pea_txt
BACKER
2023
"You want to become stronger? Then get out there and fight!"
Never have I experienced a game so deadset to motivate you to play the game and improve as you go. Fighting games have always had a steep learning curve and, if you don't dedicate yourself to the genre, you will fall behind many other players by more than a landslide. Street Fighter 6 is not only a love letter to the fans of the series, but to the genre itself: Characters and references by the hundreds, game modes specifically designed to make you learn and improve (can you guess which one I'm talking about?), whole mechanics made for new players to pick up and play, and the list goes on. Every day, I learn something about this game that encourages people to improve and it astonishes me (in a good way, obviously) how much this game cares about your path to greatness. Never has a fighting game done this to this degree.
Street Fighter 6 loves you, and you will love it back.
Never have I experienced a game so deadset to motivate you to play the game and improve as you go. Fighting games have always had a steep learning curve and, if you don't dedicate yourself to the genre, you will fall behind many other players by more than a landslide. Street Fighter 6 is not only a love letter to the fans of the series, but to the genre itself: Characters and references by the hundreds, game modes specifically designed to make you learn and improve (can you guess which one I'm talking about?), whole mechanics made for new players to pick up and play, and the list goes on. Every day, I learn something about this game that encourages people to improve and it astonishes me (in a good way, obviously) how much this game cares about your path to greatness. Never has a fighting game done this to this degree.
Street Fighter 6 loves you, and you will love it back.
This review contains spoilers
Ever wanted to give Aerith that god damn phoenix down? Yeah? Fuck you.
Let's make a game about changing fate, or destiny, or whatever, because I guess people want the final fantasy 7 story to change. The story that's been loved by countless amounts of people, the story that shaped the future of RPGs. Square was at its golden age, and they are chasing that age again. Why shouldn't they? Everyone wanted a remake: And so they did.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is many games. It's so many games. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Sonic's 06. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Yakuza's Kiwami. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to... wait, 3 games? You need 3 games to tell the epic of Final Fantasy 7, or I guess, retell it? Augh. What a slog. Oh my god, it's a slog. It's slow, it's boring, I didn't care. But why didn't I care?
Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Sonic's 06: A world of fantasy meets the future. Every notion you knew about JRPGs are new. You are given a narrative you've never seen before. Should you have played the previous Final Fantasies and cared, cried or screamed to them, you would never know that it could possibly get any more better, or crazier, or be as grand as it can be. Popping that PS1 disc for the first time must have been life changing for some. I wouldn't know, I wasn't part of the world who experienced FF7 on launch. However, the echoes of its fans are heard loud and clear anywhere you go on the internet. That is to say: Even if you haven't played FF7, you know FF7. Whether you liked or hated it, the story moved so many souls in the world.
Now tell me, has remake moved you? Has the first part told you "you're in for a wild ride"? Look at me right in the eye and say you're hyped. Cause I'm not. Having to go through, what, a third of the original game in a full length story means everything's paced differently, and I don't mind slow pacing. The problem is with its characters. I don't care about them. Every time I had to look at an NPC, I had to sigh over how boring they looked. Every time I had to listen to a character talked, I had to roll my eyes over the conversations they were having. I felt no need to care for some of the most menial writing I had to suffer through while playing this game. I went for the side quests, as much as I could, but I couldn't handle it anymore. NPCs, characters, whatever, I just couldn't get myself to care for. I had to take care of their problems, whatever they were. However, I needed a very emotionless boy to tell them how disinterested they were to it all, or that they needed to pay for their troubles to be solved. I was doing chores, not side quests. I was, in the end, speaking to Sonic 06 NPCs. If they didn't have voice acting, just going "'eyy", I'd feel much more at ease taking care of some nobody's problems. However, I had to take my time to listen to their mild woes, shut my brain off, and do the chores.
Ah, wait, this is just about side quests. Well, nah, I didn't care for most of the main cast either. I liked Barrett, of course. I wanted to see him get through his troubles, no matter how densely headstrong he was.
...Uh, that was it. I didn't care for the rest of the main cast. Cloud's emotionless, and I'm supposed to cheer for him whenever he shows a bit of emotion. Aerith and Tifa feel like they're just side-to-side with Cloud to share good moments with him, so that he opens up. Red XIII doesn't appear until the very end of the game, so I can't say much. Shoutouts to Wedge, who, despite being endearing, still kinda sucks. At least he's trying, I guess. Man, these characters just felt... forced. I am supposed to care about them: they're the Final Fantasy 7 cast! Make it an epic, give them reasons to make the player care, no matter what. I hate it!
