Gravity rush. Sony's dirty side flower that still somewhat shines in the sea of samey high budget games.

I finished this game's remastered version back at 2017. Now returned again but on vita for replay. While this game have mountains of problems with aiming a big ambition with a budget of 5 water bottle, it's still managed to get a replay from me. I say that because this is an extremely rare situation. Bc I really rarely replay games. So that means game does something right.

In the surface gravity rush is not that different. It's an another superhero action game where you aim at stuff and attack. Not just that it's a repetitive one at that and feels like it does have bunch of ps2 clunkiness added to it. Be it a wonky camera that goes bonkers at corners, be it a loose lock on that misses, be it clunky mission variety like stealth, platforming, puzzle for the sake of variety etc.

Just saying these words alone is enough to convince people to run away right? Then what holds me in this game even with this big glaring clunky faults in this puny small budget game? It's the world and the main character that is.

Think about a world where it's core is a big tree. Think about a world where cities built on flying islands. Think about a world where every day big gravity tornados happen. Think about a world where being up or down changes the time's flow. And think about a world where you can just go up to creator god anytime and say "what's up?"

AND THINK ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER WHERE SHE IS THE SWEETEST ANGEL THER... Sorry force of habit.

I have to say this game and also including the team ico games, gave me the what the heck is going on? I want to solve this world!!! Feeling back in these ps4 generation somehow, not just that I still remember how excited I was for the future after seeing this game's creativity (unfortunately piece of shit sony decided to close japan studio and killed all of the creativity and my hopes with it but that's not our subject right now).

Not just that, this game might be the most interesting when it comes to using verticality. Even comparing to it's sequel, this is the only game I had ever played where you go so much down that you feel like you are breaking the boundaries.

Unfortunately right after that, for some reason game rushes things down and end very prematurely with a super rushed villain but still that doesn't let me from loving this game.

After all this is the only game franchise where I can play as a goofy gravity powered girl with it's half visible black cat in a world filled with flying cities and lots of weirdos.

Also I recommend the remastered version, vita's framerate sucks at the later levels. Also DON'T even think about playing this game if you have motion sickness. Lastly I recommend this hidden moves guide to make your journey more easier: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/620274-gravity-rush/62962354
(Also another my addition is: you can hold circle button for gravity hold move to be more effective)

Dark souls. A game with Full of soul but with a little bit of daring hollowness inside it

In my journey to play souls titles, I played dark souls 3 first but didn't finish, then played bloodborne, then demons souls and now this. Dark souls.

Just like demon's souls, I find this game still worth experiencing. It doesn't do everything great unfortunately but one thing it does great, it really does GREAT.

You see, souls titles in it's core is just a cliche fantasy game with lots of monsters to fight something like castlevania, but what makes it carry to next point, the castlevania symphony of the night if you will... The World that is.

There are tons of 2d metroidvania's in the gaming, but 3d ones are hecking rare. But this game, with it's connected world, actually managed to give me that feeling again. The cohesive world that expands and connects with every step of the way. Especially it's first half with you somehow be able to go wherever you want from the world and not just that come back to it again and again and again... It's so good that in fact that, it's gets twice more disappointing the moment it stops doing that.

Yeah I am talking about the last 1/3 of the game unfortunately.

Before the whole franchise became just a boss tier list titles, it cared about it's world before the most and this game is the result of that idea. But like I said there are soooo many shortcomings as well.

First 1/3 of the game is about ringing the bells but it's so open that you can go wherever you wanted and it's the best part of it and I can easily give 5/5 for it. For example myself went to new londo ruins first, get f####, return to hub, find the right way, ring the first bell, don't know where to go next, go down and find out catacombs, go there and arrive tomb of the giants, realize there is no shortcuts back to hub, get stuck, get f####, get raped, finally manage to return back to hub with barely be able to breath, look up a guide, learn the right way, go to more boring version of swamp, ring the second bell

Second 1/3 is about getting the lord vessel and there are small bumps that takes it down to 4/5 but still enjoyable, go to the boring ass forest, barely stay alive from the boss and get the ring, go to awesome fortress and get killed to traps bazillion amounts of times, finally go to anor londo, then hidden painting and then back to anor londo and... Other than the excellent boss fights, enemy reusage starts to show itself, anyway game is still great and we get the lord vessel.

Then last 1/3 happens and game becomes a mess. You need to get to 4 zones with gimmicks, be it lava, curse, darkness etc. While this in itself not a bad thing, where it gets ridiculous is there is almost no shortcut or almost no connectedness between them. Game gets linear as it gets and boss runs gets longer as it gets, also enemy variety gets lower as it gets.


I am gonna be honest even tho late bosses are mostly easy, variety and boss runs to them really soured me from the experience and resulted me almost leaving the game. I mean I finished it but for what cost?

You see, I always find souls titles endgame areas to be quite lacking and dark souls is no exception. But unfortunately dark souls is much much worse for it. Because it breaks it's consistency of level design. And the world feels more the worse because of it

At least dlc is cool tho?... I finished the dlc as well(but I find out I miss kalameet dragon boss... Dang it) and it was cool.

