but I just never found the interest. That said, of course I heard of Undertale Yellow at the time, and hearing of it releasing last year was something I knew I had to check out.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, at least for me. Writing and music wise, this is definitely a peg below Toby Fox’s work. This is not a negative mind you. I think the game does a fantastic job of carving out its own niche while still keeping the spirit of the world that I fell in love with. And comparing a fanwork to its original is always going to be a tough uphill battle to overcome. Undertale Yellow is a game that fundamentally understands the general appeal of the original’s tone, and makes its own very unique spin to feel refreshing and familiar. The main cast of this game took some time to fully win me over, but towards the latter half, I really enjoyed what they brought to the table. Especially Starlow, who I reckon is a character about on the same caliber as some of the main cast of the original, which is a tough feat to overcome. The game also very smartly ditches almost all of the main cast of the game to mentions or a brief appearance, with the exception of Flowey, who is a smidge more toned down (at least in Pacifist) but still has some real shit eater energy.

With that out of the way, the real star of Yellow is undeniably its presentation and gameplay. They not only nailed the look, tone, and feel of what made its source material so good, but they really made it into a much more polished and refined work, that you only can really get from a team who love that world. Undertale is a shitty looking game a lot of the time, so even just seeing an actual run animation on the main protagonist is a big shock. While there is undeniably something that can be argued as being lost from the intentionally trashy look of the original, it is done with such passion, and more importantly confidence in itself that you come to respect its own vision. Boss fights in particular are a real treat in this game, both on a visual and mechanical level. They really do an amazing job differentiating the roster with some incredible sprite work that definitely outmatches the original in terms of visual fidelity, but some amazing backgrounds to boot. And fighting them is definitely on par with the original, although, I would say it never quite reaches those same high notes, it does come fairly close, and I think that is mighty commendable.

I think there is a natural apprehension towards fan made material of a well-known IP. Again, I remember high school, that sort of stigma is what made Undertale a “cringe game” to so many people. And in a lot of ways, I do understand where many folks are coming from. When people are passionate about a work, sometimes it can come off as strange, corny, very juvenile in a lot of aspects; and when something is extremely popular, that automatically means that the large size of that audience is going to attract more of some unsavory behaviors. Some of it can be more justified than others, but seeing how so many people 180’d on this game in particular always struck me as an example of how fucking stupid it all was. And seeing a game like Yellow, which can only have been made because of that community, come out almost a decade after the original’s release and capture hearts all over again warms my heart. There were times towards the beginning when I was waiting for the game to truly click with me the same way the original did, and attempting to enter my critical analysis mode, but overtime, this game made me remember why I loved Undertale so much to begin with. There is a charm to this game, that no other game has quite ever been able to replicate for me, maybe never will (outside of Deltarune) and that is okay. People are passionate, people will continue to love, and people will continue to create out of love, and I think that is a beautiful thing.

Part of growing up for me has definitely been finally admitting that Super Mario 64 is a legitimately special video game. Not even just for its historical importance, but for what it remains to be to this day. The level of freedom that the player has in which challenges they want to take on, the high levels of player expression that exist within its conceptually limited yet spatially broad acrobatics moveset, the way it's capable of being beautiful, whimsical, moody, or even haunting. I still find myself picking it up and playing it over most other 3D platformers to this day, the allure of its worlds dragging me deeper into my nth playthrough; it's just that intuitively enjoyable.

Sure, the controls take some getting used to, but Nintendo EAD was able to really get the controls down in a way that I don't think they've ever been able to fully replicate. It's less than ideal that stars kick you out of the stage, and some of the later levels don't really mesh with the control scheme in the same way the more exploration-focused early levels do, but none of that matters in the moment. Super Mario 64 lets you make what you want out of it, and that's what keeps it evergreen.

ostensibly political but rly more of an aesthetic manifesto/individualist thing. doesnt bother to elaborate on "love" as the innermost principle of making good art as if everything including language were a sign for it. video games made by indies and industry devs alike r made for gamers (latently fascist white/asian dudes) and not real people with any remote amt of individuation. the contrast btwn part 1 and 2 (what games r v. what games can be) reads like stuff i myself and my friends have thought which is assuring. really the only thing undermining this is that this user thinks kingdom hearts is an example of a good video game when i cant think of much that screams culture industry distraction-generator louder than a disney + anime rpg. cool to know there r people on the earth

re other reviews on this page, ill say again what was sort of implicit in teh above: i am not so sure the femininity is the point as much as the strict adherence to self-determined/discovered values, which is basically wht "love" stands for. titling and style is provocative in a way thats super interesting to me

Real, raw, and personal in a way that you almost never see.

I'm glad Bagenzo was able, to some extent, forgive themselves for their inaction through life.

I'm not quite there, yet.

Among the various consequences of late consumerism, there's that pretty incoherent thing that brought us all here which is "rating" art, it has its ups and downs on every moral aspect you could think of, but I think it's safe to assume that if you're on this website, you enjoy doing this to some degree.

There are movies I watched and albums I listened to that are so personal to their respective artist that bringing yourself to review them would actually feel incredibly disrespectful, and Cave Story Sex RPG 2007 is one of them.
Criticizing elements of someone's memories for the sake of it, or acting like a literal diary should resonate with you is contradicting and wrong on so many levels.

Would you ever read your little sister's diary just to tell her the writing fucking SUCKS and give it a light 1.5 ?

I'm not saying a piece of art like that cannot leave any impression on its audience (heck, it's not even supposed to have such a thing) and I'm glad video games allow people to express themselves in such direct ways but some experiences are better left wordless.

gaslighting's everest. megafreaks convincing me this was the series peak had me telling everyone I knew how bad mega man sucked for two decades. I've already done more damage to the mega man brand than inafune ever could, and I was primed to do even more before I tried some of the other ones

sure, the robot master stages are mostly solid, but you'd need the most hexed, jinxed, and cursed grey matter on the planet to convince yourself normal people want to experience wily's castle in any capacity. the creases in your brain need to have been carved by unnaturally odious forces to sit there recommending this with a grin on your face while knowing sniper armours exist

boobeam comes up in conversation and MM2 guys go silent at the dinner table, start pushing their peas around the plate, and ask to be excused

if you love it so much then why don't you marry it