poisoneddart
22 reviews liked by poisoneddart
The kind of twist that at first makes you go "This is really dumb", then after a while it s coming together, it starts to make sense, only to realize afterwards that no, nothing about this works, it is a really dumb and pointless twist.
Intensly frustrating. I love the first game, I love the cast, I love the tone, the music, the creativity. But through it's structure and twist Nirvana Initiative becomes much less than the sum of its parts.
THe secret ending and its implications slap though.
Intensly frustrating. I love the first game, I love the cast, I love the tone, the music, the creativity. But through it's structure and twist Nirvana Initiative becomes much less than the sum of its parts.
THe secret ending and its implications slap though.
I think folk have been awfully harsh about New Super Mario Bros. in expressing their relief with Wonder. It's largely the same thing.
Despite the suggestions I've been seeing, Wonder doesn't represent a huge shift in 2D Mario design like 3 or World did. There's no innovation on par with the P-Meter, the world map, multiple exits or Yoshi. I might go so far as to suggest that the NSMB sequels did more to revitalise the core Mario gameplay. I think those games deserve far more credit than they're given for making 2D design mainstream again after a decade of tech-driven design. I'm not sure we'd have a Street Fighter IV without them. The real value in Wonder is in the soul it injects back into 2D Mario.
For as much as I'll defend the NSMB games, I won't deny they were sterile. You could enjoy playing them, but there wasn't much to love in them, with their sanded-down on-model characters, plastic levels and synthetic sound design. Wonder is focused on surprising and delighting its players. To "put smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches". Wonder is frequently silly, strange and amusing, but kind and gentle in being so. Never obnoxious or upsetting. Even the Talking Flowers are soft-spoken and encouraging, never coming close to Omochao unsufferability. It's a game that will enthral fans, lapsed Mario players and children who are playing Mario for the first time.
It's no World, though. The focus on novelty holds back the depth of each level's appeal, and I don't really see myself coming back nearly as frequently as I would for my favourite entries in the series. With the exception of the Drill Suit, none of the new power-ups switch up the gameplay to the degree of SMB3's. The Power Badges are a welcome addition, but essentially just serve to bring back gameplay styles from more distinct entries like Mario 2. The game didn't feel like the kind of shift I'd expect in an all-new Mario game, but a post-Mario Maker NSMB sequel that had to do more bespoke stuff with its levels to justify itself. When I accept that, it's easier to appreciate the things that Wonder does well.
Within Nintendo, Wonder has been approached as an opportunity to give younger members of the staff more control within their most precious franchise, and it's clear that they've been very delicate with it, while addressing the tastes of 2023 audiences. They've clearly studied the series for inspiration, and Wonder incorporates a lot of features I haven't seen Mario touch in years. I really appreciated the funny little cutscenes after each castle, which are straight out of SMW, but they also help establish the sense that these disparate, wacky levels are intended to represent an overarching adventure. The online features are intended to encourage players who might drop out of frustrating, lonely single-player games, and I appreciate its inclusion, though it's not something I took a personal interest in. Even the concerning Talking Flowers do elevate the experience of retrying a level, with a voice cheering you on through the obstacles and enemies.
The diverse roster of new enemies and multiple playable characters really add to the game's sense of vitality. There's so much energy in their animation, and a lot of great little details. You can play as your favourite, and you're never made to feel like you're not getting the real experience if you don't choose Mario. Even the story's text boxes use a variable field for the character's name, so you can pretend this mission to save the Flower Kingdom was mainly the work of Light-Blue Yoshi, if you so choose. All the transformations are unique to your chosen character, and all of Peach's were really cute.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a really fun game, built with great care and talent. I just can't help but feel it regresses in areas that I don't expect from a new Mario title. Maybe that's the problem with bottling a beloved formula. I don't know if we're ever going to get another 2D Mario game that messes with its fundamentals as much as the new 3D ones do. With Miyamoto and Tezuka taking more hands-off roles on these projects, there's clearly a concern not to break what they established. Perhaps it would be better to follow in their sense of wild, daring creativity than to just play covers of their biggest hits. Maybe that's an unrealistic desire, though. Whatever. It's another good Mario, and I won't feel too hurt if they just make more of those.
Despite the suggestions I've been seeing, Wonder doesn't represent a huge shift in 2D Mario design like 3 or World did. There's no innovation on par with the P-Meter, the world map, multiple exits or Yoshi. I might go so far as to suggest that the NSMB sequels did more to revitalise the core Mario gameplay. I think those games deserve far more credit than they're given for making 2D design mainstream again after a decade of tech-driven design. I'm not sure we'd have a Street Fighter IV without them. The real value in Wonder is in the soul it injects back into 2D Mario.
For as much as I'll defend the NSMB games, I won't deny they were sterile. You could enjoy playing them, but there wasn't much to love in them, with their sanded-down on-model characters, plastic levels and synthetic sound design. Wonder is focused on surprising and delighting its players. To "put smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches". Wonder is frequently silly, strange and amusing, but kind and gentle in being so. Never obnoxious or upsetting. Even the Talking Flowers are soft-spoken and encouraging, never coming close to Omochao unsufferability. It's a game that will enthral fans, lapsed Mario players and children who are playing Mario for the first time.
It's no World, though. The focus on novelty holds back the depth of each level's appeal, and I don't really see myself coming back nearly as frequently as I would for my favourite entries in the series. With the exception of the Drill Suit, none of the new power-ups switch up the gameplay to the degree of SMB3's. The Power Badges are a welcome addition, but essentially just serve to bring back gameplay styles from more distinct entries like Mario 2. The game didn't feel like the kind of shift I'd expect in an all-new Mario game, but a post-Mario Maker NSMB sequel that had to do more bespoke stuff with its levels to justify itself. When I accept that, it's easier to appreciate the things that Wonder does well.
