Learning Japanese with PS1 Games (and others!)
a list of all of the PS1 (and other) games I've played to use as language immersion practice. going mostly in alphabetical order so as to not miss anything.
RYM version of this list:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/GalacticHole/learning-japanese-with-ps1-games/
RYM version of this list:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/GalacticHole/learning-japanese-with-ps1-games/
87 Games
FEBRUARY 22, 2022
THE GAME
the game that kickstarted my interest in getting back into learning japanese and digging for PS1 games (as well as playing more games in general).
you play as Boku, a young boy who spends a month at his grandparents' house in rural japan. explore! have fun! that's kinda it, and I absolutely love it because of that. not only incredibly relaxing but also significantly changed how I view spending my time in life. I really hope the proposed english translation gets completed sometime soon and that more people can learn about this experience as it's absolutely phenomenal.
9/10 (but will most likely become a 10/10 once I replay this with a much better grasp on japanese)
Recommended? YES
WHAT I LEARNED
playing this game for the first time, I was relying on what I remembered from the few months I tried learning japanese in middle school (5-6 years prior). occasional things I picked up, mainly family member terms and loanwords, but I think the general lack of understanding I had bettered my experience with the game as it gave it a much more childlike feeling.
not much else to mention here given that I had no intention of learning japanese at this point.
-------------------------
UPDATE: JUNE 5, 2023
I will never play this game a second time.
my initial goal from the very beginning was to be able to play all of these amazing, weird, life-changing games that I wouldn't be able to experience otherwise, especially this one. for a while, my main source of motivation to keep going when things felt rough was the eventual idea that I'd eventually be able to "truly" experience this game. after over a year of daily immersion, vocabulary review, and grammar lessons, I'm completely satisfied with the bizarre yet lovely experience I had before I even thought about starting the language-learning process. I am absolutely going to play the sequels at some point which I think might help satisfy any desire of wanting to return to this one.
you only get one childhood. every memory of my youthful summer that I have has lumped together into this one general mass of strawberry jam sandwiches and flash games at my grandparents' house, sunset-drenched baseball practices, lego sets in the cool basement of my long-since separated, now thousand miles-away home that I grew up in, and so much more culminating in this rough sensation of affection. my experience with this game is no different. those rough memories I have of the few days in which I semi-confusedly meandered through a low-poly japanese countryside in search of nothing but also everything should never be overwritten.
very few pieces of media or otherwise concretely-definable experiences have changed me as much as this one has. this game was able to surpass its medium and affect me in a way that I could have only ever dreamed anything I created could have done.
unmatchable.
10/10
THE GAME
the game that kickstarted my interest in getting back into learning japanese and digging for PS1 games (as well as playing more games in general).
you play as Boku, a young boy who spends a month at his grandparents' house in rural japan. explore! have fun! that's kinda it, and I absolutely love it because of that. not only incredibly relaxing but also significantly changed how I view spending my time in life. I really hope the proposed english translation gets completed sometime soon and that more people can learn about this experience as it's absolutely phenomenal.
9/10 (but will most likely become a 10/10 once I replay this with a much better grasp on japanese)
Recommended? YES
WHAT I LEARNED
playing this game for the first time, I was relying on what I remembered from the few months I tried learning japanese in middle school (5-6 years prior). occasional things I picked up, mainly family member terms and loanwords, but I think the general lack of understanding I had bettered my experience with the game as it gave it a much more childlike feeling.
not much else to mention here given that I had no intention of learning japanese at this point.
-------------------------
UPDATE: JUNE 5, 2023
I will never play this game a second time.
my initial goal from the very beginning was to be able to play all of these amazing, weird, life-changing games that I wouldn't be able to experience otherwise, especially this one. for a while, my main source of motivation to keep going when things felt rough was the eventual idea that I'd eventually be able to "truly" experience this game. after over a year of daily immersion, vocabulary review, and grammar lessons, I'm completely satisfied with the bizarre yet lovely experience I had before I even thought about starting the language-learning process. I am absolutely going to play the sequels at some point which I think might help satisfy any desire of wanting to return to this one.
you only get one childhood. every memory of my youthful summer that I have has lumped together into this one general mass of strawberry jam sandwiches and flash games at my grandparents' house, sunset-drenched baseball practices, lego sets in the cool basement of my long-since separated, now thousand miles-away home that I grew up in, and so much more culminating in this rough sensation of affection. my experience with this game is no different. those rough memories I have of the few days in which I semi-confusedly meandered through a low-poly japanese countryside in search of nothing but also everything should never be overwritten.
very few pieces of media or otherwise concretely-definable experiences have changed me as much as this one has. this game was able to surpass its medium and affect me in a way that I could have only ever dreamed anything I created could have done.
unmatchable.
10/10
JUNE 19, 2022
THE GAME
baseball is HUGE in japan. koushien is basically the country's high school baseball which is about as possible as their major league NPB baseball. this game lets you choose one of 4,000 high schools, most of which are real schools. you can play through a season of koushien, and this is definitely the most interesting sports game I think I will ever play. graphics have that lovely PS1 shtunk, and the game feels great to play. the music is also bonkers.
you may recognize this game from an old cr1tikal video, and the game really can get that crazy with the amount of customization it offers. you can create your own pitching animations, as well as custom school flag and song alongside the typical character switching during the actual games. there's so much you can make your own with this game which I'm sure allows for huge amounts of replayability. I've heard the sequel to this ('99 甲子園) has even more to mess around with which kinda scares me.
after giving you a lot of tutorials on how every different aspect of playing works, you get put into a tournament. my team was somehow FAR worse than my first opponent, and I got demolished, losing 5-25 when the game finally called for a mercy rule. it seems like you could keep playing for some reason but I decided to quit there. you can also play a single game which was a lot more fun as the teams actually felt a bit more balanced.
didn't expect much going into this one given how many sports games are out there, but it's a true shame that this one is as niche as it is. willing to give the tournament mode another shot once I learn more of the language.
7/10
Recommended? Worth checking out for the novelty, but maybe not unless you enjoy baseball games and/or a translation patch comes out
WHAT I LEARNED
well, the word for "baseball" (野球) will forever be stuck in my mind. other than that, a fair amount of words I recognized but a lot of general grammar and sentence structure that went over my head, making it hard to tell what was being said most of the time. I imagine that'll be a common difficulty going forward. there's a few lines that get repeated quite a bunch which was nice but the text is very squished and narrow for some reason which makes it a bit harder to read.
お疲れ様 (good work / thanks for your hard work) was the only phrase that I remember learning here. been trying to keep lookups infrequent so I'm not constantly switching back and forth and not really learning anything.
hardly any voice acting in this outside of the occasional "アウト!" so most of this was reading practice.
THE GAME
baseball is HUGE in japan. koushien is basically the country's high school baseball which is about as possible as their major league NPB baseball. this game lets you choose one of 4,000 high schools, most of which are real schools. you can play through a season of koushien, and this is definitely the most interesting sports game I think I will ever play. graphics have that lovely PS1 shtunk, and the game feels great to play. the music is also bonkers.
you may recognize this game from an old cr1tikal video, and the game really can get that crazy with the amount of customization it offers. you can create your own pitching animations, as well as custom school flag and song alongside the typical character switching during the actual games. there's so much you can make your own with this game which I'm sure allows for huge amounts of replayability. I've heard the sequel to this ('99 甲子園) has even more to mess around with which kinda scares me.
after giving you a lot of tutorials on how every different aspect of playing works, you get put into a tournament. my team was somehow FAR worse than my first opponent, and I got demolished, losing 5-25 when the game finally called for a mercy rule. it seems like you could keep playing for some reason but I decided to quit there. you can also play a single game which was a lot more fun as the teams actually felt a bit more balanced.
didn't expect much going into this one given how many sports games are out there, but it's a true shame that this one is as niche as it is. willing to give the tournament mode another shot once I learn more of the language.
7/10
Recommended? Worth checking out for the novelty, but maybe not unless you enjoy baseball games and/or a translation patch comes out
WHAT I LEARNED
well, the word for "baseball" (野球) will forever be stuck in my mind. other than that, a fair amount of words I recognized but a lot of general grammar and sentence structure that went over my head, making it hard to tell what was being said most of the time. I imagine that'll be a common difficulty going forward. there's a few lines that get repeated quite a bunch which was nice but the text is very squished and narrow for some reason which makes it a bit harder to read.
お疲れ様 (good work / thanks for your hard work) was the only phrase that I remember learning here. been trying to keep lookups infrequent so I'm not constantly switching back and forth and not really learning anything.
hardly any voice acting in this outside of the occasional "アウト!" so most of this was reading practice.
JUNE 20, 2022
THE GAME
THIS ONE IS INSANE!! basically a mix between a basketball game and a fighting game. I'm not totally familiar with either but I had a lot of fun with this one, being unlike anything I had ever seen before.
you choose one of 8 characters and battle your way to prove your basketball and fighting skills. each match is a first-to-11 game which take place as what I can only describe as a turn-based fighting game. ball possession switches back-and-forth exactly like a traditional half-court basketball game.
on the offense, you try to get past the defender to score, mainly through layups and dunks. you can also shoot the ball, but it's WAY too difficult to do, even in the game's free-throw minigames. on the defense, you try to get the ball back. you can steal the ball like normal or straight up beat the shit out of your opponent. I lost my mind the first time I saw my character kick the opponent in the face and shove him down to steal the ball.
unfortunately, the gameplay feels pretty one-dimensional as the best strategy is almost always to pull your big shove attack on defense and then just run past for a layup on offense. really short game too, but I feel like this would go so hard with two actual people playing against each other.
the music is also crazy good, and I think that may be a trend moving forward here.
this game was also designed by takehiko inoue who has done some crazy illustration work for the manga/anime series Slam Dunk. I knew about this series before playing this game, but I'm even more interested in checking them out now.
8/10
Recommended? Yes!
WHAT I LEARNED
going through this game's tutorial helped me a lot with a few various terms, including 練習 (training), 相手 (opponent/partner), 同じ / 同時 (same / simultaneous), 押して (press), and 終了 (end). I was also able to pick up on a few full sentences that made understanding how to play the game a bit better. even if I didn't know every piece of a sentence, I could still get the general idea of what the game wanted me to do, which I think is the most important bit.
the main storyline went a bit over my head, but that didn't bother me too much given how straightforward it was to understand.
THE GAME
THIS ONE IS INSANE!! basically a mix between a basketball game and a fighting game. I'm not totally familiar with either but I had a lot of fun with this one, being unlike anything I had ever seen before.
you choose one of 8 characters and battle your way to prove your basketball and fighting skills. each match is a first-to-11 game which take place as what I can only describe as a turn-based fighting game. ball possession switches back-and-forth exactly like a traditional half-court basketball game.
on the offense, you try to get past the defender to score, mainly through layups and dunks. you can also shoot the ball, but it's WAY too difficult to do, even in the game's free-throw minigames. on the defense, you try to get the ball back. you can steal the ball like normal or straight up beat the shit out of your opponent. I lost my mind the first time I saw my character kick the opponent in the face and shove him down to steal the ball.
unfortunately, the gameplay feels pretty one-dimensional as the best strategy is almost always to pull your big shove attack on defense and then just run past for a layup on offense. really short game too, but I feel like this would go so hard with two actual people playing against each other.
the music is also crazy good, and I think that may be a trend moving forward here.
this game was also designed by takehiko inoue who has done some crazy illustration work for the manga/anime series Slam Dunk. I knew about this series before playing this game, but I'm even more interested in checking them out now.
8/10
Recommended? Yes!
WHAT I LEARNED
going through this game's tutorial helped me a lot with a few various terms, including 練習 (training), 相手 (opponent/partner), 同じ / 同時 (same / simultaneous), 押して (press), and 終了 (end). I was also able to pick up on a few full sentences that made understanding how to play the game a bit better. even if I didn't know every piece of a sentence, I could still get the general idea of what the game wanted me to do, which I think is the most important bit.
the main storyline went a bit over my head, but that didn't bother me too much given how straightforward it was to understand.
JUNE 21, 2022
THE GAME
a visual novel based on a nighttime train ride. passengers start disappearing and you have to figure out what's going on. I think?
a lot of the text went completely over my head and it was really difficult to want to go through this game. 98% of the experience is just clicking through dialogue over static images and I could not be interested.
apparently there's a lot of different paths you can go down based on your decisions that can get really surreal, but there's too many games I want to get to. maybe someday I'll decide to give it another shot, but I can't be bothered at this moment.
no rating
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
despite the huge amount of language I wasn't able to recognize, there was some decent general practice here for me as well.
I don't think visual novels will really click with me for a while until I have a better grasp on the language.
THE GAME
a visual novel based on a nighttime train ride. passengers start disappearing and you have to figure out what's going on. I think?
a lot of the text went completely over my head and it was really difficult to want to go through this game. 98% of the experience is just clicking through dialogue over static images and I could not be interested.
apparently there's a lot of different paths you can go down based on your decisions that can get really surreal, but there's too many games I want to get to. maybe someday I'll decide to give it another shot, but I can't be bothered at this moment.
no rating
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
despite the huge amount of language I wasn't able to recognize, there was some decent general practice here for me as well.
I don't think visual novels will really click with me for a while until I have a better grasp on the language.
JUNE 24, 2022
THE GAME
based off of the 3x3 Eyes manga/anime series (though I'm not sure if from any pre-existing story in particular), this is a text-based-adventure-style game. in practice, this game is perfect for learning as it is completely centered around text and has a lot of voicework as well, but the game itself is really dry to play and eventually I reached a point where it became "talk to this person and then these subsequent people in this order" and I just got stuck from not knowing enough of what was going on. I'm a little interested in checking out the series, but this slower-paced style of game is not something I'm too interested in.
3/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
a lot of great review in general here though. a fair amount of full sentences I picked up and some vocabulary that I had been reviewing that made its way into my playthrough. I really like the sheer density of text and voicework here, but I definitely need something a bit more interactive to thoroughly enjoy it. new words for me include まわり (around), ついて (about/regarding), 化け物 (monster), 情報 (information), and 変わった (strange).
THE GAME
based off of the 3x3 Eyes manga/anime series (though I'm not sure if from any pre-existing story in particular), this is a text-based-adventure-style game. in practice, this game is perfect for learning as it is completely centered around text and has a lot of voicework as well, but the game itself is really dry to play and eventually I reached a point where it became "talk to this person and then these subsequent people in this order" and I just got stuck from not knowing enough of what was going on. I'm a little interested in checking out the series, but this slower-paced style of game is not something I'm too interested in.
3/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
a lot of great review in general here though. a fair amount of full sentences I picked up and some vocabulary that I had been reviewing that made its way into my playthrough. I really like the sheer density of text and voicework here, but I definitely need something a bit more interactive to thoroughly enjoy it. new words for me include まわり (around), ついて (about/regarding), 化け物 (monster), 情報 (information), and 変わった (strange).
JUNE 27, 2022
THE GAME
choose one of eight characters to save the world. the story's likely a bit more in-depth than that but a fair amount of it went over my head.
as for gameplay, it's a 3D action-adventure game where you traverse through each stage, fighting enemies and an eventual boss, which is one of the other seven characters that you didn't choose. I believe this game has multiple different storylines for each character, but I could not be bothered to play through this game seven more times.
controls felt really rough here. move forward with d-pad up and turn left and right with R1/R2. jump with X and perform attacks with the remaining face and shoulder buttons. everything felt really stiff to do.
overall this game is pretty underwhelming. fighting enemies comes down to blocking their patterned attacks and just mashing triangle. the game locks you into a one-on-one fight with an enemy when you get close to one, but multiple can attack you at the same time. oftentimes I got demolished by two easy enemies because their attacks lined up differently and I couldn't switch targeting them. boss fights go into a side-profile fighting game view which is neat but it doesn't make the combat any more interesting. the game is way too easy as well. the final boss went down in maybe 5 seconds even though I struggled more with previous bosses.
the visual design looks great, very Mega Man Legends-like which I think is probably the best overall comparison I could give this game (although I haven't played it so I'm not 100% sure). unfortunately there's a lot of clipping textures and overall jankiness which takes away from the experience.
I can't imagine I'll ever return to this one.
4/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
I still really struggle with recognizing even the most basic grammar structures in practice. I'm mostly fine during casual review, but for some reason I just can't recognize a lot when I'm experiencing the language otherwise. something that'll hopefully get resolved in time. no specific words learned from this game.
THE GAME
choose one of eight characters to save the world. the story's likely a bit more in-depth than that but a fair amount of it went over my head.
as for gameplay, it's a 3D action-adventure game where you traverse through each stage, fighting enemies and an eventual boss, which is one of the other seven characters that you didn't choose. I believe this game has multiple different storylines for each character, but I could not be bothered to play through this game seven more times.
controls felt really rough here. move forward with d-pad up and turn left and right with R1/R2. jump with X and perform attacks with the remaining face and shoulder buttons. everything felt really stiff to do.
overall this game is pretty underwhelming. fighting enemies comes down to blocking their patterned attacks and just mashing triangle. the game locks you into a one-on-one fight with an enemy when you get close to one, but multiple can attack you at the same time. oftentimes I got demolished by two easy enemies because their attacks lined up differently and I couldn't switch targeting them. boss fights go into a side-profile fighting game view which is neat but it doesn't make the combat any more interesting. the game is way too easy as well. the final boss went down in maybe 5 seconds even though I struggled more with previous bosses.
the visual design looks great, very Mega Man Legends-like which I think is probably the best overall comparison I could give this game (although I haven't played it so I'm not 100% sure). unfortunately there's a lot of clipping textures and overall jankiness which takes away from the experience.
I can't imagine I'll ever return to this one.
4/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
I still really struggle with recognizing even the most basic grammar structures in practice. I'm mostly fine during casual review, but for some reason I just can't recognize a lot when I'm experiencing the language otherwise. something that'll hopefully get resolved in time. no specific words learned from this game.
JULY 10, 2022
THE GAME
you are on a plane that crash-lands in the middle of the aconcagua mountain range. with the help of a few other survivors you meet, you have to get off of the mountain and help an important political figure get to safety to prevent civil war.
I would call this point-and-click Metal Gear Solid but I've never played MGS so I don't know how accurate that really is. it's a point-and-click/puzzle/stealth game. a few of the puzzles are a bit obtuse but most of them are pretty straightforward. you eventually get to control 5 different characters that come in and out of your party as the game progresses, and all of them have unique attributes that are needed to clear different areas. I think all of them are well-utilized, as there was never a part where I felt one or more of them were getting neglected. the game is really good in that aspect, but I'm not sure if any of the actual puzzles were that terribly interesting. it felt like getting through one thing just to get to another at some points. the time-based sections are also really strict, giving you only a few seconds left even if you know exactly what to do. regardless, the game is definitely enjoyable enough to play through, and it's getting an english translation patch soon.
7/10
Recommended? For fans of point-and-click games and MGS
WHAT I LEARNED
an interesting thing about this game is that the game takes place across japanese, english, and spanish. all of the in-game text is written in japanese, but the cutscenes are all voiced in english. there's also a fair amount of spanish that makes its way into the game due to the story, so it creates this interesting language trifecta.
this was also the first major text-heavy, story-based game that I've completed in this journey. feels great and I definitely learned a huge amount. I would love to play through more games that have a good balance between gameplay and dialogue/text, as I truly felt like I was productively immersing in the language while still having the enjoyment of a game. the cutscenes being voiced in english also helped serve as a good immediate understanding check, as I could pause to read the japanese subtitles and then unpause to see if I understood what was being said.
also in the time since playing the last game here, I've been working a lot more on studying grammar. this has definitely paid off as I feel my general understanding has greatly improved. a lot of sentences that I understood perfectly without having to double-check a translation which is so incredibly gratifying.
lots of new stuff here: ところ, 持ち物, 岩, 凍る, 安全, 火, 生存者, 無事, 事故, とにかく, 希望, 残り, 倒す, 急ぐ, ポンコツ, 橋, 通る, 消火器, 追っ手, 貸す, and (verb)られる
THE GAME
you are on a plane that crash-lands in the middle of the aconcagua mountain range. with the help of a few other survivors you meet, you have to get off of the mountain and help an important political figure get to safety to prevent civil war.
I would call this point-and-click Metal Gear Solid but I've never played MGS so I don't know how accurate that really is. it's a point-and-click/puzzle/stealth game. a few of the puzzles are a bit obtuse but most of them are pretty straightforward. you eventually get to control 5 different characters that come in and out of your party as the game progresses, and all of them have unique attributes that are needed to clear different areas. I think all of them are well-utilized, as there was never a part where I felt one or more of them were getting neglected. the game is really good in that aspect, but I'm not sure if any of the actual puzzles were that terribly interesting. it felt like getting through one thing just to get to another at some points. the time-based sections are also really strict, giving you only a few seconds left even if you know exactly what to do. regardless, the game is definitely enjoyable enough to play through, and it's getting an english translation patch soon.
7/10
Recommended? For fans of point-and-click games and MGS
WHAT I LEARNED
an interesting thing about this game is that the game takes place across japanese, english, and spanish. all of the in-game text is written in japanese, but the cutscenes are all voiced in english. there's also a fair amount of spanish that makes its way into the game due to the story, so it creates this interesting language trifecta.
this was also the first major text-heavy, story-based game that I've completed in this journey. feels great and I definitely learned a huge amount. I would love to play through more games that have a good balance between gameplay and dialogue/text, as I truly felt like I was productively immersing in the language while still having the enjoyment of a game. the cutscenes being voiced in english also helped serve as a good immediate understanding check, as I could pause to read the japanese subtitles and then unpause to see if I understood what was being said.
also in the time since playing the last game here, I've been working a lot more on studying grammar. this has definitely paid off as I feel my general understanding has greatly improved. a lot of sentences that I understood perfectly without having to double-check a translation which is so incredibly gratifying.
lots of new stuff here: ところ, 持ち物, 岩, 凍る, 安全, 火, 生存者, 無事, 事故, とにかく, 希望, 残り, 倒す, 急ぐ, ポンコツ, 橋, 通る, 消火器, 追っ手, 貸す, and (verb)られる
JULY 20, 2022
THE GAME
a young girl named Addie dreams of a strange place where she can change objects using her log lock device. her brother Moze (who now calls himself Joka) has stolen a metal gear, and you have to find him and figure out what he wants with it.
the game itself is a lot of walking back and forth between the same few areas, completing different tasks for the few people in the town. the main way you do that is through the log lock puzzles. you shift, rotate, and mirror different letters of a word to form a different word in as few moves as possible. I immediately got stuck with even the first few tutorial puzzles so I looked up solutions for all of them. my main goal was language immersion too so I didn't feel that bad about doing so.
this game's kinda weird as well. the sounds people make when they talk are random orchestral noises with a different instrument for each character and the story gets really bizarre near the end. it's silly but never overly weird as I know a lot of PS1 games can get.
not too bad of a game though I think I would have enjoyed this game far less if I had actually tried to solve the puzzles it presented.
6/10
Recommended? Not really
WHAT I LEARNED
this game was INCREDIBLE for language immersion. I understood so many of the sentences as this game was just phenomenal grammar review for me. I recently started making flashcards of sentences for grammar review and there were quite a few that I created from the dialogue here. the game is pretty straightforward at telling you where to go and what to do so that helped out quite a bit. still definitely a bunch of longer sentences that I struggled with, even taking my time trying to deconstruct the individual words and grammar points, but I'm definitely feeling a lot better about my language abilities. if this game's font was more readable, I think it would be a surefire pick for a great game to learn japanese with.
new words: 説明書 (instructions, manual), もしかしたら (maybe, possibly), 手がかり (clue), かしら (I wonder), and オルゴール (music box)
this game was mostly grammar review for me though
THE GAME
a young girl named Addie dreams of a strange place where she can change objects using her log lock device. her brother Moze (who now calls himself Joka) has stolen a metal gear, and you have to find him and figure out what he wants with it.
the game itself is a lot of walking back and forth between the same few areas, completing different tasks for the few people in the town. the main way you do that is through the log lock puzzles. you shift, rotate, and mirror different letters of a word to form a different word in as few moves as possible. I immediately got stuck with even the first few tutorial puzzles so I looked up solutions for all of them. my main goal was language immersion too so I didn't feel that bad about doing so.
this game's kinda weird as well. the sounds people make when they talk are random orchestral noises with a different instrument for each character and the story gets really bizarre near the end. it's silly but never overly weird as I know a lot of PS1 games can get.
not too bad of a game though I think I would have enjoyed this game far less if I had actually tried to solve the puzzles it presented.
6/10
Recommended? Not really
WHAT I LEARNED
this game was INCREDIBLE for language immersion. I understood so many of the sentences as this game was just phenomenal grammar review for me. I recently started making flashcards of sentences for grammar review and there were quite a few that I created from the dialogue here. the game is pretty straightforward at telling you where to go and what to do so that helped out quite a bit. still definitely a bunch of longer sentences that I struggled with, even taking my time trying to deconstruct the individual words and grammar points, but I'm definitely feeling a lot better about my language abilities. if this game's font was more readable, I think it would be a surefire pick for a great game to learn japanese with.
new words: 説明書 (instructions, manual), もしかしたら (maybe, possibly), 手がかり (clue), かしら (I wonder), and オルゴール (music box)
this game was mostly grammar review for me though
JULY 27, 2022
THE GAME
Alice, Juli, and Reina are three high school girls who can dive into Cyberland. hackers and other mysterious forces are taking control of Cyberland, and it's up to you to fix their wrongdoings and save the world. I thought I was understanding a lot of the story at first, but there were quite a few moments where I lost the train of plot. it feels like a lot of characters come in and out of the story, and I was reminded of everything I had forgotten about at the end when it recaps the game.
initially this game felt really crazy as it was quickly introducing a lot of new concepts, but it settles into a groove after the first zone. a lot of the game is going through dialogue (I initially thought the game was going to be a dating sim). in each zone, you get an opening cutscene foreshadowing what will go wrong in Cyberland, and then you can walk around the city. there's a few different places you can go to where different events happen, including the arcade which has the DOPEST rock paper scissors battle game ever. there's a similar-to-rock paper scissors battle system once you get into Cyberland. neat but it felt really random.
overall this game was never really difficult and was just sorta going through it to go through it. not bad, and there's definitely some goofy strange moments, but nothing incredibly special.
6/10
Recommended? Not really
WHAT I LEARNED
lots of dialogue here, both written and spoken. I still REALLY struggle with understanding spoken dialogue, which further showed itself through the disparity of my understanding between the unsubtitled cutscenes and subtitled gameplay. I also struggle a lot with names in English, and trying to figure out names in a language I don't fully understand is even more difficult.
regardless, I can definitely feel my understanding improving with every game I play which is a great feeling. maybe I want to try out a dating sim for real now?
new words: 泣く, 平気, 壊れる, ひどい, 逃げる, 噂, 柔らかい, 今度, 恥ずかしい, 声, しつこい
THE GAME
Alice, Juli, and Reina are three high school girls who can dive into Cyberland. hackers and other mysterious forces are taking control of Cyberland, and it's up to you to fix their wrongdoings and save the world. I thought I was understanding a lot of the story at first, but there were quite a few moments where I lost the train of plot. it feels like a lot of characters come in and out of the story, and I was reminded of everything I had forgotten about at the end when it recaps the game.
initially this game felt really crazy as it was quickly introducing a lot of new concepts, but it settles into a groove after the first zone. a lot of the game is going through dialogue (I initially thought the game was going to be a dating sim). in each zone, you get an opening cutscene foreshadowing what will go wrong in Cyberland, and then you can walk around the city. there's a few different places you can go to where different events happen, including the arcade which has the DOPEST rock paper scissors battle game ever. there's a similar-to-rock paper scissors battle system once you get into Cyberland. neat but it felt really random.
overall this game was never really difficult and was just sorta going through it to go through it. not bad, and there's definitely some goofy strange moments, but nothing incredibly special.
6/10
Recommended? Not really
WHAT I LEARNED
lots of dialogue here, both written and spoken. I still REALLY struggle with understanding spoken dialogue, which further showed itself through the disparity of my understanding between the unsubtitled cutscenes and subtitled gameplay. I also struggle a lot with names in English, and trying to figure out names in a language I don't fully understand is even more difficult.
regardless, I can definitely feel my understanding improving with every game I play which is a great feeling. maybe I want to try out a dating sim for real now?
new words: 泣く, 平気, 壊れる, ひどい, 逃げる, 噂, 柔らかい, 今度, 恥ずかしい, 声, しつこい
AUGUST 6, 2022
THE GAME
well, if I'm going to try a dating sim, it might as well be THE dating sim.
you play as a guy trying to win the hearts of one of the many girls at your high school over the 3 years you have. you can choose what to do each week from improving your stats to calling girls to arrange dates. new girls get introduced to you throughout those 3 years, forcing you to balance your relationships with all of them so they don't spread rumors, damaging your chances with the one girl you want to romance.
this game is beautiful from the text boxes, scrolling backgrounds, and, of course, the many stylized portraits of all of the girls. it's really easy to get sucked into doing "just one more turn" which then turns into another hour of play. there's also SO MUCH in this game. I only did one playthrough (for Ayako) and I barely scratched the surface of all of the special events and other happenings that can occur in this game.
unexpectedly, this game gets really stressful at times. trying to manage multiple girls who are about to set off their rumor bombs with a very limited number of weekends to both call and date everyone led to me savestating the hell out of this game. I legitimately can't think of another time I've felt this stressed out from a game. unfortunately, the rumor bombs just kinda feel like a waste of the player's time, as it just involves learning who is about to set one off, reloading to go back a few weeks, and setting up a date with the girl in advance. I've heard the sequel handles this much better.
I had both great fun and the worst time playing this game. worth playing for me for sure, though.
7/10
Recommended? definitely if you know Japanese or are learning the language; otherwise I'd say to wait for a translation patch for the PS1 version to be made before checking it out. at the very least watch the Action Button review
WHAT I LEARNED
this was actually a fantastic game for language immersion (outside of the times where I was going ham on savestates and skipping ahead to make sure my date plans worked out). lots of casual, natural dialogue that gets repeated a lot. voice acting and lots of text on display here as well making this a great experience. I felt like I understood a lot more of this game than I have with previous games I've played thus far.
new words: 誘う, 場所, 絵, バッチリ, さっき, 喜ぶ, わりと, 印象, 与える, and lots of additional sentences to review for grammar
THE GAME
well, if I'm going to try a dating sim, it might as well be THE dating sim.
you play as a guy trying to win the hearts of one of the many girls at your high school over the 3 years you have. you can choose what to do each week from improving your stats to calling girls to arrange dates. new girls get introduced to you throughout those 3 years, forcing you to balance your relationships with all of them so they don't spread rumors, damaging your chances with the one girl you want to romance.
this game is beautiful from the text boxes, scrolling backgrounds, and, of course, the many stylized portraits of all of the girls. it's really easy to get sucked into doing "just one more turn" which then turns into another hour of play. there's also SO MUCH in this game. I only did one playthrough (for Ayako) and I barely scratched the surface of all of the special events and other happenings that can occur in this game.
unexpectedly, this game gets really stressful at times. trying to manage multiple girls who are about to set off their rumor bombs with a very limited number of weekends to both call and date everyone led to me savestating the hell out of this game. I legitimately can't think of another time I've felt this stressed out from a game. unfortunately, the rumor bombs just kinda feel like a waste of the player's time, as it just involves learning who is about to set one off, reloading to go back a few weeks, and setting up a date with the girl in advance. I've heard the sequel handles this much better.
I had both great fun and the worst time playing this game. worth playing for me for sure, though.
7/10
Recommended? definitely if you know Japanese or are learning the language; otherwise I'd say to wait for a translation patch for the PS1 version to be made before checking it out. at the very least watch the Action Button review
WHAT I LEARNED
this was actually a fantastic game for language immersion (outside of the times where I was going ham on savestates and skipping ahead to make sure my date plans worked out). lots of casual, natural dialogue that gets repeated a lot. voice acting and lots of text on display here as well making this a great experience. I felt like I understood a lot more of this game than I have with previous games I've played thus far.
new words: 誘う, 場所, 絵, バッチリ, さっき, 喜ぶ, わりと, 印象, 与える, and lots of additional sentences to review for grammar
AUGUST 10, 2022
THE GAME
fmv-fest.
my very rough understanding of the story is that Atsuko has experienced some sort of trouble 17 years prior when she was sent to an orphanage. in present day (january 2020), she is framed for murdering the city's mayor and has to escape from the police. who can she trust on her journey to find out what's going on?
I could totally see there being multiple endings but I'm a One-Playthrough Ollie, especially with this game. you just watch a bunch of videos, occasionally facing a quick-time event. these felt both really strict and really lenient. some of them involve having to press one of the d-pad buttons in time, but it didn't feel like there was any consequence for just pressing all four. however, some of the later quick-time events were hyper strict on when you had to press circle. bit ridiculous considering how long you would need to go between saves.
the story itself felt like a pretty standard 90's action b-movie. definitely obvious notes from blade runner and terminator, although there was an interesting point at the very beginning with fabricated surveillance footage that felt straight out of utopia, which wouldn't come out until 15 years later (probably done before then as well, but it still stuck out to me). there were also some unintentionally funny vfx moments which felt right at home with everything else.
the one thing that really shocked me about this game was the music. there were quite a few songs that sounded absolutely crazy and did make the experience more enjoyable. otherwise, I was just playing this one to finish it.
3/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
not really anything in particular? no new words and no interesting grammar points I noted. this was just some fairly decent listening practice. another game with difficult text to read though, this time by being maybe 5x5 pixels each. this game came on 3 disks yet couldn't have used some of that space for higher-quality text, huh.