Final Fantasy 7's Remake is to Yakuza's Kiwami: Oh, this is a weird one, huh? They're both remakes, obviously. They got a fresh coat of paint. This one would make more sense than the Sonic 06 part (which I admittedly just couldn't bear and it's my biggest complaint about the game, so I went full cynical mode on it). Its gameplay is... fine. It works, I can't give it a stink eye. Making it an action RPG rather than a turn-based one is just a result of modernizing video games. Big whoop, I want to see more turn based RPGs, but I won't get it with FF7 Remake. I have nothing bad to say about this. Except for maybe one thing: Some fights feel like shit. It's another case of the bulletproof vest, like with my Kiwami review. It's not as bad, but I felt some facsimiles of needing certain resistances to not get thoroughly fucked on certain fights. Again, it's not as bad, but I couldn't help but remember getting shot at as Kiryu and going "ah come on man". Same thing with Cloud not getting the time of day against certain enemies.
So, there it is. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is kinda doodoo. The story and characters are a fucking plague in my mind, but the gameplay is fine. Fans apparently want a redo of the whole story they loved so much. What happens at the end of the third game? What if it's not up to snuff? What if it doesn't equal the universal hype? What a herculean task Square Enix took by remaking Final Fantasy 7. They have the blueprints, most we can do is wait and see where it goes. Me? I'll still probably follow this series cause, I don't know, the whispers are forcing me to face my destiny: I gotta play through this fucking story. Despite all my cynicism, I've fallen for the trap of sunken cost fallacy once more. I'll buckle up while I'm at it.
Anyways, Final Fantasy 8 deserved a remake more than 7. Fuck you.
Let's make a game about changing fate, or destiny, or whatever, because I guess people want the final fantasy 7 story to change. The story that's been loved by countless amounts of people, the story that shaped the future of RPGs. Square was at its golden age, and they are chasing that age again. Why shouldn't they? Everyone wanted a remake: And so they did.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is many games. It's so many games. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Sonic's 06. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Yakuza's Kiwami. Final Fantasy 7's remake is to... wait, 3 games? You need 3 games to tell the epic of Final Fantasy 7, or I guess, retell it? Augh. What a slog. Oh my god, it's a slog. It's slow, it's boring, I didn't care. But why didn't I care?
Final Fantasy 7's remake is to Sonic's 06: A world of fantasy meets the future. Every notion you knew about JRPGs are new. You are given a narrative you've never seen before. Should you have played the previous Final Fantasies and cared, cried or screamed to them, you would never know that it could possibly get any more better, or crazier, or be as grand as it can be. Popping that PS1 disc for the first time must have been life changing for some. I wouldn't know, I wasn't part of the world who experienced FF7 on launch. However, the echoes of its fans are heard loud and clear anywhere you go on the internet. That is to say: Even if you haven't played FF7, you know FF7. Whether you liked or hated it, the story moved so many souls in the world.
Now tell me, has remake moved you? Has the first part told you "you're in for a wild ride"? Look at me right in the eye and say you're hyped. Cause I'm not. Having to go through, what, a third of the original game in a full length story means everything's paced differently, and I don't mind slow pacing. The problem is with its characters. I don't care about them. Every time I had to look at an NPC, I had to sigh over how boring they looked. Every time I had to listen to a character talked, I had to roll my eyes over the conversations they were having. I felt no need to care for some of the most menial writing I had to suffer through while playing this game. I went for the side quests, as much as I could, but I couldn't handle it anymore. NPCs, characters, whatever, I just couldn't get myself to care for. I had to take care of their problems, whatever they were. However, I needed a very emotionless boy to tell them how disinterested they were to it all, or that they needed to pay for their troubles to be solved. I was doing chores, not side quests. I was, in the end, speaking to Sonic 06 NPCs. If they didn't have voice acting, just going "'eyy", I'd feel much more at ease taking care of some nobody's problems. However, I had to take my time to listen to their mild woes, shut my brain off, and do the chores.
Ah, wait, this is just about side quests. Well, nah, I didn't care for most of the main cast either. I liked Barrett, of course. I wanted to see him get through his troubles, no matter how densely headstrong he was.
