ciswoman
BACKER
2021
Shin Megami Tensei V is "what if pokemon sword and shield were good"
okay, hear me out: Pokemon SW/SH transitioned the games into big overworlds with exploration where you can see the enemies and plan out your combats accordingly. now imagine THAT, but (!!!) the combat is actually good. not only that, but the exploration is a lot more fun and rewarding. but wait, instead of cute creatures, your party consists of literal demons all full of distinct personality and dialogue choices required to recruit them. (no shade to pokemon designs, love those little guys)
SMT5 battles are Dark Souls bosses in slow motion. the Magatsuhi charges of your opponents are the attack wind ups and tells, the Dampeners are evasions, the weaknesses are the knowledge gained on each attempt. SMT rewards paying attention and punishes those trying to mash "A" to get through every combat.
the game's pacing is quick. i avoided most optional encounters and ended up at each boss fight at the Just Right level to have a nice challenge without feeling like i needed to go grind. victory is always within your grasp if you're cautious and patient. the game's story is slow to start but quick to ramp up. it's fun, thoughtful, and ridiculous.
i can't overstate how much i used to think i hated JRPGs, save for the rare few like EB/Mother 3, Chrono Trigger, and so on. i fell off of FF7 multiple times about 20 hours in. i bounced off of multiple other series within hours. this game convinced me that i do actually enjoy these types of games, they just have to be compeling and focused, expertly crafted.
shin megami tensei fucking rules
okay, hear me out: Pokemon SW/SH transitioned the games into big overworlds with exploration where you can see the enemies and plan out your combats accordingly. now imagine THAT, but (!!!) the combat is actually good. not only that, but the exploration is a lot more fun and rewarding. but wait, instead of cute creatures, your party consists of literal demons all full of distinct personality and dialogue choices required to recruit them. (no shade to pokemon designs, love those little guys)
SMT5 battles are Dark Souls bosses in slow motion. the Magatsuhi charges of your opponents are the attack wind ups and tells, the Dampeners are evasions, the weaknesses are the knowledge gained on each attempt. SMT rewards paying attention and punishes those trying to mash "A" to get through every combat.
the game's pacing is quick. i avoided most optional encounters and ended up at each boss fight at the Just Right level to have a nice challenge without feeling like i needed to go grind. victory is always within your grasp if you're cautious and patient. the game's story is slow to start but quick to ramp up. it's fun, thoughtful, and ridiculous.
i can't overstate how much i used to think i hated JRPGs, save for the rare few like EB/Mother 3, Chrono Trigger, and so on. i fell off of FF7 multiple times about 20 hours in. i bounced off of multiple other series within hours. this game convinced me that i do actually enjoy these types of games, they just have to be compeling and focused, expertly crafted.
shin megami tensei fucking rules
2021
This review contains spoilers
i wanted this to be a 5-star game SO badly
let's start with the obvious: yes, the game is Weird because it is trying to be Weird. the continual shifting of card game genres, the inter-spersed cheesy FMV, and the playful parts of looking through your files and threatening to delete them (and similar things) are playful and fun. it's nothing that Kojima or Taro haven't done, but i still appreciated the working of these into the "CREEPYPASTA REAL!!!! The Tale of Inscyption.exe [NOT CLICKBAIT]" aspects of the game.
unfortunately, the grand arc of the narrative is mostly forgetable. anyone who has spent more than 45 minutes on the internet knows about "ben drowned," so the unnerving aspects of the game mostly come across as a checklist of similar traits. i liked the characters a lot!! (Golly Respecters Rise Up) however, the game would be better without the last 2 minutes after the final button click.
in fact, my biggest problem with the game is its length. i think if you cut the number of required encounters down in the 2nd and 3rd Acts down by 33-50%, the game would flow more smoothly. my main reason for thinking of this is that the game has built-in power creep in order to help players through to the end, so the challenge of the game is easily broken if you know anything close to the basic fundamentals of a card game.
let me give you an example: i was able to break Act 1 very easily by using one cheap trick. i discovered an infinite combo in Act 2 right after defeating my first scribe, which i used to beat every fight after that point (https://youtu.be/wkCMHyXZGWg). i beat Act 3 while never using any of the items (other than the first time to each to see how they worked). my partner yelled at me every time i intentionally passed a spot to add a new card to your deck while i had to respond "trust me, this is better." the game isn't designed to be a tough, roguelite deckbuilder because it is inherently a story-driven game.