THE GAME
fmv-fest.
my very rough understanding of the story is that Atsuko has experienced some sort of trouble 17 years prior when she was sent to an orphanage. in present day (january 2020), she is framed for murdering the city's mayor and has to escape from the police. who can she trust on her journey to find out what's going on?
I could totally see there being multiple endings but I'm a One-Playthrough Ollie, especially with this game. you just watch a bunch of videos, occasionally facing a quick-time event. these felt both really strict and really lenient. some of them involve having to press one of the d-pad buttons in time, but it didn't feel like there was any consequence for just pressing all four. however, some of the later quick-time events were hyper strict on when you had to press circle. bit ridiculous considering how long you would need to go between saves.
the story itself felt like a pretty standard 90's action b-movie. definitely obvious notes from blade runner and terminator, although there was an interesting point at the very beginning with fabricated surveillance footage that felt straight out of utopia, which wouldn't come out until 15 years later (probably done before then as well, but it still stuck out to me). there were also some unintentionally funny vfx moments which felt right at home with everything else.
the one thing that really shocked me about this game was the music. there were quite a few songs that sounded absolutely crazy and did make the experience more enjoyable. otherwise, I was just playing this one to finish it.
3/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
not really anything in particular? no new words and no interesting grammar points I noted. this was just some fairly decent listening practice. another game with difficult text to read though, this time by being maybe 5x5 pixels each. this game came on 3 disks yet couldn't have used some of that space for higher-quality text, huh.
AUGUST 19, 2022
THE GAME
how this game hasn't gained much traction outside of japan is beyond me. I started this without knowing it was a very popular kusoge and was blown away with how memeably bad it is. weird 3D cutscenes, super janky 3D in general, out-of-tune music, this game has everything.
the game itself is a JRPG where some illness is turning humans into monsters and you have to figure out how to stop it. the story never gets any more interesting than that. you travel to different places and do different things and go back to previous places, it's a huge slog past the initial "wow this is funny bad" factor.
I had to stop playing this game about halfway through out of shame that the only other JRPG I've played is EarthBound. lemme play some good stuff before I force myself through this garbage.
I watched a little bit of a playthrough afterwards and this game just gets worse and worse, specifically through an item that makes the game a cakewalk and that the second disc is just a really long fetch-quest. no thanks.
2/10
Recommended? Watch the opening cutscene
WHAT I LEARNED
I actually felt really good about my understanding here despite how bad the game was. a fair amount of fantasy language that totally went over me, but I can definitely feel my general comprehension improving.
new words: 玉, 生き物, 長老, 王子, 親戚, 親族, 指輪
THE GAME
how this game hasn't gained much traction outside of japan is beyond me. I started this without knowing it was a very popular kusoge and was blown away with how memeably bad it is. weird 3D cutscenes, super janky 3D in general, out-of-tune music, this game has everything.
the game itself is a JRPG where some illness is turning humans into monsters and you have to figure out how to stop it. the story never gets any more interesting than that. you travel to different places and do different things and go back to previous places, it's a huge slog past the initial "wow this is funny bad" factor.
I had to stop playing this game about halfway through out of shame that the only other JRPG I've played is EarthBound. lemme play some good stuff before I force myself through this garbage.
I watched a little bit of a playthrough afterwards and this game just gets worse and worse, specifically through an item that makes the game a cakewalk and that the second disc is just a really long fetch-quest. no thanks.
2/10
Recommended? Watch the opening cutscene
WHAT I LEARNED
I actually felt really good about my understanding here despite how bad the game was. a fair amount of fantasy language that totally went over me, but I can definitely feel my general comprehension improving.
new words: 玉, 生き物, 長老, 王子, 親戚, 親族, 指輪
AUGUST 21, 2022
THE GAME
a retelling of 14 various episodes from the anime of the same name in video game form. I was not familiar with the anime going into this, but it seems like a pretty faithful yet condensed version of the show.
each episode involves you discovering some mischievous event taking place because of one of the Clow Cards that has escaped from Sakura's magic book. you progress through dialogue, occasionally walk around, and play a short mini-game to recapture the card. occasionally you also get to watch a short FMV clip which I believe comes directly from the anime. the episodes can get a little uninteresting by the end, but the mini-games are all different enough from each other that they don't all feel like the exact same process.
the visuals and music fit the fun, child-like nature of this game really well, and I'd definitely say the graphics are it's strongest aspect. super cute isometric 2D sprites galore.
overall, it's just a nice little way to experience parts of the anime in a different way. there's also a translation patch available for this game if you aren't interested in a language-learning journey.
6/10
Recommended? Worth checking out if you like the anime, or want a short yet cute cakewalk of a game. don't go in expecting a whole lot from this.
WHAT I LEARNED
most all of the text in this game is in hiragana. that makes me trip up on a few words that I do actually know but just don't immediately recognize because I'm used to seeing the kanji instead. the entire game is voice acted as well (I imagine taking clips from the show?). lots of great practice here with the full spread of spoken and written dialogue, as well as most of it being fairly simple to understand given the game is made for a younger audience.
while playing this game, I realized that sometimes it's easy for me to fall into the trap of meandering my way through dialogue instead of consistently and actively trying to dissect everything. similarly, I have a very poor translating stamina. my first 15-20 minutes of immersion feel very focused and productive but fade away after that. whether that's something exclusive to me learning japanese or a long-term focus issue I struggle with in general, I don't know. I'm sure this will be something that I'll get better at over time.
THE GAME
a retelling of 14 various episodes from the anime of the same name in video game form. I was not familiar with the anime going into this, but it seems like a pretty faithful yet condensed version of the show.
each episode involves you discovering some mischievous event taking place because of one of the Clow Cards that has escaped from Sakura's magic book. you progress through dialogue, occasionally walk around, and play a short mini-game to recapture the card. occasionally you also get to watch a short FMV clip which I believe comes directly from the anime. the episodes can get a little uninteresting by the end, but the mini-games are all different enough from each other that they don't all feel like the exact same process.
the visuals and music fit the fun, child-like nature of this game really well, and I'd definitely say the graphics are it's strongest aspect. super cute isometric 2D sprites galore.
overall, it's just a nice little way to experience parts of the anime in a different way. there's also a translation patch available for this game if you aren't interested in a language-learning journey.
6/10
Recommended? Worth checking out if you like the anime, or want a short yet cute cakewalk of a game. don't go in expecting a whole lot from this.
WHAT I LEARNED
most all of the text in this game is in hiragana. that makes me trip up on a few words that I do actually know but just don't immediately recognize because I'm used to seeing the kanji instead. the entire game is voice acted as well (I imagine taking clips from the show?). lots of great practice here with the full spread of spoken and written dialogue, as well as most of it being fairly simple to understand given the game is made for a younger audience.
while playing this game, I realized that sometimes it's easy for me to fall into the trap of meandering my way through dialogue instead of consistently and actively trying to dissect everything. similarly, I have a very poor translating stamina. my first 15-20 minutes of immersion feel very focused and productive but fade away after that. whether that's something exclusive to me learning japanese or a long-term focus issue I struggle with in general, I don't know. I'm sure this will be something that I'll get better at over time.
AUGUST 24, 2022
THE GAME
absolutely adorable platformer, and one of the last few games released for the console.
Ao Zora (lit. "blue elephant") has a picnic with some of his friends and falls asleep. he awakes on a fantasy island where Princess Rainbow says that the Great King has stolen away the Seven Colors, planning to corrupt the once colorful land into just black and white. along with the help of your real-world friends, you have to solve riddles and make your way to the Great King's castle to bring back the color to the world.
the game is a 2D platformer where you can suck up and shoot out enemies using your elephant trunk. colliding with walls, other enemies, or fruit cans result in them turning back to the fairies that they once were. the fruit cans contain extra hitpoints or hints (a mechanic I will get to later). the game is very much about getting a high score, with loads of collectibles and bonus points for combos and not taking much damage throughout the stage.
you progress through 10 stages that each have 4 sub-stages. at the end of each one, you meet with one of your real-world companions (nakamatachi) who join your party. when selected, they give you special abilities; Pyon Pyon the rabbit makes you jump higher, Ko Zora the small elephant lets you stomp un-suckable enemies, and Pipi and Chichi the birds allow you to temporarily fly, just to name a few.
the big gimmick with this game occurs at the end of each sub-stage. you face off with one of the Great King's minions and have to solve one of their riddles. these are essentially puns or joke-answers. think something like "What has two hands but can't hold anything? A clock." unfortunately for me, these are all rooted in Japanese language and culture, making them much harder to get through than they would be otherwise. there were I handful I got without having to use any of my hints, but plenty that made zero sense to me even after fully translating everything and seeing the correct answer.
you're allowed to skip over these riddles if you don't know the answer (causing you to lose a hitpoint in the process), but I figured I might as well brute-force them as it was pretty unlikely I would get any of them correct without help. I can't speak on whether or not these riddles are actually any good given that most went over my head, but the ones that did make sense to me felt decently clever. the game is clearly made for younger Japanese children, and I can imagine most of these riddles would click for its target audience.
Ao Zora is a really cute game. nothing spectacularly beautiful, but it always holds true to the childlike artstyle. the character designs and music are a real treat, and the game oozes personality.
playing the game never really hit the expectations I had given how it looks. most of the time it feels nice to play, but there's quite a few minor recurring issues I faced. movement speed is sluggish especially when retreading your steps to gather collectibles, there's plenty of blind drops that most often result in you ending up in a pit or taking damage from an enemy you couldn't see, and there's random invisible blocks that have no indication of existing.
the companions you get along the way are all unique and fun, but I don't feel they get utilized very equally. you'll spend 90% of the game chilling with Pyon Pyon the rabbit as you won't be able to make the vast majority of jumps in the game without him. Hou Hou the owl is also only used to find secrets which are almost always secret riddle-giving enemies. once I found out that was his only purpose, I never used his help again.
overall, the game isn't too difficult platforming-wise, but, again, the riddles are where I really struggled. I had to answer over 50 throughout the entire game, and each time it just provided another moment of "here we go again..." given my lack of understanding of the language and culture. granted, this is more of a personal issue, but it was still a hinderance in my enjoyment.
it's cute and hooked me in immediately, but I do wish I got more from this game overall.
7/10
Recommended? Only if you have a really firm grasp on Japanese language and culture. otherwise you're going to be spending loads of time trying to get through all of the riddles
WHAT I LEARNED
I still have a long ways to go before I'll feel remotely comfortable playing a game in Japanese and not having to constantly translate what's being said. this is another game entirely in hiragana, and further showed me how I can forget words that naturally click with me just from seeing them in a different form. I'm also not 100% consistent with even recognizing hiragana, as there were many times where I misread a character, causing me to misunderstand the dialogue.
new words: なぞなぞ, 丘, 得点, 島, 背中, 対決, 上書き, 一族, 虹
THE GAME
absolutely adorable platformer, and one of the last few games released for the console.
Ao Zora (lit. "blue elephant") has a picnic with some of his friends and falls asleep. he awakes on a fantasy island where Princess Rainbow says that the Great King has stolen away the Seven Colors, planning to corrupt the once colorful land into just black and white. along with the help of your real-world friends, you have to solve riddles and make your way to the Great King's castle to bring back the color to the world.
the game is a 2D platformer where you can suck up and shoot out enemies using your elephant trunk. colliding with walls, other enemies, or fruit cans result in them turning back to the fairies that they once were. the fruit cans contain extra hitpoints or hints (a mechanic I will get to later). the game is very much about getting a high score, with loads of collectibles and bonus points for combos and not taking much damage throughout the stage.
you progress through 10 stages that each have 4 sub-stages. at the end of each one, you meet with one of your real-world companions (nakamatachi) who join your party. when selected, they give you special abilities; Pyon Pyon the rabbit makes you jump higher, Ko Zora the small elephant lets you stomp un-suckable enemies, and Pipi and Chichi the birds allow you to temporarily fly, just to name a few.
the big gimmick with this game occurs at the end of each sub-stage. you face off with one of the Great King's minions and have to solve one of their riddles. these are essentially puns or joke-answers. think something like "What has two hands but can't hold anything? A clock." unfortunately for me, these are all rooted in Japanese language and culture, making them much harder to get through than they would be otherwise. there were I handful I got without having to use any of my hints, but plenty that made zero sense to me even after fully translating everything and seeing the correct answer.
you're allowed to skip over these riddles if you don't know the answer (causing you to lose a hitpoint in the process), but I figured I might as well brute-force them as it was pretty unlikely I would get any of them correct without help. I can't speak on whether or not these riddles are actually any good given that most went over my head, but the ones that did make sense to me felt decently clever. the game is clearly made for younger Japanese children, and I can imagine most of these riddles would click for its target audience.
Ao Zora is a really cute game. nothing spectacularly beautiful, but it always holds true to the childlike artstyle. the character designs and music are a real treat, and the game oozes personality.
playing the game never really hit the expectations I had given how it looks. most of the time it feels nice to play, but there's quite a few minor recurring issues I faced. movement speed is sluggish especially when retreading your steps to gather collectibles, there's plenty of blind drops that most often result in you ending up in a pit or taking damage from an enemy you couldn't see, and there's random invisible blocks that have no indication of existing.
the companions you get along the way are all unique and fun, but I don't feel they get utilized very equally. you'll spend 90% of the game chilling with Pyon Pyon the rabbit as you won't be able to make the vast majority of jumps in the game without him. Hou Hou the owl is also only used to find secrets which are almost always secret riddle-giving enemies. once I found out that was his only purpose, I never used his help again.
overall, the game isn't too difficult platforming-wise, but, again, the riddles are where I really struggled. I had to answer over 50 throughout the entire game, and each time it just provided another moment of "here we go again..." given my lack of understanding of the language and culture. granted, this is more of a personal issue, but it was still a hinderance in my enjoyment.
it's cute and hooked me in immediately, but I do wish I got more from this game overall.
7/10
Recommended? Only if you have a really firm grasp on Japanese language and culture. otherwise you're going to be spending loads of time trying to get through all of the riddles
WHAT I LEARNED
I still have a long ways to go before I'll feel remotely comfortable playing a game in Japanese and not having to constantly translate what's being said. this is another game entirely in hiragana, and further showed me how I can forget words that naturally click with me just from seeing them in a different form. I'm also not 100% consistent with even recognizing hiragana, as there were many times where I misread a character, causing me to misunderstand the dialogue.
new words: なぞなぞ, 丘, 得点, 島, 背中, 対決, 上書き, 一族, 虹
SEPTEMBER 9, 2022
THE GAME
Arc sets out on a quest to find his father, collecting five spiritual stones and finding the lost ark to seal in the process.
this is one of the first few serious RPGs I've played, and I'm not sold on it.
the world is split up into different sections with their own areas and dungeons, but there's hardly any exploration. select a town or other area and you're immediately thrust into a cutscene or battle.
the battles themselves aren't my thing either. tactical, turn-based battles that felt like a hurdle in just getting to the next sequence of dialogue. maybe it was a good thing for my learning process that I was looking forward to the parts of the game with lots of the language in it?
not much else to say about this for me. I definitely want to check out more RPGs in the future, but this one just sorta came and went for me.
4/10
Recommended? ehh... I see some people out there that really like this game (and it's sequels), but it's not something I like enough to have others check out, even despite an English version of this game existing
WHAT I LEARNED
despite not totally liking how the game plays, this was a surefire case for me to realize that RPGs are seriously helpful in the language-learning process. this time around, I looked up and studied about half of the words I didn't know, which led to the biggest sense of progress I've felt thus far using video games to learn Japanese. there was also a lot of great grammar practice here, and I can definitely feel my general understanding abilities improving. even if I can't understand 100% of the sentence, it feels like most of the time I can understand enough to get the general idea of where I'm going next and what I need to do.
new words: 門, どおり, 炎, 一体, 気にする, 血, 剣, 恐ろしい, 殺す, 封印, 兵士, 山頂, 敵, 守る, 勇者, 運命, 精神, 戦う, 行動, 防御, 復活, 再び, 古文書, 現れる, 進む, 伝わる, 人数, 攻撃, 表示, 戦争, 滅びる, 姿, 試す, 兵隊, 命じる, 命令, 楽器, 整える, 全滅, 大臣, 者, 救う, 退治, 遺産, 異常, 調べる, 自信, 将軍, 列車, 乗車, 文明, 自ら, 意識, 証明, 破壊, 出発, 改造, 計画, 仲良く, 精々, 立派, 捕まる, 鏡, 成長, 勇気, てめえ, 商売, 地, 関係, 責任, 果たす, 案内, 始末, 離れる, 形, 自由, 存在, 宝, 関する, 目的, 目的地, 以外, 技, 同士, 導く, 賞品, 空港, 様子, 頼る, 頼む, 動力, 機械, 掘る, すっかり, 祖先, 治める, 地下, 許可, 結果, 感謝, 砂漠
I think I may have found the way I want to approach playing video games on this journey
THE GAME
Arc sets out on a quest to find his father, collecting five spiritual stones and finding the lost ark to seal in the process.
this is one of the first few serious RPGs I've played, and I'm not sold on it.
the world is split up into different sections with their own areas and dungeons, but there's hardly any exploration. select a town or other area and you're immediately thrust into a cutscene or battle.
the battles themselves aren't my thing either. tactical, turn-based battles that felt like a hurdle in just getting to the next sequence of dialogue. maybe it was a good thing for my learning process that I was looking forward to the parts of the game with lots of the language in it?
not much else to say about this for me. I definitely want to check out more RPGs in the future, but this one just sorta came and went for me.
4/10
Recommended? ehh... I see some people out there that really like this game (and it's sequels), but it's not something I like enough to have others check out, even despite an English version of this game existing
WHAT I LEARNED
despite not totally liking how the game plays, this was a surefire case for me to realize that RPGs are seriously helpful in the language-learning process. this time around, I looked up and studied about half of the words I didn't know, which led to the biggest sense of progress I've felt thus far using video games to learn Japanese. there was also a lot of great grammar practice here, and I can definitely feel my general understanding abilities improving. even if I can't understand 100% of the sentence, it feels like most of the time I can understand enough to get the general idea of where I'm going next and what I need to do.
new words: 門, どおり, 炎, 一体, 気にする, 血, 剣, 恐ろしい, 殺す, 封印, 兵士, 山頂, 敵, 守る, 勇者, 運命, 精神, 戦う, 行動, 防御, 復活, 再び, 古文書, 現れる, 進む, 伝わる, 人数, 攻撃, 表示, 戦争, 滅びる, 姿, 試す, 兵隊, 命じる, 命令, 楽器, 整える, 全滅, 大臣, 者, 救う, 退治, 遺産, 異常, 調べる, 自信, 将軍, 列車, 乗車, 文明, 自ら, 意識, 証明, 破壊, 出発, 改造, 計画, 仲良く, 精々, 立派, 捕まる, 鏡, 成長, 勇気, てめえ, 商売, 地, 関係, 責任, 果たす, 案内, 始末, 離れる, 形, 自由, 存在, 宝, 関する, 目的, 目的地, 以外, 技, 同士, 導く, 賞品, 空港, 様子, 頼る, 頼む, 動力, 機械, 掘る, すっかり, 祖先, 治める, 地下, 許可, 結果, 感謝, 砂漠
I think I may have found the way I want to approach playing video games on this journey
SEPTEMBER 18, 2022
THE GAME
Maria is a part of a maritime research team that has stumbled across some ancient ruins and are trying to uncover its secrets. fairly standard archeological expedition/ancient egypt stuff. underwater indiana jones.
the game consists mostly of interacting with the other crew members onboard the platoon and going diving with your dolphin buddy Luka. Luka will help you out with finding items to get and pushing heavy objects. a good friend.
the main thing to mention is just how slow this game is. makes sense for a underwater exploration game, but the standard PS1 shtunk that comes along with this game can make it unbearable. swimming in open areas is super nice, but tight corridors are horrendous with trying to steer Maria whilst battling the camera. the game also likes to hide stuff from you with its incredibly short draw distance, narrow field of view, dark areas, and generally unhelpful map (if you haven't explored the EXACT corner of a room, it'll show on the map as if there's an open space there). the character models are also very PS1, but they don't manage to capture that same lovely feel that other games on this console managed to do with early 3D.
I had really high hopes going into this one, but the unbearable controls and general not-good-ness of this one left me feeling pretty disappointed. I've been super interested in Aquanaut's Holiday for a long time but this game has made me... a bit less so? we'll see
3/10
Recommended? No, unfortunately
WHAT I LEARNED
I really just need to think harder about individual bits of grammar and try to decipher what each part means based on the context. even if I don't understand some of the words, I just need to try to grasp what the sentence means.
new words: ただし, 挨拶, 邪魔, 医療, 遺跡, 食堂, 個室, 海上, 生物, 本部, 状況, 連絡, 興味, 近付く, いきなり, 調査, 監視, 掃除, 反応, 苦労, 資料, 矢印, 勝手, 怪我, 詳しい, 為に, 観測, 崩す, 奥, 竜, 操作, 得意, 断片, 内容, 突然, 仕掛け, 指示
THE GAME
Maria is a part of a maritime research team that has stumbled across some ancient ruins and are trying to uncover its secrets. fairly standard archeological expedition/ancient egypt stuff. underwater indiana jones.
the game consists mostly of interacting with the other crew members onboard the platoon and going diving with your dolphin buddy Luka. Luka will help you out with finding items to get and pushing heavy objects. a good friend.
the main thing to mention is just how slow this game is. makes sense for a underwater exploration game, but the standard PS1 shtunk that comes along with this game can make it unbearable. swimming in open areas is super nice, but tight corridors are horrendous with trying to steer Maria whilst battling the camera. the game also likes to hide stuff from you with its incredibly short draw distance, narrow field of view, dark areas, and generally unhelpful map (if you haven't explored the EXACT corner of a room, it'll show on the map as if there's an open space there). the character models are also very PS1, but they don't manage to capture that same lovely feel that other games on this console managed to do with early 3D.
I had really high hopes going into this one, but the unbearable controls and general not-good-ness of this one left me feeling pretty disappointed. I've been super interested in Aquanaut's Holiday for a long time but this game has made me... a bit less so? we'll see
3/10
Recommended? No, unfortunately
WHAT I LEARNED
I really just need to think harder about individual bits of grammar and try to decipher what each part means based on the context. even if I don't understand some of the words, I just need to try to grasp what the sentence means.
new words: ただし, 挨拶, 邪魔, 医療, 遺跡, 食堂, 個室, 海上, 生物, 本部, 状況, 連絡, 興味, 近付く, いきなり, 調査, 監視, 掃除, 反応, 苦労, 資料, 矢印, 勝手, 怪我, 詳しい, 為に, 観測, 崩す, 奥, 竜, 操作, 得意, 断片, 内容, 突然, 仕掛け, 指示
SEPTEMBER 25, 2022
THE GAME
Rei is a part of an expedition team tasked with investigating the ruins on a recently-unearthed volcanic island. evil bad guys have evil bad intentions with the island. a fair amount of politics stuff ensues, and you have to rescue your captured expedition team and take down the evil bad guys.
very Tomb Raider-esque, which I have full confidence in saying despite being a game I've never played.
I had a very rocky relationship with this one. the camera is incredibly hyperactive, trying to rotate behind the player if you stand still for 2 milliseconds. movement is also kinda shtunky, and despite how the game probably wants you to fight enemies, the best way to deal with them is just running by them.
but there were plenty of things I enjoyed about the game as well. once I got the controls down, everything felt nice and breezy to do. exploration was enjoyable and the cutscenes are well-put-together.
the major problem I have with this one though is how pointless some things feel. there were a few times I got stuck or had to backtrack a long ways to find one of the pieces I missed halfway through a stage. the worst example of this came in the 4th stage, where you have to sluggishly go between 3 floors of a temple. pick up an orb, go all the way around the map to go up a floor, pick up a slab, go back to the orb, place the slab, go around the map again to place the orb, etc. it just meanders on and on. I eventually gave up on this game just because of how ridiculous it got, which is a shame because I really wanted to see this one to the end.
4/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
pretty good game for language immersion. subtitles during cutscenes don't line up very well with how the lines are spoken, but it's easy enough to pause the emulator and read before moving on. a lot here I understood as well that I know I wouldn't have been able to decipher a few months ago. I keep mentioning this, but every time it happens is such an incredible feeling.
I also changed up a bit how I play these games for language learning. I now think a good way to do things is to firstly see if I can understand the sentence without help from a translator, then quickly translate it to get the general meaning. instead of writing down every single word I don't know and grind memorization, I only write down ones I've seen multiple times or if there's a word that seems pretty common that I was unfamiliar with. we'll see how it goes
new words: 信用, 起動, 罠, 床, 警備, 応答, わざわざ, 貴様, 礼, 教授, 本物, 意外, 例, のんびり, 回収, 許す, 両方, 一応, 放つ
THE GAME
Rei is a part of an expedition team tasked with investigating the ruins on a recently-unearthed volcanic island. evil bad guys have evil bad intentions with the island. a fair amount of politics stuff ensues, and you have to rescue your captured expedition team and take down the evil bad guys.
very Tomb Raider-esque, which I have full confidence in saying despite being a game I've never played.
I had a very rocky relationship with this one. the camera is incredibly hyperactive, trying to rotate behind the player if you stand still for 2 milliseconds. movement is also kinda shtunky, and despite how the game probably wants you to fight enemies, the best way to deal with them is just running by them.
but there were plenty of things I enjoyed about the game as well. once I got the controls down, everything felt nice and breezy to do. exploration was enjoyable and the cutscenes are well-put-together.
the major problem I have with this one though is how pointless some things feel. there were a few times I got stuck or had to backtrack a long ways to find one of the pieces I missed halfway through a stage. the worst example of this came in the 4th stage, where you have to sluggishly go between 3 floors of a temple. pick up an orb, go all the way around the map to go up a floor, pick up a slab, go back to the orb, place the slab, go around the map again to place the orb, etc. it just meanders on and on. I eventually gave up on this game just because of how ridiculous it got, which is a shame because I really wanted to see this one to the end.
4/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
pretty good game for language immersion. subtitles during cutscenes don't line up very well with how the lines are spoken, but it's easy enough to pause the emulator and read before moving on. a lot here I understood as well that I know I wouldn't have been able to decipher a few months ago. I keep mentioning this, but every time it happens is such an incredible feeling.
I also changed up a bit how I play these games for language learning. I now think a good way to do things is to firstly see if I can understand the sentence without help from a translator, then quickly translate it to get the general meaning. instead of writing down every single word I don't know and grind memorization, I only write down ones I've seen multiple times or if there's a word that seems pretty common that I was unfamiliar with. we'll see how it goes
new words: 信用, 起動, 罠, 床, 警備, 応答, わざわざ, 貴様, 礼, 教授, 本物, 意外, 例, のんびり, 回収, 許す, 両方, 一応, 放つ
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022
THE GAME
you are an air traffic controller in charge of letting planes arrive, taxiing to the gate, confirming flight paths, taxiing to the runway, and departing.
really thought this game would be like a quick "let's check it out for 10 minutes"-sorta thing, but I surprisingly ended up getting REALLY into it.
each plane has its own actions it needs to go through at the airport, all of which I mentioned in the first sentence. it seems really easy at first, but this game gets incredibly difficult trying to manage all of the planes. if any run into each other, you immediately lose. the big difficulty factor is that you can only do one action at a time. each action causes a set few lines of dialogue between the air traffic controller and the pilot. you have to let these play out in their entirety before doing another action. different actions take different amounts of time (e.g. telling a pilot they are clear for takeoff takes far less time than confirming a taxied plane's flight path), so you have to get very strategic about which order to do actions in.
each action gives you a certain number of points, and you have to reach a certain total score before time runs out and your shift ends. I believe there's also a way you could lose if you take too long to have planes perform actions, but I never ran into any issues with that (nor the score). all of my losses came from being too hasty and not planning out where planes need to go to not run into each other.
strategy games usually don't click with me, but this one was plenty fun!
8/10
Recommended? Definitely would need a translation patch or a guide, but it's worth checking if one of those ever gets made (maybe I will make one at some point...)
WHAT I LEARNED
this game very quickly divulged into muscle memory of how to take certain actions and when to take them, but it was still good language practice during the tutorial and with the brief blurbs before each new stage. 16-pixel kanji is still damn near impossible to read though
(side note: I don't think the PS1 version of this game exists on this site, but there is this other GBA version of the game that has the same name and a very similar cover art? mysterious...)
THE GAME
you are an air traffic controller in charge of letting planes arrive, taxiing to the gate, confirming flight paths, taxiing to the runway, and departing.
really thought this game would be like a quick "let's check it out for 10 minutes"-sorta thing, but I surprisingly ended up getting REALLY into it.
each plane has its own actions it needs to go through at the airport, all of which I mentioned in the first sentence. it seems really easy at first, but this game gets incredibly difficult trying to manage all of the planes. if any run into each other, you immediately lose. the big difficulty factor is that you can only do one action at a time. each action causes a set few lines of dialogue between the air traffic controller and the pilot. you have to let these play out in their entirety before doing another action. different actions take different amounts of time (e.g. telling a pilot they are clear for takeoff takes far less time than confirming a taxied plane's flight path), so you have to get very strategic about which order to do actions in.
each action gives you a certain number of points, and you have to reach a certain total score before time runs out and your shift ends. I believe there's also a way you could lose if you take too long to have planes perform actions, but I never ran into any issues with that (nor the score). all of my losses came from being too hasty and not planning out where planes need to go to not run into each other.
strategy games usually don't click with me, but this one was plenty fun!
8/10
Recommended? Definitely would need a translation patch or a guide, but it's worth checking if one of those ever gets made (maybe I will make one at some point...)
WHAT I LEARNED
this game very quickly divulged into muscle memory of how to take certain actions and when to take them, but it was still good language practice during the tutorial and with the brief blurbs before each new stage. 16-pixel kanji is still damn near impossible to read though
(side note: I don't think the PS1 version of this game exists on this site, but there is this other GBA version of the game that has the same name and a very similar cover art? mysterious...)
OCTOBER 3, 2022
THE GAME
a spin-off of the other Bomberman games, this one sees the main man running around an amusement park. you have four empty Bomberman cards each with 25 slots for prizes. you win these through completing various mini-games and solving problems with the other bomber-people(?) at the park.
cute little game, nothing too extreme as it's definitely targeted towards younger children. I feel kinda bad that this is my first real exposure with the Bomberman franchise, but I've definitely had quite a few interesting firsts in gaming for me through this journey.
there's a lot of different mini-games to play here, most of them being fairly simple. you've got all of your staples here: memory games, 2D shooters, slide puzzles, and so much else. the main goal with each of them is to beat the high score, some of which are first-try-able and some have some legitimate difficulty to them. beat the high scores, collect prizes, open up new areas, talk to everyone (because you'll never know who might give you a quest to complete), and generally have a fun time.
the best mini-games are the ones based off of the original Bomberman layout. the main goal with those is just to make your way to the exit, grab the treasure, and make your way back out before time runs out. these provide a nice change of pace from the other elementary mini-games, and make me wish they did a little more with specific challenges with the Bomberman format.
a delightful adventure but nothing too remarkable.
7/10
Recommended? Maybe only for die-hard Bomberman fans. I'm sure there's more substantial games in the series to check out
WHAT I LEARNED
immersing in media made for younger children is just as beneficial to me as immersing in media made for an older audience. this was another game entirely in hiragana, and I felt much more comfortable playing through it than I have with previous games entirely in hiragana. some great practice and not a lot that I felt totally lost on which feels amazing.
new words: 話題, 流れ, 画面, 風船, 景色, 雰囲気, 制限, 入力
THE GAME
a spin-off of the other Bomberman games, this one sees the main man running around an amusement park. you have four empty Bomberman cards each with 25 slots for prizes. you win these through completing various mini-games and solving problems with the other bomber-people(?) at the park.
cute little game, nothing too extreme as it's definitely targeted towards younger children. I feel kinda bad that this is my first real exposure with the Bomberman franchise, but I've definitely had quite a few interesting firsts in gaming for me through this journey.
there's a lot of different mini-games to play here, most of them being fairly simple. you've got all of your staples here: memory games, 2D shooters, slide puzzles, and so much else. the main goal with each of them is to beat the high score, some of which are first-try-able and some have some legitimate difficulty to them. beat the high scores, collect prizes, open up new areas, talk to everyone (because you'll never know who might give you a quest to complete), and generally have a fun time.
the best mini-games are the ones based off of the original Bomberman layout. the main goal with those is just to make your way to the exit, grab the treasure, and make your way back out before time runs out. these provide a nice change of pace from the other elementary mini-games, and make me wish they did a little more with specific challenges with the Bomberman format.
a delightful adventure but nothing too remarkable.
7/10
Recommended? Maybe only for die-hard Bomberman fans. I'm sure there's more substantial games in the series to check out
WHAT I LEARNED
immersing in media made for younger children is just as beneficial to me as immersing in media made for an older audience. this was another game entirely in hiragana, and I felt much more comfortable playing through it than I have with previous games entirely in hiragana. some great practice and not a lot that I felt totally lost on which feels amazing.
new words: 話題, 流れ, 画面, 風船, 景色, 雰囲気, 制限, 入力
OCTOBER 5, 2022
THE GAME
monsters start appearing in a city, and you, Finn, save a princess wanting to save her father's kingdom from falling into ruin. you start on a quest to save the world from monsters, rpg-etc.
an interesting first-person in a 3D environment view. appealing at first, but feels pretty shtunky after a bit. you end up running into walls and getting into the same interactions repeatedly (as the game forces you into a text dialogue when walking into a space). the level layout tends to rely on diagonals a bunch as well, forcing you to walk one tile forward, turn, walk one tile forward, turn, ad nauseum.
battles felt pretty balanced and progression fairly natural. random encounters can start to feel a little excessive at times but it's never totally unbearable.
overall it's... not awful? but a bit too "classic fantasy rpg" for my tastes.