...Uh, that was it. I didn't care for the rest of the main cast. Cloud's emotionless, and I'm supposed to cheer for him whenever he shows a bit of emotion. Aerith and Tifa feel like they're just side-to-side with Cloud to share good moments with him, so that he opens up. Red XIII doesn't appear until the very end of the game, so I can't say much. Shoutouts to Wedge, who, despite being endearing, still kinda sucks. At least he's trying, I guess. Man, these characters just felt... forced. I am supposed to care about them: they're the Final Fantasy 7 cast! Make it an epic, give them reasons to make the player care, no matter what. I hate it!
Final Fantasy 7's Remake is to Yakuza's Kiwami: Oh, this is a weird one, huh? They're both remakes, obviously. They got a fresh coat of paint. This one would make more sense than the Sonic 06 part (which I admittedly just couldn't bear and it's my biggest complaint about the game, so I went full cynical mode on it). Its gameplay is... fine. It works, I can't give it a stink eye. Making it an action RPG rather than a turn-based one is just a result of modernizing video games. Big whoop, I want to see more turn based RPGs, but I won't get it with FF7 Remake. I have nothing bad to say about this. Except for maybe one thing: Some fights feel like shit. It's another case of the bulletproof vest, like with my Kiwami review. It's not as bad, but I felt some facsimiles of needing certain resistances to not get thoroughly fucked on certain fights. Again, it's not as bad, but I couldn't help but remember getting shot at as Kiryu and going "ah come on man". Same thing with Cloud not getting the time of day against certain enemies.
So, there it is. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is kinda doodoo. The story and characters are a fucking plague in my mind, but the gameplay is fine. Fans apparently want a redo of the whole story they loved so much. What happens at the end of the third game? What if it's not up to snuff? What if it doesn't equal the universal hype? What a herculean task Square Enix took by remaking Final Fantasy 7. They have the blueprints, most we can do is wait and see where it goes. Me? I'll still probably follow this series cause, I don't know, the whispers are forcing me to face my destiny: I gotta play through this fucking story. Despite all my cynicism, I've fallen for the trap of sunken cost fallacy once more. I'll buckle up while I'm at it.
Anyways, Final Fantasy 8 deserved a remake more than 7. Fuck you.
2017
Honestly, I don't have too much to say about this. If you come to this after reading my Kiwami 1 review, I've complained a lot about the fights. Kiwami 2's fighting is pretty different, for the better. I liked it. It's a bit wonky, but nothing I'd actually attribute it to being a problem. Guns were super nerfed though, that's funny.
Story was good. There were quite some moments where I shouted out loud "No Way". I enjoyed myself and smiled through till the end. And then Haruka forced me to play Baseball a whole bunch before proceeding with the story.
Story was good. There were quite some moments where I shouted out loud "No Way". I enjoyed myself and smiled through till the end. And then Haruka forced me to play Baseball a whole bunch before proceeding with the story.
2019
If this were a game not made by Remedy, I'd call it wack and somewhat boring. However, this game was made by Remedy, so it was good.
But, like, that's it. It was good. Control is probably Remedy's weakest game so far to me. It's still a compliment to say it, cause that means... you get it. I don't need to spell it out.
Obtuse storytelling is what Sam Lake eats for breakfast. The devs love that stuff. This is a tough task, cause you still want to keep your players interested and not tune out after 5 seconds of hearing someone speak what is essentially alphabet soup. Thankfully, if you can't follow through with the main story, you at least got these wonderful tidbits named "documents". Side stories and layman's terms explanations of the world of The Oldest House keep you wanting for more. Characters, while some of them a bit bland, still fit together to form a squad of oddballs.
Gameplay is hit and miss at the same time. Some fights feel good, some fights don't. It's weird. At some points, I do lots of efficient damage to enemies by using my entire arsenal at them and, at times, I feel like I'm just dealing chip damage when I'm throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them. Combat loop is good, but the lackluster feel of being consistent makes for very confusing progression and made me think that I just needed to do more side quests, only to resume the main path and just laying waste on everything in my path in a button press.
Big drawback is the whole crafting system. It's not necessary, we didn't need it. If there's one thing I don't want in my video game is a crafting system, no matter how shallow it is. There are better ways to offer upgrades and items, and the game already was doing that.
