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I like puzzle visual novels. But my first impressions of this famous Danganronpa title was realllllyyy bad for me. You start the game, then get introduced to the characters and every one of them are.... anime stereotypes.
The Anime Stereotypes are my top 10 most hated things ever and the reason I stopped watching anime or watch them rarely, so this really discouraged me to continue. To the point that I didn't returned this game for at least 1 year. But then I returned because I was craving for something puzzley that forces me to think and solve. I can't say it was good as Ace Attorney in that regard but at least it managed to entertain me.
Gameplay
This game have two different segments. That is exploration and contradiction segments.
Exploration works with clicking shiny objects like all the games. I can't say too much on it since it's not too different than any other detective game. I guess only difference is, you are given free time sometimes to do social link persona like interaction events with the character you want to engage that is mostly shallow short events.
My only nitpick is, why there is a fps roaming around system implemented in the first place? when most of the evidence finding is on a seperate 2.5d areas. I don't know but at least I can fast travel from the map screen so whatever.
When it comes to contradiction system, you can immediately realise that how much of a director difference changes everything about the concept of finding contradictions
It uses the same court contradiction system as ace attorney at first glance but contradiction system is mixed with flashy mini games, so it's not just a one continuous press-present system.
How it works is:
1-You have to play the debate minigame where everyone submits their own arguments. You have your "counter arguments" that selected by the game itself for that specific debate, you need to use them on a contradicting and yellow marked arguments in a given time limit.
2-You can take someones argument and use it against on another argument in that debate
3-If asked, you need to show evidence or select option from the 3 possible options that explains what happened
4-In between all of this, you need to play a hangman minigame that works with selecting specific letters in that given empty word area.
5-and you play a closing argument minigame, that is essentially a shitty rhythm game
6-Oh lastly you do create a comic to show the order of the events
If we look at what I just explained, we can essentially see that this is a more casual friendly puzzle system. Not just the interactable only arguments between others marked with yellow for you, also your own argument counters selected by the game itself. If we also remember that it's mixed with minigames and also a point that I didn't explain until now that is: it's impossible to "fail "with how you can revive with the revive option when you fail. Yeah it's a more casual friendly puzzle game.
It looks badly first but what it lacks on characters and gameplay depth, it does have on it's suprise element. It uses it's flashy minigames back to back to shock you harder for twists and this is in my opinion what it makes Danganronpa entertaining.
I can't say it's a perfect system tho, it's wacky argument gun usage aiming is a bit too finicky, hangman minigame's random letter system forces you to wait too much, also it's closing argument rthym minigame is.... feels garbage to play and comic book selectable photos hard to identify what they represent sometimes.
But because of how it uses them for the shock value, I guess it manages to entertain me in the end. So... It's at the positive end for me.
Story
So, story is about a death game: people stuck on a school and if they want to be able to exit, someone have to kill someone. If they are not found then they can exit from the school. But even if they don't want to kill, they have to because the mascot monokuma forces everyone with blackmails. So this means there is a lot of murder cases to solve for us.
I can't say the majority of the cases in the story good tho. Most of them builded on shocking twists. Twists are fun don't get me wrong that is what makes it entertaining, but when majority of the cast is too cliche stereotypes, it's hard to connect with what is really going on. It feels like you are here for the moment of mystery not for the connections or relationships even if the main character keep saying how much he cares about everybody.
Because of that game started to lose on me slowly but last two cases managed to win me back with how they tried to inject a character a bit on them. So because of that I can say I actually liked some of the characters. They are really few, but they managed to change my perspective about this game... at least a little bit. Because I still don't like majority of the cast.
So, I enjoyed the game(mostly the end part). It's not perfect for me with some gameplay annoyances and the problems with the cast for me. But it still managed to entertain me. If you want right now to get lots of suprises and twists, I would say try this game. Because you will love it probably.
The Anime Stereotypes are my top 10 most hated things ever and the reason I stopped watching anime or watch them rarely, so this really discouraged me to continue. To the point that I didn't returned this game for at least 1 year. But then I returned because I was craving for something puzzley that forces me to think and solve. I can't say it was good as Ace Attorney in that regard but at least it managed to entertain me.
Gameplay
This game have two different segments. That is exploration and contradiction segments.
Exploration works with clicking shiny objects like all the games. I can't say too much on it since it's not too different than any other detective game. I guess only difference is, you are given free time sometimes to do social link persona like interaction events with the character you want to engage that is mostly shallow short events.
My only nitpick is, why there is a fps roaming around system implemented in the first place? when most of the evidence finding is on a seperate 2.5d areas. I don't know but at least I can fast travel from the map screen so whatever.
When it comes to contradiction system, you can immediately realise that how much of a director difference changes everything about the concept of finding contradictions
It uses the same court contradiction system as ace attorney at first glance but contradiction system is mixed with flashy mini games, so it's not just a one continuous press-present system.
How it works is:
1-You have to play the debate minigame where everyone submits their own arguments. You have your "counter arguments" that selected by the game itself for that specific debate, you need to use them on a contradicting and yellow marked arguments in a given time limit.
2-You can take someones argument and use it against on another argument in that debate
3-If asked, you need to show evidence or select option from the 3 possible options that explains what happened
4-In between all of this, you need to play a hangman minigame that works with selecting specific letters in that given empty word area.
5-and you play a closing argument minigame, that is essentially a shitty rhythm game
6-Oh lastly you do create a comic to show the order of the events
If we look at what I just explained, we can essentially see that this is a more casual friendly puzzle system. Not just the interactable only arguments between others marked with yellow for you, also your own argument counters selected by the game itself. If we also remember that it's mixed with minigames and also a point that I didn't explain until now that is: it's impossible to "fail "with how you can revive with the revive option when you fail. Yeah it's a more casual friendly puzzle game.
It looks badly first but what it lacks on characters and gameplay depth, it does have on it's suprise element. It uses it's flashy minigames back to back to shock you harder for twists and this is in my opinion what it makes Danganronpa entertaining.
I can't say it's a perfect system tho, it's wacky argument gun usage aiming is a bit too finicky, hangman minigame's random letter system forces you to wait too much, also it's closing argument rthym minigame is.... feels garbage to play and comic book selectable photos hard to identify what they represent sometimes.
But because of how it uses them for the shock value, I guess it manages to entertain me in the end. So... It's at the positive end for me.
Story
So, story is about a death game: people stuck on a school and if they want to be able to exit, someone have to kill someone. If they are not found then they can exit from the school. But even if they don't want to kill, they have to because the mascot monokuma forces everyone with blackmails. So this means there is a lot of murder cases to solve for us.
I can't say the majority of the cases in the story good tho. Most of them builded on shocking twists. Twists are fun don't get me wrong that is what makes it entertaining, but when majority of the cast is too cliche stereotypes, it's hard to connect with what is really going on. It feels like you are here for the moment of mystery not for the connections or relationships even if the main character keep saying how much he cares about everybody.
Because of that game started to lose on me slowly but last two cases managed to win me back with how they tried to inject a character a bit on them. So because of that I can say I actually liked some of the characters. They are really few, but they managed to change my perspective about this game... at least a little bit. Because I still don't like majority of the cast.
So, I enjoyed the game(mostly the end part). It's not perfect for me with some gameplay annoyances and the problems with the cast for me. But it still managed to entertain me. If you want right now to get lots of suprises and twists, I would say try this game. Because you will love it probably.
I was conflicted about this game. Because in my first time I outright hated it. I had a plan to replay again and this week I did it. As you can see my score changed. But still I don't agree this is the best mgs game, at least for me.
Expectations change everything, they change a meh game to be a good one, or good game to be a disappointing one. My first expectation about a mgs game is it's convoluted mystery thriller with it's human drama. But mgs3 is a j-bond movie first mystery drama second. Also on gameplay additions I felt extremely mixed too.
Gameplay
This time as a gameplay additions we have camouflages, backpack, a complex healing system, renewing stamina with environmental creatures system, limited gun suppressors, shittier radar system, enemies having longer vision also stronger hearing, new expanded pressure sensitive cqc system and I hated every single one of them(except the new camera).
In my mgs2 review I talked about forcing you to do fps aiming slows the game down. In this one, everything designed to slow the game down. You go to a new place, bum! You need to change camo from menu to not get seen immediately because of longer vision of enemies(add this), you found a new weapon? Bum! You need the equip it you doofus from the backpack menu!(add this too), you can't see the enemies? Bum! Enjoy keep fiddling with radars and eye googles again and again to be able to barely spot the enemy(best way to do is night vision but I say enjoy your eyes burning from looking at extremely light colors), you get damaged? Bum! You need to fiddle with the damn survival menu to heal yourself(add this too), you keep running constantly? Bum! Low stamina so keep eating from the food menu(add this too), you mistakenly pressed cqc button too hard and you killed the enemy? Bum! Unnecessary kill count!
Yeah. I hated it.
