dimsumboi420_
An absolutely incredible experience from start to finish. Being a sequel to a game I already loved so much, I was really curious how they would handle things this time around to keep a fresh and unique experience while still keeping the same mystery and intrigue of the first game. How would they recreate the feelings of dread and mystery from the first game? How would they handle class trials differently? How would they write a sequel story whose foundational premise is so similar to the previous one? I think right off the bat the game it was clear to me that they really went all out in making this feel totally distinct and not just a repeat of what the first game did. In fact, the writers are SO aware of this that they straight up make fun of the first game out loud for the way it executed plot twists and story beats (which weren't even remotely bad in the first place) and then tease you that there is a lot more going on than you actually think.
I feel like right off the bat my issue with the characters from the first game was immediately fixed both in terms of overall writing and appreciation but also first impressions. And for the very small handful of characters I wasn't so fond of at first, they at least did grow on me later on through the story and free time events. It would be quicker to list the characters I wasn't as particularly fond of, so those would be Teruteru, Kazuichi, and Hiyoko (she's probably the only one who I didn't change my opinion on, but I also get it because she's the way she is on purpose). Everyone else in this game is either really entertaining, funny, tragic, incredibly well-written, or some kind of combination of those. My favourites of the cast are Fuyuhiko, Nagito, and Hajime. Fuyuhiko is a character I REALLY loved. His development as a person was probably my favourite in terms of which character's story I felt the most emotion to. Nagito truly established himself as one of the most insane stories I've ever seen. There's only so much I can say about him without spoiling. But there really is no character in fiction who does it like he does. He's truly one of the most unique, fun, and deep characters ever. Lastly, Hajime as a protagonist goes above and beyond what Makoto was in the first game. While I love Makoto's story for being more on the simpler side of things (as is the rest of DR1 compared to DR2), I can definitely say that Hajime is the character with more depth and twists that make him stand out a lot.
This time around the overall story was so much better than the first game. A lot of that is thanks to the much better cast and continuation of the story, meaning questions and aspects of the first game can be answered and expanded upon. Honestly it's a bit hard to say much about the story that I haven't already said in my review of DR1. My opinions on DR2's story is basically what I thought of DR1 but WAY better in every way. The last two chapters of this game are pure mindfuckery; at that point in the game I straight up could not stop playing until I rolled credits because it was so good. The game never lets down the suspense and intrigue one bit throughout all of it, and that's what made this story so special this time around.
I think I loved both DR1 and DR2's stories almost equally but I love them both for drastically different reasons. DR1 was more on the simpler side compared to the sequel, but that was sort of part of the beauty of it. It wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for how much they made me care for Makoto and Kyoko. The highs are very high, and the lows aren't even that low at all. It's an amazing story that is only held back by some annoying characters. On the other hand, DR2 takes all of what DR1 established and just makes it better and more impactful. In a way I guess it's kind of like the jump from Kingdom Hearts I to II, or God of War 4 to Ragnarok where the first game is fairly simple but not to a fault. And then the sequel comes in and ramps things up by a ton in terms of writing and complexity. Sometimes the latter can be a bit of a bad thing, because I actually think God of War Ragnarok removes the simplicity of the first game to the point where it kind of makes things worse. But thankfully that wasn't the case with DR2. It is perfectly fine as it is for the way it continues the story and improves everything the first game lacked. While I did feel more of an emotional impact towards the ending of DR1, it's undeniable that DR2's ending is just miles beyond the first game in terms of depth. And stuff like that is what I like to call "Cinema".
I feel like right off the bat my issue with the characters from the first game was immediately fixed both in terms of overall writing and appreciation but also first impressions. And for the very small handful of characters I wasn't so fond of at first, they at least did grow on me later on through the story and free time events. It would be quicker to list the characters I wasn't as particularly fond of, so those would be Teruteru, Kazuichi, and Hiyoko (she's probably the only one who I didn't change my opinion on, but I also get it because she's the way she is on purpose). Everyone else in this game is either really entertaining, funny, tragic, incredibly well-written, or some kind of combination of those. My favourites of the cast are Fuyuhiko, Nagito, and Hajime. Fuyuhiko is a character I REALLY loved. His development as a person was probably my favourite in terms of which character's story I felt the most emotion to. Nagito truly established himself as one of the most insane stories I've ever seen. There's only so much I can say about him without spoiling. But there really is no character in fiction who does it like he does. He's truly one of the most unique, fun, and deep characters ever. Lastly, Hajime as a protagonist goes above and beyond what Makoto was in the first game. While I love Makoto's story for being more on the simpler side of things (as is the rest of DR1 compared to DR2), I can definitely say that Hajime is the character with more depth and twists that make him stand out a lot.