Game looked great with RTX. One of the rare experiences where I'd actually recommend putting it on.
Control 2's eventually happening. Alan Wake 2 has been out for half a year. With what I've seen, Remedy isn't anywhere close to dropping the ball. Bless those guys.
But, like, that's it. It was good. Control is probably Remedy's weakest game so far to me. It's still a compliment to say it, cause that means... you get it. I don't need to spell it out.
Obtuse storytelling is what Sam Lake eats for breakfast. The devs love that stuff. This is a tough task, cause you still want to keep your players interested and not tune out after 5 seconds of hearing someone speak what is essentially alphabet soup. Thankfully, if you can't follow through with the main story, you at least got these wonderful tidbits named "documents". Side stories and layman's terms explanations of the world of The Oldest House keep you wanting for more. Characters, while some of them a bit bland, still fit together to form a squad of oddballs.
Gameplay is hit and miss at the same time. Some fights feel good, some fights don't. It's weird. At some points, I do lots of efficient damage to enemies by using my entire arsenal at them and, at times, I feel like I'm just dealing chip damage when I'm throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them. Combat loop is good, but the lackluster feel of being consistent makes for very confusing progression and made me think that I just needed to do more side quests, only to resume the main path and just laying waste on everything in my path in a button press.
Big drawback is the whole crafting system. It's not necessary, we didn't need it. If there's one thing I don't want in my video game is a crafting system, no matter how shallow it is. There are better ways to offer upgrades and items, and the game already was doing that.
Game looked great with RTX. One of the rare experiences where I'd actually recommend putting it on.
Control 2's eventually happening. Alan Wake 2 has been out for half a year. With what I've seen, Remedy isn't anywhere close to dropping the ball. Bless those guys.
Why is it that a beloved game can age so poorly? Why is it that a world who has discovered a series from its technically first iteration remember a "future timeless classic" while being oblivious to its faults? Why is it, that even with a tinkered edition of a broken game, making it a bit less broken, is still a broken game?
Dark Souls changes a player. It changes a player in many facets. I do not fathom the player whose first memories of a "soulslike" game included frame dips into painful locations. I do not fathom the player who recommends a game to another, only to tell them: "It sucks at first but you'll see". People love a video game, but they won't hesitate to tell you about how some aspects of it suck. Dark Souls changes a player to become an adrenaline junkie for challenging gameplay. Dark Souls changes a player to rethink about their preferences to a "fun challenge". Dark Souls changes a player to consider difficulty as a factor to fun. As for me, Dark Souls changed me to become a more miserable person.
Before I start with my review of "Dark Souls: Remastered", I would like to warn you that this is a review of both "Dark Souls: Remastered" AND "Dark Souls". This is a review for both because I never got past the first iteration of the game: Its technical faults made it a dizzying experience that made it unenjoyable from frame one. Dark Souls: Remastered is but an accompaniment piece to its original version, making it, at the very very least, playable. Dark Souls doesn't need too much to make it playable, but what happens after that?
I have fully played Dark Souls AFTER I've played Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3 in their entirety, and then some. I wasn't a stranger to the series when I entered the world of Lordran, and yet, I was more miserable playing through this game than I was with the other two combined. Difficulty is undoubtedly an important factor in its game design, but this is also where difficulty as a game design was still being fleshed out. Dark Souls is the result of experimentation, following the success of its predecessor. One game wasn't enough to determine what can make a game hard and fun at the same time. I can't say they haven't tried — quite the opposite, they definitely took their time to craft every stage with care — but, the result of their labor only showed that, even if you do try, you can ultimately fail at providing your experience.
What is a Dark Souls game, but a game about finding opportunities to attack your opponent once they've finished attacking? Can you be greedy and sneak a 2nd or 3rd hit while your opponent's defenses are down? It's a game about learning patterns, using what little movement you have to weave through combat and come ahead victorious, no matter the realistic odds you had fighting (un)godly beings. I've got to say, Dark Souls is the game where you need to do the most Guesswork. Capital G in Guess, because more often than not, knowing a pattern is not enough to get through fights. Some fights take too much time because these patterns are chained too quickly, or don't leave the hero enough time to even score a slice. Some fights pit you with more than one — I could stop here, many people already know what I mean — enemy at a time, and these fights don't have "Patterns" in mind: they have a mess that you need to clean up. The mess doesn't care if you can't attack, you just need to know when the mess has finally let an opportunity show up. The difference between a pattern and a mess, is the intent of difficulty by the game's designers. Should a fight be all about patterns? What even is a pattern? I can only say that a pattern has as loose of a meaning as you have the many ways of approaching fights. The problem is: many of these ways are sub-optimal. Weapon balance is all over the place, some locations make your weapon completely useless and, most of all, the fucking bow isn't going to budge your enemy's health bar.