But also I loved the expanded level types in this game. In one level, you disguise as a scientist to infiltrate to a base, in one level you need to find a specific soldier to steal his equipment to be able to enter commander areas, in one level you are trying to find the exit from a dark cave with a torch etc. And they are extremely fun and engaging.
That's why I said I am mixed on the gameplay part. New additions hecking slow the game down but new expanded level types holds the game fresh.
Story
It starts as a political thriller where usa and russia at ends to strangle each other because of a betrayal and some stolen nukes. I was engaged but then the main part started and everything become a bond parody.
A man with lots of gadgets, a hot woman spy, cliche evil bad commander, another spy rival and a betrayal from trusted.
Yeah ending is full on human drama that I enjoy I get that(also gives you enough answers about big boss's past really well too) but majority of the game is just a bond parody and I am not sure how to feel about that. At first completion I hated it, but replaying now with knowing what to expect, I warmed up to it a bit. But I can't say this for half of the characters.
Boss is really good and great subversion of solidus snake. Eva and Snake's banter was fun. Ocelot was entertaining as well(not on mgs2 level ofc but still fun) and others... Not so much.
I said in mgs2 that I disliked how bosses felt not much depthful and this problem is bigger here. They didn't even try. The cobra unit is just goddamn jokeys and parody one offs. It feels like not even Snake himself take them seriously and when he beats them, they explode and he just shrugs it off and continue like nothing happened. These bosses are just msx metal gear 2 levels of empty.
For example there is a boss called Fury and he is extremely similar to the mgs1 boss Vulcan Raven(with how they obsessed people, also have similar boss fights as well). But unlike Raven, I don't think I will remember Fury any second.
Also our support team wasn't engaging for me that much, they are not Rosa levels of infuriating but they are not memorable like mgs1 cast either. That's because most of the codex talk is optional and even if you trigger them willingly all they talk about 80s movies constantly. You don't get into discussions or arguments. Most of the talks are fluff or giving new orders. That's it.
My thoughts are this unfortunately. Don't get me wrong this is a still a nice game with unbelievable amounts of variety. But also at times even more flawed and clunky then the mgs2 for me and saying that breaks my heart.
Expectations change everything, they change a meh game to be a good one, or good game to be a disappointing one. My first expectation about a mgs game is it's convoluted mystery thriller with it's human drama. But mgs3 is a j-bond movie first mystery drama second. Also on gameplay additions I felt extremely mixed too.
Gameplay
This time as a gameplay additions we have camouflages, backpack, a complex healing system, renewing stamina with environmental creatures system, limited gun suppressors, shittier radar system, enemies having longer vision also stronger hearing, new expanded pressure sensitive cqc system and I hated every single one of them(except the new camera).
In my mgs2 review I talked about forcing you to do fps aiming slows the game down. In this one, everything designed to slow the game down. You go to a new place, bum! You need to change camo from menu to not get seen immediately because of longer vision of enemies(add this), you found a new weapon? Bum! You need the equip it you doofus from the backpack menu!(add this too), you can't see the enemies? Bum! Enjoy keep fiddling with radars and eye googles again and again to be able to barely spot the enemy(best way to do is night vision but I say enjoy your eyes burning from looking at extremely light colors), you get damaged? Bum! You need to fiddle with the damn survival menu to heal yourself(add this too), you keep running constantly? Bum! Low stamina so keep eating from the food menu(add this too), you mistakenly pressed cqc button too hard and you killed the enemy? Bum! Unnecessary kill count!
Yeah. I hated it.
But also I loved the expanded level types in this game. In one level, you disguise as a scientist to infiltrate to a base, in one level you need to find a specific soldier to steal his equipment to be able to enter commander areas, in one level you are trying to find the exit from a dark cave with a torch etc. And they are extremely fun and engaging.
That's why I said I am mixed on the gameplay part. New additions hecking slow the game down but new expanded level types holds the game fresh.
Story
It starts as a political thriller where usa and russia at ends to strangle each other because of a betrayal and some stolen nukes. I was engaged but then the main part started and everything become a bond parody.
A man with lots of gadgets, a hot woman spy, cliche evil bad commander, another spy rival and a betrayal from trusted.
Yeah ending is full on human drama that I enjoy I get that(also gives you enough answers about big boss's past really well too) but majority of the game is just a bond parody and I am not sure how to feel about that. At first completion I hated it, but replaying now with knowing what to expect, I warmed up to it a bit. But I can't say this for half of the characters.
Boss is really good and great subversion of solidus snake. Eva and Snake's banter was fun. Ocelot was entertaining as well(not on mgs2 level ofc but still fun) and others... Not so much.
I said in mgs2 that I disliked how bosses felt not much depthful and this problem is bigger here. They didn't even try. The cobra unit is just goddamn jokeys and parody one offs. It feels like not even Snake himself take them seriously and when he beats them, they explode and he just shrugs it off and continue like nothing happened. These bosses are just msx metal gear 2 levels of empty.
For example there is a boss called Fury and he is extremely similar to the mgs1 boss Vulcan Raven(with how they obsessed people, also have similar boss fights as well). But unlike Raven, I don't think I will remember Fury any second.
Also our support team wasn't engaging for me that much, they are not Rosa levels of infuriating but they are not memorable like mgs1 cast either. That's because most of the codex talk is optional and even if you trigger them willingly all they talk about 80s movies constantly. You don't get into discussions or arguments. Most of the talks are fluff or giving new orders. That's it.
My thoughts are this unfortunately. Don't get me wrong this is a still a nice game with unbelievable amounts of variety. But also at times even more flawed and clunky then the mgs2 for me and saying that breaks my heart.
This game is a puzzle game from the golden era of mobile games. Angry birds, where's my water, cut the rope etc. It's from the same vein.
Wait am I the only one that reviews this game? Yeah it looks like it.
Strangely I found this game on our school's computer, not on a smartphone. I always exited the game when I go after 3 chapter or something and never finished the game. So, one day I remembered the existence of this game again and decided to replay it until it's finale(except add ons) and it's....
"Meh" what I would say as an answer if it didn't had that many annoyances.
I am gonna give it's praise about how many puzzle levels there are with upping the difficulty in every progress and the ominous soundtrack that takes you in. But that's where my praise ends. I remember why I exit after beating couple of levels in ch3. Because game gets samey. Game stops introducing new concepts and it just becomes a "spam couple of samey different gadgets until one of them works". There is only so many times that I can use the same baloon box trick or magnet gadget or run jump trick or box breaking move until my patience ends. (Actually tries one time to refresh it with a jetpack section but I wish it didn't, because it's controls are garbage)
Also it's checkpoint system is finicky as well. It just saves your position, not the other objects positions. Sometimes it works at your favor but most of the times it just results with soft locking yourself with getting stuck or losing an important box and resetting the level again.
It wouldn't be that much of a problem but
1. This game's gadget usage is slow, your movement is also slow. So getting to where you died slowly becomes bothersome.
2. Did I say this game is slow? Yeah it gets more annoying when the levels became 3 times longer after getting the magnet gadget. So think again resetting a level. Patience disappears.
3. I don't know who thought setting your character move down automatically when there is a downward slope wouldn't annoy people when they are trying to build a ladder with boxes. They push my patience as well.
Eventually I finally managed to reach to the finale and finish the game. I saw there are also add-on levels as well but that was enough for me so no thanks.
So that was a... Barely passing experience for me. If it ended somewhere at chapter 4 I would say it was a enough fun time and a recommendation for if you want to hop in and solve some puzzles in your spare time. But even if we think monotone pacing is it's nature of being a mobile game, still the lots of little annoyances it does have results with a negative end for me unfortunately.
Wait am I the only one that reviews this game? Yeah it looks like it.
Strangely I found this game on our school's computer, not on a smartphone. I always exited the game when I go after 3 chapter or something and never finished the game. So, one day I remembered the existence of this game again and decided to replay it until it's finale(except add ons) and it's....
"Meh" what I would say as an answer if it didn't had that many annoyances.
I am gonna give it's praise about how many puzzle levels there are with upping the difficulty in every progress and the ominous soundtrack that takes you in. But that's where my praise ends. I remember why I exit after beating couple of levels in ch3. Because game gets samey. Game stops introducing new concepts and it just becomes a "spam couple of samey different gadgets until one of them works". There is only so many times that I can use the same baloon box trick or magnet gadget or run jump trick or box breaking move until my patience ends. (Actually tries one time to refresh it with a jetpack section but I wish it didn't, because it's controls are garbage)
Also it's checkpoint system is finicky as well. It just saves your position, not the other objects positions. Sometimes it works at your favor but most of the times it just results with soft locking yourself with getting stuck or losing an important box and resetting the level again.
It wouldn't be that much of a problem but
1. This game's gadget usage is slow, your movement is also slow. So getting to where you died slowly becomes bothersome.
2. Did I say this game is slow? Yeah it gets more annoying when the levels became 3 times longer after getting the magnet gadget. So think again resetting a level. Patience disappears.
3. I don't know who thought setting your character move down automatically when there is a downward slope wouldn't annoy people when they are trying to build a ladder with boxes. They push my patience as well.