This time around the overall story was so much better than the first game. A lot of that is thanks to the much better cast and continuation of the story, meaning questions and aspects of the first game can be answered and expanded upon. Honestly it's a bit hard to say much about the story that I haven't already said in my review of DR1. My opinions on DR2's story is basically what I thought of DR1 but WAY better in every way. The last two chapters of this game are pure mindfuckery; at that point in the game I straight up could not stop playing until I rolled credits because it was so good. The game never lets down the suspense and intrigue one bit throughout all of it, and that's what made this story so special this time around.
I think I loved both DR1 and DR2's stories almost equally but I love them both for drastically different reasons. DR1 was more on the simpler side compared to the sequel, but that was sort of part of the beauty of it. It wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for how much they made me care for Makoto and Kyoko. The highs are very high, and the lows aren't even that low at all. It's an amazing story that is only held back by some annoying characters. On the other hand, DR2 takes all of what DR1 established and just makes it better and more impactful. In a way I guess it's kind of like the jump from Kingdom Hearts I to II, or God of War 4 to Ragnarok where the first game is fairly simple but not to a fault. And then the sequel comes in and ramps things up by a ton in terms of writing and complexity. Sometimes the latter can be a bit of a bad thing, because I actually think God of War Ragnarok removes the simplicity of the first game to the point where it kind of makes things worse. But thankfully that wasn't the case with DR2. It is perfectly fine as it is for the way it continues the story and improves everything the first game lacked. While I did feel more of an emotional impact towards the ending of DR1, it's undeniable that DR2's ending is just miles beyond the first game in terms of depth. And stuff like that is what I like to call "Cinema".
1990
I don't really have much to say about this game to be honest. I sort of feel that way about most classic 2D Mario games. Part of that is because I grew up with later titles such as NSMB (original) and the Galaxy games first. Nonetheless, this was a solid game, definitely an improvement over the previous games and also fixes the issue I had with SMB3 which was the length of the levels.
All around a very solid experience. The whole story was really well crafted and there was always so much intrigue going on that made me curious and try to piece bits of the plot together. But none of that would have been possible if it weren't for a handful of incredibly well-written, endearing, and entertaining characters. I'm talking about Makoto, Kyoko, Byakuya, Sakura, Celeste, Alter Ego, and the one and only Mastermind. They all made the story something I could truly care about, because I cared for them. Makoto's development throughout the game was really awesome to see unfold. As the main character I thought he was a great representation of the player going through all of this at the same time, and an incredible embodiment for the theme of Hope. Learning about Kyoko's story and getting answers about her was a contributor to a lot of my intrigue in the story. And overall her personality very nicely fits into the category of characters I typically love. Byakuya is an asshole, moving on. I thought Sakura and Celeste's motives and endings were super well-written and compelling. For Sakura in particular I didn't think much of her at all until chapter 4 where I really started to like her. Alter Ego is a character I was not expecting to find so endearing. It made Chihiro's character and circumstances during the story a lot more sad and overall it was just really hard to not like Alter Ego. And finally the Mastermind who I won't name. Despite not BEING there during almost the whole game, their presence was still around during the whole story. And the reveal and subsequent display of how insane and off the walls they were was an unexpected twist.
On the otherhand, there were some characters who were really annoying or straight up uninteresting such as Toko, Hiro, and Hifumi. The rest of the cast was either fine or didn't have enough content for me to form a real opinion. I won't go into why I dislike or don't feel anything towards those characters, all I have to say is that some are just gimmicky and nothing else, and some are just boring and forgettable. I think those specific characters who I wasn't super fond of ended up bringing the game down quite a bit for me, but not in a way that they ruined the experience.
On the otherhand, there were some characters who were really annoying or straight up uninteresting such as Toko, Hiro, and Hifumi. The rest of the cast was either fine or didn't have enough content for me to form a real opinion. I won't go into why I dislike or don't feel anything towards those characters, all I have to say is that some are just gimmicky and nothing else, and some are just boring and forgettable. I think those specific characters who I wasn't super fond of ended up bringing the game down quite a bit for me, but not in a way that they ruined the experience.