4/10
Recommended? nah
WHAT I LEARNED
I don't think I have any interest in high-fantasy-type stuff, making games like this a bit hard to get through. good language practice with both voiced dialogue and plenty of written stuff, but I think I'll skip over any fantasy settings moving forward (outside of final fantasy and dragon quest?)
new words: 王国, 酒場, 爆発, 脱出, 金属, 当分
THE GAME
monsters start appearing in a city, and you, Finn, save a princess wanting to save her father's kingdom from falling into ruin. you start on a quest to save the world from monsters, rpg-etc.
an interesting first-person in a 3D environment view. appealing at first, but feels pretty shtunky after a bit. you end up running into walls and getting into the same interactions repeatedly (as the game forces you into a text dialogue when walking into a space). the level layout tends to rely on diagonals a bunch as well, forcing you to walk one tile forward, turn, walk one tile forward, turn, ad nauseum.
battles felt pretty balanced and progression fairly natural. random encounters can start to feel a little excessive at times but it's never totally unbearable.
overall it's... not awful? but a bit too "classic fantasy rpg" for my tastes.
4/10
Recommended? nah
WHAT I LEARNED
I don't think I have any interest in high-fantasy-type stuff, making games like this a bit hard to get through. good language practice with both voiced dialogue and plenty of written stuff, but I think I'll skip over any fantasy settings moving forward (outside of final fantasy and dragon quest?)
new words: 王国, 酒場, 爆発, 脱出, 金属, 当分
OCTOBER 8, 2022
THE GAME
despite saying I was done with fantasy-type rpgs forever, I decided to try one more. this is an action-rpg, which I definitely like a lot more than anything turn-based. being able to attack enemies in a more beat-em-up style is much more up my alley, even if actual beat-em-ups don't interest me very much either.
this one immediately hooked me through language I understood very well (many dialogue interactions where I understood ~90%) and through the action of the rpg being fun at first. unfortunately, this game instantly starts dragging in a multitude of minor ways. you have to double-tap a direction to run, and your walking speed is incredulously slow. the camera slacks behind when you're moving upwards, making it difficult to see enemies in front of you. and the biggest flaw this game shows is through its where-the-heck-do-I-go factor in the dungeons. the dungeons are FAR too long and same-y with loads of alternate paths that take you through multiple screens only to culminate in a treasure chest with only a bomb in it (which you've likely gathered many of on your way there due to enemies that drop them). dungeons just kept on going, often with me going down the same dead-end path multiple times.
I wanted to keep playing this game as I was reveling with how easy all of the dialogue was to understand, but I had to call it early because I simply wasn't having fun.
2/10
Recommended? no. even with the english translation that exists
WHAT I LEARNED
it's totally not worth it to force myself through something I'm not enjoying even if it feels good for my language learning. there's so many other resources and ways to immerse that it's pointless to grind deeper into something I'm simply not having a good time with. the initial reason I started learning japanese was to play games that I found fun, and I shouldn't steer too far away from the main goal of enjoyment. it's not worth it to spend my free time in a way that doesn't feel freeing
THE GAME
despite saying I was done with fantasy-type rpgs forever, I decided to try one more. this is an action-rpg, which I definitely like a lot more than anything turn-based. being able to attack enemies in a more beat-em-up style is much more up my alley, even if actual beat-em-ups don't interest me very much either.
this one immediately hooked me through language I understood very well (many dialogue interactions where I understood ~90%) and through the action of the rpg being fun at first. unfortunately, this game instantly starts dragging in a multitude of minor ways. you have to double-tap a direction to run, and your walking speed is incredulously slow. the camera slacks behind when you're moving upwards, making it difficult to see enemies in front of you. and the biggest flaw this game shows is through its where-the-heck-do-I-go factor in the dungeons. the dungeons are FAR too long and same-y with loads of alternate paths that take you through multiple screens only to culminate in a treasure chest with only a bomb in it (which you've likely gathered many of on your way there due to enemies that drop them). dungeons just kept on going, often with me going down the same dead-end path multiple times.
I wanted to keep playing this game as I was reveling with how easy all of the dialogue was to understand, but I had to call it early because I simply wasn't having fun.
2/10
Recommended? no. even with the english translation that exists
WHAT I LEARNED
it's totally not worth it to force myself through something I'm not enjoying even if it feels good for my language learning. there's so many other resources and ways to immerse that it's pointless to grind deeper into something I'm simply not having a good time with. the initial reason I started learning japanese was to play games that I found fun, and I shouldn't steer too far away from the main goal of enjoyment. it's not worth it to spend my free time in a way that doesn't feel freeing
OCTOBER 25, 2022
THE GAME
(I believe based on the anime of the same name) robots have become evil and rampage the world where they formerly lived in harmony with humans. you play as a boy set out to become an inventor like Dr. Shu, your professor who goes missing after the robot revolution. you can use your inventor abilities to combine different materials you find throughout the world to help solve problems.
unfortunately, I had to shelve this one just by getting stuck. I think a lot of the puzzles in this game are rooted in puns/wordplay/other deep facets in the japanese language that I would have trouble grasping, very similar to what happened with Aozora. I was understanding a LOT at the beginning, but it got a point where I couldn't figure out what to do next, and I can't find any real information about this game online.
feels a lot like Super Mario RPG with the isometric view and pre-rendered graphics, but still very cute. might be interested in returning this one at some point in the future.
Recommended? Definitely not unless it gets an english translation
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm feeling pretty good about my language comprehension abilities, but that still won't always save me from getting completely stuck in a game. maybe I need to stick with more straightforward, visual-novel style games? whatever interests me I suppose.
THE GAME
(I believe based on the anime of the same name) robots have become evil and rampage the world where they formerly lived in harmony with humans. you play as a boy set out to become an inventor like Dr. Shu, your professor who goes missing after the robot revolution. you can use your inventor abilities to combine different materials you find throughout the world to help solve problems.
unfortunately, I had to shelve this one just by getting stuck. I think a lot of the puzzles in this game are rooted in puns/wordplay/other deep facets in the japanese language that I would have trouble grasping, very similar to what happened with Aozora. I was understanding a LOT at the beginning, but it got a point where I couldn't figure out what to do next, and I can't find any real information about this game online.
feels a lot like Super Mario RPG with the isometric view and pre-rendered graphics, but still very cute. might be interested in returning this one at some point in the future.
Recommended? Definitely not unless it gets an english translation
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm feeling pretty good about my language comprehension abilities, but that still won't always save me from getting completely stuck in a game. maybe I need to stick with more straightforward, visual-novel style games? whatever interests me I suppose.
NOVEMBER 22, 2022
THE GAME
I have no idea what is going on in this game but they designed the coolest game imaginable but made it a quiz game in japanese
traverse through hellish landscapes, using your quiz powers to destroy obstacles and defeat enemies. basically just walk a bit, answer some questions, figure out where to go next, repeat endlessly. despite how awful the gameplay loop is, I remained infatuated with this game just to see what crazy stuff was going to show itself next. I can't even begin to explain what goes on sometimes.
apparently this is a kusoge (not on the same level as spelunker or takeshi's challenge) which I had no idea going into it, but that became very clear once I got into it. hilariously bad models, very bizarre and meandering level design, long stretches with no music, and some of the most insane out-of-nowhere designs possible (among other issues because of course). had I not been save-scumming through all of the questions, this would have been an absolutely miserable experience.
one of those games that was awful from a sense of actually playing it, though I did get some enjoyment from all of the "hehe wild and crazy japanese game" things it presented
2/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
I wish I could have understood more about this game in regards to both the questions themselves as well as the cutscenes which contained voiced dialogue with no subtitles. not sure understanding that would have helped me piece together the insanity that this game was, but it still would have been nice.
understanding just through listening is still really difficult to me, and so is figuring out the true grammatical meaning of a sentence rather than just picking out the main words and piecing the rest together through context. part of that may be not putting 100% of my effort into doing so, but I'm sure this is something that'll get better over time. I've tried to get a lot of input through listening alone, but progression there has felt very limited.
THE GAME
I have no idea what is going on in this game but they designed the coolest game imaginable but made it a quiz game in japanese
traverse through hellish landscapes, using your quiz powers to destroy obstacles and defeat enemies. basically just walk a bit, answer some questions, figure out where to go next, repeat endlessly. despite how awful the gameplay loop is, I remained infatuated with this game just to see what crazy stuff was going to show itself next. I can't even begin to explain what goes on sometimes.
apparently this is a kusoge (not on the same level as spelunker or takeshi's challenge) which I had no idea going into it, but that became very clear once I got into it. hilariously bad models, very bizarre and meandering level design, long stretches with no music, and some of the most insane out-of-nowhere designs possible (among other issues because of course). had I not been save-scumming through all of the questions, this would have been an absolutely miserable experience.
one of those games that was awful from a sense of actually playing it, though I did get some enjoyment from all of the "hehe wild and crazy japanese game" things it presented
2/10
Recommended? No
WHAT I LEARNED
I wish I could have understood more about this game in regards to both the questions themselves as well as the cutscenes which contained voiced dialogue with no subtitles. not sure understanding that would have helped me piece together the insanity that this game was, but it still would have been nice.
understanding just through listening is still really difficult to me, and so is figuring out the true grammatical meaning of a sentence rather than just picking out the main words and piecing the rest together through context. part of that may be not putting 100% of my effort into doing so, but I'm sure this is something that'll get better over time. I've tried to get a lot of input through listening alone, but progression there has felt very limited.
DECEMBER 3, 2022
THE GAME
you play as the titular Alundra, an adventurer who travels to the town of Inoa because of a recurring dream saying he needed to save the villagers there. he finds he can enter other people's dreams and uses that ability to save the villagers from the troubles that start happening once he arrives in the town. he eventually has to defeat the demon Melzas who has been terrorizing the town through nightmares to finally rid them of their curse.
man, I dunno if lengthy games like this are for me. I definitely had fun with it for a bit, but I eventually just sorta stopped caring. it seems like something I would really enjoy; a really laid-back, not-super-complex action-rpg that provides a lot of text for me to practice language learning with. the whole going into dreams aspect of the game was also super interesting to me. I think I just have a really difficult time wanting to commit to lengthy experiences, and enjoy being able to get a variety of shorter experiences rather than one long one (which makes me a little hesitant about getting into some of the other games I currently own which are far longer (looking at you, witcher iii)).
not much else to say about this one honestly, it was fun for the time being but I just want to move onto other things now.
6/10
Recommended? Definitely worth checking out if you like action-RPGs, especially since there's an english version
WHAT I LEARNED
I think I've figured out how I want to approach immersing in media so that I can both make good progression with japanese as well as generally enjoying myself in doing so. this mainly affects which media I choose to immerse with and the idea of repeat playthroughs/viewings. not going to cause any dramatic shifts in how I'm approaching learning the language, just creating slight shifts in where I choose to spend my time (especially for games I want to fully enjoy in english but still want to use for language immersion). in general I'm still feeling good forward progression which makes me want to replay some of the games I've played through already, as well as playing through some games in japanese that I had played through in english before starting learning japanese.
new words:
嵐, 船長, 悪夢, 役目, 居眠り, うまく行く, 神父, 冷酷, 叫び, ひょっとして, 闇, もはや, 暮らす, 命, 器, 祈る, 失う, 閉じ込める, 炭, 像, 立ち去る, 支配, 逆らう, 石炭, 集中, 天, 内緒, 息, 魂, 墓, 鼓動, 重ねる, 済む, 猿, 偶然, 集う, 限界, 神殿, and a few more I have written down but not committed to memory yet
THE GAME
you play as the titular Alundra, an adventurer who travels to the town of Inoa because of a recurring dream saying he needed to save the villagers there. he finds he can enter other people's dreams and uses that ability to save the villagers from the troubles that start happening once he arrives in the town. he eventually has to defeat the demon Melzas who has been terrorizing the town through nightmares to finally rid them of their curse.
man, I dunno if lengthy games like this are for me. I definitely had fun with it for a bit, but I eventually just sorta stopped caring. it seems like something I would really enjoy; a really laid-back, not-super-complex action-rpg that provides a lot of text for me to practice language learning with. the whole going into dreams aspect of the game was also super interesting to me. I think I just have a really difficult time wanting to commit to lengthy experiences, and enjoy being able to get a variety of shorter experiences rather than one long one (which makes me a little hesitant about getting into some of the other games I currently own which are far longer (looking at you, witcher iii)).
not much else to say about this one honestly, it was fun for the time being but I just want to move onto other things now.
6/10
Recommended? Definitely worth checking out if you like action-RPGs, especially since there's an english version
WHAT I LEARNED
I think I've figured out how I want to approach immersing in media so that I can both make good progression with japanese as well as generally enjoying myself in doing so. this mainly affects which media I choose to immerse with and the idea of repeat playthroughs/viewings. not going to cause any dramatic shifts in how I'm approaching learning the language, just creating slight shifts in where I choose to spend my time (especially for games I want to fully enjoy in english but still want to use for language immersion). in general I'm still feeling good forward progression which makes me want to replay some of the games I've played through already, as well as playing through some games in japanese that I had played through in english before starting learning japanese.
new words:
嵐, 船長, 悪夢, 役目, 居眠り, うまく行く, 神父, 冷酷, 叫び, ひょっとして, 闇, もはや, 暮らす, 命, 器, 祈る, 失う, 閉じ込める, 炭, 像, 立ち去る, 支配, 逆らう, 石炭, 集中, 天, 内緒, 息, 魂, 墓, 鼓動, 重ねる, 済む, 猿, 偶然, 集う, 限界, 神殿, and a few more I have written down but not committed to memory yet
DECEMBER 6, 2022
THE GAME
four passengers on a cruise ship cross paths once military personnel start coming on board, trying to get rid of the four. you select one of the four to control, beating up everyone who gets in your way and eventually find out what's truly going on.
I typically stray away from beat-em-ups/general fighting games but this one caught me off guard with how much I enjoyed it! I think I tend to be too bogged down by combos and immediately getting destroyed by the first few enemies, but this one let me into it pretty softly. it also didn't feel like a mash-one-button-to-win game either as I eventually got more accustomed to the few combos you could do.
the different characters have a little bit of variety, although not too much to have all of them feel completely different. everyone has their own minor strengths, and the slightly different storylines each character goes through warrants replays. unfortunately you'll end up playing certain sections four separate times if you want to go through each character's playthrough.
some of the camera angles can be a little unforgiving, not allowing you to adequately see the action, but this game doesn't have too much Old Game Jank otherwise. not many other complaints about this game!
I can see how this game might not click with seasoned fighting game players, but it's one that I greatly enjoyed.
8/10
Recommended? yes! there's a PAL version of this game with the cutscenes subtitled in english, so there's no language barrier to entry
WHAT I LEARNED
felt pretty good about the language in this game! there wasn't that much, but it was easy enough to follow along with the storyline for the most part besides some more specific words. still allowed me to get a bunch of new words down which is always nice.
new words: 退屈, 追い掛ける, 抜け出す, 作戦, 大佐, 救助, 部隊, 刑事, 奴等, 進路, 今更, 何処, どうやら, 栄える, 警官, 犯罪, 細菌, 任務, 軍人, 無線, 途中, 狂う, 妨害, 機関, 解体, 格好, 乗客, 救援, 要請, 警戒, 厳重, 加減, 特殊
THE GAME
four passengers on a cruise ship cross paths once military personnel start coming on board, trying to get rid of the four. you select one of the four to control, beating up everyone who gets in your way and eventually find out what's truly going on.
I typically stray away from beat-em-ups/general fighting games but this one caught me off guard with how much I enjoyed it! I think I tend to be too bogged down by combos and immediately getting destroyed by the first few enemies, but this one let me into it pretty softly. it also didn't feel like a mash-one-button-to-win game either as I eventually got more accustomed to the few combos you could do.
the different characters have a little bit of variety, although not too much to have all of them feel completely different. everyone has their own minor strengths, and the slightly different storylines each character goes through warrants replays. unfortunately you'll end up playing certain sections four separate times if you want to go through each character's playthrough.
some of the camera angles can be a little unforgiving, not allowing you to adequately see the action, but this game doesn't have too much Old Game Jank otherwise. not many other complaints about this game!
I can see how this game might not click with seasoned fighting game players, but it's one that I greatly enjoyed.
8/10
Recommended? yes! there's a PAL version of this game with the cutscenes subtitled in english, so there's no language barrier to entry
WHAT I LEARNED
felt pretty good about the language in this game! there wasn't that much, but it was easy enough to follow along with the storyline for the most part besides some more specific words. still allowed me to get a bunch of new words down which is always nice.
new words: 退屈, 追い掛ける, 抜け出す, 作戦, 大佐, 救助, 部隊, 刑事, 奴等, 進路, 今更, 何処, どうやら, 栄える, 警官, 犯罪, 細菌, 任務, 軍人, 無線, 途中, 狂う, 妨害, 機関, 解体, 格好, 乗客, 救援, 要請, 警戒, 厳重, 加減, 特殊
DECEMBER 6, 2022
THE GAME
now THIS is the kinda game I started diving deep into the PS1 library to find.
interesting rhythm game/music creator. you control an orb on a six-lane track, moving between the tracks and pressing the circle button once the sound packets line up with your orb. each sound packet you successfully hit adds a new element to the song. the three tracks on the left will add drums and the three tracks on the right will add chords and other elements to the song. overall there's basically every style of late 90's electronica on display here, from house, techno, and even a few jungle tracks.
the main gameplay loop is with the Terminals, of which there are 12(?). each one has a Terminal Master who are horrid creations that remind me of something from an early nickelodeon movie. in any case, you have to clear two of their stages before moving onto a third that will transport you to the next Terminal. pretty simple and short game all around.
I kept thinking about how much better this game could have been though. each stage has 3-4 songs that you play through, all of which are very short and abruptly cut into one other. just as you get into one song, a new one starts, completely different in speed and feel. I wish more of the tracks developed into fuller songs rather than being loosely pasted ideas. hit detection is kinda iffy, not nearly as bad as PaRappa the Rapper, and your orb will slide off of the tracks when your environment starts dramatically twisting. the latter of these is clearly intended, but it's not super fun to deal with. the game's also not too difficult, only really giving me issue when songs suddenly changed into one much slower/faster than the previous one, or with the orb not sticking to a track as previously mentioned. I think this game could have done some interesting stuff with moving between multiple tracks at once which would have expanded the opportunities to make more interesting songs as well.
the music creator/track editor is where this game sets itself apart though. you can basically create your own tracks here using all of the different sound packs that you've collected through playing the main game. nice concept and it's fun to play around with the different instrumental pieces. there's also something about being able to sample music from an audio CD that you could put into your Playstation? not sure at all how it works though. worth checking out regardless once you get through the main game.
hoping I can find more games on this journey that sparked the same feelings of discovery as this one did.
8/10
Recommended? yeah! there's no english patch of this game to my knowledge but it's pretty straightforward to get into without knowing any japanese. not the best rhythm game either but a neat curiosity either way
WHAT I LEARNED
just kinda played this one for fun. the dialogue that the Terminal Masters give you is pretty short, but I was able to understand upwards of 90% of the text here which felt pretty good. the eventual goal with learning japanese for me is to be able to play games and get the general idea of what I need to do (not necessarily understanding 100%), so it's nice to know I'm getting to that point
THE GAME
now THIS is the kinda game I started diving deep into the PS1 library to find.
interesting rhythm game/music creator. you control an orb on a six-lane track, moving between the tracks and pressing the circle button once the sound packets line up with your orb. each sound packet you successfully hit adds a new element to the song. the three tracks on the left will add drums and the three tracks on the right will add chords and other elements to the song. overall there's basically every style of late 90's electronica on display here, from house, techno, and even a few jungle tracks.
the main gameplay loop is with the Terminals, of which there are 12(?). each one has a Terminal Master who are horrid creations that remind me of something from an early nickelodeon movie. in any case, you have to clear two of their stages before moving onto a third that will transport you to the next Terminal. pretty simple and short game all around.
I kept thinking about how much better this game could have been though. each stage has 3-4 songs that you play through, all of which are very short and abruptly cut into one other. just as you get into one song, a new one starts, completely different in speed and feel. I wish more of the tracks developed into fuller songs rather than being loosely pasted ideas. hit detection is kinda iffy, not nearly as bad as PaRappa the Rapper, and your orb will slide off of the tracks when your environment starts dramatically twisting. the latter of these is clearly intended, but it's not super fun to deal with. the game's also not too difficult, only really giving me issue when songs suddenly changed into one much slower/faster than the previous one, or with the orb not sticking to a track as previously mentioned. I think this game could have done some interesting stuff with moving between multiple tracks at once which would have expanded the opportunities to make more interesting songs as well.
the music creator/track editor is where this game sets itself apart though. you can basically create your own tracks here using all of the different sound packs that you've collected through playing the main game. nice concept and it's fun to play around with the different instrumental pieces. there's also something about being able to sample music from an audio CD that you could put into your Playstation? not sure at all how it works though. worth checking out regardless once you get through the main game.
hoping I can find more games on this journey that sparked the same feelings of discovery as this one did.
8/10
Recommended? yeah! there's no english patch of this game to my knowledge but it's pretty straightforward to get into without knowing any japanese. not the best rhythm game either but a neat curiosity either way
WHAT I LEARNED
just kinda played this one for fun. the dialogue that the Terminal Masters give you is pretty short, but I was able to understand upwards of 90% of the text here which felt pretty good. the eventual goal with learning japanese for me is to be able to play games and get the general idea of what I need to do (not necessarily understanding 100%), so it's nice to know I'm getting to that point
DECEMBER 7, 2022
THE GAME
mario party minigames with some of that Good Ol' Japanese Magic (cocaine)
probably about an hour worth of minigames, but some seriously great, fun, and silly times to be had. one of those that I would really look forward to playing with another person
8/10
Recommended? absolutely
WHAT I LEARNED
I was able to understand a fair amount of the instructions; there weren't any that I couldn't understand from the japanese alone. there were quite a few more "casual"/informal words that went over my head but that's something I've come to expect
THE GAME
mario party minigames with some of that Good Ol' Japanese Magic (cocaine)
probably about an hour worth of minigames, but some seriously great, fun, and silly times to be had. one of those that I would really look forward to playing with another person
8/10
Recommended? absolutely
WHAT I LEARNED
I was able to understand a fair amount of the instructions; there weren't any that I couldn't understand from the japanese alone. there were quite a few more "casual"/informal words that went over my head but that's something I've come to expect
DECEMBER 8, 2022
THE GAME
take control of a mech set out to win a battle championship by defeating various enemies and rival mechs.
super interesting game, unfortunately leaves a bit to be desired.
works a lot like smash bros, where your main goal is to knock enemies and other opponents off of the floating islands rather than reducing their hitpoints. as you beat up certain enemies more and more, they receive greater knockback from your attacks. really interesting to see this game pre-date smash 64 by about 2 years as well with how similar the mechanics here feel. you can punch, hip drop, and use one of three anchors, which is a sort of projectile attack that can freeze an enemy, drag them towards you, or deal general damage to them. you can jump and fly between different floating islands, but you only have a limited amount of flying power (which can be upgraded via points you receive after clearing stages). the floating islands can also vary, with some having different stage elements, conveyors, or some that can tilt, making you slide off of the stage. punch all of the enemies off of the islands and you clear the stage.
the game feels very slow though. your movement is pretty stiff and it takes a while to go from one side of the map to the other. it doesn't help that enemies feel a bit impatient with you, feeling the need to teleport to different parts of the map if you take too long to get to them. certain enemies like the mechanical birds are also really irritating as they fly above your attack range, forcing you to wait until they notice you and swoop down. if the game moved a bit faster, it would be much more enjoyable.
bright, fun designs with an ahead-of-its-time concept, just not too nice to play.
6/10
Recommended? ehh...? it seems like it could be some neat fun but this is one you could definitely pass over
WHAT I LEARNED
just a few new words (初, 初期, 優勝, 地帯, 難易, 焦る) through the short bit of story I got through. nothing too crazy which is totally fine by me.
THE GAME
take control of a mech set out to win a battle championship by defeating various enemies and rival mechs.
super interesting game, unfortunately leaves a bit to be desired.
works a lot like smash bros, where your main goal is to knock enemies and other opponents off of the floating islands rather than reducing their hitpoints. as you beat up certain enemies more and more, they receive greater knockback from your attacks. really interesting to see this game pre-date smash 64 by about 2 years as well with how similar the mechanics here feel. you can punch, hip drop, and use one of three anchors, which is a sort of projectile attack that can freeze an enemy, drag them towards you, or deal general damage to them. you can jump and fly between different floating islands, but you only have a limited amount of flying power (which can be upgraded via points you receive after clearing stages). the floating islands can also vary, with some having different stage elements, conveyors, or some that can tilt, making you slide off of the stage. punch all of the enemies off of the islands and you clear the stage.
the game feels very slow though. your movement is pretty stiff and it takes a while to go from one side of the map to the other. it doesn't help that enemies feel a bit impatient with you, feeling the need to teleport to different parts of the map if you take too long to get to them. certain enemies like the mechanical birds are also really irritating as they fly above your attack range, forcing you to wait until they notice you and swoop down. if the game moved a bit faster, it would be much more enjoyable.
bright, fun designs with an ahead-of-its-time concept, just not too nice to play.
6/10
Recommended? ehh...? it seems like it could be some neat fun but this is one you could definitely pass over
WHAT I LEARNED
just a few new words (初, 初期, 優勝, 地帯, 難易, 焦る) through the short bit of story I got through. nothing too crazy which is totally fine by me.
DECEMBER 19, 2022
THE GAME
been a little bit as my controller broke and it took me a while to get to a point with a game to have something to write about it.
play as either Mint or Rue as they each search for the Heritage, a book with great magical powers. their stories intertwine and chaos ensues. (names might be wrong as I read them as ルウ and 遺産 throughout the game)
I was initially super hooked on this one as it's a super stylish action RPG. lots of cutscenes without being overwhelming, dialogue that I could mostly understand, elements of humor, and a phenomenal presentation. gameplay is also pretty straightforward, essentially only tasking you with going to specific places and clearing their respective areas. simple gameplay loop but sufficient in keeping me interested enough to keep playing to reach each next cutscene.
I really wish I was able to get through this game as I was absolutely loving it, but there's a pretty sharp difficulty curve here. not sure if I was playing it "wrong," but your attacks never get any stronger. "leveling up" occurs through receiving damage and using your spells, which is a system I know is not unique to this game, but is still not one I like. even using the hell out of savestates, playing the game eventually felt more tedious than anything and I couldn't bring myself to keep going.
really would have liked to see this game through until the end, but unfortunately that couldn't happen.
4/10
Recommended? eh??? I think it's worth checking out, but is not something I would recommend out of my own personal enjoyment
WHAT I LEARNED
one interesting thing I realized during the time I was playing this game was the different way I understand spoken and written japanese. with written sentences, I soak in every piece of grammar. the major words, particles, person-to-person nuances in writing, and so on. with spoken dialogue, I mainly pick out the major words and let my brain fill in the rest based on context to create meaning. is this "good"? I don't know, but I imagine either way, I'll eventually be able to naturally understand every portion of spoken dialogue the same way I can currently with written sentences.
this game was also a big step forward for me in that it was the first one that I felt really really confident about a lot of the language here. the characters utilize a lot of colloquial terms and other half-slang that I definitely wouldn't pick up on, but there were quite a few stretches where I understood 90+% of the language in the cutscenes. feels really good!
otherwise, I've also figured out some more strategies I want to take moving forward that might help me balance language learning with being able to enjoy the experience more smoothly. for a little while, I've translated out everything that I don't know and saved most of the more commonly-used words I was unfamiliar with in order to review them later. that takes a while and leads to cramming a lot of words that I might not be able to remember for a long period of time without giving myself a few review days-worth of them showing up in Anki. I think it's still good to translate things out when I don't know them so that I can still follow along with the story, but I think it might only be necessary to save new words when they appear multiple times or represent a very large concept that I could see myself running into later down the line.
speaking of, the new words I learned from this game are:
国王, 行儀, 辛抱, 囲む, 無効, 資格, 失格, 賛成, 無駄遣い, 我が儘, 態度, 姉妹, きちんと, 暴力, 無茶, 真実, 崖 想像, 立ち寄る, 納得, 卑怯, 南瓜, 征服, 脅かす, 物騒, 用心, 威勢, 必死, 暴れる, 人質, 職業, 世話, 生意気, 末, 諦める, 神秘, 目ぼしい, しょぼい, 露骨, 区別, 平等, 寄付, 覚悟, 鋭い, 解除, 相当, 成果, 迷宮, 情熱, 狙う, 伝言, 弟子, 野望, 放題, 心得, 相変わらず, 破滅, 性格, 心当たり, 奪う, 脱走, 下品, 古代, 借金, 懲りる, 定員, 地獄, 不意, ピッタリ, 災難, 料金, 正当, 性質, 充分, 追加, 労働, 手段, 見逃す, 挑戦, しくじる, 訂正, 贅沢, 傑作, 関節, 操縦, 情けない, 誤解, 愉快, 心臓, 模倣, 分析, 補助, 貴重
THE GAME
been a little bit as my controller broke and it took me a while to get to a point with a game to have something to write about it.
play as either Mint or Rue as they each search for the Heritage, a book with great magical powers. their stories intertwine and chaos ensues. (names might be wrong as I read them as ルウ and 遺産 throughout the game)
I was initially super hooked on this one as it's a super stylish action RPG. lots of cutscenes without being overwhelming, dialogue that I could mostly understand, elements of humor, and a phenomenal presentation. gameplay is also pretty straightforward, essentially only tasking you with going to specific places and clearing their respective areas. simple gameplay loop but sufficient in keeping me interested enough to keep playing to reach each next cutscene.
I really wish I was able to get through this game as I was absolutely loving it, but there's a pretty sharp difficulty curve here. not sure if I was playing it "wrong," but your attacks never get any stronger. "leveling up" occurs through receiving damage and using your spells, which is a system I know is not unique to this game, but is still not one I like. even using the hell out of savestates, playing the game eventually felt more tedious than anything and I couldn't bring myself to keep going.
really would have liked to see this game through until the end, but unfortunately that couldn't happen.
4/10
Recommended? eh??? I think it's worth checking out, but is not something I would recommend out of my own personal enjoyment
WHAT I LEARNED
one interesting thing I realized during the time I was playing this game was the different way I understand spoken and written japanese. with written sentences, I soak in every piece of grammar. the major words, particles, person-to-person nuances in writing, and so on. with spoken dialogue, I mainly pick out the major words and let my brain fill in the rest based on context to create meaning. is this "good"? I don't know, but I imagine either way, I'll eventually be able to naturally understand every portion of spoken dialogue the same way I can currently with written sentences.
this game was also a big step forward for me in that it was the first one that I felt really really confident about a lot of the language here. the characters utilize a lot of colloquial terms and other half-slang that I definitely wouldn't pick up on, but there were quite a few stretches where I understood 90+% of the language in the cutscenes. feels really good!
otherwise, I've also figured out some more strategies I want to take moving forward that might help me balance language learning with being able to enjoy the experience more smoothly. for a little while, I've translated out everything that I don't know and saved most of the more commonly-used words I was unfamiliar with in order to review them later. that takes a while and leads to cramming a lot of words that I might not be able to remember for a long period of time without giving myself a few review days-worth of them showing up in Anki. I think it's still good to translate things out when I don't know them so that I can still follow along with the story, but I think it might only be necessary to save new words when they appear multiple times or represent a very large concept that I could see myself running into later down the line.
speaking of, the new words I learned from this game are:
国王, 行儀, 辛抱, 囲む, 無効, 資格, 失格, 賛成, 無駄遣い, 我が儘, 態度, 姉妹, きちんと, 暴力, 無茶, 真実, 崖 想像, 立ち寄る, 納得, 卑怯, 南瓜, 征服, 脅かす, 物騒, 用心, 威勢, 必死, 暴れる, 人質, 職業, 世話, 生意気, 末, 諦める, 神秘, 目ぼしい, しょぼい, 露骨, 区別, 平等, 寄付, 覚悟, 鋭い, 解除, 相当, 成果, 迷宮, 情熱, 狙う, 伝言, 弟子, 野望, 放題, 心得, 相変わらず, 破滅, 性格, 心当たり, 奪う, 脱走, 下品, 古代, 借金, 懲りる, 定員, 地獄, 不意, ピッタリ, 災難, 料金, 正当, 性質, 充分, 追加, 労働, 手段, 見逃す, 挑戦, しくじる, 訂正, 贅沢, 傑作, 関節, 操縦, 情けない, 誤解, 愉快, 心臓, 模倣, 分析, 補助, 貴重
DECEMBER 21, 2022
THE GAME
you play as Ralph, a brave hero who was turned into a child by an evil force that invaded his town. defeat enemies and bosses to find your sweetheart Lutetia(?) and be reverted to your grown-up self.
super fun arcade-y platformer! jumping can be a little wonky at times but everything else feels pretty much perfect. stages feel pretty varied and I love how most all of them transition into one another. I believe there's multiple endings to this game based on how many collectibles you pick up, but I only completed one playthrough here. not really much else to say honestly, it's a really solid game albeit a bit short.
actually there is one other thing I would like to mention: spoiler: click to read
8/10
Recommended? yes! the language barrier on this game is basically nonexistent, and I think it's definitely worth checking out
WHAT I LEARNED
picked up most of the storyline pretty easily through the few cutscenes/dialogue interactions this game has. really getting to the point where I can just pick up a game on a whim and check it out without worrying too much about the language barrier which is part of my eventual goal.
new words: 無力, 恐怖, 地上, ちくしょう, 寝床, 解ける, 小僧
sidenote but trying to translate names is a stupidly difficult part of japanese for me. what the hell kinda name is Lutetia???? and don't even get me started on trying to decipher names in kanji alongside other words I don't know
THE GAME
you play as Ralph, a brave hero who was turned into a child by an evil force that invaded his town. defeat enemies and bosses to find your sweetheart Lutetia(?) and be reverted to your grown-up self.
super fun arcade-y platformer! jumping can be a little wonky at times but everything else feels pretty much perfect. stages feel pretty varied and I love how most all of them transition into one another. I believe there's multiple endings to this game based on how many collectibles you pick up, but I only completed one playthrough here. not really much else to say honestly, it's a really solid game albeit a bit short.
actually there is one other thing I would like to mention: spoiler: click to read
8/10
Recommended? yes! the language barrier on this game is basically nonexistent, and I think it's definitely worth checking out
WHAT I LEARNED
picked up most of the storyline pretty easily through the few cutscenes/dialogue interactions this game has. really getting to the point where I can just pick up a game on a whim and check it out without worrying too much about the language barrier which is part of my eventual goal.
new words: 無力, 恐怖, 地上, ちくしょう, 寝床, 解ける, 小僧
sidenote but trying to translate names is a stupidly difficult part of japanese for me. what the hell kinda name is Lutetia???? and don't even get me started on trying to decipher names in kanji alongside other words I don't know
JANUARY 2, 2023
THE GAME
a slow-burner point-and-click survival horror involving you investigating the murders in norway from a fabled scissorman. find clues, get spooked, and try not to get giant hedge trimmers thrust through your back.
