bapanadavibes
'i don't want this to happen, and yet it will.'
collages of inner life spread across digital pages: raw thoughts, wishes, guilt & regret. dreading the passage of time, circling mistakes made and words we can't take back. on wanting nothing more than to hold onto something//someone, a connection that won't fade with time. an abstract bearing of the soul in hopes of mending wounds -- of the guilt to subside.
inbetween it all, it gives you the space to express yourself - blank pages to be filled. and i think that's because it doesn't want anyone to feel alone with their problems. because it believes it will be okay in the end. beautiful.
// play in browser here
collages of inner life spread across digital pages: raw thoughts, wishes, guilt & regret. dreading the passage of time, circling mistakes made and words we can't take back. on wanting nothing more than to hold onto something//someone, a connection that won't fade with time. an abstract bearing of the soul in hopes of mending wounds -- of the guilt to subside.
inbetween it all, it gives you the space to express yourself - blank pages to be filled. and i think that's because it doesn't want anyone to feel alone with their problems. because it believes it will be okay in the end. beautiful.
// play in browser here
2009
occupies a unique place in the souls universe as the most depressing in atmosphere, and at the same time shortest experience - oddly making it the one most eager to release you from its anguish.
love many great things about it, but for now i'll leave you with how lovely it is to see the maiden in black changing her spot everytime you arrive back at the nexus - chilling on the stairs being my fave. how exciting and mysterious yet ultimately silly the lead-up and eventual fool's idol encounter is (definitely got the boss tune!!!). a throughline of bold and absurd decisions resulting in an idiosyncratic game that i couldn't help but embrace wholeheartedly.
love many great things about it, but for now i'll leave you with how lovely it is to see the maiden in black changing her spot everytime you arrive back at the nexus - chilling on the stairs being my fave. how exciting and mysterious yet ultimately silly the lead-up and eventual fool's idol encounter is (definitely got the boss tune!!!). a throughline of bold and absurd decisions resulting in an idiosyncratic game that i couldn't help but embrace wholeheartedly.
2024
[first impressions, 4.5h playtime~]
Hades 2 welcomes you back into its familiar world, now all a little brighter with a beautiful mix of yellow, blue & green hues. Melinoë's presence is immediately charming, both softspoken, and determined. The world you walk through is one where the past events haunt the walls and weighs heavy on the hearts of its inhabitants characters. It’s a compelling intro - the hub’s witchy aesthetics with its big cauldron and Headmistress Hecate - and all the new prominent female presences - really make it stand apart from its predecessor. Aesthetically and sonically, this was even more my jam than the first.
The biggest combat change was going from multidash to dash + sprinting as the movement tools. Ideally this moves the game away from the dash bonanza the former game was, but the arenas are as tight before, filled with obstacles. This makes sprinting awkward and not a reliable tool outside of more spacious boss arenas. On top of that, they removed the ability to destroy projectiles with attacks (save for when you use the staff), making the projectile-breaking boon for the sprint feel mandatory to avoid chip damage during trash mob rooms. Additionally, they tried to make resource management a bigger question by adding the magick/mana system. These are all good changes on paper, as it makes controlling Melinoë feel distinct from Zagreus, and ideally would allow for more combat approaches to be viable if balanced properly. However, the issues with the combat don't stop there and are compounded by the boon system, which is still largely the same as it was before. This suggests it doesn’t make for very memorable, outlier runs due to how unimpactful and homogenized the choices are, even when stacked. (The addition of magick consumption/regeneration boons does not change that either) The combat encounters outside of miniboss and boss rooms are still groups of trash mobs that spawn in waves - fighting them feels like going through the motions. And when you do reach a boss fight, the damage you can dish out can feel rather laughable - until you’ve got a decent amount of upgrades, and a decent boon set - making for drawn out fights where you’ve already dodging, hitting and waiting to deal with the damage sponge. In the IGN review, it is said that “many roguelites suffer from this feeling of having “doomed runs” where you just don’t get the kind of scaling or key upgrades that you need to survive in later levels, but that was never my experience with Hades 2”. My experience with not only Hades II, but the first one, stands against this. In both games, you will run into encounters that while they might not feel out of your skill level given their attack patterns, will be damage sponges. To alleviate this, you will spend a lot of currency to get you powered up to a level where monsters in the new area will not feel like a chore to kill. Hades II is not the kind of roguelite game where the tools to beat the game are given to you from the get go and the meta-progression mostly unlocks new gameplay elements. A significant part of your power budget is in the meta progression, which a quick glance at the possible unlocks will make clear. Therefore corpse, or rather currency