Within Nintendo, Wonder has been approached as an opportunity to give younger members of the staff more control within their most precious franchise, and it's clear that they've been very delicate with it, while addressing the tastes of 2023 audiences. They've clearly studied the series for inspiration, and Wonder incorporates a lot of features I haven't seen Mario touch in years. I really appreciated the funny little cutscenes after each castle, which are straight out of SMW, but they also help establish the sense that these disparate, wacky levels are intended to represent an overarching adventure. The online features are intended to encourage players who might drop out of frustrating, lonely single-player games, and I appreciate its inclusion, though it's not something I took a personal interest in. Even the concerning Talking Flowers do elevate the experience of retrying a level, with a voice cheering you on through the obstacles and enemies.
The diverse roster of new enemies and multiple playable characters really add to the game's sense of vitality. There's so much energy in their animation, and a lot of great little details. You can play as your favourite, and you're never made to feel like you're not getting the real experience if you don't choose Mario. Even the story's text boxes use a variable field for the character's name, so you can pretend this mission to save the Flower Kingdom was mainly the work of Light-Blue Yoshi, if you so choose. All the transformations are unique to your chosen character, and all of Peach's were really cute.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a really fun game, built with great care and talent. I just can't help but feel it regresses in areas that I don't expect from a new Mario title. Maybe that's the problem with bottling a beloved formula. I don't know if we're ever going to get another 2D Mario game that messes with its fundamentals as much as the new 3D ones do. With Miyamoto and Tezuka taking more hands-off roles on these projects, there's clearly a concern not to break what they established. Perhaps it would be better to follow in their sense of wild, daring creativity than to just play covers of their biggest hits. Maybe that's an unrealistic desire, though. Whatever. It's another good Mario, and I won't feel too hurt if they just make more of those.
This is a massive step up in creativity from the NSMB series, which is to say it is kind of creative. It has heart, it has charm, it does silly things. But it is uncanny. It exists in a twilight valley where it’s both bold and exactly the same game that’s been sold since 1988. The level of precision in which it hits the needle’s head here is unprecedented, itself a triumph. That it succeeds wildly in being a halfway point between inventive and staler-than-dust is… disquieting? Can a game both be alive and dead? I do not know what that means for the future of the wahoo let’s-a-go man. I only know I kind of had fun playing it but wished I hadn’t paid full price. Nabbit clears
This review contains spoilers
I'll spoiler tag this review just because the story is so full of plot twists that shake up your fundamental understanding of every aspect of itself that it's impossible to talk about basically any specifics without spoilers.
The House in Fata Morgana is an exceedingly earnest story about the power of love and forgiveness. A very emotionally loud drama where our two protagonists have to struggle as paragons of virtue against an incredibly cruel world. And an unabashedly sincere romance about two outcasted and traumatized people completing themselves through each other, in a love that transcends life and time.
It tonally embodies its themes of human connection and redemption through embarrassing, revealing sincerity. It's got a lot of interesting larger themes given how religious zealots within the story are largely violent bigots, while the story itself is full of miracles and comes from a deeply Christian worldview. It gives the impression of, "god is real and good, but the world is full of people who misinterpret his word." And most importantly for my experience, the leads are just fantastic characters who you love and cry for and hope on the edge of your seat that they'll prevail. And this is more of my personal taste, but I adored the labyrinthine haunted mansion aesthetics, and the subject matter of people struggling to hold onto their sanity when cursed to live for huge stretches of time.
This is most of what I loved about Fata Morgana, but any recommendation of it has to be tempered by the fact that it's full of problems, in it's structure, in it's basic writing, and in several of its individual arcs. Those protagonists who I was so attached to by the end, who I think completely carry the story? They are essentially absent from it for the first 40% of the story. It starts with a series of only loosely connected vignettes, and to be blunt, half of them are downright terrible. After chapter 3 I was close to dropping the game. These are partly justified by it later becoming clear why they were important and included in the story at all, but that doesn't excuse how bad they actually are, in terms of bad characters, pacing, and frustratingly trite tragic plots.
The biggest obstacle to enjoying Fata Morgana is the first half, but many of these writing flaws continue throughout the whole thing. Much of the dialogue feels stiff and unrealistic. There's a very inconsistent application of time period dialect that becomes confusing and takes you out of the experience.
And one of my biggest issues was how full it is of long sequences of characters suffering, I think to varying degrees of success in communicating it emotionally. At times it did work quite well, and I felt sick with the horror of what was happening. But from it's ubiquity and failures in many individual scenes to be compelling, I usually felt emotionally dulled by the endless torment, until I couldn't take it as seriously as I was meant to.
I'm still not sure how I feel about Fata Morgana. When I listen to some of the stellar tracks from the ost and think of its best moments, I feel in love with it. But then I think of the dismal lows in its early chapters and the constant small frustrations with its clumsy writing pulling me out of the experience. Do I recommend it? That depends on how put off you are by the flaws I listed, but if you do give it a shot, I recommend powering through at least through chapter 5, even if it seems downright bad at first. Because despite all my issues, by the time it got going, I was moved by its story, and I'll remember Michel and Giselle as compelling and admirable characters for a long time.
The House in Fata Morgana is an exceedingly earnest story about the power of love and forgiveness. A very emotionally loud drama where our two protagonists have to struggle as paragons of virtue against an incredibly cruel world. And an unabashedly sincere romance about two outcasted and traumatized people completing themselves through each other, in a love that transcends life and time.
It tonally embodies its themes of human connection and redemption through embarrassing, revealing sincerity. It's got a lot of interesting larger themes given how religious zealots within the story are largely violent bigots, while the story itself is full of miracles and comes from a deeply Christian worldview. It gives the impression of, "god is real and good, but the world is full of people who misinterpret his word." And most importantly for my experience, the leads are just fantastic characters who you love and cry for and hope on the edge of your seat that they'll prevail. And this is more of my personal taste, but I adored the labyrinthine haunted mansion aesthetics, and the subject matter of people struggling to hold onto their sanity when cursed to live for huge stretches of time.