I was VERY close to giving up on this one after the first 20 minutes that passed by agonizingly slowly. I wasn't even planning on learning japanese with this one, but once the first scissorman encounter happened, I was immediately hooked and knew it would be great for immersion.
the general idea here is clicking around on lots of different items and searching areas until you find keys and other clues that can help you escape from the clutches of the scissorman. these start off pretty simple, but the final scenario at the mansion gets a little too obscure for my tastes, especially with how minor changes can set you on course for a completely different ending. the scissorman is always out to rid of you as well though, forcing you to have to balance puzzle-solving with finding cabinets to hide within and doors to hide behind. loads of fun once his theme starts kicking in and you know it's about to go down.
overall, this can be a pretty slow and grating game at times, but I think it's one definitely worth checking out.
8/10
Recommended? yes! again, might take a bit to get into and probably isn't for everyone
WHAT I LEARNED
always improving! maybe it's just this game in particular, but the amount of new words I'm encountering is constantly decreasing which feels great. I had to pause my emulator for most lines of dialogue as they advanced too quickly, and there's still plenty of times I can understand every word in a sentence yet can't quite figure out the sentence's meaning overall, but it's always so gratifying to feel my understanding progressing further and further.
new words: 犠牲, 肉体, 殺人, 実在, 取材, 感触, 割り出す, 証言, 記憶, 怪物, 付近, 屋敷, 元々, 同行
THE GAME
a slow-burner point-and-click survival horror involving you investigating the murders in norway from a fabled scissorman. find clues, get spooked, and try not to get giant hedge trimmers thrust through your back.
I was VERY close to giving up on this one after the first 20 minutes that passed by agonizingly slowly. I wasn't even planning on learning japanese with this one, but once the first scissorman encounter happened, I was immediately hooked and knew it would be great for immersion.
the general idea here is clicking around on lots of different items and searching areas until you find keys and other clues that can help you escape from the clutches of the scissorman. these start off pretty simple, but the final scenario at the mansion gets a little too obscure for my tastes, especially with how minor changes can set you on course for a completely different ending. the scissorman is always out to rid of you as well though, forcing you to have to balance puzzle-solving with finding cabinets to hide within and doors to hide behind. loads of fun once his theme starts kicking in and you know it's about to go down.
overall, this can be a pretty slow and grating game at times, but I think it's one definitely worth checking out.
8/10
Recommended? yes! again, might take a bit to get into and probably isn't for everyone
WHAT I LEARNED
always improving! maybe it's just this game in particular, but the amount of new words I'm encountering is constantly decreasing which feels great. I had to pause my emulator for most lines of dialogue as they advanced too quickly, and there's still plenty of times I can understand every word in a sentence yet can't quite figure out the sentence's meaning overall, but it's always so gratifying to feel my understanding progressing further and further.
new words: 犠牲, 肉体, 殺人, 実在, 取材, 感触, 割り出す, 証言, 記憶, 怪物, 付近, 屋敷, 元々, 同行
JANUARY 9, 2023
THE GAME
based on the manga/anime by akira toriyama of the same name, you play as Arashi, a robot girl who gets into all kinds of shenanigans talking to people and learning new skills.
this was one of the few games that sparked my interest in learning japanese for video games, and it feels good to finally get to playing it. super adorable and lots of fun; very typical toriyama-style which is great. all you really do here is go around talking to people and watching events unfold, eventually coming to a boss area where you have to clear a platforming area followed by a boss.
talking to people warrants different humorous scenarios as well as moments where Arashi learns a new tactic you can use in controlling her, such as a slide or hip drop. you then typically end up using these in the stage's boss fight.
it can feel a little convoluted at times trying to figure out exactly where you're supposed to go to talk to someone next, especially with the game's oddly restrictive system for what areas lead to other ones, but I might have missed some minor dialogue clues as I don't fully understand the language I played this in. in any case, the scenarios that happen are generally interesting enough to warrant slogging through all of the places to find the right one.
this game also has an "Excitement Meter" which Arashi builds up by picking up pink poops (yeah) and helping out different people. once this builds up all of the way, you can go back and talk to your scientist father who gives you a new interface-based mechanic. these are all really uneventful, such as an altitude meter (that doesn't really assist in any way) and being able to change the font, but it's a neat addition I suppose.
overall I enjoyed this one a decent amount. not as stellar as I had hoped it to be, but still a pretty fun time.
7/10
Recommended? sure! there's an english translation patch as well which makes things easier
WHAT I LEARNED
another game entirely written in hiragana which makes me realize how many words don't click with me immediately if they're not written in kanji. many times did I translate something only to realize I should have known exactly what I meant had I pieced together what the major verb written in hiragana was.
either way, I was able to grasp a lot of this game's language, even beyond the more slang-y dialogue that some of the characters talk in. being able to understand the humorous situations this game employs also felt really gratifying. a bit like laughing because you actually heard the joke and not just because everyone else was laughing despite you not hearing what was said.
new words: ちっちゃい, 草臥れる, 整理, っ放し, 苛める, 校舎, 特訓, 誠に, 頑丈, 満々, 面倒, よだれ, ビビる, アホ, 文句, 呑気, 正に, 容赦, 進行, 喧しい, 羨ましい, 突く, こっそり, 非常識, 楽, ぶつぶつ, うっかり, 揃う
THE GAME
based on the manga/anime by akira toriyama of the same name, you play as Arashi, a robot girl who gets into all kinds of shenanigans talking to people and learning new skills.
this was one of the few games that sparked my interest in learning japanese for video games, and it feels good to finally get to playing it. super adorable and lots of fun; very typical toriyama-style which is great. all you really do here is go around talking to people and watching events unfold, eventually coming to a boss area where you have to clear a platforming area followed by a boss.
talking to people warrants different humorous scenarios as well as moments where Arashi learns a new tactic you can use in controlling her, such as a slide or hip drop. you then typically end up using these in the stage's boss fight.
it can feel a little convoluted at times trying to figure out exactly where you're supposed to go to talk to someone next, especially with the game's oddly restrictive system for what areas lead to other ones, but I might have missed some minor dialogue clues as I don't fully understand the language I played this in. in any case, the scenarios that happen are generally interesting enough to warrant slogging through all of the places to find the right one.
this game also has an "Excitement Meter" which Arashi builds up by picking up pink poops (yeah) and helping out different people. once this builds up all of the way, you can go back and talk to your scientist father who gives you a new interface-based mechanic. these are all really uneventful, such as an altitude meter (that doesn't really assist in any way) and being able to change the font, but it's a neat addition I suppose.
overall I enjoyed this one a decent amount. not as stellar as I had hoped it to be, but still a pretty fun time.
7/10
Recommended? sure! there's an english translation patch as well which makes things easier
WHAT I LEARNED
another game entirely written in hiragana which makes me realize how many words don't click with me immediately if they're not written in kanji. many times did I translate something only to realize I should have known exactly what I meant had I pieced together what the major verb written in hiragana was.
either way, I was able to grasp a lot of this game's language, even beyond the more slang-y dialogue that some of the characters talk in. being able to understand the humorous situations this game employs also felt really gratifying. a bit like laughing because you actually heard the joke and not just because everyone else was laughing despite you not hearing what was said.
new words: ちっちゃい, 草臥れる, 整理, っ放し, 苛める, 校舎, 特訓, 誠に, 頑丈, 満々, 面倒, よだれ, ビビる, アホ, 文句, 呑気, 正に, 容赦, 進行, 喧しい, 羨ましい, 突く, こっそり, 非常識, 楽, ぶつぶつ, うっかり, 揃う
JANUARY 15, 2023
THE GAME
you investigate your father's death in his burned-down mansion, getting sucked into the mystery of a train murder and a ghost ship. solve the mysteries of the lost souls and find out the truth.
this game has such an amazing atmosphere. this kind of feeling is definitely something I'm looking for out of these older games. hardly any sound effects or music which engrosses you super deeply in a terrifying atmosphere. there's an evil ghost/doll girl as well as some other evil spirits on board the ship that provide some scary moments, though the main part of this game is interacting with all of the shadowed spirits, solving their issues and providing them with closure.
echo night is definitely full of some shtunky, ps1 issues unfortunately. the controls are really difficult to get into for starters. although they're alterable, moving around always feels uncomfortable. does that heighten the game's mood? potentially, though it's not always the best time. a lot of the puzzles and general progression can feel a little obtuse as well, especially if you're going for the best ending (which I had to look into to even know about, shoutout nitro rad).
not much else I want to go into here, it's definitely a game best experienced going in blind and getting the whole story. overall I went back and forth on this one; it's another game that I think I can respect more from a distance than from actually playing it.
4/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
nothing too crazy with this one. good feeling with being able to grasp most of the basic dialogue, though some of the story went a bit over my head here. just another drop in the bucket of immersion.
THE GAME
you investigate your father's death in his burned-down mansion, getting sucked into the mystery of a train murder and a ghost ship. solve the mysteries of the lost souls and find out the truth.
this game has such an amazing atmosphere. this kind of feeling is definitely something I'm looking for out of these older games. hardly any sound effects or music which engrosses you super deeply in a terrifying atmosphere. there's an evil ghost/doll girl as well as some other evil spirits on board the ship that provide some scary moments, though the main part of this game is interacting with all of the shadowed spirits, solving their issues and providing them with closure.
echo night is definitely full of some shtunky, ps1 issues unfortunately. the controls are really difficult to get into for starters. although they're alterable, moving around always feels uncomfortable. does that heighten the game's mood? potentially, though it's not always the best time. a lot of the puzzles and general progression can feel a little obtuse as well, especially if you're going for the best ending (which I had to look into to even know about, shoutout nitro rad).
not much else I want to go into here, it's definitely a game best experienced going in blind and getting the whole story. overall I went back and forth on this one; it's another game that I think I can respect more from a distance than from actually playing it.
4/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
nothing too crazy with this one. good feeling with being able to grasp most of the basic dialogue, though some of the story went a bit over my head here. just another drop in the bucket of immersion.
JANUARY 18, 2023
THE GAME
a group of students are suddenly transported away to a mysterious world of Eithea where they must help the local inhabitants and search for a way back. throughout the course of the game, you're also able to attempt to date one of the girls during your journey.
this one felt really slow. the game is full of dialogue with lots of slow-moving text boxes that have to load in a character portrait, bring up the text and speak the dialogue, and then have it fade out. this multiple-second process happens far too often, happening even for a character to say "oh no!", scream, or otherwise have an incredibly short and unimportant line of dialogue. once the game eventually gets to playable sections, they last for maybe a few character steps before you're thrust into another cutscene. I wouldn't normally have a problem with this especially since the main reason of playing a game like this is for learning japanese, though the base gameplay and story can't save it for me.
I didn't make it far enough into this one to have a very fleshed-out opinion, but I can't see myself returning to it ever again.
3/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
it was a little hard to give up on this one because it was full of language practice, both lots of text and even voice acting. it was great to listen to the dialogue once and then read the text afterwards for both listening and reading practice. at the end of the day though, I realized I straight up wasn't having fun and could easily get the same benefit from the countless other games, youtube videos, and anime I've yet to get to and will enjoy much more than the time I spent here.
otherwise, today has felt like a huge sudden boost in improvement. might only be coincidentally immersing with "easier" media today or just having a good, focused day, though I felt incredibly linked into everything I was able to comprehend. a really good feeling!
new words: 味方, 覗く, 有様, 堅苦しい, とぼける, 認める, 高等, 妙, 値打ち, 子孫, 枯れる, 逸れる, 抑える
THE GAME
a group of students are suddenly transported away to a mysterious world of Eithea where they must help the local inhabitants and search for a way back. throughout the course of the game, you're also able to attempt to date one of the girls during your journey.
this one felt really slow. the game is full of dialogue with lots of slow-moving text boxes that have to load in a character portrait, bring up the text and speak the dialogue, and then have it fade out. this multiple-second process happens far too often, happening even for a character to say "oh no!", scream, or otherwise have an incredibly short and unimportant line of dialogue. once the game eventually gets to playable sections, they last for maybe a few character steps before you're thrust into another cutscene. I wouldn't normally have a problem with this especially since the main reason of playing a game like this is for learning japanese, though the base gameplay and story can't save it for me.
I didn't make it far enough into this one to have a very fleshed-out opinion, but I can't see myself returning to it ever again.
3/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
it was a little hard to give up on this one because it was full of language practice, both lots of text and even voice acting. it was great to listen to the dialogue once and then read the text afterwards for both listening and reading practice. at the end of the day though, I realized I straight up wasn't having fun and could easily get the same benefit from the countless other games, youtube videos, and anime I've yet to get to and will enjoy much more than the time I spent here.
otherwise, today has felt like a huge sudden boost in improvement. might only be coincidentally immersing with "easier" media today or just having a good, focused day, though I felt incredibly linked into everything I was able to comprehend. a really good feeling!
new words: 味方, 覗く, 有様, 堅苦しい, とぼける, 認める, 高等, 妙, 値打ち, 子孫, 枯れる, 逸れる, 抑える
JANUARY 22, 2023
THE GAME
a party game with five different minigames to test your basic mental abilities. a rhythm game, a mashing game, a catch-the-falling-items game, a matching game, and one where you shoot cockroaches. really simple stuff, and you have to clear each game 8 times with progressing difficulty. you can also play in a group mode with up to 8 players which is neat.
stylistically this game is really interesting! I have no idea who kanako enomoto is, but she helps provide a cool personality here. the minigames are also neatly designed, though with so few of them, it gets kinda boring after a bit. a few neat moments but I'd much rather pick up Bishi Bashi Special if I were to go for a weird minigame fest.
6/10
Recommended? sure! it can feel a bit wild at first even if it doesn't last all too long
WHAT I LEARNED
the matching game taught me that I am definitely lacking on knowledge on the names of certain fruits and fish. that's about it, not a whole huge amount of language to go off here apart from the occasional green screen moments of enomoto which I felt I could understand okay
THE GAME
a party game with five different minigames to test your basic mental abilities. a rhythm game, a mashing game, a catch-the-falling-items game, a matching game, and one where you shoot cockroaches. really simple stuff, and you have to clear each game 8 times with progressing difficulty. you can also play in a group mode with up to 8 players which is neat.
stylistically this game is really interesting! I have no idea who kanako enomoto is, but she helps provide a cool personality here. the minigames are also neatly designed, though with so few of them, it gets kinda boring after a bit. a few neat moments but I'd much rather pick up Bishi Bashi Special if I were to go for a weird minigame fest.
6/10
Recommended? sure! it can feel a bit wild at first even if it doesn't last all too long
WHAT I LEARNED
the matching game taught me that I am definitely lacking on knowledge on the names of certain fruits and fish. that's about it, not a whole huge amount of language to go off here apart from the occasional green screen moments of enomoto which I felt I could understand okay
FEBRUARY 20, 2023
THE GAME
been a bit since I've picked up a game, but this one was a good one to come back with.
you play as Klonoa, tasked with saving the diva Lephise and defeating Ghadius and Joka from turning the world into one of nightmares using the magical moon pendant.
this is the first game that I've played for Japanese that I've already played before, so I knew what I was getting into with this one. such a lively and beautiful little world the game has created here through the music, stages, and overall presentation. Klonoa is top-tier character design. the enemy pickup mechanic is cool and a lot of fun to get into the crazy "combos" you can do once the controls click. kinda difficult to say any negative things about this game, everything just works so well (apart from how occasionally the controls feel a little slippery).
a definite classic absolutely worth checking out.
8/10
Recommended? yes!
WHAT I LEARNED
I've been in a zone recently where I've felt pretty good about my Japanese abilities. it's easy for me to see the difference in where I am understanding-wise now compared to when I first started, both with the amount that I'm able to understand as well as how easy that understanding feels at times. I still encounter a lot that I don't know, but the ability I had to pick up this game and play through it without too much difficulty felt wonderful (even if there's not a lot of dialogue and it's not vital to enjoying the game). moving a bit away from games as of recently, which I think is mainly just due to other personal projects I've wanted to focus on, but I'm still looking forward to improving and continuing forward.
new words: 再生, 予感, 古, 攫う, 絡む, 操る, 偉大, 追い出す, いい加減
THE GAME
been a bit since I've picked up a game, but this one was a good one to come back with.
you play as Klonoa, tasked with saving the diva Lephise and defeating Ghadius and Joka from turning the world into one of nightmares using the magical moon pendant.
this is the first game that I've played for Japanese that I've already played before, so I knew what I was getting into with this one. such a lively and beautiful little world the game has created here through the music, stages, and overall presentation. Klonoa is top-tier character design. the enemy pickup mechanic is cool and a lot of fun to get into the crazy "combos" you can do once the controls click. kinda difficult to say any negative things about this game, everything just works so well (apart from how occasionally the controls feel a little slippery).
a definite classic absolutely worth checking out.
8/10
Recommended? yes!
WHAT I LEARNED
I've been in a zone recently where I've felt pretty good about my Japanese abilities. it's easy for me to see the difference in where I am understanding-wise now compared to when I first started, both with the amount that I'm able to understand as well as how easy that understanding feels at times. I still encounter a lot that I don't know, but the ability I had to pick up this game and play through it without too much difficulty felt wonderful (even if there's not a lot of dialogue and it's not vital to enjoying the game). moving a bit away from games as of recently, which I think is mainly just due to other personal projects I've wanted to focus on, but I'm still looking forward to improving and continuing forward.
new words: 再生, 予感, 古, 攫う, 絡む, 操る, 偉大, 追い出す, いい加減
FEBRUARY 23, 2023
THE GAME
you are a caveman, traversing the lands, developing tools, and making other cave-friends in search of the legendarily delicious mammoth meat.
really curious one, this. controls are simple, basically just directing where each cave-person needs to go, equipping and picking up different items, and switching between your cave-party. when you switch to one cave-person, all of the other ones in your cave-party will loosely meander about and do different actions on their own. mainly this means walking around a few squares from where you put them or eating some flowers, but sometimes this can mean getting into a fight with a ferocious beast or walking endlessly in one direction if you forget you made their movement path set to that.
very straightforward game as well, slowly introducing different tools the cave-people can use that you need to progress through the different areas but always having one clear path needed to continue. the game also sprinkles around hint stones that basically tell you what to do next, so there's never a moment of getting completely stuck. different cave-people are forced into using different tools which helps keep you using all of your cave-party members. managing everyone can be really tricky though, as your field of view is very limiting for how far you can have a cave-person move before having to re-select a different point for them to move to, causing lots of back-and-forth as you try to get cave-everyone to advance. this problem compounds as you get more cave-party members, with the game feeling both like mayhem and a total slog once you get all six.
the pacing in general can be this game's biggest fault. there's a day-night cycle as well which forces cave-everyone to sleep during the night. you can perform minor basic tasks, but the game essentially walls you for a minute with no way to skip past. frame advancing made this less of an issue, but still bothersome nonetheless. if the camera was a bit more zoomed out and the game just had a little more polish (whatever that means) with the whole movement system, I think I would have enjoyed this quite a bit more.
the game is super adorable otherwise; blocky and fun character designs like what you see in this game will always have a firm grasp on my preferences. the music too is cute without overstaying its welcome.
overall, a neat little find, but nothing remarkable in the end.
6/10
Recommended? kinda another one of those games that would make a cool "WOAH look at this WACKY japan game!" that is fun to think about yet not super fun to actually play through
WHAT I LEARNED
not a whole lot of language here outside of the hint stones, which I were mostly able to understand outside of the occasional specific word (that, of course, was the one most important to knowing what to do next). sidenote, but CHRIST the internet giving slightly different localization names to made-up japanese words is a pain in the ass. I initially thought this game was far more obscure than it was simply because I had only seen it written as "Guuguuthropus" rather than the more commonly-seen "Googootrops." all the more reason to learn japanese so as to just be able to search up the japanese name and get more firsthand information about it lol
new words: 舞台, 広大, 大地, 狩り, 得る, 鋸, 金槌
THE GAME
you are a caveman, traversing the lands, developing tools, and making other cave-friends in search of the legendarily delicious mammoth meat.
really curious one, this. controls are simple, basically just directing where each cave-person needs to go, equipping and picking up different items, and switching between your cave-party. when you switch to one cave-person, all of the other ones in your cave-party will loosely meander about and do different actions on their own. mainly this means walking around a few squares from where you put them or eating some flowers, but sometimes this can mean getting into a fight with a ferocious beast or walking endlessly in one direction if you forget you made their movement path set to that.
very straightforward game as well, slowly introducing different tools the cave-people can use that you need to progress through the different areas but always having one clear path needed to continue. the game also sprinkles around hint stones that basically tell you what to do next, so there's never a moment of getting completely stuck. different cave-people are forced into using different tools which helps keep you using all of your cave-party members. managing everyone can be really tricky though, as your field of view is very limiting for how far you can have a cave-person move before having to re-select a different point for them to move to, causing lots of back-and-forth as you try to get cave-everyone to advance. this problem compounds as you get more cave-party members, with the game feeling both like mayhem and a total slog once you get all six.
the pacing in general can be this game's biggest fault. there's a day-night cycle as well which forces cave-everyone to sleep during the night. you can perform minor basic tasks, but the game essentially walls you for a minute with no way to skip past. frame advancing made this less of an issue, but still bothersome nonetheless. if the camera was a bit more zoomed out and the game just had a little more polish (whatever that means) with the whole movement system, I think I would have enjoyed this quite a bit more.
the game is super adorable otherwise; blocky and fun character designs like what you see in this game will always have a firm grasp on my preferences. the music too is cute without overstaying its welcome.
overall, a neat little find, but nothing remarkable in the end.
6/10
Recommended? kinda another one of those games that would make a cool "WOAH look at this WACKY japan game!" that is fun to think about yet not super fun to actually play through
WHAT I LEARNED
not a whole lot of language here outside of the hint stones, which I were mostly able to understand outside of the occasional specific word (that, of course, was the one most important to knowing what to do next). sidenote, but CHRIST the internet giving slightly different localization names to made-up japanese words is a pain in the ass. I initially thought this game was far more obscure than it was simply because I had only seen it written as "Guuguuthropus" rather than the more commonly-seen "Googootrops." all the more reason to learn japanese so as to just be able to search up the japanese name and get more firsthand information about it lol
new words: 舞台, 広大, 大地, 狩り, 得る, 鋸, 金槌
FEBRUARY 27, 2023
THE GAME
you are tasked with saving the Fireworks Land theme park, the owner and fireworks-creator of which has lost consciousness. I believe you're supposed to create fireworks displays, including firework designs and full shows set to music, and show them to the 7 "bosses" of the world in order to beat the game.
this game is just so much to take in. every little minor detail of your fireworks are customizable, and once this game starts introducing the ability to create your own shows, everything just crumbled into confusion for me. this is one of those games that you could spend countless hours tweaking all of the little intricacies of your world as you please, though it feels hard to get into with the overwhelming amount of changes you're able to make to things.
the design of this game is cute enough, though too much here goes over my head to feel like I could truly enjoy it. this is one for the mech-builders and people who want to have as much control over the things in their games as possible. just not for me, this one.
4/10
Recommended? no, especially since I don't think there's any english information about this game out there
WHAT I LEARNED
taking things one step at a time is a lot easier than having a huge amount of information constantly being dumped on me at once. both in terms of the language and general experiences. I was able to generally understand most of the language at play here, but trying to keep all of the ideas in my mind across a language barrier was what proved to really be an issue for me. one thing I would like to improve is my comprehension stamina. it's great to be able to understand one sentence in isolation, but that's rarely how language works. I want to be able to understand a sentence, internalize its meaning, and be able to move forward from that without having to re-confirm in my mind that, yes, that is what the sentence means. in time, I suppose.
new words: 火薬, 見本, 無限, 筒, お人好し, 仕入れる, 素敵, 映像, 削除, 適当, 鑑賞, 中断
THE GAME
you are tasked with saving the Fireworks Land theme park, the owner and fireworks-creator of which has lost consciousness. I believe you're supposed to create fireworks displays, including firework designs and full shows set to music, and show them to the 7 "bosses" of the world in order to beat the game.
this game is just so much to take in. every little minor detail of your fireworks are customizable, and once this game starts introducing the ability to create your own shows, everything just crumbled into confusion for me. this is one of those games that you could spend countless hours tweaking all of the little intricacies of your world as you please, though it feels hard to get into with the overwhelming amount of changes you're able to make to things.
the design of this game is cute enough, though too much here goes over my head to feel like I could truly enjoy it. this is one for the mech-builders and people who want to have as much control over the things in their games as possible. just not for me, this one.
4/10
Recommended? no, especially since I don't think there's any english information about this game out there
WHAT I LEARNED
taking things one step at a time is a lot easier than having a huge amount of information constantly being dumped on me at once. both in terms of the language and general experiences. I was able to generally understand most of the language at play here, but trying to keep all of the ideas in my mind across a language barrier was what proved to really be an issue for me. one thing I would like to improve is my comprehension stamina. it's great to be able to understand one sentence in isolation, but that's rarely how language works. I want to be able to understand a sentence, internalize its meaning, and be able to move forward from that without having to re-confirm in my mind that, yes, that is what the sentence means. in time, I suppose.
new words: 火薬, 見本, 無限, 筒, お人好し, 仕入れる, 素敵, 映像, 削除, 適当, 鑑賞, 中断
MARCH 9, 2023
THE GAME
a very faithful retelling of the first harry potter book in game form.
it's been a long time since I've read the books or generally cared about harry potter, but this was a cute experience! playing this in japanese was interesting at times and managed to have pretty good voice acting.
fairly straightforward game, you're able to walk around the castle a bit though the game pushes you along in singular directions. the game also has collectible beans in each area (which I didn't care enough to collect, even for how non-hidden they are) which open up bonus area paintings for each of the hogwarts houses (I'm assuming). controls and camera are decent though the broom controls can feel a little wonky. and good LORD does the entire gringotts segment chug. slippery floor + trolley jank (x3) is agghhghh. speaking of, I had to quit the game during the peacock feather gathering minigame as I got one feather once and never got any further. unfortunate as the rest of the game was decently fun until that point.
pretty good game but I wish I could have gotten through the entire thing. won't check out the Chamber of Secrets game as it looks to be basically the same idea and I feel a bit harry potter-ed out.
6/10
Recommended? sure? I guess, if you like harry potter
WHAT I LEARNED
voiceover + full subtitles with most kanji represented? if only all of the games I play here could be this nice. having a lot of made-up fantasy words here makes things a bit tricky when I still struggle from time to time with standard, real-world language. still mainly trying to hammer down my general translation abilities and the 80% of the language that I recognize.
new words: 奇妙, 報酬, 礼儀, 侵入, 飼育, 箒, 評判, 彷徨く, 寮, 訓練, 種, 例外, 対抗, 徐々, 満たす, 敷地, 幸運, 万が一, 照らす, 行き詰まる, 呪い, 透明, まれ
THE GAME
a very faithful retelling of the first harry potter book in game form.
it's been a long time since I've read the books or generally cared about harry potter, but this was a cute experience! playing this in japanese was interesting at times and managed to have pretty good voice acting.
fairly straightforward game, you're able to walk around the castle a bit though the game pushes you along in singular directions. the game also has collectible beans in each area (which I didn't care enough to collect, even for how non-hidden they are) which open up bonus area paintings for each of the hogwarts houses (I'm assuming). controls and camera are decent though the broom controls can feel a little wonky. and good LORD does the entire gringotts segment chug. slippery floor + trolley jank (x3) is agghhghh. speaking of, I had to quit the game during the peacock feather gathering minigame as I got one feather once and never got any further. unfortunate as the rest of the game was decently fun until that point.
pretty good game but I wish I could have gotten through the entire thing. won't check out the Chamber of Secrets game as it looks to be basically the same idea and I feel a bit harry potter-ed out.
6/10
Recommended? sure? I guess, if you like harry potter
WHAT I LEARNED
voiceover + full subtitles with most kanji represented? if only all of the games I play here could be this nice. having a lot of made-up fantasy words here makes things a bit tricky when I still struggle from time to time with standard, real-world language. still mainly trying to hammer down my general translation abilities and the 80% of the language that I recognize.
new words: 奇妙, 報酬, 礼儀, 侵入, 飼育, 箒, 評判, 彷徨く, 寮, 訓練, 種, 例外, 対抗, 徐々, 満たす, 敷地, 幸運, 万が一, 照らす, 行き詰まる, 呪い, 透明, まれ
MARCH 16, 2023
THE GAME
one of those games that I started this journey in search of. didn't know about this one beforehand, though it's definitely in line with the kind of thing I'm looking for here.
you get whisked away into the fantastical world of Laputa and have to find magical crystals of the land in order to get back to Earth. I believe all of the areas are based on actual paintings, and otherwise serve as backdrop for mostly simple puzzles. calling them puzzles is a little generous at times with how most of them boil down to walking to the correct areas first to pick up an item that allows you to progress in another direction. gameplay-wise it's very lame, with not even the minor "action" segments interspersed later providing anything of much interest. having to hold L2 and pressing triangle/X in order to look up/down, which is a required part of the game and is never told to you was especially a weird punch in the throat.
where this game excels is its general ideas and visual design. I'd hesitate to call the areas surreal, but they all have a mystical appeal to them with their floating islands, nonsensical spaces, and unique designs for items and encounters. the watermelon-loving ostrich-like animals and the sleeping elephant that only goes away with a broom sweep are especially noteworthy. pretty much every screen of this game is ripe for the plucking for some liminal space twitter or a 90s jungle/ambient mix.
when you're able to get past the awkward design and bare-bones gameplay, it's a great game for wanting to just exist in the spaces it creates, which is something I really want out of the games I play and general life experiences I want to have. unfortunately, that fun of the game only arises in brief intervals and can be accomplished much the same way from watching a playthrough on youtube. I want a game to be just as much fun to explore yourself as it is to appreciate from a distance.
6/10
Recommended? potentially worth taking a look at but likely not playing
WHAT I LEARNED
some decent language immersion when it arose. certain paintings contained paragraphs that I believed explained different facets of Laputa's innerworkings. interesting to read through but tended to include made-up words and other technical terms, neither of which really help me. my comprehension also faltered a bit with the occasional FMV sequences that included voiced dialogue, though I was still able to pick up a fair bit more than I would have expected.
new words: 物理, 用途, 無害, 毒, 大して, 防ぐ
THE GAME
one of those games that I started this journey in search of. didn't know about this one beforehand, though it's definitely in line with the kind of thing I'm looking for here.
you get whisked away into the fantastical world of Laputa and have to find magical crystals of the land in order to get back to Earth. I believe all of the areas are based on actual paintings, and otherwise serve as backdrop for mostly simple puzzles. calling them puzzles is a little generous at times with how most of them boil down to walking to the correct areas first to pick up an item that allows you to progress in another direction. gameplay-wise it's very lame, with not even the minor "action" segments interspersed later providing anything of much interest. having to hold L2 and pressing triangle/X in order to look up/down, which is a required part of the game and is never told to you was especially a weird punch in the throat.
where this game excels is its general ideas and visual design. I'd hesitate to call the areas surreal, but they all have a mystical appeal to them with their floating islands, nonsensical spaces, and unique designs for items and encounters. the watermelon-loving ostrich-like animals and the sleeping elephant that only goes away with a broom sweep are especially noteworthy. pretty much every screen of this game is ripe for the plucking for some liminal space twitter or a 90s jungle/ambient mix.
when you're able to get past the awkward design and bare-bones gameplay, it's a great game for wanting to just exist in the spaces it creates, which is something I really want out of the games I play and general life experiences I want to have. unfortunately, that fun of the game only arises in brief intervals and can be accomplished much the same way from watching a playthrough on youtube. I want a game to be just as much fun to explore yourself as it is to appreciate from a distance.
6/10
Recommended? potentially worth taking a look at but likely not playing
WHAT I LEARNED
some decent language immersion when it arose. certain paintings contained paragraphs that I believed explained different facets of Laputa's innerworkings. interesting to read through but tended to include made-up words and other technical terms, neither of which really help me. my comprehension also faltered a bit with the occasional FMV sequences that included voiced dialogue, though I was still able to pick up a fair bit more than I would have expected.
new words: 物理, 用途, 無害, 毒, 大して, 防ぐ
MARCH 19, 2023
THE GAME
control some penguins and make your way through a serious of challenges to win a prize set up by a pirate skeleton bird dinosaur(?)
really throwaway minigames pieced together to make some sort of experience. what's interesting here is that it seems to be based on actual japanese mousse ads that feature the penguins, and there's a few moments where the game will actually play one of those ads as a "cutscene" of sorts. the game also features a fair amount of popular hits in midi form (like Stayin' Alive and Let's Groove), making this game at least not totally awful.