runs, where you’re gonna be aiming to get as much currency as possible to unlock the next thing become more or less naturalized in the gameplay loop. It’s not a game where you can solely focus on engaging with the combat itself to make it deeper into the run. Doomed runs do in fact exist, and I’d argue the game necessitates those as part of its gameplay loop. Currency will always be on your mind, and in Hades II even moreso, as they’ve added extra non-combat interactions which will yield currency: most notably, mining ore and gathering herbs. These are not optional as they are part of meta-progression and do disrupt the combat loop further as now you’re not only killing trash mobs, you’re ever so often doing a menial game of clicks to earn 3 ores. In Hades I, the weapons were merely locked behind boss currency, but here they’ve added more currency bloat and requirements. The herbs and the gardening fill the same niche, though part of it happens in the hub area. I don’t see these as meaningful additions to the game and find they distract from the core aspects of the game. Something the first Hades got right whilst adding fishing, as it did not present a necessary aspect for progression, but a little side activity. If we’re adding minigames to a death run game, why make them take the wind out of your sails?
Now we’ll come to the biggest gripe I had with the predecessor, and that seems to be replicated here from what I can tell: the balance between gameplay and narrative. The first Hades suffered from a combat experience that didn’t measure up in depth to the magnitude of story interactions & plot development - the ones you have to grind to unlock and will be provided to you in fragments. It functions through a sort of dripfeed system where, once you feel you’ve exhausted the options of making a run through the same old dungeon more interesting, you’re still left with a lot of relationships and story you wanna pursue. In my limited time with Hades 2, I’ve already felt an inkling of this as the 4.5h yielded not much in the way of story engagement despite having done a decent number of runs. It becomes the game’s own carrot on a stick, throwing yourself into the pits to gain some currency, a gift or two and hopefully a new story tidbit that feels interesting and meaningful - and not just characters doing a variation on talking about the tropes they’re assigned. In the original Hades I’ve had my fill and put the game down after racking up 50h, which isn’t a shabby number to put on a game, but the main reason I put it down was because I didn’t feel the game rewarded my combat investment through story in a worthwhile manner anymore. It almost becomes the game’s own skinnerbox, where dripfed interactions are the reward for engaging with the combat, as the combat’s fun and merit dissipates due to the low variance of the runs, even if you do try to spice it up and make it more interesting. There’s a fine line between frustrating and doing something for the sake of something else, and the game has crossed those lines too often at that point where the deaths become a means to an end. It makes me beg the question why it was conceived as a roguelite in the first place, as SG’s previous games and the experience with both of these games, make me feel like they could’ve created a very compelling experience that isn’t padded out by currency grind and dripfeeding story as you rack up deaths.
The game doesn’t need me to shower it with praise. I wrote this mainly to formulate my gripes and to share them in an effort to illuminate what I identified as the series’ previous pitfalls and missed potential with this iteration during the few hours I spent with it. I’ll do more runs here and there throughout the year, and reassess it once it’s fully released. I'm not holding my breath for significant changes. As it stands, the road they’re taking for Hades 2 seems to be: more of what was already widely beloved with slight additions/variations.
[*Update after 10h+ playtime*]
- The 3rd area addresses the tight space concerns. its a bigger area and the upgrades are spread throughout it, making the game feel much better as you can really make use of the movement options here.
- However, despite unlocking more things, damage numbers feel low across the board vs. the shield and bullet sponge enemies. It seems to stem from both base damage being rather low and boons not feeling impactful. As it stands, the game's combat and damage don't seem properly balanced, making the game feel like a slog more often than not.
- Sadly, getting further into the game only made the slog that is the currency grind that much more apparent. They've really expanded on the amount of currencies compared to Hades 1.Ssome are area dependent e.g. you can only get this currency in x area with y tool (and you can only pick one tool per run?!). Another big one called F. Fate that is needed for plenty unlocks but you can only get from the exchange broker or certain NPCs when they give you the option during your run. This all exacerbates the issue of currency runs, because you wanna get all this specific currency, but at the same time, you wanna have a good run. It creates this tension between currency and boons that I feel is contradictory to making the game feel rewarding to play, because you're either gonna make yourself stronger during your run, or you'll get currency you need - and this choice shouldn't need to exist in a game that is this grindy in the first place. Having good runs should translate into getting plenty resources you need. This deviation screams bloat through currencies and doesn't make the game feel rewarding to play.