Eventually I finally managed to reach to the finale and finish the game. I saw there are also add-on levels as well but that was enough for me so no thanks.
So that was a... Barely passing experience for me. If it ended somewhere at chapter 4 I would say it was a enough fun time and a recommendation for if you want to hop in and solve some puzzles in your spare time. But even if we think monotone pacing is it's nature of being a mobile game, still the lots of little annoyances it does have results with a negative end for me unfortunately.
1992
Metal Gear Creator Kojima's Vibes are strong in this one.
When you play this game you can easily realize that this game developed when Kojima was young. Why? Because plot is nowhere near complicated and it's just a goofy simple: let's find out who is behind all of this with my trusty buddy yehaaaa! Kind of plot(until act 3 that is). But of course that doesn't make this game not valuable. I can guarantee you that if you love buddy-cop adventures you will love this one with our metal gear mk3 and Gillion go into a fun adventure together.
But of course this game is not perfect. It does have a really unintuitive progression system that feels trial and error(maybe to make the game seem longer than it is). This results with time wasting tbh with selecting the same choices over and over again just to find which one results with progression, but at least choices are limited so still you can make it without a guide most of the time at least (mostly...)
Also if we subtract the time wasting, story pacing is unbelievably fast, you go somehere, you ask questions, after that you find and kill that area's snatcher, then on to the next one! Tbh I wished a slower pace at times. Because it makes hard to care about payoffs when the build up itself is not longer than 20 minutes most of the time. So the scenes that supposed to be suprising just ends up flat for me.
Also that results with not being able to connect other characters other than Gillian and Mk3. I can't say I am fond of Gillian and his "pervert comedic" actions(tbh for this reason alone this game is the most pervert kj game, even more than mgs5) but his relationship with mk3 is really entertaning and motivates you to select every option so you can see what are they gonna argue about next. Also yeah maybe characters aren't developed enough but their goofy interactions with us still manages to make them memorable somewhat.
Everything changes when you come to act 3 tho. I know that this act added in later releases and didn't existed in the first release and it's really easy to see that. Because when you play it, suddenly plot becomes 5 times complex, 5 times cutsceney, 5 times serious no more goofiness. With how the writing suddenly revolves around real life technology's possible dangers also it's place on politics, it's really damn easy to see that this is the guy that wrote mgs2. But also the part that made me more engaged about the story, tbh I predicted half of it before the act itself started but still that doesn't change how fresh and suprising it felt to experience it.
Actually, you know what. Visuals and upbeat soundtrack combination makes it worth it alone. They together make this game one hell of a journey. Play this game. It's short(5 hours). Fast. 80's fun. Engaging Sci-fi mystery. Fun soundtrack. What more do you want?
When you play this game you can easily realize that this game developed when Kojima was young. Why? Because plot is nowhere near complicated and it's just a goofy simple: let's find out who is behind all of this with my trusty buddy yehaaaa! Kind of plot(until act 3 that is). But of course that doesn't make this game not valuable. I can guarantee you that if you love buddy-cop adventures you will love this one with our metal gear mk3 and Gillion go into a fun adventure together.
But of course this game is not perfect. It does have a really unintuitive progression system that feels trial and error(maybe to make the game seem longer than it is). This results with time wasting tbh with selecting the same choices over and over again just to find which one results with progression, but at least choices are limited so still you can make it without a guide most of the time at least (mostly...)
Also if we subtract the time wasting, story pacing is unbelievably fast, you go somehere, you ask questions, after that you find and kill that area's snatcher, then on to the next one! Tbh I wished a slower pace at times. Because it makes hard to care about payoffs when the build up itself is not longer than 20 minutes most of the time. So the scenes that supposed to be suprising just ends up flat for me.
Also that results with not being able to connect other characters other than Gillian and Mk3. I can't say I am fond of Gillian and his "pervert comedic" actions(tbh for this reason alone this game is the most pervert kj game, even more than mgs5) but his relationship with mk3 is really entertaning and motivates you to select every option so you can see what are they gonna argue about next. Also yeah maybe characters aren't developed enough but their goofy interactions with us still manages to make them memorable somewhat.
Everything changes when you come to act 3 tho. I know that this act added in later releases and didn't existed in the first release and it's really easy to see that. Because when you play it, suddenly plot becomes 5 times complex, 5 times cutsceney, 5 times serious no more goofiness. With how the writing suddenly revolves around real life technology's possible dangers also it's place on politics, it's really damn easy to see that this is the guy that wrote mgs2. But also the part that made me more engaged about the story, tbh I predicted half of it before the act itself started but still that doesn't change how fresh and suprising it felt to experience it.
Actually, you know what. Visuals and upbeat soundtrack combination makes it worth it alone. They together make this game one hell of a journey. Play this game. It's short(5 hours). Fast. 80's fun. Engaging Sci-fi mystery. Fun soundtrack. What more do you want?
I think I am one of the 5 people that played this on wii u. Yeah that wii u. Why? Because yakuza 1 had an additional new game plus mode in it. So yeah that reason was enough to replay it for me(I also played it on 480i damn ps2 so I wanted to see it hd). So yeah. It was still as fun and atmospheric as ever and also this is it's BEST version of this 1&2 dualogy pack in my opinion if you know japanese. Also I already reviewed these games before, so I am just gonna talk about differences and what I didn't experienced before.
While playing the wii u version I realized that they removed slot machine minigame(so volcano slot house doesn't exist) from yakuza 2 but stays on yakuza 1...? I don't know why they did this and kind of bothered me for a bit until realizing that I can actually fully complete yakuza 2 for the first time. (also meant I won't be able to complete yakuza 1 because slot machine completion with haruka's trust sucks doo doo)
I didn't fully completed the yakuza 2 but %90 of it is done(encounter bosses, every substories, tournaments, amon etc.). I didn't do the minigame completion also heat completion left on %99(I didn't know amano building long battle had exclusive heat action). But yeah. I did it and don't recommend to anyone.
Why? Because minigame substories suck. Baseball and golf are like... unbelievable levels of hard and cheap with their bullsh#t timings. Oh also there is a mahjong substory.
This is a whole topic by itself so I decided to jump to an another paragraph.
I thought I could do the mahjong substory because I did it at judgment and said why not here also? What I didn't know that is, mahjong is rigged on the damn yakuza 2. How can I know that? Because in every one of mine mahjong tries, there is always one garbage opponent that is selected by the "game" itself to win and gets riichi(equals saying uno) in every two turns in every round. Like every every time. That is near impossible because getting a near perfect beginning deck is a super low possibility. But that opponent always does it of course "somehow". Oh also I forgot to tell you about your beginning point is 10000 rather than 25000? So losing one round equals you are defeated. Also means that you have to at least win 3 times in every round back to back so you have enough points to maybe have a shot at winning. That is near impossible and yeah it was. I spent 12 damn hours and barely won in the last one. How do you ask? Randomizer gods decided to give me a super good beginning deck back to back for 4 turns somehow and also I got what tile I need in 5 turns somehow before that rigged opponent did. So yeah, in conclusion, fu#k this substory. This is the worst substory I had ever played in a yakuza game. Pure randomness and cheapness. Heck no.
Another thing I realized with playing yakuza ps2 games are, not locking on actually a better option for the most of the time, because lock on easily breaks in these games
Tbh both yakuza 1 and yakuza 2 still have it's clunkiness(especially yakuza 1 with it's nonexistent lock on) but their hazy blurry atmosphere with it's dark colors also cinematic fixed camera angles feels just... perfect and the reason that they are still worth playing again and again and the reason I play them again and again compared to the later titles. Some indie studios needs to bring back cinematic fixed camera angles in my opinion. They really up the atmosphere.
One thing weird to me in this wii u version is, they put quick map and completion list options at the gamepad, but... why not quick inventory option as well like all of the zelda games? I guess maybe old inventory system designed to pause the gameplay but at least still it would be a handy option...
Other than that, yeah. Best way to play this lovely games I guess. If there is gonna be a translation than it will be the best.
While playing the wii u version I realized that they removed slot machine minigame(so volcano slot house doesn't exist) from yakuza 2 but stays on yakuza 1...? I don't know why they did this and kind of bothered me for a bit until realizing that I can actually fully complete yakuza 2 for the first time. (also meant I won't be able to complete yakuza 1 because slot machine completion with haruka's trust sucks doo doo)
I didn't fully completed the yakuza 2 but %90 of it is done(encounter bosses, every substories, tournaments, amon etc.). I didn't do the minigame completion also heat completion left on %99(I didn't know amano building long battle had exclusive heat action). But yeah. I did it and don't recommend to anyone.
Why? Because minigame substories suck. Baseball and golf are like... unbelievable levels of hard and cheap with their bullsh#t timings. Oh also there is a mahjong substory.
This is a whole topic by itself so I decided to jump to an another paragraph.