3/10
Recommended? not at all
WHAT I LEARNED
very simple language on display to explain the minigames, and the audio mixing on the voiced cutscenes is pretty bad which made it hard to understand what was being said at all. that being said, I was still able to easily understand how all of the minigames worked (apart from chicken race), and could pick up a fair amount of voiceover that wasn't buried underneath the music.
new words: 交互 and 海賊
THE GAME
control some penguins and make your way through a serious of challenges to win a prize set up by a pirate skeleton bird dinosaur(?)
really throwaway minigames pieced together to make some sort of experience. what's interesting here is that it seems to be based on actual japanese mousse ads that feature the penguins, and there's a few moments where the game will actually play one of those ads as a "cutscene" of sorts. the game also features a fair amount of popular hits in midi form (like Stayin' Alive and Let's Groove), making this game at least not totally awful.
3/10
Recommended? not at all
WHAT I LEARNED
very simple language on display to explain the minigames, and the audio mixing on the voiced cutscenes is pretty bad which made it hard to understand what was being said at all. that being said, I was still able to easily understand how all of the minigames worked (apart from chicken race), and could pick up a fair amount of voiceover that wasn't buried underneath the music.
new words: 交互 and 海賊
MARCH 27, 2023
THE GAME
you play as シュラ (Shula?), a thief that has been imprisoned and lost her memories of who she was. find clues, meet others in the prison, and make the escape.
this game was pretty neat for a while. the dystopian theme is cool and the music is especially great. gameplay-wise it gets lame pretty quick though. one of those games where you have to talk to certain characters and go to specific places in a set order. try to search an area before talking to the right person and you won't find the item you need to progress. it's never cryptic, though it's never straightforward either, and I got to a point where I just wasn't having fun with it. I would love to have gotten through this one to see what eventually happens, but the actual procedure of gameplay doesn't feel entirely worth it to me. no amount of banger tunes and slightly goofy character models can save that, unfortunately.
4/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
really good experience so far as language goes! never felt lost with what was going on; was able to understand roughly 80-90% of the dialogue. incredible feeling for the amount of progress I've made. grammar points too, most sentences I feel I could have translated with 100% confidence. still takes a bit of a mindset switch to immerse with japanese language, though it's wonderful to be able to hop into anything in japanese and generally not worry about whether or not I'm going to understand anything.
new words: 番目, 屑, 刑務所, 囚人, 棒, 通路, 梯子, 撃つ, 保証, 確かめる, 監獄, 本能, 面識, 使命, 富む, 唯一, 動向, 卑劣, 治療, 消息, 収容, 無邪気, 荒い, 塞がる, 欲張り
THE GAME
you play as シュラ (Shula?), a thief that has been imprisoned and lost her memories of who she was. find clues, meet others in the prison, and make the escape.
this game was pretty neat for a while. the dystopian theme is cool and the music is especially great. gameplay-wise it gets lame pretty quick though. one of those games where you have to talk to certain characters and go to specific places in a set order. try to search an area before talking to the right person and you won't find the item you need to progress. it's never cryptic, though it's never straightforward either, and I got to a point where I just wasn't having fun with it. I would love to have gotten through this one to see what eventually happens, but the actual procedure of gameplay doesn't feel entirely worth it to me. no amount of banger tunes and slightly goofy character models can save that, unfortunately.
4/10
Recommended? no
WHAT I LEARNED
really good experience so far as language goes! never felt lost with what was going on; was able to understand roughly 80-90% of the dialogue. incredible feeling for the amount of progress I've made. grammar points too, most sentences I feel I could have translated with 100% confidence. still takes a bit of a mindset switch to immerse with japanese language, though it's wonderful to be able to hop into anything in japanese and generally not worry about whether or not I'm going to understand anything.
new words: 番目, 屑, 刑務所, 囚人, 棒, 通路, 梯子, 撃つ, 保証, 確かめる, 監獄, 本能, 面識, 使命, 富む, 唯一, 動向, 卑劣, 治療, 消息, 収容, 無邪気, 荒い, 塞がる, 欲張り
APRIL 13, 2023
THE GAME
an action rpg(?) where you switch between Kagato and his human group of adventurers and The Undying God (really don't think there's a way to translate this guy's name that isn't totally metal) and his godly companions. the nations of this world struggle to maintain peace because of the divide between humans and gods, and it's your job to help resolve the various conflicts you come across through your journey.
man, I was this close to finishing my first rpg entirely in japanese.
the game itself looks fantastic; 2D sprites in a 3D-modeled environment and an overall fantastic visual presentation. a bit surprised this one has never picked up in the whole "amazing games stuck in japan" conversation. the combat feels fairly unique to me as well (at least it's unlike anything I've personally ever played, which isn't to say a whole lot). encounters turn the game into a real-time combat simulator, where you can control your party to attack/defend and be focused on one target/dispersed between all of them. took me a bit to get used to but it was pretty neat once I got into it. unfortunately, you don't have enough control over everyone for battles to really feel 100% in your power. although you can select different party members individually to cast spells or to focus the camera on them, it's either everyone attacking or everyone defending, which can get difficult to manage in certain enemy layouts. most of the time I was also able to frame advance through battles and win them with no real problem, which proved useful for mindless grinding.
another aspect of this game is it's trust system. if you let your party members get hit too much, they start to lose confidence in you, eventually abstaining from battles if it gets too low; however you can have other party members assist them or use specific items to help restore this trust. I never really found this an issue, even when mindlessly grinding through battles as previously mentioned. alongside this trust aspect, there's also a general like/dislike factor that REALLY doesn't seem to do anything. I've looked through what few playthroughs I can find, and there doesn't seem to be any major changes that happen if party members strongly like/dislike each other. the amount of content here is still quite big for a single-disc PS1 game regardless, so I don't particularly mind that.
speaking of the game's content itself, the story is pretty engaging and kept me focused throughout the entirety of my playthrough. there's some neat ideas that get brought up with the whole human-god relationship, and I'm sure even more that went over my head because of the language barrier. the music and everything else serves its part; outside of the visual design there isn't too much of interest for me honestly. the big issue I ran into was with general direction. many times throughout the game, you're tasked with "searching for information" or "checking out your surroundings" which basically means you walk into every available building and talk to every person only for the game to still not progress and you struggle figuring out what to do next. I know for a fact this wasn't an issue with the language barrier, the game just expects you to meander around for a while until it decides to give you a cutscene with more story-progressing dialogue. there's also a lot of dialogue, which makes this game a difficult one to get through if you don't know the language, as well as making it a mountain of a task to translate. I found a few youtube comments mentioning multiple translation efforts that all fell through because of the scope of this one, which is a little discouraging since I had the thought a few times while playing that this might be one I would want to help fan-translate at some point if my japanese skills ever reached that point.
in any case, I dropped this one mainly out of boredom. I dunno, past a certain point it's hard for anything to keep a hold of interest on me, and this one eventually ran its course.
6/10
Recommended? I wish I could, though I can't see this one ever getting translated
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm at a point where I've learned a lot of words but occasionally run into times where I don't recognize a word as something that I've already learned. I also still struggle a bit with remembering grammar points and deciphering the meaning of a full sentence. both are things I'm trying to focus on, though it's still pretty difficult for me to look at something like わけにはいかない and immediately know what it means without having to rack my brain. I've been able to immerse a lot more recently which I think will help with this. still a long ways to go before I think I can say I feel 100% "comfortable" with japanese, though being able to pick up a game like this frequently without much effort makes me feel good about my progress. I can definitely tell I'm able to understand a lot more now than I could have in the past which is overall a great feeling.
new words: 一まず, 自警, 見習う, 鍛える, 避ける, 修行, 首尾, 油断, ずるがしこい, 盗賊, 雑貨, 嘆く, 乱暴, 華麗, 腹立つ, 体力, 波, 衝撃, 忠告, 寄り道, 台無し, くれぐれ, 引き受ける, 参る, 理屈, 腕前, アジト, 恩, 神気, 件, 大陸, 宿る, 所持, 芸能, お陰, 観念, 発展, 豊富, 章, 出会う, 最下, 幼少, 行き先, 望む, 謹慎, 厄介, 知識, 恵まれる, 派遣, 勘, 直ちに, 近道, 子守, 唄, 湖畔, 控える, 繁栄, 慈悲, 余っ程, 額, 突き止める, 活気, 口調, 申す, 勢力, 辿る, 指揮, 途絶える, 行方, 埋める, 有効, 惚れる, 無念, 一途, 叶える, 当面, 各々, 授ける, 歓迎, そそっかしい, 弁解, 弁える, 反感, 待機, 不穏, 秩序, 排除, 取り戻す, 芽, 討つ, 報いる, 摘む, 内部, やむを得ない, 圧倒, 疎ら, 一旦, 手当て, 野暮, 詫びる, 行き違い, 直面, 出没, 沈黙, 試練, 一休み, 派閥, 宿命, 礎, 俄に, 騒然, 獣, 本来, 多少, 熱心, 引き返す, 司る, 誇り, 損, 縄張り, 求める, 消耗, 敵わない, 取り留める, 挑発, 搾る, 耐える, 顧みる, 宿願, 継承, 散々, 宮殿, 勿体ない, 谷, 稼ぐ, 努める, 肝心, 張り切る, 物心, 忍ぶ, 珠, ますます, 余地, 凄まじい
THE GAME
an action rpg(?) where you switch between Kagato and his human group of adventurers and The Undying God (really don't think there's a way to translate this guy's name that isn't totally metal) and his godly companions. the nations of this world struggle to maintain peace because of the divide between humans and gods, and it's your job to help resolve the various conflicts you come across through your journey.
man, I was this close to finishing my first rpg entirely in japanese.
the game itself looks fantastic; 2D sprites in a 3D-modeled environment and an overall fantastic visual presentation. a bit surprised this one has never picked up in the whole "amazing games stuck in japan" conversation. the combat feels fairly unique to me as well (at least it's unlike anything I've personally ever played, which isn't to say a whole lot). encounters turn the game into a real-time combat simulator, where you can control your party to attack/defend and be focused on one target/dispersed between all of them. took me a bit to get used to but it was pretty neat once I got into it. unfortunately, you don't have enough control over everyone for battles to really feel 100% in your power. although you can select different party members individually to cast spells or to focus the camera on them, it's either everyone attacking or everyone defending, which can get difficult to manage in certain enemy layouts. most of the time I was also able to frame advance through battles and win them with no real problem, which proved useful for mindless grinding.
another aspect of this game is it's trust system. if you let your party members get hit too much, they start to lose confidence in you, eventually abstaining from battles if it gets too low; however you can have other party members assist them or use specific items to help restore this trust. I never really found this an issue, even when mindlessly grinding through battles as previously mentioned. alongside this trust aspect, there's also a general like/dislike factor that REALLY doesn't seem to do anything. I've looked through what few playthroughs I can find, and there doesn't seem to be any major changes that happen if party members strongly like/dislike each other. the amount of content here is still quite big for a single-disc PS1 game regardless, so I don't particularly mind that.
speaking of the game's content itself, the story is pretty engaging and kept me focused throughout the entirety of my playthrough. there's some neat ideas that get brought up with the whole human-god relationship, and I'm sure even more that went over my head because of the language barrier. the music and everything else serves its part; outside of the visual design there isn't too much of interest for me honestly. the big issue I ran into was with general direction. many times throughout the game, you're tasked with "searching for information" or "checking out your surroundings" which basically means you walk into every available building and talk to every person only for the game to still not progress and you struggle figuring out what to do next. I know for a fact this wasn't an issue with the language barrier, the game just expects you to meander around for a while until it decides to give you a cutscene with more story-progressing dialogue. there's also a lot of dialogue, which makes this game a difficult one to get through if you don't know the language, as well as making it a mountain of a task to translate. I found a few youtube comments mentioning multiple translation efforts that all fell through because of the scope of this one, which is a little discouraging since I had the thought a few times while playing that this might be one I would want to help fan-translate at some point if my japanese skills ever reached that point.
in any case, I dropped this one mainly out of boredom. I dunno, past a certain point it's hard for anything to keep a hold of interest on me, and this one eventually ran its course.
6/10
Recommended? I wish I could, though I can't see this one ever getting translated
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm at a point where I've learned a lot of words but occasionally run into times where I don't recognize a word as something that I've already learned. I also still struggle a bit with remembering grammar points and deciphering the meaning of a full sentence. both are things I'm trying to focus on, though it's still pretty difficult for me to look at something like わけにはいかない and immediately know what it means without having to rack my brain. I've been able to immerse a lot more recently which I think will help with this. still a long ways to go before I think I can say I feel 100% "comfortable" with japanese, though being able to pick up a game like this frequently without much effort makes me feel good about my progress. I can definitely tell I'm able to understand a lot more now than I could have in the past which is overall a great feeling.
new words: 一まず, 自警, 見習う, 鍛える, 避ける, 修行, 首尾, 油断, ずるがしこい, 盗賊, 雑貨, 嘆く, 乱暴, 華麗, 腹立つ, 体力, 波, 衝撃, 忠告, 寄り道, 台無し, くれぐれ, 引き受ける, 参る, 理屈, 腕前, アジト, 恩, 神気, 件, 大陸, 宿る, 所持, 芸能, お陰, 観念, 発展, 豊富, 章, 出会う, 最下, 幼少, 行き先, 望む, 謹慎, 厄介, 知識, 恵まれる, 派遣, 勘, 直ちに, 近道, 子守, 唄, 湖畔, 控える, 繁栄, 慈悲, 余っ程, 額, 突き止める, 活気, 口調, 申す, 勢力, 辿る, 指揮, 途絶える, 行方, 埋める, 有効, 惚れる, 無念, 一途, 叶える, 当面, 各々, 授ける, 歓迎, そそっかしい, 弁解, 弁える, 反感, 待機, 不穏, 秩序, 排除, 取り戻す, 芽, 討つ, 報いる, 摘む, 内部, やむを得ない, 圧倒, 疎ら, 一旦, 手当て, 野暮, 詫びる, 行き違い, 直面, 出没, 沈黙, 試練, 一休み, 派閥, 宿命, 礎, 俄に, 騒然, 獣, 本来, 多少, 熱心, 引き返す, 司る, 誇り, 損, 縄張り, 求める, 消耗, 敵わない, 取り留める, 挑発, 搾る, 耐える, 顧みる, 宿願, 継承, 散々, 宮殿, 勿体ない, 谷, 稼ぐ, 努める, 肝心, 張り切る, 物心, 忍ぶ, 珠, ますます, 余地, 凄まじい
MAY 2, 2023
THE GAME
classic japan insanity.
an auto-runner where you control multiple shirtless troublemakers, running through an equally wild city and attempting to get your daily activities taken care of. the 2-4 characters you control can be switched between being in a row horizontally or vertically (when you have 4, it becomes in a vertical line or square) as you avoid obstacles and collect burgers to regain your constantly-decreasing life meter. if any of your characters run into an obstacle, they get knocked back and your life meter decreases more. run out of life meter or have any one of your characters go off-screen and it's game over. between stages, you also partake in short minigames, either mashing or hit-the-correct-button-before-in-time, which only serve to increase your score as far as I could tell. pretty simple stuff, but it's the overall presentation that really sells this one.
the overall energy of this game is unmatched. it's a constant game of "what environment am I going to be thrust into next?" with loads of little silly interactions in each of the worlds. the humor can be a little too juvenile at times (everyone has very clear bulges and butts and a fair amount of the jokes come from near-nudity/perversion), though that feels par for the course with a game like this. and the soundtrack. I could easily see this becoming one of my favorite soundtracks ever, going from trip hop to hardcore punk while eternally maintaining the same energy as the rest of the game (if not surpassing it).
a few of the stages can feel a little uneventful, a word I hate to assign to a game like this, which prevents me from seeing this as an all-time favorite. the after-stage minigames can also overstay their welcome, though with frame advancing that's not too much of a problem.
so far, I'd say this is likely one of my top picks to check out of the games I've discovered so far on this journey.
8/10
Recommended? definitely! should be pretty easy to pick up even if you're not familiar with the language too
WHAT I LEARNED
new words: 裸
THE GAME
classic japan insanity.
an auto-runner where you control multiple shirtless troublemakers, running through an equally wild city and attempting to get your daily activities taken care of. the 2-4 characters you control can be switched between being in a row horizontally or vertically (when you have 4, it becomes in a vertical line or square) as you avoid obstacles and collect burgers to regain your constantly-decreasing life meter. if any of your characters run into an obstacle, they get knocked back and your life meter decreases more. run out of life meter or have any one of your characters go off-screen and it's game over. between stages, you also partake in short minigames, either mashing or hit-the-correct-button-before-in-time, which only serve to increase your score as far as I could tell. pretty simple stuff, but it's the overall presentation that really sells this one.
the overall energy of this game is unmatched. it's a constant game of "what environment am I going to be thrust into next?" with loads of little silly interactions in each of the worlds. the humor can be a little too juvenile at times (everyone has very clear bulges and butts and a fair amount of the jokes come from near-nudity/perversion), though that feels par for the course with a game like this. and the soundtrack. I could easily see this becoming one of my favorite soundtracks ever, going from trip hop to hardcore punk while eternally maintaining the same energy as the rest of the game (if not surpassing it).
a few of the stages can feel a little uneventful, a word I hate to assign to a game like this, which prevents me from seeing this as an all-time favorite. the after-stage minigames can also overstay their welcome, though with frame advancing that's not too much of a problem.
so far, I'd say this is likely one of my top picks to check out of the games I've discovered so far on this journey.
8/10
Recommended? definitely! should be pretty easy to pick up even if you're not familiar with the language too
WHAT I LEARNED
new words: 裸
MAY 5, 2023
THE GAME
a fairly cute retelling of the classic Wizard of Oz story with the twist of having Dorothy collect and mix various items to create tools to help her reach the Emerald City and return home.
adorable game, but one I dropped for a few reasons. the characters are loveable and the general atmosphere of the game is very relaxing, especially since I don't think you can game over. however, the overall process of searching for items can be a bit tedious, especially having to run all around a map that becomes larger and larger as the game progresses. with a mechanic that forces you to return to the very first area of the game to respawn collectible items, it becomes a bit of a hassle. you're supposed to use a "searching power" to show where collectibles are (as they're invisible normally), though you can still run around and mash the circle button until you pick things up, which mostly eliminates the need for this mechanic.
at first, the combinations of items are very straightforward, but the game eventually opens up to where the recipe for a tool will be unknown, forcing you to experiment with different combinations until you find the right one. neat idea, but I was getting a bit tired of the game by the point it introduced it, and having to guess how to make different colors of paint wasn't up my alley.
I feel it's a bit unfair to give a score to the game since I gave up on it like this, but maybe someday I'll return to it. it seems like something that would be really fun and easy to translate too.
no rating
Recommended? nah
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm getting to a point where I'm trying to figure out if I'm actually enjoying a piece of media or if I'm just feeling good about how much I can understand. there's also a bit of a sunk-cost fallacy/"I should keep at this because it's good language practice" that I'm trying to get over. trying to think more on if a piece of media I'm using for immersion would be as enjoyable for me if it were in english. there's so much out there that there's no point in forcing myself to keep at something only because it feels like good language practice.
new words: 都, 奴隷, 解く
THE GAME
a fairly cute retelling of the classic Wizard of Oz story with the twist of having Dorothy collect and mix various items to create tools to help her reach the Emerald City and return home.
adorable game, but one I dropped for a few reasons. the characters are loveable and the general atmosphere of the game is very relaxing, especially since I don't think you can game over. however, the overall process of searching for items can be a bit tedious, especially having to run all around a map that becomes larger and larger as the game progresses. with a mechanic that forces you to return to the very first area of the game to respawn collectible items, it becomes a bit of a hassle. you're supposed to use a "searching power" to show where collectibles are (as they're invisible normally), though you can still run around and mash the circle button until you pick things up, which mostly eliminates the need for this mechanic.
at first, the combinations of items are very straightforward, but the game eventually opens up to where the recipe for a tool will be unknown, forcing you to experiment with different combinations until you find the right one. neat idea, but I was getting a bit tired of the game by the point it introduced it, and having to guess how to make different colors of paint wasn't up my alley.
I feel it's a bit unfair to give a score to the game since I gave up on it like this, but maybe someday I'll return to it. it seems like something that would be really fun and easy to translate too.
no rating
Recommended? nah
WHAT I LEARNED
I'm getting to a point where I'm trying to figure out if I'm actually enjoying a piece of media or if I'm just feeling good about how much I can understand. there's also a bit of a sunk-cost fallacy/"I should keep at this because it's good language practice" that I'm trying to get over. trying to think more on if a piece of media I'm using for immersion would be as enjoyable for me if it were in english. there's so much out there that there's no point in forcing myself to keep at something only because it feels like good language practice.
new words: 都, 奴隷, 解く
MAY 8, 2023
THE GAME
a wild point-and-click drenched in y2k. basically the exact kinda game I started this journey to find.
you link minds with Dob and are thrust into his world where a virus has taken over the computer networks, causing Bits to run amok in the cities. travel between different areas and find all of the Bits to return everything back to normal.
yeah this game is insane. everything is incredibly surreal and deals a lot with music. every action you do affects the background music in some way, whether it be punching to "scratch" the song, standing still to have a new drum break be introduced, and climbing a ladder to have the song pitch up. if I were to make a game, I think this is the sorta thing I would make. explore a crazy weird little world and have fun with the constant expectations of "what's next?"
the Bit-finding process can be a smidge tedious at times, but the game gives you plenty of hints if you get stuck (which are unfortunately written in stylized katakana which made reading everything a bit harder for me than I felt it needed to be, though that's entirely an issue with me and not the game), and the worlds are varied enough that revisiting places or wandering aimlessly is still enjoyable. the only major problem I had with the game is some of the mini-games that serve almost as "boss fights" once you've finished one area and can move onto the next. the first one especially was impossibly hard without savestates.
really hope this game can become more accessible to people in the future as I think it's a truly special game.
8/10
Recommended? I think it might be a bit to difficult to trudge through without any japanese knowledge, though hopefully that problem can be solved with a translation patch someday
WHAT I LEARNED
for the moment, I've stopped mining new words like I had been in the past. I still have a lot of anki cards left to go through in the main core 2k/6k deck that I've been using for the past almost year now, and I think it might be more beneficial to me to finish those up before starting to add in my own words that I find. if I repeatedly see something that's not in that deck, I'll be sure to add it, though I don't need to just add words that I've only seen once if I still have quite a bit to go through as is.
new words segment is on hold for the time being.
THE GAME
a wild point-and-click drenched in y2k. basically the exact kinda game I started this journey to find.
you link minds with Dob and are thrust into his world where a virus has taken over the computer networks, causing Bits to run amok in the cities. travel between different areas and find all of the Bits to return everything back to normal.
yeah this game is insane. everything is incredibly surreal and deals a lot with music. every action you do affects the background music in some way, whether it be punching to "scratch" the song, standing still to have a new drum break be introduced, and climbing a ladder to have the song pitch up. if I were to make a game, I think this is the sorta thing I would make. explore a crazy weird little world and have fun with the constant expectations of "what's next?"
the Bit-finding process can be a smidge tedious at times, but the game gives you plenty of hints if you get stuck (which are unfortunately written in stylized katakana which made reading everything a bit harder for me than I felt it needed to be, though that's entirely an issue with me and not the game), and the worlds are varied enough that revisiting places or wandering aimlessly is still enjoyable. the only major problem I had with the game is some of the mini-games that serve almost as "boss fights" once you've finished one area and can move onto the next. the first one especially was impossibly hard without savestates.
really hope this game can become more accessible to people in the future as I think it's a truly special game.
8/10
Recommended? I think it might be a bit to difficult to trudge through without any japanese knowledge, though hopefully that problem can be solved with a translation patch someday
WHAT I LEARNED
for the moment, I've stopped mining new words like I had been in the past. I still have a lot of anki cards left to go through in the main core 2k/6k deck that I've been using for the past almost year now, and I think it might be more beneficial to me to finish those up before starting to add in my own words that I find. if I repeatedly see something that's not in that deck, I'll be sure to add it, though I don't need to just add words that I've only seen once if I still have quite a bit to go through as is.
new words segment is on hold for the time being.
MAY 9, 2023
THE GAME
you play as Mamoru who has inherited a mech company from his father. take control of Vordan(?) to save the world from an impending threat while being careful to protect yourself and the city.
this game has so much going on. you have to control both yourself on the ground as well as the mech itself. the mech feels incredibly weighty which is both good but also makes the game feel a bit more sluggish than I would have liked. the game provides ample tutorials which is so needed because I would have given up on this one almost immediately if I wasn't taught how to move each leg independently and keep your balance. I unfortunately did end up resigning from this one though as it wore down on me a bit too much. I respect everything this game is about but it just doesn't totally click with me.
I could see people getting really into this one as the systems are incredibly complex and interesting to get into, and the story and everything surrounding these mechanics seems great as well.
6/10
Recommended? definitely worth a peek especially since there's an english translation patch too
WHAT I LEARNED
I was able to follow the story very well, and had a few moments where I realized just how much I could understand without any problem. coming up on one year of learning japanese and I am so proud of the progress I've made up to this point.
THE GAME
you play as Mamoru who has inherited a mech company from his father. take control of Vordan(?) to save the world from an impending threat while being careful to protect yourself and the city.
this game has so much going on. you have to control both yourself on the ground as well as the mech itself. the mech feels incredibly weighty which is both good but also makes the game feel a bit more sluggish than I would have liked. the game provides ample tutorials which is so needed because I would have given up on this one almost immediately if I wasn't taught how to move each leg independently and keep your balance. I unfortunately did end up resigning from this one though as it wore down on me a bit too much. I respect everything this game is about but it just doesn't totally click with me.
I could see people getting really into this one as the systems are incredibly complex and interesting to get into, and the story and everything surrounding these mechanics seems great as well.
6/10
Recommended? definitely worth a peek especially since there's an english translation patch too
WHAT I LEARNED
I was able to follow the story very well, and had a few moments where I realized just how much I could understand without any problem. coming up on one year of learning japanese and I am so proud of the progress I've made up to this point.
MAY 11, 2023
THE GAME
hoo boy this one. basically a bootleg Titanic where you play as one of the crewmates trying to escape and saving people along the way, but good luck trying to get even just yourself out. this game has so many random elements and no tutorial whatsoever. maybe in the guide that would come along with a physical copy gives more information, but you're completely left out to dry on the fact that you can hit L2 to swing the camera around 180 degrees (needed to see doors to progress) or that you have to press triangle and then circle to jump out of a hole, and then that you can squat down with R2 and press circle at the correct time to pull someone up out of a hole. and don't even get me started on what random nonsense the game pulls to decide on if the DANGER! alert results in the boat becoming more level or just insta-game over-s you. I couldn't even be bothered to watch through the 2-hour playthrough on youtube, it just looks that miserable.
2/10
Recommended? the only positive experience to be had here is that the boat's name is Kingweenzer
WHAT I LEARNED
can't really even say anything here. pretty worthless game.
THE GAME
hoo boy this one. basically a bootleg Titanic where you play as one of the crewmates trying to escape and saving people along the way, but good luck trying to get even just yourself out. this game has so many random elements and no tutorial whatsoever. maybe in the guide that would come along with a physical copy gives more information, but you're completely left out to dry on the fact that you can hit L2 to swing the camera around 180 degrees (needed to see doors to progress) or that you have to press triangle and then circle to jump out of a hole, and then that you can squat down with R2 and press circle at the correct time to pull someone up out of a hole. and don't even get me started on what random nonsense the game pulls to decide on if the DANGER! alert results in the boat becoming more level or just insta-game over-s you. I couldn't even be bothered to watch through the 2-hour playthrough on youtube, it just looks that miserable.
2/10
Recommended? the only positive experience to be had here is that the boat's name is Kingweenzer
WHAT I LEARNED
can't really even say anything here. pretty worthless game.
MAY 13, 2023
THE GAME
get this game an english translation and it'll be in the cult classic canon, I guarantee it. (a multiple-hour-long video essay might do it too)
an absolutely wonderful journey of Poe exploring the world and making new friends as he strives to find his friend Merry who has been captured by the evil wolves. I don't want to talk about this game too much story-wise because it's fantastic and lovely and adorable and every other positive adjective I could conjure up and I think it needs to be experienced by actually playing it. a game about experiences and the journey rather than the destination. so many gorgeously cute settings and characters that made this game incredibly difficult for me to put down which is saying quite a lot for my busted attention span. if there's one game I want to be able to translate, it's this one.
the only downside I can say about this one is that it can be a bit tedious at times having to run back and forth between different areas in a somewhat fetch-quest-sense, especially in the final stretch. dialogue can also be a bit overbearing (one section in the game in particular where it prompts you the "save and take a break vs. continue" black screen after a section that's entirely dialogue and has no player input whatsoever), but the story and characters are engrossing enough that I don't mind too much.
I've found a new favorite. if only I had the tech know-how to get a translation rolling.
9/10
Recommended? NO until I or someone else gets the means to put this game out into english. don't let me catch you even thinking about this one a second longer until there's a way you can enjoy it yourself.
WHAT I LEARNED
loads of text dialogue here which proved great for immersion and for the fact that I was able to understand all of the major important parts of this game without having to look up anything. I did look up a few words that I had seen pop up a few times and was curious about, but it was such an incredible feeling to get through this entire game without needing to go line by line in deepL to be able to know what to do next. video games aren't the best form of immersion usually due to the fact that there's the whole "playing the game" aspect which usually doesn't involve language, though text-heavy games like this work great. if only I was more into visual novels or RPGs...
THE GAME
get this game an english translation and it'll be in the cult classic canon, I guarantee it. (a multiple-hour-long video essay might do it too)
an absolutely wonderful journey of Poe exploring the world and making new friends as he strives to find his friend Merry who has been captured by the evil wolves. I don't want to talk about this game too much story-wise because it's fantastic and lovely and adorable and every other positive adjective I could conjure up and I think it needs to be experienced by actually playing it. a game about experiences and the journey rather than the destination. so many gorgeously cute settings and characters that made this game incredibly difficult for me to put down which is saying quite a lot for my busted attention span. if there's one game I want to be able to translate, it's this one.
the only downside I can say about this one is that it can be a bit tedious at times having to run back and forth between different areas in a somewhat fetch-quest-sense, especially in the final stretch. dialogue can also be a bit overbearing (one section in the game in particular where it prompts you the "save and take a break vs. continue" black screen after a section that's entirely dialogue and has no player input whatsoever), but the story and characters are engrossing enough that I don't mind too much.
I've found a new favorite. if only I had the tech know-how to get a translation rolling.
9/10
Recommended? NO until I or someone else gets the means to put this game out into english. don't let me catch you even thinking about this one a second longer until there's a way you can enjoy it yourself.
WHAT I LEARNED
loads of text dialogue here which proved great for immersion and for the fact that I was able to understand all of the major important parts of this game without having to look up anything. I did look up a few words that I had seen pop up a few times and was curious about, but it was such an incredible feeling to get through this entire game without needing to go line by line in deepL to be able to know what to do next. video games aren't the best form of immersion usually due to the fact that there's the whole "playing the game" aspect which usually doesn't involve language, though text-heavy games like this work great. if only I was more into visual novels or RPGs...
MAY 19, 2023
THE GAME
another one of the games that I had some interest in before starting to learn japanese, and man if I wasn't disappointed here.
I played through this game just about until the open world aspect started to be introduced and promptly dropped it. I have mad respect for everything this game did: sizable world to explore, a system allowing you to basically go wherever you want for whatever reason, a deep weird storyline, and more, though actually playing this game is a complete nightmare.
movement is garbage. the game itself is like a middle schooler's art project being barely held together by scotch tape. one of those games where you basically need a guide to know anything. a small part of me regrets not being able to get deeply invested in a game like this and be interested to play it multiple times until I can figure everything out on my own, but good lord does that not line up with me in practice.
I opted to watch a let's play of this game (in japanese), which I think is a great option for me moving forward if I'm interested enough in a game to want to see more of it, yet not down to pick up the controller myself. I think I got a fairly good impression of the game, though feel free to entirely discredit my view based on that alone.
the story, which I feel like might have been the only saving grace to this game, also wasn't nearly interesting enough as I think I had always hyped it up in my head to be to feel worth it. it has it's weird moments, sure, but in general I wasn't totally hooked enough.
overall, an interesting game to think about, but man does it not hit any sort of mark for me.
3/10
Recommended? there is an english patch out there if you want to try it out yourself, though you're likely going to have a pretty rough time.
WHAT I LEARNED
again would like to mention in this section the value watching a let's play can have for me in cases like this. I already have a few playlists lined up for games in a similar vein that I'm going to check out at some point. I think the language might have bogged me down a bit with approaching this game too, but I still like this approach moving forward. as much as I would like to believe I'm at the point where I can just casually jump into anything in japanese and have fun with it as if it were in english, that's not exactly the case yet.
THE GAME
another one of the games that I had some interest in before starting to learn japanese, and man if I wasn't disappointed here.
I played through this game just about until the open world aspect started to be introduced and promptly dropped it. I have mad respect for everything this game did: sizable world to explore, a system allowing you to basically go wherever you want for whatever reason, a deep weird storyline, and more, though actually playing this game is a complete nightmare.
movement is garbage. the game itself is like a middle schooler's art project being barely held together by scotch tape. one of those games where you basically need a guide to know anything. a small part of me regrets not being able to get deeply invested in a game like this and be interested to play it multiple times until I can figure everything out on my own, but good lord does that not line up with me in practice.