TL;DR game has currency/grind bloat and the damage numbers seem off. Lots of bullet sponge/shield enemies - combat (and boons) don't feel satisfying, rewarding nor interestingly challenging
My recommendation: play Hades 1, wait for this game to get balanced
Hades 2 welcomes you back into its familiar world, now all a little brighter with a beautiful mix of yellow, blue & green hues. Melinoë's presence is immediately charming, both softspoken, and determined. The world you walk through is one where the past events haunt the walls and weighs heavy on the hearts of its inhabitants characters. It’s a compelling intro - the hub’s witchy aesthetics with its big cauldron and Headmistress Hecate - and all the new prominent female presences - really make it stand apart from its predecessor. Aesthetically and sonically, this was even more my jam than the first.
The biggest combat change was going from multidash to dash + sprinting as the movement tools. Ideally this moves the game away from the dash bonanza the former game was, but the arenas are as tight before, filled with obstacles. This makes sprinting awkward and not a reliable tool outside of more spacious boss arenas. On top of that, they removed the ability to destroy projectiles with attacks (save for when you use the staff), making the projectile-breaking boon for the sprint feel mandatory to avoid chip damage during trash mob rooms. Additionally, they tried to make resource management a bigger question by adding the magick/mana system. These are all good changes on paper, as it makes controlling Melinoë feel distinct from Zagreus, and ideally would allow for more combat approaches to be viable if balanced properly. However, the issues with the combat don't stop there and are compounded by the boon system, which is still largely the same as it was before. This suggests it doesn’t make for very memorable, outlier runs due to how unimpactful and homogenized the choices are, even when stacked. (The addition of magick consumption/regeneration boons does not change that either) The combat encounters outside of miniboss and boss rooms are still groups of trash mobs that spawn in waves - fighting them feels like going through the motions. And when you do reach a boss fight, the damage you can dish out can feel rather laughable - until you’ve got a decent amount of upgrades, and a decent boon set - making for drawn out fights where you’ve already dodging, hitting and waiting to deal with the damage sponge. In the IGN review, it is said that “many roguelites suffer from this feeling of having “doomed runs” where you just don’t get the kind of scaling or key upgrades that you need to survive in later levels, but that was never my experience with Hades 2”. My experience with not only Hades II, but the first one, stands against this. In both games, you will run into encounters that while they might not feel out of your skill level given their attack patterns, will be damage sponges. To alleviate this, you will spend a lot of currency to get you powered up to a level where monsters in the new area will not feel like a chore to kill. Hades II is not the kind of roguelite game where the tools to beat the game are given to you from the get go and the meta-progression mostly unlocks new gameplay elements. A significant part of your power budget is in the meta progression, which a quick glance at the possible unlocks will make clear. Therefore corpse, or rather currency runs, where you’re gonna be aiming to get as much currency as possible to unlock the next thing become more or less naturalized in the gameplay loop. It’s not a game where you can solely focus on engaging with the combat itself to make it deeper into the run. Doomed runs do in fact exist, and I’d argue the game necessitates those as part of its gameplay loop. Currency will always be on your mind, and in Hades II even moreso, as they’ve added extra non-combat interactions which will yield currency: most notably, mining ore and gathering herbs. These are not optional as they are part of meta-progression and do disrupt the combat loop further as now you’re not only killing trash mobs, you’re ever so often doing a menial game of clicks to earn 3 ores. In Hades I, the weapons were merely locked behind boss currency, but here they’ve added more currency bloat and requirements. The herbs and the gardening fill the same niche, though part of it happens in the hub area. I don’t see these as meaningful additions to the game and find they distract from the core aspects of the game. Something the first Hades got right whilst adding fishing, as it did not present a necessary aspect for progression, but a little side activity. If we’re adding minigames to a death run game, why make them take the wind out of your sails?