this isn't a mark against the game's design, i enjoy that about the game. i think many more people would have fallen off and not gotten to the first "reveal" at the end of Act 1 if the game was any harder. it's just a tricky case, because the game is About secrets that want to be found. however, this presents a conundrum when trying to recommend the game to someone.
starting a recommendation with "it's the crazy game that has all these weird things in it" is a bad thing to do, as it would ruin the suprises and the experience, so you have to No Sell it. you describe it as "a roguelite deckbuilder, in the style of Slay the Spire, mixed with Myst." the issue here is that the game is an incomplete one of those games, but on purpose! each of the games are unfinished versions (for story reasons) filled with exploits that act as secrets of their own that allow you to more easily get through to the end.
overall, i respect ambition and potentially-alienating design decisions a lot more than i respect polished products that offer a worse experience than something that another game already gives me.
(that's why Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective is one of my favorite games ever and why Kingdom Hearts 3 is one of the worst games i've ever played)
let's start with the obvious: yes, the game is Weird because it is trying to be Weird. the continual shifting of card game genres, the inter-spersed cheesy FMV, and the playful parts of looking through your files and threatening to delete them (and similar things) are playful and fun. it's nothing that Kojima or Taro haven't done, but i still appreciated the working of these into the "CREEPYPASTA REAL!!!! The Tale of Inscyption.exe [NOT CLICKBAIT]" aspects of the game.
unfortunately, the grand arc of the narrative is mostly forgetable. anyone who has spent more than 45 minutes on the internet knows about "ben drowned," so the unnerving aspects of the game mostly come across as a checklist of similar traits. i liked the characters a lot!! (Golly Respecters Rise Up) however, the game would be better without the last 2 minutes after the final button click.
in fact, my biggest problem with the game is its length. i think if you cut the number of required encounters down in the 2nd and 3rd Acts down by 33-50%, the game would flow more smoothly. my main reason for thinking of this is that the game has built-in power creep in order to help players through to the end, so the challenge of the game is easily broken if you know anything close to the basic fundamentals of a card game.
let me give you an example: i was able to break Act 1 very easily by using one cheap trick. i discovered an infinite combo in Act 2 right after defeating my first scribe, which i used to beat every fight after that point (https://youtu.be/wkCMHyXZGWg). i beat Act 3 while never using any of the items (other than the first time to each to see how they worked). my partner yelled at me every time i intentionally passed a spot to add a new card to your deck while i had to respond "trust me, this is better." the game isn't designed to be a tough, roguelite deckbuilder because it is inherently a story-driven game.
this isn't a mark against the game's design, i enjoy that about the game. i think many more people would have fallen off and not gotten to the first "reveal" at the end of Act 1 if the game was any harder. it's just a tricky case, because the game is About secrets that want to be found. however, this presents a conundrum when trying to recommend the game to someone.
starting a recommendation with "it's the crazy game that has all these weird things in it" is a bad thing to do, as it would ruin the suprises and the experience, so you have to No Sell it. you describe it as "a roguelite deckbuilder, in the style of Slay the Spire, mixed with Myst." the issue here is that the game is an incomplete one of those games, but on purpose! each of the games are unfinished versions (for story reasons) filled with exploits that act as secrets of their own that allow you to more easily get through to the end.
overall, i respect ambition and potentially-alienating design decisions a lot more than i respect polished products that offer a worse experience than something that another game already gives me.
(that's why Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective is one of my favorite games ever and why Kingdom Hearts 3 is one of the worst games i've ever played)
2021
i hate it when this happens to me
2019
after playing this game intensively for a couple weeks at the beginning of the year, bouncing off and taking a break, coming back to unlock everything and become even more obsessed with the game and go into the 10+ Ascensions, i am convinced that this game is just a time machine to move forward 60-120 minutes at a time
This review contains spoilers
the Hearthians are born into a world without choice. you are going down with the ship, so to speak, whether you want to or not. the base game toys with the idea that maybe you might be able to stop this, maybe you can evacuate everyone, maybe you can just fight and do.... Something, anything in the face of inevitable annihilation. slowly through exploration, you learn more and come to terms with your fate. pulling the warp core from the Ash Twin project is looking your own death in the face and choosing Yes, like a warm handshake of a deal for one last goodbye to all of your friends. you understand what Solanum has known for what must feel like an eternity. the Nomai were wrong: the Eye of the Universe was not malicious or cruel, it simply Is. and we Were.