Unfortunately it reuses the bland forest area in the first zone, but the moment you finish that rest is great. It's especially good when it comes to level design with you somehow find yourself at the bonfire every single time with shortcuts just like in the main game. But one thing almost ruined everything for me and that is, it's last boss Manus.

You see, I made a full on light equipped fast rolling stamina heavy character, say glass cannon dps if you will. But Manus is like a dark souls 3 boss(also it's the first one that with the trend that unending combos). He is fast, super aggressive and just Does. Not. Stop.

It's the first time in the entire game I felt hopeless. I managed to beat him after god know how many tries but felt nothing but fatigue(also my new job internship stress adds to it tenfold). Unfortunately because of it I am mixed when it comes to the dlc but at least it's still worth it just for the high quality areas you traverse

So yeah this was dark souls. Quite the polarizing game for me with every step gets best to worse. It's a game where I can't find it's awesome connected world anywhere else, but never had that much frustrating moments in any game. So because of that I give to base game 3 stars, but with the dlc it goes up to 4 for me

So what can I say... one can only wish a better second half when it comes to consistency because even it's older cousin demon's souls shows it's value more and more to me.

A mario game that tries to reconstruct what is a mario game for better or worse

It's interesting to see that a sequel change the rules already what it's groundbreaking previous ancestor established.

Surface wise it's actually not so different. There is an hub world. There are levels to jump into and stars... No... Sunshines to collect to unlock next part of to adventure. But everything changes when you look at it more deeply.

Before explaining these changed mechanics and rules it's hard not to touch the subject that is this game's reputation. Because the things it changes make this game for some people one of the worst mario experiences has to offer, but for some it brings mario even further.

Which is right? In this case it's not so white and black. That's because both of them are right in their own way.

So, with playing this game which side of the discussion you choose, actually can deduct what is the most important things in a game for you. Or to be exact. What is the meaning of a GOOD game for you rather than everybody else. Also this discussion is a proof that why there will never be a perfect game for everybody. Everybody's values for a PERFECT game is different after all.

Anyway without broading the subject on hand too much, let's return to mario sunshine. What do I think? Where do I stand on this discussion?

I think it's my favorite mario game and think it's the one that resonates with me the most.

But there is a reason it's 4 stars. Not 5. Because this mario game... it's the most flawed one.

Now let's remember what mario 64 established beforehand.
-You go into other levels from the hub world with jumping into paintings in the castle
-Every level have their own atmosphere, own enemies and own stars to collect and even after selecting the objective from the level, let's you collect another star rather than your objective one if there are in the level
-Power ups works as a rule changers like changing mario's weight/invisibility/air time etc. And they are hidden in the levels and they are timed and mostly used for hard or impossible to get without the necessary power type of stars
-You are only required to get some number of stars to finish the game so most of the game is optional content.
-Other than some bullshit levels, most of the game's challenge is platforming and consistently goes up, also world stays consistent and even when levels teleport you somewhere else, it's somewhere with the similar atmosphere

But mario sunshine changes them into
-You go into levels from hub world with not jumping into paintings but using something in the overworld that carries you into the level. Be it a pipe, a mirror, a cannon, a ship etc. Not just that, most of the levels visible from the outset rather than be a painting or an image.
-Every level have a island/tropical atmosphere, have their own enemies and own stars to collect, but every selectable objective have only one star that can be obtained(aside from the 100 coin stars)
-Power ups not timed, also they work as a modifiers of sort that changes how the mario's water pumpers work. They are also used for sunshines that is hard or impossible to get without the necessary power type
-You are required to finish every level's 7 objectives no matter what, rest is optional.
-Most of the game's challenge is a gimmick related to that level's tropical concept be it diving deep in the water, be it cleaning hidden interactables, be it riding boats etc. Also difficulty stays consistent and stays similar throughout in the adventure until levels teleport you into a secret courses with completely different and a vague atmosphere and difficulty that is with focusing into pure platforming with taking your water pump away.

You see, with the somewhat detailed description I gave to you is enough to make you understand what makes mario sunshine different I assume.

It's acts more like an adventure game rather than focusing on being a platformer with incorporating level gimmicks more, also it's commitment to it's tropical atmosphere makes the world more immersive, in fact it goes even one step more and makes the obstacles a part of the world rather than making them a vague flying platforms or objects unlike every mario game did it before. Mario 64 or other mario games did this before yes but never to this degree.

Be it, being able to see other levels from the distance, or be it interacting with the levels gimmicks itself or be it having enemies that completely different looking than what mario games uses often or be it even going into the levels with using the hub world's own tools that uses that level's concept like a cannon for a level filled with cannon enemies, using a pipe for a cleaning level, cave entrance for a volcano level etc. It feels like an tropical journey throughout and that what I love about it.

But when it comes to platforming it's rarely fully used. Also It's not a good collectathon because number of level completion is required rather than the number of collectibles for main progression. Also it's sudden change of difficulty and atmosphere at the secret courses feels like a slap in the face also a big indication that is the game's unfinishedness with forcing player to go for them. Also being forced for those secret courses with breaking it's consistency is the reason why this game can't get a 5/5 stars for me.

But you see, like I said it's immersiveness, it's surprises and focus on world is enough to make it a superior game for me. I didn't even went into the movement that is joy to experience and super enjoyable to use with it's instantaneous input response even with it's questionable physics.