I thought I could do the mahjong substory because I did it at judgment and said why not here also? What I didn't know that is, mahjong is rigged on the damn yakuza 2. How can I know that? Because in every one of mine mahjong tries, there is always one garbage opponent that is selected by the "game" itself to win and gets riichi(equals saying uno) in every two turns in every round. Like every every time. That is near impossible because getting a near perfect beginning deck is a super low possibility. But that opponent always does it of course "somehow". Oh also I forgot to tell you about your beginning point is 10000 rather than 25000? So losing one round equals you are defeated. Also means that you have to at least win 3 times in every round back to back so you have enough points to maybe have a shot at winning. That is near impossible and yeah it was. I spent 12 damn hours and barely won in the last one. How do you ask? Randomizer gods decided to give me a super good beginning deck back to back for 4 turns somehow and also I got what tile I need in 5 turns somehow before that rigged opponent did. So yeah, in conclusion, fu#k this substory. This is the worst substory I had ever played in a yakuza game. Pure randomness and cheapness. Heck no.
Another thing I realized with playing yakuza ps2 games are, not locking on actually a better option for the most of the time, because lock on easily breaks in these games
Tbh both yakuza 1 and yakuza 2 still have it's clunkiness(especially yakuza 1 with it's nonexistent lock on) but their hazy blurry atmosphere with it's dark colors also cinematic fixed camera angles feels just... perfect and the reason that they are still worth playing again and again and the reason I play them again and again compared to the later titles. Some indie studios needs to bring back cinematic fixed camera angles in my opinion. They really up the atmosphere.
One thing weird to me in this wii u version is, they put quick map and completion list options at the gamepad, but... why not quick inventory option as well like all of the zelda games? I guess maybe old inventory system designed to pause the gameplay but at least still it would be a handy option...
Other than that, yeah. Best way to play this lovely games I guess. If there is gonna be a translation than it will be the best.
1991
This game reminds me my childhood cartoons a lot. That's not a bad thing for me, as long as it's filled with lovable characters, I am okay with super simple "let's stop the bad guy before he destroys the world" kind of story.
I mean I can't say if any of the cartoons I had watched starts with burning an entire village but anyway yeah. This game's story is fun with lots of lovable dorks. Only thing I wish about the story to do is Rosa and Cecil's relationship to get more fleshed out... and maybe those two annoying kids didn't existed... But other than that. Yeah everyone is lovely. Rydia's heartbreaking struggle to get better, Edward's story of slowly getting more mature etc. Oh and of course our main character Cecil and his story of redemption story(cue: ff4 Prelude theme). He is the type of character that if I had played this game before I would paste his posters all over my room. His previous regrets and slowly overcoming to get better is a type of story that makes you motivate and hype you. Simple but effective.
Gameplay starts fun too
You get new magic, new type of attacks, weapons in every progress. I can't say it's strategic that much(but of course strategy gets really important when it comes to boss fights) but time based battle system rather than a turn based makes the game much more energetic and challenging. While one character prepares a magic, other character charges their attack, another one puts a barrier, last one tries it's best to summon a monster etc. But unfortunate thing is, you don't have much freedom for classes. Character classes are premade because story reasons but I wish they gave us options to select our own skills ourselves so we can do our own subclasses. I mean you get new skills when you level up also sometimes new classes because of the story but skills are automatic things, you can't choose your new skill to be more offensive or defensive or supportive etc. This small change would make grinding to more interesting
Grind
Yeah there is grind. But not much in the most of the story, just going around for a hour is enough to take down that area's boss... But it suddenly goes 5 times up in the last area because of lots of minibosses. Because it's required or something in a jrpg? I don't know but at that part I kind of lost my motivation to continue. Also I was playing on the damn ps1 and didn't know they had long loading times before beginning this game so... yeah it was a bit frustrating... I played this before ff5 but now comparing them together, ff5 had a hard last area as well but I said in there that they made grind fun with giving you the ability to diversify your classes so... yeah in this one it's not fun that much. So, I wouldn't say no to anyone for playing this game on easy for that last area sake.
So yeah, fun story, fun but near the end gets grindy gameplay. Lovely characters also. If you still have your childhood soul in it yourself, then I recommend this game wholeheartedly. You will have fun with it hopefully
I mean I can't say if any of the cartoons I had watched starts with burning an entire village but anyway yeah. This game's story is fun with lots of lovable dorks. Only thing I wish about the story to do is Rosa and Cecil's relationship to get more fleshed out... and maybe those two annoying kids didn't existed... But other than that. Yeah everyone is lovely. Rydia's heartbreaking struggle to get better, Edward's story of slowly getting more mature etc. Oh and of course our main character Cecil and his story of redemption story(cue: ff4 Prelude theme). He is the type of character that if I had played this game before I would paste his posters all over my room. His previous regrets and slowly overcoming to get better is a type of story that makes you motivate and hype you. Simple but effective.
Gameplay starts fun too
You get new magic, new type of attacks, weapons in every progress. I can't say it's strategic that much(but of course strategy gets really important when it comes to boss fights) but time based battle system rather than a turn based makes the game much more energetic and challenging. While one character prepares a magic, other character charges their attack, another one puts a barrier, last one tries it's best to summon a monster etc. But unfortunate thing is, you don't have much freedom for classes. Character classes are premade because story reasons but I wish they gave us options to select our own skills ourselves so we can do our own subclasses. I mean you get new skills when you level up also sometimes new classes because of the story but skills are automatic things, you can't choose your new skill to be more offensive or defensive or supportive etc. This small change would make grinding to more interesting
Grind
Yeah there is grind. But not much in the most of the story, just going around for a hour is enough to take down that area's boss... But it suddenly goes 5 times up in the last area because of lots of minibosses. Because it's required or something in a jrpg? I don't know but at that part I kind of lost my motivation to continue. Also I was playing on the damn ps1 and didn't know they had long loading times before beginning this game so... yeah it was a bit frustrating... I played this before ff5 but now comparing them together, ff5 had a hard last area as well but I said in there that they made grind fun with giving you the ability to diversify your classes so... yeah in this one it's not fun that much. So, I wouldn't say no to anyone for playing this game on easy for that last area sake.
So yeah, fun story, fun but near the end gets grindy gameplay. Lovely characters also. If you still have your childhood soul in it yourself, then I recommend this game wholeheartedly. You will have fun with it hopefully
2007
This game was overhyped for me. From what I read from everyone, I was expecting to get a depressive tale with lovable folks. Not just that, I heard this game was the best of persona. I... Didn't get that.
First let me start with the positives because they are short
Sun arcana is really emotional and I liked that.
Last month(last %10 of the game) is awesome with it's melancholic, majora's mask like dark vibes.
Lots of persona to fusion of course.
Best persona soundtrack
And the rest is...
Story is a giant timewaster that repetitive as heck. You learn about a person that have potential, kill the shadow boss that suddenly appeared, let that person join your group, repeat x6. Story only starts to go somewhere the moment bad guy group shows up(in the damn last quarter of this game).
People that say this game is depressive as heck just talks about intro of this game, persona calling animation that uses a gun to the head, 2 social links that is a bit depressive and last %10 of this game. But how a game can be named depressive if the %85 of the content is la la la upbeat colorful happy tones? I literally have any idea. Btw I don't have any problem with upbeat atmosphere but fans themselves create wrong expectations
Question is, can you like a story if only %10 of it just interesting? It's really good %10 I won't lie but what about the repetitive as heck rest? Sorry but I am not the "ending justifies the repetition" kind of person. Sorry.
Gameplay is... Repetitive as heck too. Level design is non-existent, one lazy person just flat out modelled 8 different room and colored it different 10 times with combining a randomizer and called it a day. What. The. Fu#k. Don't get me started on repeat enemies as well, if there is 20 enemy models, then don't worry they also have 10 different color variations that only difference of them is a slight stat difference. Only thing that refreshes the pace a little bit is, bosses are once in a while needs a different strategy rather than spam the same handful of elemental attacks and watching the same all out attack for the millionth time.
Social links
Other than Sun, lovers and hierophant social link...
Rest is meh at best and plain garbage at worst. Moon arcana(that damn fat kid), chariot(stubborn sports kid), hanged man(pedo... social link), priestess(i can't cook food fuuka soical link) etc. If your excuse is, in reality there are idiots or infuriating people in real life as well then why I am playing this game? This is a work of fiction. Give me something memorable. Unfortunately there is not much of that memorable feeling...
So yeah. For the %15 content sake, I don't give 1/5. But I can easily say, I can't see any of the praise other folks does. Sometimes I hate myself with joining the flow of hype and taking wrong decisions. I have not just persona 3 and 4. I also have 5 and it costed me. Probably I couldn't be able to gather enough motivation to start 5 so I really did a wasteful decision for myself.
First let me start with the positives because they are short
Sun arcana is really emotional and I liked that.
Last month(last %10 of the game) is awesome with it's melancholic, majora's mask like dark vibes.
Lots of persona to fusion of course.
Best persona soundtrack
And the rest is...
