While I was originally unsure of how I would like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 upon its reveal, it didn't take long for me to become more optimistic about it. More and more information about it was released, with a lot of it appearing to be exactly what I wanted from a new Xenoblade game. It soon became one of my most anticipated video games ever. I am extremely glad I am able to say it still surpassed my expectations despite them being so high.

The gameplay here is easily one of its strongest points, as it's pretty much exactly what I wanted from the next Xenoblade game. The world is vast and expansive with lots of interesting areas to explore. It was especially enjoyable finding all the small references to the previous Xenoblade games sprinkled throughout each area. The combat is also incredible, and I'm surprised by how well they were able to combine elements from the first and second game. The addition of classes is also one of my favorite parts of the game, as it allows for tons of customization without feeling overwhelming. Switching classes to learn arts and skills from them also kept the combat constantly feeling fresh and interesting. Even the side quests feel more interesting than ever, as they all relate in some way to the actions of the party members or other parts of the story.

Never before I have experienced such an emotional story as the one in this game. I've never cried as hard or as many times due to a piece of media as I did with Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It contains some of my favorite moments from the series, and this is thanks to the wonderful cast of characters. Since all six main party members join together near the very start of the game, each of them get a great amount of screentime with plenty of interactions with the other characters. They had become one of my favorite casts of characters by the end of the game, with it being hard who to pick who I liked the most out of them. However, while I did find the story to be excellent, it suffers from pacing issues or lack of smaller explanations at points.

As to be expected with an entry in the Xenoblade series, the soundtrack is phenomenal. The many battle themes stand out in this regard, as each of them are extremely memorable and set the tone perfectly. I do wish there was option to turn off the menu/chain attack music, because while these are incredible tracks, there were many points where I didn't want them to interrupt the song that was currently playing. Hopefully MonolithSoft will acknowledge this in a future update. I also had one more small issue with the music, which is that some of the area themes are more atmospheric instead of featuring a prominent melody. These songs are by no means bad, but I just prefer Xenoblade's typical style for area music as it allows for more memorable tracks.

I am beyond thrilled that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 turned out to be nearly a perfect replica of what I wanted. I even found the game's central message to be especially inspiring for me, which I can't say has happened with anything I've experience before. Between that, the expertly crafted gameplay, and the incredible story with spectacular characters, this game was a magical experience that I will no doubt cherish for a very long time.

I recently did my bi-yearly replay of this game I love so much so I figured I'd write something about it and give a bit of in sight on the game itself.

Story :
You're Jimmy Hopkins who has just been expelled from numerous schools and your Mother and Step-Dad drop you off at Bullworth Academy. a School run by various cliques,bullies and all sorts of characters and as you naturally progress through the story you reform the school's culture and cliques. there are 6 Cliques in this game that include Jocks,Nerds,Greasers,Preppies,Townies and Bullies

Gameplay:

Free Roam and General Gameplay -
as you walk around Bullworth Academy you can interact with various NPCs and the students of this game all have tons of personality and can do completely random stuff even if it gets a bit repetitive eventually. probably the most lively game until RDR2 from Rockstar and even then this game has more memorable quotes IMO. obviously you can get into fights, be chased by prefects for various "crimes" like violating curfew,truancy or violence. eventually more of the town of Bullworth opens up as you can take on more Errands,Side-Jobs,go to the Carnival,get more clothing,haircuts,bike races etc. you'll also see Students out about in town usually when Class has ended

Classes -
You can attend 2 Classes each day and the classes vary by a time schedule. these classes are Chemistry (push the button within the box minigame),English (you get 6 jumbled letters on a chalkboard and have to form as many words as you can),Art (you basically draw lines to fill in the painting while dodging erasers and scissors),Gym (wrestling and dodgeball),Shop (you do the correct movement on your controller to what is on screen) and Photography (taking pictures within a time limit). Scholarship Edition adds 4 new classes which are Music (basic rhythm minigame),Math (quick mathematical questions),Geography (which flag goes where) and Biology (dissection), personally the only classes that give useful rewards are Art,English,Chemistry,Geography and Shop class. Art gives you extra health from kissing girls (or gents),Chemistry gives you powerful weapons,Geography locates collectibles on the map,Shop gives you fast bikes for fast travel and English makes it easy to get away from prefects, the other classes basically just give you clothing