So even with it's shortcomings that's why it's my favorite in the franchise. It's because it's dedicated to one thing. Being a tropical vacation adventure and does that with pushing it's ideas to the max.

Metroid 2, But Buffed to the Max.

That's where things starting to get Interesting.

I haven't played the original one nor the 3ds one, so It's hard for me to judge fairly of this game on it's own. But if I passed that and look at it with my own feelings I would say you will find a valuable journey here that still worth experiencing.

If I summarize shortly of this game's background story of it is... It's a fan remake of metroid 2 and just like Metroid Zero Mission, aims to remake the game with super and fusion's powers included inside.

And it does this better than Zero Mission ten fold.... Mostly.

Before getting into why of that, I want to explain why I choose to play this one rather than og or the 3ds one. That's because it looked the most captivating to me compared to the others. I have a thing for beatiful pixel art and this game just gives you more and more setpieces.

I can't give my general thoughts at other remake or the og but I can say this, sometimes doing a big game on the underpowered and black and white console with ending up looking incomprehensible(at least to me) or having the same game on a more powered but a bland cliche 3d art direction(for me) was enough to getting put off playing it and choose to go on the 3rd party different fan solution. Tbh I had a nice experience so I don't have any sadness choosing this route. But I wouldn't be against to anyone prefering other routes.

Back to the topic on hand, why I said I had more fun time than Zero Mission? That's because this game uses it's power ups and tools to the Max. You have to:
Be careful, Be agile, Be observant.

Because your journey is even more dangerous even more complicated than ever before, be it strong bosses (that can kill you in 5 seconds), be it traps, be it special moments deep in the metroid areas/zones.

While making the adventure more dangerous was enough to make it enjoyable, this game also have one thing more. Setpiece moments that intertwined with the zones itself to pull you into it's atmosphere more.

Without getting into details, imagine that there is a zone that you need to use power cells to start ancient powered special robots, imagine that there is a zone with a nuke ready to explode in it or even a place that your powers does not work or even more and more.

While this setpieces itself isn't something super unique, what makes them great is making the metroid zones like earth, ice, fire feel even more unique and manages to give you their atmosphere to you ten fold with it and greatly pull you into it's atmosphere.

So, because of that I had lots of fun with the journey, It was enough to make awesome. It really felt like a "Adventure". But unfortunately I had some gripes with the game, I assume most of the faults I will say here comes with the premise of original but I find them a little bit dissappointing nonetheless.

This game's premise is, obliterating Metroids. ALL OF THEM. While it's premise does not look bad, there is one caveat to this. You are required to kill all of Metroids in an area to be able to move forward because killing Metroids somehow destroy the lava that stops you from going to the next area. Because of this, everytime you find the necessary power up to move forward feels a bit less satisfactory when you know in the end of the day, you have to find Metroids to kill and "then" you can move on. Also killing all those Metroids however different variations there are, still becomes kinda monotonous and boring at the end.

Also this gatekeeping kinda results with game to end up a bit linear and less Metroidvania. It's not as bad as the situation of the Fusion but it still kinda is. You can choose to tackle which order of Metroid to get of course, but still... Every area/zone isn't, with getting seperated with the main cave road with lava seperating it from your area. So only way to go forward is, you descend to next area kill metroids, go to the main cave and descend again to the next area...

Also when I say descend, you really "descend". So, going back to previous zone requires you to use same way to "ascend". There is no shorcuts to go between areas like Super or even the original one. It's not required for main game and you can negate this a little bit with a teleport room you find in the end of the game but I got full completion in this game so I can say this, it's really not fun when you want to "complete" with going all the way to back.

But while I didn't find it a great metroidvania, I find it a great Adventure so I still left with lots of enjoyment. Also it's good balance of power and difficulty made it more rememberable as a result. Maybe it's not that great when it comes to exploration as much as Super. But when it comes to Surprise, That's what you will find tons of here with lots of engaging moments.

Welcome to next generation. Final Fantasy 7.

It's a game where one of the best journeys you can get and still is. A goofy one. A serious one. A sad one. A happy one.

A one big adventure that is.

I was expecting a overrated but fun game. But this game... This game managed to bring me the old lighthearted feelings back to me. I liked 4,5 and... first half of 6 but HOLY MOLY. Ff7 the Best one when it comes to the Journey yet for me.

To the point I even went as far as to get gold chocobo and take down Emerald weapon I was that committed to it (If you know you know).

When it comes to story, I wasn't expecting to get shocked because the spoilers everyone knows about. You know it. I know it. (Do not worry I am not gonna go into detail even if you don't know it)

But I was wrong. It shocked me it emotionally gripped me and kept me smiling with every conversation.

Story wise it's a bit messy to understand. But in it's core it's about two broken people. A person that wants revenge from the world and an another person that wants to take revenge from him. Sephiroth and Cloud. And just like that, both of them is the main characters of the story. Oh also, there is an another empire(it's called mega corp this time) to fight of course

But just like ff6, Empire are the Reason. Sephiroth is the Cause. And Cloud is the Solution.

And I loved that it's sticks to this to the end.

