Really great visual novel with some light logic puzzle elements. I found that it took me a while to figure out what the game wanted me to do when and what was even possible, which lead to some frustrating game overs. The navigation from investigation scene to the next was incredibly tedious, why couldn’t I just have a big list of locations to pick from why do I always need to do a choice tree. The real meat here is the actual trials and the characters, everything else is a big bloated and tiresome but the highs are really high. Love how the original storyline wrapped up. Now to talk about the bonus case afterwards, it felt like it went on so long compared to the others. When I thought I was almost done there were still like 4 “to be continued”s left. All the many moving parts and trials lead to a spectacular finale though and it was well worth it. This final trial was definitely the most annoying out of all of them though, lots of shoehorned Nintendo ds gimmicks and some fairly annoying characters. Especially Meekins with his earbleedingly loud megaphone, for his parts I ended up just muting the game which I shouldn’t have to do. Finishing this gets to excited to dive into a vast series of games im bound to love.

Very delightful, expectations aside I don’t know why this got so much hate back in the day. I’ve heard that the switch port makes the speed a bit faster and some things but all the level design is the same. Theres just so much joy everywhere and the UI and world design is very pleasant to look at. The collectibles are fun and movement is smooth. Doesn’t have the boundless creativity and unique feel that galaxy or even wonder has but it gets very close. I’m counting this as mastered because the goal of finishing every level with every character is lame padding for 100%.

I’ve never seen such a crazy jump in production value/quality from one game to its sequel. Everything from the music to the dialogue to the atmosphere and changing art styles really sells it for me. Was a bit on the edge for the first bit because of the jumpscares in the first one but I’m glad this one was more tasteful with it. My first play though was definitely the best, kept me immersed the whole way. Everything after though made it kind of lose the magic, I only really liked a couple of the endings whereas the others lost me a bit there. Also clicking through half an hour of dialogue in minutes just to do things differently for the other endings made it all fade away and now I was just starting at pixels on a screen. This isn’t a criticism of this game specifically, just a flaw of having a short game with multiple endings you can just breeze by to see. Overall loved it and am glad I checked it out.

What the base game lacks in charm it loses from the old games it more than makes up for it in the new mechanics. Going back to the old style is so slow, even just attacking twice in a row in a direction you want is jarring and hard to steer. Here they really focus on getting you to the fight as quick and as fun as possible. Harvesting items takes no time at all, all the small minutia of not fun inventory management is gone and zipping around and exploring is quick and versatile even without a dog to ride. Big fan of monster riding and the rampages as well. As of writing this I’ve only cleared out the base story and the main hub story at rank 50 but might go back and do the rest of the village stuff someday.

The most gorgeous and atmospheric puzzle game I’ve ever played. I only got help maybe max 10 times, and I only got the base ending because I am tired of my brain hurting in such a specific way. Although nice; I find some of the video clips and audio files to be a bit pretentious, like your Psych/English major friend trying to show off. Really loved the subtle world building and how diverse each of the biomes were. Finally getting a puzzle you have been chipping away at for 30 minutes is very satisfying and makes up for the rest of the game where I was occasionally just banging my head against the wall. Don’t think I’ll go back and do the non mandatory sections, but who knows.

I am enamored with this game. It may not have the best story and I feel some emotional moments could’ve hit a bit harder, but damn is this fun. The combat is so tight and satisfying, the learning curve I had at the start really taught me the hard way. I also love pretty much all of the characters and exploring their personalities by using them more in combat was really rewarding. Making me build a connection to these units really helped me to be strategic so they wouldn’t die. The presentation is lovely and the cutscenes are crazy to see on such a tiny console. Will def be checking out more of these.

I feel like they kept releasing the sequels to new super mario bros all these years to buy them time while they put every possible ounce of creativity and polish into this one. It could have just been the regular old formula plus the wonder flowers and that would be enough to make it a stellar game. Not only do they add that though they also have the very versatile and rewarding badge system along with the darksouls-esque online multiplayer. Which rockets it into the stratosphere for me. It was also a frustrating joy to 100% which is expected with a mainline mario game. Some of the best online interactions i've had in a game is when I was really struggling with a challenge level for a good 10 minutes then someone else would come along and struggle. We then made an unspoken pact to help each other out and be the fallback in case we died. Very glad to have played this

This is probably the biggest change in opinion I’ve had for a game ever. When I originally bought it I didn’t care for it at all. The item renting system felt very obtuse, the starting dungeons felt a bit confusing and aimless and I didn’t love the map. 8 years later after I beat Oracle of ages I was itching for another handheld Zelda and it all clicked. Once I started buying items it felt so freeing being able to have a dungeon packed entirely with puzzles related to the key item instead of just halfway through like usual. This also made dungeons feel super snappy, the only goal was getting around and killing the boss. Everything else was up to you if you wanted to explore. The ending was also a treat, great emotional beats along with very thrilling set pieces. Glad I gave it another shot.

Like a mix of hollow knight and Minecraft. Didn’t fully get the appeal at start but once I unlocked some of the power upgrades it clicked. Very good for picking up and playing a few minutes here and there. The world building is unassuming but what is there is great with its tone and progression. I loved the freedom of movement at the end when you have all the upgrades. My only real gripe with it is I couldn’t unlock everything from the shop at the end because I bought one too many of the teleporters.