Missions -
A lot of Bully's missions are similar to the GTA Formula but there's a good amount of variety. one Mission you'll be going on a carnival date,boxing Preppies,smashing up your teacher's house,helping hide your English teachers booze etc, I don't want to go to in depth cause you'll know what to expect for the most part and I don't want to spoil the most important missions

Music:
Personally the Music here pretty much perfectly fits the game and it's school theme. the walk theme is a 10/10 and if you don't like the Preppies theme when you fight them then there's something wrong with you

Criticism about this version of the game:
Scholarship Edition adds 4 new Classes which are all fine. but it adds a few extra missions, 4 of them are filler missions required for the story around Chapter 3 and they all revolve around Christmas, they're insanely boring missions. they also added 2 Side "Missions", one of them you steal 3 bikes for a Townie which is another boring mission but it's optional and the other isn't even a mission at all and is basically just a cutscene for the gnome collectibles which already existed in the PS2 Original. there's also some bugs and some horrible audio mixing, like the end of the carnival date is extremely loud for no reason

Conclusion:
Overall IMO an extremely fun game and anyone who is a fan of Rockstar's games should play it, it might not be one of the greatest games ever for everyone but personally this game holds a special place in my heart ever since I completed the game almost a decade ago

This was one of the games I played the most when I was growing up, so it has a special place in my heart. Luckily it's a pretty solid game even when ignoring my previous attachment, as there's plenty enjoyment to be had here despite its simple nature. This even applies when going for completion since finding all the collectibles feels rewarding without being too challenging. It's also pretty short, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and provides a nice little experience, even for those that haven't watched the Star Wars films.

Horizon Forbidden West is one of those games that you pick up and just can't put down. I really enjoyed Zero Dawn, but it definitely left much to be desired in some areas like combat and the side missions. This game though... I don't know where to begin.

The movement and combat in general feels better. There's so many new weapons and ways to take out foes both man and machine. There's so damn much to do in the world itself that you will easily spend most of your time exploring and doing side missions of all kinds more than the main story itself. On the topic of that I found the narrative so much more engaging. Zero Dawn had a great story, but the way cutscenes are presented and the way fights play out feel so much more cinematic here. The number of characters you encounter on your journey is greatly increased, and whether returning or new they all add to the world in their own way. Everything here feels more grand and even bigger in scope than it may first appear. I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

In terms of gameplay there's so much to go over. Multiple skill trees that give a plethora of skills to use, many different missions like taking out rebel camps, returning Tallnecks and cauldrons, settlements that feel alive and have plenty of side quests to do within, etc. I have to give a special shout out to the side quests because over the 15 or so I did across the different types... they all felt well thought out and worth my time. That's surprising to me in a game with so much to do. You'd expect there to be plenty of filler. But everything feels like it connects back to the world in a meaningful way.

I could go on forever about how much of a step up this is compared to the first game. This is what a sequel should strive to be. I didn't even go into how good this game looks and runs on PS5! I don't have a 4K setup but even without that the power of what the PS5 can do is still astounding. This is one of my favorite open world games I've played. I know everyone is raving about Elden Ring at the moment (and I don't deny its greatness). But Forbidden West deserves some credit of its own.

I'm not even sure how I should begin this review because, to be frank, I'm quite simply blown away. I never looked much into Elden Ring before it launched, but after hearing all the praise it was getting, I knew this wasn't something I could miss out on. I ended up getting it on day one, and I am extremely glad I did, as Elden Ring is now one of my favorite games of all time.

Easily one of the best parts of this game for me is its unparalleled sense of exploration and discovery. You never know when you'll stumble across a new enemy you've never seen, an underground dungeon, or sometimes even an entirely new area. Even though there are a lot of dungeons spread throughout the map, each of them feels distinct and rewarding enough that I wanted to find as many as I can. Despite scouring nearly every inch of the map for a total of over 140 hours, it never grew old for me. A big part of that is due to how well the combat and difficulty work in tandem with having an open world.