In a world where misery takes hold of everything, you'd think miserable gameplay would accompany it well (remember this sentence).
The beauty in the decay of what was once a kingdom makes for great vistas to explore. A dead world, rich of story, is undeniably the greatest strength that Dark Souls, hell, its series, has given to us. Dark Souls changes a player to enjoy a world's environments. That, for once, is a good thing I can say about Dark Souls. That's why it's not one star: It has wonderful, redeemable qualities. Crazy how a rating system can work. Anyways, could you wonder what video games could be without Dark Souls? Would we still have countless amounts of lore hunters occupying the gaming world? A question that I shudder to even think. Lore hunting, as cringe as it sounds, is still a wonderful and necessary aspect of analysis. It's what people would do with books and movies, so why not video games? I'm not saying that Dark Souls invented lore to hunt, I'm just saying it was the reason why it became so much more popular. I'm also a fucking sucker for historic (more specifically gothic) architecture, so the locations to visit in this game are like a gourmet meal to my eyes.
Does this game suck? Objectively, yes. I like some things about Dark Souls. For one, I'm thankful for its existence, despite its immensely flawed experience catering. Thankfully, they fixed Dark Souls later on after learning from their mistakes: It's called Dark Souls 2.
Dark Souls changes a player. It changes a player in many facets. I do not fathom the player whose first memories of a "soulslike" game included frame dips into painful locations. I do not fathom the player who recommends a game to another, only to tell them: "It sucks at first but you'll see". People love a video game, but they won't hesitate to tell you about how some aspects of it suck. Dark Souls changes a player to become an adrenaline junkie for challenging gameplay. Dark Souls changes a player to rethink about their preferences to a "fun challenge". Dark Souls changes a player to consider difficulty as a factor to fun. As for me, Dark Souls changed me to become a more miserable person.
Before I start with my review of "Dark Souls: Remastered", I would like to warn you that this is a review of both "Dark Souls: Remastered" AND "Dark Souls". This is a review for both because I never got past the first iteration of the game: Its technical faults made it a dizzying experience that made it unenjoyable from frame one. Dark Souls: Remastered is but an accompaniment piece to its original version, making it, at the very very least, playable. Dark Souls doesn't need too much to make it playable, but what happens after that?
I have fully played Dark Souls AFTER I've played Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3 in their entirety, and then some. I wasn't a stranger to the series when I entered the world of Lordran, and yet, I was more miserable playing through this game than I was with the other two combined. Difficulty is undoubtedly an important factor in its game design, but this is also where difficulty as a game design was still being fleshed out. Dark Souls is the result of experimentation, following the success of its predecessor. One game wasn't enough to determine what can make a game hard and fun at the same time. I can't say they haven't tried — quite the opposite, they definitely took their time to craft every stage with care — but, the result of their labor only showed that, even if you do try, you can ultimately fail at providing your experience.
What is a Dark Souls game, but a game about finding opportunities to attack your opponent once they've finished attacking? Can you be greedy and sneak a 2nd or 3rd hit while your opponent's defenses are down? It's a game about learning patterns, using what little movement you have to weave through combat and come ahead victorious, no matter the realistic odds you had fighting (un)godly beings. I've got to say, Dark Souls is the game where you need to do the most Guesswork. Capital G in Guess, because more often than not, knowing a pattern is not enough to get through fights. Some fights take too much time because these patterns are chained too quickly, or don't leave the hero enough time to even score a slice. Some fights pit you with more than one — I could stop here, many people already know what I mean — enemy at a time, and these fights don't have "Patterns" in mind: they have a mess that you need to clean up. The mess doesn't care if you can't attack, you just need to know when the mess has finally let an opportunity show up. The difference between a pattern and a mess, is the intent of difficulty by the game's designers. Should a fight be all about patterns? What even is a pattern? I can only say that a pattern has as loose of a meaning as you have the many ways of approaching fights. The problem is: many of these ways are sub-optimal. Weapon balance is all over the place, some locations make your weapon completely useless and, most of all, the fucking bow isn't going to budge your enemy's health bar.