I opted to watch a let's play of this game (in japanese), which I think is a great option for me moving forward if I'm interested enough in a game to want to see more of it, yet not down to pick up the controller myself. I think I got a fairly good impression of the game, though feel free to entirely discredit my view based on that alone.
the story, which I feel like might have been the only saving grace to this game, also wasn't nearly interesting enough as I think I had always hyped it up in my head to be to feel worth it. it has it's weird moments, sure, but in general I wasn't totally hooked enough.
overall, an interesting game to think about, but man does it not hit any sort of mark for me.
3/10
Recommended? there is an english patch out there if you want to try it out yourself, though you're likely going to have a pretty rough time.
WHAT I LEARNED
again would like to mention in this section the value watching a let's play can have for me in cases like this. I already have a few playlists lined up for games in a similar vein that I'm going to check out at some point. I think the language might have bogged me down a bit with approaching this game too, but I still like this approach moving forward. as much as I would like to believe I'm at the point where I can just casually jump into anything in japanese and have fun with it as if it were in english, that's not exactly the case yet.
JUNE 4, 2023
THE GAME
super adorable puzzle(?) adventure game.
crash-land on an island and search for the fabled phoenix, saving animals along the way. this game bases itself off of exploration which it manages to keep incredibly engaging. even revisiting areas when you finally have an item you need to progress further still feels fun. the layout of the world is easy to understand and I never felt lost with how lots of areas link together and stem from a simple central area.
full of charm, every new discovery in this game sparks something in my mind that makes me immediately want to keep going. I was motivated to keep going with few breaks, something that is pretty rare for me. it helps that the puzzles aren't terribly obscure with most everything making decent enough sense. either way, there's a guide that outlines the entire game with event locations and such.
tropically warm. too many times did I accidentally hammer the professor and I never really figured out if he was really useful for much. I was always glad to hear his "Yo!" when he suddenly reappeared after I had almost forgot about him entirely. there's a lot of love pouring from this game, and I was glad to be able to get a fairly full experience through understanding the language too.
8/10
Recommended? I think it could probably be enjoyable without japanese knowledge. I'd say give it a shot!
WHAT I LEARNED
I recently finished all of the new words from the core 2k/6k deck, so this was the first game I played doing legit sentence mining for new words. didn't need to do it too terribly often either which was a double win for being able to understand a lot of this game without help, as well as getting used to the flow of sentence mining from games moving forward. very excited to be embarking upon what feels like a new start to this journey, as I no longer feel somewhat restricted from marking down new words despite having 2k/6k to go through. that deck served as a phenomenal foundation though, as I feel like I'm able to pick out the few things that I don't know rather than being confronted with a wall of unknowns to struggle through.
THE GAME
super adorable puzzle(?) adventure game.
crash-land on an island and search for the fabled phoenix, saving animals along the way. this game bases itself off of exploration which it manages to keep incredibly engaging. even revisiting areas when you finally have an item you need to progress further still feels fun. the layout of the world is easy to understand and I never felt lost with how lots of areas link together and stem from a simple central area.
full of charm, every new discovery in this game sparks something in my mind that makes me immediately want to keep going. I was motivated to keep going with few breaks, something that is pretty rare for me. it helps that the puzzles aren't terribly obscure with most everything making decent enough sense. either way, there's a guide that outlines the entire game with event locations and such.
tropically warm. too many times did I accidentally hammer the professor and I never really figured out if he was really useful for much. I was always glad to hear his "Yo!" when he suddenly reappeared after I had almost forgot about him entirely. there's a lot of love pouring from this game, and I was glad to be able to get a fairly full experience through understanding the language too.
8/10
Recommended? I think it could probably be enjoyable without japanese knowledge. I'd say give it a shot!
WHAT I LEARNED
I recently finished all of the new words from the core 2k/6k deck, so this was the first game I played doing legit sentence mining for new words. didn't need to do it too terribly often either which was a double win for being able to understand a lot of this game without help, as well as getting used to the flow of sentence mining from games moving forward. very excited to be embarking upon what feels like a new start to this journey, as I no longer feel somewhat restricted from marking down new words despite having 2k/6k to go through. that deck served as a phenomenal foundation though, as I feel like I'm able to pick out the few things that I don't know rather than being confronted with a wall of unknowns to struggle through.
JUNE 5, 2023
THE GAME
one of the few games that I started learning japanese for. not really sure if I'm disappointed or if my expectations were met.
clearly obtuse in every regard though there is a definite appeal to that. the amount of ways this game was ahead of its time blows my mind. the open world, the general mood, everything. seeping with discomfort, always having something to show you next. the striking visuals of the outside areas being in black-and-white, the real-faced models that just appear wherever they decide to, the music, the all-encasing atmosphere is unlike anything I've ever experienced.
unfortunately, the gameplay systems are a bit too out-there for me to truly enjoy. I wish I could have gotten further in this game, but the nature of everything makes that not really appealing. I think this might be another one of those games that I appreciate from a distance far more than I would enjoy to actually play.
7/10
Recommended? I really don't know
WHAT I LEARNED
I at least wasn't held back from this game by not knowing where to go. really that's my main goal with understanding the language. so long as I can get the general gist of what's going on/what to do next, I think I'm okay.
THE GAME
one of the few games that I started learning japanese for. not really sure if I'm disappointed or if my expectations were met.
clearly obtuse in every regard though there is a definite appeal to that. the amount of ways this game was ahead of its time blows my mind. the open world, the general mood, everything. seeping with discomfort, always having something to show you next. the striking visuals of the outside areas being in black-and-white, the real-faced models that just appear wherever they decide to, the music, the all-encasing atmosphere is unlike anything I've ever experienced.
unfortunately, the gameplay systems are a bit too out-there for me to truly enjoy. I wish I could have gotten further in this game, but the nature of everything makes that not really appealing. I think this might be another one of those games that I appreciate from a distance far more than I would enjoy to actually play.
7/10
Recommended? I really don't know
WHAT I LEARNED
I at least wasn't held back from this game by not knowing where to go. really that's my main goal with understanding the language. so long as I can get the general gist of what's going on/what to do next, I think I'm okay.
JUNE 5, 2023
THE GAME
THE REALNESS!!
an incredibly out-there adventure/point-and-click horror title that sees you traversing a mansion. bizarre events occur and serve to distort reality.
not sure what this game is trying to say or do, but it's very engaging. there seems to be a story told non-linearly about memories and past trauma, but the presentation is a bit too abstract for me to have any real sense over. things start off fairly normally when you initially arrive at the mansion, but things progressively get creepier until you eventually fall asleep and the real madness starts. some of the effects this game pulls during this sequence are incredible. the one room that allows you to manipulate the image was wild to see. the atmosphere here maintains itself as being generally terrifying as well, this constant dread hanging over you due in part to the uncanniness of the compressed images of humans.
at times, the game can feel a bit too meandering. there's a minor sense of "where do I go," and the sluggish movement mixed with the fairly large map makes it a slog to get through. you also pick up a lot of items that don't seem to do anything? I have a feeling this game has multiple endings where you end up finding uses for everything, though I'm not too interested in trying to hit every button on every screen in hopes something new happens. the atmosphere of the game drops a bit at these moments, but it always manages to pick itself up fairly well when the next mysterious event occurs. the game's also really short too (which, coming from me, is truly something to behold); maybe a smidge more than an hour of mansion-crawling adventure is all that's here. doesn't overstay its welcome though, which is appreciated.
overall, a pretty wild random find. I'm nearing the end of the PS1 games I've picked out, and I'm hoping these last few plus this one can help it end on a high note.
7/10
Recommended? sure! I think it could be enjoyable without any japanese knowledge too
WHAT I LEARNED
a fair mix of reading through the first half mixed with spoken dialogue in the later half, most of which I could pick up on pretty well. been doing a lot of listening practice recently which I think allowed me to have a much easier time with the real-world cutscenes. not 100%, but another motivation boost from the progress I feel.
THE GAME
THE REALNESS!!
an incredibly out-there adventure/point-and-click horror title that sees you traversing a mansion. bizarre events occur and serve to distort reality.
not sure what this game is trying to say or do, but it's very engaging. there seems to be a story told non-linearly about memories and past trauma, but the presentation is a bit too abstract for me to have any real sense over. things start off fairly normally when you initially arrive at the mansion, but things progressively get creepier until you eventually fall asleep and the real madness starts. some of the effects this game pulls during this sequence are incredible. the one room that allows you to manipulate the image was wild to see. the atmosphere here maintains itself as being generally terrifying as well, this constant dread hanging over you due in part to the uncanniness of the compressed images of humans.
at times, the game can feel a bit too meandering. there's a minor sense of "where do I go," and the sluggish movement mixed with the fairly large map makes it a slog to get through. you also pick up a lot of items that don't seem to do anything? I have a feeling this game has multiple endings where you end up finding uses for everything, though I'm not too interested in trying to hit every button on every screen in hopes something new happens. the atmosphere of the game drops a bit at these moments, but it always manages to pick itself up fairly well when the next mysterious event occurs. the game's also really short too (which, coming from me, is truly something to behold); maybe a smidge more than an hour of mansion-crawling adventure is all that's here. doesn't overstay its welcome though, which is appreciated.
overall, a pretty wild random find. I'm nearing the end of the PS1 games I've picked out, and I'm hoping these last few plus this one can help it end on a high note.
7/10
Recommended? sure! I think it could be enjoyable without any japanese knowledge too
WHAT I LEARNED
a fair mix of reading through the first half mixed with spoken dialogue in the later half, most of which I could pick up on pretty well. been doing a lot of listening practice recently which I think allowed me to have a much easier time with the real-world cutscenes. not 100%, but another motivation boost from the progress I feel.
JUNE 5, 2023
and here we are at the end of a year-long journey.
THE GAME
the game I was purposefully saving for when I felt more confident with japanese, being the second biggest reason to learn besides Boku no Natsuyasumi. was it worth it? ehh... not really.
the game itself is so much fun. by far and away the weirdest experience I've ever had with a game, it always manages to throw something completely expected at you. the base idea is that you're trying to win the love of a female arrow-headed counterpart by getting different experiences and growing up. you get various items from your giraffe mom that open up new areas and allow you to partake in more events. the events involve you choosing one item each from sets A/B/C and seeing what cutscene plays out. frankly, a lot of these went over my head even with looking up what each of the different parts mean. though that did potentially enhance the "what could possibly happen next?" part of the experience.
there's basically no gameplay outside of traversing to the next area to find the next weird event to partake in, but the sheer wildness of everything in-between surprisingly makes up for it. (though I think most games should be experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible) this is definitely a game I don't want to write too much more about and inevitably spoil some good elements. check it out! the language barrier might make this one even more crazy fun.
7/10
Recommended? YES
WHAT I LEARNED
video games are cool, though looking at this journey from the lens of why I originally embarked upon it, I don't think my efforts have really been worth it. there hasn't been anything (yet) that I've absolutely loved that I wouldn't have had the same experience had I not had any familiarity with the language. I imagine that might change once I learn more of the language and can feel 100% comfortable getting into a game, though by this point, a lot of japanese stuff has already been translated into english because of people further along this same interest than me, and what hasn't been translated yet isn't nearly as amazing as I had hoped it would all be.
that's definitely not to say I haven't found new stuff I've loved nor had a great time learning japanese. this has been my main focus since resigning from personal creative projects this february, and it's been amazing at filling the gap as something that I both enjoy doing and makes me feel productive. looking forward to all of the other experiences I may find in the coming years and the progress I'll continue to make.
a bit of a weird disconnect writing this underneath a game that prides itself in absurdist humor and poop jokes, though that feels right at home with who I am.
and here we are at the end of a year-long journey.
THE GAME
the game I was purposefully saving for when I felt more confident with japanese, being the second biggest reason to learn besides Boku no Natsuyasumi. was it worth it? ehh... not really.
the game itself is so much fun. by far and away the weirdest experience I've ever had with a game, it always manages to throw something completely expected at you. the base idea is that you're trying to win the love of a female arrow-headed counterpart by getting different experiences and growing up. you get various items from your giraffe mom that open up new areas and allow you to partake in more events. the events involve you choosing one item each from sets A/B/C and seeing what cutscene plays out. frankly, a lot of these went over my head even with looking up what each of the different parts mean. though that did potentially enhance the "what could possibly happen next?" part of the experience.
there's basically no gameplay outside of traversing to the next area to find the next weird event to partake in, but the sheer wildness of everything in-between surprisingly makes up for it. (though I think most games should be experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible) this is definitely a game I don't want to write too much more about and inevitably spoil some good elements. check it out! the language barrier might make this one even more crazy fun.
7/10
Recommended? YES
WHAT I LEARNED
video games are cool, though looking at this journey from the lens of why I originally embarked upon it, I don't think my efforts have really been worth it. there hasn't been anything (yet) that I've absolutely loved that I wouldn't have had the same experience had I not had any familiarity with the language. I imagine that might change once I learn more of the language and can feel 100% comfortable getting into a game, though by this point, a lot of japanese stuff has already been translated into english because of people further along this same interest than me, and what hasn't been translated yet isn't nearly as amazing as I had hoped it would all be.
that's definitely not to say I haven't found new stuff I've loved nor had a great time learning japanese. this has been my main focus since resigning from personal creative projects this february, and it's been amazing at filling the gap as something that I both enjoy doing and makes me feel productive. looking forward to all of the other experiences I may find in the coming years and the progress I'll continue to make.
a bit of a weird disconnect writing this underneath a game that prides itself in absurdist humor and poop jokes, though that feels right at home with who I am.
JUNE 9, 2023
THE GAME
the first non-PS1 game I've played for immersion, and I wanted to start this new game plus (sorry) with a few games I've already played.
I didn't like this one nearly as much as I remember having liked it. maybe it's because I've played through it a few times and the freshness of everything has worn on me, or maybe it just isn't as good as I thought it was.
the overall landscape of this game is fantastic. presentation here is top-notch and there's so many great moments. I think in general it can be fairly hit-or-miss though. some of the bosses are fun, but a lot of them also created moments where I had the thought of "man, I really don't want to go through this again." the dungeons as well just felt like tedium to get through after a certain point, partially due to the fact that my main goal here was getting more language practice. I also think I just really dislike the way N64 games feel, likely because of the controller. every game I've played on this console has felt oddly heavy? I don't know exactly what it is, but there's a definite uncomfortable feeling I get from playing these games that I haven't experienced nearly as much elsewhere.
that said, this game is still legendary. not much I can really say that I feel like every nintendo youtuber hasn't already gushed about, and I think it clearly deserves its high-ranking status. maybe someday I'll actually play some of the other games in this series.
8/10
Recommended? players who select the "HOLD" option for "Z TARGETING" are the real "Zelda players!"
WHAT I LEARNED
re-experiencing things is very difficult for me. even for something like this that I know I would enjoy a lot and would get somewhat of a fresh experience playing through in a different language, there were plenty of moments where I just got bored because I had already played through this game before. I've found interest lately in thinking about why I engage with media and the ideas of repeating the same experiences, and this just adds more to that mental storage. I imagine if I make a return to personal creative projects someday, those ideas are ones I would be likely to explore in whatever I create.
more focusing on japanese now, I've realized that I feel like my vocabulary is pretty strong, but I still struggle a bit with discerning the meaning of full sentences whether I'm reading or listening. I'm not sure it's an issue with grammar either as I can typically understand all of those elements individually as well; I think the problem arises from trying to piece everything together. not entirely sure how to overcome this other than to immerse more and to truly give thought to sentences I have difficulty with rather than just skimming past them to move on with things.
THE GAME
the first non-PS1 game I've played for immersion, and I wanted to start this new game plus (sorry) with a few games I've already played.
I didn't like this one nearly as much as I remember having liked it. maybe it's because I've played through it a few times and the freshness of everything has worn on me, or maybe it just isn't as good as I thought it was.
the overall landscape of this game is fantastic. presentation here is top-notch and there's so many great moments. I think in general it can be fairly hit-or-miss though. some of the bosses are fun, but a lot of them also created moments where I had the thought of "man, I really don't want to go through this again." the dungeons as well just felt like tedium to get through after a certain point, partially due to the fact that my main goal here was getting more language practice. I also think I just really dislike the way N64 games feel, likely because of the controller. every game I've played on this console has felt oddly heavy? I don't know exactly what it is, but there's a definite uncomfortable feeling I get from playing these games that I haven't experienced nearly as much elsewhere.
that said, this game is still legendary. not much I can really say that I feel like every nintendo youtuber hasn't already gushed about, and I think it clearly deserves its high-ranking status. maybe someday I'll actually play some of the other games in this series.
8/10
Recommended? players who select the "HOLD" option for "Z TARGETING" are the real "Zelda players!"
WHAT I LEARNED
re-experiencing things is very difficult for me. even for something like this that I know I would enjoy a lot and would get somewhat of a fresh experience playing through in a different language, there were plenty of moments where I just got bored because I had already played through this game before. I've found interest lately in thinking about why I engage with media and the ideas of repeating the same experiences, and this just adds more to that mental storage. I imagine if I make a return to personal creative projects someday, those ideas are ones I would be likely to explore in whatever I create.
more focusing on japanese now, I've realized that I feel like my vocabulary is pretty strong, but I still struggle a bit with discerning the meaning of full sentences whether I'm reading or listening. I'm not sure it's an issue with grammar either as I can typically understand all of those elements individually as well; I think the problem arises from trying to piece everything together. not entirely sure how to overcome this other than to immerse more and to truly give thought to sentences I have difficulty with rather than just skimming past them to move on with things.
JUNE 11, 2023
THE GAME
what an interesting experience to return to this game.
I had unquestionably considered this as a perfect, all-time favorite game of mine since it began its chokehold on my personal development in 2016, though I haven't thought about it much in the past few years. this game had such an immense impact to my character and was the first notable instance of something like that happening to me that I can't really think of this game as anything other than perfect despite its clear flaws. everything just feels like that's how it's meant to be.
you can really tell how much toby fox refined his craft in deltarune compared to this one. that's not to say the art/compositions are bad here, but there were plenty of times I noticed how imprecise a sprite looked compared to some of the beautiful work on display in deltarune. there's a few pivotal moments such as when monster kid saves you from undyne and the later depressive outpour from alphys that could have used a bit more expression with the character sprites. there's a bunch of times where the only visual expression you get from a character is their little portrait in the text box, leaving the dialogue to carry any emotional weight in a scene. fortunately, the writing is generally good enough to pull that off, but nonetheless there's a slight disconnect at times in this area.
the humor present in the dialogue and the overall scenes has also become a bit hit-or-miss for me too, though I think that's mainly due to my complete overexposure to every aspect of this game. papyrus failing to capture you yet again or alphys being a total dork does wear on you though.
speaking of alphys, I just kinda hate her as a character. the constant status updates she gives at one point is absolutely horrendous, and frankly the entire hotlands/core section of the game is... kinda unbearable? sorry mettaton but not even you can save the middle slog of this game. a fair amount of the in-between segments can feel kinda boring, but between the undyne escape and your arrival at new home is just torture (outside of the mettaton ex fight, which I think still lacks compared to some of the other bosses).
maybe it's just me here too, but this game is like HELLA easy. I kinda like this in a sense because there's been plenty of times in other games, especially those I've tried using for language immersion practice, where the difficulty completely roadblocks me from enjoying the story and the rest of the game.
unrelated, but I also wanted to note that I think it's interesting how you HAVE to go through a neutral ending to achieve the best ending. neither good nor bad, just a point of intrigue. any other games do this sorta thing?
in any case, while it didn't have the overwhelming impact on me that I know it had in the past, this game still managed to make me cry for the first time in a long while. His Theme is just one of those songs. paired with everything that's happened, self-contained events within the game, my unbreakable personal connection to this specific work, and the entire life I've lived over these past 7 years, it couldn't not do something unexplainable to me.
I'm full of memories I never want to overwrite.
10/10
Recommended? undyne is still probably my favorite character of all time from any form of media. I'M NOT YOUR FREAKING KINDERGARTEN TEACHER!
WHAT I LEARNED
reading text purely in hiragana still trips me up a lot. so many times where I looked up a word that I inevitably already knew and would have easily recognized had the kanji been present. makes me a little weary about trying SFC titles as those games are mostly in the same style. regardless, it was very interesting to see all of the different ways characters and dialogue were localized into japanese. I'm clearly focused on going from japanese to english, so seeing the reverse in action was a new experience, being able to compare what I remembered about the game to how it was converted into a different language.
THE GAME
what an interesting experience to return to this game.
I had unquestionably considered this as a perfect, all-time favorite game of mine since it began its chokehold on my personal development in 2016, though I haven't thought about it much in the past few years. this game had such an immense impact to my character and was the first notable instance of something like that happening to me that I can't really think of this game as anything other than perfect despite its clear flaws. everything just feels like that's how it's meant to be.
you can really tell how much toby fox refined his craft in deltarune compared to this one. that's not to say the art/compositions are bad here, but there were plenty of times I noticed how imprecise a sprite looked compared to some of the beautiful work on display in deltarune. there's a few pivotal moments such as when monster kid saves you from undyne and the later depressive outpour from alphys that could have used a bit more expression with the character sprites. there's a bunch of times where the only visual expression you get from a character is their little portrait in the text box, leaving the dialogue to carry any emotional weight in a scene. fortunately, the writing is generally good enough to pull that off, but nonetheless there's a slight disconnect at times in this area.
the humor present in the dialogue and the overall scenes has also become a bit hit-or-miss for me too, though I think that's mainly due to my complete overexposure to every aspect of this game. papyrus failing to capture you yet again or alphys being a total dork does wear on you though.
speaking of alphys, I just kinda hate her as a character. the constant status updates she gives at one point is absolutely horrendous, and frankly the entire hotlands/core section of the game is... kinda unbearable? sorry mettaton but not even you can save the middle slog of this game. a fair amount of the in-between segments can feel kinda boring, but between the undyne escape and your arrival at new home is just torture (outside of the mettaton ex fight, which I think still lacks compared to some of the other bosses).
maybe it's just me here too, but this game is like HELLA easy. I kinda like this in a sense because there's been plenty of times in other games, especially those I've tried using for language immersion practice, where the difficulty completely roadblocks me from enjoying the story and the rest of the game.
unrelated, but I also wanted to note that I think it's interesting how you HAVE to go through a neutral ending to achieve the best ending. neither good nor bad, just a point of intrigue. any other games do this sorta thing?
in any case, while it didn't have the overwhelming impact on me that I know it had in the past, this game still managed to make me cry for the first time in a long while. His Theme is just one of those songs. paired with everything that's happened, self-contained events within the game, my unbreakable personal connection to this specific work, and the entire life I've lived over these past 7 years, it couldn't not do something unexplainable to me.
I'm full of memories I never want to overwrite.
10/10
Recommended? undyne is still probably my favorite character of all time from any form of media. I'M NOT YOUR FREAKING KINDERGARTEN TEACHER!
WHAT I LEARNED
reading text purely in hiragana still trips me up a lot. so many times where I looked up a word that I inevitably already knew and would have easily recognized had the kanji been present. makes me a little weary about trying SFC titles as those games are mostly in the same style. regardless, it was very interesting to see all of the different ways characters and dialogue were localized into japanese. I'm clearly focused on going from japanese to english, so seeing the reverse in action was a new experience, being able to compare what I remembered about the game to how it was converted into a different language.
JUNE 14, 2023
THE GAME
the last game I'm replaying in japanese before moving onto other games I have on The List.
such a fun experience. I'm definitely not into the genre of RPGs but this one clicks with me really well. grinding is the main big thing that turns me away, but something about the punchiness and speed of battles made that a non-issue for me. really everything in this game feels good to do, whether that be upgrading your equipment or even just walking about and talking to everyone. the latter of those two is always worth doing even outside of language practice simply due to how goofy and enjoyable the dialogue always is. and seeing numbers constantly going up and up, eventually reaching huge magnitudes is incredibly pleasing to the brain. overall it's a very cute and comforting experience. everything is very pretty and sounds great.
I don't care too much about some of the things that other people generally complain about, namely the cameraman and only being able to buy one item at a time, but there are definitely some imperfections here that stand out to me. any enemy that explodes is certifiably Not Fun, same thing goes for when the game just throws a wall of status effects on all of your characters; willing to accept that might be me being unskilled, but it nevertheless got in the way of having fun sometimes.
all of the characters you play as are barely present as characters and can kinda feel merely like vehicles to drive the story. I think that's kinda okay because of how much the world around you can carry the interest in that aspect, but it was still a point of note for me. speaking of characters, the game is a bit of a struggle before you get paula in your party, though fortunately it never gets too bad afterwards provided you level up enough.
there's also just a lot more in this game than I remembered there being. I kept coming across areas and events that I had completely forgotten about. the major bad thing I could say about this game is that I feel like it just takes too long to get to the truly amazing parts once you've finally collected all 8 My Sanctuary locations. and man is it weirdly easy to miss the second dungeon Lillypad Step. I completely missed it on my original playthrough and almost missed it again this time around.
but overall, this is another one of those games that I feel I can't say much else about that hasn't already been said. it's really really good in so many aspects.
9/10
Recommended? there's so many good quotes from this game that I can't possibly choose one to put here
WHAT I LEARNED
another title where all-hiragana dialogue throws me for occasional loops. also the fact that the dialogue in this game can come out of nowhere with no relation to anything else going on sometimes made it hard for me to grasp what someone was saying. but overall, I can definitely tell my improvement with understanding the language thus far. a fair amount of more slang-y/specific/cultural stuff that went over my head though that's to be expected. gives me more easy candidates for sentence mining. not really much else to say though, I feel like I'm getting to a point where I'm understanding a lot more than I'm not understanding and I'm just able to engage with something fairly normally. I especially notice that in some of the youtube channels I watch, though it's definitely present in my experience here as well.
still don't really get the octopus erasing machine joke (if there's meant to be a joke there the same way as the eraser eraser in the english localization)
THE GAME
the last game I'm replaying in japanese before moving onto other games I have on The List.
such a fun experience. I'm definitely not into the genre of RPGs but this one clicks with me really well. grinding is the main big thing that turns me away, but something about the punchiness and speed of battles made that a non-issue for me. really everything in this game feels good to do, whether that be upgrading your equipment or even just walking about and talking to everyone. the latter of those two is always worth doing even outside of language practice simply due to how goofy and enjoyable the dialogue always is. and seeing numbers constantly going up and up, eventually reaching huge magnitudes is incredibly pleasing to the brain. overall it's a very cute and comforting experience. everything is very pretty and sounds great.
I don't care too much about some of the things that other people generally complain about, namely the cameraman and only being able to buy one item at a time, but there are definitely some imperfections here that stand out to me. any enemy that explodes is certifiably Not Fun, same thing goes for when the game just throws a wall of status effects on all of your characters; willing to accept that might be me being unskilled, but it nevertheless got in the way of having fun sometimes.
all of the characters you play as are barely present as characters and can kinda feel merely like vehicles to drive the story. I think that's kinda okay because of how much the world around you can carry the interest in that aspect, but it was still a point of note for me. speaking of characters, the game is a bit of a struggle before you get paula in your party, though fortunately it never gets too bad afterwards provided you level up enough.
there's also just a lot more in this game than I remembered there being. I kept coming across areas and events that I had completely forgotten about. the major bad thing I could say about this game is that I feel like it just takes too long to get to the truly amazing parts once you've finally collected all 8 My Sanctuary locations. and man is it weirdly easy to miss the second dungeon Lillypad Step. I completely missed it on my original playthrough and almost missed it again this time around.
but overall, this is another one of those games that I feel I can't say much else about that hasn't already been said. it's really really good in so many aspects.
9/10
Recommended? there's so many good quotes from this game that I can't possibly choose one to put here
WHAT I LEARNED
another title where all-hiragana dialogue throws me for occasional loops. also the fact that the dialogue in this game can come out of nowhere with no relation to anything else going on sometimes made it hard for me to grasp what someone was saying. but overall, I can definitely tell my improvement with understanding the language thus far. a fair amount of more slang-y/specific/cultural stuff that went over my head though that's to be expected. gives me more easy candidates for sentence mining. not really much else to say though, I feel like I'm getting to a point where I'm understanding a lot more than I'm not understanding and I'm just able to engage with something fairly normally. I especially notice that in some of the youtube channels I watch, though it's definitely present in my experience here as well.
still don't really get the octopus erasing machine joke (if there's meant to be a joke there the same way as the eraser eraser in the english localization)
JULY 12, 2023
THE GAME
cute coming-of-age experience. you guide sumire through some of her struggles in growing up to spend a perfect day with the help of a magical flower who only has one day on earth. a simple journey through her world, but still a very touching one, definitely amplified by the gorgeous soundtrack. the first few guitar tracks and the way they built up was a phenomenal opening to this game.
frankly, not too much else to say. it's a very sweet experience for what it is.
7/10
Recommended? sure!
WHAT I LEARNED
I don't know how much I'm committed to language-learning anymore. maybe it's because I've been going through my steam library recently which includes a lot of english-only games, but I don't feel that same spark of "I want to be able to learn more and understand everything in this different language" anymore. I've felt a bit lost in life in general recently which might be the main cause of this. maybe it'd be best for me to just take a break from everything, I'm not too sure. just trying to take it one day at a time and see where things go from there.
THE GAME
cute coming-of-age experience. you guide sumire through some of her struggles in growing up to spend a perfect day with the help of a magical flower who only has one day on earth. a simple journey through her world, but still a very touching one, definitely amplified by the gorgeous soundtrack. the first few guitar tracks and the way they built up was a phenomenal opening to this game.
frankly, not too much else to say. it's a very sweet experience for what it is.
7/10
Recommended? sure!
WHAT I LEARNED
I don't know how much I'm committed to language-learning anymore. maybe it's because I've been going through my steam library recently which includes a lot of english-only games, but I don't feel that same spark of "I want to be able to learn more and understand everything in this different language" anymore. I've felt a bit lost in life in general recently which might be the main cause of this. maybe it'd be best for me to just take a break from everything, I'm not too sure. just trying to take it one day at a time and see where things go from there.
JULY 15, 2023
THE GAME
very cute! did not realize you could turn off the pixel filter until after I had finished which I feel would have made me enjoy it a smidge more.
regardless, this is the exact kind of length of games that I want. enough for me to get a good experience with the possibility of being able to explore more around the island if I felt inclined. been struggling a lot recently with dropping games purely out of boredom, so this game was perfect for me.
the progression of things felt nice, being able to find new golden feathers without needing to go too far out of my way, and the way the world feels to open up as you gather more is great. rarely ever did I feel constrained which I think is essential for games about exploration. the world looks great too; I've gone back and forth about 3D modeling and this looks like the kinda stuff I would love to create. simple shapes and flat(?) colors strike a chord with me for sure.
wish I had looked in the options menu a bit more closely before playing but I enjoyed the hike regardless.
7/10
Recommended? probably better than a real hike
WHAT I LEARNED
a very simple experience language-wise as well. didn't take any new words from this (though I feel I probably could have), but everything felt natural to understand. getting harder and harder to write stuff in this section as my skills get better to the point where I can mostly jump into something and get a generally good grasp on the language without having to strain myself too hard.
THE GAME
very cute! did not realize you could turn off the pixel filter until after I had finished which I feel would have made me enjoy it a smidge more.
regardless, this is the exact kind of length of games that I want. enough for me to get a good experience with the possibility of being able to explore more around the island if I felt inclined. been struggling a lot recently with dropping games purely out of boredom, so this game was perfect for me.
the progression of things felt nice, being able to find new golden feathers without needing to go too far out of my way, and the way the world feels to open up as you gather more is great. rarely ever did I feel constrained which I think is essential for games about exploration. the world looks great too; I've gone back and forth about 3D modeling and this looks like the kinda stuff I would love to create. simple shapes and flat(?) colors strike a chord with me for sure.
wish I had looked in the options menu a bit more closely before playing but I enjoyed the hike regardless.
7/10
Recommended? probably better than a real hike
WHAT I LEARNED
a very simple experience language-wise as well. didn't take any new words from this (though I feel I probably could have), but everything felt natural to understand. getting harder and harder to write stuff in this section as my skills get better to the point where I can mostly jump into something and get a generally good grasp on the language without having to strain myself too hard.
JULY 23, 2023
THE GAME
the moment after beating the second colossus, I gave up on this game. not in the sense of putting it down forever and refusing to pick up the controller, but purposefully choosing to not continue searching and defeating the remaining colossi.
I've heard similar experiences from others where they've done the same out of guilt from essentially murdering these peaceful, human-like entities; choosing to explore the world instead and be absorbed by the beauty of the landscapes.
unfortunately, my decision for that path was just because the colossi are god-awful to fight. in no way did I have any fun struggling with the stamina meter whilst trying to figure out where the weak points of each one were and how to best take them down. I think those elements work for the game, but they're still ones that I didn't enjoy. merely choosing to run around the open scenery for a bit was how I felt I got the most enjoyment out of this game, and that's about where I'd like to leave it.
no rating
Recommended? I'd say it's worth checking out to see if it's your thing
WHAT I LEARNED
always good to play a game where I'm motivated enough in the learning experience to pull a few new words from. another reminder that grammar is still my weakest spot, and it's always good to take a focused moment to see if I can figure things out. not a whole lot of dialogue here (especially how I ended up played it) but still a fair one to check out.
THE GAME
the moment after beating the second colossus, I gave up on this game. not in the sense of putting it down forever and refusing to pick up the controller, but purposefully choosing to not continue searching and defeating the remaining colossi.