And side characters wise, they were fun. Are they the best side characters tho...? It's hard to say. There is a lot of good ones, Barret is awesome with a story of how a man can get angry to the point becoming a terrorist, Tifa and Aerith is awesome with their stories of coping with loss in their own way and seeing the romance blooming is just heartwarming, Cid is awesome with the story of a man can't let go of his past and turn into a rude as##ole but that's because how much he cares people around him even tho he sucks at showing it. There is also Turks, an opposite agent group that tries to takes us down but with every clash we slowly come to a respectable rivalry with them. There is Rufus, Big part of the Empire, even tho he is not much shown in the story, his sticking to his ambitions somehow manages to make him admirable(also I kinda wanted to see him more because of that even if he is a side character). There is also Cait Sith, he doesn't have a story arc like others but just for his clash with Barret and the argument of what is terrorism or not kinda made him good in my eyes.

There is also others... Vincent. Edgy word personified just like Shadow from ff6. Also Yuffie, same empty as Gau from ff6 but maybe with a little more personality. Shinra council members... Goofy but forgettable villains they are. Also Professor Hojo... The most despicable scientist there is... And couple more I forgot.

But when it comes to moments... This game really shines. Midgar plate event... The forgotten city... And the "Reunion". It's... Single-handedly enough to make this game better than all of my previous experiences. That's all I can say.

Unfortunately it's not perfect.

Because this game does not have a epilogue.

Why it's a flaw you ask? Because for me. The epilogue, the celebration, the aftermath is one of the most important things in a story and this game does not do that unlike every ff game I had played. It ends ambiguous. I can see why people like it but for me every ff's epilogue parts are best ways to cap a story down. But I guess it's never meant to be... ಠ⁠︵⁠ಠ

Gameplay wise it's the game I wanted ff4 to be. Classes but with customizable skills/materias. It's actually ff6's Relic system but expanded exponentially. You don't learn a strong magic and called it a day like ff6. You customize and select whatever skills you need. But you can't go overboard like ff6 because you are limited of what you can select. Then the real part kicks in. You strategize and prepare beforehand. Make some people healers, some of them physical attackers, some of them supporters, some of them magicians etc. I really enjoyed this part of it.

But for some reason class specific skills turned to something called "limit breaks" that is one shot hard hitting last defence kinda skills. While I understand that they want to make it not spammable skills like ff6 did(ehm sabin super combo attack ehm), it was kinda disappointing for me because they take too long to kick in and when they don't, character differences gets lost. I don't know why they did it tbh for example a dragoon joined on our party. But not being able to "jump" command freely kinda disappointed me.

It looks like ff5 gameplay is still is superior to all.

But one super duper nice thing is other team members still can level up with getting 1/2 exp from the main party unlike ff6, also at least there is no forced create teams part(I mean there is but it's not forced) like ff6 bc Fu#kin piece of sh#t grinding it gave me for the last dungeon still in my nightmares.

Also this game requires no grinding as long as you have the necessary skill/materia. You can rush the story without fighting once in the overworld. Heck yeah. Tho, most of the bosses have so little health, I kinda wish more balanced bosses so I didn't kill them in 3 minutes including the finale boss.

Also this game have minigames. How many you ask? A modern yakuza amount I would say and I am not frickin kidding. Be it timing minigames to even submarine or motor riding minigame in it to play. It's damn insane that HOW MANY minigames in this game that somehow works in the little puny ps1. It's insane.

Oh also using fmv videos on the background while characters on the screen running around is one of the greatest ideas ever.

Anyway that's all for the gameplay. I liked it but I would prefer highly nerfed but openly usable class skills rather than limit breaks next time. But really enjoyed the customizable skill/materia system so it's more on the plus side.

So yeah that's Final Fantasy 7. A wonderful game that if you still have your child in you, you will still enjoy it full percent. Think it like the goofy but heartful adventure you watched countless times in cartoons but still wish to see it again and again. This is what final fantasy about after all. A story of a friendship that borns from an adventure.

And no I don't recommend starting from remake. I haven't played it but what I heard is story is not the same.

The most vanilla "Metroidvania experience".

Started with this game to metroid franchise and all I can say that this game is... exists. It's not a full hate or love situation. It's the kind that after you played it kinda goes away (except it's epilogue part that I am going explain at the end) kinda similar to my zelda ocarina of time experience.

So this game is the Remake of Metroid 1 From Nes with the abilities that included from Metroid fusion with some little tweaks from what I understand. Not just that it does have new expanded areas and new bosses. It's a great look at first glance.

But problem is this is the remake of Metroid 1. What I mean is new additions really doesn't change your experience entirely most of the time. For example fusion's added powers rarely used for main progression, they are mostly for side collectibles (that demands pixel perfect timing from you for some reason? And that makes me unable to fully complete this game).

Even the added bosses feels... inconsequential. The bosses are like... here I am I guess? Then you obliterate them in seconds because they really are not balanced for your new power ups for some reason.

Not just that map feels a bit uninspired. Here is your lava zone, grass zone, sand zone etc. I barely remember any of them except the epilogue and that's not a good sign in my opinion.

