basedgod420
1988
I appreciate Final Fantasy II's commitment to burning down everything from the first game in pursuit of something new, but the execution unfortunately fumbles the interesting ideas swirling around under the hood.
The conversation system and "growth through use" system are both great ideas on paper, but they never really take off. The conversation system is very basic, and the growth system is too obscure to actually grasp, and the actual system is so obscure that it makes the pacing feel glacial.
The dungeon design in this game is awful. The encounter rate is through the roof, and I need to know who decided to put 10+ doors to empty rooms in every single dungeon. Absolutely bonkers design choices. All of the new enemy designs are great, and it's nice to see the developers creating their own monsters instead of taking them directly from the DnD manual.
Overall, this game was a nice oddity, and the Pixel Remaster is beautiful. The score is great, the tone is beginning to feel more like final fantasy, and while the combat system is a mess, the introduction of "target all" and the idea of tailoring classes in your own way are all great adds to the series (even if they didn't end up working as intended).
The conversation system and "growth through use" system are both great ideas on paper, but they never really take off. The conversation system is very basic, and the growth system is too obscure to actually grasp, and the actual system is so obscure that it makes the pacing feel glacial.
The dungeon design in this game is awful. The encounter rate is through the roof, and I need to know who decided to put 10+ doors to empty rooms in every single dungeon. Absolutely bonkers design choices. All of the new enemy designs are great, and it's nice to see the developers creating their own monsters instead of taking them directly from the DnD manual.
Overall, this game was a nice oddity, and the Pixel Remaster is beautiful. The score is great, the tone is beginning to feel more like final fantasy, and while the combat system is a mess, the introduction of "target all" and the idea of tailoring classes in your own way are all great adds to the series (even if they didn't end up working as intended).
2016
With an immaculately paced campaign that knows when to pack in it's gimmicks before you get sick of them, Titanfall 2 is what I wanted out of Doom 2016, all fluid motion and hyperviolence. With a vaguely anti-colonialist plot that is touched upon in the opening minutes and then eschewed for a rather vanilla tale of friendship between a man and his mech, Titanfall doesn't really give you time to think about its flimsy story in between truly jaw dropping set pieces. Mechanically this is the most entertaining movement system I've ever played in a shooter, despite the wall runs occasionally feeling a bit wonky. It's run time is rather short (I beat it in about 4 hours), but Titanfall 2 knows not to overstay its welcome in one of the tightest FPS campaigns I've played in years, if not ever. Level design as spectacle. The Doom we deserve.
a warm blanket of a game, the first game I ever beat as a kid. My grandparents bought an N64 to play golf games on (and to lure their grandkids over for more visits) and I think back on the days hunched over in front of the CRT in their backroom fondly!
I know everything there is to know about this game, and going back to it always feels good. I think as a whole I prefer the sequel, but this was my first, and will always be a favourite game.
I know everything there is to know about this game, and going back to it always feels good. I think as a whole I prefer the sequel, but this was my first, and will always be a favourite game.
2021
SMT V seems to be getting a fair amount of criticism for its plot, but I played Nocturne and can say that it's about as sparse as this. I don't think that a super deep plot is something I'm looking for in my SMT game, and this game cuts straight to the core of why I personally seek out this series: it has one of the most engaging combat systems in any JRPG series, and an untouchable art direction.
The press turn system makes this game. Fusing up demons and tinkering with your team is fun, and strategizing actually matters. By the end of the game I found I was fretting over every little detail of every battle, from turn order to stats to move pool, and having an absolute blast as I got repeatedly owned by some of the tougher encounters. A real standout is the superboss required to get the secret ending, who is a true punisher and really forces you into using every trick you have learned throughout the game.
SMT V's art direction is truly untouchable. Every aspect of this game feels like thought and care was poured into it. In typical Atlus fashion every single menu oozes with life and personality. The soundtrack is amazing, and I love the synthetic sound palette they use to give everything an otherworldly, cold feeling (for real, has a game set in a desert ever felt this cold?). A real standout for me was the Cadavers Hollow theme, as well as the overworld music in the first open world area. I love how the sand sparkles when under shadow, and how each area has its own distinct colour palette. So much to take in here both visually and sonically on a design level.