2021
Absolutely perfect game from start to finish. After playing Returns I can clearly see that it walked so that Dread could run. Dread takes all of the best aspects in the previous games along with refining all the issues of the previous games and combined them to create this masterpiece. Every area is super memorable and fun to explore; the gameplay flow is just seamless and that makes returning to previous areas feel natural and not like a chore. The abundant number of boss fights is incredible and they're all super fun to fight against. They also added so much enemy and boss variety which was a problem that I had with Returns. The EMMIs are leagues above the SA-X in Fusion when it comes to gameplay due to their unscripted nature and forcing you to be skillful in avoiding them until you have the means to destroy them.
Lastly I wanna talk about the story and Samus' character in this game. While this game is much more focused on the gameplay (as the previous games mostly were as well), there isn't an insane amount of story content, which is fine. Instead we get major story reveals throughout the game which unveil a ton of cool lore and story that ties the previous stories together. Overall, this made Samus' character the most interesting she has been in the 2D series, and she didn't need to utter a single word for me to feel that way about her.
Dread is easily the best 2D Metroid, and probably the best 2D platformer I've played so far. It expands on everything the previous games had set up for it, and refines all the issues to create the most smooth gameplay experience in the series.
Lastly I wanna talk about the story and Samus' character in this game. While this game is much more focused on the gameplay (as the previous games mostly were as well), there isn't an insane amount of story content, which is fine. Instead we get major story reveals throughout the game which unveil a ton of cool lore and story that ties the previous stories together. Overall, this made Samus' character the most interesting she has been in the 2D series, and she didn't need to utter a single word for me to feel that way about her.
Dread is easily the best 2D Metroid, and probably the best 2D platformer I've played so far. It expands on everything the previous games had set up for it, and refines all the issues to create the most smooth gameplay experience in the series.
2002
Short and sweet, although it could have been less linear. But I think the larger focus on the story was a nice change after playing the first three games. Overall just a really fun story concept which puts a small twist on the progression and also an unexpectedly eerie game at times.
I consider myself a very big Final Fantasy VII fan. Most of my love for this series comes from the original and Remake, but I also appreciate Crisis Core and Advent Children a fair bit. FFVII and Remake are among my favourite games of all time, despite their glaring flaws I still hold them dear to my heart because of the compelling narratives of both games and diverse and fun gameplay in Remake. So it goes without saying that I was highly anticipating Rebirth; in recent memory it's the most excited I've been for a game in a long time. And I can easily tell you right now that it exceeded far beyond my expectations. This game is unbelievable. It feels impossible. It could have flopped massively as a faithful remake to the original and as its own standalone game. I would argue that out of every game in this trilogy, Rebirth is the one they HAD to get right the most. Of course Remake is not far behind that by any means, but the introduction of a whole new open world, the continuation of the narrative, and the characterization of all the areas that are visited were all things that had to be amazing. The part that Rebirth covers from the original game is entirely different from Midgar in Remake. In the original there are several more towns/regions visited, much more riveting story threads that occur, more character depth and introductions, and there was a whole overworld that could be traversed. I'm really happy to say that Rebirth did pretty much all of that right for me, and as a result I think this game has triumphed several of my favourite games because it's just that good.
The gameplay of Remake strongly excelled in the combat, but less in terms of actual level design and dungeons. But with the entire open world being introduced, Rebirth had a massive task to take on, and for an open world game, I think it's very strong. I will say that after 100%ing a few regions, it does get a bit tiring to do the same things for all the other ones because they're all the same premise. But that's less of an issue to me when each region has different level designs, Chocobos, enemies, bosses, music, themes, side quests, and story-related quests. The amount of things to do in the open world is incredible. It's not something you'll never have seen before if you've played an open world game before, but I think for what is supposed to be simultaneously a remake and sequel, what we have in Rebirth is just fine. I love how they turned each region into huge explorable regions to flesh out the world and characters of each region more. For instance, areas like Gongaga in the original were just one-off visits with hardly any story occurring in them, but here it became an actual memorable location, and now it's more than just the "Me? Gongaga." place. I also want to highlight the phenomenon intel quests in each region, which have different story-related info in them for each region, and they add so much to main party and other characters including antagonists. They do SO much with the open world to expand on the worldbuilding and lore of FFVII, and it really made me invested even more in the overall narrative and characters. Sometimes I do feel like traversal can be really irritating because of some mechanics and physics being really frustrating to deal with. Chocobos are MOSTLY fun to use because they're fast and control decently well. But for some parts of the world there may be certain obstacles that you run into which completely halt your momentum. It doesn't sound like much but trust me it will happen a lot and start adding up over time. There's also other quality of life stuff such as wall-climbing speed and the lack of a jump button. But I think one of my least favourite parts is Chadley. Oh my lord Chadley. Will you ever just shut up. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if Chadley and MAI's dialogue were just in the background, but they trigger entire cutscenes where you're forced to look at their stupid faces and hear them yap. Eventually I started skipping their scenes that were just filler dialogue because I really just don't care about what they have to say most of the time. They interrupt the flow of gameplay to an annoying degree when I really just wanna get on with the exploration on my own.