Story is a giant timewaster that repetitive as heck. You learn about a person that have potential, kill the shadow boss that suddenly appeared, let that person join your group, repeat x6. Story only starts to go somewhere the moment bad guy group shows up(in the damn last quarter of this game).
People that say this game is depressive as heck just talks about intro of this game, persona calling animation that uses a gun to the head, 2 social links that is a bit depressive and last %10 of this game. But how a game can be named depressive if the %85 of the content is la la la upbeat colorful happy tones? I literally have any idea. Btw I don't have any problem with upbeat atmosphere but fans themselves create wrong expectations
Question is, can you like a story if only %10 of it just interesting? It's really good %10 I won't lie but what about the repetitive as heck rest? Sorry but I am not the "ending justifies the repetition" kind of person. Sorry.
Gameplay is... Repetitive as heck too. Level design is non-existent, one lazy person just flat out modelled 8 different room and colored it different 10 times with combining a randomizer and called it a day. What. The. Fu#k. Don't get me started on repeat enemies as well, if there is 20 enemy models, then don't worry they also have 10 different color variations that only difference of them is a slight stat difference. Only thing that refreshes the pace a little bit is, bosses are once in a while needs a different strategy rather than spam the same handful of elemental attacks and watching the same all out attack for the millionth time.
Social links
Other than Sun, lovers and hierophant social link...
Rest is meh at best and plain garbage at worst. Moon arcana(that damn fat kid), chariot(stubborn sports kid), hanged man(pedo... social link), priestess(i can't cook food fuuka soical link) etc. If your excuse is, in reality there are idiots or infuriating people in real life as well then why I am playing this game? This is a work of fiction. Give me something memorable. Unfortunately there is not much of that memorable feeling...
So yeah. For the %15 content sake, I don't give 1/5. But I can easily say, I can't see any of the praise other folks does. Sometimes I hate myself with joining the flow of hype and taking wrong decisions. I have not just persona 3 and 4. I also have 5 and it costed me. Probably I couldn't be able to gather enough motivation to start 5 so I really did a wasteful decision for myself.
A really solid sequel to the mgs1. Is it a masterpiece? Probably. But a flawed one for me.
New fps aiming is nice but it's slows the pace. Trying to play like mgs1(run, deceive and hide) is impossible sometimes with how many small corridors this game has so you essentially have to use the fps aiming like it or not(I saw some people manage to take down enemies immediately with the lock on button but tbh I never managed to do that).
But I liked the new dive move. It saves you multiple times in combat.
Lastly, there are more gadgets now. They are mostly used for some gimmicky gameplay sections, but It refreshes the pace so It's nice.
One thing I am not a big fan is the map and content size. If we combine both the tanker and the plant, I assume they match the mgs1 size. But because of that, I didn't get the feeling and awe of one big continuous map.
Story is amazing as ever and I think it even suppresses the og mgs1 for me with how it manage to surprise me and made me engaged for learning more about the big mystery.
The point where I am not too hot on is the new characters. I love the villain and he is still my favorite mgs villain. But others... Not so much. I don't have any problem with Raiden compared to the others, because he is a confused poor man just like snake in the mgs1. But I have a big problem with Rose. When both Raiden and Rose starts infighting like a broken couple I just want to throw the disc out of the window. Also all of the new bosses feels like a cliche parody characters that I can't take any of them seriously compared to the mgs1. Did we return to msx era? Why they reverted back to one off cliche bosses? They are not "that" bad tbh. But still their stories are not that gripping other than... Maybe fortune. That's it.
There is a reason psycho mantis, sniper wolf, vulcan raven is famous and that's not their overly strange design. It's their stories that feel realistic and emotional. They couldn't replicate this feeling in here.
For me characters are just as important as the story itself... No, at times even more important so that's why I broke one star off. But still a good game.
New fps aiming is nice but it's slows the pace. Trying to play like mgs1(run, deceive and hide) is impossible sometimes with how many small corridors this game has so you essentially have to use the fps aiming like it or not(I saw some people manage to take down enemies immediately with the lock on button but tbh I never managed to do that).
But I liked the new dive move. It saves you multiple times in combat.
Lastly, there are more gadgets now. They are mostly used for some gimmicky gameplay sections, but It refreshes the pace so It's nice.
One thing I am not a big fan is the map and content size. If we combine both the tanker and the plant, I assume they match the mgs1 size. But because of that, I didn't get the feeling and awe of one big continuous map.
Story is amazing as ever and I think it even suppresses the og mgs1 for me with how it manage to surprise me and made me engaged for learning more about the big mystery.
The point where I am not too hot on is the new characters. I love the villain and he is still my favorite mgs villain. But others... Not so much. I don't have any problem with Raiden compared to the others, because he is a confused poor man just like snake in the mgs1. But I have a big problem with Rose. When both Raiden and Rose starts infighting like a broken couple I just want to throw the disc out of the window. Also all of the new bosses feels like a cliche parody characters that I can't take any of them seriously compared to the mgs1. Did we return to msx era? Why they reverted back to one off cliche bosses? They are not "that" bad tbh. But still their stories are not that gripping other than... Maybe fortune. That's it.
There is a reason psycho mantis, sniper wolf, vulcan raven is famous and that's not their overly strange design. It's their stories that feel realistic and emotional. They couldn't replicate this feeling in here.
For me characters are just as important as the story itself... No, at times even more important so that's why I broke one star off. But still a good game.
2016
Team ico never misses. Of course it's an another flawed ambitious masterpiece. Yes, their design philosophy is also not everyone's cup of tea. But they are the rare kind of game developers. Experimental and original design kind.
Of course experimental type is not everyone's cup of tea I get that. But the amount of work and sweat that gone to this game is simply amazing.
Probably Fumito Ueda, started his ideas from subverting his Ico philosophy. What if we are in need of defending rather than we are the one that defend? What if the only thing we can do is running away and ordering our guardian to defend us? How that would work? And for that, he combined his Shadow of the Colossus climbing to animals mechanic with Ico's environmental puzzles. Lastly added it's own thing, an animal AI.
Of course Ai focused gameplay have it's benefits and harms. At times you feel proud with seeing how the ai uses what you order them, but other times you want to delete the game immediately because ai didn't understand what you meant 10th time. But it wasn't mostly a problem for me other than some small moments. Because if you take your time and make sure your animal sees you and what you pointing, it works. At times he jumped wrong things or climbed wrong things just like Yorda from Ico. But like Ico, if you be patient and not spam the order button, you won't have much problem. At times I just wanted to get a move on quickly so of course I had some frustrating moments with the Ai but not as many as the other players it seems.
My real problem with last guardian is, it's inability to present what is interactable or climbable and what is not. At times, you think it's impossible to order for your animal to jump to a really damn high tower yet he can or sometimes he can't? Or not just that, for us, climbable surfaces are not clear and it just works to send to us our death. Or it's tendency to hide it's interactable to a place the camera can't immediately see(tbh It was on Ico too but it's much more in here). I clearly remember there were 4 times that I had stuck.
One is, after the bridge scene and trying to return to the surface. At there, hiding near the minecarts, there is a separate way to go and for some reason it's pitch dark. After getting stuck for half hour, I had the brilliant idea of upping the brightness and when I saw the pathway I wanted to strangle the person that tested it's lighting.
Next one is, after falling to the water because of the blue liquid cauldron, we need to call our animal to climb it's tail with pushing and climbing a box in the water, but for some reason he didn't put his tail or I didn't understand where to call him so he can drop it's tail. After struggling for another half hour, he just did
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
Other one is, in the swim diving puzzle 2, I didn't realize how to get up to the lever(tbh it was my mistake and it was a brilliant puzzle with using water physics). But the reason I am stuck is, at the top, there is a rock formation that looks like jumpable with our pet Trico. I thought I should get something for getting up to the lever so I tried to order to Trico and I got frustrated that ai doesn't do what it supposed to do. But it was actually not interactable...
¯\_ ಠ _ ಠ _/¯
Last one is the final sphere puzzle, firstly game don't give any clues to how that sphere works(what makes it grow faster or slower??) and not just that, it doesn't even present clearly that it's upper surface part is climbable. It's the only part that I looked up a walkthrough for and unfortunately for that reason it kinda left a bad taste in my mind
ತ_ʖತ
Also I have some small nitpicks
Why start game loading screen is just the concept art rather than something from inside the world? It's strange because it takes away from the feeling that you are going to see a mystic world with just showing it's concepts super clearly. I mean even a black screen with symbols on it like the death screen can work better in this case.
Also main menu font is boring.
Another one is, it's insistency on showing button prompts to your face. If it's the reason for the lack of clear implications for objects if it's a interactable or not. It wasn't a great choice.
Lastly, our pet Trico's hungry grumblings if you wait in a place for too long is a bit annoying.