The demon design and animation is unparalleled, and coming off Pokemon Arceus it really made that game look bad lol. There are so many demons, and they are all lovingly animated. Some dance around, while others flail swords or spin weapons on one of their many arms. The attack animations are beautiful, with the unique animations in particular looking great.
Finally, a lot of people are complaining about the writing in this game, but I actually found the writing to be very good in general. The demon's are all so nasty, I was always amped to run into a new one to see what they had to say. While the main story may not be what people wanted, I do think on a smaller scale the writing is amazing, with each interaction solidifying the tone of this world.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 sucked me in for 105 hours, and I would have been happy spending an additional 105 hours exploring Da'at and talking to nasty little freaks.
The press turn system makes this game. Fusing up demons and tinkering with your team is fun, and strategizing actually matters. By the end of the game I found I was fretting over every little detail of every battle, from turn order to stats to move pool, and having an absolute blast as I got repeatedly owned by some of the tougher encounters. A real standout is the superboss required to get the secret ending, who is a true punisher and really forces you into using every trick you have learned throughout the game.
SMT V's art direction is truly untouchable. Every aspect of this game feels like thought and care was poured into it. In typical Atlus fashion every single menu oozes with life and personality. The soundtrack is amazing, and I love the synthetic sound palette they use to give everything an otherworldly, cold feeling (for real, has a game set in a desert ever felt this cold?). A real standout for me was the Cadavers Hollow theme, as well as the overworld music in the first open world area. I love how the sand sparkles when under shadow, and how each area has its own distinct colour palette. So much to take in here both visually and sonically on a design level.
The demon design and animation is unparalleled, and coming off Pokemon Arceus it really made that game look bad lol. There are so many demons, and they are all lovingly animated. Some dance around, while others flail swords or spin weapons on one of their many arms. The attack animations are beautiful, with the unique animations in particular looking great.
Finally, a lot of people are complaining about the writing in this game, but I actually found the writing to be very good in general. The demon's are all so nasty, I was always amped to run into a new one to see what they had to say. While the main story may not be what people wanted, I do think on a smaller scale the writing is amazing, with each interaction solidifying the tone of this world.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 sucked me in for 105 hours, and I would have been happy spending an additional 105 hours exploring Da'at and talking to nasty little freaks.
Final Fantasy 8 is the 4th game of the series I have completed, and the first in which I feel like I have an understanding of the tropes and what to expect going in.
This game has a lot going for it, I love the aesthetic and the absolutely insane plot. The soundtrack is very sick, with an obvious prog influence, and Squall may be my favorite of the FF protagonists I have played as so far. The way the story makes you slowly understand his cold demeanor is handled very well, and in general I think the forced splitting of the party in a number of sections worked well for making me care about the characters, though I do prefer the "each town gives backstory on the party" structure that won me over in 7.
The structure of the plot itself falls victim to some rough pacing, especially in the initial few hours of the game. It would have been a better starting point to have the game open with the party on their SEED Exam, and not explain what was happening, then have it reveal that these were child soldiers who are in killing machine school. Speaking of which, it's really funny to me that this plot point is never explored more in depth. These children are being trained as high level mercenaries, and are being sent to enact coups, and not once does anyone slow down and question the ethics of the situation. Really funny imo.
The junction system is something that I didn't really love, but I respect the effort that went into trying to build a new system from the ground up. That being said, the GF animations are wayyyyy too long, and it's a chore to use your summon in battle as you are going to be locked into watching the same minute long animation on repeat. I actually like the draw system, and think it's an interesting way to force the player into making hard choices in battle.
Finally, as far as plot points go, I love that this game has it all: time travel, amnesia, going to space, doing a political assassination against an evil witch who is the president. Really dumbass stuff, delivered totally straight faced. You gotta respect that.
This game has a lot going for it, I love the aesthetic and the absolutely insane plot. The soundtrack is very sick, with an obvious prog influence, and Squall may be my favorite of the FF protagonists I have played as so far. The way the story makes you slowly understand his cold demeanor is handled very well, and in general I think the forced splitting of the party in a number of sections worked well for making me care about the characters, though I do prefer the "each town gives backstory on the party" structure that won me over in 7.
The structure of the plot itself falls victim to some rough pacing, especially in the initial few hours of the game. It would have been a better starting point to have the game open with the party on their SEED Exam, and not explain what was happening, then have it reveal that these were child soldiers who are in killing machine school. Speaking of which, it's really funny to me that this plot point is never explored more in depth. These children are being trained as high level mercenaries, and are being sent to enact coups, and not once does anyone slow down and question the ethics of the situation. Really funny imo.
