jdquach
3 reviews liked by jdquach
You know, if there was one thing I would say I greatly appreciate about reviewing games on this website, it would be that it has given me the drive to check out a lot more games then I would before, including games I probably would never even think twice of by just looking at them. It has led me to discovering several series that, while I wouldn’t say are my personal favorites out there, did provide some interesting experiences, and I’m glad that I finally took a look at a good number of these games at this point. Now, with that being said… there are a good number of these games that I discover and finally try out that, after trying them out, I wish I could go back and just go back to being completely unaware of so that I didn’t have to experience them. Case in point, we have today’s topic, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia.
Now, on a surface level, I can say I really like what this game is doing here. It was designed by the guy who made Pitfall, so it is clear there are experienced devs behind this, and there are some really creative ideas here for not just the NES system, but also games in general around this time, which is appreciated. But, when you actually play the game… GOD DAMN, it is one of the most aggravating games I have ever played for the system. Yes, there are a lot of unique elements that I really admire about it, and it isn’t completely awful, but needless to say, after this review, I am never touching this game again.
The story has been done in plenty of places and mediums, but it is simple enough to where you can accept it, the graphics I would say are good, if the environments you traveled through weren’t some of the most BORING environments ever made, the music (and by that, I mean like the couple songs) is good enough, but considering how one song plays through most of the entire game, and it has a lot of the same melody as others, it makes me wanna go deaf, the control is easy enough to grasp, albeit a little tedious when switching between jellybeans and other elements, and the gameplay is inventive and unique for the system at the time, but… GOD DAMN… we’ll get there, trust me.
The game is a puzzle platformer, where you run around several environments with a blob friend following you, avoiding obstacles, gathering treasure and other items, while using various jellybeans along the way to help you reach your destinations. As I mentioned previously, a lot of the elements in this game I really appreciate more than I like, including the ideas. You use the jellybeans to feed your blob so that he can transform into useful items to help you progress, such as ladders, holes, bubbles, bridges, and so on. Not to mention, they give you a LOT of jellybeans, so it allows the player to experiment in various places to see what jellybeans do what and how you can solve puzzles to find treasures. Again, this is all stuff that is pretty unique for a game on the NES at the time, and it is cool seeing all the different things that the blob can turn into.
However… that does not stop me from absolutely loathing this game for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, the movement of your character in any given situation is imprecise and inconsistent as fuck. In terms of your main movement, you go pretty fast after a little bit before full speed, and when you turn, you do so on a dime, but whenever you stop moving, your character has to sliiiiiiiiiiide himself across the ground a bit before coming to a full stop. This simple aspect is almost UNBEARABLE to handle. Given that the game is a puzzle game, a lot of times, you will need to be in a very specific spot in order to get something, and when your character moves like an indecisive spaz or Sonic the fucking Hedgehog, it is incredibly frustrating to accomplish all of your goals. This even goes into whenever you are in an alternate mode of transportation, such as bouncing on a trampoline or floating in a bubble underwater. Anytime, there is always SOMETHING wrong with your movement, and it infuriates me to no end.
This also applies to the blob that you use throughout the journey. Thankfully, he is not as bad as your own movement, and his AI is actually pretty good for a game like this, but again, this is all thrown out the door when it comes to the precise way this game works. A lot of times, you will need to position the blob in a specific spot so that you can feed him a jellybean and complete the task at hand, but there were numerous instances in the game where he just didn’t go to the specific spot that he needed to, even with how much I was whistling and leading him forward. Yes, this is just an NES game, so I am aware that aspects like this can’t always be super accurate or precise, but whenever these elements interfere with progression and gameplay, then it kind of becomes a problem.
Aside from the movement and AI problems I have already mentioned, as well as the tiny remarks I made earlier that also play a part in this, the last problem I have is that this may as well be the dictionary definition of a guide game. It is very hard to find most of the treasures and items you need to progress without some kind of guide to help you out, which I don’t usually mind too much in games when this is a thing, but as I mentioned earlier, the locations you travel through in this game are extremely boring, with little to no standout features to tell you where are at specifically most of the time, especially since for most of the game you are traveling through these brown-ass caverns.
Now, you can argue that, again, this game heavily encourages experimentation, with you testing out what jellybeans do, where to use them, seeing what they do, and so on, and I would agree with you, but this kind of thing works much better in games like King’s Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, where you get an infinite number of tries at this experimentation so long as you have a save point. In this game, however, there are no save points, and you have lives, so when you inevitably die and lose all your lives, you will need to go ALL the way back and do all of it again. Needless to say, I don’t have the time nor the patience for that shit.