Now we’ll come to the biggest gripe I had with the predecessor, and that seems to be replicated here from what I can tell: the balance between gameplay and narrative. The first Hades suffered from a combat experience that didn’t measure up in depth to the magnitude of story interactions & plot development - the ones you have to grind to unlock and will be provided to you in fragments. It functions through a sort of dripfeed system where, once you feel you’ve exhausted the options of making a run through the same old dungeon more interesting, you’re still left with a lot of relationships and story you wanna pursue. In my limited time with Hades 2, I’ve already felt an inkling of this as the 4.5h yielded not much in the way of story engagement despite having done a decent number of runs. It becomes the game’s own carrot on a stick, throwing yourself into the pits to gain some currency, a gift or two and hopefully a new story tidbit that feels interesting and meaningful - and not just characters doing a variation on talking about the tropes they’re assigned. In the original Hades I’ve had my fill and put the game down after racking up 50h, which isn’t a shabby number to put on a game, but the main reason I put it down was because I didn’t feel the game rewarded my combat investment through story in a worthwhile manner anymore. It almost becomes the game’s own skinnerbox, where dripfed interactions are the reward for engaging with the combat, as the combat’s fun and merit dissipates due to the low variance of the runs, even if you do try to spice it up and make it more interesting. There’s a fine line between frustrating and doing something for the sake of something else, and the game has crossed those lines too often at that point where the deaths become a means to an end. It makes me beg the question why it was conceived as a roguelite in the first place, as SG’s previous games and the experience with both of these games, make me feel like they could’ve created a very compelling experience that isn’t padded out by currency grind and dripfeeding story as you rack up deaths.
The game doesn’t need me to shower it with praise. I wrote this mainly to formulate my gripes and to share them in an effort to illuminate what I identified as the series’ previous pitfalls and missed potential with this iteration during the few hours I spent with it. I’ll do more runs here and there throughout the year, and reassess it once it’s fully released. I'm not holding my breath for significant changes. As it stands, the road they’re taking for Hades 2 seems to be: more of what was already widely beloved with slight additions/variations.
[*Update after 10h+ playtime*]
- The 3rd area addresses the tight space concerns. its a bigger area and the upgrades are spread throughout it, making the game feel much better as you can really make use of the movement options here.
- However, despite unlocking more things, damage numbers feel low across the board vs. the shield and bullet sponge enemies. It seems to stem from both base damage being rather low and boons not feeling impactful. As it stands, the game's combat and damage don't seem properly balanced, making the game feel like a slog more often than not.
- Sadly, getting further into the game only made the slog that is the currency grind that much more apparent. They've really expanded on the amount of currencies compared to Hades 1.Ssome are area dependent e.g. you can only get this currency in x area with y tool (and you can only pick one tool per run?!). Another big one called F. Fate that is needed for plenty unlocks but you can only get from the exchange broker or certain NPCs when they give you the option during your run. This all exacerbates the issue of currency runs, because you wanna get all this specific currency, but at the same time, you wanna have a good run. It creates this tension between currency and boons that I feel is contradictory to making the game feel rewarding to play, because you're either gonna make yourself stronger during your run, or you'll get currency you need - and this choice shouldn't need to exist in a game that is this grindy in the first place. Having good runs should translate into getting plenty resources you need. This deviation screams bloat through currencies and doesn't make the game feel rewarding to play.
TL;DR game has currency/grind bloat and the damage numbers seem off. Lots of bullet sponge/shield enemies - combat (and boons) don't feel satisfying, rewarding nor interestingly challenging
My recommendation: play Hades 1, wait for this game to get balanced
2021
throws you into a promising, beautiful world with a mysterious atmosphere... but the initial interest wears off quick as you realize how haphazardly a lot of elements are thrown together: pick-ups that only serve a shield-refreshing purpose in a game where death is swift but inconsequential. platforming challenges that fluctuate between very simple to difficulty through jankiness. arduous narrative exposition. -- all a bit of a letdown coming from the people who made something as uncompromising and self-assured as hyper light drifter.
PROS
+ Primals
+ Dungeons and alliance raids
+ Select cutscenes were really great and powerful
+ A few great, fun and lovable characters
+ Character customization features (glamours, dyes)
+ Collectibles (minions, mounts)
+ Emotes and the general virtual social atmosphere
+ The Golden Saucer
OK
o Voice acting is hit or miss - both in quality and how interesting the parts that are voiced are; most of the time it's not even available which is fine because things aren't important but then there are a handful of really cool moments towards the tail end of ARR that aren't voiced? Oddly inconsistent.