The junction system is something that I didn't really love, but I respect the effort that went into trying to build a new system from the ground up. That being said, the GF animations are wayyyyy too long, and it's a chore to use your summon in battle as you are going to be locked into watching the same minute long animation on repeat. I actually like the draw system, and think it's an interesting way to force the player into making hard choices in battle.
Finally, as far as plot points go, I love that this game has it all: time travel, amnesia, going to space, doing a political assassination against an evil witch who is the president. Really dumbass stuff, delivered totally straight faced. You gotta respect that.
1991
Great aesthetic and a banging soundtrack, but lacking in any sort of depth. Felt like a pretty blatant quarter gobbler, but that's probably just because I suck ass at Beat Em Ups.
Trying to get into this genre more, which I have always considered my least fav. I'll be playing through the capcom and cowabunga collections, with some newer additions thrown in as well. If anyone has any god tier beat em up recs please throw them my way.
Trying to get into this genre more, which I have always considered my least fav. I'll be playing through the capcom and cowabunga collections, with some newer additions thrown in as well. If anyone has any god tier beat em up recs please throw them my way.
2002
Man, this one hurts. In my mind, Super Mario Sunshine was always given a bad rap. People love to hate on it, and I always thought they were just being soulless grumps. The Vibe is untouchable! How could you hate Mario on the beach!
I was wrong, and the haters are right. Mario is so fun to control, and the FLUDD mechanic works well enough, but the game is constantly piling janky gimmicks on you to work around that are frustrating at best and unplayable bad at worst. I thought the Pachinko machine was the worst of the gimmicks when thinking back on this game, an odd outlier in a charming romp. I was wrong! Almost every shine is a mess. I game overed 3 times on the blooper red coin shine in Ricco Harbor crashing into the dock that the shine was on. I had to stop playing on the god awful Gelato Beach watermelon shine because it was driving me insane. The boat mechanic in Corona Mountain almost made me give up on beating the last boss, like 5 minutes away from the ending. It's a mess!
Outside of the actual gameplay, there is a lot to like setting and story wise. The plot about Bowser Jr trying to kidnap Peach because she's his mom has weird implications. Is Bowser hitting it raw? if so, what a legend. It's also weird that they made FLUDD sentient to me, as it never really comes into play? It barely talks to you, and you don't really develop any sort of connection to it, it never transcends tool status to the point of being a character (which makes the fake out death at the end feel weird and out of place? who cares, its literally a pump, Mario can get a new one).
the levels themselves look great, and like I said controlling Mario is fluid and fun. Also, this has some of the best music in any Nintendo game. Delfino Plaza theme is an all timer.
TL:DR - As a long time defender of this game, I was very disappointed to find that when you remove the kid goggles, its kind of unplayable? bummer!
I was wrong, and the haters are right. Mario is so fun to control, and the FLUDD mechanic works well enough, but the game is constantly piling janky gimmicks on you to work around that are frustrating at best and unplayable bad at worst. I thought the Pachinko machine was the worst of the gimmicks when thinking back on this game, an odd outlier in a charming romp. I was wrong! Almost every shine is a mess. I game overed 3 times on the blooper red coin shine in Ricco Harbor crashing into the dock that the shine was on. I had to stop playing on the god awful Gelato Beach watermelon shine because it was driving me insane. The boat mechanic in Corona Mountain almost made me give up on beating the last boss, like 5 minutes away from the ending. It's a mess!
Outside of the actual gameplay, there is a lot to like setting and story wise. The plot about Bowser Jr trying to kidnap Peach because she's his mom has weird implications. Is Bowser hitting it raw? if so, what a legend. It's also weird that they made FLUDD sentient to me, as it never really comes into play? It barely talks to you, and you don't really develop any sort of connection to it, it never transcends tool status to the point of being a character (which makes the fake out death at the end feel weird and out of place? who cares, its literally a pump, Mario can get a new one).
the levels themselves look great, and like I said controlling Mario is fluid and fun. Also, this has some of the best music in any Nintendo game. Delfino Plaza theme is an all timer.
TL:DR - As a long time defender of this game, I was very disappointed to find that when you remove the kid goggles, its kind of unplayable? bummer!