in Echoes of the Eye, it reframes this question. who are we to deny the universe the privilege of hearing the siren's call of the Eye? how do you come to terms with your world's inevitable death when your species is what caused it? how do you cope with the fact that your people destroyed their only home in the stars in pursuit of an unknowable power, only to discover they were wrong about it from the beginning?
the answer is that you do this violently. you hide yourself from the public world. you destroy the evidence of what you've done. you imprison your own kind. you kill intruders. you enact this so that you can maintain the idea that things can go back to The Way They Were, despite the glaring cracks in the façade. it is these cracks that the player is able to exploit and push through, and eventually cause the dam to break.
only at the end of everything, after the waters have flooded and put out every fire keeping the Strangers alive, The Prisoner accompanying you to the Eye is able to see what their kind was so afraid of: Uncertainty.
how strange to meet obliteration this way... not alone by blowing out your own lantern in a prison cell, but surrounded by new strangers that care for you. i wish we had more time together. ah, oh well... until we meet again
in Echoes of the Eye, it reframes this question. who are we to deny the universe the privilege of hearing the siren's call of the Eye? how do you come to terms with your world's inevitable death when your species is what caused it? how do you cope with the fact that your people destroyed their only home in the stars in pursuit of an unknowable power, only to discover they were wrong about it from the beginning?
the answer is that you do this violently. you hide yourself from the public world. you destroy the evidence of what you've done. you imprison your own kind. you kill intruders. you enact this so that you can maintain the idea that things can go back to The Way They Were, despite the glaring cracks in the façade. it is these cracks that the player is able to exploit and push through, and eventually cause the dam to break.
only at the end of everything, after the waters have flooded and put out every fire keeping the Strangers alive, The Prisoner accompanying you to the Eye is able to see what their kind was so afraid of: Uncertainty.
how strange to meet obliteration this way... not alone by blowing out your own lantern in a prison cell, but surrounded by new strangers that care for you. i wish we had more time together. ah, oh well... until we meet again
2021
in the Grand Scope of video games, Undertale and Deltarune are not super innovative in their gameplay or anything by any stretch, more of just a remixing and repurposing of existing things in a very good and novel way. however, they are the ultimate Hangout Games, where you just want to pop into a world for a little bit and hear the funny little jokes that your friends tell as you walk around hanging out, doing nothing.
i would just play 100 of these. they are the "Falafel Wrap + Fries" of video games: extremely consistent, always delicious, filling, warms your heart, reminds you of better times
i would just play 100 of these. they are the "Falafel Wrap + Fries" of video games: extremely consistent, always delicious, filling, warms your heart, reminds you of better times
2019
an easier, breezier, chill roguelike "deck"-builder
Dicey Dungeons gets a lot of flak in comparison to Slay the Spire, but the games are trying to do entirely different things. DD is much more of a 20-30 minute game where you want to just knock out a quick run, whereas StS feels a lot more like embarking on a long journey and grinding away at advantages over time. in Dicey Dungeons, you can mess around with weapons, see how they feel, swap them out between fights (unless you're playing as Witch or Jester i guess). there's less of a commitment of adding new items to your pool than there is adding a card to your deck in Slay the Spire.
however, this DOES mean that Dicey Dungeons does end up lacking in the overall depth that a game like StS has. often times on each character, i had found a build that worked very well and i didn't really see much reason to deviate from it other than novelty. a lot of the items want specific other items, so there's not as much weird cross-pollination between strategies or the playstyles between characters.
this is the game's downside to me, but more than likely an advantage to others. it makes it really easy to pick up for the first time, and the actual gameplay leans very much into the "just one more run" aspect that a lot of these games tap into. even when the game was at its most challenging (aka: Levels 4 and 6+ of the Witch, lmao), it felt fun to keep going and trying to succeed.