Overall, while I do appreciate everything that the game tries to do, and while it was pretty unique for the time, it didn’t stop me from absolutely hating my time with this game, and never even wanting to think about playing the game again for the rest of my life. You may think I am overreacting, but trust me, it is THAT irritating. Let’s just hope that the sequels can somehow take this concept and make it actually bearable so that we don’t have another Alex Kidd situation on our hands.
Game #199
Now, on a surface level, I can say I really like what this game is doing here. It was designed by the guy who made Pitfall, so it is clear there are experienced devs behind this, and there are some really creative ideas here for not just the NES system, but also games in general around this time, which is appreciated. But, when you actually play the game… GOD DAMN, it is one of the most aggravating games I have ever played for the system. Yes, there are a lot of unique elements that I really admire about it, and it isn’t completely awful, but needless to say, after this review, I am never touching this game again.
The story has been done in plenty of places and mediums, but it is simple enough to where you can accept it, the graphics I would say are good, if the environments you traveled through weren’t some of the most BORING environments ever made, the music (and by that, I mean like the couple songs) is good enough, but considering how one song plays through most of the entire game, and it has a lot of the same melody as others, it makes me wanna go deaf, the control is easy enough to grasp, albeit a little tedious when switching between jellybeans and other elements, and the gameplay is inventive and unique for the system at the time, but… GOD DAMN… we’ll get there, trust me.
The game is a puzzle platformer, where you run around several environments with a blob friend following you, avoiding obstacles, gathering treasure and other items, while using various jellybeans along the way to help you reach your destinations. As I mentioned previously, a lot of the elements in this game I really appreciate more than I like, including the ideas. You use the jellybeans to feed your blob so that he can transform into useful items to help you progress, such as ladders, holes, bubbles, bridges, and so on. Not to mention, they give you a LOT of jellybeans, so it allows the player to experiment in various places to see what jellybeans do what and how you can solve puzzles to find treasures. Again, this is all stuff that is pretty unique for a game on the NES at the time, and it is cool seeing all the different things that the blob can turn into.
However… that does not stop me from absolutely loathing this game for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, the movement of your character in any given situation is imprecise and inconsistent as fuck. In terms of your main movement, you go pretty fast after a little bit before full speed, and when you turn, you do so on a dime, but whenever you stop moving, your character has to sliiiiiiiiiiide himself across the ground a bit before coming to a full stop. This simple aspect is almost UNBEARABLE to handle. Given that the game is a puzzle game, a lot of times, you will need to be in a very specific spot in order to get something, and when your character moves like an indecisive spaz or Sonic the fucking Hedgehog, it is incredibly frustrating to accomplish all of your goals. This even goes into whenever you are in an alternate mode of transportation, such as bouncing on a trampoline or floating in a bubble underwater. Anytime, there is always SOMETHING wrong with your movement, and it infuriates me to no end.
This also applies to the blob that you use throughout the journey. Thankfully, he is not as bad as your own movement, and his AI is actually pretty good for a game like this, but again, this is all thrown out the door when it comes to the precise way this game works. A lot of times, you will need to position the blob in a specific spot so that you can feed him a jellybean and complete the task at hand, but there were numerous instances in the game where he just didn’t go to the specific spot that he needed to, even with how much I was whistling and leading him forward. Yes, this is just an NES game, so I am aware that aspects like this can’t always be super accurate or precise, but whenever these elements interfere with progression and gameplay, then it kind of becomes a problem.
Aside from the movement and AI problems I have already mentioned, as well as the tiny remarks I made earlier that also play a part in this, the last problem I have is that this may as well be the dictionary definition of a guide game. It is very hard to find most of the treasures and items you need to progress without some kind of guide to help you out, which I don’t usually mind too much in games when this is a thing, but as I mentioned earlier, the locations you travel through in this game are extremely boring, with little to no standout features to tell you where are at specifically most of the time, especially since for most of the game you are traveling through these brown-ass caverns.
Now, you can argue that, again, this game heavily encourages experimentation, with you testing out what jellybeans do, where to use them, seeing what they do, and so on, and I would agree with you, but this kind of thing works much better in games like King’s Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, where you get an infinite number of tries at this experimentation so long as you have a save point. In this game, however, there are no save points, and you have lives, so when you inevitably die and lose all your lives, you will need to go ALL the way back and do all of it again. Needless to say, I don’t have the time nor the patience for that shit.
