nosc87
61 Reviews liked by nosc87
This review contains spoilers
I shouldn't rate this game this high, cuz it's a mess. But it's also a very ambitious and heartfelt project for a new JRPG series, that brings a lot to the table.
Obviously it's the second game named Shadow Hearts and chronically the third game starting from the story told in Koudelka, so why should this one be so special?
For one, gameplay-wise it just improves so much from the first Shadow Hearts. This time the judgement ring is not just testing your timing to actually execute the turn based combat, but it also offers a lot of options for customization and either playing it more safe or going for higher risk and higher reward in dealing more damage/ stronger heals/ more effective buffs. This is exacerbated by the sanity point system from the previous game, where from turn to turn your characters loose points and when it drops to 0 they'll go mad and attack people randomly or start healing enemies. You want to take some risks to finish the enemies faster, to not go insane.
From a purely gameplay perspective the party is probably one of the best in any JRPG, their skills and abilities are so diverse that every single on of them can be put to good use and you can further customize their spells via the different "crests" to mix and match different magic abilities. They also have pretty involved side-quests to gain more abilities and equipment (and rarely reveal a bit more about their background). The cast in general is super colorful and memorable, even if many of them stay rather one-note, they all still manage to make an impression with their eccentric mannerisms and skills. There is also stuff like actually good puzzles for dungeons and a discount system for merchants that again tests your dexterity and timing, same with the lottery. Just a lot of stuff that makes this game stand out mechanically.
Then there is the setting. Gone are the days from the original Shadow Hearts where every second village is cursed, overrun by man-eating demons, haunted by ghosts or where mad scientist try to revive their loved ones by sacrificing a bunch of people and instead demons, ghost as well as other abominations take a backseat, making the horror themes more of a backdrop. Shadow Hearts' theme of overcoming trauma however gets a more societal focus this way. In this way it combines it's blend of alternative history and horror in a rather interesting way. While it doesn't analyze (historic) injustices in a material or systemic way, - framing the ever increasing violence and cruelty of WW1 as the outcome of a power hungry cult possessed by demons and Japan's ongoing imperialism as influenced by the inability of the antagonist to overcome his trauma, resulting in occult experiments for creating new weapons - it still provides an interesting premise for conflict.
The acceptance of trauma and cherishing the good memories of lost lovers on the side of the protagonist and the inability to do so on the side of the antagonist is an interesting and engaging conflict that can actually pertain to the actual lives of the players. However, the portrayal of historic conflicts also is where it gets messy.
The fictional foreign minister of Japan is supposed to have formed a shadow government, which while it does paint a scathing picture of Japan's ever increasing militarism at the time it does also shift the blame - like so many modern Japanese revisionist narratives do - to a military gone rogue. In reality, ever since the days of the modern Empire, Japan did in fact pursue to become Asia's super power comparable to the British Empire. Military conquest, cultural subjugation and economic enslavement where goals the whole nation strived for.
Especially with on the one hand the final confrontation with the foreign minister and on the other hand with the antagonist and the last boss fight, ist is clear, that this game really wants to portray the Japanese Empire as a corrupt and cruel. Some parts just don't match up though. The rehabilitation of Naniwa Kawashima for example: Kawashima was a spy that tried to help Chinese nobles found a new state in Manchuria. This is the same goal the foreign minister pursued in the game and it's the same goal the Japanese did in fact strive for. In actual history Japan eventually cut support for the Chinese nobles and instead went for the establishment of a settler colony via military means. Either way, both were meant to strengthen Japan's economic control in the region. Kawashima and the foreign minister should be equally bad in the game, yet one is framed as evil incarnate while the other is our benefactor and kinda mentor.
On the side of Europe in WW1 it doesn't fare much better. Not once is the game interest in investigating the struggles for power underlying the conflict between the super powers and we're even supposed to feel sympathy for the Russian nobles as they are a victim of Rasputin's evil plots. (I do admit however that Rasputin is a really entertaining villain).
Another thing is the retcons. They just make the narrative unnecessarily complicated. The villain of the last game suddenly had a rival, he just wanted to stoo, which is the only reason he wanted to destroy the world. Naniwa Kawashima did in fact love his daughter and didn't order her killing in the last game (though he still has enough of say in the military to even stand against the foreign minister and his plots, so why didn't he prevent her death then?). And the Emigre Manuscript suddenly also controls time... A bit at least. It's all just really messy. Some plot threads feel like there existed two or more scripts for the story and they were just kinda mixer together.
Lastly there are the character stories, which can be really endearing (although never too deep), but sometimes also convoluted or downright problematic. Joachim for example is a super cool character, a gay vampire wrestler. His side-quest though is full of homophobia, racist caricatures and even rape "jokes". Another example is Karin, a female German officer, that is quite capable in combat, but barely has any agency in the story and just runs after our protagonist the whole game. In the end when she is time traveling to become the protagonist's mother (who for the entire game she had a crush one) everything just becomes really ridiculous.
...so why do I rate this this high then? Like I said, the conflict and theme of trauma is actually engaging. The atmosphere with monster ridden mines, secret headquarters of evil cults, research centers full of military machinery and half-science, half-magic experiments, ruins full of ancient monstrosities is generally unique as a setting for an JRPG and the historic epoche gives the whole thing another special touch, that you'll never see anywhere else. The battle system keeps you on edge, as a missed hit can mean the early downfall of your characters. Building your party is generally engaging. Having a protagonist that actually turns into demons, that absorbs the suffering, hatred and despair of the monsters around you to turn in into something positive, is a super effective metaphor.
I really wish someone would make a spiritual successor to this series with less homophobia, sexism and racism and that also does a little more historical research to not fall victim to this stuff, as it had so much potential and could even through the use of horror and history actually discuss stuff like colonialism really interestingly.
