its good!! there are some kinda arbitrary-feeling callbacks to goemon like the robot battles, but in the end this really isn't much like it at all. go into it expecting a new flagship kids IP by goodfeel rather than a true goemon successor

there are definitely pluses and minuses to this, one of the main pluses being the sheer scope of the game. i can promise it's at least 50% longer than you expect it to be lol. on the other hand, as a kids game targeted squarely at the corocoro audience, the gameplay is pretty simple and doesnt get much more complex throughout, and the writing is pretty juvenile. definitely not nearly as funny as any given goemon game, sadly

it's a pretty rare breed of 3d platformer nowadays, so i hope people check it out on those merits. if you want something that's not 100% a linear obstacle course, and not 100% a collectathon sandbox, this probably fits the bill! there are times when this design is a bit at odds with itself, like there being enough points-of-no-return in levels that require you to restart the whole thing to get missed collectibles that it starts to become irritating, but generally it works well and makes me long for the era of 3d platformers with open spaces to explore that aren't just about picking up trinkets

the art direction is generally pretty great, with the biggest caveat being that i kinda don't like any of the character designs at all? they're not bad necessarily, it just, once again, feels like a game like ninjala in the degree to which it targets the corocoro audience

probably the biggest mark against it of all is that goodfeel banked so hard on it and it backfired so spectacularly. i would've taken a game a quarter of this one's size if it meant there was any hope for this to lead to improved sequels. but at the very least, we got this weirdly expansive, pretty good 3D platformer that feels out of its time

i feel like i really lucked out in picking up on what kind of game this was from the trailers lol. got my disappointment out of the way much earlier!

for what it is, it's good at what it does. dressup is fun and the outfits are cute. when it comes down to it, that's what i want and i'm happy with that

still, even within that scope, there are some bizarre oversights. sorting clothes is an absolute nightmare, and i have no idea why they wouldn't have multiple items of the same type stack in the menu. and as far as i can tell, there's no way to save outfits as favorites?

when it comes down to it, i wanted a new synsophia game, and they still have their spark. it's just obvious that this is nowhere near the budget or scope of a style savvy, and they did their best with what they have. i hope next time, they're able to make something at full capacity again

i was a defender of this game for a long long time off the merits of the dss system and upon replay in the advance collection.... i don't think i can really defend it in good faith anymore lol

starting positive, i still think DSS is an incredibly cool system. collecting them is always extremely exciting thanks to the way each one becomes more and more valuable the more you collect. just getting one card drop can suddenly give you access to entire mechanics, which is super cool! but wow does the game not want you to get to experience that system

the #1 cardinal sin the game commits is that exploration isn't fun. traversal is absolutely laborious thanks to needing to double tap to run every single time. lots of frustration due to not timing the inputs right and getting jumps with puny horizontal distance. really makes you just not want to bother taking nathan anywhere you don't have to

the second most glaring flaw is item drops. there's no shop in the game, nor are there any items hidden in the castle. any secret you find will always be a stat boost. which means, all items are random drops by enemies. and the drop rates are pitiful. it's bad enough that DSS cards and gear are behind <1% drop rates, but even healing items appear just once in a blue moon. if you want to see what the game has to offer, you truly have to grind out item drops, and there's nothing fun at all about it

it all comes together in a game that just feels like it lacks thoughtful design. more than any other castlevania game, this game's castle is full of long, straight-shot hallways with the same enemies repeated over and over. lots of monsters consistently inflict status ailment without reliable way to cure it. the only rewards you get for exploration are stat boos items. it's just not fun to play, and rarely feels rewarding. i wish we could've seen a revised DSS in another game, but for now the best you can do is enjoy it as much as possible in this game's magician mode

that itsuno sure knows how to make a video game

i hope that in a potential third game, they can really work on the character building element. for all the bold design choices meant to contribute to a role-playing experience, i never felt like my playthrough was unique to my character. as fun as it that the classes all play so differently, it feels like the game incentivized continuing to change rather than sticking to your preferences. maybe having warfarer available significantly earlier would help......?

other than that, it was more-or-less the sequel i had been waiting for. a much-needed reminder that an open world action game can be more than the framework that the genre has settled into