I've heard similar experiences from others where they've done the same out of guilt from essentially murdering these peaceful, human-like entities; choosing to explore the world instead and be absorbed by the beauty of the landscapes.
unfortunately, my decision for that path was just because the colossi are god-awful to fight. in no way did I have any fun struggling with the stamina meter whilst trying to figure out where the weak points of each one were and how to best take them down. I think those elements work for the game, but they're still ones that I didn't enjoy. merely choosing to run around the open scenery for a bit was how I felt I got the most enjoyment out of this game, and that's about where I'd like to leave it.
no rating
Recommended? I'd say it's worth checking out to see if it's your thing
WHAT I LEARNED
always good to play a game where I'm motivated enough in the learning experience to pull a few new words from. another reminder that grammar is still my weakest spot, and it's always good to take a focused moment to see if I can figure things out. not a whole lot of dialogue here (especially how I ended up played it) but still a fair one to check out.
JULY 24, 2023
THE GAME
what a letdown.
maybe I'm just ps1-pilled, but this game feels like it's polished up a bit but loses all of the charm of the first game in the process. everything seems weaker to me from the way the controls feel to the levels themselves. obviously the incredible music of the first game being replaced by this sloppy, serviceable-at-best soundtrack is a HUGE disappointment and didn't help towards my overall negative feelings towards this game.
a little nervous about getting to ape escape 3 as I'd so much rather just replay the first game than have gone through this one.
4/10
Recommended? more monkeys but less fun
WHAT I LEARNED
well who would have thought that this game would have been so weirdly language-friendly? the options not only to enable subtitles but also furigana is crazy nice. never seen anything like that up to this point, and maybe moving up to games on newer hardware can introduce more QOL additions like this.
THE GAME
what a letdown.
maybe I'm just ps1-pilled, but this game feels like it's polished up a bit but loses all of the charm of the first game in the process. everything seems weaker to me from the way the controls feel to the levels themselves. obviously the incredible music of the first game being replaced by this sloppy, serviceable-at-best soundtrack is a HUGE disappointment and didn't help towards my overall negative feelings towards this game.
a little nervous about getting to ape escape 3 as I'd so much rather just replay the first game than have gone through this one.
4/10
Recommended? more monkeys but less fun
WHAT I LEARNED
well who would have thought that this game would have been so weirdly language-friendly? the options not only to enable subtitles but also furigana is crazy nice. never seen anything like that up to this point, and maybe moving up to games on newer hardware can introduce more QOL additions like this.
JULY 25, 2023
THE GAME
a return to form after the previous game's missteps.
the one thing that I think the upgraded hardware really allows for is more unique silly situations. the original game has a lot of times where an ape is placed in a funny way or has a slightly different stylization to them (e.g. the apes' different personalities, apes in colder areas wearing the yellow jackets), and this game just triples down on that. the tv show themes help give a lot of variety there too, but seeing individual levels having multiple completely uniquely-stylized apes is incomparable to the first game. and having soichi terada back is an immediate boost in quality.
I still think this one lacks a bit in comparison to the original game though (read: I AM in fact PS1-pilled). seeing the apes in "better quality" is sweet but I just don't gel with the polish this game puts on. maybe I'm simply getting tired of what's essentially the same gameplay, but even the transformations didn't offer much for me as I only used them when I felt I absolutely needed to. the characters here kinda suck too. not sure why every game needed a new protagonist, but these two feel way too placeholder-esque. specter's sidekick is hella lame and I really couldn't care for any of the boss fights here.
all that being said, I still had a much better time with this game than ape escape 2. the apes sure did escape (3).
8/10
Recommended? I still think the original is the best but this is a great follow-up
WHAT I LEARNED
continuation of the great features seen in the last game which is much appreciated. a fair amount of language to get here too which I was a bit surprised by, but between the cutscenes and the apes' descriptions (whenever I remembered to read them) provided a great balance of gameplay and language practice.
I've reached a point where video games are pretty much my sole form of immersion outside of occasionally reading manga, as I've finished/gotten tired of anime and youtube videos. I feel like that's led to my language skills slipping a little bit, but I'm still at a level where I feel very comfortable jumping into anything japanese and being able to understand enough to have a good time. still been very introspective lately about what I truly want to do in life and where learning a language fits into that, but for now I'd like to keep it up.
THE GAME
a return to form after the previous game's missteps.
the one thing that I think the upgraded hardware really allows for is more unique silly situations. the original game has a lot of times where an ape is placed in a funny way or has a slightly different stylization to them (e.g. the apes' different personalities, apes in colder areas wearing the yellow jackets), and this game just triples down on that. the tv show themes help give a lot of variety there too, but seeing individual levels having multiple completely uniquely-stylized apes is incomparable to the first game. and having soichi terada back is an immediate boost in quality.
I still think this one lacks a bit in comparison to the original game though (read: I AM in fact PS1-pilled). seeing the apes in "better quality" is sweet but I just don't gel with the polish this game puts on. maybe I'm simply getting tired of what's essentially the same gameplay, but even the transformations didn't offer much for me as I only used them when I felt I absolutely needed to. the characters here kinda suck too. not sure why every game needed a new protagonist, but these two feel way too placeholder-esque. specter's sidekick is hella lame and I really couldn't care for any of the boss fights here.
all that being said, I still had a much better time with this game than ape escape 2. the apes sure did escape (3).
8/10
Recommended? I still think the original is the best but this is a great follow-up
WHAT I LEARNED
continuation of the great features seen in the last game which is much appreciated. a fair amount of language to get here too which I was a bit surprised by, but between the cutscenes and the apes' descriptions (whenever I remembered to read them) provided a great balance of gameplay and language practice.
I've reached a point where video games are pretty much my sole form of immersion outside of occasionally reading manga, as I've finished/gotten tired of anime and youtube videos. I feel like that's led to my language skills slipping a little bit, but I'm still at a level where I feel very comfortable jumping into anything japanese and being able to understand enough to have a good time. still been very introspective lately about what I truly want to do in life and where learning a language fits into that, but for now I'd like to keep it up.
JULY 26, 2023
THE GAME
probably as good of a sequel as you could give a game like klonoa.
most everything here feels like a step up from the original while keeping so much of the initial game's DNA. the visuals and music are stunning, the gameplay still feels super crisp, and the new additions fit right into the universe. some of the levels can feel a little drawn out and the remixed levels are mostly miss for me, but overall level design is very nice and the progression of the game as a whole feels very natural. the overworld map is such a cooler inclusion compared to what the previous game had, being able to see the world you're going through. being able to see the world is definitely a strong point here, with so many great locales and a lot of time to admire those through the level design.
character-wise this game's a bit hit-or-miss for me though. klonoa is great and the sidekicks are fun, but I just can't bring myself to care about the lore of the world otherwise. the end of the first game definitely had a much greater impact on me than this one, though it still managed to tie things together nicely.
8/10
Recommended? definitely, even if you haven't played the first game
WHAT I LEARNED
pretty simple dialogue here, nothing too crazy to write about. it's starting to be that most of the games I write about here are merely for the sake of cataloguing and not for actual progress in learning, which I think is actually a good thing that shows how I've gotten better at the language over time.
THE GAME
probably as good of a sequel as you could give a game like klonoa.
most everything here feels like a step up from the original while keeping so much of the initial game's DNA. the visuals and music are stunning, the gameplay still feels super crisp, and the new additions fit right into the universe. some of the levels can feel a little drawn out and the remixed levels are mostly miss for me, but overall level design is very nice and the progression of the game as a whole feels very natural. the overworld map is such a cooler inclusion compared to what the previous game had, being able to see the world you're going through. being able to see the world is definitely a strong point here, with so many great locales and a lot of time to admire those through the level design.
character-wise this game's a bit hit-or-miss for me though. klonoa is great and the sidekicks are fun, but I just can't bring myself to care about the lore of the world otherwise. the end of the first game definitely had a much greater impact on me than this one, though it still managed to tie things together nicely.
8/10
Recommended? definitely, even if you haven't played the first game
WHAT I LEARNED
pretty simple dialogue here, nothing too crazy to write about. it's starting to be that most of the games I write about here are merely for the sake of cataloguing and not for actual progress in learning, which I think is actually a good thing that shows how I've gotten better at the language over time.
JULY 26, 2023
THE GAME
very much not what I was expecting.
I've known this series for a long time now and have been looking forward to getting into it. a colorful, nice world where you can use a net and shovel to find artifacts for the museum, go fishing, and design your own world as you want, befriending the other villagers near you. this game just didn't fit that ideal.
for starters, a lot of this game felt weirdly sluggish/locked behind arbitrary borders. needing to mail off fossils because the owl guy isn't confident in his identification skills or whatever is just a pain. tom nook's shop feels very random on if he's going to sell something you actually want, and the able sister's shop doesn't feel like it really does anything. inventory management is also not as nice as I feel it could be, especially since it took a while for any storage items to be sold that I could use in my house. my house never did get any nicer either.
the villagers themselves, an aspect I was really looking forward to, underwhelmed me a lot as well. no one is really friendly which creates a weird disconnect between me trying to help them and them being jerkish in response.
I just ended up not really caring about anything in this game. and not in a having-my-own-fun sort of way, one out of this lack of any sense of importance. I am planning on checking out New Leaf as well which I've heard solves a lot of the complaints I've had here, and hopefully that one doesn't end up disappointing me like this game did.
6/10
Recommended? I don't think so
WHAT I LEARNED
a lot of good language practice here though, which is another thing I was looking forward to about getting to this series. a few moments where I was confused on what someone might have exactly wanted from me, but otherwise I took every excuse I could to chat it up with someone. hopefully New Leaf will provide villagers whom I would actually want to talk to if not just for language practice though.
one thing in particular that caught my attention was a conversation I had with one of my villagers where they suddenly threw a kanji into the mix, as up until that point everything had been exclusively in hiragana. I didn't realize this at first, but one of the response options was "I can't read that!", which I think choosing would have made the game continue without kanji. choosing the other option allowed for most everything to use kanji, and the change being initially unnoticed by me further proves that I don't have any issues reading in kanji (in fact, the game became a bit easier to read than when it was entirely in hiragana. still need to get better at reading without kanji)
THE GAME
very much not what I was expecting.
I've known this series for a long time now and have been looking forward to getting into it. a colorful, nice world where you can use a net and shovel to find artifacts for the museum, go fishing, and design your own world as you want, befriending the other villagers near you. this game just didn't fit that ideal.
for starters, a lot of this game felt weirdly sluggish/locked behind arbitrary borders. needing to mail off fossils because the owl guy isn't confident in his identification skills or whatever is just a pain. tom nook's shop feels very random on if he's going to sell something you actually want, and the able sister's shop doesn't feel like it really does anything. inventory management is also not as nice as I feel it could be, especially since it took a while for any storage items to be sold that I could use in my house. my house never did get any nicer either.
the villagers themselves, an aspect I was really looking forward to, underwhelmed me a lot as well. no one is really friendly which creates a weird disconnect between me trying to help them and them being jerkish in response.
I just ended up not really caring about anything in this game. and not in a having-my-own-fun sort of way, one out of this lack of any sense of importance. I am planning on checking out New Leaf as well which I've heard solves a lot of the complaints I've had here, and hopefully that one doesn't end up disappointing me like this game did.
6/10
Recommended? I don't think so
WHAT I LEARNED
a lot of good language practice here though, which is another thing I was looking forward to about getting to this series. a few moments where I was confused on what someone might have exactly wanted from me, but otherwise I took every excuse I could to chat it up with someone. hopefully New Leaf will provide villagers whom I would actually want to talk to if not just for language practice though.
one thing in particular that caught my attention was a conversation I had with one of my villagers where they suddenly threw a kanji into the mix, as up until that point everything had been exclusively in hiragana. I didn't realize this at first, but one of the response options was "I can't read that!", which I think choosing would have made the game continue without kanji. choosing the other option allowed for most everything to use kanji, and the change being initially unnoticed by me further proves that I don't have any issues reading in kanji (in fact, the game became a bit easier to read than when it was entirely in hiragana. still need to get better at reading without kanji)
JULY 31, 2023
THE GAME
now THIS is what I was looking for.
I actually am enjoying this game so much that I'm putting it on hold with the plan to eventually get a japanese 3DS and play this on physical hardware. I'll eventually get to going through the 3DS' library much like I originally did for the PS1, and I don't want to wear myself out on this game too early on. I'm also in the process of updating to a new computer, so I'm unsure that my current save will transfer over. don't want to get this world too built up only to come to naught.
frankly that's all I want to say for now. this game cleans up so many of the issues I had with the original and becomes such a lovely experience as a result. I swear every new song that played gave me that feeling of "oh, that's where that comes from!". regardless, I'll update this entry once I eventually play this game more.
EDIT: JANUARY 4, 2024
been playing this a bit more recently and I've come to the unfortunate realization that this series doesn't feel up my alley anymore. everything feels like a job to get into without any reward at the end, tangible or self-created. I kept feeling as if I had to play this game just because there was new fruit to get and fossils to dig and I had to chat with all of my villagers, but there was no fun in any of those tasks. and I want games to be fun. my feelings may swap back again after some time, but I'm just not feeling it.
no rating
Recommended? absolutely!
WHAT I LEARNED
naturally a game that encourages you to repeatedly chat with people is great for language practice. a lot of this game was very easy to understand, but still had some nice new words to add to my overflowing anki deck. a game that I can come back to every day for like 15 minutes at a time is PERFECT for me as well. helps keep my interest for learning high and prevents me from burning out on a game too quickly. again, I'm so happy to be at the current level I am with the language as it truly feels like I can just hop in and enjoy a game like this or anything else without too much struggle.
THE GAME
now THIS is what I was looking for.
I actually am enjoying this game so much that I'm putting it on hold with the plan to eventually get a japanese 3DS and play this on physical hardware. I'll eventually get to going through the 3DS' library much like I originally did for the PS1, and I don't want to wear myself out on this game too early on. I'm also in the process of updating to a new computer, so I'm unsure that my current save will transfer over. don't want to get this world too built up only to come to naught.
frankly that's all I want to say for now. this game cleans up so many of the issues I had with the original and becomes such a lovely experience as a result. I swear every new song that played gave me that feeling of "oh, that's where that comes from!". regardless, I'll update this entry once I eventually play this game more.
EDIT: JANUARY 4, 2024
been playing this a bit more recently and I've come to the unfortunate realization that this series doesn't feel up my alley anymore. everything feels like a job to get into without any reward at the end, tangible or self-created. I kept feeling as if I had to play this game just because there was new fruit to get and fossils to dig and I had to chat with all of my villagers, but there was no fun in any of those tasks. and I want games to be fun. my feelings may swap back again after some time, but I'm just not feeling it.
no rating
Recommended? absolutely!
WHAT I LEARNED
naturally a game that encourages you to repeatedly chat with people is great for language practice. a lot of this game was very easy to understand, but still had some nice new words to add to my overflowing anki deck. a game that I can come back to every day for like 15 minutes at a time is PERFECT for me as well. helps keep my interest for learning high and prevents me from burning out on a game too quickly. again, I'm so happy to be at the current level I am with the language as it truly feels like I can just hop in and enjoy a game like this or anything else without too much struggle.
AUGUST 7, 2023
THE GAME
osu! but with infinitely more charm and infinitely less underage girls
I was originally thinking of going through the library of the DS in a very similar way to how I did the PS1 (and I would eventually do the same for other consoles), but I don't think going through the list of games was an approach I want to take again, at least not at first. regardless, I'll likely be sticking to one console at a time again, just likely hopping around a bit more.
ANYWAYS this game is weird to write any notes about since I played a lot of osu! in middle school, and this feels just like a less polished version of that. this game is definitely way better than osu! for a lot of reasons, but I think if you ported this into the osu! "engine" I might have enjoyed the stages more? I dunno. the story cutscenes during gameplay are hella fun and serve for a large part of my enjoyment. it's a quick, cool game overall, although none of the songs really clicked with me as much as I would have liked for a music game. neat but did kinda pass over me too.
6/10
Recommended? if you're down for a quick trip of some funny japanese shenanigans, it's worth checking out
WHAT I LEARNED
not much language here but it's felt nice to get through a game (japanese or otherwise, frankly) again since I haven't felt very motivated towards gaming in a bit. I feel like my comprehension abilities have weakened a bit which I especially notice while trying to read manga, so I want to try to keep myself up with immersion as much as possible. hoping I can get back into things a little bit again.
THE GAME
osu! but with infinitely more charm and infinitely less underage girls
I was originally thinking of going through the library of the DS in a very similar way to how I did the PS1 (and I would eventually do the same for other consoles), but I don't think going through the list of games was an approach I want to take again, at least not at first. regardless, I'll likely be sticking to one console at a time again, just likely hopping around a bit more.
ANYWAYS this game is weird to write any notes about since I played a lot of osu! in middle school, and this feels just like a less polished version of that. this game is definitely way better than osu! for a lot of reasons, but I think if you ported this into the osu! "engine" I might have enjoyed the stages more? I dunno. the story cutscenes during gameplay are hella fun and serve for a large part of my enjoyment. it's a quick, cool game overall, although none of the songs really clicked with me as much as I would have liked for a music game. neat but did kinda pass over me too.
6/10
Recommended? if you're down for a quick trip of some funny japanese shenanigans, it's worth checking out
WHAT I LEARNED
not much language here but it's felt nice to get through a game (japanese or otherwise, frankly) again since I haven't felt very motivated towards gaming in a bit. I feel like my comprehension abilities have weakened a bit which I especially notice while trying to read manga, so I want to try to keep myself up with immersion as much as possible. hoping I can get back into things a little bit again.
OCTOBER 10, 2023
THE GAME
about time I get back to completing a game for language learning!
and what a game to return with. out-of-this-world good overall. the soundtrack sound design is phenomenal, the atmosphere and world is easily one of the best (if not the best) that I've seen on this console, and there's so many great moments with the scares and other mysterious happenings.
game progression here felt nicely straightforward too. there were a few moments I missed something minor that resulted in backtracking (rubber ball) or just unnecessary frustration (a few of the area maps), but the game is generally good at making its important elements obvious. none of the puzzles are too obtuse; the piano puzzle was great fun of writing things out and providing just enough thinking struggle to feel rewarding.
the controls aren't that clunky, the camera can be a little fiddly at times, but this game's biggest downfall is combat. enemies become uninteresting fairly quickly and I ended up running past as many enemies as I could with the auto-lock not always focusing on what I was intending to shoot at. the boss fights are also not super enjoyable.
the greatest enjoyment I got here was through exploring each area and basking in the desolate atmosphere. if the game could have held back a little bit with enemy frequency and allowed me to take in the world a little more, I think I might have enjoyed myself a bit more. further proof to myself that exploration is generally my favorite part of any game.
this now remains one of the very few horror games I've played, and it was a fantastic one to choose. unlike most everything else I've ever gone through and it makes me a little bit more willing to check out other scary games.
8/10
Recommended? even if you're not big into horror or the limitations of the PS1, I think it's an incredible experience
WHAT I LEARNED
the voice acting remaining in English in the Japanese version was somewhat neat but hindered my language immersion a little bit. initially I would try to pause right as the Japanese subtitles came up, but I gave up after a bit with how stuttered it made things feel, plus with sometimes hearing half the English dialogue before the full subtitles appeared. unfortunate but can't really blame the game too hard.
there were a few times the subject matter became a bit too advanced for me to grasp (alongside the game's general obscured nature of what's really going on), but otherwise I didn't have too much problem getting through things. I'm sure the English voice acting helped a bit, but being able to solve the puzzles and understand how to progress through things was quite smooth.
THE GAME
about time I get back to completing a game for language learning!
and what a game to return with. out-of-this-world good overall. the soundtrack sound design is phenomenal, the atmosphere and world is easily one of the best (if not the best) that I've seen on this console, and there's so many great moments with the scares and other mysterious happenings.
game progression here felt nicely straightforward too. there were a few moments I missed something minor that resulted in backtracking (rubber ball) or just unnecessary frustration (a few of the area maps), but the game is generally good at making its important elements obvious. none of the puzzles are too obtuse; the piano puzzle was great fun of writing things out and providing just enough thinking struggle to feel rewarding.
the controls aren't that clunky, the camera can be a little fiddly at times, but this game's biggest downfall is combat. enemies become uninteresting fairly quickly and I ended up running past as many enemies as I could with the auto-lock not always focusing on what I was intending to shoot at. the boss fights are also not super enjoyable.
the greatest enjoyment I got here was through exploring each area and basking in the desolate atmosphere. if the game could have held back a little bit with enemy frequency and allowed me to take in the world a little more, I think I might have enjoyed myself a bit more. further proof to myself that exploration is generally my favorite part of any game.
this now remains one of the very few horror games I've played, and it was a fantastic one to choose. unlike most everything else I've ever gone through and it makes me a little bit more willing to check out other scary games.
8/10
Recommended? even if you're not big into horror or the limitations of the PS1, I think it's an incredible experience
WHAT I LEARNED
the voice acting remaining in English in the Japanese version was somewhat neat but hindered my language immersion a little bit. initially I would try to pause right as the Japanese subtitles came up, but I gave up after a bit with how stuttered it made things feel, plus with sometimes hearing half the English dialogue before the full subtitles appeared. unfortunate but can't really blame the game too hard.
there were a few times the subject matter became a bit too advanced for me to grasp (alongside the game's general obscured nature of what's really going on), but otherwise I didn't have too much problem getting through things. I'm sure the English voice acting helped a bit, but being able to solve the puzzles and understand how to progress through things was quite smooth.
OCTOBER 23, 2023
THE GAME
I have wanted to get into this series and RPGs as a whole for a long time now, both for providing lots of immersion material and for being games I genuinely wanted to play. but I've come to the conclusion that these kinda games aren't for me.
I don't think it's a bad game at all, but something about how these games feel doesn't click for me. I went into this a bit more in my backloggd review, though even then I still feel like I was missing something to describe why I didn't fully enjoy my time with this one. all I can say is that I definitely had moments where I was having fun, but overall it felt like a chore to pick up and continue every time I played. maybe some day I'll "get" it.
4/10
Recommended? yes, even if I didn't enjoy it
WHAT I LEARNED
language-wise I didn't struggle too much with this one. a few times where some more advanced government concept came up that threw me for a loop; I get a bit overwhelmed whenever there's so many kanji strung together that it starts to look like chinese. I had some knowledge of the story beforehand so I'm sure that helped, but otherwise I didn't feel like understanding japanese presented any struggle in wanting to keep playing which is exactly where I want to be with my japanese skills.
THE GAME
I have wanted to get into this series and RPGs as a whole for a long time now, both for providing lots of immersion material and for being games I genuinely wanted to play. but I've come to the conclusion that these kinda games aren't for me.
I don't think it's a bad game at all, but something about how these games feel doesn't click for me. I went into this a bit more in my backloggd review, though even then I still feel like I was missing something to describe why I didn't fully enjoy my time with this one. all I can say is that I definitely had moments where I was having fun, but overall it felt like a chore to pick up and continue every time I played. maybe some day I'll "get" it.
4/10
Recommended? yes, even if I didn't enjoy it
WHAT I LEARNED
language-wise I didn't struggle too much with this one. a few times where some more advanced government concept came up that threw me for a loop; I get a bit overwhelmed whenever there's so many kanji strung together that it starts to look like chinese. I had some knowledge of the story beforehand so I'm sure that helped, but otherwise I didn't feel like understanding japanese presented any struggle in wanting to keep playing which is exactly where I want to be with my japanese skills.
NOVEMBER 23, 2023
THE GAME
I watched a let's play of this so I'm not sure I have the most sound opinions as far as actually playing it goes, but I still feel like I got a good impression of things.
some neat ideas and simple choice-based games seem like something that would interest me but it has too many strong moments of tastelessness. from being overladen with QTEs (to the point where that is the game) and a few themes of discrimination that feel a bit too disgusting for me, I can't bring myself to say that this was an experience I enjoyed as a whole. robots are cool, I like thinking about some of the philosophical ideas this game presents, but it comes off too disconnected from reality when I compare it to BLM movements and other real-world acts of discrimination that this game seems to be drawing metaphors to.
the game looks great and I really enjoyed the Hank-Connor relationship, but this remains little more than another source of language practice for me.
4/10
Recommended? eh
WHAT I LEARNED
news segments still go mostly over my head though I was able to follow the overall story well. I think this is the level of language I should be immersing with at this point as it provided lots of new words and a good challenge. time-based choices made me realize how much more quickly I can skim-read in English than Japanese, though I know that should improve over time. I still have a long way to go before I feel truly confident with my abilities, but every time I immerse in the language I am impressed in myself with how far I've come.
THE GAME
I watched a let's play of this so I'm not sure I have the most sound opinions as far as actually playing it goes, but I still feel like I got a good impression of things.
some neat ideas and simple choice-based games seem like something that would interest me but it has too many strong moments of tastelessness. from being overladen with QTEs (to the point where that is the game) and a few themes of discrimination that feel a bit too disgusting for me, I can't bring myself to say that this was an experience I enjoyed as a whole. robots are cool, I like thinking about some of the philosophical ideas this game presents, but it comes off too disconnected from reality when I compare it to BLM movements and other real-world acts of discrimination that this game seems to be drawing metaphors to.
the game looks great and I really enjoyed the Hank-Connor relationship, but this remains little more than another source of language practice for me.
4/10
Recommended? eh
WHAT I LEARNED
news segments still go mostly over my head though I was able to follow the overall story well. I think this is the level of language I should be immersing with at this point as it provided lots of new words and a good challenge. time-based choices made me realize how much more quickly I can skim-read in English than Japanese, though I know that should improve over time. I still have a long way to go before I feel truly confident with my abilities, but every time I immerse in the language I am impressed in myself with how far I've come.
NOVEMBER 28, 2023
THE GAME
YOUはSHOCK!!!!!
Fist of the North Star but extensively recreated into PS1 cutscenes with little beat 'em up segments in-between. incredibly faithful to the series and visually GORGEOUS though it does get a bit tiresome after the thousandth cutscene that you already know what's going to happen in because you've watched the show.
gameplay-wise, it's not too bad! cute mechanic of timing a blow when an enemy glows rainbow colors to one-hit k.o. them, though punching and kicking them a bunch still causes them to erupt in a volcano of guts. combos come down to how many times you punch before you kick but they still provide a good balance of attacks. and then bosses are defeated with a series of timed button presses to deal a classic finishing blow.
blows me away how much love there is poured into this for the original series. so so good.
8/10
Recommended? no English patch, but definitely a must-play for Fist of the North Star fans
WHAT I LEARNED
not much language difference between this and when I initially watched the show, but that provided a great opportunity to see how far I've come with my comprehension abilities since then. all of the cutscenes are subtitled as well which is a great addition for me. nothing too new as this was mainly a play just for fun, though that in and of itself is incredible to say that I'm at the point where I can pick up a Japanese-only game without much struggle.
THE GAME
YOUはSHOCK!!!!!
Fist of the North Star but extensively recreated into PS1 cutscenes with little beat 'em up segments in-between. incredibly faithful to the series and visually GORGEOUS though it does get a bit tiresome after the thousandth cutscene that you already know what's going to happen in because you've watched the show.
gameplay-wise, it's not too bad! cute mechanic of timing a blow when an enemy glows rainbow colors to one-hit k.o. them, though punching and kicking them a bunch still causes them to erupt in a volcano of guts. combos come down to how many times you punch before you kick but they still provide a good balance of attacks. and then bosses are defeated with a series of timed button presses to deal a classic finishing blow.
blows me away how much love there is poured into this for the original series. so so good.
8/10
Recommended? no English patch, but definitely a must-play for Fist of the North Star fans
WHAT I LEARNED
not much language difference between this and when I initially watched the show, but that provided a great opportunity to see how far I've come with my comprehension abilities since then. all of the cutscenes are subtitled as well which is a great addition for me. nothing too new as this was mainly a play just for fun, though that in and of itself is incredible to say that I'm at the point where I can pick up a Japanese-only game without much struggle.
JANUARY 11, 2024
THE GAME
unexpectedly engaging action puzzle game! no instructions but you'll immediately understand what to do. the rough idea is to "shoot" differently-colored shapes that stack towards the center. if you're the same color as the shape you shoot, it disappears. if not, you swap colors with the shape you shoot. if any of the shape stacks reach your center area, the game's over. starts off pretty chill but quickly ramps up in intensity as more shapes pile up and it gets harder to decide where to allocate your focus.
there's quite a few versions of this, but I think the PSX and Saturn versions are the best. gameplay feels smooth to control and the dorky music of the other versions is superseded by sweaty minimal techno tracks that push you into The Zone. overall a great game to pick up and play one 10-minute round of.
I'm mostly writing about this game here because I think it marks an appropriate end for my journey through PS1 games (both alphabetically and how I feel regarding the system in general). I feel like I've mostly experienced every game that interests me and have somewhat burned myself out on the console as a whole. earlier on in this journey, I was a bit more easily able to force myself through a game I wouldn’t have normally played strictly because there was so much to learn about the language. I’ve now reached a point where I feel I can comfortably hop into an experience in Japanese and enjoy it roughly as much as I could if it were in English. as a result, I don’t have much extra motivation to explore games I otherwise wouldn’t be too interested in. I’ve also “overworked” myself by poring through the PS1’s library multiple times and just feel like I need to distance myself from the console for a little bit.
my next plan is to go through the SNES/SFC’s library of games, this time actively trying every game. I want to be very patient and deliberate with my experience with this console as I don’t want to quickly burn myself out like I feel I have with the PS1. the SNES/SFC is a period of games that has an overall flavor that interests me, in a very similar way to the unique flavor that PS1 games have. the only difference is now playing games with gorgeous sprite work instead of low-poly charm. sincerely hoping I can unhurriedly pace myself through this continued journey (I would say “new game plus” though like c’mon).
7/10
Recommended? specifically the PSX or Saturn versions
WHAT I LEARNED
japanese
THE GAME
unexpectedly engaging action puzzle game! no instructions but you'll immediately understand what to do. the rough idea is to "shoot" differently-colored shapes that stack towards the center. if you're the same color as the shape you shoot, it disappears. if not, you swap colors with the shape you shoot. if any of the shape stacks reach your center area, the game's over. starts off pretty chill but quickly ramps up in intensity as more shapes pile up and it gets harder to decide where to allocate your focus.
there's quite a few versions of this, but I think the PSX and Saturn versions are the best. gameplay feels smooth to control and the dorky music of the other versions is superseded by sweaty minimal techno tracks that push you into The Zone. overall a great game to pick up and play one 10-minute round of.
I'm mostly writing about this game here because I think it marks an appropriate end for my journey through PS1 games (both alphabetically and how I feel regarding the system in general). I feel like I've mostly experienced every game that interests me and have somewhat burned myself out on the console as a whole. earlier on in this journey, I was a bit more easily able to force myself through a game I wouldn’t have normally played strictly because there was so much to learn about the language. I’ve now reached a point where I feel I can comfortably hop into an experience in Japanese and enjoy it roughly as much as I could if it were in English. as a result, I don’t have much extra motivation to explore games I otherwise wouldn’t be too interested in. I’ve also “overworked” myself by poring through the PS1’s library multiple times and just feel like I need to distance myself from the console for a little bit.
my next plan is to go through the SNES/SFC’s library of games, this time actively trying every game. I want to be very patient and deliberate with my experience with this console as I don’t want to quickly burn myself out like I feel I have with the PS1. the SNES/SFC is a period of games that has an overall flavor that interests me, in a very similar way to the unique flavor that PS1 games have. the only difference is now playing games with gorgeous sprite work instead of low-poly charm. sincerely hoping I can unhurriedly pace myself through this continued journey (I would say “new game plus” though like c’mon).
7/10
Recommended? specifically the PSX or Saturn versions
WHAT I LEARNED
japanese
JANUARY 12, 2024
soccer simulator which is not really my thing. looking forward to trying out some sports games, though the management side of things doesn't interest me. felt incredibly similar to '98 Koushien in that you select from a wide range of different training activities before leading up to The Big Game, which is funny that my early starts with both consoles resulted in the same sort of sports management game. my favorite moment was when the girl at the beginning asked me why I wanted to join the soccer club, to which answering "because of you" makes her blush before asking the next question.
no rating
soccer simulator which is not really my thing. looking forward to trying out some sports games, though the management side of things doesn't interest me. felt incredibly similar to '98 Koushien in that you select from a wide range of different training activities before leading up to The Big Game, which is funny that my early starts with both consoles resulted in the same sort of sports management game. my favorite moment was when the girl at the beginning asked me why I wanted to join the soccer club, to which answering "because of you" makes her blush before asking the next question.
no rating
JANUARY 13, 2024
there's a special novelty in playing an NFL game in Japanese but it wears off fairly quickly with how dinky this game feels. the Monday Night Football theme is hilarious and the unlicensed team logos are silly to see. I felt like I had very little control over plays most of the time; passes felt like a complete crapshoot on if they would reach the receiver and it's not immediately obvious the few sections that require you to mash the B button. the game generally feels sluggish in every aspect, especially the (admittedly goofy) animations of the fans' reactions after plays that relay their euphoria or complete disdain and last a smidge too long every time. I can't imagine wanting to play more than one game of this.
3/10
Recommended? I'd have to believe there are better football games on this console
there's a special novelty in playing an NFL game in Japanese but it wears off fairly quickly with how dinky this game feels. the Monday Night Football theme is hilarious and the unlicensed team logos are silly to see. I felt like I had very little control over plays most of the time; passes felt like a complete crapshoot on if they would reach the receiver and it's not immediately obvious the few sections that require you to mash the B button. the game generally feels sluggish in every aspect, especially the (admittedly goofy) animations of the fans' reactions after plays that relay their euphoria or complete disdain and last a smidge too long every time. I can't imagine wanting to play more than one game of this.