After having a blast ripping and tearing my way through the atmospheric moonbases and metal-album-cover hellscapes of Doom 93 I was excited to keep the pain train rolling with Doom II.
Unfortunately most of the design choices that made the original work so well were lost in the wash when designing a sequel.
The tight 3 acts of the first doom are replaced with one long string of 32 levels, which doesn't work as well pacing wise imo, instead of letting the stakes build and wiping the slate clean you get stuck in this long slog of levels where a death means you are fucked because you should have the BFG by this point (and dying strips you of all of your weapons, something that was the case in Doom 1 but mattered less as the 9 level scenarios meant you accumulated supplies from scratch every few levels anyways)
Essentially, it just makes it so you have to rely on the quicksave feature a lot more, and save scum your way through the many (MANY) ambushes that WILL kill you unexpectedly, and also the many death pits that await (notably more than in the first game).
Also, prepare to have a walkthrough open if you want to get through this with your sanity in tact. In Doom 93, the level design made sense: if you needed a key, most of the time you could see where it was through a window or from some vantage point, signaling the direction to go. There is some gimmicky bs, but in Doom 2 I would get lost every level and just roam endlessly until giving in and looking up where to go, only to find the most esoteric solution to the puzzle. The worst offender is in the tenement level, where you get stuck roaming only to find out you need to bump into a specific skull decoration to open a door, a decoration that is not unique to this level and has never had this function in the past. Some real atrocious "level design 101" stuff not to do level gimmicks.
The story is about as deep as I expected, but switching up the setting and making a chunk of the action take place in a city was a cool call (even if the limitations of the time really just make the city levels a bunch of kind of boring blocks)
Despite these gripes, its not all bad: super shotgun truly rocks, so do the new monster designs, despite being very annoying. The revenant is scary as hell even in 2d, and the icon of sin is the definition of metal album cover inspired doom design. very sick. When you boil it down, blasting through demons with you shotgun is still as fun as ever, but some bad pacing and level design choices make this game notably less enjoyable than it's predecessor.
Unfortunately most of the design choices that made the original work so well were lost in the wash when designing a sequel.
The tight 3 acts of the first doom are replaced with one long string of 32 levels, which doesn't work as well pacing wise imo, instead of letting the stakes build and wiping the slate clean you get stuck in this long slog of levels where a death means you are fucked because you should have the BFG by this point (and dying strips you of all of your weapons, something that was the case in Doom 1 but mattered less as the 9 level scenarios meant you accumulated supplies from scratch every few levels anyways)
Essentially, it just makes it so you have to rely on the quicksave feature a lot more, and save scum your way through the many (MANY) ambushes that WILL kill you unexpectedly, and also the many death pits that await (notably more than in the first game).
Also, prepare to have a walkthrough open if you want to get through this with your sanity in tact. In Doom 93, the level design made sense: if you needed a key, most of the time you could see where it was through a window or from some vantage point, signaling the direction to go. There is some gimmicky bs, but in Doom 2 I would get lost every level and just roam endlessly until giving in and looking up where to go, only to find the most esoteric solution to the puzzle. The worst offender is in the tenement level, where you get stuck roaming only to find out you need to bump into a specific skull decoration to open a door, a decoration that is not unique to this level and has never had this function in the past. Some real atrocious "level design 101" stuff not to do level gimmicks.
The story is about as deep as I expected, but switching up the setting and making a chunk of the action take place in a city was a cool call (even if the limitations of the time really just make the city levels a bunch of kind of boring blocks)
Despite these gripes, its not all bad: super shotgun truly rocks, so do the new monster designs, despite being very annoying. The revenant is scary as hell even in 2d, and the icon of sin is the definition of metal album cover inspired doom design. very sick. When you boil it down, blasting through demons with you shotgun is still as fun as ever, but some bad pacing and level design choices make this game notably less enjoyable than it's predecessor.
1989
Mike Haggar rolling around metro city kicking the shit out of every poor person in sight is awful optics for any sort of political campaign. This one was pretty fun! Still pretty simple, but the flow of the combat felt good and it rocks piledriving and drop kicking guys. The aesthetic goes a long way here. Enjoyed this one more than Knights of the Round, some good mindless bashing.