It can look a bit negative but it's time to get positive. Game have outstanding amount of puzzle variety. Climbing puzzles, enemy puzzles, box puzzles, physics puzzles, stealth puzzles, platforming puzzles etc. And when the game mechanics come together without failing, you get an awesome time. Also it's actiony cutscene moments are fantastic as well. You can move in most of them so I can't even say they are cutscenes it's still gameplay! Also when it comes to world building and telling a story, last guardian have the most amount compared to the older team ico's titles!
So yeah, this is a team ico game. At times awesome at times clunky at times polarizing but a rare kind of original work. If you are a patient person and can stay patient even in the face of clunkiness play this. But if you are the kind of that likes action, fasty gameplay and hates escorting an ai, don't play it. But know that this is a rare original work that is bit of a dirty diamond. It's shines when the water applied patiently and correctly after all.
Of course experimental type is not everyone's cup of tea I get that. But the amount of work and sweat that gone to this game is simply amazing.
Probably Fumito Ueda, started his ideas from subverting his Ico philosophy. What if we are in need of defending rather than we are the one that defend? What if the only thing we can do is running away and ordering our guardian to defend us? How that would work? And for that, he combined his Shadow of the Colossus climbing to animals mechanic with Ico's environmental puzzles. Lastly added it's own thing, an animal AI.
Of course Ai focused gameplay have it's benefits and harms. At times you feel proud with seeing how the ai uses what you order them, but other times you want to delete the game immediately because ai didn't understand what you meant 10th time. But it wasn't mostly a problem for me other than some small moments. Because if you take your time and make sure your animal sees you and what you pointing, it works. At times he jumped wrong things or climbed wrong things just like Yorda from Ico. But like Ico, if you be patient and not spam the order button, you won't have much problem. At times I just wanted to get a move on quickly so of course I had some frustrating moments with the Ai but not as many as the other players it seems.
My real problem with last guardian is, it's inability to present what is interactable or climbable and what is not. At times, you think it's impossible to order for your animal to jump to a really damn high tower yet he can or sometimes he can't? Or not just that, for us, climbable surfaces are not clear and it just works to send to us our death. Or it's tendency to hide it's interactable to a place the camera can't immediately see(tbh It was on Ico too but it's much more in here). I clearly remember there were 4 times that I had stuck.
One is, after the bridge scene and trying to return to the surface. At there, hiding near the minecarts, there is a separate way to go and for some reason it's pitch dark. After getting stuck for half hour, I had the brilliant idea of upping the brightness and when I saw the pathway I wanted to strangle the person that tested it's lighting.
Next one is, after falling to the water because of the blue liquid cauldron, we need to call our animal to climb it's tail with pushing and climbing a box in the water, but for some reason he didn't put his tail or I didn't understand where to call him so he can drop it's tail. After struggling for another half hour, he just did
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
Other one is, in the swim diving puzzle 2, I didn't realize how to get up to the lever(tbh it was my mistake and it was a brilliant puzzle with using water physics). But the reason I am stuck is, at the top, there is a rock formation that looks like jumpable with our pet Trico. I thought I should get something for getting up to the lever so I tried to order to Trico and I got frustrated that ai doesn't do what it supposed to do. But it was actually not interactable...
¯\_ ಠ _ ಠ _/¯
Last one is the final sphere puzzle, firstly game don't give any clues to how that sphere works(what makes it grow faster or slower??) and not just that, it doesn't even present clearly that it's upper surface part is climbable. It's the only part that I looked up a walkthrough for and unfortunately for that reason it kinda left a bad taste in my mind
ತ_ʖತ
Also I have some small nitpicks
Why start game loading screen is just the concept art rather than something from inside the world? It's strange because it takes away from the feeling that you are going to see a mystic world with just showing it's concepts super clearly. I mean even a black screen with symbols on it like the death screen can work better in this case.
Also main menu font is boring.
Another one is, it's insistency on showing button prompts to your face. If it's the reason for the lack of clear implications for objects if it's a interactable or not. It wasn't a great choice.
Lastly, our pet Trico's hungry grumblings if you wait in a place for too long is a bit annoying.
It can look a bit negative but it's time to get positive. Game have outstanding amount of puzzle variety. Climbing puzzles, enemy puzzles, box puzzles, physics puzzles, stealth puzzles, platforming puzzles etc. And when the game mechanics come together without failing, you get an awesome time. Also it's actiony cutscene moments are fantastic as well. You can move in most of them so I can't even say they are cutscenes it's still gameplay! Also when it comes to world building and telling a story, last guardian have the most amount compared to the older team ico's titles!
So yeah, this is a team ico game. At times awesome at times clunky at times polarizing but a rare kind of original work. If you are a patient person and can stay patient even in the face of clunkiness play this. But if you are the kind of that likes action, fasty gameplay and hates escorting an ai, don't play it. But know that this is a rare original work that is bit of a dirty diamond. It's shines when the water applied patiently and correctly after all.
Played again. This time on 3ds. It made me think, was the Apollo Justice game a blessing or a curse?
Unfortunately my review hasn't changed.
I really liked the aspect of injecting risky new ideas but... None of the ideas feel fleshed out to me. New minigames and Apollo's bracelet thingy are pretty mindless inclusions. Finale of it still feels rushed and doesn't conclude anything. Investigation time travel mumbo jumbo is stupid and doesn't add anything to plot, I would go as far as to say it takes away from it with how it enables Phoenix to use something from future in the past? Final court day is super short and not even close to something satisfying. There is only just 2 witness statements you need to solve to finish it. JUST TWO!? I wonder they did this way just to promote the jury system to Japan. Was it a last minute decision? Or was it planned from the beginning? I don't know but with doing that, they just wasted the antagonist for a stupid reason. But even if they did a more complex finale court day, it wouldn't solve the problem of his stupid motivation. It's just stupid. By the way the worst thing they did was sidelining Apollo at the finale day. Isn't like this is supposed to be his own game? Then why Phoenix promoted consistently at the finale more than Apollo?
But also I really liked the idea of even the clients you are supposed to protect may not be that innocent people even if they are not the killers. Also the idea of, for finding the truth, you need to take risks even things like forgery. Also I really liked they created opposite versions of ideas they created before. Helpful Prosecutor idea with Klavier, clever assistant idea with Trucy and grumpy Detective idea with Ema etc. It really gives it's own feeling without feeling like a repeat. Also new soundtrack that focuses on the mystery aspect is a cream on the cake! Before I forget, mentor and jaded Phoenix is my favorite Phoenix version. I damn liked him with how he is ready to find the truth whatever it takes! He is ready to do dirty tactics even! Really brave move right there.
But like I said unfortunately Apollo Justice can be a curse more than a blessing. The moment they injected the idea of the "broken Justice system", sequels went with that way and since then we didn't get a full on personal struggle focused ace attorney game. Since then every game is about there is a broken system we need to "fix" and this is not ace attorney for me. At least this game still have it's ace attorney core other than it's finale but it's sad that they choose to continue with the justice idea rather than personal struggles of Apollo idea. It's really sad.
Unfortunately my review hasn't changed.
I really liked the aspect of injecting risky new ideas but... None of the ideas feel fleshed out to me. New minigames and Apollo's bracelet thingy are pretty mindless inclusions. Finale of it still feels rushed and doesn't conclude anything. Investigation time travel mumbo jumbo is stupid and doesn't add anything to plot, I would go as far as to say it takes away from it with how it enables Phoenix to use something from future in the past? Final court day is super short and not even close to something satisfying. There is only just 2 witness statements you need to solve to finish it. JUST TWO!? I wonder they did this way just to promote the jury system to Japan. Was it a last minute decision? Or was it planned from the beginning? I don't know but with doing that, they just wasted the antagonist for a stupid reason. But even if they did a more complex finale court day, it wouldn't solve the problem of his stupid motivation. It's just stupid. By the way the worst thing they did was sidelining Apollo at the finale day. Isn't like this is supposed to be his own game? Then why Phoenix promoted consistently at the finale more than Apollo?
But also I really liked the idea of even the clients you are supposed to protect may not be that innocent people even if they are not the killers. Also the idea of, for finding the truth, you need to take risks even things like forgery. Also I really liked they created opposite versions of ideas they created before. Helpful Prosecutor idea with Klavier, clever assistant idea with Trucy and grumpy Detective idea with Ema etc. It really gives it's own feeling without feeling like a repeat. Also new soundtrack that focuses on the mystery aspect is a cream on the cake! Before I forget, mentor and jaded Phoenix is my favorite Phoenix version. I damn liked him with how he is ready to find the truth whatever it takes! He is ready to do dirty tactics even! Really brave move right there.
But like I said unfortunately Apollo Justice can be a curse more than a blessing. The moment they injected the idea of the "broken Justice system", sequels went with that way and since then we didn't get a full on personal struggle focused ace attorney game. Since then every game is about there is a broken system we need to "fix" and this is not ace attorney for me. At least this game still have it's ace attorney core other than it's finale but it's sad that they choose to continue with the justice idea rather than personal struggles of Apollo idea. It's really sad.
