lavabro
439 Reviews liked by lavabro
.Hack//Quarantine
2003
Finally finished, so I can give my conclusive thoughts
This tetralogy is something you have to enjoy the vibe of. The gameplay isn't really amazing and the difficulty can get to be bullshit. However, I love it. It's easily one of the most soulful hidden gems I've ever played
The story is pretty solid. As someone who played G.U. first, I already knew what to expect. Players of The World go into comas because of a mysterious force. Kite goes along to befriend other players, a hacker, and an administrator to discover what went wrong after his own friend gets into a coma. The conclusion in Quarantine is epic, which made playing through a lot of the slow parts prior to this worth it
The gameplay - compared to G.U. (which is all I can really compare it to), I like it a lot more. This game is more about having the right equipment and items. You go into word generated fields. You enter dungeons and typically need to get to the bottom floor to advance the story or grab an item. Fighting enemies can get pretty annoying because you are locked into rooms when fighting them, so you can't run away. The best way to play these games is make Kite a spellcaster healer and just make sure your party is always buffed. Or just make sure you have a shit ton of healing and revival items stocked lol. Overall it's pretty enjoyable, it's definitely a more strategical action RPG which is most similar to the Mana games imo. Only bad thing I'll mention is the virus core grind which can get annoying sometimes
Now for the music - genuinely just peak. Chikayo Fukuda is too good. Not only are there really memorable town themes, all the area themes also have great tunes - and all of the regular area music dynamically transitions into a faster tempo battle version. A lot of them are perfect to sleep to. Can't complain at all here, and I already played G.U. so I knew how good the OST would be
Going to also mention that the art and sound design are right up my alley. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (who also did Evangelion art) worked on this. The character art is just perfect to me. The sound design is top notch, like all the menu and attack sounds, I just love it. If you're gonna make an RPG where I have to menu more than half the time, it better have good sound effects
I don't really have anything else to say. I'd pipe BlackRose. I'd pipe Gardenia. I'd pipe Mistral. I'd pipe Terajima Ryoko. I'd pipe Helba
Peak. Kite is the GOAT
This tetralogy is something you have to enjoy the vibe of. The gameplay isn't really amazing and the difficulty can get to be bullshit. However, I love it. It's easily one of the most soulful hidden gems I've ever played
The story is pretty solid. As someone who played G.U. first, I already knew what to expect. Players of The World go into comas because of a mysterious force. Kite goes along to befriend other players, a hacker, and an administrator to discover what went wrong after his own friend gets into a coma. The conclusion in Quarantine is epic, which made playing through a lot of the slow parts prior to this worth it
The gameplay - compared to G.U. (which is all I can really compare it to), I like it a lot more. This game is more about having the right equipment and items. You go into word generated fields. You enter dungeons and typically need to get to the bottom floor to advance the story or grab an item. Fighting enemies can get pretty annoying because you are locked into rooms when fighting them, so you can't run away. The best way to play these games is make Kite a spellcaster healer and just make sure your party is always buffed. Or just make sure you have a shit ton of healing and revival items stocked lol. Overall it's pretty enjoyable, it's definitely a more strategical action RPG which is most similar to the Mana games imo. Only bad thing I'll mention is the virus core grind which can get annoying sometimes
Now for the music - genuinely just peak. Chikayo Fukuda is too good. Not only are there really memorable town themes, all the area themes also have great tunes - and all of the regular area music dynamically transitions into a faster tempo battle version. A lot of them are perfect to sleep to. Can't complain at all here, and I already played G.U. so I knew how good the OST would be
Going to also mention that the art and sound design are right up my alley. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (who also did Evangelion art) worked on this. The character art is just perfect to me. The sound design is top notch, like all the menu and attack sounds, I just love it. If you're gonna make an RPG where I have to menu more than half the time, it better have good sound effects
I don't really have anything else to say. I'd pipe BlackRose. I'd pipe Gardenia. I'd pipe Mistral. I'd pipe Terajima Ryoko. I'd pipe Helba
Peak. Kite is the GOAT
Borderlands 3
2019
Street Fighter 6: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
God of Rock: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Mortal Kombat 1: Has an Omni-Man voiced by JK Simmons BUT UNFORTUNATELY it still don't got Gold Ship and Special Week
NASB 2: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Week
Pocket Bravery: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Tekken 8: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
UNI 2: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising: Has Gold Ship and Special Week
I think we all know what the real fighting game of the year is. See you on December 12 2024 Geoff Keighley.
God of Rock: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Mortal Kombat 1: Has an Omni-Man voiced by JK Simmons BUT UNFORTUNATELY it still don't got Gold Ship and Special Week
NASB 2: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Week
Pocket Bravery: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Tekken 8: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
UNI 2: Doesn't have Gold Ship and Special Week
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising: Has Gold Ship and Special Week
I think we all know what the real fighting game of the year is. See you on December 12 2024 Geoff Keighley.