As it stands now though, it's just my most problematic favourite.
Obviously it's the second game named Shadow Hearts and chronically the third game starting from the story told in Koudelka, so why should this one be so special?
For one, gameplay-wise it just improves so much from the first Shadow Hearts. This time the judgement ring is not just testing your timing to actually execute the turn based combat, but it also offers a lot of options for customization and either playing it more safe or going for higher risk and higher reward in dealing more damage/ stronger heals/ more effective buffs. This is exacerbated by the sanity point system from the previous game, where from turn to turn your characters loose points and when it drops to 0 they'll go mad and attack people randomly or start healing enemies. You want to take some risks to finish the enemies faster, to not go insane.
From a purely gameplay perspective the party is probably one of the best in any JRPG, their skills and abilities are so diverse that every single on of them can be put to good use and you can further customize their spells via the different "crests" to mix and match different magic abilities. They also have pretty involved side-quests to gain more abilities and equipment (and rarely reveal a bit more about their background). The cast in general is super colorful and memorable, even if many of them stay rather one-note, they all still manage to make an impression with their eccentric mannerisms and skills. There is also stuff like actually good puzzles for dungeons and a discount system for merchants that again tests your dexterity and timing, same with the lottery. Just a lot of stuff that makes this game stand out mechanically.
Then there is the setting. Gone are the days from the original Shadow Hearts where every second village is cursed, overrun by man-eating demons, haunted by ghosts or where mad scientist try to revive their loved ones by sacrificing a bunch of people and instead demons, ghost as well as other abominations take a backseat, making the horror themes more of a backdrop. Shadow Hearts' theme of overcoming trauma however gets a more societal focus this way. In this way it combines it's blend of alternative history and horror in a rather interesting way. While it doesn't analyze (historic) injustices in a material or systemic way, - framing the ever increasing violence and cruelty of WW1 as the outcome of a power hungry cult possessed by demons and Japan's ongoing imperialism as influenced by the inability of the antagonist to overcome his trauma, resulting in occult experiments for creating new weapons - it still provides an interesting premise for conflict.
The acceptance of trauma and cherishing the good memories of lost lovers on the side of the protagonist and the inability to do so on the side of the antagonist is an interesting and engaging conflict that can actually pertain to the actual lives of the players. However, the portrayal of historic conflicts also is where it gets messy.
The fictional foreign minister of Japan is supposed to have formed a shadow government, which while it does paint a scathing picture of Japan's ever increasing militarism at the time it does also shift the blame - like so many modern Japanese revisionist narratives do - to a military gone rogue. In reality, ever since the days of the modern Empire, Japan did in fact pursue to become Asia's super power comparable to the British Empire. Military conquest, cultural subjugation and economic enslavement where goals the whole nation strived for.
Especially with on the one hand the final confrontation with the foreign minister and on the other hand with the antagonist and the last boss fight, ist is clear, that this game really wants to portray the Japanese Empire as a corrupt and cruel. Some parts just don't match up though. The rehabilitation of Naniwa Kawashima for example: Kawashima was a spy that tried to help Chinese nobles found a new state in Manchuria. This is the same goal the foreign minister pursued in the game and it's the same goal the Japanese did in fact strive for. In actual history Japan eventually cut support for the Chinese nobles and instead went for the establishment of a settler colony via military means. Either way, both were meant to strengthen Japan's economic control in the region. Kawashima and the foreign minister should be equally bad in the game, yet one is framed as evil incarnate while the other is our benefactor and kinda mentor.
On the side of Europe in WW1 it doesn't fare much better. Not once is the game interest in investigating the struggles for power underlying the conflict between the super powers and we're even supposed to feel sympathy for the Russian nobles as they are a victim of Rasputin's evil plots. (I do admit however that Rasputin is a really entertaining villain).
Another thing is the retcons. They just make the narrative unnecessarily complicated. The villain of the last game suddenly had a rival, he just wanted to stoo, which is the only reason he wanted to destroy the world. Naniwa Kawashima did in fact love his daughter and didn't order her killing in the last game (though he still has enough of say in the military to even stand against the foreign minister and his plots, so why didn't he prevent her death then?). And the Emigre Manuscript suddenly also controls time... A bit at least. It's all just really messy. Some plot threads feel like there existed two or more scripts for the story and they were just kinda mixer together.
Lastly there are the character stories, which can be really endearing (although never too deep), but sometimes also convoluted or downright problematic. Joachim for example is a super cool character, a gay vampire wrestler. His side-quest though is full of homophobia, racist caricatures and even rape "jokes". Another example is Karin, a female German officer, that is quite capable in combat, but barely has any agency in the story and just runs after our protagonist the whole game. In the end when she is time traveling to become the protagonist's mother (who for the entire game she had a crush one) everything just becomes really ridiculous.
...so why do I rate this this high then? Like I said, the conflict and theme of trauma is actually engaging. The atmosphere with monster ridden mines, secret headquarters of evil cults, research centers full of military machinery and half-science, half-magic experiments, ruins full of ancient monstrosities is generally unique as a setting for an JRPG and the historic epoche gives the whole thing another special touch, that you'll never see anywhere else. The battle system keeps you on edge, as a missed hit can mean the early downfall of your characters. Building your party is generally engaging. Having a protagonist that actually turns into demons, that absorbs the suffering, hatred and despair of the monsters around you to turn in into something positive, is a super effective metaphor.
I really wish someone would make a spiritual successor to this series with less homophobia, sexism and racism and that also does a little more historical research to not fall victim to this stuff, as it had so much potential and could even through the use of horror and history actually discuss stuff like colonialism really interestingly.