Combat wise it's relatively the same as Remake with some new additions. Synergy skills from Intermission return in an upgraded form, alongside synergy abilities which act as team up attacks for every party member combination and have a ton of varying attacks that you can unlock and perform. This was definitely a must-do for this game to not only spice up the combat but also because previously we'd only see team up attacks in cutscenes or stuff like Advent Children. They've also modified the skill system and incorporated a skill tree, much like the one introduced in FFX. It's a really solid progression system that makes leveling up feel more diverse by giving you agency in what you want to obtain in the skill tree in any order as long as you have the prerequisite skill slots unlocked. On top of that the three new party members are very fun to play. And having the ability to swap between your own pre-set party combinations in between combat makes the experience very fluid.
The characters this time around are another major highlight of Rebirth. As always the main party is very nicely fleshed out and are a joy to see on screen. The party banter and overall interactions are amazing and they really characterized the newer ones super well. One of my favourite moments is Vincent's introduction. In general I've just become obsessed with this entire cast. The original focused a lot more on the story relevant characters when it was their time to shine, and as a result I didn't really feel like the party knew each other that well aside from a couple of combinations. I think my one issue is that while you're exploring the open world, the party rarely ever talks unless there's some sort of story event happening or a side quest is active. It would've been really nice to have some character interactions to fill in the void of silence, whether it's banter or some character insight or some references to the compilation. In general I feel like just the story interactions weren't enough for me personally. A major one I feel that was a missed opportunity was Vincent and Cid. Of course they aren't playable in Rebirth, and their overall role in the story are pretty minor right now. But I just wish they got more.
The last thing to touch on is the story. Speaking as someone who loves FFVII and Remake, I enjoyed pretty much all of it. I feel like the story is almost always super faithful to the original, minus a few things that I wish were either done differently or just didn't change at all from the original. Not only that but they flesh out so much of what happens in each area. I said this earlier in the review that so many areas in the original are just so much more interesting in Rebirth due to the context that you are introduced to certain areas and also new story bits that enhance the original versions of some areas. I'm aware that some people find the story to have a lot of filler in it like Remake did, and while I do agree that some areas can be fillery, I really don't think it's that bad. FFVII was always more than just the serious and badass overarching narrative, it also had a lot of pure fun moments in the story. And while yes those fun moments in Rebirth are amplified to a degree that makes things pretty long, I personally liked to just savour the content I was getting because no other FFVII game will give you this much character interaction and story content. I think the story is much more memorable the way it is with the so-called "filler" content because I genuinely think the fun stuff in FFVII is almost just as important as the serious stuff. There are SOME things in the story that I feel a bit iffy on the execution of, but I don't think any of it gets egregiously bad. I really liked how all the moments from the original were remade in Rebirth, and overall I found myself going crazy over several events in the story.