This is most of what I loved about Fata Morgana, but any recommendation of it has to be tempered by the fact that it's full of problems, in it's structure, in it's basic writing, and in several of its individual arcs. Those protagonists who I was so attached to by the end, who I think completely carry the story? They are essentially absent from it for the first 40% of the story. It starts with a series of only loosely connected vignettes, and to be blunt, half of them are downright terrible. After chapter 3 I was close to dropping the game. These are partly justified by it later becoming clear why they were important and included in the story at all, but that doesn't excuse how bad they actually are, in terms of bad characters, pacing, and frustratingly trite tragic plots.
The biggest obstacle to enjoying Fata Morgana is the first half, but many of these writing flaws continue throughout the whole thing. Much of the dialogue feels stiff and unrealistic. There's a very inconsistent application of time period dialect that becomes confusing and takes you out of the experience.
And one of my biggest issues was how full it is of long sequences of characters suffering, I think to varying degrees of success in communicating it emotionally. At times it did work quite well, and I felt sick with the horror of what was happening. But from it's ubiquity and failures in many individual scenes to be compelling, I usually felt emotionally dulled by the endless torment, until I couldn't take it as seriously as I was meant to.
I'm still not sure how I feel about Fata Morgana. When I listen to some of the stellar tracks from the ost and think of its best moments, I feel in love with it. But then I think of the dismal lows in its early chapters and the constant small frustrations with its clumsy writing pulling me out of the experience. Do I recommend it? That depends on how put off you are by the flaws I listed, but if you do give it a shot, I recommend powering through at least through chapter 5, even if it seems downright bad at first. Because despite all my issues, by the time it got going, I was moved by its story, and I'll remember Michel and Giselle as compelling and admirable characters for a long time.
Pretty good. The new dungeons are fun, the building is janky but enjoyable, the new areas are cool. The greater enemy variety, the honest to god bosses, and the overall pretty well designed world map revamp make this game. It's basically a jankier weirder BotW.
I'm not super hot on the new powers--there was an elegance to Breath of the Wild that I appreciated a lot. Sequence breaks and shrine skips in that game feel cool and earned because you're working within boundaries definite enough that breaking them is an accomplishment, often requiring obscure knowledge like the shield surf double jump or the use of special weapons in combination with slate powers. Tears of the Kingdom sometimes had a really good puzzle, but I was able to cheat at a lot of them very easily--many minecart puzzles are weak to the minecart shield, many gap-crossing puzzles are weak to gluing everything in the vicinity together into a huge bridge. Overall it's fun and technically very impressive, but it loses something in its versatility. (As an aside, Ascend is such a half-baked idea for a mechanic in a game already basically centered around different ways of gaining and losing altitude. It comes in handy occasionally but 90% of spots designed to require it could have had a ladder or climbable wall available and functionally changed nothing.)
The plot is written terribly and is structured very badly. The characters are paper thin, the voice acting is generally wasted on pointless material, and if you do things remotely out of order things start falling apart--do the memories sidequest before beating the dungeons and you will tear your hair out over Link's inability to share critical plot details with everyone, ignore the game nudging you towards exploring certain areas first and you'll be locked out of game mechanics until you cave and do what they tell you.
The new enemies are genuinely very very cool. Gibdos rock and should have gotten more screentime. The final boss is my favorite fight in any Zelda game, I think, from a gameplay standpoint at least.
Also the game is broadly very pretty and I very much appreciate that exploring the map and completing segments of the game makes it prettier (removes environmental hazards, turns off big ugly map tower spotlights) whereas BotW rewarded you for completing parts of the game by permanently ruining the view with laser pointers.
It's a weird game. There are things in this that I really hate and things in it that I really like. The moment to moment gameplay is quite good, so I would recommend it overall, and I think in some ways it corrects problems I had with BotW and hits some of the 'classic Zelda' notes the last one was missing. But I also think that viewed as a whole it's a worse game than BotW that loses some of the charm by the very act of trying to recapture it.
I'm not super hot on the new powers--there was an elegance to Breath of the Wild that I appreciated a lot. Sequence breaks and shrine skips in that game feel cool and earned because you're working within boundaries definite enough that breaking them is an accomplishment, often requiring obscure knowledge like the shield surf double jump or the use of special weapons in combination with slate powers. Tears of the Kingdom sometimes had a really good puzzle, but I was able to cheat at a lot of them very easily--many minecart puzzles are weak to the minecart shield, many gap-crossing puzzles are weak to gluing everything in the vicinity together into a huge bridge. Overall it's fun and technically very impressive, but it loses something in its versatility. (As an aside, Ascend is such a half-baked idea for a mechanic in a game already basically centered around different ways of gaining and losing altitude. It comes in handy occasionally but 90% of spots designed to require it could have had a ladder or climbable wall available and functionally changed nothing.)
The plot is written terribly and is structured very badly. The characters are paper thin, the voice acting is generally wasted on pointless material, and if you do things remotely out of order things start falling apart--do the memories sidequest before beating the dungeons and you will tear your hair out over Link's inability to share critical plot details with everyone, ignore the game nudging you towards exploring certain areas first and you'll be locked out of game mechanics until you cave and do what they tell you.
The new enemies are genuinely very very cool. Gibdos rock and should have gotten more screentime. The final boss is my favorite fight in any Zelda game, I think, from a gameplay standpoint at least.
Also the game is broadly very pretty and I very much appreciate that exploring the map and completing segments of the game makes it prettier (removes environmental hazards, turns off big ugly map tower spotlights) whereas BotW rewarded you for completing parts of the game by permanently ruining the view with laser pointers.
It's a weird game. There are things in this that I really hate and things in it that I really like. The moment to moment gameplay is quite good, so I would recommend it overall, and I think in some ways it corrects problems I had with BotW and hits some of the 'classic Zelda' notes the last one was missing. But I also think that viewed as a whole it's a worse game than BotW that loses some of the charm by the very act of trying to recapture it.