As it stands now though, it's just my most problematic favourite.
So this the end (or some might say demise) of the Shadow Hearts series.
Most of what people complain about is true. The plot is barely existent, there are almost none of the horror elements left and the characters are paper thin (except for Ricardo maybe and I might make an argument that Shania at least IS a character compared to anyone else).
However, it's still a Shadow Hearts game. The combat is fun, building your team with the different characters is still super wonky and exciting and this time around the boss fights are really well designed and might make you work around certain strategies or mechanics. And the dungeons are still nice. So playing this is really cool.
It's just sad, that the horror and history are gone. Some of the locations could work quite well for horror actually, like the secret underground lab at Arkham university, Alcatraz prison, the ship graveyard, old native American temples and the deserted, quasi haunted manor where Johnny grew up in. The Lovecraft elements could have also worked really well, to create some atmosphere.
Instead, especially in the first half, the game goes rather for rollercoaster ride approach through the Americas, than a concentrated plot that is interested in building atmosphere or working some twists or revelations.
The plot suffers for this too, as there is not much happening for a big part of it, except for the VERY random party to chase after the antagonists for more than half the game.
(Then there is also the rather unpleasant depiction of native Americans and how sexualized Shania and her fusions are. I mean Shadow Hearts has always had sexy designs, but yikes. Although I do think her fusion look cool in a way)
When you look at it however, the themes of Shadow Hearts, are still there.
Johnny and Shania both have to overcome their trauma and their loss of loved ones. It just too bad theat everything is so bare bones. I know the game had difficulties in development so I wouldn't wonder if just a lot of stuff was cut, it's just too bad, that this was the lasting outing from the series.
This game still has a special place in my heart however. The imagery, visuals and places still invoke a lot of creativity, the combat is fun and so are the dungeons and when you except that this is not as deep or thrilling as the other games, than you might still have a good time. It is still another Shadow Hearts game, a series that went away way to fast and that I dearly miss.
Most of what people complain about is true. The plot is barely existent, there are almost none of the horror elements left and the characters are paper thin (except for Ricardo maybe and I might make an argument that Shania at least IS a character compared to anyone else).
However, it's still a Shadow Hearts game. The combat is fun, building your team with the different characters is still super wonky and exciting and this time around the boss fights are really well designed and might make you work around certain strategies or mechanics. And the dungeons are still nice. So playing this is really cool.
It's just sad, that the horror and history are gone. Some of the locations could work quite well for horror actually, like the secret underground lab at Arkham university, Alcatraz prison, the ship graveyard, old native American temples and the deserted, quasi haunted manor where Johnny grew up in. The Lovecraft elements could have also worked really well, to create some atmosphere.
Instead, especially in the first half, the game goes rather for rollercoaster ride approach through the Americas, than a concentrated plot that is interested in building atmosphere or working some twists or revelations.
The plot suffers for this too, as there is not much happening for a big part of it, except for the VERY random party to chase after the antagonists for more than half the game.
(Then there is also the rather unpleasant depiction of native Americans and how sexualized Shania and her fusions are. I mean Shadow Hearts has always had sexy designs, but yikes. Although I do think her fusion look cool in a way)
When you look at it however, the themes of Shadow Hearts, are still there.
Johnny and Shania both have to overcome their trauma and their loss of loved ones. It just too bad theat everything is so bare bones. I know the game had difficulties in development so I wouldn't wonder if just a lot of stuff was cut, it's just too bad, that this was the lasting outing from the series.
This game still has a special place in my heart however. The imagery, visuals and places still invoke a lot of creativity, the combat is fun and so are the dungeons and when you except that this is not as deep or thrilling as the other games, than you might still have a good time. It is still another Shadow Hearts game, a series that went away way to fast and that I dearly miss.
Having not played this in more than decade I'm now somewhat at peace with this game. It's a classic and for good reason, but it does show its age.
It translates almost everything from previous Zelda games perfectly well into 3D (as well as laying foundations for 3D gaming for the coming decades) and actually establishes Zelda lore that stays relevant to this day. Playing it is not always fun though.
Not so much on a technical standpoint (at least concerning this remake), here everything works reasonably well, it's just that some of the pacing and dungeon design is really not so fun.
I kinda hate that grown-up Link's first three dungeon are thematically repeats of the first three dungeons. Forest, Fire and Water... Again (it's not like we don't see these three in every Zelda anyways). As Hyrule has been overrun by Ganondorf and his monsters everything is kinda... empty. Up until that point when you visit a place it's really exciting to get to know the quirky people and maybe discover the place, but not so much for the Forest, Fire and Water Temple. Right after with the Shadow and Spirit Temple this becomes really good again, but for a good third of the game it feels a bit like a mindless dungeon run. I mean, we love Zelda puzzles but we also love imaginative places and eccentric characters. The dungeons themselves aren't even too bad (except the Water Temple: too many locked doors and thus backtracking if you missed a single key) it's just the way to get there misses a sense of wonder and adventure.
The world design especially of the Hyrule Steppe is nothing but empty plains and the day and night cycle is incredibly short, which can get annoying if you wanna go somewhere or need a special time of the day to enter a place for example.
All that said, yeah this was a part of my childhood (mostly by seeing it at friends places. I didn't have a N64 but only a SNES back in the day) and back then I thought this is the greatest game of all time. Consequently it really defined my taste in games. Later when I revisited it after playing Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and a couple of Final Fantasy games, it just felt hollow and "not as sophisticated" concerning it's story as well as it's mechanics
(and all the cool side quests I "remembered" from watching a friend were actually in Majora's Mask, so that's probably why I like that one still more).
Now with a bit of distance I can enjoy it again, but I still think it's not the best 3D Zelda game by a long shot. But it's still good. Pretty good.
