hara
103 reviews liked by hara
Trails in the Sky SC is an improvement from FC. Gameplay was much less restrictive and you had a full party of interchangeable characters that can help play and fulfill roles with the right quartz setups. Liberl was still fun to explore the second time and doing the sidequest were still mostly fun as ever. The game has excellent character moments in all the chapters and all the main party members all get their moments to shine. For the story, it was still mostly well - done though the great character moments, though I felt the stakes were barely higher than FC and it only got really interesting until the second half. Pacing was also weird as while I felt it was fine in revisiting all the cities, it felt disjointed once you begin Chapter 6. It begins fine enough through Ch. 6 and 7, though slowdowns unnecessarily in Ch. 8. The momentum that was set up messed the momentum for the final chapter in which I personally wanted the journey to end. Another thing to note, even though I still enjoyed doing the sidequests, I felt they were the weakest in the series (no thanks to the unneeded amount of Blueblanc quests). Despite my problems with the pacing in the second half and the sidequests, Sky SC is still a solid game that succeeded all of FC's setups and ran a good marathon full of great character - moments. 4/5.
Yeah it's a pretty good intro to a series with over a dozen games.
The ending will make you want SC immediately without question
The ending will make you want SC immediately without question
The last 30 minutes of this game make me so excited for the next games. Really fun in both gameplay and character interactions/worldbuilding, and, despite being "slow burn", actually really entertaining. Recommended.
I played the FC evolution version on the Vita. This game is a fairly traditional RPG that brings its own ideas and qualities to the table. Soundtrack was very good, gameplay was fun (could have been a bit more tactical) and the dialog is really well written. The story takes an extremely long time to get going but remains refreshingly down to earth (we don't end up fighting God^^). I still would have liked more story relevant content (a rare case of quality is there but quantity is a bit lacking). Characters are very well done. I love the fast-forward feaure. In opposite to many other JRPGs out there, the last dungeon wasn't a slog and actually pretty fun. Overall, I can recommend this game to pretty much any JRPG fan out there.
This game is pretty good. Estelle is an all time jrpg protagonist to me already. While the writing is very.. 00s anime, overall I think it works. The strongest thing about it is definitely it's characters. Do yourself a favour and mod the Japanese voices in, the performances are all very good. The combat really doesn't get interesting until pretty late in the game but there is a good system here. Excited to play the next two Sky games.
Tried to get into the game twice, first didn't hook me up because of its slow start, but the second one led me to see its ending and fall in love with the series
This is a game for gamers who love world building, hand crafted characters, an seemingly obtuse combat system at first but picks up when you start getting its intricacies, and of course a deep narrative with twists and turns.
I will for sure play Trails in the Sky SC
This is a game for gamers who love world building, hand crafted characters, an seemingly obtuse combat system at first but picks up when you start getting its intricacies, and of course a deep narrative with twists and turns.
I will for sure play Trails in the Sky SC
Neon White
2022
I almost wish the game didn't have a storyline at all, because it seems to distract many players from how amazing the gameplay is.
I personally did not mind the dialogue and viewed them as a breather in between chapters (and genuinely cracked a smile at some exchanges) but I won't deny that the actual plot isn't special and the amount of overdone anime clichés aren't working in this game's favor.
The levels itself however are pure joy. I love how the game manages to put different tiers of challenge into the game, simply with it's ranking system.
Players with a lower skill level can just breeze through the game at their pace. They have to accumulate a certain amount of gold ranks to proceed, but from what I could tell, the game is very lenient in how many you have to acquire. I'd argue that most people should be able to do this.
The second layer is actually getting those gold ranks and therefore unlocking the hints for the intended shortcuts the developers intended. Those are a big help in getting the ace ranks, which are an optional, but welcome challenge for the more skilled players. Which is where I personally stopped for now.
If you want to go even more crazy, you can try to beat all of the developer times, beat your friends scores or even try to climb the leader boards. Which unfortunately are filled with cheaters, but that aspect might work better on console.
The game just lives from it's flow. The movement in this game feels great, you never actually have to "walk" much in these levels, unless you're running on water or are busy shooting enemies. Most of the time you're spending in the air or dashing around, which creates a very nice state of focus, because fucking up one jump or shoot often means restarting the level.
Since restarting only take like two seconds and levels are mostly super short, it never really feels punishing or demotivating to fail. Instead it even motivates to do some really risky moves to squeeze out every little millisecond you can out of a level.