CONS
- High amount of filler in form of fetch quests such as having to go back and forth between places multiple times or collecting 2 animal skins and what have you.
- Lots of cutscenes. They get better in the later part of the game (Lv 45+) but for the most part, you're better off skim-reading or skipping them entirely because it's really not interesting and will burn you out.
- Gating of unlocking mechanics and classes via progress with the Main Story Quest // I really wanted to take a step back from it every now and then and play some other fun-looking classes but they were locked behind finishing ARR, so that made things more annoying as well. It gates people dedicated to crafting classes as well, so keep in mind you'll have to progress with it if you plan on getting to the higher levels of crafting.
- The monetization. Playing as a free trial account means you're severely inhibited (no party creation, joining Free Company or accessing the market), therefore requiring you to have friends with full accounts to make parties. Once you've bought the game, you won't have those problems anymore but there's still a monthly sub fee AND a cash shop. Yikes.
----
I reached the end of ARR with 4 days 5 hours and 11 minutes of playtime, which of course included some idling, job quests and playing around in the Golden Saucer to a certain extent but is still a considerable amount of time to get through this seeing as I mainly powered through the MSQ. It would've taken even longer if I didn't have friends who had full accounts either to make parties with as the Free Trial is so limited that you can't make parties, join Free Companies or use the market. Definitely don't start this game alone because chances are you're gonna burn out hard and preferably bring along friends who have already bought-in or are willing to buy in to actually make it possible for y'all to play together. I do recommend anyone getting it to push through with the Free Trial as long as they can before buying in. My personal breaking point was Lv 52.
Looking back with the knowledge and the experience I had, I would've opted to buy an ARR story completion for $10 and then looked through the important cutscenes myself as the MSQ, despite some great moments, wasn't really a great experience as a whole.
All that being said, while I cannot endorse ARR and think it is overbearingly a slog, I do really love a lot of things about this game and consider myself quite hooked - which should tell you how strong the game is in other aspects. Looking forward to experiencing Heavensward, which is a highly-praised expansion in comparison, and having a better time story-wise.
+ Primals
+ Dungeons and alliance raids
+ Select cutscenes were really great and powerful
+ A few great, fun and lovable characters
+ Character customization features (glamours, dyes)
+ Collectibles (minions, mounts)
+ Emotes and the general virtual social atmosphere
+ The Golden Saucer
OK
o Voice acting is hit or miss - both in quality and how interesting the parts that are voiced are; most of the time it's not even available which is fine because things aren't important but then there are a handful of really cool moments towards the tail end of ARR that aren't voiced? Oddly inconsistent.
CONS
- High amount of filler in form of fetch quests such as having to go back and forth between places multiple times or collecting 2 animal skins and what have you.
- Lots of cutscenes. They get better in the later part of the game (Lv 45+) but for the most part, you're better off skim-reading or skipping them entirely because it's really not interesting and will burn you out.
- Gating of unlocking mechanics and classes via progress with the Main Story Quest // I really wanted to take a step back from it every now and then and play some other fun-looking classes but they were locked behind finishing ARR, so that made things more annoying as well. It gates people dedicated to crafting classes as well, so keep in mind you'll have to progress with it if you plan on getting to the higher levels of crafting.
- The monetization. Playing as a free trial account means you're severely inhibited (no party creation, joining Free Company or accessing the market), therefore requiring you to have friends with full accounts to make parties. Once you've bought the game, you won't have those problems anymore but there's still a monthly sub fee AND a cash shop. Yikes.
----
I reached the end of ARR with 4 days 5 hours and 11 minutes of playtime, which of course included some idling, job quests and playing around in the Golden Saucer to a certain extent but is still a considerable amount of time to get through this seeing as I mainly powered through the MSQ. It would've taken even longer if I didn't have friends who had full accounts either to make parties with as the Free Trial is so limited that you can't make parties, join Free Companies or use the market. Definitely don't start this game alone because chances are you're gonna burn out hard and preferably bring along friends who have already bought-in or are willing to buy in to actually make it possible for y'all to play together. I do recommend anyone getting it to push through with the Free Trial as long as they can before buying in. My personal breaking point was Lv 52.
Looking back with the knowledge and the experience I had, I would've opted to buy an ARR story completion for $10 and then looked through the important cutscenes myself as the MSQ, despite some great moments, wasn't really a great experience as a whole.