So overall, I feel immensely satisfied with this experience, both as a remake, as a sequel, and as a game overall. I genuinely believe this is a perfect game, despite several minor issues I have, I ultimately came for the story and core gameplay experience, but I ended up being enamored by everything else it gave me. Honestly, this may be one of the best games I have ever played; the whole game was just an unbelievable experience for me to go through. Every area and major story section had me HOOKED, the gameplay was always fresh and addictive to play, the characters are in their best forms here, the rearrangements of songs from the original game and completely new music are all amazing. Just an unbelievable game. For it to be such a fascinating sequel while also being a really great remake and open world game at the same time is honestly just a huge accomplishment for the creators and a huge win for the players. It really just feels like the developers just knew exactly what to do. Like they fucking get it. They know what makes Final Fantasy VII special, they know why people adore it so much, they know how to stay true to the game's legacy and as a result they have (in my opinion) created a game just as revolutionary with Rebirth as the original FFVII did in 1997. Moreover, it really feels like the Remake series is more than just a remake of FFVII. This is a celebration of Final Fantasy VII and the whole compilation; it's a celebration of the whole legacy that this series gave to gaming. The content in Rebirth really feels like it came straight from the hearts of the developers like it was a giant passion project. Despite a lot of the staff from the original working on the Remake series, after 27 years of FFVII, they probably have a lot of staff there who grew up with the classic Final Fantasy titles and have now ended up working for the games they grew up with (I think Hamaguchi literally is one of these people and now he's the director of this game). You can see it all over the game from the characterization, the visuals, the set-pieces, the narrative, the subtle and blatant compilation references, the gameplay, the reimagined open world, and especially the fucking soundtrack. This whole game really made me feel so much. There are so many genuinely fun moments, so many amazing twists, so many intriguing story threads, and so many emotional scenes that either made me shed or outright burst into tears. FFVII Rebirth has made me appreciate FFVII and Final Fantasy as a whole so much more than I already did, and I can't wait to see how the third game concludes the trilogy. This is the most 10/10 game I have ever played in my life, and I'm honestly just super glad to be part of the journey and hype cycle as it's being released.
The gameplay of Remake strongly excelled in the combat, but less in terms of actual level design and dungeons. But with the entire open world being introduced, Rebirth had a massive task to take on, and for an open world game, I think it's very strong. I will say that after 100%ing a few regions, it does get a bit tiring to do the same things for all the other ones because they're all the same premise. But that's less of an issue to me when each region has different level designs, Chocobos, enemies, bosses, music, themes, side quests, and story-related quests. The amount of things to do in the open world is incredible. It's not something you'll never have seen before if you've played an open world game before, but I think for what is supposed to be simultaneously a remake and sequel, what we have in Rebirth is just fine. I love how they turned each region into huge explorable regions to flesh out the world and characters of each region more. For instance, areas like Gongaga in the original were just one-off visits with hardly any story occurring in them, but here it became an actual memorable location, and now it's more than just the "Me? Gongaga." place. I also want to highlight the phenomenon intel quests in each region, which have different story-related info in them for each region, and they add so much to main party and other characters including antagonists. They do SO much with the open world to expand on the worldbuilding and lore of FFVII, and it really made me invested even more in the overall narrative and characters. Sometimes I do feel like traversal can be really irritating because of some mechanics and physics being really frustrating to deal with. Chocobos are MOSTLY fun to use because they're fast and control decently well. But for some parts of the world there may be certain obstacles that you run into which completely halt your momentum. It doesn't sound like much but trust me it will happen a lot and start adding up over time. There's also other quality of life stuff such as wall-climbing speed and the lack of a jump button. But I think one of my least favourite parts is Chadley. Oh my lord Chadley. Will you ever just shut up. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if Chadley and MAI's dialogue were just in the background, but they trigger entire cutscenes where you're forced to look at their stupid faces and hear them yap. Eventually I started skipping their scenes that were just filler dialogue because I really just don't care about what they have to say most of the time. They interrupt the flow of gameplay to an annoying degree when I really just wanna get on with the exploration on my own.
Combat wise it's relatively the same as Remake with some new additions. Synergy skills from Intermission return in an upgraded form, alongside synergy abilities which act as team up attacks for every party member combination and have a ton of varying attacks that you can unlock and perform. This was definitely a must-do for this game to not only spice up the combat but also because previously we'd only see team up attacks in cutscenes or stuff like Advent Children. They've also modified the skill system and incorporated a skill tree, much like the one introduced in FFX. It's a really solid progression system that makes leveling up feel more diverse by giving you agency in what you want to obtain in the skill tree in any order as long as you have the prerequisite skill slots unlocked. On top of that the three new party members are very fun to play. And having the ability to swap between your own pre-set party combinations in between combat makes the experience very fluid.
The characters this time around are another major highlight of Rebirth. As always the main party is very nicely fleshed out and are a joy to see on screen. The party banter and overall interactions are amazing and they really characterized the newer ones super well. One of my favourite moments is Vincent's introduction. In general I've just become obsessed with this entire cast. The original focused a lot more on the story relevant characters when it was their time to shine, and as a result I didn't really feel like the party knew each other that well aside from a couple of combinations. I think my one issue is that while you're exploring the open world, the party rarely ever talks unless there's some sort of story event happening or a side quest is active. It would've been really nice to have some character interactions to fill in the void of silence, whether it's banter or some character insight or some references to the compilation. In general I feel like just the story interactions weren't enough for me personally. A major one I feel that was a missed opportunity was Vincent and Cid. Of course they aren't playable in Rebirth, and their overall role in the story are pretty minor right now. But I just wish they got more.