In a world where misery takes hold of everything, you'd think miserable gameplay would accompany it well (remember this sentence).
The beauty in the decay of what was once a kingdom makes for great vistas to explore. A dead world, rich of story, is undeniably the greatest strength that Dark Souls, hell, its series, has given to us. Dark Souls changes a player to enjoy a world's environments. That, for once, is a good thing I can say about Dark Souls. That's why it's not one star: It has wonderful, redeemable qualities. Crazy how a rating system can work. Anyways, could you wonder what video games could be without Dark Souls? Would we still have countless amounts of lore hunters occupying the gaming world? A question that I shudder to even think. Lore hunting, as cringe as it sounds, is still a wonderful and necessary aspect of analysis. It's what people would do with books and movies, so why not video games? I'm not saying that Dark Souls invented lore to hunt, I'm just saying it was the reason why it became so much more popular. I'm also a fucking sucker for historic (more specifically gothic) architecture, so the locations to visit in this game are like a gourmet meal to my eyes.
Does this game suck? Objectively, yes. I like some things about Dark Souls. For one, I'm thankful for its existence, despite its immensely flawed experience catering. Thankfully, they fixed Dark Souls later on after learning from their mistakes: It's called Dark Souls 2.
2004
i never got past the 2nd stage on this lol
2023
A wonderful sequel that not only gives us even more breathtaking sights, but also overall improved gameplay from its predecessor. If you can believe it, annihilators are balanced now.
Gracing us with themed chapters is this wad's biggest strength once more. Every level is crafted with such meticulousness that it makes me wonder how the creators didn't lose their minds making a single one of them. Doom has been around for 30 years, of course, so with that time spent, come its most dedicated fans, ready to rip you a new one. A primitive engine that dates from the 90s, and yet they crafted some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in a while. The art direction is, simply put, spot on.
Music this time around is sublime as well! I'm happy to state that I've got some new memorable songs that can be stuck in my head whenever I want to. A team of 4 people (from what I can see in the credits) worked to make 36 original tracks and they all fucking slap.
Map design is also a big improvement! I can still name a couple of maps that soured the experience, but they've only soured it a bit. Most notably, however, and I'm gonna make this one personal: Map28 could definitely have done without those white cacos flying way too high up in the air. Not cool. However, I can give props for making properly difficult maps, like the jaw dropping map36. Holy hell, that one's just one of the best maps ever made.
This was overall a much better experience than the first Eviternity, and the first one was already really good. Highly recommend this wad for any DOOM fan, as well as for the people who are dipping their toes into more difficult experiences. Considering this was a stealth drop, of all things, I've gotta give it to the team for not leaking a single thing, they must have been bursting a vein or two, wanting to share their work to the world as soon as possible.
Played on Ultra-Violence. Timer says 14 hours, but you could probably add 1 or 2 hours in there with my save reloading. I tried to not save scum too much, with a decent degree of success.
DOOM forever.
Gracing us with themed chapters is this wad's biggest strength once more. Every level is crafted with such meticulousness that it makes me wonder how the creators didn't lose their minds making a single one of them. Doom has been around for 30 years, of course, so with that time spent, come its most dedicated fans, ready to rip you a new one. A primitive engine that dates from the 90s, and yet they crafted some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in a while. The art direction is, simply put, spot on.
Music this time around is sublime as well! I'm happy to state that I've got some new memorable songs that can be stuck in my head whenever I want to. A team of 4 people (from what I can see in the credits) worked to make 36 original tracks and they all fucking slap.
Map design is also a big improvement! I can still name a couple of maps that soured the experience, but they've only soured it a bit. Most notably, however, and I'm gonna make this one personal: Map28 could definitely have done without those white cacos flying way too high up in the air. Not cool. However, I can give props for making properly difficult maps, like the jaw dropping map36. Holy hell, that one's just one of the best maps ever made.
This was overall a much better experience than the first Eviternity, and the first one was already really good. Highly recommend this wad for any DOOM fan, as well as for the people who are dipping their toes into more difficult experiences. Considering this was a stealth drop, of all things, I've gotta give it to the team for not leaking a single thing, they must have been bursting a vein or two, wanting to share their work to the world as soon as possible.