All that being said, while I cannot endorse ARR and think it is overbearingly a slog, I do really love a lot of things about this game and consider myself quite hooked - which should tell you how strong the game is in other aspects. Looking forward to experiencing Heavensward, which is a highly-praised expansion in comparison, and having a better time story-wise.
PROS
+ Varied themed dungeons with fashionable loot & sweet collectibles
+ Challenging trials with amazing setpieces and great soundtracks
+ Cool beast tribes with worthwhile and cool rewards
+ Samurai and Red Mage as new classes
+ The Far East offers a beautiful new big city and great areas: fun to traverse, explore & look at (A step up from HW!)
+ Sadu & Cirina
TO BE EXPLORED (Will be updated at a later date)
+ Raids & alliance raids
+ Eureka
CONS
+ Quick time events: When they first appeared in a trial (!), I was pretty shook. I find them annoying and repetitive. Nevermind the accessibility issues they are connected to. Wish they'd just add a button to click and fill those gauges as an option.
+ Its politics: I'm not even gonna start. This wouldn't even be such a big deal if the game wasn't perpetually trying to make itself look smart when it presents you with the most terrible political opinions. Like when it keeps on trying to sit down and compromise with fascists. You're better off skipping every singular political talk cutscene in this game. There's one good moment when you're in Gyr Abania for the 2nd time, but it is only a moment
+ MSQ: The more-cohesive and focused approach of HW is gone. In SB we're presented with 2 different big places for the story and it makes sure to start you off with the worse one: Gyr Abania. If you remember the Camp Drybone/Ala Mhigo arcs on ARR it should give you an idea, just imagine a big focus on overlong instances as the cherry on top. I genuinely shelved the MSQ multiple times before I made it over this hump because not only was it annoying, it was incredibly boring. The big villain we're presented with here is probably one of the most laughable and worst villains in fiction: Zenos. He's the one you're gonna encounter multiple times, and everytime it's a completely ridiculous, overlong instance where you're trapped in a state of extreme boredom as all you have to do is dodge his spells in a circle for what feels like eternity. Ugh. I've seen people defend this as a build-up with future pay-off, but especially since having finished the expansion... No. To me, this reads as cheap playtime-padding when you consider how unclear duties can be with direction, points of failure, how you can't start them in 'Very Easy' (only if you've died in them once) and and how long they generally take in SB. And the worst part is: even when you've finished those, Zenos will pull something out of his magician's hat and keep on living and haunting you in future instances. It's incredibly annoying, unrewarding, boring and even worse for a game that already struggles at achieving a modicum of decent pacing with it's MSQ. If that wasn't enough, the Gyr Abania/Ala Mhigo is one of the worst written stories you can find here, too. And the maps are a pain to maneuver and dull to look at. An all-around awful time.
On the flipside, we have The Far East where we have a way more engaging and decently-paced story. It still suffers from overall instance overuse (seriously, who's idea was it to put MORE solo instances into an MMORPG?) and not every red thread leads to a satisfying end, but it's overall a good time. The environments are pretty to look at and fresh, we get chances to play with the new diving ability and it definitely has not only way more breathing room between instances, but they're also not drawn-out ridiculous and pointless instances like the ones vs. Zenos. We learn more about the Far East, the tribes who inhabit it and the conflicts while spending a lot of time with certain Scions and if you like them, you're pretty safely going to have a decent time. When we hit the post-SB content, we get to where the story really shines, with the Asahi arc being one of my favourites in the entire game!!! Here, we have interesting villains, actual stakes and turns at play and a satisfying conclusion to round it all off.
All in all, Stormblood, whilst not as overall lackluster and unengaging as ARR in terms of the MSQ and pacing, has some really rough and terrible spots (namely pretty much all of Gyr Abania, which you'll visit twice). If you can make it through the bad parts and reach the Far East areas, it should give you enough engaging and interesting scenery and challenges to rejuvenate your interest in the expansion and make you able to power through the rest. Some of the things you have to look forward to: Kugane is a blast to hang out in and traverse. The Namazu are hilarious and the Kojin are cool as heck. The Anantas are badass. The trials really push you and contain the most amazing setpieces and fights the game has offered yet and I can't wait to play them on Extreme. The story has some really sweet highlights and a satisfying ending. All I wish is that the good stuff wasn't so wrapped up and gated by some of the worst pacing, blatant playtime-padding and unengaging writing in video games I've ever witnessed.