The last thing to touch on is the story. Speaking as someone who loves FFVII and Remake, I enjoyed pretty much all of it. I feel like the story is almost always super faithful to the original, minus a few things that I wish were either done differently or just didn't change at all from the original. Not only that but they flesh out so much of what happens in each area. I said this earlier in the review that so many areas in the original are just so much more interesting in Rebirth due to the context that you are introduced to certain areas and also new story bits that enhance the original versions of some areas. I'm aware that some people find the story to have a lot of filler in it like Remake did, and while I do agree that some areas can be fillery, I really don't think it's that bad. FFVII was always more than just the serious and badass overarching narrative, it also had a lot of pure fun moments in the story. And while yes those fun moments in Rebirth are amplified to a degree that makes things pretty long, I personally liked to just savour the content I was getting because no other FFVII game will give you this much character interaction and story content. I think the story is much more memorable the way it is with the so-called "filler" content because I genuinely think the fun stuff in FFVII is almost just as important as the serious stuff. There are SOME things in the story that I feel a bit iffy on the execution of, but I don't think any of it gets egregiously bad. I really liked how all the moments from the original were remade in Rebirth, and overall I found myself going crazy over several events in the story.
So overall, I feel immensely satisfied with this experience, both as a remake, as a sequel, and as a game overall. I genuinely believe this is a perfect game, despite several minor issues I have, I ultimately came for the story and core gameplay experience, but I ended up being enamored by everything else it gave me. Honestly, this may be one of the best games I have ever played; the whole game was just an unbelievable experience for me to go through. Every area and major story section had me HOOKED, the gameplay was always fresh and addictive to play, the characters are in their best forms here, the rearrangements of songs from the original game and completely new music are all amazing. Just an unbelievable game. For it to be such a fascinating sequel while also being a really great remake and open world game at the same time is honestly just a huge accomplishment for the creators and a huge win for the players. It really just feels like the developers just knew exactly what to do. Like they fucking get it. They know what makes Final Fantasy VII special, they know why people adore it so much, they know how to stay true to the game's legacy and as a result they have (in my opinion) created a game just as revolutionary with Rebirth as the original FFVII did in 1997. Moreover, it really feels like the Remake series is more than just a remake of FFVII. This is a celebration of Final Fantasy VII and the whole compilation; it's a celebration of the whole legacy that this series gave to gaming. The content in Rebirth really feels like it came straight from the hearts of the developers like it was a giant passion project. Despite a lot of the staff from the original working on the Remake series, after 27 years of FFVII, they probably have a lot of staff there who grew up with the classic Final Fantasy titles and have now ended up working for the games they grew up with (I think Hamaguchi literally is one of these people and now he's the director of this game). You can see it all over the game from the characterization, the visuals, the set-pieces, the narrative, the subtle and blatant compilation references, the gameplay, the reimagined open world, and especially the fucking soundtrack. This whole game really made me feel so much. There are so many genuinely fun moments, so many amazing twists, so many intriguing story threads, and so many emotional scenes that either made me shed or outright burst into tears. FFVII Rebirth has made me appreciate FFVII and Final Fantasy as a whole so much more than I already did, and I can't wait to see how the third game concludes the trilogy. This is the most 10/10 game I have ever played in my life, and I'm honestly just super glad to be part of the journey and hype cycle as it's being released.
1993
Definitely a big improvement over 1 and 2, but I feel like the much more diverse and fun level design came at the cost of how long the levels themselves were. There are several levels that I beat in less than a minute by playing normally, and boss fights are hardly actually boss fights. Another issue I have are the autoscrolling levels. I know I just said the levels in this game are short as hell, but there are quite a handful of autoscrollers that are so boring. In the final world there are back-to-back autoscrolling levels which use the exact same premise for the theme, level design, and obstacles. Still, this game set the foundation for a lot of things to be included in future games, such as the world map, different powerups, Koopalings, Boom-Boom, and more level themes, so it has that going for it.
Thank you for giving me Nel the best Fire Emblem character of all time (not really but she's great).
I kinda wish the mirror world was given more time to shine in terms of the inverted royals and Elyos, but I get that the story is actually meant to be focused on Nel and Nil.