Neon White is a game for people who would like to speedrun but can't be bothered to learn an entire game from start to finish. For people who just want to go fast and don't prepare for weeks. I found that concept to be very well done and wish there was some kind of level editor for infinite replayability. Maybe one day I'll try to beat those developer times. I think I got like 5-6 of them by accident. But for now I'm good.
The soundtrack is amazing too, btw.
I personally did not mind the dialogue and viewed them as a breather in between chapters (and genuinely cracked a smile at some exchanges) but I won't deny that the actual plot isn't special and the amount of overdone anime clichés aren't working in this game's favor.
The levels itself however are pure joy. I love how the game manages to put different tiers of challenge into the game, simply with it's ranking system.
Players with a lower skill level can just breeze through the game at their pace. They have to accumulate a certain amount of gold ranks to proceed, but from what I could tell, the game is very lenient in how many you have to acquire. I'd argue that most people should be able to do this.
The second layer is actually getting those gold ranks and therefore unlocking the hints for the intended shortcuts the developers intended. Those are a big help in getting the ace ranks, which are an optional, but welcome challenge for the more skilled players. Which is where I personally stopped for now.
If you want to go even more crazy, you can try to beat all of the developer times, beat your friends scores or even try to climb the leader boards. Which unfortunately are filled with cheaters, but that aspect might work better on console.
The game just lives from it's flow. The movement in this game feels great, you never actually have to "walk" much in these levels, unless you're running on water or are busy shooting enemies. Most of the time you're spending in the air or dashing around, which creates a very nice state of focus, because fucking up one jump or shoot often means restarting the level.
Since restarting only take like two seconds and levels are mostly super short, it never really feels punishing or demotivating to fail. Instead it even motivates to do some really risky moves to squeeze out every little millisecond you can out of a level.
Neon White is a game for people who would like to speedrun but can't be bothered to learn an entire game from start to finish. For people who just want to go fast and don't prepare for weeks. I found that concept to be very well done and wish there was some kind of level editor for infinite replayability. Maybe one day I'll try to beat those developer times. I think I got like 5-6 of them by accident. But for now I'm good.
The soundtrack is amazing too, btw.
Well..... I feel weird saying I wasn't very impressed.
It's only fair to mention that I played Golden Deer on my first playthrough. I'm currently playing Black Eagles, and I intend to do Blue Lion as well.
It was a fine game. The story was... fine. I liked the intensity of some parts. The lore they built up around the continent of Fodlan seemed really intriguing to me at first, but nothing came to a satisfying conclusion after it was all over (something that I assume I paid the consequences for when choosing the "neutral" Golden Deer route. no resolute answers for those of us who don't pick sides and also think Claude is cute).
The characters are.... fine. I know it's kind of impossible to make every single character well-rounded in their personality and growth, but I really disliked the characters that seemed to only talk about One Thing and One Thing only (Raphael... I'm so sorry but I don't want to hear you talk about food for the umpteenth time. I know you have a family that you care about please talk about them more!!!!). My favorite Fire Emblem games definitely have those types too, but for some reason it really grated on me with this one.
The voice acting is pretty great. I'm really glad the Fire Emblem series is regularly being voiced, which makes me glad to listen to. The performances are good. Unfortunately, the stiff character models look really awkward to me.... I felt like I was going insane having to look at the same character movement loop over and over again during conversations. They all seemed so stiff and lifeless, despite the vocal performances. The prerendered cutscenes were cool-looking, at least.
Maybe I have a problem with the look of the game.... I like that it's more "serious" looking with muted tones and mature color palette, but it quickly becomes muddy looking and drab....... it has me begging to tear my eyes away from it to look at something to bring the life back into my vision. I feel like they could've made some little pops of color somewhere on the grounds of the monastery, but... I guess that's not what they wanted to go for.
It's been memed on, but the little details like the textures really are rough. They're just.. not used well or not mapped correctly. It looks a little lazy. Idk why I care so much about that. I feel really harsh on this game and I don't know why!
This game does have depth to it. I guess I feel bitter because I feel like I unknowingly chose the route that lacked all the interesting plot points. Did I....?
Anyway, I feel like this is a good Fire Emblem game for beginners, though I will say that the classroom system is disorientingly complex. Well, maybe not complex per se, but there's just a LOT of management to do and.... it has potential to be fun, but I found myself really anxious to get it over with after a while. I love min/maxing in games, but it wasn't that fun in this one. It takes way too long.
The pacing of this one really drags on, I guess I mean to say. For a game that potentially wants you to try all the routes, I feel like quite a bit could've been cut and it still would've been a great experience..... I just wish it was shorter!