Yes, the game is hard, but in a way that pushes the player to truly learn the combat and how best to utilize it. Even against much weaker enemies, you have to think about your moves, preventing combat from ever feeling mindless. Each encounter tests your skills and knowledge, and this is especially true for boss fights. If you do encounter an enemy or boss that you feel is just too challenging, you can just go elsewhere and come back when you're stronger thanks to the open world. This helps prevent bosses from becoming frustrating and feeling like a roadblock, which is why I believe having an open world Fromsoft game was a genius idea. However, I did feel like the second half of the game was missing the challenge that the first half had, but that is likely my fault as I had become over-leveled from exploring everything I could.

The bosses in this game are often challenging, but still incredibly fun and satisfying to learn. Some bosses especially stood out to me, such as the fight against Radahn, which genuinely felt like an all-out war against a relentless enemy. And while I found the combat exceedingly enjoyable, I barely even scratched the surface of what it has to offer as I mainly stuck to a few different weapons. The idea that the combat in a future playthrough could feel entirely different by using other weapons and gear is truly exciting.

Another part of the experience that I enjoyed was all the different side quests. They're expansive, often lasting throughout most of the game, tell stories for different characters, and provide even more lore for the world. Some choices majorly affect a side quest, with them sometimes even affecting other linked quests. I do wish there was some sort of a quest log, though, as certain parts of many quests feel impossible to progress without having some sort of guide.

It's insane to think that I almost missed this masterpiece of a game, but I am unbelievably grateful I didn't. This incredible experience is something that beats even some of my favorite games, and I imagine that it will be extremely hard for me to find something that challenges it anytime soon.

I've been playing Pokemon games all my life. Yet this is the first time since X/Y where it felt like an ACTUAL step forward in some meaningful ways. And yet, Arceus still drags its feet in others.



Story - Hell naw

The main series of games have barely had any semblance of a story. Black/White/Platinum tried their best, but even then, oof. Arceus is no different, except it forces this God-awful story down your throat at any chance it gets. To many times, will the game be halted just for some NPC you barely remember the name of starts giving you a test of how fast you can spam the A button to get back to the game. It feels like there's two stories that got ripped apart and slapped together to try and find some meaning. No one is surprised that it does NOT do what they think it does.



Gameplay - Finally, some fucking food

The introduction of the Agile/Strong styles is a simple yet very welcome change to Pokemons iconic simple combat system. It's different enough to add that extra layer of surprise. To many times was this put into use where the tide of battle didn't go the way my 20+ years of series experience taught me it would. It really kept me on my toes.

The speed of the live battles has to be my favorite part of the game. You simply see a Pokemon, get in a battle, and you're out. Super fast. The rest of the games have SO much time dedicated to "watching." Until now, the rest of the games have it so there was a cutscene for going in the random encounter, throwing out your Pokemon, attacking, watching it faint, gaining the XP, and going back to the overworld world. That shit took long to type, imagine playing it EVERY single battle? I can't ever go back to the old way at this point. Arceus perfected the flow to battle. All the experience gained happens after the battle while you're already on the move again. A little downside to this change is that moves no longer felt great to learn. To many times did it happen where I missed that some of my members learned a new move.

That being said, the battles are super fun, and even better once you get into a trainer battle or a Noble fight where it turns into an action game with dodging.

But here comes that trademarked GameFreak step back..where have you hidden the trainers Game Freak??? They really gave us the best combat system of the series and 10 trainers to battle to test it out with.



The Open World - Some Good, some Bad, lots of Ugly

The words "Open World" and "Pokemon" to be made for each other when you think of them. The journey of Pokemon needs those open plains, seas to cross, and mountains to climb to feel like an adventure. Arceus didn't give me the open world I wanted. But it gave me the one I expected.

The world is shockingly beautiful...in motion. Stopping to smell the grass only invites the opportunity to notice how low the resolution is of said grass. Every corner of this game just isn't up to snuff for where I want the series to be at. It's not terrible by any means, but I just wanted more.