Forbidden West does so many things exceptionally well that its almost impossible to imagine mock reviews at PlayStation not scoring astronomically high. It feels like the most expensive games that I have ever played, which certainly has a novelty to it. Horizon's world is breathtaking. It's diverse cast and main narrative thread is likeable and entertaining for the lengthy run. And yet, it still rings hollow.
For every fiery story beat, there is one that makes you roll your eyes. The third act completely crumbles under the vast amount of plot threads and vaguely referenced themes of climate change and dangers of AI. While Zero Dawn's narrative felt more like a harrowing warning, Forbidden West plays out more like a single run Marvel comic book about fighting alien invaders. The absence of John Gonzalez this time around cannot be understated.
So much of Forbidden West just feels like its the game that PlayStation (not Guerilla) wants right now. Mascot protagonist. Cinematic. Sets up sequel. As excited as the production value of this game should make me, I'm left only with the fear that my dear PS has lost what made the past special.
For every fiery story beat, there is one that makes you roll your eyes. The third act completely crumbles under the vast amount of plot threads and vaguely referenced themes of climate change and dangers of AI. While Zero Dawn's narrative felt more like a harrowing warning, Forbidden West plays out more like a single run Marvel comic book about fighting alien invaders. The absence of John Gonzalez this time around cannot be understated.
So much of Forbidden West just feels like its the game that PlayStation (not Guerilla) wants right now. Mascot protagonist. Cinematic. Sets up sequel. As excited as the production value of this game should make me, I'm left only with the fear that my dear PS has lost what made the past special.
Death Stranding
2019
Forget about the whole narrative of "Death Stranding is unique because no other developer would make a game about just walking across open world and doing deliveries." Anyone who thinks like that don't know a single thing about video games (also somehow doesn't know games like Euro Truck exists). The achievement of this game has nothing to do with how "novel" it is with its core theme or some bullshit.
Death Stranding is great because gameplay mechanics supporting the idea of doing deliveries are thoroughly and meticulously systematized and game-ified that their feedback loops are incredibly addicting, while also buttressing the core conceptual themes of connection, being alone and altruism. Kojima and his team made sure that fetch quests are fun not just because of the instant gratification of achieving grades at the end and people giving you likes, but because of your own planning before making the delivery and making sure you are going through your routes while in full understanding of your current resources. Once you begin to see the larger picture and build network of roads and ziplines, the game now becomes something else, testing you to be as efficient as possible, and rewarding you for being smart.
Kojima has always loved systemic gameplay, but he always understood how to balance it out to make sure it's manageable, localized and most importantly, exploitable. Death Stranding is no exception. The game's focus is in the systemic exploration, but unlike other emergent open world games and "immersive sims," Death Stranding is not about emergent experiences; it's about constantly dangling the carrot of "you can be even more efficient here." And it's damn good at amplifying that gameplay loop. But instead of the pursuit of efficiency diminishing the humanity of the narrative and the world, it makes it stronger because you are creating these "strands" tighter and tighter.
Death Stranding is great because gameplay mechanics supporting the idea of doing deliveries are thoroughly and meticulously systematized and game-ified that their feedback loops are incredibly addicting, while also buttressing the core conceptual themes of connection, being alone and altruism. Kojima and his team made sure that fetch quests are fun not just because of the instant gratification of achieving grades at the end and people giving you likes, but because of your own planning before making the delivery and making sure you are going through your routes while in full understanding of your current resources. Once you begin to see the larger picture and build network of roads and ziplines, the game now becomes something else, testing you to be as efficient as possible, and rewarding you for being smart.
Kojima has always loved systemic gameplay, but he always understood how to balance it out to make sure it's manageable, localized and most importantly, exploitable. Death Stranding is no exception. The game's focus is in the systemic exploration, but unlike other emergent open world games and "immersive sims," Death Stranding is not about emergent experiences; it's about constantly dangling the carrot of "you can be even more efficient here." And it's damn good at amplifying that gameplay loop. But instead of the pursuit of efficiency diminishing the humanity of the narrative and the world, it makes it stronger because you are creating these "strands" tighter and tighter.
Splatoon 3
2022
REVIEW REFLECTS SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN ONLY
NOT REFLECTIVE OF FULL GAME
NO EXPLICIT STORY SPOILERS, BUT SOME FOCUS ON THE GAME'S STRUCTURE, FOCUS AND THEMES THAT I DIDN'T WANT REVEALED TO ME BEFORE I PLAYED IT, SO PLEASE AVOID IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED IT AND YOU'RE SENSITIVE TO THESE THINGS
After Octo Expansion, I was really excited about what the single-player in the next Splatoon would be. There was a bunch of familiar challenge missions, but at the end of it, there was a long sequence that showed how Splatoon's gameplay, music and setting could be applied to a structure more similar to Resident Evil 4 or Portal. It worked so well, I was sure that this was going to be the immediate future of Splatoon - A game that split its focus equally between an established top-tier multiplayer shooter and a fantastic single-player campaign to stand proudly alongside Mario and Zelda.
Splatoon 3's campaign is very much built off the back of Octo Expansion, but not in the way I'd hoped. It's understandable, but this is largely Octo Expansion 2, but with more of a focus towards players who are trying Splatoon for the first time, as opposed to the hardcore fans who bought the DLC.
There are some really good ideas here, though a lot of the time it's playing the old Splatoon balancing act of tutorials/MGS VR Missions. The utility of new weapons and specials are explored in fun levels that really show off their potential, and that Spider-Man one (I'm not familiar enough with the names of new Splatoon 3 stuff yet, sorry) is really good for vertical platforming. I'm not sure they've really given a good reason to ever use the Squid Boost thing in regular Splatooning, but I guess it's not doing anybody any harm.
I'll try to get over what it isn't, and appreciate it for what it is, and there is good here. They really throw a bone to Splatoon 1 fans here, especially at the start. The direct references are so baked into the story that there's a good deal that will go over your head if you've never had the delight of being a Wii U owner (or a GameCube owner, for that matter).