Dicey Dungeons gets a lot of flak in comparison to Slay the Spire, but the games are trying to do entirely different things. DD is much more of a 20-30 minute game where you want to just knock out a quick run, whereas StS feels a lot more like embarking on a long journey and grinding away at advantages over time. in Dicey Dungeons, you can mess around with weapons, see how they feel, swap them out between fights (unless you're playing as Witch or Jester i guess). there's less of a commitment of adding new items to your pool than there is adding a card to your deck in Slay the Spire.
however, this DOES mean that Dicey Dungeons does end up lacking in the overall depth that a game like StS has. often times on each character, i had found a build that worked very well and i didn't really see much reason to deviate from it other than novelty. a lot of the items want specific other items, so there's not as much weird cross-pollination between strategies or the playstyles between characters.
this is the game's downside to me, but more than likely an advantage to others. it makes it really easy to pick up for the first time, and the actual gameplay leans very much into the "just one more run" aspect that a lot of these games tap into. even when the game was at its most challenging (aka: Levels 4 and 6+ of the Witch, lmao), it felt fun to keep going and trying to succeed.
2019
this game is pretty...... pretty LONG!!!!!
me being chased through a big, spooky, ornate mansion trying to be sucked by a Giant MILF and her three awful daughters: oh jeez!!!! hahahaha yeah!!! this owns!!!!
me mag-dumping my 12th "large armored enemy" in a row shortly before flying through the air in a tank: this sucks
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this game would be better if 80% of the dialogue and 30% of the gameplay was removed. same problems as the last 1/3 of RE7, but with somehow worse tone and writing. thanks for the Large Wife tho.
me mag-dumping my 12th "large armored enemy" in a row shortly before flying through the air in a tank: this sucks
----------------------------
this game would be better if 80% of the dialogue and 30% of the gameplay was removed. same problems as the last 1/3 of RE7, but with somehow worse tone and writing. thanks for the Large Wife tho.
random dude on the street in japan in 1998: yeah.... i guess video games are cool..... but i just wish more of them asked you to mash C-Down + A constantly....
NGE64 developer on their way to work: holy sh...IT.......
NGE64 developer on their way to work: holy sh...IT.......
a (purposefully) more tender neo-Link's Awakening
i went into this game with pretty low expectations. i played all of Wandersong and enjoyed it at the time. as time went on, whenever i thought of it again, its tone and other gameplay aspects irked me, firmly placing it in the category of "would not play again, but glad i played once." (which is a totally fine place where most games i play ends up tbh!) however, Chicory really surprised me. the game feels and plays a lot more like a GameBoy/GBA zelda: a short adventure with good dialogue that doesn't overstay its welcome but has plenty of additional activities and secrets for those who want to stick around. i have qualms with the game's tone, some of the story, and the ending still, but overall i was very surprised by how much i enjoyed it.
don't believe the hype, just enjoy the game on its own merits. (also, PLEASE PLAY WITH MOUSE+KEYBOARD, IT'S SO MUCH BETTER)
i went into this game with pretty low expectations. i played all of Wandersong and enjoyed it at the time. as time went on, whenever i thought of it again, its tone and other gameplay aspects irked me, firmly placing it in the category of "would not play again, but glad i played once." (which is a totally fine place where most games i play ends up tbh!) however, Chicory really surprised me. the game feels and plays a lot more like a GameBoy/GBA zelda: a short adventure with good dialogue that doesn't overstay its welcome but has plenty of additional activities and secrets for those who want to stick around. i have qualms with the game's tone, some of the story, and the ending still, but overall i was very surprised by how much i enjoyed it.
don't believe the hype, just enjoy the game on its own merits. (also, PLEASE PLAY WITH MOUSE+KEYBOARD, IT'S SO MUCH BETTER)
This review contains spoilers
a post-modern review for a post-modern game:
who would have thought the dude who made the Universal Controller Fix (look it up) for Super Smash Brothers Melee players could pull something like this out of his back pocket? a welcome surprise at the time of release (i'm sure), but more of a long overdue chore to play four years after the fact.
it's hard to pitch this game without "spoiling" that there is a "turn" that happens in it, which is maybe a fault of the Moe Trash genre as a whole. it's like if Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" was written by someone who was more knowledgeable about the genre the story was about but somehow more annoying. this game does some very cool things though, which brings it up to 3 stars for me. however, being post-modern alone isn't enough to shock me anymore, at least not since Metal Gear Solid 2 (sorry).
narratives surrounding "mental health" and "sensitive topics" tend to get overblown a lot in games, and this is no exception. maybe i'm just desensitized to queer people's writing where they talk about wanting to kill themselves in graphic (and, frankly, more creative) ways a lot, but the "turn" in this game is less of a shock and more of a welcome release from the tedium that proceeds it. the pacing of this game could be faster and it would be better for it.
there is no "best girl," there never was. bye.