But, visuals aren't the end of the world. Traveling across this land is amazing. A simple tap of a button, and I'm bolting across the grass or flying through the air, or maybe scaling the side of a mountain. There's pokemon every 2 seconds. They were not shy of littering this world with creatures to fight and collect. Even the scarier Alphas are spread out pretty nicely. They are a great challenge that keeps me CONSTANTLY switching out my team. I couldn't stick with the same 6 like normal this time around. I always had to dedicate half the team to countering the area I'm in. The want to explore is always very inviting, and they made it incredibly easy to do so.

...here comes another "but"



BUT!...



Once AGAIN...THERES NOTHING THERE!



You'd think this being a prequel with the GOD of Pokemon on the box, there would be lots to explore. But NOPE. A whole lot of rainbows, with a whole lot of nothing at the end of them. What could of been an interesting discovery of something like, Unknowns, gets turned into a scavenger hunt. And not a fun one at that. What could of been an amazing mystery of mythical Pokemon, is just an encounter. This was the game that could of really dug into the adventure and journey aspect that we always wanted, and they just dropped the ball so hard here.



The Pokemon - The animals have arrived

It feels like a joke, but Pokemon Snap had been the time I've had with a 3D Pokemon game. The sole reason for that is very simple. The life that Bandai gave the Pokemon, is all I ever wanted. They acted exactly like I wanted them to. Like animals.

Arecus picks up on this pretty well. Some Pokemon will act logically. They will be spooked when you run towards them, or run when you try to capture them. Some ever straight up attack you instead. These interactions are all great and give the game so much life. I do wish there was a bit more Pokemom involved. The number of Pokemon was great from a collcting point of view. But theres only so many times I can run up a hill and expect to see something new only to be greeted with more Carnavine.

I'd like them to expand on this in future titles. Having some Pokemom travel in herds would be amazing to see. Even turning a corner and watching a Heracross and a Pinsir fighting would be phenomenal. The more they act like animals, the deeper you fall in love with this world.



Closing thoughts - an ACTUAL step in the right direction

I might have seemed a bit critical, but I really did love the game. I've beaten in twice now, and it's safe to say that it overtook Sword/Shield for my favorite 3D Pokemon game in the main series. To many times have we as fans said, "Yeah, this game might not be everything we hoped for...but wait until the NEXT game!".

But Legends really did set up the series to shine as bright as you'd expect if they continue on this path.

Endwalker is something that I approached with a lot of hesitation, doubting that it had much left of its story to tell, much left of its characters to explore, much left of its world to expand. And in a way, I was right, but Endwalker’s aim isn’t to just be another stepping stone for the overarching narrative. It is as most would say a “culmination”, and it is in this idea where I feel Endwalker once again repurposes that same cognition that made Shadowbringers feel so special.

In this instance acknowledging the titular “End” which this expansion represents, both philosophically and literally. While the former is the one many find the most interest in, and deservedly so, it’s the latter which really came off to me as profound. There’s something special about XIV’s meta storytelling, Ishikawa helmed expansions in particular, that really moves me. It’s not as if these expansions intend to muse upon the nature of the relationship between game and player, or the twisted morality of typical game mechanics, rather it’s an acknowledgement of us, the players, the heroes. A self-aware recognition of the long and arduous journey we have walked, and an assurance that our journey is not over yet.

Following this notion we find in Endwalker’s deep embrace, is a trend of solemn reflection amongst its character. Ruminations on their pasts, beliefs, adventures, echoing the voice of its creators, a voice which extends the same question to us. Has our journey been good? Has it been worthwhile? Amongst the aggregate, a single answer is nigh impossible, each and every soul will provide their own story.

Yet it is this anthology that XIV champions. Each story portraying the never-ending quest of another who has braved the infinite, who continued to walk forward, and at journey’s end found an answer they can call their own.

“Was this life a gift or a burden?
Did you find fulfillment?”

I dont wanna spend too long writing this so I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

There were so many things that made this game for me, but above all I have to give it to the press turn combat system. Figuring out an enemy's weakness and exploiting it to give yourself more turns was where a lot of the fun came from. Coming up with the perfect team to maximize damage during longer fights was also a big highlight for me. Everything this game does, from the combat and RPG mechanics to the overworld itself is always teetering just over the line of comfortability. It's just enough to be a little overwhelming, but not scary. I dove headfirst into everything the game threw at me without a second thought. Demon fusions, miracles, essences, every single part of this rpg gave me a reason to learn and improve my chances at coming out the other end of a tough fight alive. And these fights are TOUGH. I'm by no means a turn based master but even after 60+ hours I still ran into fights that I had to be really careful with. If I made one wrong decision my whole team would get wiped. Nevertheless I really liked it. This entire game is really doom and gloom so it would've been thematically jarring to play through it without any challenge.