Also it's quite linear. Not as much as the fusion but it's still is with the chozo statues marking your map so you can progress (I know you can get past them with some glitches but I am talking about the vanilla experience). I guess that's because they do this to make sure people on the right path because sometimes that marked locations can be completely opposite part of the map that you can't have any idea to check. But they could make it more organic rather than this... easy way out.

After beating the mother brain with almost sleep walking throughout in the whole game suddenly a new part kicks in that is exclusive to this game. The "epilogue".

It's a quite a linear part that challenges you with "stealth" after taking all of your powers. But unlike the main game it actually does something different and it's certain that all of the development went to this part because there is actually things to get excited about and getting actually challenged.

Just for this epilogue part reason I don't give this game 2 stars with the comment that you can skip this one, I mean you can still skip it if you want with looking up the epilogue but it's your decision. Anyway even with the epilogue I can't say I had a fully good time as a whole and for that reason I ended up with this thoughts.

But I can say this.. next remake that I had played created by a fan includes much more interesting things than this game. That's all I can say.

And this is where the samurai shines the most.

So, after the disappointing main story that is the main game, is the dlc of it worth it?

Yes. %100 percent yes.

And actually right now watching the credits of my 3rd ending playthrough and writing this with a mostly satisfied feeling.

It's focused, not bloated, even the forgettable enemy camp clearing missions feels more interesting. Just like hearts of stone dlc from Witcher 3 that I find better than the main game.

Just like how I find more fulfilling this dlc's main story than the main story of the base game.

"Welcome to night city's own Texas where wild west never ended"

The Dogtown.

Gameplay wise it's not a big upgrade, you get more weapon variations and 9 more skills to choose but I don't think it needed that anyway, like I said in my base game review, game's combat was already varied enough anyway other than it's messy enemy ai problems that can't be easily fixed without redoing a lot so I can say it's a nice bonus at least.

But story is where the game shines. It's about the president's agents that is the hacker Songbird and her officer Reed and the big conspiracy going on that includes the president and her agents.

Where we are in this equation you ask? Of course it's the reward that interests us. "The promise of getting saved". But it's not simple of course because this is a big conspiracy and who you are gonna side with and who is gonna be your enemy is what changes everything.

And it's a fulfilling story with 2 alternate routes with also 2 more alternate endings in the inside of it. They are not just who you side actually, it changes a lot with different main mission concepts, boss fights and unlocked more story pieces for each characters past(and I recommend you to experience both of them for this reason) just like witcher 3's dlc choices in that regard and not just that, it can even can unlock a new ending to the base game depending on which ending you got.

It's not perfect tho and compared to the Hearts of stone dlc of witcher 3 one thing felt weird to me, My criticism is other than the main leads Songbird and the Reed, everybody else feels really underused like the president or the dogtown's commander Kurt or the agent Alex. I kinda expected missions or special side missions that expands on them but there is not much about them unfortunately.

And my nitpicks are, map layout kinda sucks to ride around and new car stealing randomized events are not that fun. But that's it.

if you are planning to play cyberpunk I certainly recommend this dlc because surely it will satisfy you ten times more with it's focus. It's sure as heck satisfied me to the point my cyberpunk playthrough didn't felt like a waste to me. So that's a big thing for me.

I hope their next project would be this focused but I am not hopeful about that. I hope I would be proven wrong tho.

You see samurai. One day you will be the at the top of this Night City.

But today is not the day.

When this game was first revealed, like everyone I was hyped, not as much as everyone else but still I had a desire to see the game. But when they announce the delays and especially the last delay after it gone gold made me hesitant. Because that meant "gold" wasn't the finished version.

And I was right. It was a mess of a game and I stayed away from it for a long time.

Then why did I play it? To be honest I don't know why I played this game even tho I am not big fan of Witcher 3. I guess I believed the lie of 2.0 fixes everything to the point it makes it a pure masterpiece.

At least I had a little bit more fun than witcher 3 so that's what it's counts right? Fun?

Anyway if you want me to go delve into deeper you can read my Witcher 3 review. It's gonna be essentially the same review anyways.

Overbloated world with copy paste enemy camps that kills the entire exploration curiosity? Check.

Main story is not much other than it's beginning and ending? Check.

Weak villains that isn't even remotely interesting? Check.

"Rpg choices" that only big change you can do is the last 20 minutes? Check.

A side mission collection with fun characters that sometimes can better than main story? Check.

I said I had a little bit more fun than witcher 3 because unlike Witcher 3, this game actually have rpg classes to choose be it melee, be it hacker, be it gunkata etc. And being able to mix and match them actually made me enjoy this game a bit longer.

But of course even that thing comes to an end when I realized how idiot the ai of this game and just taking a silent sniper or sticking a corner with shotgun enough to conquer an entire area that deletes the entire challenge of this game even in HARD mod.

Not just that this game's main story is a giant mess. It's filled with hundreds of side quest like character stories that nothing to do with this game and If you remove the forced side quests from this game what do you left with? 5 hours? 6? Really? And in that time only thing you engage properly is just an angry samurai looking man called takemura and his revenge missions for Arasaka? That's it? That's the story? What the hell that's even more disappointing then badly paced witcher 3...

So yeah that's witche... Sorry Cyberpunk 2077. A game where priorities lie on being everything and also nothing. There is no focusing on one thing and expanding on it to push it's limits.