who would have thought the dude who made the Universal Controller Fix (look it up) for Super Smash Brothers Melee players could pull something like this out of his back pocket? a welcome surprise at the time of release (i'm sure), but more of a long overdue chore to play four years after the fact.
it's hard to pitch this game without "spoiling" that there is a "turn" that happens in it, which is maybe a fault of the Moe Trash genre as a whole. it's like if Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" was written by someone who was more knowledgeable about the genre the story was about but somehow more annoying. this game does some very cool things though, which brings it up to 3 stars for me. however, being post-modern alone isn't enough to shock me anymore, at least not since Metal Gear Solid 2 (sorry).
narratives surrounding "mental health" and "sensitive topics" tend to get overblown a lot in games, and this is no exception. maybe i'm just desensitized to queer people's writing where they talk about wanting to kill themselves in graphic (and, frankly, more creative) ways a lot, but the "turn" in this game is less of a shock and more of a welcome release from the tedium that proceeds it. the pacing of this game could be faster and it would be better for it.
there is no "best girl," there never was. bye.
2021
a Coen Brothers-esque twine game with a beautiful environment to hang out in. if that sounds good to you then play it immediately.
2017
i really wish i enjoyed this game as much as everyone else does (or people said i would).
for a game described to me as "metroidvania with precision platforming meets Dark Souls," it really comes out feeling like less than a sum of those parts. in terms of the world design and exploration, the game is great at matching the joy of breaking into every tiny crevasse to find secrets and lore that Dark Souls does. the characters and lightly revealed lore that's steeped in mystery is great. the platforming is serviceable, but whenever the game decides to flip the switch to try and turn into Super Meat Boy (sometimes quite literally with buzzsaws) it feels very disjointed and out of place.
the combat (mainly by way of the bosses) by comparison feels like a chore. even by the end of the game when i had gotten a lot better at maneuvering in fights, most of the boss fights were not engaging or challenging beyond "hope you get the good pattern that allows you to heal". in addition to this, why not be more generous with benches in regards to boss placements?
it's small decisions like this that continued to baffle me as time went on. you get more movement options as the game unfolds, but trekking between areas connected by stags still feels arduous enough to dissuade me from wanting to explore more. i enjoy the lore of the stags, but would fast travelling between benches break the game so much to prevent it from being included?
it's things like this that makes me feel like the game is bloated. this may be a problem of playing the game now that there's 4 extra content patches (give players a way to play the launch version pleaseeeee), but there's just so much in the game that feels like Content For Content's Sake. the game like a love letter to the old metroidvanias the developers loved that has been weighed down by AAA games' addiction to More. i can see the mechanics (literally) taken 1-to-1 from Super Metroid, but i don't see the tightly crafted world, simplicity, or elegance of it. i see a checklist of things to waste time doing rather than a curated experience.
for a game described to me as "metroidvania with precision platforming meets Dark Souls," it really comes out feeling like less than a sum of those parts. in terms of the world design and exploration, the game is great at matching the joy of breaking into every tiny crevasse to find secrets and lore that Dark Souls does. the characters and lightly revealed lore that's steeped in mystery is great. the platforming is serviceable, but whenever the game decides to flip the switch to try and turn into Super Meat Boy (sometimes quite literally with buzzsaws) it feels very disjointed and out of place.
the combat (mainly by way of the bosses) by comparison feels like a chore. even by the end of the game when i had gotten a lot better at maneuvering in fights, most of the boss fights were not engaging or challenging beyond "hope you get the good pattern that allows you to heal". in addition to this, why not be more generous with benches in regards to boss placements?
it's small decisions like this that continued to baffle me as time went on. you get more movement options as the game unfolds, but trekking between areas connected by stags still feels arduous enough to dissuade me from wanting to explore more. i enjoy the lore of the stags, but would fast travelling between benches break the game so much to prevent it from being included?
it's things like this that makes me feel like the game is bloated. this may be a problem of playing the game now that there's 4 extra content patches (give players a way to play the launch version pleaseeeee), but there's just so much in the game that feels like Content For Content's Sake. the game like a love letter to the old metroidvanias the developers loved that has been weighed down by AAA games' addiction to More. i can see the mechanics (literally) taken 1-to-1 from Super Metroid, but i don't see the tightly crafted world, simplicity, or elegance of it. i see a checklist of things to waste time doing rather than a curated experience.
2009
demon's holes