There really is no story in this game, which really, really sucks. It sucks because SMTV has every possible foundation for an incredible one. The art direction is incredible, The music is atmospheric and even haunting, and the interactions you have with demons can be really interesting. It's a shame they didn't capitalize on everything they has, especially after hearing how other games in its own series have great stories. Either way I can't be too bothered by it because everything else is so top notch.

There was a leak a while back saying that this would come to other platforms, and if it did, I'd probably buy it again to see what it would look like. This is easily one of the best looking games on Switch and for all the framerate problems it has, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind playing this on a system that can actually run it. Either way, this is a fantastic rpg and I wholly recommend it.

Were game journalists right about this game all along?! Is it "Persona without the heart"? Well, lets explore shall we because I have a death wish lmfao.

Does it have an amazing combat system that has a heavy focus on monster collecting, customisation, weakness targeting and buffing strategies? Yes, this makes it a lot like Persona's combat but it does have differences like how all your party is customisable demons instead of only just having the wild card which is just one in your party, or the Magatsuhi gauge which gives you free crits for a turn. The game also has some other quirks like how you missing an attack is more punishing. But to it's core, it's very similar to Persona's combat at least to me because it felt like I was using the same strategies here as I did in other Persona games. I would say I prefer Persona's a bit more but I do think this game has better boss fights overall. They were extremely fun to me.

What about story? LMFAO because it doesn't have one amirate fellas?! Jokes aside, it does have one, but it's extremely limited in scope and execution. The themes it tackles isn't even unique to this game, it's in Persona 5 too but admittedly it's not the spotlight of Persona 5 (Order vs Chaos yadda yadda). Characters were forgettable, I don't even know their names besides Aogami, Persona games are the opposite in comparison, which I feel is obvious so I won't elaborate further.

What about other gameplay like dungeon traversal, exploration and puzzles? Well this game does have a total of TWO dungeons, but they are freaking terrible, P4Gs dungeons somehow feel more well designed. But comparing this game's dungeons is unfair since the main bulk of the game is overworld exploration. And it still doesn't stack up, because to me, the locales looked very repetitive, weren't particularly challenging to explore and lacked puzzles or anything to spice it up. It doesn't help they somehow messed up the sprinting controls for some reason (how do you do that).

Performance was pretty bad, framerate wasn't very good and the resolution wasn't great and I also don't particularly like the art style because of this. Maybe if the game was a solid 30fps at 1080p I could appreciate the art style more but everything just seems too blurry to me combined with motion blur.

Music was FANTASTIC, stunning music, very comparable to Persona's tracks in quality, a different vibe for sure but a lot of bangers here.

Reading this review, it makes it seem like I hate this game, I do not! I think it is a great game, it's just that I only like two things about it while the rest of the game I can take or leave. But the two things it does have (battling and music) are fantastic, so it carries the experience, I'm not hard to please in that regard.

So to answer my question, were game journalists right? In my opinion, the answer is no..? But I see where they are coming from, I see how you can just say "Oh it's like P5 without the story", I get that, and I think y'all should see from that view too and be a bit understanding. This game could've been more, but as it stands, the battling is just so fun I'd recommend it if you can manage without expecting a breathtaking story or whatever lol.