Look I am gonna admit one thing and it does one thing good and that is it's sidequests and the reason that makes this game better than most of the ubisoft junk. For example sinner side quest that comes to my mind first and showed to us the grim reality of how religious people get used by the media and I can say I got invested more than the main story and that is one example.

But you see, I am a main story person and always is. So I am not happy with this... Badly paced... Disappointing... Feeling both too damn short and too long... Main story.

You will probably say what expectations did you had with the story tho? Witcher 3 was like this too isn't it? And I will say they managed to satisfy me with their main story actually before. With the Witcher 2. But it wasn't an open world game so maybe that's why.

Anyway I am mixed against this game with it's clashing highs and lows but if you do love it, I can do nothing but respect.

But when it comes to people that finds this game perfect I just don't understand. You are either blind when it comes to glitches (my game crashed 2 times and one time a quest completion glitch resulted forcing me to return to an older save just like witcher 3, I don't even want to talk about countless of stutters or visual or combat glitches) even in the later 2.12 update. Or you are just a weird hardcore cd project fan that believes everything they will do is equals gold.

What can I say then nothing I guess. But even with they somehow "redeeming" themselves on most of the people's eyes, you can be sure that their next game also gonna have a rocky launch and more so with them using unreal engine and it's " Shader Compilation issues ™ " that plagues every game it's made with. You can count on that.

I didn't know breakout games could be complex?

Anyway it's from my childhood and I didn't replay it so I am logging it from my memory. This game's ui and robotic sfx reminds me ps2's and whenever I did an oopsie or a lightning exploded on the last block, it's harsh sound effect almost made me piss myself. But also it does have so many damn power ups and how the floor gets lower everytime you clear it's surface of it always managed to captivate me for some reason. Still a great option if you just want to energize yourself with a quick and nice 5 min session

Note: Date has nothing to do with this review.

Kill the crime. For the life. Save the life.

Welcome to the Ultimate City where no crime is accepted and rules are the gods!... 25TH WARD.

The city that born from the ashes of 24th and now here to be perfected where 24th couldn't with creating it's own gods, it's own rules, it's own factions and it's own Kamui.

And this time we have not just two but three stories to tell it's theme to us, to the player. Matchmaker, Placebo and Correctness.

And In my opinion game does a worse job when it's comes to giving us it's theme on our face then it's predecessor the silver case.

Or maybe it's not about it's "themes"? Maybe that's why it's filled with setpiece moments? Or not? I don't know anymore. Btw I like the game, but I connected to it less than silver case and wanted to give it's reason with it at first.

Now let's go and look at in much more detail

Correctness. Equals the "question" part from the original silver case. There are 5 main cases just like the original(also+3 cases) and every one of them.... No... This time it's not about serial killing, at least most of them not. They are variety of things. One is about a girl that killed weirdly on a aparment complex, one is about a mystery behind a man's suicide, one is about searching a dangerous man etc. And this part's stories have my favorite and most disliked parts in the whole game. Case 3's incredibly surprising and fun hitman fights part and the goddamn digital man case as a whole.

I am not gonna go into detail but I can say this, all the cases I dislike goes full on scifi fantasy or not just that, it goes pure fantasy. While silver case had a small part of them with "silver eyes", this game pushes it's fantasy elements to the limit for the purpose of confusing the player but in my opinion this ends up making the cases feel less rewarding as a whole.

And now, when it comes to matchmaker, I can safely say that it's my favorite one then the other 2 and also applies game's theme better then all of them. It's actually more of what I expected from this game. A special cop group's slowly growing relationship (unfortunately correctness only focused just 2 people from a whole group) while the main cop tries to delve his "past" and eventually have to come to a choice when it comes to "dealing with his own past". Also it's movie like action setpieces are cream on the cake as well.

Lastly the placebo and the one that I like less and less. It's about the journalist from silver case but without what made him "interesting". There is a reason for why he acts different but that doesn't mean I enjoy with it. Actually maybe he isn't the main character? Maybe it's the ai characters he meets throughout in his journey? I mean game gives a lot of time to their story so... I don't know actually. But I can say this. You can multiply the "fantasy" element I talked about at the top here ten fold.

That's all I am gonna say about it when it comes to this story.

So yeah when it comes to story, it's a messy one in my opinion to say the least. I mean silver case wasn't perfect either but unlike silver case, it's harder to see what we gain when we look at the cases one by one.

And when it comes to puzzles and exploration...

It's three steps forward two steps back.

Exploration is simplified with the removal of looking up or down or left or right. You can only "command" the character with saying go north, west, east, south and he goes until arriving to next intersection. This is a both good thing and a bad thing. Now there is no interactables hiding in plain sight that requires you to look up down left right every damn place. But also when you press a wrong button, you need to watch your damn character to walk alllllllll the way to another intersection point.

Also puzzles are mixed bag again unfortunately. Fortunately there is no press a button on the other side of the room puzzles but this time it's full of password puzzles.... While they are harmless at first, you just want a skip button when you came across the 100th one.

There is also more choice puzzles as well and I actually quite like them, especially correctness case 3 made amazing use of them. So actually a big plus in this part.