I think they do a good job of introducing new characters, while still establishing that The Squid Sisters are the toppermost of the poppermost. Really well balanced, and I felt overwhelmingly encouraged whenever Callie or Marie complimented how good I was at playing Splatoon. Having the old Agent 3 be their new Captain is a big play to Splatoon 1 fans, who get to point at the screen and say "that's me!"
The tone is pretty light throughout, though the dark backstory is explored in the Alterna Logs, and presented in a way that young players probably won't bother reading them. It's a bit of a let down that a Splatoon game dealing with the threat of an extinction event has fewer fucked up things in it than the new Kirby.
All in all, it's a fun new mode with a lot of things to dig into and enjoy. Not really what I'd hoped for, but there's enough in there to appeal to me, specifically, as an individual, that I worry I'd seem ungrateful if I moaned about it too much. I really hope they just stretch the last hour as the format for the whole of the next one though.
NOT REFLECTIVE OF FULL GAME
NO EXPLICIT STORY SPOILERS, BUT SOME FOCUS ON THE GAME'S STRUCTURE, FOCUS AND THEMES THAT I DIDN'T WANT REVEALED TO ME BEFORE I PLAYED IT, SO PLEASE AVOID IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED IT AND YOU'RE SENSITIVE TO THESE THINGS
After Octo Expansion, I was really excited about what the single-player in the next Splatoon would be. There was a bunch of familiar challenge missions, but at the end of it, there was a long sequence that showed how Splatoon's gameplay, music and setting could be applied to a structure more similar to Resident Evil 4 or Portal. It worked so well, I was sure that this was going to be the immediate future of Splatoon - A game that split its focus equally between an established top-tier multiplayer shooter and a fantastic single-player campaign to stand proudly alongside Mario and Zelda.
Splatoon 3's campaign is very much built off the back of Octo Expansion, but not in the way I'd hoped. It's understandable, but this is largely Octo Expansion 2, but with more of a focus towards players who are trying Splatoon for the first time, as opposed to the hardcore fans who bought the DLC.
There are some really good ideas here, though a lot of the time it's playing the old Splatoon balancing act of tutorials/MGS VR Missions. The utility of new weapons and specials are explored in fun levels that really show off their potential, and that Spider-Man one (I'm not familiar enough with the names of new Splatoon 3 stuff yet, sorry) is really good for vertical platforming. I'm not sure they've really given a good reason to ever use the Squid Boost thing in regular Splatooning, but I guess it's not doing anybody any harm.
I'll try to get over what it isn't, and appreciate it for what it is, and there is good here. They really throw a bone to Splatoon 1 fans here, especially at the start. The direct references are so baked into the story that there's a good deal that will go over your head if you've never had the delight of being a Wii U owner (or a GameCube owner, for that matter).
I think they do a good job of introducing new characters, while still establishing that The Squid Sisters are the toppermost of the poppermost. Really well balanced, and I felt overwhelmingly encouraged whenever Callie or Marie complimented how good I was at playing Splatoon. Having the old Agent 3 be their new Captain is a big play to Splatoon 1 fans, who get to point at the screen and say "that's me!"
The tone is pretty light throughout, though the dark backstory is explored in the Alterna Logs, and presented in a way that young players probably won't bother reading them. It's a bit of a let down that a Splatoon game dealing with the threat of an extinction event has fewer fucked up things in it than the new Kirby.
All in all, it's a fun new mode with a lot of things to dig into and enjoy. Not really what I'd hoped for, but there's enough in there to appeal to me, specifically, as an individual, that I worry I'd seem ungrateful if I moaned about it too much. I really hope they just stretch the last hour as the format for the whole of the next one though.
I appreciate Backloggd has a spoiler tag option and I could give bigger overall thoughts using it but I'd rather write something that at least is open to anyone.
With that in mind Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (XC3) is difficult to write about because you're taken on such a fantastic ride to reveal any of the major plot points, mechanical tricks or later character reveals and developments would be taking away from it.
This game though has all of that by the barrel, I found myself during most end of chapter cutscenes; mouth agape, possibly raising a fist to the air or even getting glassy eyed.
The story and characters are very "anime" at points but I feel for the most part this is genuinely a compliment.
XC3 has some of the best twists and turns in games and it also doesn't lead you on for ages to a point where you've had something figured out for hours.
If you think you something may be revealed the pace of the story usually means it's just about to come.
From the start the idea of XC3's world Aionios is an interesting sci-fi concept, but being inside the world as a player itself that is a magical experience.
Monoliftsoft are the actual top shelf Boys at creating beautiful open worlds, their work with scale is in my eyes still unmatched especially considering the technical limitations of the Switch.
You can see why Ninty have this team doing this work with Zelda and this I would say is at least structurally on par with BOTW, the big caveat being movement is not (and it's not meant to be) as free roaming as it is on Link's latest adventure.
Combat wise XC3 arguably has the best system and it takes so many lessons from the previous 2 entries and the (I can't believe I only recently got around to it) DLC Torna.
It's MMO-esque combat feels involved but very much like you're a moving part of a bigger machine.
You have the option to try and move all those parts if that is how you like to play but there is quite a bit going on at once that you will be, to a degree, forced to trust your partners but that in itself is a strength because whilst tactics are harder to control your team's strategy with it's classes, equipment and even choosing the moves (Arts) you do are a fun experiment in strategical thoughts and planning.
Speaking of classes, class systems in JRPGs are not a new thing but XC3 does some of the best work in showing the player the point in the different classes, how they work and why you want to use them.
It simultaneously rewards you for trying new things whilst also not really punishing you for sticking to strategies you enjoy or think work best.
Side quests are a large factor of any JRPG, XC3 is no exception and whilst I would say the combat is "arguably" the best in the series, I would say there's not much to argue in saying XC3 does side quests better than the others.
A lot of side quests are "fetch quests" but the way story is delivered, the variation in how they're done and the fact that nearly none are mandatory it's hard to find it an issue.