Appreciate y'all if you made it this far into the review

I don't know if I like the story better than the first Judgment, but I thought the story was pretty good and had one of the best villains in the series easily ranking up there to Judgment,Yakuza 7 and Yakuza 3's antagonist for me. the gameplay however is the best out of the entire series, as so much content was added and the amount of activities is more than any of the other games. with even new additions like skateboarding (which you can use to traverse the world faster as well),boxing and even bike racing, and the combat is the most refined it's ever been as each fighting style Yagami uses is extremely fun and each has it's own use. you'll be constantly switching fighting styles often, they also added a new fighting style called Snake that is similar to Tanimura's fighting style from Yakuza 4 but this fighting style is way more fun to use and the parrying mechanic is more refined. overall it's one of the best games Ryu Ga Gotoku studio has made and if you're a fan of the series it's easily worth your time

I'm rewriting this since I've gathered my thoughts on the game. the combat and gameplay is fantastic and very on par with IV Apocalypse or even better, the exploration is beyond what other shin megami tensei games offer and seeing this entire desolate land overran by gods,demons and how they interact in a huge explorative environment is simply great. the story has a lot of interesting and good concepts but I feel like they didn't give the game's story enough time to be fleshed out and the end game is rushed, but the core concept of how you shape the world within this game is great. the end credits are some of the best I've ever seen in a video game, it perfectly reflects the desolation you feel after having power over a world in ruin, while you shape the world how you see fit.

I had no intention of buying this game when it was revealed back at E3. The showing was genuinely terrible and I immediately wrote it off. And then I saw a gameplay demo a few weeks before it came out, and I was surprised to see that it didn't look half bad. After I finished it, I'm happy to say that this is easily one of the best games I've played all year. And I've played a LOT of games.

I can't look at many games these days and confidently say that they're made with a lot of passion and heart. The 20 hours I spent with the Guardians easily put the game in that category. The game itself has a lot of problems. From a pure design standpoint it's nothing special. Lots of walking and talking sections, especially at the beginning, followed by battles from big room to big room. Commanding teammates in and out of combat for really easy puzzle solving. On the surface, it actually sounds pretty boring. But once you throw in the staples of this series, like it's excellent characters, dialogue, locales, classic rock soundtrack, and everything else that Guardians is known and loved for, you get a formula that doesn't get old throughout the entire run of the game.

Guardians of The Galaxy is one of the prettiest games I've ever looked at. You travel to so many places in such a short time and every single one of them is jaw dropping. Character models have so much detail on every inch of them, and the effect work is really well done too. Animations can be a bit wonky sometimes, especially outside of custcenes, but the hand animated cutscenes that play during important story beats are really impressive.

Like I said before, from a pure game design perspective, the game can be kinda boring, but the banter between the Guardians that is constantly happening makes everything worth it. The only character I didn't think was up to par was Star-Lord himself, but he wasn't bad at all, and he really shines in the last couple chapters. Anyways, when the game hits it's stride, everything flows so well. Combat sequences are especially fun when the guardians are working together and yelling shit at the enemies and each other while they fight. It's really endearing.

The plot itself is really good, and it takes it's time setting up stakes that you can really find yourself personally invested in. I won't say much about it because spoilers, but I really loved seeing the villain give the story a way to delve into each guardian's trauma and problems. I've never read the comics, but the game did a much better job of communicating how fucked up this ragtag group of criminals is than the MCU ever could, given the opportunities of this medium. Addressing each character's trauma and past mistakes with a unique villain that opened the door to a TON of good storytelling opportunities that the dev team took advantage of. They could've gone further with it, but I think this was a great first attempt.

It's a little clunky, and it's no masterpiece, but it's easy to tell that Guardians was had a lot of talent behind it, and that the people who worked on it love this series and wanted to do it justice. Highly recommend.

Metroid Dread was game I wasn't sure whether I'd be into. I've tried to get into Hollow Knight twice and failed. I wasn't sure if I'd have the same issue with Metroid Dread. Oh boy am I glad I didn't, because my fucking GOD Metroid Dread is a whole ass masterpiece and I'm so glad I played it.

Everything from the gameplay, aesthetics and story with cutscenes all reek with quality. It is up there with Odyssey and BOTW in terms of quality. It is my Game of the Year, and I really think this game should win the official GOTY award.

Also the story implications of this game are absolutely insane. I loved the cutscenes, and some of the new enemies are super cool. I've never played a Metroid Dread but the Raven Beak and all the Chozo warriors have the coolest designs ever, and EMMIs are terrifying but incredible.

The gameplay loop of getting lost and going back to areas, getting a new ability, then fighting a boss then being able to get past that area now is always so satisfying.

This is a masterpiece and I don't think anything can top this.