If you're new to the series, its a good start perhaps.
It's only fair to mention that I played Golden Deer on my first playthrough. I'm currently playing Black Eagles, and I intend to do Blue Lion as well.
It was a fine game. The story was... fine. I liked the intensity of some parts. The lore they built up around the continent of Fodlan seemed really intriguing to me at first, but nothing came to a satisfying conclusion after it was all over (something that I assume I paid the consequences for when choosing the "neutral" Golden Deer route. no resolute answers for those of us who don't pick sides and also think Claude is cute).
The characters are.... fine. I know it's kind of impossible to make every single character well-rounded in their personality and growth, but I really disliked the characters that seemed to only talk about One Thing and One Thing only (Raphael... I'm so sorry but I don't want to hear you talk about food for the umpteenth time. I know you have a family that you care about please talk about them more!!!!). My favorite Fire Emblem games definitely have those types too, but for some reason it really grated on me with this one.
The voice acting is pretty great. I'm really glad the Fire Emblem series is regularly being voiced, which makes me glad to listen to. The performances are good. Unfortunately, the stiff character models look really awkward to me.... I felt like I was going insane having to look at the same character movement loop over and over again during conversations. They all seemed so stiff and lifeless, despite the vocal performances. The prerendered cutscenes were cool-looking, at least.
Maybe I have a problem with the look of the game.... I like that it's more "serious" looking with muted tones and mature color palette, but it quickly becomes muddy looking and drab....... it has me begging to tear my eyes away from it to look at something to bring the life back into my vision. I feel like they could've made some little pops of color somewhere on the grounds of the monastery, but... I guess that's not what they wanted to go for.
It's been memed on, but the little details like the textures really are rough. They're just.. not used well or not mapped correctly. It looks a little lazy. Idk why I care so much about that. I feel really harsh on this game and I don't know why!
This game does have depth to it. I guess I feel bitter because I feel like I unknowingly chose the route that lacked all the interesting plot points. Did I....?
Anyway, I feel like this is a good Fire Emblem game for beginners, though I will say that the classroom system is disorientingly complex. Well, maybe not complex per se, but there's just a LOT of management to do and.... it has potential to be fun, but I found myself really anxious to get it over with after a while. I love min/maxing in games, but it wasn't that fun in this one. It takes way too long.
The pacing of this one really drags on, I guess I mean to say. For a game that potentially wants you to try all the routes, I feel like quite a bit could've been cut and it still would've been a great experience..... I just wish it was shorter!
If you're new to the series, its a good start perhaps.
I love the creativity, the lively animations, the fresh ideas and the general level design in this game. That’s how a 2D Mario should be. And yet…
I don’t have fun with it anymore.
And the main reason are the Wonder Effects. At first, they’re absolutely spectacular, mind-blowing, even. But after a while, you notice how some of them “repeat” or “take” some of the levels. Some make you invincible, some make enemies use attacks that won’t damage you. Each level has a Wonder Effect that is either fun or boring. And the spectacle becomes unspectacular. Imagine every single Rayman Legends level would have been a music stage, or every Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze level would have been like level 3:1 (like a musical).
And I know, I should love Wonder, but it currently feels like one of the worst and best 2D Mario titles at the same time.
And another reason is — typically for 2D Mario — that it is very easy. I know, I haven’t finished the game and it gets harder, but the overall difficulty is laughable. And while Wonder definitely is much more creative than the NSMB titles, its creativity doesn’t reach the levels of DKCTF or Rayman Legends.
I might come back to SMBW, but for now, I shelve it.
I don’t have fun with it anymore.
And the main reason are the Wonder Effects. At first, they’re absolutely spectacular, mind-blowing, even. But after a while, you notice how some of them “repeat” or “take” some of the levels. Some make you invincible, some make enemies use attacks that won’t damage you. Each level has a Wonder Effect that is either fun or boring. And the spectacle becomes unspectacular. Imagine every single Rayman Legends level would have been a music stage, or every Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze level would have been like level 3:1 (like a musical).
And I know, I should love Wonder, but it currently feels like one of the worst and best 2D Mario titles at the same time.
And another reason is — typically for 2D Mario — that it is very easy. I know, I haven’t finished the game and it gets harder, but the overall difficulty is laughable. And while Wonder definitely is much more creative than the NSMB titles, its creativity doesn’t reach the levels of DKCTF or Rayman Legends.
I might come back to SMBW, but for now, I shelve it.
Fucking classic