+ Varied themed dungeons with fashionable loot & sweet collectibles
+ Challenging trials with amazing setpieces and great soundtracks
+ Cool beast tribes with worthwhile and cool rewards
+ Samurai and Red Mage as new classes
+ The Far East offers a beautiful new big city and great areas: fun to traverse, explore & look at (A step up from HW!)
+ Sadu & Cirina
TO BE EXPLORED (Will be updated at a later date)
+ Raids & alliance raids
+ Eureka
CONS
+ Quick time events: When they first appeared in a trial (!), I was pretty shook. I find them annoying and repetitive. Nevermind the accessibility issues they are connected to. Wish they'd just add a button to click and fill those gauges as an option.
+ Its politics: I'm not even gonna start. This wouldn't even be such a big deal if the game wasn't perpetually trying to make itself look smart when it presents you with the most terrible political opinions. Like when it keeps on trying to sit down and compromise with fascists. You're better off skipping every singular political talk cutscene in this game. There's one good moment when you're in Gyr Abania for the 2nd time, but it is only a moment
+ MSQ: The more-cohesive and focused approach of HW is gone. In SB we're presented with 2 different big places for the story and it makes sure to start you off with the worse one: Gyr Abania. If you remember the Camp Drybone/Ala Mhigo arcs on ARR it should give you an idea, just imagine a big focus on overlong instances as the cherry on top. I genuinely shelved the MSQ multiple times before I made it over this hump because not only was it annoying, it was incredibly boring. The big villain we're presented with here is probably one of the most laughable and worst villains in fiction: Zenos. He's the one you're gonna encounter multiple times, and everytime it's a completely ridiculous, overlong instance where you're trapped in a state of extreme boredom as all you have to do is dodge his spells in a circle for what feels like eternity. Ugh. I've seen people defend this as a build-up with future pay-off, but especially since having finished the expansion... No. To me, this reads as cheap playtime-padding when you consider how unclear duties can be with direction, points of failure, how you can't start them in 'Very Easy' (only if you've died in them once) and and how long they generally take in SB. And the worst part is: even when you've finished those, Zenos will pull something out of his magician's hat and keep on living and haunting you in future instances. It's incredibly annoying, unrewarding, boring and even worse for a game that already struggles at achieving a modicum of decent pacing with it's MSQ. If that wasn't enough, the Gyr Abania/Ala Mhigo is one of the worst written stories you can find here, too. And the maps are a pain to maneuver and dull to look at. An all-around awful time.
On the flipside, we have The Far East where we have a way more engaging and decently-paced story. It still suffers from overall instance overuse (seriously, who's idea was it to put MORE solo instances into an MMORPG?) and not every red thread leads to a satisfying end, but it's overall a good time. The environments are pretty to look at and fresh, we get chances to play with the new diving ability and it definitely has not only way more breathing room between instances, but they're also not drawn-out ridiculous and pointless instances like the ones vs. Zenos. We learn more about the Far East, the tribes who inhabit it and the conflicts while spending a lot of time with certain Scions and if you like them, you're pretty safely going to have a decent time. When we hit the post-SB content, we get to where the story really shines, with the Asahi arc being one of my favourites in the entire game!!! Here, we have interesting villains, actual stakes and turns at play and a satisfying conclusion to round it all off.
All in all, Stormblood, whilst not as overall lackluster and unengaging as ARR in terms of the MSQ and pacing, has some really rough and terrible spots (namely pretty much all of Gyr Abania, which you'll visit twice). If you can make it through the bad parts and reach the Far East areas, it should give you enough engaging and interesting scenery and challenges to rejuvenate your interest in the expansion and make you able to power through the rest. Some of the things you have to look forward to: Kugane is a blast to hang out in and traverse. The Namazu are hilarious and the Kojin are cool as heck. The Anantas are badass. The trials really push you and contain the most amazing setpieces and fights the game has offered yet and I can't wait to play them on Extreme. The story has some really sweet highlights and a satisfying ending. All I wish is that the good stuff wasn't so wrapped up and gated by some of the worst pacing, blatant playtime-padding and unengaging writing in video games I've ever witnessed.
lighthearted & breezy platformer romp through six different worlds. the new elephant power is good fun, but the absolute highlight is how often the game offers beautifully animated divergences with new ways to overcome obstacles - sometimes in complete transformation of the level you're in - keeping it fresh and engaging. all wrapped up in wonderfully expressive presentation with a lovely soundtrack. (played through it all as daisy, of course!)