As with the previous games there are even quests where an NPC needs you to get a shopping list of items which are scattered throughout the world, in the past these have sometimes felt like "the grind" but personally in my almost 120 hours of playing the game only 3 times I've had to leave one of these to come back with the things required as, as long as you're not ignoring it all, you'll end up with the things the people of Aionios are asking for.
(Also 1 of those 3 times is a much more post game quest that's a bit longer)
I could continue to write more and more about what's in this game, what about it is good and why I love it but I think I'll start to wrap this up.
"Where is it in your rankings?" is a question I've been asked a few times already.
I'm still yet to play X, but if we're speaking just 1-3 I'd currently say 1>3>2.
Early days though and with a big DLC coming out later who knows where I'll sit eventually.
At the end of the day I think tonally it's closer to the first game which I much prefer but does take some of the more fun elements of the second along with the stronger parts of it's world and mechanical choices whilst binning the terrible stuff (gacha being the main crime).
Structurally Aionios is the most impressive of the worlds although in my heart it's so hard to beat the Bionis and Mechonis.
This is undoubtedly going to be my game of 2022 and I just hope that it will be for more of you and get's the recognition it deserves.
Xenoblade is never going to be in the media's brightest spotlight, JRPGs are a no-no for so many folk and being a Switch title and not on PS5/XSX means it doesn't have all those frames and resolutions that people are a bit too obsessed with.
However due to these restraints "Xenoblade fans are eating well" getting 4 huge titles and so much more within twelve years and I'm ready for another plater.
Oh, and finally.
I did somehow get used to Riku's voice by the end, but what was up with that?
With that in mind Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (XC3) is difficult to write about because you're taken on such a fantastic ride to reveal any of the major plot points, mechanical tricks or later character reveals and developments would be taking away from it.
This game though has all of that by the barrel, I found myself during most end of chapter cutscenes; mouth agape, possibly raising a fist to the air or even getting glassy eyed.
The story and characters are very "anime" at points but I feel for the most part this is genuinely a compliment.
XC3 has some of the best twists and turns in games and it also doesn't lead you on for ages to a point where you've had something figured out for hours.
If you think you something may be revealed the pace of the story usually means it's just about to come.
From the start the idea of XC3's world Aionios is an interesting sci-fi concept, but being inside the world as a player itself that is a magical experience.
Monoliftsoft are the actual top shelf Boys at creating beautiful open worlds, their work with scale is in my eyes still unmatched especially considering the technical limitations of the Switch.
You can see why Ninty have this team doing this work with Zelda and this I would say is at least structurally on par with BOTW, the big caveat being movement is not (and it's not meant to be) as free roaming as it is on Link's latest adventure.
Combat wise XC3 arguably has the best system and it takes so many lessons from the previous 2 entries and the (I can't believe I only recently got around to it) DLC Torna.
It's MMO-esque combat feels involved but very much like you're a moving part of a bigger machine.
You have the option to try and move all those parts if that is how you like to play but there is quite a bit going on at once that you will be, to a degree, forced to trust your partners but that in itself is a strength because whilst tactics are harder to control your team's strategy with it's classes, equipment and even choosing the moves (Arts) you do are a fun experiment in strategical thoughts and planning.
Speaking of classes, class systems in JRPGs are not a new thing but XC3 does some of the best work in showing the player the point in the different classes, how they work and why you want to use them.
It simultaneously rewards you for trying new things whilst also not really punishing you for sticking to strategies you enjoy or think work best.
Side quests are a large factor of any JRPG, XC3 is no exception and whilst I would say the combat is "arguably" the best in the series, I would say there's not much to argue in saying XC3 does side quests better than the others.
A lot of side quests are "fetch quests" but the way story is delivered, the variation in how they're done and the fact that nearly none are mandatory it's hard to find it an issue.
As with the previous games there are even quests where an NPC needs you to get a shopping list of items which are scattered throughout the world, in the past these have sometimes felt like "the grind" but personally in my almost 120 hours of playing the game only 3 times I've had to leave one of these to come back with the things required as, as long as you're not ignoring it all, you'll end up with the things the people of Aionios are asking for.
(Also 1 of those 3 times is a much more post game quest that's a bit longer)
I could continue to write more and more about what's in this game, what about it is good and why I love it but I think I'll start to wrap this up.
"Where is it in your rankings?" is a question I've been asked a few times already.
I'm still yet to play X, but if we're speaking just 1-3 I'd currently say 1>3>2.
Early days though and with a big DLC coming out later who knows where I'll sit eventually.
At the end of the day I think tonally it's closer to the first game which I much prefer but does take some of the more fun elements of the second along with the stronger parts of it's world and mechanical choices whilst binning the terrible stuff (gacha being the main crime).
Structurally Aionios is the most impressive of the worlds although in my heart it's so hard to beat the Bionis and Mechonis.
This is undoubtedly going to be my game of 2022 and I just hope that it will be for more of you and get's the recognition it deserves.
Xenoblade is never going to be in the media's brightest spotlight, JRPGs are a no-no for so many folk and being a Switch title and not on PS5/XSX means it doesn't have all those frames and resolutions that people are a bit too obsessed with.
However due to these restraints "Xenoblade fans are eating well" getting 4 huge titles and so much more within twelve years and I'm ready for another plater.
Oh, and finally.
I did somehow get used to Riku's voice by the end, but what was up with that?
Having to micromanage 6 characters in real-time with no way to pause or slow down combat (outside of chain attacks) makes Xenoblade 3 one of the most chaotic and execution-heavy JRPGs I've ever played! Pair that with a strong emphasis on spacing/positioning, and Xeno3 easily has the BEST combat system in the series.
However, there are 3 massive design flaws that hold it back from being truly great instead of just relatively better than other JRPGs.
First is its poor implementation of cooldown combat -- most games that rely entirely on cooldowns are built so that playing efficiently means spamming every ability as frequently as possible. Every second an ability is spent off of cooldown is a second of wasted healing or damage.