It translates almost everything from previous Zelda games perfectly well into 3D (as well as laying foundations for 3D gaming for the coming decades) and actually establishes Zelda lore that stays relevant to this day. Playing it is not always fun though.
Not so much on a technical standpoint (at least concerning this remake), here everything works reasonably well, it's just that some of the pacing and dungeon design is really not so fun.
I kinda hate that grown-up Link's first three dungeon are thematically repeats of the first three dungeons. Forest, Fire and Water... Again (it's not like we don't see these three in every Zelda anyways). As Hyrule has been overrun by Ganondorf and his monsters everything is kinda... empty. Up until that point when you visit a place it's really exciting to get to know the quirky people and maybe discover the place, but not so much for the Forest, Fire and Water Temple. Right after with the Shadow and Spirit Temple this becomes really good again, but for a good third of the game it feels a bit like a mindless dungeon run. I mean, we love Zelda puzzles but we also love imaginative places and eccentric characters. The dungeons themselves aren't even too bad (except the Water Temple: too many locked doors and thus backtracking if you missed a single key) it's just the way to get there misses a sense of wonder and adventure.
The world design especially of the Hyrule Steppe is nothing but empty plains and the day and night cycle is incredibly short, which can get annoying if you wanna go somewhere or need a special time of the day to enter a place for example.
All that said, yeah this was a part of my childhood (mostly by seeing it at friends places. I didn't have a N64 but only a SNES back in the day) and back then I thought this is the greatest game of all time. Consequently it really defined my taste in games. Later when I revisited it after playing Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and a couple of Final Fantasy games, it just felt hollow and "not as sophisticated" concerning it's story as well as it's mechanics
(and all the cool side quests I "remembered" from watching a friend were actually in Majora's Mask, so that's probably why I like that one still more).
Now with a bit of distance I can enjoy it again, but I still think it's not the best 3D Zelda game by a long shot. But it's still good. Pretty good.
Recently I've been trying to raise my overall completion percentage and have been trying to get the rest of the trophies in games I never got far in. For some reason I decided I wanted to play a shitty game, so I chose this one. I wanted to play something bad and be able to say hey look, I did it. And goddamnit did I do it, platinum and all.
This game is like, twilight for forty year old men. Does your dad have a lot of tattoos and wear shirts that say "Don't Tread on Me" or "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings"? He'd probably like this game.
Originally I couldn't even beat the first level before abandoning it. I gave it a half star, did a quick rant and called it a day but now am I so glad I finished it because everything about this game was unintentionally hilarious. It tries to take itself so seriously, there is not a single hint of irony or self awareness. This game thinks its cool as fuck, as evident by the ridiculous title - and that is the only saving grace.
Make no mistake, this game doesnt get the honor of "so bad its good" Its just bad. But it is the laughable-ness that will keep you sane through the 8-12 hour runtime. So many parts of this game are silly that at one point I told my boyfriend I was worried that there was so much I'd forget some of it for this review, and honestly thats probably true.
Firstly the character models are all pretty ugly. Most of them look like stock assets. All the characters suck too. The main character, Cahal, looks like discount Captain Price and has about as much substance as an empty jar of peanut butter. None of the characters are really all that likeable or memorable, the only one i thought was cool is just because he has an eyepatch, and the only one I kind of liked is just killed randomly offscreen. The story itself is also pretty pisspoor, and I tuned out for nearly the entirety of it. Tries to throw in some weird dialogue choices like the game actually earns to share a similarity to Mass Effect. None of these choices matter until at the end where you can chose between two endings, but both are bad. The game tries to be emotional at a few parts but the acting makes it funny and its not like you care about whats happening to begin with.
The animations, particularly for takedowns are also very goofy. Outside locations have visual variety but nearly every single indoor combat/stealth section looks almost identical. You will see the exact same assets over and over again.
That leads me to the gameplay itself. There are a few hub world areas where your main groups camp is literally within a mornings stroll away from enemy bases and military strongholds. Its not like you're in hiding either, it is explicitly shown the enemies know that you're right next to them. Its just incredibly silly and the game would of worked better if it kept to being linear. Theres not much to do in these areas either, except for a few collectibles and sidequests. These collectibles come in two types: notes and "spirits". The notes Im being honest I didnt read a single one I couldnt be bothered to give a fuck about the game. Maybe they gave more about the lore but the game doesnt even bother to explain itself outside of it so I couldnt be bothered either. The spirits are things you can only see in your enhanced vision™ that every third person game has. Theyre basically like magical plants that Cahal just stands there and sniffs for experience. Yeah, its funny. The sidequests are all just busy work with objectives similar to what you do in the base game already. These are completely pointless, and all they serve to do is give you more experience. If you dont plan to platinum this (which frankly having a sub 1% platinum is the only reason you should play this) then you can skip them and nothing of value is lost. This experience is used to upgrade your skill tree. Mostly to give yourself more combat abilities, with some being tactical. These are all fine, I guess. Maybe about half the abilities are actually useful, and you can get to one of the ultimate ones incredibly quickly anyways.
Now there is the combat itself. Most sections allow you to do stealth. The stealth is bad. The areas are poorly designed, mechanics are only introduced in the first few missions and just continue through the rest of the game. Plus it creates a very big disconnect, if you cause a huge ruckus and get reinforcements called on you in one area, the next area wont have enemies on alert anyways. You have a crossbow that you can upgrade to allow you to shoot cameras and turrets to disable them, but the aiming on that is terrible. Also a lot of levels towards the end have big enemies guarding exits that can neither be taken down or killed in a timely manner with the crossbow, making stealth basically useless. Which is okay, because most of the time you're just gonna opt for the actual combat because its a lot more fun.