Oh also there are labyrinth puzzles this time and they... Sorry to say this but SUCKS ASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Especially case 2, oh case 2.... I wanted to strangle Suda when I saw I needed to do it twice.... HUHHH!???

Oh also interact bazillion things thingy comes back at the finale with that apartment complex, that piece of shit apartment complex. That's all I am gonna say about it. I just opened a guide for it so I would not lose my mind when playing that part.

So that's what I meant with three steps forward two steps back. More variety but also more tedium as well.

So what did I left... Oh yeah music rocks hard. Remixes felt good, new songs felt good I can't say anything bad about that part.

So yeah that's 25th ward. While I look like extremely harsh into it I quite enjoyed it, but also I didn't enjoy some parts of it so yeah... It's a game where I am stuck in between but you know what I am still gonna recommend it just for it's vibes of it. Silver case was good but this is somehow a step up of it in everyway and really fills you with it's mysterious upbeat energy.

Lastly some small things I realized when playing, one is this game have an intro and I assume it wasn't in the original? It was nice. Also it was funny seeing Suda again with ghosts. Btw I respect to anyone that got 100 ending. I wasn't patient myself tho. Also I didn't realize I needed to move that white block guy to select other campaigns. I almost finished the game without playing others if I hadn't look up a guide I legit wouldn't realize it can "move".

"Yoko Taro milks his loyal customer base edition"

"You wouldn't touch or even get near it if it didn't had the "nier" in the title".

Played until the "sun and moon" last chapter and my review gonna be according to that.

Let's start with the obvious question. Why did I start a gacha game and even had expectations for it? It's because yoko taro considers this game the third nier game from what I understand. He tweets about it and even add elements from this game to nier automata anime. So I had thought maybe there is important things going on in it? Also people was saying it's best time to go in because of the rewards they give before servers gets closed. So I jumped in and 15 hours torture started.

"Main story? What the hell is that? Here is 80 different no connected mini stories. Have fun".

In a franchise that is known for it's emotions and unrelenting drama, yoko taro choose to make a game that is just about "random mini sad story collections". And wastes a lot of the promising concepts just to fill the gacha content quota with making them less then 20 minutes that makes you unable to connect in any emotional form whatsoever.

Now I am gonna say there is small hopeful lights here and there, for example if you look at act 1's story seperately from ministories and just look at it as a "poor girl Fio's sad adventure" you can actually feel it's nier emotions at it's core.

It's too bad that you have to seperate %75 of the game to see that core tho.

And that's the problem. You can throw %75 of the main story to garbage and nothing would change. No... Actually maybe main story would be even better without all those unnecessary cut ins with forgettable mini stories.

But that's not all. This game have the worst gameplay in the entire yokoverse. Even worse than drakengard 1 with it's awful camera. Yeah imagine that.

Why? Because drakengard 1 had a point to give at least. This game has not. You can delete all the combat moments of the game and you would lose NOTHING. Yes. That means you can convert all of the game into a visual novel and nothing would have been lost. It's just a auto battler after all. And an uninspired and a timewasting one.

"But you didn't finish the game!" Yes I didn't. Maybe it actually gets important? Or not. I don't even care anymore. I am not even sad for it's servers closing. This game loves to waste your time with all those mini forgettable stories and GRIND moments. Because it's just an another "gacha game" not an another proper "the game".

"What do you mean with grind? Didn't you say game rewards a lot right now?" Yes. And you can level up everyone from the moment you started to 60. But after that? Ohhh it wants you to waste your time with getting bazillions of materials to unlock it's second and third rate for unlocking next level rate requirements. So essentially you are locked into playing daily missions and one by one level up every goddamn weapon from the SLOWEST goddamn menu ever that makes you think if it's designed to make you go CRAZY with every single upgrade have UNSKIPPABLE ANIMATIONS.

Then why should I care after all if itself dedicated to waste my time? I don't think I would lose "anything" with watching a summary video before next nier comes out. Because in it's core I am essentially playing a visual novel with forced grinding. A really badly paced, no... a nonexistent paced one.

And lastly if the next nier or whatever is even slightly similar to this game yoko taro is just no more to me.

Just watch the summary of it on youtube and done with it rather than wasting your precious time with it. So you can experience the worthwhile ones without all the timewasting.

Edit: I found a big playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGa4JvuGzOs&list=PLsZ-WzLIqahy4Vmlt7sHh01HyLWeXbS0G

Kill the past, Or embrace it. Choice yours and yours alone.

This game is about people that couldn't move on their pasts and their solutions to "dealing with it". So, we, the players, see these events from own eyes and make our own judgment. For the question, the ideology of the "Past". You, the player that seen everything. What do you do with your past? Embrace it? Or kill it? Or move on from it?

Choice is yours and yours for truly. Game is here for one thing and that is giving you multiple perspectives for this ideology and every case is here to support that fact.

I wish gameplay itself was cool as it's concept tho. Since trying out the ps1 armored core games, I didn't thought I would felt this feeling of "just looking of the cover brings me pure FEAR of playing" again.

Because movement sucks ASSSS. Puzzles sucks ASSSS. Mail reading sucks ASSSSS. Sorry, I went a bit rude at there, but really... I have a lot of problems for this game's mechanics and maybe I have even more things to count.