Overall, while I do appreciate everything that the game tries to do, and while it was pretty unique for the time, it didn’t stop me from absolutely hating my time with this game, and never even wanting to think about playing the game again for the rest of my life. You may think I am overreacting, but trust me, it is THAT irritating. Let’s just hope that the sequels can somehow take this concept and make it actually bearable so that we don’t have another Alex Kidd situation on our hands.
Game #199
Dragon Age II
2011
Dragon Age 2 is not a game for everyone. But if it IS for you, Kirkwall will stay with you forever.
Few games let you just live the life of someone slowly figuring their life out across 7 years in a fantasy setting.
Even fewer can say they are not about winning and saving the world, but trying to save the little peace of it that you know and love. You can't really save Kirkwall, or change the world in a meaningful way. But you were here for a while, loved some people for a while, and that's all that mattered in the end.
In the end, the best way I can describe it is a little quote your character can say about the city it's taking place in: "A city of people living their lives, good or ill."
So with all of it's flaws maybe that's what the game is all about. And that's what makes it feel so real to me.
An RPG about life, the good and the ugly.
Few games let you just live the life of someone slowly figuring their life out across 7 years in a fantasy setting.
Even fewer can say they are not about winning and saving the world, but trying to save the little peace of it that you know and love. You can't really save Kirkwall, or change the world in a meaningful way. But you were here for a while, loved some people for a while, and that's all that mattered in the end.
In the end, the best way I can describe it is a little quote your character can say about the city it's taking place in: "A city of people living their lives, good or ill."
So with all of it's flaws maybe that's what the game is all about. And that's what makes it feel so real to me.
An RPG about life, the good and the ugly.
"Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile?"
This is just outright the most emotionally resonant, full experience I've had with this hobby in my life to date and it's sort of not even close.
Shadowbringers was already the pinnacle of the genre and they clearly weren't content with only one masterpiece because they went and pulled it off again. It's surreal seeing a finale of this magnitude realized as effectively as what we got here. The writing is phenomenal throughout, especially so in zone 5, and the entire expansion is packed with some of the best video game music...ever? Soken and Ishikawa are very much in a league of their own at this point.
Footfalls, Flow, both Sharlayan themes, and Dynamis are stunning just to name a few standout tracks. Not only are the individual Endwalker songs themselves great musically, the placement of each and every piece is executed perfectly to reinforce the story. The way Close in the Distance progressively unfolds over the course of the final area until you get the full vocal version was genius.
Every moment of this finale is deftly pulling together over a decade of meticulously structured narrative threads while simultaneously laying the foundation to do it all over again and it is immensely fulfilling if you've played the game for any length of time. The entire expansion is undeniably built on plenty of familiar JRPG trappings, but the way core themes are explored and the actual specifics of the plot make it one of the best versions of a story in this vein imo.
Everything surrounding the MSQ is great as well. Some of the best, most powerful voice acting in the game so far is found throughout Endwalker, All the trials were top tier design wise as were plenty of the dungeons, and given the wealth of great content in 6.1 there's a ton of other great encounters and new story on the horizon.
14 is one of the most impressive, accomplished not only MMOs but video games period at this point and this masterful conclusion to the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story only reinforces that.
This is just outright the most emotionally resonant, full experience I've had with this hobby in my life to date and it's sort of not even close.
Shadowbringers was already the pinnacle of the genre and they clearly weren't content with only one masterpiece because they went and pulled it off again. It's surreal seeing a finale of this magnitude realized as effectively as what we got here. The writing is phenomenal throughout, especially so in zone 5, and the entire expansion is packed with some of the best video game music...ever? Soken and Ishikawa are very much in a league of their own at this point.
Footfalls, Flow, both Sharlayan themes, and Dynamis are stunning just to name a few standout tracks. Not only are the individual Endwalker songs themselves great musically, the placement of each and every piece is executed perfectly to reinforce the story. The way Close in the Distance progressively unfolds over the course of the final area until you get the full vocal version was genius.
Every moment of this finale is deftly pulling together over a decade of meticulously structured narrative threads while simultaneously laying the foundation to do it all over again and it is immensely fulfilling if you've played the game for any length of time. The entire expansion is undeniably built on plenty of familiar JRPG trappings, but the way core themes are explored and the actual specifics of the plot make it one of the best versions of a story in this vein imo.
Everything surrounding the MSQ is great as well. Some of the best, most powerful voice acting in the game so far is found throughout Endwalker, All the trials were top tier design wise as were plenty of the dungeons, and given the wealth of great content in 6.1 there's a ton of other great encounters and new story on the horizon.
14 is one of the most impressive, accomplished not only MMOs but video games period at this point and this masterful conclusion to the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story only reinforces that.