I kinda wish the mirror world was given more time to shine in terms of the inverted royals and Elyos, but I get that the story is actually meant to be focused on Nel and Nil.
If SOTN was my first Igavania instead of Aria/Dawn of Sorrow then I would probably have liked this a lot more. But I honestly think the inverted castle exists to a fault in terms of the pacing of the gameplay and even the story (which is less important I guess). Maybe for the time this came out it was really crazy, but as a new player, I can't say it made my experience better. The only thing it did was just give me more Symphony of the Night when I already felt sufficiently fulfilled by getting almost 100% in the first castle.
First Metroid game I've played and I was left with a very fun experience and impression. I can definitely see myself coming back to this just for fun in the future.
This game is kind of too long but at least the entire game felt fun to play. The first couple areas can be a bit boring but once you start getting more upgrades it becomes really fun. I don't like how we have to fight like 40 Metroids as mini-bosses throughout the entire game. I understand why we do for story reasons, but there had to be a better way to do that without having repeat bosses in a 10+ hour game for a first time player.
1994
Since I played Zero Mission and Returns before this, a lot of the flaws of Super stood out to me a bit. I appreciate the fact that this game almost singlehandedly contributed to creating the Metroidvania genre, and is also a classic game in general. But the controls are not perfect. Having a dedicated dash button feels unnecessary, and cycling between abilities with a singular button kind of sucks (especially once you have more than two things to swap between). I also don't really like how floaty Samus feels here compared to the other games I mentioned above. Either way the progression of this game was just as good as before and I still had fun. It was nice seeing old places from Metroid 1 and 2 return and also how the story came together.
2019
The game is fun.
As someone who has played OG, Crisis Core and Reunion, Remake, and seen Advent Children, I feel like I can always just go on my phone and doomscroll while simultaneously playing the game. The game is very pretty for a classic-style remake of the OG and compilation. But the abridged structure that they went with to do a classic remake of the series (especially the original) is a bit rough imo. The game is free, so I don't think that's a huge detriment, but this is definitely not what I'd recommend to a newcomer who wants to experience the compilation for the first time. If EC was an actual 1:1 classic remake of the OG, then sure. But the rest of the compilation was told in cutscenes, many of them with lots of voice acting and also cinematics only doable in the style of CG cutscenes or a full movie. I guess as an OG fan I'm fine with this game; it does look super pretty and has amazing OST rearrangements after all. But the gameplay is honestly just so meh. The battles (at least early on from what I've played) are very easy to beat by doing almost nothing and no real strategy.
I have yet to play the exclusive Sephiroth side story. I intend to play it one day but not soon probably. To be quite honest I think it's pretty jarring that one of the most iconic gaming villains of all time has his entire backstory revealed and told to us for the first time in a free-to-play game that was originally exclusive to mobile (until the PC release three months later). If you really want FFVII players and the fans to like Sephiroth more than they already do, this is not the way I would have done it. Back when the Yuffie DLC for Remake dropped, I remember seeing people brainstorm a DLC episode for Sephiroth for Remake (or some other entry in the trilogy). And I think that would've been much more effective, and would've done pretty good numbers considering who we're talking about here.
I have yet to play the exclusive Sephiroth side story. I intend to play it one day but not soon probably. To be quite honest I think it's pretty jarring that one of the most iconic gaming villains of all time has his entire backstory revealed and told to us for the first time in a free-to-play game that was originally exclusive to mobile (until the PC release three months later). If you really want FFVII players and the fans to like Sephiroth more than they already do, this is not the way I would have done it. Back when the Yuffie DLC for Remake dropped, I remember seeing people brainstorm a DLC episode for Sephiroth for Remake (or some other entry in the trilogy). And I think that would've been much more effective, and would've done pretty good numbers considering who we're talking about here.
1993
A lot of level design in this game is very mundane, uninteresting, and forgettable (yes I just used three synonymous adjectives to enhance my point). Regardless it's not a terrible experience. If I didn't know better I would say that this game feels like it was laying the foundation for future Mario games by being fundamentally different than the first in a lot of ways, such as throwing stuff to deal damage or kill enemies. But for some reason, they went straight to the og format in the sequel and for pretty much every 2D Mario afterward. As I said, I think SMB2 is pretty forgettable in many aspects, and even though we only got this style of 2D Mario once, I'm glad they just stuck to the original style.