In all honesty its the only good thing about the game, but even then its not great. Its basic hack and slash stuff, you'll get some new moves from the skill tree but nothing will make you change up your gameplay. Theres a few different enemy types but you can fight them all basically the same. There is no incentive, not even cool combos, to do anything other than spam your moves until you win. Id say at least visually it looks nice but... not really. Outside of one boss the enemy designs are all pretty meh. There is a lot of blood but absolutely zero gore which is another thing that makes this game so hard to take seriously despite its desperate attempts. It especially makes the executions look terrible. and the enemies dont even get bloodied themselves. The game isnt particularly hard either, but it does get kinda bullshit as you go on, lots of battles just go on way too long with so many enemies and its really more annoying than anything.
The combat is passable for the most part, but by the end you're gonna wanna opt for the terrible stealth instead so you dont have to sit through another shitty battle. Except you cant. Because remember? Big enemy boy is camping the exit.
This has no effect on the quality of the game itself, but I feel like it has to be mentioned. The trophy list despite the low percentages is really easy. Just nobody wants to get far in this game. I however only gave this a second chance because of trophies, and am still a bit shocked at me actually going through with this. The game does have a lot of miscellanious trophies which I do like, but they are so incredibly easy that by the end of the second mission I had every single one of them besides one for an enemy that hadnt been introduced yet. Theres a silver trophy for killing 250 enemies that I got in the first level. Theres also a few times where you will get two story trophies at the exact same time, for just doing one thing. Theres also one for getting every single spirit. There is no way to track them or even chapter select so if you miss one you'll have to play the entire game a second time and I hope nobody puts themself through that. You also get one for each ending choice. You can continue from your completed save but it just puts you after you made the choice anyways, which is a bruh moment, Thankfully you can just restart the mission. Like I said it doesnt really matter, and going for trophies helped me get through it, its just a bit hilarious how poorly they were all thought out and is kind of an example of how the rest of the game is.
So thats Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. If I did have one positive, its that I like the metal song on the title screen. Other than that I hope Ive demonstrated how much of a mess this game is, and I didnt even cover everything. This game is far from the worst I've played, but its definitely one of the worst I've beat. Thanks for reading <3
God I hope theres a sequel. And I hope its not much better.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #213)
Time Played: 12 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 36/100
Game Completion #115 of 2022
September Completion #5
This game is like, twilight for forty year old men. Does your dad have a lot of tattoos and wear shirts that say "Don't Tread on Me" or "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings"? He'd probably like this game.
Originally I couldn't even beat the first level before abandoning it. I gave it a half star, did a quick rant and called it a day but now am I so glad I finished it because everything about this game was unintentionally hilarious. It tries to take itself so seriously, there is not a single hint of irony or self awareness. This game thinks its cool as fuck, as evident by the ridiculous title - and that is the only saving grace.
Make no mistake, this game doesnt get the honor of "so bad its good" Its just bad. But it is the laughable-ness that will keep you sane through the 8-12 hour runtime. So many parts of this game are silly that at one point I told my boyfriend I was worried that there was so much I'd forget some of it for this review, and honestly thats probably true.
Firstly the character models are all pretty ugly. Most of them look like stock assets. All the characters suck too. The main character, Cahal, looks like discount Captain Price and has about as much substance as an empty jar of peanut butter. None of the characters are really all that likeable or memorable, the only one i thought was cool is just because he has an eyepatch, and the only one I kind of liked is just killed randomly offscreen. The story itself is also pretty pisspoor, and I tuned out for nearly the entirety of it. Tries to throw in some weird dialogue choices like the game actually earns to share a similarity to Mass Effect. None of these choices matter until at the end where you can chose between two endings, but both are bad. The game tries to be emotional at a few parts but the acting makes it funny and its not like you care about whats happening to begin with.
The animations, particularly for takedowns are also very goofy. Outside locations have visual variety but nearly every single indoor combat/stealth section looks almost identical. You will see the exact same assets over and over again.
That leads me to the gameplay itself. There are a few hub world areas where your main groups camp is literally within a mornings stroll away from enemy bases and military strongholds. Its not like you're in hiding either, it is explicitly shown the enemies know that you're right next to them. Its just incredibly silly and the game would of worked better if it kept to being linear. Theres not much to do in these areas either, except for a few collectibles and sidequests. These collectibles come in two types: notes and "spirits". The notes Im being honest I didnt read a single one I couldnt be bothered to give a fuck about the game. Maybe they gave more about the lore but the game doesnt even bother to explain itself outside of it so I couldnt be bothered either. The spirits are things you can only see in your enhanced vision™ that every third person game has. Theyre basically like magical plants that Cahal just stands there and sniffs for experience. Yeah, its funny. The sidequests are all just busy work with objectives similar to what you do in the base game already. These are completely pointless, and all they serve to do is give you more experience. If you dont plan to platinum this (which frankly having a sub 1% platinum is the only reason you should play this) then you can skip them and nothing of value is lost. This experience is used to upgrade your skill tree. Mostly to give yourself more combat abilities, with some being tactical. These are all fine, I guess. Maybe about half the abilities are actually useful, and you can get to one of the ultimate ones incredibly quickly anyways.
Now there is the combat itself. Most sections allow you to do stealth. The stealth is bad. The areas are poorly designed, mechanics are only introduced in the first few missions and just continue through the rest of the game. Plus it creates a very big disconnect, if you cause a huge ruckus and get reinforcements called on you in one area, the next area wont have enemies on alert anyways. You have a crossbow that you can upgrade to allow you to shoot cameras and turrets to disable them, but the aiming on that is terrible. Also a lot of levels towards the end have big enemies guarding exits that can neither be taken down or killed in a timely manner with the crossbow, making stealth basically useless. Which is okay, because most of the time you're just gonna opt for the actual combat because its a lot more fun.