Kentucky Route Zero is without a doubt the most pretentious game I have ever played. I would be ok with that, if the plot warranted such pretentions, but unfortunately a lot of the story beats in KRZ didn't really resonate with me. I don't think this game is nearly as deep as gamers think it is. So much ink has been spilled over "the american dream", and I don't think this has anything new or insightful to add about the current state of modern north american life. Yes, capitalism is bad. Yes, most people are forced into indentured slavery due to insurmountable debt. Yes, the system is rotten to the core, and we need to find our own happiness through....the power of friendship. I'm sure all of this would seem groundbreaking if you have never checks notes read a single book in your life, but I have had this story rehashed and retold in every artistic medium over and over again for decades. Also I am still salty about having to sit through a fucking hour long play in this game. The whole thing reeks of something some brutal undergrad student would try to convince me is deep at a house party.
Despite my overall gripes, I can appreciate some of the narrative experimentation this game does pull off. Having a non-static main character is nothing new in games, but switching characters mid-conversation creates an interesting disorientation of self and presents a way to exposit the inner thoughts of characters in a way I haven't seen before. Also, some of the actual gameplay itself is really unique; there are many small moments that stick out, and I found myself consistently caught off guard by small gameplay choices that I will not spoil here. I think that breaking this game up into chapters works ok, but also led to a wildly inconsistent tone that may have worked when playing each chapter years apart, but doesn't really work when playing the game over the span of a week or two.
I sat for two weeks after completing this game before I wrote about it, hoping that mulling it over a bit more would let me draw out more nuance from what I had just engaged with, and hindsight would allow me to appreciate the whole more. Unfortunately, my take on the game hasn't changed much since the credits rolled. I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, and I can understand why, but unfortunately the storytelling didn't resonate with me in any profound way. It's worth playing, as a piece of experimental storytelling, but it's not the decade defining piece of art it has been hyped up to be.
Despite my overall gripes, I can appreciate some of the narrative experimentation this game does pull off. Having a non-static main character is nothing new in games, but switching characters mid-conversation creates an interesting disorientation of self and presents a way to exposit the inner thoughts of characters in a way I haven't seen before. Also, some of the actual gameplay itself is really unique; there are many small moments that stick out, and I found myself consistently caught off guard by small gameplay choices that I will not spoil here. I think that breaking this game up into chapters works ok, but also led to a wildly inconsistent tone that may have worked when playing each chapter years apart, but doesn't really work when playing the game over the span of a week or two.
I sat for two weeks after completing this game before I wrote about it, hoping that mulling it over a bit more would let me draw out more nuance from what I had just engaged with, and hindsight would allow me to appreciate the whole more. Unfortunately, my take on the game hasn't changed much since the credits rolled. I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, and I can understand why, but unfortunately the storytelling didn't resonate with me in any profound way. It's worth playing, as a piece of experimental storytelling, but it's not the decade defining piece of art it has been hyped up to be.
"What makes something a Final Fantasy game?" was a question posed to me by a friend when I told them I was planning on playing through the series for the first time. This question has stuck in the back of my mind as I've worked through the series, and as I get to ff12 I am not sure I have a definitive answer. I can say that ff12 has little in common with the other 5 games I have played in the series, though there is a thread of familiarity that would echo through when I least expected it.
The world of Ivalice feels vast, lived in, and rich with history. Towns are bustling (I cannot believe how many NPC's are in this game, and how much dialogue was written for them), the countryside is home to both breathtaking oceanfront vistas and harsh deserts. The monsters that inhabit the world are generally very inspired, and the actual of traversal of these spaces is a huge improvement on the attempt made to ditch the overworld system first seen in FFX . Ivalice feels huge, with winding roads many dark dungeons to explore. The on-foot travel allowed for a sense of scale that didn't resonate in the "showing your progress by moving a marker on a map" style of X.
The dungeon design is also great. I had mixed feelings about the dungeons at first, but as the story progressed and the spaces the party ventured to grew more complex, I came around on them. This culminates in what I can safely say has been the most challenging Final Fantasy area yet, with a truly daunting endgame dungeon that felt insurmountable. When I eventually got to the end, it felt like a true accomplishment, especially with the gauntlet of very challenging bosses that it also through at me.