Spider-Man 2 is the perfect example of why new isn't always better.
Throughout my playthrough, I experienced 3 crashes and 9 softlocks. Couple that with one of the trophies being impossible to get in the post-game (Slack Line) and I concluded that this is hands down one of the most unpolished, rushed current-gen games from Sony's first-party studio.
The story is also just mediocre all around. The first Act is just extremely boring with nothing of note happening besides finding out a bunch of villains getting killed off-screen by some jobber named Kraven. Speaking of which, having Kraven be one of the central antagonists of the game had to have been one of the worst decisions they could've made because Kraven just so happens to be the most uninteresting and flat villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery.
Venom could've saved this story and to be honest, he almost did. Unfortunately, the entire symbiote invasion just turns the last two hours of the game into complete and utter babble where the main goal turns into retrieving some thingamajig so that the other guy can't have the thingamajig.
Now as for gameplay, it's one of the most positive things I can say. It is fundamentally just the gameplay of Spider-Man Miles Morales which was already solid. New combat abilities are great and the new traversal techniques are fine additions. However, what is dull are the side activities which somehow feels like has less content than the first game despite having a bigger map, which just makes New York feel unnecessarily empty. The villain side quests are especially disappointing. They either A) End with you kicking their ass once and then fucking off, never to be brought up again, or B) End with you not even fighting them at all, the villain escaping, and then unexplainably is never a threat again.
I wanted to like this (and trust me I fuck with Marvel comics and Spider-Man media heavy) but this is just immensely disappointing. Makes sense why this shit didn't win any awards now. ššš
Throughout my playthrough, I experienced 3 crashes and 9 softlocks. Couple that with one of the trophies being impossible to get in the post-game (Slack Line) and I concluded that this is hands down one of the most unpolished, rushed current-gen games from Sony's first-party studio.
The story is also just mediocre all around. The first Act is just extremely boring with nothing of note happening besides finding out a bunch of villains getting killed off-screen by some jobber named Kraven. Speaking of which, having Kraven be one of the central antagonists of the game had to have been one of the worst decisions they could've made because Kraven just so happens to be the most uninteresting and flat villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery.
Venom could've saved this story and to be honest, he almost did. Unfortunately, the entire symbiote invasion just turns the last two hours of the game into complete and utter babble where the main goal turns into retrieving some thingamajig so that the other guy can't have the thingamajig.
Now as for gameplay, it's one of the most positive things I can say. It is fundamentally just the gameplay of Spider-Man Miles Morales which was already solid. New combat abilities are great and the new traversal techniques are fine additions. However, what is dull are the side activities which somehow feels like has less content than the first game despite having a bigger map, which just makes New York feel unnecessarily empty. The villain side quests are especially disappointing. They either A) End with you kicking their ass once and then fucking off, never to be brought up again, or B) End with you not even fighting them at all, the villain escaping, and then unexplainably is never a threat again.
I wanted to like this (and trust me I fuck with Marvel comics and Spider-Man media heavy) but this is just immensely disappointing. Makes sense why this shit didn't win any awards now. ššš
Drakengard
2003
This is a terrible game that hates you more than dark souls. I will (hopefully) never play this game again. I have touched zero other games with this thick of atmosphere. The soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece in immersive art. The characters are all insane, and insanely interesting.
Caim is a silent protagonist that lets his sword do all the talking. Literally. Caim cannot speak and the only language he can express himself in is violence. This game explores what happens when people lose what allows them to connect with others.
"Welcome to a world without song"
One of the most horrifically interesting and effective games I have ever hated playing through.
Caim is a silent protagonist that lets his sword do all the talking. Literally. Caim cannot speak and the only language he can express himself in is violence. This game explores what happens when people lose what allows them to connect with others.
"Welcome to a world without song"
One of the most horrifically interesting and effective games I have ever hated playing through.
Yakuza 0
2015
Baldur's Gate 3
2020
a game crushed by its own ambition. all the best creative elements of 5e are stripped away leaving one of the weakest narratives I've seen in an RPG and companions so shallow that even minor side characters were more interesting. maybe one day I'll bother to pick up bg3 again and start act 3, but I'm at the end of act 2 and the only thing that's left me impressed has been the production values and a single moment involving DU + shadowheart
Lethal Company
2023
Super fun.
Sometimes you can't see shit, sometimes you get lost. The oil painting/heat vision + low-polyish artstyle of this game is great and adds to the horror very well. The sound design is also really great
You are racing against time. I like collecting stuff to meet a quota, it's a lot more fun compared to boring ass Phasmophobia
Sometimes you can't see shit, sometimes you get lost. The oil painting/heat vision + low-polyish artstyle of this game is great and adds to the horror very well. The sound design is also really great
You are racing against time. I like collecting stuff to meet a quota, it's a lot more fun compared to boring ass Phasmophobia