Basically, cooldowns reduce combat from a series of tactical decisions to a rigid 'schedule' of button presses, hitting every attack at set intervals to maximize effectiveness.
The only way to make these systems engaging is to create situations where the player is encouraged to withhold their abilities, calculating risk/reward and waiting for the perfect opportunity instead of turning everything into a spam fest. This can be accomplished through enemies that try to disrupt your rotation with their attacks (raid bosses), stringent resource management (mp/stamina/whatever), or situationally useful abilities (extra effective when the right conditions are set).
Apart from a handful of conditional abilities, Xeno3 doesn't really do this. In fact, since the most powerful super attacks in the game are fueled by the number of abilities you use, the player is actively rewarded for constant cooldown rotations instead of deliberate decision making. You want to activate interlinks/chain attacks/talents as frequently as possible? Just spam, dude.
Most enemies can't even interrupt your attacks, so you don't have to worry about waiting for an opening before commiting to an animation ie. Monster Hunter.
It doesn't matter what class or flavor of dps you're using, whether you're a hammer wielding heavy hitter, a long-range gunslinger, a crit-based dual wielder, a bleed-based archer, a buffing healer -- you're hitting all your cooldowns as fast as you can.
The second design flaw is the godawful party a.i. that is constantly ignoring your orders, running into enemies' attacks, or placing their buffs where no one can use them. The game gives you tools to micromanage your party members, but there's only so much you can do when they randomly disobey orders like using the opposite status effect you tell them to use or randomly repositioning themselves away from where you placed them.
I imagine some of this can be fixed in upcoming patches, but I doubt Monolith can totally redesign the A.I. so they're not constantly sabotaging you. At least, not without some sort of customizable flowchart akin to FFXII or Deadfire.
The third and arguably most damaging flaw is the chain attack. This powerful super move forms the cornerstone of your strategy, letting your team safely dish out millions of points of damage, fully heal your party, and even apply status effects to enemies without fear of retaliation.
Anyone familiar with XB1 or 2 will have a decent understanding of how it works: time pauses and you will get to pick one of 3 randomly selected party members to provide a passive bonus to the chain attack (damage penetration/ aggro resets/ stat buffs/ etc.) Afterwards, every party member gets to use one attack against their target, with each attack filling an on-screen gauge.
Once the gauge is full, the character chosen for their passive bonus unleashes a powerful super attack and the chain attack starts a new round where you pick a new passive bonus and some characters are given a chance to attack again. If done properly, an efficient strategy will let you go 5 rounds in a single chain attack!
There are all sorts of secondary rules where the class of a character affects the rate at which the chain attack gauge fills, and how your optional hero characters have their own perks, or how overfilling the gauge lets more characters attack each turn… I'll admit, learning this mechanic is pretty tricky and took several hours for me to form a consistent strategy. So why is it bad???
Problem is, chain attacks RUIN the flow of combat by replacing the real-time chaos with a turn-based minigame where you spend most of your time watching flashy cutscenes.
As I said, the minigame has a lot of convoluted rules that dictate the length and effectiveness of the attack, but once you settle on a good strategy, it's just a matter of running through the motions, mindlessly picking the optimal attacks every chain attack. It quickly devolves into 'pick the same attacks in the same order you always do, watch 2 minutes of cutscenes as you wail on a defenseless enemy.'
In fact, there are some fights where the majority of an encounter is spent watching chain attack cutscenes, making me question the point of combat in the first place! For many boss fights, I feel like I'm just buying time until I can use my chain attack to chunk 40-80% of their health bar. Xenoblade's biggest strength is that it plays out in real-time! If I wanted to pause time and slowly micromanage, there are much better alternatives!
These flaws have been around since the first Xenoblade released 10 years ago. And every time Monolith makes a new entry, they come up with a bunch of convoluted combat gimmicks instead of fixing the series' shaky foundation. After XB 1 introduced Chain Attacks, later entries had Overdrives, Elemental Combos, Fusion Combos, Interlinks, Fusion Arts, Field Abilities, etc. etc.
Learning these systems is fun at first, but once you understand how they work, it's obvious that these mechanics have one or two optimal strategies that are repeated ad nauseum through hundreds of samey, repetitive battles.
Monolith is making the combat flowchart longer and longer but they aren't changing the fact that it's still a flowchart.
I would be remiss to not acknowledge Xenoblade 3's deep character customization, combining Final Fantasy 5's mix and match job system with the customizable movesets and game-changing armor that Xenoblade is known for. For people with a min-maxing mindset, you could argue that customization is the REAL game and the combat encounters are just an excuse to test out new builds.
And you know what? I can totally see that argument. Xenoblade's emphasis on optimizing numbers isn't that different from the efficiency simulators/machine building seen in city builders/tower defense/programming puzzlers.
The big difference is that these games don't make you sit through the boring stuff. In games like Monster Train or Opus Magnum or Cities: Skylines you make some decisions, speed up time, then see the results of your actions, tweaking your build based on feedback. If combat is just a means to an end, then there's no reason for me to sit through dozens of hours of it when I'm just here for the number crunching.
Despite my complaints, I still enjoyed the game in the same way I enjoyed most jrpgs, begrudgingly pushing through hours of samey combat just so I can enjoy the narrative, party customization, and beautiful presentation. I don't consider it to be peak fiction, but Xenoblade 3 hits some emotional and thematic high points that match some of my favorite PS1 jrpgs, easily cementing it as 'one of the best in the genre.'
I'm just tired and burnt out on a genre that sucks up so much of my time for no good reason. A genre where the majority of the runtime is wasted on deeply flawed combat systems that are rarely engaging. Maybe the upcoming dlc will introduce some tricky boss fights or give some QOL updates that speed up chain attacks! But for now it's a 7 for me! I hope one day I can return to this and give it something higher.
However, there are 3 massive design flaws that hold it back from being truly great instead of just relatively better than other JRPGs.