The plot is where my real issue lie with FF12. I have found a lot to love as I play through this series, and one consistent standout are the characters who bind these stories together. The main cast of FF12 never really develop, and their motives did not really keep me invested throughout the game. Generally, the characters feel one note: Vaan is a street rat who longs to be a pirate, Penelo is his friend, Ashe is a conflicted deposed ruler, Basch her guard, Balthier and Fran are sky pirates along for the ride who may have some ulterior motives. The strokes for these characters are too broad, and the nuance is forsaken in exchange for the stories emphasis honing in on the large picture political plot. I found that this unfortunately resulted in story beats being confusing, as characters you barely knew listed places you had never been to, and talked of characters you had not met. This left me confused to the motives of many of these factions, and while some of the party members do get more developement in the late game (particularly Balthier and Ashe), the lack of focus on the individual characters who were agents in the broader picture left me wanting more. The story also generally suffers from a pacing issue, with a lot of the themes not being presented in ways that work in their benefit. I wish more focus was placed on the brother stuff that is going on as well, I think a great story could have been told here with a little more focus. One final note on the writing of FF12: I actually really liked the pseudo-shakespearean dialogue of 12, and think it fits well with the sweeping story they are trying to tell. Lot's of weird word choices, and overall great performances from the V/O cast (A huge, huge step up from the cringe of X).
The gambit system is great, lots of weirdness to it, which is always a plus in an FF battle system imo. Loved picking apart what was working and what wasn't, and fine tuning encounters until I was a well oiled killing machine. Enemies who cast nasty status effects keep you on your toes in the late game, and I found I was tinkering with the system throughout my playtime. The system almost works like a puzzle game, and optimizing my gambits was compelling enough to keep me playing. The job system is also amazing, and I love the flexibility it allows. I had a blast planning routes through the boards, and picking multi-class combos for my character. I ended up using the combo of Basch as a tank, Vaan as a Samurai Time Battlemage, and Fran as a bow wielding White Mage and had a blast find tuning my strat for some of the truly punishing late game boss fights.
I may still not have an answer to the question of what makes a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game, but with every game the answer to "What makes a Final Fantasy game a Great Final Fantasy Game" grows less obscure. FF12 comes close to greatness so many times, and if someone told me this was their favourite I would understand, as there is so much to love here. Unfortunately, my issues with the character development and pacing put this on the lower scale of FF games for me.
The world of Ivalice feels vast, lived in, and rich with history. Towns are bustling (I cannot believe how many NPC's are in this game, and how much dialogue was written for them), the countryside is home to both breathtaking oceanfront vistas and harsh deserts. The monsters that inhabit the world are generally very inspired, and the actual of traversal of these spaces is a huge improvement on the attempt made to ditch the overworld system first seen in FFX . Ivalice feels huge, with winding roads many dark dungeons to explore. The on-foot travel allowed for a sense of scale that didn't resonate in the "showing your progress by moving a marker on a map" style of X.
The dungeon design is also great. I had mixed feelings about the dungeons at first, but as the story progressed and the spaces the party ventured to grew more complex, I came around on them. This culminates in what I can safely say has been the most challenging Final Fantasy area yet, with a truly daunting endgame dungeon that felt insurmountable. When I eventually got to the end, it felt like a true accomplishment, especially with the gauntlet of very challenging bosses that it also through at me.
The plot is where my real issue lie with FF12. I have found a lot to love as I play through this series, and one consistent standout are the characters who bind these stories together. The main cast of FF12 never really develop, and their motives did not really keep me invested throughout the game. Generally, the characters feel one note: Vaan is a street rat who longs to be a pirate, Penelo is his friend, Ashe is a conflicted deposed ruler, Basch her guard, Balthier and Fran are sky pirates along for the ride who may have some ulterior motives. The strokes for these characters are too broad, and the nuance is forsaken in exchange for the stories emphasis honing in on the large picture political plot. I found that this unfortunately resulted in story beats being confusing, as characters you barely knew listed places you had never been to, and talked of characters you had not met. This left me confused to the motives of many of these factions, and while some of the party members do get more developement in the late game (particularly Balthier and Ashe), the lack of focus on the individual characters who were agents in the broader picture left me wanting more. The story also generally suffers from a pacing issue, with a lot of the themes not being presented in ways that work in their benefit. I wish more focus was placed on the brother stuff that is going on as well, I think a great story could have been told here with a little more focus. One final note on the writing of FF12: I actually really liked the pseudo-shakespearean dialogue of 12, and think it fits well with the sweeping story they are trying to tell. Lot's of weird word choices, and overall great performances from the V/O cast (A huge, huge step up from the cringe of X).