Played on Ultra-Violence. Timer says 14 hours, but you could probably add 1 or 2 hours in there with my save reloading. I tried to not save scum too much, with a decent degree of success.
DOOM forever.
the songs are STUCK IN MY HEAD
2003
I mean c'mon.
2021
Square Enix has been smoking a lot of something these past years. They've released a lot of schlock, to say the least. Outriders, I think, was the telling sign.
I actually bothered beating this with a friend in co-op. Mechanically speaking, it's a game that tries very hard to be dynamic, despite its cover shooter aesthetics. In fact, cover shooting in this game is discouraged. Enemies can easily wipe you if you don't keep moving and gunning. It kind of reminds me of Bulletstorm- Now wait a minute, who made this game?
The problem with this game, if I were to actually compare it with Bulletstorm, is that it's a god damn RPG. An RPG shooting game is bad news: Enemies are insane bullet sponges, and with the dynamic difficulty mechanics in place, you're going to take way too much time to gun down your enemies. The final boss fight took me and my friend over 30 minutes to beat because of how many bullets it took us to just whittle down the boss' HP. I've never seen anything like it, and I played Borderlands enough to know what I'm saying. At least, with Bulletstorm, you could just kick an enemy to a spiky wall and be done with it. Fast, easy and satisfying is nothing that this game has to offer, unfortunately.
So we beat the final boss and stopped there. This is the kind of game that wants you to keep on grinding, however. My patience, on the other hand, was eyeing elsewhere. Make a compelling plot for once, and maybe I'll care about playing your game some more. As it is with Outriders, it's all secondary thoughts.
They made a DLC at some point, too. Good on People Can Fly for trying, but, like, you had to deal with Square Enix, as well. It just wasn't meant to be, after all.
I actually bothered beating this with a friend in co-op. Mechanically speaking, it's a game that tries very hard to be dynamic, despite its cover shooter aesthetics. In fact, cover shooting in this game is discouraged. Enemies can easily wipe you if you don't keep moving and gunning. It kind of reminds me of Bulletstorm- Now wait a minute, who made this game?
The problem with this game, if I were to actually compare it with Bulletstorm, is that it's a god damn RPG. An RPG shooting game is bad news: Enemies are insane bullet sponges, and with the dynamic difficulty mechanics in place, you're going to take way too much time to gun down your enemies. The final boss fight took me and my friend over 30 minutes to beat because of how many bullets it took us to just whittle down the boss' HP. I've never seen anything like it, and I played Borderlands enough to know what I'm saying. At least, with Bulletstorm, you could just kick an enemy to a spiky wall and be done with it. Fast, easy and satisfying is nothing that this game has to offer, unfortunately.
So we beat the final boss and stopped there. This is the kind of game that wants you to keep on grinding, however. My patience, on the other hand, was eyeing elsewhere. Make a compelling plot for once, and maybe I'll care about playing your game some more. As it is with Outriders, it's all secondary thoughts.
They made a DLC at some point, too. Good on People Can Fly for trying, but, like, you had to deal with Square Enix, as well. It just wasn't meant to be, after all.
For at least 12 hours, I've been trying to think of a hook for this review without sounding painfully pretentious. I love this game, but that 4 stars? I feel like I can't give it any more than that. Does it make sense? I don't know anymore!
This game isn't a zelda game. It shouldn't have been a zelda game. There, I said it.
Everything about this game screams comfort and despair at the same time. The inhabitants of Termina live in a state of disarray; A moon seems to be falling down, a super important festival is supposed to take place at the same time. People have regrets, people have pressing matters, people are, in the end, lost.
Enter Link, or in my save file, COOLMAN. Without taking in account all the theories about this game, let's just say that Link fell down a really long hole and landed on something soft. He's in a new world, trying to make some sense of it. To leave this place, he has no choice but to save it, and so, he meets the new people there.
The bomber's notebook helps you manage all of the world's day to day actions, knowing what events await them for the three (repeating) days of your stay. As a kid, I dreaded doing these. I just wanted to do the dungeons. It was all I looked forward to for a Zelda game. Of course, I was an idiot back then, and I said "only 4 dungeons? this blows" and still got all the masks and beat the game. I loved zelda back then, so I couldn't just sit there and not beat it. Today, it's the opposite for me: I dreaded doing the six (yes, the pirate's fortress and ikana castle count) dungeons, and I wanted to help the world ease their pain as their doom invades their mind, whether they liked it or not.