In all honesty its the only good thing about the game, but even then its not great. Its basic hack and slash stuff, you'll get some new moves from the skill tree but nothing will make you change up your gameplay. Theres a few different enemy types but you can fight them all basically the same. There is no incentive, not even cool combos, to do anything other than spam your moves until you win. Id say at least visually it looks nice but... not really. Outside of one boss the enemy designs are all pretty meh. There is a lot of blood but absolutely zero gore which is another thing that makes this game so hard to take seriously despite its desperate attempts. It especially makes the executions look terrible. and the enemies dont even get bloodied themselves. The game isnt particularly hard either, but it does get kinda bullshit as you go on, lots of battles just go on way too long with so many enemies and its really more annoying than anything.
The combat is passable for the most part, but by the end you're gonna wanna opt for the terrible stealth instead so you dont have to sit through another shitty battle. Except you cant. Because remember? Big enemy boy is camping the exit.
This has no effect on the quality of the game itself, but I feel like it has to be mentioned. The trophy list despite the low percentages is really easy. Just nobody wants to get far in this game. I however only gave this a second chance because of trophies, and am still a bit shocked at me actually going through with this. The game does have a lot of miscellanious trophies which I do like, but they are so incredibly easy that by the end of the second mission I had every single one of them besides one for an enemy that hadnt been introduced yet. Theres a silver trophy for killing 250 enemies that I got in the first level. Theres also a few times where you will get two story trophies at the exact same time, for just doing one thing. Theres also one for getting every single spirit. There is no way to track them or even chapter select so if you miss one you'll have to play the entire game a second time and I hope nobody puts themself through that. You also get one for each ending choice. You can continue from your completed save but it just puts you after you made the choice anyways, which is a bruh moment, Thankfully you can just restart the mission. Like I said it doesnt really matter, and going for trophies helped me get through it, its just a bit hilarious how poorly they were all thought out and is kind of an example of how the rest of the game is.
So thats Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. If I did have one positive, its that I like the metal song on the title screen. Other than that I hope Ive demonstrated how much of a mess this game is, and I didnt even cover everything. This game is far from the worst I've played, but its definitely one of the worst I've beat. Thanks for reading <3
God I hope theres a sequel. And I hope its not much better.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #213)
Time Played: 12 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 36/100
Game Completion #115 of 2022
September Completion #5
I used to be such a massive Squaresoft fan growing up. From the PS3 era though they lost that sparkle for me. There are occasional flashes showing that atmosphere and wonder that once pulled my heart strings but they are fleeting glimpse's of beauty in a dying landscape. The DioField Chronicle is one such example of this in one package. The fact is I should have liked this more than I do, I wanted to like this more than I do. I can see what it is trying to do and parts of it are excellent but it doesn't reach the heights I feel it should.
Let's break this down into a two fold list.
What The Diofield Chronicle does right:
The character artwork is frankly, stunning. I mean just look at the box art here. It feels like a pencil drawing filled in with water colour paint only done crisper digitally. I love the art design for every character in the game, it gives me real Vagrant Story / Final Fantasy XII / Ivalice vibes to it. The voice acting equally shares a similar slightly British Shakespearean tone to it those games did and I think the casting for each character is absolutely spot on. In rare times when lines like "Faith may shine a light on the soul, but the church is in no place to hold the lantern" are said in this atmosphere is when The Diofield Chronicle shines brightest.
What The Diofield Chronicles does wrong:
Though I like the voice actors themselves the game feels like it has little direction so a lot of the performances end up feeling a little flat. Coinciding with that, lines like the above mentioned are sadly few and far between. Character motivations are often completely bizarre or passive aggressive during scenes. One character is just so blatantly evil that they may as well have had her twiddling a 1930's moustache laughing manically yet there is no explanation why and all interactions around it are just so unbelievable. Some of the characters also just feel very one dimensional or have personality switches at odd times it felt. Just no consistency. The story itself starts fairly interesting but the plot points never actually connect to form a cohesive whole. Many aspects brought up as if they would have greater impact never get resolved or mentioned in a way that feels like they are taken seriously. I started to lose interest fast in a lot of the characters and the story which just felt too long to go anywhere and ended on such a frustrating whimper leaving a very bitter taste in my mouth. Honestly the game feels too long and yet rushed at the same time in the way it tells it's story.
The combat whilst interesting at first soon becomes a chore. It's a SRPG that you control only 4 units for each battle with a support character for each character allowing access to their skills. It's semi real time directing these characters in an exaggerated isometric view killing humans and monsters on each map. Each character has skills based on their type gained from the weapon they have equipped and some placement and summons aside that is pretty much it. While some combat systems evolve or throw enemies or scenarios to keep it fresh and interesting that never happens to Diofield. Each battle feels the same, most of the maps are reused repeatedly and halfway through the game you've really seen everything there is. The game does feature a decent sized character roster but when two archers are identical in skills and stats due to equipment there really is no need to change who you are using at any point either strategically or for variety. I changed two character just because I preferred their art design but otherwise never used most of the party available because once you get a good balance or strategy there is simply no incentive. The last couple of chapters I was really just fed up of the combat due to this.
All that said though I didn't hate my time with it, I just didn't like it that much either. I appreciate SquareEnix investing and experimenting with a mid budget title like this and certain aspects of it were genuinely good, it's just it really could have been so much better. Overall just a disappointment.
+ Stunning art.
+ I love the voice casting and atmosphere.
- The story, dialogue and character development are poorly written.
- The combat lacks variety, swapping characters is mostly pointless and becomes a rote experience.
Let's break this down into a two fold list.