The gambit system is great, lots of weirdness to it, which is always a plus in an FF battle system imo. Loved picking apart what was working and what wasn't, and fine tuning encounters until I was a well oiled killing machine. Enemies who cast nasty status effects keep you on your toes in the late game, and I found I was tinkering with the system throughout my playtime. The system almost works like a puzzle game, and optimizing my gambits was compelling enough to keep me playing. The job system is also amazing, and I love the flexibility it allows. I had a blast planning routes through the boards, and picking multi-class combos for my character. I ended up using the combo of Basch as a tank, Vaan as a Samurai Time Battlemage, and Fran as a bow wielding White Mage and had a blast find tuning my strat for some of the truly punishing late game boss fights.
I may still not have an answer to the question of what makes a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game, but with every game the answer to "What makes a Final Fantasy game a Great Final Fantasy Game" grows less obscure. FF12 comes close to greatness so many times, and if someone told me this was their favourite I would understand, as there is so much to love here. Unfortunately, my issues with the character development and pacing put this on the lower scale of FF games for me.
1997
Have tried to get through this game a few times, and have always lost steam at the pacing shift after the 6-ish hour mark. This time I was reserved to power through, no matter how rough the shift was, and goddamn was it ever worth it.
Final Fantasy 7 is definetly not technically a perfect game (a lot of the mini-games they force you to play through truly suck, sometimes the path forward can be really esoteric, some characters are underdeveloped), but fuck it, the story is so good and busting the materia system to stomp harder enemies kicks ass.
So many all-timer plot twists that I somehow had no idea were coming, even though [REDACTED]'s death is the "Luke I am your father" of Video Games I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for the hammer to drop.
Hard not to love a game about eco-resistance fighters taking down their neo-feudal corporate overlords with a giant sword. Inspiring.
Really excited to give the remake a shot with this fresh in my mind.
Final Fantasy 7 is definetly not technically a perfect game (a lot of the mini-games they force you to play through truly suck, sometimes the path forward can be really esoteric, some characters are underdeveloped), but fuck it, the story is so good and busting the materia system to stomp harder enemies kicks ass.
So many all-timer plot twists that I somehow had no idea were coming, even though [REDACTED]'s death is the "Luke I am your father" of Video Games I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for the hammer to drop.
Hard not to love a game about eco-resistance fighters taking down their neo-feudal corporate overlords with a giant sword. Inspiring.
Really excited to give the remake a shot with this fresh in my mind.
2017
This game plays like a dream, with unique level concepts that are well implemented. One of the better modern collectathons I've played, would love to see what this group could do with more budget. A more polished version of this could be Game of the Year material.
1987
I was surprised at how little this feels like a final fantasy game. The battle system is pulled from Dungeons and Dragons, as are most of the monsters, and the tone feels very indebted to D&D as well. Interesting to see the foundation of this series. The battle system is simple but still fun, yet I waltzed right through the story, only dying once to the last boss.
Played as much as I could without a guide, but the idea of completing this without one is baffling to me.
Played as much as I could without a guide, but the idea of completing this without one is baffling to me.
2017
I have an issue with metroidvanias, and though I love the classics and have always leaned more towards the castlevania side of things than the metroid one, I have found most of the games that are inspired by symphony of the night and super metroid don't really do it for me, as I would rather just play those games instead.
Hollow Knight shattered my expectations, and I would include it in the same breath as those two foundational games. A detailed world brimming with personality and interesting lore draws you into this game that radiates with the love you can tell was dumped into it by its creators. The bug theme is so clever, and I loved to see all the new enemy types. I thought I disliked the art style when I saw the games promotional material (it screams "hot topic" to me in the worst way possible) but damn was I wrong, this game looks stunning in motion. Worth the hype.
Hollow Knight shattered my expectations, and I would include it in the same breath as those two foundational games. A detailed world brimming with personality and interesting lore draws you into this game that radiates with the love you can tell was dumped into it by its creators. The bug theme is so clever, and I loved to see all the new enemy types. I thought I disliked the art style when I saw the games promotional material (it screams "hot topic" to me in the worst way possible) but damn was I wrong, this game looks stunning in motion. Worth the hype.