1997
I finally finished this janky game. I had abandoned it previous month, but then returned it for later. Why? Because when I start up the ps1 I found out that I didn't take out the disc. Then I said hey let's try it again maybe I'd like it then? Spoiler: unfortunately no.
Camera is awful, when you are moving fast it can't keep up with you, when you go into a corner it starts to broke and move itself without your input, Also looking up or down is non-existent, camera doesn't even try to match with it's damn aim reticle. Also for some reason map designers have a corridor fetish. I think they were keep pressuring each other to make it smaller again and again... IN A DASH FOCUSED MECHA GAME!??
Not just that, one piece of troll decided to include platforming... HUH!?
Why not 1 star then? Because after getting a lot of money, just equipping lots of explosives and spam them without any money care feels actually fun. Also there is a bit of variety in missions as well and also a lot of different weapons this game have, probably more than the most of the ps1 games. But those gameplay mechanics with awful camera... Just takes it down for me unfortunately
Also that last mission is the biggest piece of garbage missions ever. I am not against hard opponents but platforming? Did you even test your game for that!??? At least it was fun to spam all of my collected explosives to the faces of that nineball. Funny thing is he jumped on top op of my head and I spammed the heck out of attack button instinctively and when I was out of energy and when the explosion effects disappeared he was dead already. Now that was damn satisfying I won't lie.
Camera is awful, when you are moving fast it can't keep up with you, when you go into a corner it starts to broke and move itself without your input, Also looking up or down is non-existent, camera doesn't even try to match with it's damn aim reticle. Also for some reason map designers have a corridor fetish. I think they were keep pressuring each other to make it smaller again and again... IN A DASH FOCUSED MECHA GAME!??
Not just that, one piece of troll decided to include platforming... HUH!?
Why not 1 star then? Because after getting a lot of money, just equipping lots of explosives and spam them without any money care feels actually fun. Also there is a bit of variety in missions as well and also a lot of different weapons this game have, probably more than the most of the ps1 games. But those gameplay mechanics with awful camera... Just takes it down for me unfortunately
Also that last mission is the biggest piece of garbage missions ever. I am not against hard opponents but platforming? Did you even test your game for that!??? At least it was fun to spam all of my collected explosives to the faces of that nineball. Funny thing is he jumped on top op of my head and I spammed the heck out of attack button instinctively and when I was out of energy and when the explosion effects disappeared he was dead already. Now that was damn satisfying I won't lie.
1998
This is one of the rare games that I replayed more than once. Why? Short answer is it's because it's metal gear solid after all. Long answer is really long tho.
I came across mgs franchise when I wasn't engaged with games like right now. One day, when I was looking up to tv to find something interesting, I realized there was a gaming program going on, I said why not check it even tho I won't play it. There was a trailer for mgs4 in it. I was mesmerised with it. There was an old man on top of a boat, saying "bang" "bang" and after that all of the helicopters start falling around him. I was like: WHAT THE HECK!? HE CAN CONTROL METAL WITH HIS HANDS??? Dang... I wonder how the gameplay is like??
After that I saw mgs4 again in top 10 saddest death in gaming videos, but it didn't stick in my mind.
Years later, I learned there was a ps1 emulator released for the android phones. I had a great time with ps1 when I was a kid so I wanted to try it again. But also wanted to try something "new". So I looked up best ps1 games and saw metal gear solid in everywhere. Like every "everywhere". I was like, wow, I wonder why it's regarded that highly? Then I went and tried it and fell in love with it.
Quick stealth gameplay with it's fast movement, big variety in challenge that they kept fresh in every new corner in it's map, highly memorable bosses that I still can't forget about and get teary when I remember their sad stories, story that is both suprising and emotional. What can I want more from that?
Only things I can say bad about it is, it does have back tracking 2 times that felt unnecessary and one section you need to look back of the box(that I don't have). But it's not a big fault for me.
So yeah, this was my first impression of mgs and I fell in love with it. After getting the legacy collection with ps3, of course I replayed it immediately, it's that good. I can recommend to anyone that doesn't insist on graphics and just wants to have a good time.
I came across mgs franchise when I wasn't engaged with games like right now. One day, when I was looking up to tv to find something interesting, I realized there was a gaming program going on, I said why not check it even tho I won't play it. There was a trailer for mgs4 in it. I was mesmerised with it. There was an old man on top of a boat, saying "bang" "bang" and after that all of the helicopters start falling around him. I was like: WHAT THE HECK!? HE CAN CONTROL METAL WITH HIS HANDS??? Dang... I wonder how the gameplay is like??
After that I saw mgs4 again in top 10 saddest death in gaming videos, but it didn't stick in my mind.
Years later, I learned there was a ps1 emulator released for the android phones. I had a great time with ps1 when I was a kid so I wanted to try it again. But also wanted to try something "new". So I looked up best ps1 games and saw metal gear solid in everywhere. Like every "everywhere". I was like, wow, I wonder why it's regarded that highly? Then I went and tried it and fell in love with it.
Quick stealth gameplay with it's fast movement, big variety in challenge that they kept fresh in every new corner in it's map, highly memorable bosses that I still can't forget about and get teary when I remember their sad stories, story that is both suprising and emotional. What can I want more from that?
Only things I can say bad about it is, it does have back tracking 2 times that felt unnecessary and one section you need to look back of the box(that I don't have). But it's not a big fault for me.
So yeah, this was my first impression of mgs and I fell in love with it. After getting the legacy collection with ps3, of course I replayed it immediately, it's that good. I can recommend to anyone that doesn't insist on graphics and just wants to have a good time.
Heck yeaaaah!! This is a good game. Also feels like prototype of the mgs1!? Down to the map and event order!? Wow.
Also it's less obtuse more straight (except one part that you need to look back of the box to see hidden codec like mgs1). Kind of regret my decision to get a guide for it.
And stealth is improved? You can "prone" now and go under the beds or vehicles. Heck yeah! Or with punching to the walls you can confuse the enemy with "sounds". You have more gadgets too! But also enemy AI improved with wider view and more complex guard routes! Heck yeaah!
Only bad thing I can say is bosses are still boring, but at least there is small puzzle elements on them now. Like you need to use mines for a fast foe or use grenade launcher to explode foes that hide. So at least it does have variety in boss department. That's something at least.
Story is also bigger this time also! After metal gear 1, we hear about Zanzibar land. They kidnapped the Dr. Marv, the creator of renewable oil!...(that never comes up in mgs franchise ever again) and also they threat goverments with nuclears!? For this, the hero of the previous game "snake" get sent to Zanzibar land and needs to save Dr. Marv and clear the nuclear threat! Of course in the way there is new enemies and retconned(you will get used to it eventually) older enemies that returned... Somehow!
It can look not promising but believe me, if you had fun with mgs1, then you will have fun with this story too!
I have to say, they can rerelease this game again to steam and no one would bat an eye. It's still feels quality 2d stealth game I am not kidding. Also it's still short so if you want to try it, you can finish it one sitting like it's predecessor. I don't think you will like it as much as mgs1 because of it's clunky parts but I believe you can still have fun with it
Also it's less obtuse more straight (except one part that you need to look back of the box to see hidden codec like mgs1). Kind of regret my decision to get a guide for it.
And stealth is improved? You can "prone" now and go under the beds or vehicles. Heck yeah! Or with punching to the walls you can confuse the enemy with "sounds". You have more gadgets too! But also enemy AI improved with wider view and more complex guard routes! Heck yeaah!
Only bad thing I can say is bosses are still boring, but at least there is small puzzle elements on them now. Like you need to use mines for a fast foe or use grenade launcher to explode foes that hide. So at least it does have variety in boss department. That's something at least.
Story is also bigger this time also! After metal gear 1, we hear about Zanzibar land. They kidnapped the Dr. Marv, the creator of renewable oil!...(that never comes up in mgs franchise ever again) and also they threat goverments with nuclears!? For this, the hero of the previous game "snake" get sent to Zanzibar land and needs to save Dr. Marv and clear the nuclear threat! Of course in the way there is new enemies and retconned(you will get used to it eventually) older enemies that returned... Somehow!
It can look not promising but believe me, if you had fun with mgs1, then you will have fun with this story too!
I have to say, they can rerelease this game again to steam and no one would bat an eye. It's still feels quality 2d stealth game I am not kidding. Also it's still short so if you want to try it, you can finish it one sitting like it's predecessor. I don't think you will like it as much as mgs1 because of it's clunky parts but I believe you can still have fun with it
1987
Game is biiiig, but not in a good way. In a obtuse: "where the heck I should go or do?" Kind of way. If you use guide it makes it easier at least.
When it comes to game qualities, it's certainly this is one of the first stealth games ever. So AI is non existent. Only can see as straight line, their view is really that much small. There is of course no complex stealth actions. There is only: wait until guards go away option. Or you can engage with combat and start shooting until everyone is dead, but snake can't shoot straight other than pistol so... it's better not to. But if there is a boss fight then you have to do it of course.
Bosses are not memorable by the way. Just hold shoot button until they are dead.