The world matters in this game. As a kid, I met those NPCs as quest givers. Today, I've met them as people. I met the people taking care of Romani Ranch. I've seen the consequences of not helping them and felt awful for it. I've met Anju and her husband. I wanted for them to be together. I made those chicks grow into mighty roosters to assuage the lonely man's regrets. I've helped the world with their issues, and I felt good about it.
But it doesn't matter when you go back in time, you'd have to do it again.
Even when you helped them, you want to do it again. I have saved the ranch from aliens, of all things, but now I have to go back to day 1 and finish a dungeon. I couldn't help but imagine the distressed, pained faces of the ranch as I couldn't help them. I just wanted out of that dungeon. Dungeons (save for Stone Tower, let's be honest here) feel like an afterthought. They don't have that oomph that Ocarina of Time's dungeons had. They're thematic, sure, but they lack the fun of its predecessor. That's why I say this game isn't a Zelda game: To save the world, you have no choice but to go through the dungeons. And yet, you only want to be with the world.
What if this game weren't a zelda game? What if there weren't dungeons? It's a pained world, and you'd have to find a way to save it by any means. I want to see that some day. For now, COOLMAN has saved Termina, and ultimately, its people. If only he'd stay and celebrate with them.
This game isn't a zelda game. It shouldn't have been a zelda game. There, I said it.
Everything about this game screams comfort and despair at the same time. The inhabitants of Termina live in a state of disarray; A moon seems to be falling down, a super important festival is supposed to take place at the same time. People have regrets, people have pressing matters, people are, in the end, lost.
Enter Link, or in my save file, COOLMAN. Without taking in account all the theories about this game, let's just say that Link fell down a really long hole and landed on something soft. He's in a new world, trying to make some sense of it. To leave this place, he has no choice but to save it, and so, he meets the new people there.
The bomber's notebook helps you manage all of the world's day to day actions, knowing what events await them for the three (repeating) days of your stay. As a kid, I dreaded doing these. I just wanted to do the dungeons. It was all I looked forward to for a Zelda game. Of course, I was an idiot back then, and I said "only 4 dungeons? this blows" and still got all the masks and beat the game. I loved zelda back then, so I couldn't just sit there and not beat it. Today, it's the opposite for me: I dreaded doing the six (yes, the pirate's fortress and ikana castle count) dungeons, and I wanted to help the world ease their pain as their doom invades their mind, whether they liked it or not.
The world matters in this game. As a kid, I met those NPCs as quest givers. Today, I've met them as people. I met the people taking care of Romani Ranch. I've seen the consequences of not helping them and felt awful for it. I've met Anju and her husband. I wanted for them to be together. I made those chicks grow into mighty roosters to assuage the lonely man's regrets. I've helped the world with their issues, and I felt good about it.
But it doesn't matter when you go back in time, you'd have to do it again.
Even when you helped them, you want to do it again. I have saved the ranch from aliens, of all things, but now I have to go back to day 1 and finish a dungeon. I couldn't help but imagine the distressed, pained faces of the ranch as I couldn't help them. I just wanted out of that dungeon. Dungeons (save for Stone Tower, let's be honest here) feel like an afterthought. They don't have that oomph that Ocarina of Time's dungeons had. They're thematic, sure, but they lack the fun of its predecessor. That's why I say this game isn't a Zelda game: To save the world, you have no choice but to go through the dungeons. And yet, you only want to be with the world.
What if this game weren't a zelda game? What if there weren't dungeons? It's a pained world, and you'd have to find a way to save it by any means. I want to see that some day. For now, COOLMAN has saved Termina, and ultimately, its people. If only he'd stay and celebrate with them.
2015
After going through all of this Noah should have just killed the animals instead.
I would like to thank this game for leading me down a rabbit hole that got me both into cardio exercise and carpal tunnel.
This is the greatest iteration of DDR ever created. Loaded and varied song selection, challenging campaign mode and overall outstanding UI make for the ultimate DDR experience that greatly helped in molding my personality to what I am today.
A solid iteration in the DDR series, which introduced new classic songs for people to play for decades to come. Campaign mode this time around is lackluster, however, and despite some great classics being added in the roster, it's not as varied as other titles of the same series.