What The Diofield Chronicle does right:
The character artwork is frankly, stunning. I mean just look at the box art here. It feels like a pencil drawing filled in with water colour paint only done crisper digitally. I love the art design for every character in the game, it gives me real Vagrant Story / Final Fantasy XII / Ivalice vibes to it. The voice acting equally shares a similar slightly British Shakespearean tone to it those games did and I think the casting for each character is absolutely spot on. In rare times when lines like "Faith may shine a light on the soul, but the church is in no place to hold the lantern" are said in this atmosphere is when The Diofield Chronicle shines brightest.
What The Diofield Chronicles does wrong:
Though I like the voice actors themselves the game feels like it has little direction so a lot of the performances end up feeling a little flat. Coinciding with that, lines like the above mentioned are sadly few and far between. Character motivations are often completely bizarre or passive aggressive during scenes. One character is just so blatantly evil that they may as well have had her twiddling a 1930's moustache laughing manically yet there is no explanation why and all interactions around it are just so unbelievable. Some of the characters also just feel very one dimensional or have personality switches at odd times it felt. Just no consistency. The story itself starts fairly interesting but the plot points never actually connect to form a cohesive whole. Many aspects brought up as if they would have greater impact never get resolved or mentioned in a way that feels like they are taken seriously. I started to lose interest fast in a lot of the characters and the story which just felt too long to go anywhere and ended on such a frustrating whimper leaving a very bitter taste in my mouth. Honestly the game feels too long and yet rushed at the same time in the way it tells it's story.
The combat whilst interesting at first soon becomes a chore. It's a SRPG that you control only 4 units for each battle with a support character for each character allowing access to their skills. It's semi real time directing these characters in an exaggerated isometric view killing humans and monsters on each map. Each character has skills based on their type gained from the weapon they have equipped and some placement and summons aside that is pretty much it. While some combat systems evolve or throw enemies or scenarios to keep it fresh and interesting that never happens to Diofield. Each battle feels the same, most of the maps are reused repeatedly and halfway through the game you've really seen everything there is. The game does feature a decent sized character roster but when two archers are identical in skills and stats due to equipment there really is no need to change who you are using at any point either strategically or for variety. I changed two character just because I preferred their art design but otherwise never used most of the party available because once you get a good balance or strategy there is simply no incentive. The last couple of chapters I was really just fed up of the combat due to this.
All that said though I didn't hate my time with it, I just didn't like it that much either. I appreciate SquareEnix investing and experimenting with a mid budget title like this and certain aspects of it were genuinely good, it's just it really could have been so much better. Overall just a disappointment.
+ Stunning art.
+ I love the voice casting and atmosphere.
- The story, dialogue and character development are poorly written.
- The combat lacks variety, swapping characters is mostly pointless and becomes a rote experience.
Blind Men
2017
It was cute, but SO short.
Must a game be 'good'. Is it not enough to watch a bisexual man descend into madness while a bunch of girls kick ass.
You think this game is about ecofascism? You fool. You think it's about intergenerational conflict? You clown. Battling against destiny? You absolute goon! It's about TEENS making BAD DECISIONS because of their STUPID FEELINGS
Eastshade
2019
bug wouldnt let me save so when the game ultimately crashed i lost like 3 hours of progress, however right afterwards an owl sang me a song so its fine
Persona 4 Golden
2012
This game is just pure joy.
I played the vanilla version just after it came out in the PAL regions and I spent a small fortune to buy a PSVita and that rare cartridge just to play Golden. And I do not regret it. Not one goddamn bit.
Everything in this game brings me joy. The setting, the soundtrack, the pacing, the characters, the character interactions, the boss fights, the dungeons, the central premise, the social links, the social events, the story and its conclusion and all the endings and the way it just oozes optimism.
Every. single. thing. about. this. game. is. love. and. joy. and. bliss. to. me.
I could propably play it during the absolute worst day in my entire life and suddenly feel a lot better.
I played the vanilla version just after it came out in the PAL regions and I spent a small fortune to buy a PSVita and that rare cartridge just to play Golden. And I do not regret it. Not one goddamn bit.
Everything in this game brings me joy. The setting, the soundtrack, the pacing, the characters, the character interactions, the boss fights, the dungeons, the central premise, the social links, the social events, the story and its conclusion and all the endings and the way it just oozes optimism.
Every. single. thing. about. this. game. is. love. and. joy. and. bliss. to. me.
I could propably play it during the absolute worst day in my entire life and suddenly feel a lot better.
Deadly Premonition
2010
Deadly premonition is horrible.
The graphics suck, the animations suck, the audio editing sucks, the sound mixing sucks, the voice acting sucks, the textures sucks, the controls suck, the camera SUCKS, the combat sucks and so on.
Basicailly every technical aspect of this game except for the OST itself has been fucked up beyond belief.
And it's also one of the best horror games ever because of it's engrossing story, magnetic characters, sublime protagonist and unrelenting horror atmosphere.
And these positives utterly obliterate the legendarily bad technical execution.
Deadly Premonition is still an absolute masterpiece. The worst masterpiece of all time, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
The graphics suck, the animations suck, the audio editing sucks, the sound mixing sucks, the voice acting sucks, the textures sucks, the controls suck, the camera SUCKS, the combat sucks and so on.
Basicailly every technical aspect of this game except for the OST itself has been fucked up beyond belief.
And it's also one of the best horror games ever because of it's engrossing story, magnetic characters, sublime protagonist and unrelenting horror atmosphere.
And these positives utterly obliterate the legendarily bad technical execution.
Deadly Premonition is still an absolute masterpiece. The worst masterpiece of all time, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
When I watched the staff roll after finishing this abomination, I was absolutely, positively convinced of being considerably dumber than before.