Yes I know the existence of holding skip makes everything go faster but even with that, exploration so damn annoying with tank controls with the inclusion of hard to see interaction symbols also with the combination of finicky interaction mechanics, playing this game feels like a chore to me.

You know, just for this reason I thought about leaving this game couple of times. Especially near the end where every mission just wants you to go around and rub your face to every goddamn wall to find and read trillion amounts of documents or finding millions of interactables to progress.

Excellent character writing stopped me from doing so... Sumio and Kusabi's daily friendly fights... Morishima's anger about his poor life conditions... Hachisuka and Morikawa's unending discussions and How red goes "..." And then goes "....." Really fun dialogues to experience dare I say. Also murder filled detective cases and journalist cases are cream on the cake too with how these two different segments support each other with the "question" part and the "answer" part of it.

But in my opinion, reading a pure visual novel format of it sounds to me more fun experience than playing itself ever again unfortunately.

I assume it doesn't get better than here when it comes to n64's pure action games

As a person that tried to get into the starfox and find myself not engaged with it's energy then shelving it 15 minute later, this game did what I expected from starfox singlehandedly.

Nonstop action, relentless explosions, new enemies stages levels challenges in every 5 seconds back to back to make the game pacing Godddaaaamnnnnn awesome and of course it does have a fun gameplay to back it up with shooting enemies and parrying with a sword.

Oh also it does have a story too that is probably got inspired from eva. But I think compared to eva, it's only purpose is just to give you shocking imagery and nothing more. It's not a negative for me tho, I wasn't expecting a groundbreaking story mod for an arcadey game to begin with so I can even say this part can be a plus

My only problem with it, is an outside factor that is the piece of shit wii u's input delay for n64 games that makes aiming 2 times harder.

Other than that this game is fire and it's short runtime (2 hours) is enough to make your life more positive for a while.

The dark edgy "Spiderman 3" sequel of Twilight Syndrome franchise is what I would describe this game with.

This is purely written by Suda from what I read and yeah it's evident that it's a different product entirely from what come before.

Forget the old cute cliche taste of let's go on a ghost hunting adventureee!! And put the new feeling of murders, serial killings, psychos and suicides. While the old series touched a bit of these subjects they never went that deep and often hold it with in the respectable boundaries, but this game does not give a f.

Incest? Here. Yandere psychos? Here. Child suicides and deaths? Here. Rape? Here. Body horror? Here. Garbage adults that use children? Here. Deaths? Here and More.

To the point I think just only 3-4 people just leave this game alive.

What I am getting at is I think Suda used every no no no subject ever and filled in this game. Does this make it a good game? Certainly a shocking one and probably scarier than any what come before. The uneasiness it gives is on entirely an another level than any other syndrome game. But it does this with taking away the unique style from what came before and that's a damn shame.

Story is on the other hand about two sides and Also with bunch of other filler cases.

One is about some student named Ryo that lost his sister a short while ago to a suicide?(game doesn't make it clear) and also gets bullied everyday, one day sees Mika and realizes her similarity to his own sister and stalks her throughout in the journey.

Other is rumor addicted Mika and her search to save herself from a powerful evil ghost that tries to torment and haunt her.

Story structure looks fine enough at first glance but when you play the game, you realize that only first and last couple of the chapters tries to progress the story and middle parts are just about Mika's variety of troubles or cases a bit like the older games.

Is this a bad thing? Not exactly. I would say filler cases feels full of content and dark stories to interact with and long ones(half of the chapter count to be exact) is full of thoughtful and philosophical ideas in it. Be it about the struggles of kids or be it bad teachers that torment students from behind the scenes and more. Also easily the best part of this game.

It looks like I am happy with the game right? Not exactly actually.

I said filler parts are the best parts right? Because When it comes to overarching narrative, game drops the ball at the last chapter so hard that not even the any bad case from old games can get that level. I really really don't know what happened at there but finale chapter feels really rushed and poorly written to the point makes you wonder all the build up was worthless?

Was it all for the edginess sake to the point it feels like Suda's revenge for getting forced onto this franchise or just a state of rushing the game out? I don't know but unfortunately that case really really soured my enjoyment on this game. Funny enough it's a really short case too! So that makes me wonder if it really rushed? I don't know and probably never will.

Also my other reason of not liking that much is like I said, it butchers the style from what came before in my opinion.

For example new sprites for characters suck and less detailed from what came before. Also old game's characters Yukari and Chisato looks unrecognizable. Also 3d scenes didn't aged good and I wish they use 2d cgs like the old games. Lastly compared to what came before, environment looks uninspired and lifeless even, probably because again it uses 3d objects more rather than 2d.

So yeah, it's a polarizing game for me. I enjoyed the shock, surprise and the uneasiness it gave me with nonstop forbidden subjects. Also enjoyed the filler cases that delves into a lot of different variety of dark subjects. But also it's ending disappointed me so I really didn't left this game happy also it's style wasn't to my tastes too.

Still it's just a beginning and I heard this case will connect to silver case somehow... So see you later at there hopefully. And let's hope that it does have a less rushed narrative progression then this one.

(I played while syncing up my gameplay with the translations. First half with izzeybee's text translation, second half with paradise hotel 51's video translation)