an excellent team shooter. it's overwatch but fast paced and actually good.

the dash system and general movement are easy to pick up, and all of the unit designs are very well thought out. there's frequent balance adjustments, for better or worse.

several issues keep this game from being a 5 star for me, but all of them are structural and not a fault with the gameplay.
people leaving a match early ends it automatically. late leavers don't, but there's no joining a match in progress, meaning you'll probably lose. extremely annoying.
unlocking all units is impossible unless you pay up $$$.
the game could use more maps, and there's no way to pick a map, meaning you can get the same one several games in a row.
despite all that, it's still a really good game.

very unique multiplayer shooter that meshes PVE and PVP organically. the sound design is phenomenal and using it to locate enemies is very cool, and the weapon design is sick. there's a lot of ways to approach a situation, and drawn out gunfights are extremely fun.

several problems made me start losing interest.
- drawn out gunfights can't happen if you inevitably run into a max MMR TTV streamer that flicks you with a mosin from 100 yards and sends you back into the lobby (i guess blame matchmaking systems being the spawn of satan for this one)
- bunnyhopping away and abusing your hitbox when shot at makes the game feel clowny. i don't like that this is optimal.
- weapon balance favoring bolt action rifles (it's a COWBOY game not a WW1 simulator come on crytek)
- seriously what is it with crytek's fetish for the mosin and M1895, it's the bayou not eastern europe
- a comical amount of (paid) cosmetics and FOMO events. i like customization but it's reached a point in hunt where it's just annoying.

currently replaying charmless + demon bell
i was struggling to call this from's best game due to my bias for dark souls, but i think i just have to admit it; it is.

combat feels like a sword dance. i really hope they bring the parry and posture mechanic back for another game because it's just so insanely satisfying and unique.
the stealth mechanics are well thought out in that you're evening the odds (you really feel it in the hard mode) but getting caught doesn't make me want to reset like other stealth games do. this really ought to be the standard for all stealth games.

the story and themes are so profound. i'm catching a lot of theological concepts i missed my first time around, and every character is a part of it. dialogue and delivery are really purposeful, it reminds me of a sergio leone movie (and kurosawa obviously, although to date 7 samurai is all i've watched of him...)

it feels complete, unlike most of from's other titles. only flaw i can think of is having to farm for spirit emblems, but that's just a small annoyance. objectively a perfect game otherwise.

this is the unfeasible pipedream open world action game i've wanted for years, except they actually made it real. insane.

the amount of content for an action game is absolutely staggering. compared to other open world games, the rewards one finds for exploration are actually meaningful and useful, and there is a ton of it. i had to learn to explore in a "macro" sense and look towards the landscape to find points of interest, rather than the "micro" sense i'm used to from playing other fromsoft games, where items would be hidden behind nooks and crannies.

the world itself is incredibly compelling and fantastical, like out of a fairytale. ER kept surprising me start to finish. i wish i could replay the game with a fresh mind, but once a working randomizer mod comes around that will be the next best thing.

only real negatives are the performance and absolutely busted balance, which i'm hoping they both fix. also the music is just okay, nothing remarkable.

liked it a lot at first. but the more i think about it the less i like it. i figured i'd replay it eventually with a different build but don't really have any interest in doing so anymore.

after reflecting, i think the writing is just too cynical and tongue in cheek. DE is too afraid to be sincere, so instead it opts for quirky satire. the secret extra scene is wonderful and almost makes up for it, but the ending after ended on a really lukewarm note.
the artstyle is cool. the world is well thought out, but not really the focus since it's mostly a personal story. choices don't really matter all that much aside from coloring the protagonist how you want.

i probably don't like visual novels, 99% of the focus was in the dialogue. or i just don't like the kind of story that DE tells.

grindy and archaic, but in some ways still a masterclass in MMO design.
in a time before wikis and guides, Ragnarok was truly magical. it threw you in an open world without any guidance and you figured things out on your own or through socializing and hearsay. billions of monster drops and leveling spots meant you could always find a reason to travel to a different part of the world or to just explore for its own sake, and tackling the harder enemies required you to party up.
very frequently you'd run into someone killing the same monsters as you for one or another reason, so hey why not party up with this total stranger, you both benefit from it. you end up chatting to pass the time and before you knew it you made a friend. socializing was built into the game, it was a breeze compared to online games these days.
however, by 2022's standards, it's FAR too grindy, and the way people approach games is no longer the same as it was back then. coupled with game changes over the decades, i can't rightly recommend the game to someone that hasn't played it, as it's no longer the same.

the artstyle, designs and music were absolutely phenomenal and uniquely creative though. i love the bumpin techno music in the underground cave areas. most of the music has a certain 2000s RPG quality that i can't quite put my finger on, but it sounds like pure nostalgia to me, especially the town themes.

this game was my first experience with the internet. i'll never forget stepping into Prontera for the first time and seeing hundreds of people fill up every space in the map as our family computer slowed to a crawl. my 9 year old mind was blown realizing these were all people playing this game at the same time as me. i'll cherish that memory forever.