You can slander Shadow of the colossus all you like for its endless pathfinding, clunky controls, awkward camera, but the fact is:
Shadow of the Colossus is still a one of a kind experience. And you know it.
A truly special video game that feels so different from anything else I have played before it. Or since for that matter. That sombre, almost tragic atmosphere is just something else.
No game feels quite like Shadow of the Colossus.
A remarkable achievement in daring vision and creativity.
Shadow of the Colossus is still a one of a kind experience. And you know it.
A truly special video game that feels so different from anything else I have played before it. Or since for that matter. That sombre, almost tragic atmosphere is just something else.
No game feels quite like Shadow of the Colossus.
A remarkable achievement in daring vision and creativity.
Ever done something really fluffy and comforting?
Like listening to a Billy Joel song while reading your favorite book and drinking a cup of hot chocolate?
Gazing up into the starry sky on a snowy winter night while holding the hand of a person you love?
... that is what playing this game feels like.
Like listening to a Billy Joel song while reading your favorite book and drinking a cup of hot chocolate?
Gazing up into the starry sky on a snowy winter night while holding the hand of a person you love?
... that is what playing this game feels like.
Martha Is Dead
2022
★½
Let me start this review by stating that I truly enjoy the walking simulator genre. My favourite game of all time is Death Stranding, which obviously isn't your conventional walking simulator, but I also love games like Layers of Fear or Firewatch. Now, this game has some incredible graphics, an unbelievably realistic art style, and one of the most hauntingly beautiful soundtracks that I've heard in a video game. The setting is also interesting and allows for some interesting character backgrounds and motivations. However, that is about where my praise for the game ends. This game was seriously exhausting and excruciatingly boring. Firstly, similar to many other reviewers, I experienced horrible optimization issues and was plagued by low FPS throughout my entire playthrough. I also experienced multiple instances where I had to close and reload the game because it either completely froze or questlines would break and would not allow me to progress. To relate back to my original comment about walking simulators, I think many of the gameplay aspects of this game should have been left out of the game (and allowed it to only be a walking simulator), as many of these mechanics were either inconsequential or excruciatingly tedious. There are game components that I do not think that you should have the player do, and should just perform them for the player. The camera was an interesting mechanic for the first few times, but is only used 4-5 times throughout the entire story, but the worst mechanic was the telegraph. You had to fully code and decode morse code messages, which took an incredible amount of time and was not fun as a gameplay mechanism at all. I also played the game in the native Italian language and I thought the voice acting was subpar, where the main actress did not feel emotionally invested and provided emotion and enthusiasm in the wrong places. Furthermore, I feel as though the story is more akin to an audiobook than playing a video game. The main story beats are told through text on a black screen and major plot points are either told in this method or skipped over so quickly you are not given enough time to emotionally process them. Similarly, I don't think the story itself is meaningful, powerful, or important in any way. The story is terribly shallow and told in way that does properly emphasize or draw importance to mental health. Finally, the ending is probably the worst part of the entire game. The last ~30 minutes are probably one of my least favourite video games moments ever. The entire story is poorly summarized in a puppet show (telling the story that we have already seen and telling it in a really poor medium). The ending itself does not pack the deep emotional punch that they think it does or that it should based on the subject matter. Moreover, the gore and extreme visuals feel as though they're added just for the sake of having them present rather than beginning importance to the story or themes. Ultimately, I expected a lot more from this game and felt like it severely underdelivered and was definitely disappointed.
Let me start this review by stating that I truly enjoy the walking simulator genre. My favourite game of all time is Death Stranding, which obviously isn't your conventional walking simulator, but I also love games like Layers of Fear or Firewatch. Now, this game has some incredible graphics, an unbelievably realistic art style, and one of the most hauntingly beautiful soundtracks that I've heard in a video game. The setting is also interesting and allows for some interesting character backgrounds and motivations. However, that is about where my praise for the game ends. This game was seriously exhausting and excruciatingly boring. Firstly, similar to many other reviewers, I experienced horrible optimization issues and was plagued by low FPS throughout my entire playthrough. I also experienced multiple instances where I had to close and reload the game because it either completely froze or questlines would break and would not allow me to progress. To relate back to my original comment about walking simulators, I think many of the gameplay aspects of this game should have been left out of the game (and allowed it to only be a walking simulator), as many of these mechanics were either inconsequential or excruciatingly tedious. There are game components that I do not think that you should have the player do, and should just perform them for the player. The camera was an interesting mechanic for the first few times, but is only used 4-5 times throughout the entire story, but the worst mechanic was the telegraph. You had to fully code and decode morse code messages, which took an incredible amount of time and was not fun as a gameplay mechanism at all. I also played the game in the native Italian language and I thought the voice acting was subpar, where the main actress did not feel emotionally invested and provided emotion and enthusiasm in the wrong places. Furthermore, I feel as though the story is more akin to an audiobook than playing a video game. The main story beats are told through text on a black screen and major plot points are either told in this method or skipped over so quickly you are not given enough time to emotionally process them. Similarly, I don't think the story itself is meaningful, powerful, or important in any way. The story is terribly shallow and told in way that does properly emphasize or draw importance to mental health. Finally, the ending is probably the worst part of the entire game. The last ~30 minutes are probably one of my least favourite video games moments ever. The entire story is poorly summarized in a puppet show (telling the story that we have already seen and telling it in a really poor medium). The ending itself does not pack the deep emotional punch that they think it does or that it should based on the subject matter. Moreover, the gore and extreme visuals feel as though they're added just for the sake of having them present rather than beginning importance to the story or themes. Ultimately, I expected a lot more from this game and felt like it severely underdelivered and was definitely disappointed.