2019
NO OPTION TO TURN OFF FLASHING/STROBE LIGHTS
Played fine for 5h until I got to a segment with intense strobe/flashing lights (part of an encounter/puzzle).
Tried to find an option to turn it off but there is NONE. And from what I've read, there are more intense strobe/flashing lights parts down the line, especially in the DLC.
One would hope a game released in 2019 had this kind of accessibility option...
Played fine for 5h until I got to a segment with intense strobe/flashing lights (part of an encounter/puzzle).
Tried to find an option to turn it off but there is NONE. And from what I've read, there are more intense strobe/flashing lights parts down the line, especially in the DLC.
One would hope a game released in 2019 had this kind of accessibility option...
great gowns, beautiful gowns...
2019
Content warning: photosensitivity
Video settings merely consist of resolution and fullscreen on/off, so it's impossible to slow down or remove the super quick and constant light flickering, which makes it unplayable for me.
Video settings merely consist of resolution and fullscreen on/off, so it's impossible to slow down or remove the super quick and constant light flickering, which makes it unplayable for me.
2024
warning: loud high-pitched noise first thing after you press start
cute bite-sized dungeon crawler whose story changes depending on your choices. made for repeat playthroughs as the first run where you're figuring out how to solve the combat encounters should take 30-40min max.
appreciate the yuri energy, would enjoy more in the same vein <3
cute bite-sized dungeon crawler whose story changes depending on your choices. made for repeat playthroughs as the first run where you're figuring out how to solve the combat encounters should take 30-40min max.
appreciate the yuri energy, would enjoy more in the same vein <3
2024
co-op horror where you & your friends are encouraged to get up close and personal with monsters to record them - a welcome difference! the cherry on top is getting back to base & sitting down on the couch to take a good look at what's on tape -- i died laughing in the middle of the night
By finally leaning heavily into the fantasy aspects, greatly improving on the pacing of its predecessors and refining components of the core gameplay loops, Shadowbringers finally sees FFXIV come into its own. And it's a joy to behold. With setpieces even more impressive than they were before and a genuinely compelling narrative overall. Third time really is the charm, huh? Because this one's great.
2019
a carbon copy of bl2 with a pretend-fresh coat of paint. the same old remains: obtrusive narration with obnoxious writing, OK combat bogged down by a tired, uninvolving loot system - packaged within an open world that feels empty and lifeless. everything seems predetermined; there's nothing exciting at the end of these long roads.
PROS
+ A cohesive and focused story with decent pacing
+ Great themed dungeons & trials with amazing setpieces
+ Fair share of lovable characters to keep the spirits high
+ Lots of dragons & the new beast tribes are great. Moogles!
+ Fun new classes. Machinist & Astrologian played so far; will try out Dark Knight at a later time
CONS
- Aether Currents unlocking is incredibly tedious
- A handful of fetch and "go to this point @ the other end of the world and afterwards come back right here, actually" quests remain; it can't quite shake the old MMORPG habit yet
- More aristocrat, bourgeoisie bootlicking and disdain for the lower class; it's undeniably baked in the core story and is simply more apparent here, but it gets particularly offputting in the beginning of the post-HW story
- Post-HW story feels a bit aimless at times and has a worse pacing
+ A cohesive and focused story with decent pacing
+ Great themed dungeons & trials with amazing setpieces
+ Fair share of lovable characters to keep the spirits high
+ Lots of dragons & the new beast tribes are great. Moogles!
+ Fun new classes. Machinist & Astrologian played so far; will try out Dark Knight at a later time
CONS
- Aether Currents unlocking is incredibly tedious
- A handful of fetch and "go to this point @ the other end of the world and afterwards come back right here, actually" quests remain; it can't quite shake the old MMORPG habit yet
- More aristocrat, bourgeoisie bootlicking and disdain for the lower class; it's undeniably baked in the core story and is simply more apparent here, but it gets particularly offputting in the beginning of the post-HW story
- Post-HW story feels a bit aimless at times and has a worse pacing