There is also another mechanic that's called "heroism"(after playing mgsV it's super funny to see that it comes from here), when you save hostages it goes up, if they get killed then it goes down. You have to save every hostages to maximize it and you have to do that. It's not an option. Why? Because there is an annoying resistance leader that refuses to help you to finish the game in the second half. I am not kidding. So... Don't forget to look up guides please.
And the story is... Grey fox and Dr madnar is kidnapped. Snake is sent by big boss to save them and and there is an experimental weapon called "metal gear" hides in there? Wow. How suprising.
Story certainly... does exist. But it's the kind of story that you will forget the next time you go to sleep. But at least they tried tho. There wasn't many dialogue filled games with action gameplay at the time so I am gonna give it that point.
So forgettable gameplay and story. Obtuse progression too of course. But I can't say I entirely get bored either, because it was pretty short game and the moment boredom starts you already looking at the credits screen
When it comes to game qualities, it's certainly this is one of the first stealth games ever. So AI is non existent. Only can see as straight line, their view is really that much small. There is of course no complex stealth actions. There is only: wait until guards go away option. Or you can engage with combat and start shooting until everyone is dead, but snake can't shoot straight other than pistol so... it's better not to. But if there is a boss fight then you have to do it of course.
Bosses are not memorable by the way. Just hold shoot button until they are dead.
There is also another mechanic that's called "heroism"(after playing mgsV it's super funny to see that it comes from here), when you save hostages it goes up, if they get killed then it goes down. You have to save every hostages to maximize it and you have to do that. It's not an option. Why? Because there is an annoying resistance leader that refuses to help you to finish the game in the second half. I am not kidding. So... Don't forget to look up guides please.
And the story is... Grey fox and Dr madnar is kidnapped. Snake is sent by big boss to save them and and there is an experimental weapon called "metal gear" hides in there? Wow. How suprising.
Story certainly... does exist. But it's the kind of story that you will forget the next time you go to sleep. But at least they tried tho. There wasn't many dialogue filled games with action gameplay at the time so I am gonna give it that point.
So forgettable gameplay and story. Obtuse progression too of course. But I can't say I entirely get bored either, because it was pretty short game and the moment boredom starts you already looking at the credits screen
I already reviewed the ps3 version, so.... Still played this because I heard it's expanded.... and...? Was it worth it?
Upgraded combat system feels more smooth to play... but the new lock on feels untested because for some reason it keeps locking on to the furthest enemies and just results with cheap damage. Also people that says this "upgraded" combat is a game changer is kinda wrong. Because it's mostly the old game's combat system with additional combos and smoother animations... that's it. Flaws are still intact. Don't expect automata here. I wasn't expecting much so I didn't disappointed. But on the other hand...
Added story elements.... are meh? The cut story from original game: Little mermaid is pretty good. But rest is... mostly text adventures like the forest of myth. Did they had no budget when they were doing this remaster? I already read Grimoire book translation to learn these stories... expecting them to get animated was too much I guess?
Oh also we have ending E now!.... and sorry but it's not worth the hassle for me. I still think ending A and B enough. Rest is still feels bonus cheap repeat content. Also "ending E" is super short. It's just equals doing something like the lost shrine dungeon with even more copy pasted boss fights. I was... expecting more?
You will say, really? You wanted more from just a remaster?
Don't get me wrong like I said A and B endings are worth it alone but for the returning players, I just wanted to see more "animated" content that expands other characters that already existed with drama cds, books etc. Newly added text adventure parts and super short ending E isn't that satisfying for a returning player: For me...
There is one more change that I really dislike of. Music. They remixed it... Half of the music still have it's core intact fortunately but other half... no. It sounds muffled and hollow. It doesn't have the strong impact of the original soundtrack. Especially shadowlord castle songs sounds heeeecckiiinnggg butchered here for me and it bothered me to no end! Sorry. I just want a original music option. Is it reaaallly that hard to implement? Every company's remaster have that damn music option? Why there is no option in this one?...
Oh other bothering change for me is faces. It's not big as the music. But new faces... looks... too clean? Even color choices looks close to an anime or automata I would say. In my opinion even if they change the faces, they should kept the dirty look in their faces. In a apocalyptic world, pure clean faces does not make any sense. I know they did this to cater to the automata fans, but for me this change takes out from the world building.
Last change is every dialogue is voiced now!... but there is no auto dialogue option for it tho?.... A bit frustrating but whatever. Also I can't believe I am saying this but english voices feel more nice to listen then the jp voices for me. Especially for Weiss. I loved on ps3 and I love it here. His eng voice: Liam O'Brien. He is that good for me. Jp counterpart feels like a ancient old voice and it's appropriate for the world but... for me the weiss's jp emotions didn't hit me as much as the eng counterpart.
So yeah that's what I think for the changes. Was it worth it for me? Ehhhh... no. I don't think nier nor any Yoko's games are replayable. I feel like Yoko Taro divides his budget something like %30 for gameplay and %70 for the story and because of that replayability suffers hard. So when it comes to best version... I still don't know because this game is a one step forward one step back. If they give us options to have original faces and music then I would say this. But right now... It's og one. But it's your choice to decide after all. For me any option is nice for the A and B endings.
Also don't listen anyone and just do A and B and watch the rest from youtube if you really want. Focus is clearly A and B after all. Rest is 5 minute extensions to the existing ending. That's it. They are clearly bonus endings not main content.
Thanks for reading!
Note: kind of unrelated but while searching for wiki to learn about Yonah more, I found that sinoalice collaboration with nier replicant added a small story part that is after ending C. I was like, hey that's interesting what can it be.... Dang... This is torture p#rn levels of cruel for the main character... Yoko Taro is insane
Upgraded combat system feels more smooth to play... but the new lock on feels untested because for some reason it keeps locking on to the furthest enemies and just results with cheap damage. Also people that says this "upgraded" combat is a game changer is kinda wrong. Because it's mostly the old game's combat system with additional combos and smoother animations... that's it. Flaws are still intact. Don't expect automata here. I wasn't expecting much so I didn't disappointed. But on the other hand...
Added story elements.... are meh? The cut story from original game: Little mermaid is pretty good. But rest is... mostly text adventures like the forest of myth. Did they had no budget when they were doing this remaster? I already read Grimoire book translation to learn these stories... expecting them to get animated was too much I guess?
Oh also we have ending E now!.... and sorry but it's not worth the hassle for me. I still think ending A and B enough. Rest is still feels bonus cheap repeat content. Also "ending E" is super short. It's just equals doing something like the lost shrine dungeon with even more copy pasted boss fights. I was... expecting more?
You will say, really? You wanted more from just a remaster?
Don't get me wrong like I said A and B endings are worth it alone but for the returning players, I just wanted to see more "animated" content that expands other characters that already existed with drama cds, books etc. Newly added text adventure parts and super short ending E isn't that satisfying for a returning player: For me...
There is one more change that I really dislike of. Music. They remixed it... Half of the music still have it's core intact fortunately but other half... no. It sounds muffled and hollow. It doesn't have the strong impact of the original soundtrack. Especially shadowlord castle songs sounds heeeecckiiinnggg butchered here for me and it bothered me to no end! Sorry. I just want a original music option. Is it reaaallly that hard to implement? Every company's remaster have that damn music option? Why there is no option in this one?...
Oh other bothering change for me is faces. It's not big as the music. But new faces... looks... too clean? Even color choices looks close to an anime or automata I would say. In my opinion even if they change the faces, they should kept the dirty look in their faces. In a apocalyptic world, pure clean faces does not make any sense. I know they did this to cater to the automata fans, but for me this change takes out from the world building.
Last change is every dialogue is voiced now!... but there is no auto dialogue option for it tho?.... A bit frustrating but whatever. Also I can't believe I am saying this but english voices feel more nice to listen then the jp voices for me. Especially for Weiss. I loved on ps3 and I love it here. His eng voice: Liam O'Brien. He is that good for me. Jp counterpart feels like a ancient old voice and it's appropriate for the world but... for me the weiss's jp emotions didn't hit me as much as the eng counterpart.
So yeah that's what I think for the changes. Was it worth it for me? Ehhhh... no. I don't think nier nor any Yoko's games are replayable. I feel like Yoko Taro divides his budget something like %30 for gameplay and %70 for the story and because of that replayability suffers hard. So when it comes to best version... I still don't know because this game is a one step forward one step back. If they give us options to have original faces and music then I would say this. But right now... It's og one. But it's your choice to decide after all. For me any option is nice for the A and B endings.
Also don't listen anyone and just do A and B and watch the rest from youtube if you really want. Focus is clearly A and B after all. Rest is 5 minute extensions to the existing ending. That's it. They are clearly bonus endings not main content.
Thanks for reading!
Note: kind of unrelated but while searching for wiki to learn about Yonah more, I found that sinoalice collaboration with nier replicant added a small story part that is after ending C. I was like, hey that's interesting what can it be.... Dang... This is torture p#rn levels of cruel for the main character... Yoko Taro is insane