RO also taught me english which is pretty cool.

in its early iterations, this was one of the most soulful MMOs ever made.
the combat system had a lot of depth and build variety (before people metagamed the absolute optimal skills), its crafting minigames and life systems were really well thought out (before being cheesed by plugins and bots) and aesthetically it was pretty inspired (before it turned into flanderized run of the mill anime shit).

the skill and gear system allowed for different kinds of customizations and was very asymmetrical. the weapons weren't predictably tiered (wooden, iron, gold etc) like they are in RPGs now, but rather every weapon handled differently and lent itself better to certain builds. upgrades were often tradeoffs or specializations. some weapons were straight better than others, but you could make most of them work, so you picked what you liked.

item management mattered and was very fun in its grid arragement, kinda like RE4. nearly every item felt like it had a use, be it gear, fashion, crafting or quests. you could get all kinds of loot from different dungeons, exploration ventures, gathering skills or smacking random objects in the world. there were titles for bragging rights, too. also a food system, depending on your diet you got fat, buff or skinny. and a music system that let you play music from MIDI scores. lots of little things that greatly added to the social aspect.

one of my fondest memories was venturing out into a far flung forest area in the iria continent to get to a dungeon with a few friends. we stopped to make a campfire at night and gathered mushrooms to cook and share around the fire. going to a dungeon was a big deal and required preparation and travel, which made one feel like there was something at stake.

this game had so many things i miss in modern MMOs; asymmetrical, open ended design, genuine exploration, a story that guides you through the game without railroading you, and TONS of opportunities to be social.

a shame how it turned out over the years, mainly caused by Nexon's awful business practices and gameplay meddling. devCAT is (was?) one of most talented korean studios i've seen, and they honestly deserved better. there were so, so many good gameplay decisions in this game that are completely unappreciated and lost to time, bogged down by additions, changes and a changing market. i wish the real sequel to this game didn't get canned, vindictus doesn't count it's basically a different game.
i saw about mabinogi mobile, not excited for that if that if it ever comes out.

edit: last i checked, there was a private server that replicated the classic experience. probably the definite way to play it these days over the live version.

a really emotional conclusion to the story.
i went back and forth on it. at first loving it, then being a bit upset about some of the pacing issues and story resolutions, back to loving it again. i think they could've wrapped up a few things better, but i'm happy for what we got. it feels like a definite end i'm glad i stuck around for.
i really liked that the scions got a lot of screentime. the tearjerker moments got to me more than once.

gameplay wise it's okay, more of the same. nothing wild or new so far in 6.0.
i'll see myself playing xiv for a while longer, but am also interested to see what square's next MMO is gonna shape up to be like.

fishing is fun. also p3s is suffering

at the point of writing this i've got about 180 hrs and am on NG++, still not tired of the game
Nioh 2 fixes the first game's biggest flaw, the lack of enemy variety, while adding a shitload more content, such as more weapons and skills to existing ones. i'm still mastering nuances of the combat system and getting the hang of some weapons, while the game keeps throwing more difficult situations and mechanics at me that i have to adapt to in higher difficulties. it doesn't get boring. this game might have the most amount of content out of any action rpg ever.

co-op can be incredibly fun and is really well thought out mechanically. you can play through the entire game with a friend no problem.

the only really glaring negative i'd say is boss skill drops. some of them are really fun or even integral to a weapon's moveset, but are locked behind RNG drops from bosses. if you don't have patience for grinding from years of playing korean MMOs like i do, just cheat them in after killing the boss a few times

Rising Zan deserves more credit for being the unmentioned grandfather of classic action games like DMC, God Hand and Metal Gear Rising. it's over the top, unapologetically cheesy, and legitimately funny. my favorite part is the button-mashing mini game you execute a boss at the end of a level with, it's insanely stylish.

the game is however... not very good. it really suffers from early 3D and ps1 limitations. it's very janky, and there's not that much depth to the combat. still, it's one of a kind. in a just world we would've gotten the polished sequel it deserves, because there's a lot of untapped potential in a cheesy ridiculous anime cowboy samurai action game.

if you don't know about this game, go listen to Rising Zan's JP Opening by Hironobu Kageyama right now