First is its poor implementation of cooldown combat -- most games that rely entirely on cooldowns are built so that playing efficiently means spamming every ability as frequently as possible. Every second an ability is spent off of cooldown is a second of wasted healing or damage.
Basically, cooldowns reduce combat from a series of tactical decisions to a rigid 'schedule' of button presses, hitting every attack at set intervals to maximize effectiveness.
The only way to make these systems engaging is to create situations where the player is encouraged to withhold their abilities, calculating risk/reward and waiting for the perfect opportunity instead of turning everything into a spam fest. This can be accomplished through enemies that try to disrupt your rotation with their attacks (raid bosses), stringent resource management (mp/stamina/whatever), or situationally useful abilities (extra effective when the right conditions are set).
Apart from a handful of conditional abilities, Xeno3 doesn't really do this. In fact, since the most powerful super attacks in the game are fueled by the number of abilities you use, the player is actively rewarded for constant cooldown rotations instead of deliberate decision making. You want to activate interlinks/chain attacks/talents as frequently as possible? Just spam, dude.
Most enemies can't even interrupt your attacks, so you don't have to worry about waiting for an opening before commiting to an animation ie. Monster Hunter.
It doesn't matter what class or flavor of dps you're using, whether you're a hammer wielding heavy hitter, a long-range gunslinger, a crit-based dual wielder, a bleed-based archer, a buffing healer -- you're hitting all your cooldowns as fast as you can.
The second design flaw is the godawful party a.i. that is constantly ignoring your orders, running into enemies' attacks, or placing their buffs where no one can use them. The game gives you tools to micromanage your party members, but there's only so much you can do when they randomly disobey orders like using the opposite status effect you tell them to use or randomly repositioning themselves away from where you placed them.
I imagine some of this can be fixed in upcoming patches, but I doubt Monolith can totally redesign the A.I. so they're not constantly sabotaging you. At least, not without some sort of customizable flowchart akin to FFXII or Deadfire.
The third and arguably most damaging flaw is the chain attack. This powerful super move forms the cornerstone of your strategy, letting your team safely dish out millions of points of damage, fully heal your party, and even apply status effects to enemies without fear of retaliation.
Anyone familiar with XB1 or 2 will have a decent understanding of how it works: time pauses and you will get to pick one of 3 randomly selected party members to provide a passive bonus to the chain attack (damage penetration/ aggro resets/ stat buffs/ etc.) Afterwards, every party member gets to use one attack against their target, with each attack filling an on-screen gauge.
Once the gauge is full, the character chosen for their passive bonus unleashes a powerful super attack and the chain attack starts a new round where you pick a new passive bonus and some characters are given a chance to attack again. If done properly, an efficient strategy will let you go 5 rounds in a single chain attack!
There are all sorts of secondary rules where the class of a character affects the rate at which the chain attack gauge fills, and how your optional hero characters have their own perks, or how overfilling the gauge lets more characters attack each turn… I'll admit, learning this mechanic is pretty tricky and took several hours for me to form a consistent strategy. So why is it bad???
Problem is, chain attacks RUIN the flow of combat by replacing the real-time chaos with a turn-based minigame where you spend most of your time watching flashy cutscenes.
As I said, the minigame has a lot of convoluted rules that dictate the length and effectiveness of the attack, but once you settle on a good strategy, it's just a matter of running through the motions, mindlessly picking the optimal attacks every chain attack. It quickly devolves into 'pick the same attacks in the same order you always do, watch 2 minutes of cutscenes as you wail on a defenseless enemy.'
In fact, there are some fights where the majority of an encounter is spent watching chain attack cutscenes, making me question the point of combat in the first place! For many boss fights, I feel like I'm just buying time until I can use my chain attack to chunk 40-80% of their health bar. Xenoblade's biggest strength is that it plays out in real-time! If I wanted to pause time and slowly micromanage, there are much better alternatives!
These flaws have been around since the first Xenoblade released 10 years ago. And every time Monolith makes a new entry, they come up with a bunch of convoluted combat gimmicks instead of fixing the series' shaky foundation. After XB 1 introduced Chain Attacks, later entries had Overdrives, Elemental Combos, Fusion Combos, Interlinks, Fusion Arts, Field Abilities, etc. etc.
Learning these systems is fun at first, but once you understand how they work, it's obvious that these mechanics have one or two optimal strategies that are repeated ad nauseum through hundreds of samey, repetitive battles.
Monolith is making the combat flowchart longer and longer but they aren't changing the fact that it's still a flowchart.
I would be remiss to not acknowledge Xenoblade 3's deep character customization, combining Final Fantasy 5's mix and match job system with the customizable movesets and game-changing armor that Xenoblade is known for. For people with a min-maxing mindset, you could argue that customization is the REAL game and the combat encounters are just an excuse to test out new builds.
And you know what? I can totally see that argument. Xenoblade's emphasis on optimizing numbers isn't that different from the efficiency simulators/machine building seen in city builders/tower defense/programming puzzlers.
The big difference is that these games don't make you sit through the boring stuff. In games like Monster Train or Opus Magnum or Cities: Skylines you make some decisions, speed up time, then see the results of your actions, tweaking your build based on feedback. If combat is just a means to an end, then there's no reason for me to sit through dozens of hours of it when I'm just here for the number crunching.
Despite my complaints, I still enjoyed the game in the same way I enjoyed most jrpgs, begrudgingly pushing through hours of samey combat just so I can enjoy the narrative, party customization, and beautiful presentation. I don't consider it to be peak fiction, but Xenoblade 3 hits some emotional and thematic high points that match some of my favorite PS1 jrpgs, easily cementing it as 'one of the best in the genre.'
I'm just tired and burnt out on a genre that sucks up so much of my time for no good reason. A genre where the majority of the runtime is wasted on deeply flawed combat systems that are rarely engaging. Maybe the upcoming dlc will introduce some tricky boss fights or give some QOL updates that speed up chain attacks! But for now it's a 7 for me! I hope one day I can return to this and give it something higher.