3/10
Recommended? I'd have to believe there are better football games on this console
JANUARY 15, 2024
the most unique-looking tennis game I think I've ever seen. instead of the traditional over-the-shoulder camera angle that pans left and right with player movement, this game fixes the camera to the ball and flattens mode 7 to create a low-angle 3D perspective. it took quite a while to get used to the seasick-ening vertical bobbing and difficult gauge on depth perception, but felt rewarding once the timing clicks. the ball hitbox is quite forgiving though the player swings are much less so, further forcing the importance of timing and being able to "read" the game. this early struggle along with the more-than-competent opponents makes the game feel quite difficult. never unfairly so fortunately, as any point against you is caused by a clear fault of your own in leaving a gap in your court presence or allowing your opponent to move forward and take an offensive stance. I found the game to promote playing aggressively as I more consistently scored points by getting up close to the net and smashing the ball to opposite sides. the other somewhat reliable strategy was to wait for the opponent to move close to the next and lob it far over their heads. in any case, each point is a different experience determined almost purely down to player skill. this game genuinely helped me see an elegance in the sport of tennis, and I could easily see myself watching parts of real life matches (or at least being much more open to playing other tennis games in the future).
this game in particular is based on the 70s manga/anime series of the same name (which I have not seen and therefore cannot judge similarity to). you guide Hiromi Oka through her high school's tennis league and matches against other opponents, culminating in a final showdown against Reika Ryuuzaki, "The Butterfly," a bit of a rival from the same school. the game presents this in a bit of a short visual novel style with text-based "cutscenes" between matches moving things forward and providing some minor context. nothing too life-changing but a nice addition. the matches themselves are doubled down on; instead of playing a single game, you play through 3-set, 7-game matches with every opponent. this makes single matches take a good 10-15 minutes. paired with the slower speed of gameplay, you really need to be invested in the way this game feels to get anywhere. I think the time investment is mostly worth it as I felt perpetually challenged even though there didn't seem to be a rising difficulty in opponent skill, and the game's fantastic visuals kept me just as invested. I did unfortunately feel myself starting to play just to beat it rather than have fun due to this lack of variety between matches, which alongside the admittedly occasionally-awkward camera are the only real downsides I have to mention here.
overall, a visually-captivating if not slightly exhausting game that makes me a bit more interested in the real sport.
7/10
Recommended? even if you're not into sports games, I think this one is good try!
the most unique-looking tennis game I think I've ever seen. instead of the traditional over-the-shoulder camera angle that pans left and right with player movement, this game fixes the camera to the ball and flattens mode 7 to create a low-angle 3D perspective. it took quite a while to get used to the seasick-ening vertical bobbing and difficult gauge on depth perception, but felt rewarding once the timing clicks. the ball hitbox is quite forgiving though the player swings are much less so, further forcing the importance of timing and being able to "read" the game. this early struggle along with the more-than-competent opponents makes the game feel quite difficult. never unfairly so fortunately, as any point against you is caused by a clear fault of your own in leaving a gap in your court presence or allowing your opponent to move forward and take an offensive stance. I found the game to promote playing aggressively as I more consistently scored points by getting up close to the net and smashing the ball to opposite sides. the other somewhat reliable strategy was to wait for the opponent to move close to the next and lob it far over their heads. in any case, each point is a different experience determined almost purely down to player skill. this game genuinely helped me see an elegance in the sport of tennis, and I could easily see myself watching parts of real life matches (or at least being much more open to playing other tennis games in the future).
this game in particular is based on the 70s manga/anime series of the same name (which I have not seen and therefore cannot judge similarity to). you guide Hiromi Oka through her high school's tennis league and matches against other opponents, culminating in a final showdown against Reika Ryuuzaki, "The Butterfly," a bit of a rival from the same school. the game presents this in a bit of a short visual novel style with text-based "cutscenes" between matches moving things forward and providing some minor context. nothing too life-changing but a nice addition. the matches themselves are doubled down on; instead of playing a single game, you play through 3-set, 7-game matches with every opponent. this makes single matches take a good 10-15 minutes. paired with the slower speed of gameplay, you really need to be invested in the way this game feels to get anywhere. I think the time investment is mostly worth it as I felt perpetually challenged even though there didn't seem to be a rising difficulty in opponent skill, and the game's fantastic visuals kept me just as invested. I did unfortunately feel myself starting to play just to beat it rather than have fun due to this lack of variety between matches, which alongside the admittedly occasionally-awkward camera are the only real downsides I have to mention here.
overall, a visually-captivating if not slightly exhausting game that makes me a bit more interested in the real sport.
7/10
Recommended? even if you're not into sports games, I think this one is good try!
JANUARY 17, 2024
the first SNES game with a substantial amount of Japanese language, as well as the first full-on visual novel I've completed!
a bit of a horror-mystery surrounding a strange phone call you receive and the report of the death of an old childhood friend that whisks you away to unravel the mysteries surrounding the countryside village she lived in. kinda silly at points but there's a few neat moments. I'm not one to be able to judge the quality of Japanese writing but I think this one did okay. my big problem is that most (but not ALL) of your choices are meaningless. I pulled a few savestates before choices, and both decisions lead the narrative down the same path. this makes the later choices that DO matter feel like a rug pull of what the game had been doing. fortunately I lucked into the first sudden major correct choice, but I wish they were overall more consistent with each other. the game is pretty short too (which I appreciate!)
language-wise, I can so clearly tell how far I've come with understanding Japanese as I was able to mostly breeze through the entire game without feeling like I was being held back by the language. there were only a few moments where some bit of dialogue tripped me up, though the occasional challenge and new word is always appreciated. not sure how much motivation will be for visual novels going forward given their general lack of gameplay (at which point, why not just pick up a book?) but I'm glad I got through a new experience.
6/10
Recommended? it's fine but feels pretty throwaway
the first SNES game with a substantial amount of Japanese language, as well as the first full-on visual novel I've completed!
a bit of a horror-mystery surrounding a strange phone call you receive and the report of the death of an old childhood friend that whisks you away to unravel the mysteries surrounding the countryside village she lived in. kinda silly at points but there's a few neat moments. I'm not one to be able to judge the quality of Japanese writing but I think this one did okay. my big problem is that most (but not ALL) of your choices are meaningless. I pulled a few savestates before choices, and both decisions lead the narrative down the same path. this makes the later choices that DO matter feel like a rug pull of what the game had been doing. fortunately I lucked into the first sudden major correct choice, but I wish they were overall more consistent with each other. the game is pretty short too (which I appreciate!)
language-wise, I can so clearly tell how far I've come with understanding Japanese as I was able to mostly breeze through the entire game without feeling like I was being held back by the language. there were only a few moments where some bit of dialogue tripped me up, though the occasional challenge and new word is always appreciated. not sure how much motivation will be for visual novels going forward given their general lack of gameplay (at which point, why not just pick up a book?) but I'm glad I got through a new experience.
6/10
Recommended? it's fine but feels pretty throwaway
JANUARY 17, 2024
based on the anime of the same name, this is a cute little game directed at kids as a bit of a first RPG. there's a selection of mostly separate stories that don't last too long. very basic stuff, but I had to drop this one for the mere reason that the two other members of your party CONSTANTLY get in your way! you can push against them for a little bit to get them to move, but this doesn't always work and I often found myself needlessly trapped because they decided to give the two other guys physical hitboxes. this makes movement far harder than it would ever need to be, in my case to the point where it ruins the game. I wasn't too sold on the characters or gameplay otherwise so I'm not too saddened by giving up on this one.
3/10
Recommended? no
based on the anime of the same name, this is a cute little game directed at kids as a bit of a first RPG. there's a selection of mostly separate stories that don't last too long. very basic stuff, but I had to drop this one for the mere reason that the two other members of your party CONSTANTLY get in your way! you can push against them for a little bit to get them to move, but this doesn't always work and I often found myself needlessly trapped because they decided to give the two other guys physical hitboxes. this makes movement far harder than it would ever need to be, in my case to the point where it ruins the game. I wasn't too sold on the characters or gameplay otherwise so I'm not too saddened by giving up on this one.
3/10
Recommended? no
JANUARY 19, 2024
was quite into this one at first as it's my first full-on RPG I've encountered on this console, and wanted to set a good example for myself moving forward of the determination I can have for them. unfortunately, tactical RPGs don't interest me in the slightest and this game is SLOW. I started watching a let's play of this game once I realized I would never make it through the game myself, and there were full 40+ minute episodes (cut down) purely of trying to get from one town to the other fighting in what's essentially a single battle. I ended up skimming around and lost a bit of the story but wasn't too interested in going back to follow along. the language wasn't what led to my confusion; I think there were extra story moments scattered throughout the travel-battles I had skipped over. hoping I'll be able to get myself together when I encounter another RPG.
no rating
was quite into this one at first as it's my first full-on RPG I've encountered on this console, and wanted to set a good example for myself moving forward of the determination I can have for them. unfortunately, tactical RPGs don't interest me in the slightest and this game is SLOW. I started watching a let's play of this game once I realized I would never make it through the game myself, and there were full 40+ minute episodes (cut down) purely of trying to get from one town to the other fighting in what's essentially a single battle. I ended up skimming around and lost a bit of the story but wasn't too interested in going back to follow along. the language wasn't what led to my confusion; I think there were extra story moments scattered throughout the travel-battles I had skipped over. hoping I'll be able to get myself together when I encounter another RPG.
no rating
JANUARY 20, 2024
very simple Alice in Wonderland-based point-and-click. I don't know how accurate this is to the original series but it seems to capture generally the same atmosphere with kid-friendly game-ification mixed in. the overall story and individual lines of dialogue are super easy to understand; I struggled a little more with figuring out what character to click on next as sometimes you need to click on Alice multiple times for her to exhaust her dialogue and be allowed to move on. not hard by any means though, the few minigames interspersed are quite simple as well. there's also a movie mode which presents the story in a non-interactable way if that's more your thing. the sprite work is cute though it's a bit too basic for me.
4/10
Recommended? you can definitely go the rest of your life without playing Japanese Alice in Wonderland on the SNES
very simple Alice in Wonderland-based point-and-click. I don't know how accurate this is to the original series but it seems to capture generally the same atmosphere with kid-friendly game-ification mixed in. the overall story and individual lines of dialogue are super easy to understand; I struggled a little more with figuring out what character to click on next as sometimes you need to click on Alice multiple times for her to exhaust her dialogue and be allowed to move on. not hard by any means though, the few minigames interspersed are quite simple as well. there's also a movie mode which presents the story in a non-interactable way if that's more your thing. the sprite work is cute though it's a bit too basic for me.
4/10
Recommended? you can definitely go the rest of your life without playing Japanese Alice in Wonderland on the SNES
JANUARY 21, 2024
pitifully boring beat-em-up. I often found myself dashing through open areas and button-mashing bosses with a Spiderman that felt gross to control. the sprite work is great and it has a lot of comic book feel but playing it was not fun. language was pretty easy to understand even without kanji but that’s about all the engagement I had with this one.
3/10
Recommended? not at all
pitifully boring beat-em-up. I often found myself dashing through open areas and button-mashing bosses with a Spiderman that felt gross to control. the sprite work is great and it has a lot of comic book feel but playing it was not fun. language was pretty easy to understand even without kanji but that’s about all the engagement I had with this one.
3/10
Recommended? not at all
JANUARY 21, 2024
silly little game based on the physical Battle Dome game (which I only know about through YTPMVs). bit like a competitive 4-way pinball game in which lots of balls fall down from the center and you have to flip them away; the person with the fewest balls in their compartment once all are out of play is the winner. neat to see this surface in a game though it feels incredibly luck-based. this might just be down to my inexperience with non-physical pinball, but I just felt like all I could do was push the balls away and hope none fell perfectly center to where I couldn't hit them with my flippers. very simple experience, both in gameplay and language, though I never managed to win a game. it's eh.
4/10
Recommended? no
silly little game based on the physical Battle Dome game (which I only know about through YTPMVs). bit like a competitive 4-way pinball game in which lots of balls fall down from the center and you have to flip them away; the person with the fewest balls in their compartment once all are out of play is the winner. neat to see this surface in a game though it feels incredibly luck-based. this might just be down to my inexperience with non-physical pinball, but I just felt like all I could do was push the balls away and hope none fell perfectly center to where I couldn't hit them with my flippers. very simple experience, both in gameplay and language, though I never managed to win a game. it's eh.
4/10
Recommended? no
JANUARY 25, 2024
jumping ahead a bit alphabetically as I wanted to jump straight into the pillar of JRPGs in attempt to get deeper into the genre.
pretty cute adventure! it's mind-blowing how much the initial game established and how much of this still holds up today. granted, the SFC remake that I played smoothed things out, it's still a fairly grind-heavy game, and I would absolutely not have figured out what to do without a guide. that being said, I still enjoyed most of my time here. I find it very interesting how low the attack numbers are here and how that makes damages like 15 feel massive early on; my conception is with 9999s so I love how simple this game was to approach. playing this makes me excited to get into other outings from this series and the genre as a whole (though not likely anything on the NES/FC as games from that console feel a bit too barebones and unfun for me).
7/10
Recommended? yes! even from someone who doesn't touch RPGs at all
jumping ahead a bit alphabetically as I wanted to jump straight into the pillar of JRPGs in attempt to get deeper into the genre.
pretty cute adventure! it's mind-blowing how much the initial game established and how much of this still holds up today. granted, the SFC remake that I played smoothed things out, it's still a fairly grind-heavy game, and I would absolutely not have figured out what to do without a guide. that being said, I still enjoyed most of my time here. I find it very interesting how low the attack numbers are here and how that makes damages like 15 feel massive early on; my conception is with 9999s so I love how simple this game was to approach. playing this makes me excited to get into other outings from this series and the genre as a whole (though not likely anything on the NES/FC as games from that console feel a bit too barebones and unfun for me).
7/10
Recommended? yes! even from someone who doesn't touch RPGs at all
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
wanted to give this game a few days to sink in because I was left with varied emotions upon completion.
first of all, I’m happy to complete another RPG as these games have been my bane both in Japanese and getting through them in general. I went through most of this game without a guide but had to use one a few times near the end as I just got completely stuck. one of the big things I felt with this game was how much stuff it threw at me that I ended up not interacting with at all, which is what eventually led to me getting stuck. for starters, I almost never used magic outside of healing and teleports, instead brute forcing my way with just physical attacks (which worked for the entire game). I also barely had any idea of the world map or being able to discern character and place names. this overabundance led to me not understanding what I needed to do to progress at certain areas. maybe it’s old game jank or more likely my own incompetence but it was a little disheartening getting so far by myself only to rely on a guide.
I’m really glad with how this game felt as somewhat of a newcomer to the RPG genre! everything felt straightforward and the monster recruitment system provided just enough of a unique twist to keep me excited yet not overwhelmed. grinding was also a non-issue! there were a few nights I felt demotivated from doing anything that required too much effort, and blasting my emulator up to 800% and going for a while proved a nice detour that still made some sort of progress. after a while the game as a whole started to feel slow and I ended up playing a lot of the later half at 200% or 300%. that sluggishness crept into the dungeons in particular which felt irksome to traverse especially with constant random encounters. I think I generally had more fun talking with everyone and fighting battles on my own terms rather than being forced into a secondary focus while trying to get through an area.
but upon completing this game, I just felt… nothing.
I kept up with the story throughout the entire game which always feels great to do when it’s in another language, but it never affected me like I had expected it to knowing this game’s huge legacy. the big emotional moments are there and I can absolutely see how other players could be affected by them, but they never got to me. leveling up feels great and being able to get to new areas and see new weapons and armor to equip is fun, but I somehow lacked a feeling of purpose. and when I saw the credits roll, I felt empty, like all of the time I spent with this game didn’t have any meaning and wasn’t a good use of my time. I definitely had moments where I was having fun, but overall things felt like a checklist. this “go here, then go there, repeat” framing is a big issue I have with RPGs and longer games in general. and if the little morsels of individual moments aren’t interesting on their own, I can’t see the meaning in their inclusion as they relate to the overall story, and feel like things I need to do because the game decides I need to in order for there to be any game.
I started watching a speedrun of the PS2 version which feels like a far more interesting version to me, so I’m not sure if the appeal I saw in SNES/SFC games isn’t as present in this one, and if these issues wouldn’t have affected me if I had played a new version. this game has felt like a larger journey in appreciating longer-form media than it has been in learning Japanese. I’m grateful for the experience I had with this game and am still interested in the Dragon Quest series and other longer games, but I’m left stumped on my overall impression in terms of how much I enjoyed it.
5/10
Recommended? I think so?
wanted to give this game a few days to sink in because I was left with varied emotions upon completion.
first of all, I’m happy to complete another RPG as these games have been my bane both in Japanese and getting through them in general. I went through most of this game without a guide but had to use one a few times near the end as I just got completely stuck. one of the big things I felt with this game was how much stuff it threw at me that I ended up not interacting with at all, which is what eventually led to me getting stuck. for starters, I almost never used magic outside of healing and teleports, instead brute forcing my way with just physical attacks (which worked for the entire game). I also barely had any idea of the world map or being able to discern character and place names. this overabundance led to me not understanding what I needed to do to progress at certain areas. maybe it’s old game jank or more likely my own incompetence but it was a little disheartening getting so far by myself only to rely on a guide.
I’m really glad with how this game felt as somewhat of a newcomer to the RPG genre! everything felt straightforward and the monster recruitment system provided just enough of a unique twist to keep me excited yet not overwhelmed. grinding was also a non-issue! there were a few nights I felt demotivated from doing anything that required too much effort, and blasting my emulator up to 800% and going for a while proved a nice detour that still made some sort of progress. after a while the game as a whole started to feel slow and I ended up playing a lot of the later half at 200% or 300%. that sluggishness crept into the dungeons in particular which felt irksome to traverse especially with constant random encounters. I think I generally had more fun talking with everyone and fighting battles on my own terms rather than being forced into a secondary focus while trying to get through an area.
but upon completing this game, I just felt… nothing.
I kept up with the story throughout the entire game which always feels great to do when it’s in another language, but it never affected me like I had expected it to knowing this game’s huge legacy. the big emotional moments are there and I can absolutely see how other players could be affected by them, but they never got to me. leveling up feels great and being able to get to new areas and see new weapons and armor to equip is fun, but I somehow lacked a feeling of purpose. and when I saw the credits roll, I felt empty, like all of the time I spent with this game didn’t have any meaning and wasn’t a good use of my time. I definitely had moments where I was having fun, but overall things felt like a checklist. this “go here, then go there, repeat” framing is a big issue I have with RPGs and longer games in general. and if the little morsels of individual moments aren’t interesting on their own, I can’t see the meaning in their inclusion as they relate to the overall story, and feel like things I need to do because the game decides I need to in order for there to be any game.
I started watching a speedrun of the PS2 version which feels like a far more interesting version to me, so I’m not sure if the appeal I saw in SNES/SFC games isn’t as present in this one, and if these issues wouldn’t have affected me if I had played a new version. this game has felt like a larger journey in appreciating longer-form media than it has been in learning Japanese. I’m grateful for the experience I had with this game and am still interested in the Dragon Quest series and other longer games, but I’m left stumped on my overall impression in terms of how much I enjoyed it.
5/10
Recommended? I think so?
FEBRUARY 24, 2024
played a little bit of the original on PS1 but wasn't totally sold. decided I'd watch through a let's play of the HD remaster (mainly because it was the next playlist of a Japanese Youtuber I like).
overall, neat ideas presented far more frustrating than they're worth.
most of the game feels like a series of unimportant traversal scenes where "oh no! you can only carry a few items!" becomes a complete hassle when paired with every area transition taking multiple seconds. some interesting systems in play here with previously-thought-to-be-safe areas having new enemies arise in them and the way some puzzles unfold, but the general gameplay loop here sucks the life out of me. ooooooohh how many more easy but irksome puzzles will you need to solve to escape the spooky mansion??
the fixed-camera shots are incredible at creating a cinematic atmosphere and I'd like to check out other games that attempt it, but the difficulty that can arise in attempting combat at the border of two angles hurts it from a gameplay standard. they can lead to some great scares and uneasiness of not knowing where an enemy is, but it becomes a smidge too intrusive at times I think.
the limited number of saves is also a huge turnoff for me. I think the game likely gives you reasonably enough for it to never truly be an issue, but for my 15-minute attention span and ctrl+s-mashing personality it would create a sense of anxiety past "heightens the game's atmosphere" into "actively works against my experience."
horror games generally aren't my thing, but this seems to especially not be my thing even past the genre.
language-wise, everything was generally easy to follow except for some of the more story-heavy moments. a few times where the native Japanese speaker I was watching had trouble deciphering certain kanji which makes me feel a bit relieved.
3/10
Recommended? no
played a little bit of the original on PS1 but wasn't totally sold. decided I'd watch through a let's play of the HD remaster (mainly because it was the next playlist of a Japanese Youtuber I like).
overall, neat ideas presented far more frustrating than they're worth.
most of the game feels like a series of unimportant traversal scenes where "oh no! you can only carry a few items!" becomes a complete hassle when paired with every area transition taking multiple seconds. some interesting systems in play here with previously-thought-to-be-safe areas having new enemies arise in them and the way some puzzles unfold, but the general gameplay loop here sucks the life out of me. ooooooohh how many more easy but irksome puzzles will you need to solve to escape the spooky mansion??
the fixed-camera shots are incredible at creating a cinematic atmosphere and I'd like to check out other games that attempt it, but the difficulty that can arise in attempting combat at the border of two angles hurts it from a gameplay standard. they can lead to some great scares and uneasiness of not knowing where an enemy is, but it becomes a smidge too intrusive at times I think.
the limited number of saves is also a huge turnoff for me. I think the game likely gives you reasonably enough for it to never truly be an issue, but for my 15-minute attention span and ctrl+s-mashing personality it would create a sense of anxiety past "heightens the game's atmosphere" into "actively works against my experience."
horror games generally aren't my thing, but this seems to especially not be my thing even past the genre.
language-wise, everything was generally easy to follow except for some of the more story-heavy moments. a few times where the native Japanese speaker I was watching had trouble deciphering certain kanji which makes me feel a bit relieved.
3/10
Recommended? no
MARCH 18, 2024
cute but doesn't scratch a particular itch I was hoping for. artstyle is a little off-putting to me but the larger issue is how one-dimensional all of the items feel. it's fun to chat with everyone and the picture-taking feels great, but it feels less rewarding when most of the items are single-use, ESPECIALLY the filters which I expected to be a recurring thing. didn't 100% this so I don't know if I just happened to miss most of the cool ones.
language-wise I felt pretty good. only a handful of times I couldn't figure out what someone wanted and only a few new words as well. I can definitely tell that when I get exhausted with the game or the language or both, it's easy for me to slip into a state of Not Caring where the dialogue passes over me without truly understanding what people are saying. something I'm working on getting better at in general.
7/10
Recommended? sure!
cute but doesn't scratch a particular itch I was hoping for. artstyle is a little off-putting to me but the larger issue is how one-dimensional all of the items feel. it's fun to chat with everyone and the picture-taking feels great, but it feels less rewarding when most of the items are single-use, ESPECIALLY the filters which I expected to be a recurring thing. didn't 100% this so I don't know if I just happened to miss most of the cool ones.
language-wise I felt pretty good. only a handful of times I couldn't figure out what someone wanted and only a few new words as well. I can definitely tell that when I get exhausted with the game or the language or both, it's easy for me to slip into a state of Not Caring where the dialogue passes over me without truly understanding what people are saying. something I'm working on getting better at in general.
7/10
Recommended? sure!
MARCH 19, 2024
I found the fox that had four screens of Discord open and I closed the game.
nice little game for language immersion, but an irritatingly many amount of times was the game not able to properly display a kanji, instead giving me the default tofu square. was an interesting challenge to attempt to figure out what the missing kanji should have been I suppose? no real issues with understanding the language, which I'm starting to notice is a common theme as I've gotten better. probably makes this list super boring when all of the entries are merely "no problems here," though I'm mostly keeping this up for myself anyways.
3/10
Recommended? I kinda hate this game but it's clearly something that a lot of people similar to myself would enjoy
I found the fox that had four screens of Discord open and I closed the game.
nice little game for language immersion, but an irritatingly many amount of times was the game not able to properly display a kanji, instead giving me the default tofu square. was an interesting challenge to attempt to figure out what the missing kanji should have been I suppose? no real issues with understanding the language, which I'm starting to notice is a common theme as I've gotten better. probably makes this list super boring when all of the entries are merely "no problems here," though I'm mostly keeping this up for myself anyways.
3/10
Recommended? I kinda hate this game but it's clearly something that a lot of people similar to myself would enjoy
MARCH 26, 2024
reminiscent of Boku no Natsuyasumi, a cute adventure of exploring your grandfather's countryside village and uncovering the magic that lies within.
less open as that game is and more mystical but still holds some of that same magic that Boku would touch upon later. I don't mean to compare these two games but it is striking how similar some of their aspects are. this one is more reminiscent of a point-and-click, having you select different options (walk, look at, speak) at the bottom. this is generally fine, but there's so much back-and-forth between different characters (namely when you first meet with Grandma Ine and have to go between three other people to try and help her remember what she's lost; lots of needless walking between multiple screens here) and too many times where you have to select "speak" multiple times in a row (which tripped me up at first because I assumed the conversation had ended and I needed to do something else).
it's a cute little story but not always smooth to get through.
one thing I've realized recently is that I don't feel like I'm LEARNING Japanese anymore. I'm able to immerse with most stuff in Japanese without much difficulty, but I'm not motivated enough to look up new words or difficult sentences when I run into something I don't quite understand, and often just pass by it. I think this coincides with a general fading interest in engaging with creative projects compared to where I was 2 years ago; I've come to accept that there's a lot of stuff that I'm "interested in" but have no desire to actually engage with. I'd like to at least keep up where I'm at with my understanding of Japanese so I don't regress, but we'll just have to see how things progress from here.
6/10
Recommended? no English patch to my knowledge but I think it might be worth a peek if one gets put together
reminiscent of Boku no Natsuyasumi, a cute adventure of exploring your grandfather's countryside village and uncovering the magic that lies within.
less open as that game is and more mystical but still holds some of that same magic that Boku would touch upon later. I don't mean to compare these two games but it is striking how similar some of their aspects are. this one is more reminiscent of a point-and-click, having you select different options (walk, look at, speak) at the bottom. this is generally fine, but there's so much back-and-forth between different characters (namely when you first meet with Grandma Ine and have to go between three other people to try and help her remember what she's lost; lots of needless walking between multiple screens here) and too many times where you have to select "speak" multiple times in a row (which tripped me up at first because I assumed the conversation had ended and I needed to do something else).
it's a cute little story but not always smooth to get through.
one thing I've realized recently is that I don't feel like I'm LEARNING Japanese anymore. I'm able to immerse with most stuff in Japanese without much difficulty, but I'm not motivated enough to look up new words or difficult sentences when I run into something I don't quite understand, and often just pass by it. I think this coincides with a general fading interest in engaging with creative projects compared to where I was 2 years ago; I've come to accept that there's a lot of stuff that I'm "interested in" but have no desire to actually engage with. I'd like to at least keep up where I'm at with my understanding of Japanese so I don't regress, but we'll just have to see how things progress from here.
6/10
Recommended? no English patch to my knowledge but I think it might be worth a peek if one gets put together
MARCH 31, 2024
what a ride.
I'm somewhat surprised I was able to make it through this one. I've lost interest in a lot of games because they feel too much like checklists; go to this place, talk to this person, go to this place, defeat this guy, ad nauseam. yet this is a game purely about going from point A to point B and I greatly enjoyed it. I just really like the idea of making deliveries and I almost wish this game exclusively focused on that aspect instead of also introducing the additional story elements with The Beach and such. the most fun I had while playing was merely roaming the world and making simple deliveries rather than trying to defeat BTs. (speaking of which, I feel like the eventual ability to sever their connection makes them far less interesting; would have loved it if they were an impassable foe as I had far more fun playing defense with them)
likely due to me playing on an easier difficulty and with other porters' contributions, but I hardly ever used any of the additional craftables. I almost wish the game focused on a key set of simple elements rather than utilizing a lot of different items that slowly get drip-fed into the gameplay, but I'm sure players more skilled than I could make great use of them. I just really like games about solid movement and I think this could have focused more on that.
I feel like I have more to say about the game but nothing else comes to mind immediately. deliveries are fun! I did basically none of the non-mandatory ones but I could see myself coming back to them at some point.
this game marks a big turning point for me where I feel like I don't have any other games I particularly want to check out "on my list." I definitely have other games and such I want to check out, though I feel like I can take my time better with them. when something peaks my interest, I can check it out at my own rate. I've also made some realizations about how I want to approach creative projects in Japanese moving forward. I played through most of this game in Japanese and was able to generally understand a good fair amount of what was going on, though again I didn't feel like I was "learning" Japanese here. I'd like to continue bettering my language abilities, but I don't want to let it get too much in the way of enjoying things. I started playing this game in English for the last few chapters and that feels like it would have been the "better" move as it feels like it was more made to be in English (namely with the lip movements aligning with the English dialogue). I will keep up immersion but only for things that were made to be in Japanese, e.g. Japanese Youtube videos and Japan-exclusive/"made-for-Japan" games. I'd also like to be more conscious about actually looking up words I don't know and such when they arise, which I'm hoping will come naturally as I can hopefully start to better take my time with things.
8/10
Recommended? definitely
what a ride.
I'm somewhat surprised I was able to make it through this one. I've lost interest in a lot of games because they feel too much like checklists; go to this place, talk to this person, go to this place, defeat this guy, ad nauseam. yet this is a game purely about going from point A to point B and I greatly enjoyed it. I just really like the idea of making deliveries and I almost wish this game exclusively focused on that aspect instead of also introducing the additional story elements with The Beach and such. the most fun I had while playing was merely roaming the world and making simple deliveries rather than trying to defeat BTs. (speaking of which, I feel like the eventual ability to sever their connection makes them far less interesting; would have loved it if they were an impassable foe as I had far more fun playing defense with them)
likely due to me playing on an easier difficulty and with other porters' contributions, but I hardly ever used any of the additional craftables. I almost wish the game focused on a key set of simple elements rather than utilizing a lot of different items that slowly get drip-fed into the gameplay, but I'm sure players more skilled than I could make great use of them. I just really like games about solid movement and I think this could have focused more on that.
I feel like I have more to say about the game but nothing else comes to mind immediately. deliveries are fun! I did basically none of the non-mandatory ones but I could see myself coming back to them at some point.
this game marks a big turning point for me where I feel like I don't have any other games I particularly want to check out "on my list." I definitely have other games and such I want to check out, though I feel like I can take my time better with them. when something peaks my interest, I can check it out at my own rate. I've also made some realizations about how I want to approach creative projects in Japanese moving forward. I played through most of this game in Japanese and was able to generally understand a good fair amount of what was going on, though again I didn't feel like I was "learning" Japanese here. I'd like to continue bettering my language abilities, but I don't want to let it get too much in the way of enjoying things. I started playing this game in English for the last few chapters and that feels like it would have been the "better" move as it feels like it was more made to be in English (namely with the lip movements aligning with the English dialogue). I will keep up immersion but only for things that were made to be in Japanese, e.g. Japanese Youtube videos and Japan-exclusive/"made-for-Japan" games. I'd also like to be more conscious about actually looking up words I don't know and such when they arise, which I'm hoping will come naturally as I can hopefully start to better take my time with things.
8/10
Recommended? definitely
7 Comments
I don't even care about learning the language, I really like the concept!
This comment was deleted
Thank you friend, you are a friend!
I wanted to do that, but when I tried it with A Link to the Past I hit the "nope barrier" head first. Maybe I'll try again after studying the basics for a bit more...
If you don't mind my asking, you say that your knowledge of Japanese when playing BokuNatsu was based on a few months of learning; roughly how much Japanese would you say that is (N5? N4?) Did you play with a means of translation at the ready or just, for lack of a better term, fumble through it? And for these games in general, do you take active notes while playing? Put new terms in a flashcard deck? I would love to know more about your method for learning and playing here.
when I first played bokunatsu, I knew all hiragana and katakana, though <20 basic words. never really fumbled through the game, but I knew I was missing out on a lot by not understanding any of the dialogue.
as for current gaming, I translate out most all of the words I don't know, as well as any sentence structures/grammar points that especially trip me up or I need reminding on. I use the core 2k/6k anki deck for general study, and if one of these words I don't know is in that deck, I'll always make note of it to incorporate in future reviews. if it's not in that deck, I'll make a personal judgement on if I think the word is important enough to learn (big difference between a word I could see being used in daily life vs. a hyper-specialized technological term, for example). if it feels valuable to me, I make a card for it and it gets put into my general daily review.
I feel like I'm at a point where I can understand ~80% of the text in games, so my process is essentially making note of the other 20% to learn later, alongside cementing the knowledge I have of that 80%. my main goal with games in particular is gathering more words to learn plus general immersion practice; I use various youtube channels for more "formal" grammar lessons, though gaming has helped me better understand certain grammar points as well.
as for current gaming, I translate out most all of the words I don't know, as well as any sentence structures/grammar points that especially trip me up or I need reminding on. I use the core 2k/6k anki deck for general study, and if one of these words I don't know is in that deck, I'll always make note of it to incorporate in future reviews. if it's not in that deck, I'll make a personal judgement on if I think the word is important enough to learn (big difference between a word I could see being used in daily life vs. a hyper-specialized technological term, for example). if it feels valuable to me, I make a card for it and it gets put into my general daily review.
I feel like I'm at a point where I can understand ~80% of the text in games, so my process is essentially making note of the other 20% to learn later, alongside cementing the knowledge I have of that 80%. my main goal with games in particular is gathering more words to learn plus general immersion practice; I use various youtube channels for more "formal" grammar lessons, though gaming has helped me better understand certain grammar points as well.
Reddish
1 year ago