robobeau
This review contains spoilers
75 hours in, the game asks you to redo a bunch of dungeons at a harder difficulty so you can become strong enough to fight Jiren.
Naaaaaaaaaah.
40 hours later: "Damn, Jiren's got hands."
Naaaaaaaaaah.
40 hours later: "Damn, Jiren's got hands."
This is the Super Mario Bros. 5 we've all been waiting for since Super Mario World.
Oddly, it's the quieter "friendly neighborhood" moments that stood out the most to me. The Howard and Hailey side missions were standouts in a game filled with bombastic set pieces. Even the "Monster in Queens" side mission was a highlight for me. I wish the game tried to find a better balance between the ground-level, people-person Spidey, and the save-the-world-from-impending-doom Spidey. I feel like more time should have been spent on that the endless combat trial filler.
2023
I don't wanna start throwing around terms like "Ludonarrative Harmony", but it's incredible how well the puzzle mechanics evolve with the story and themes of the game!
I was taken aback by the transition from Sequence 4 to Sequence 5. Like, I just wanted to have a good time with my doggo herding people around, and suddenly I'm in my feels about the primordial nature of human conflict.
Fantastic little game. Easily the best puzzle game of the 2023 and one that punches damn close to GOTY's weight class.
I was taken aback by the transition from Sequence 4 to Sequence 5. Like, I just wanted to have a good time with my doggo herding people around, and suddenly I'm in my feels about the primordial nature of human conflict.
Fantastic little game. Easily the best puzzle game of the 2023 and one that punches damn close to GOTY's weight class.
2023
This review contains spoilers
"It's not a sequel, it's a trilogy."
I want to be clear that I earnestly believe this is GOTY 2023 and I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves a good story, let alone a good horror game. Feel free to stop reading here, if that's all you wanted to get out of this.
I have mixed feelings about this, so pardon me as I try to compartmentalize some of these thoughts.
I won't go into depth on the technical issues that plague this game. Other reviews have rightfully pointed out that this game was rushed for a Halloween release, and there are some particularly nasty soft locks. I fell through the world exactly once! LOL
It's Remedy's masterpiece. It is stylistically and narratively the best thing they've ever put out. Incredible story-telling. Insane visuals and environmental detail. A gosh darn musical, smack-dab in the middle of it all! It's incredibly ambitious, creatively pushing the boundaries of what video games could be.
I'd be more jazzed about that cliffhanger ending (more story to come!) if it didn't mean coughing up another $60 to see the story concluded. You'd think Remedy would have learned after 13 years.
Gameplay-wise, the combat can be extremely frustrating. Even when accounting for the horror game trope of being purposefully clumsy to maintain a constant level of tension, some of the mechanics just don't work when you need them to. Additionally, it feels like the game is demanding a level of precision that it simply isn't capable of. I can't imagine what the Nightmare difficulty is going to be like.
Dodging will simply fail you at times you swear it should have worked. The perfect dodge window is also unreasonably tight, considering they expect you to be doing this often, as enemies will constantly have weak points on their backs. I pulled one off exactly once, and not even intentionally. "Git gud", I hear you say.
Flashlight charges don't necessarily correlate with the amount of time you need to remove an enemy's shadow, so you will often end up spending multiple charges on a single enemy. This seems to be an unintentional side effect of changing the focus to a button tap, rather than a hold action. It simply feels buggy.
Enemy aggression fluctuates wildly. The same Taken will swing once, then back off, or just wail on you relentlessly, stun-locking you to death. I had frequent deaths in which an enemy 3-hit combo'd me to death from full health because I mistimed a dodge. Teleporting enemies that can do that, and, in some cases, one-shot kill you if you don't happen to have a flare? It feels needlessly harsh, even on Normal difficulty.
I want to be clear that I earnestly believe this is GOTY 2023 and I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves a good story, let alone a good horror game. Feel free to stop reading here, if that's all you wanted to get out of this.
I have mixed feelings about this, so pardon me as I try to compartmentalize some of these thoughts.
I won't go into depth on the technical issues that plague this game. Other reviews have rightfully pointed out that this game was rushed for a Halloween release, and there are some particularly nasty soft locks. I fell through the world exactly once! LOL
It's Remedy's masterpiece. It is stylistically and narratively the best thing they've ever put out. Incredible story-telling. Insane visuals and environmental detail. A gosh darn musical, smack-dab in the middle of it all! It's incredibly ambitious, creatively pushing the boundaries of what video games could be.
I'd be more jazzed about that cliffhanger ending (more story to come!) if it didn't mean coughing up another $60 to see the story concluded. You'd think Remedy would have learned after 13 years.
Gameplay-wise, the combat can be extremely frustrating. Even when accounting for the horror game trope of being purposefully clumsy to maintain a constant level of tension, some of the mechanics just don't work when you need them to. Additionally, it feels like the game is demanding a level of precision that it simply isn't capable of. I can't imagine what the Nightmare difficulty is going to be like.
Dodging will simply fail you at times you swear it should have worked. The perfect dodge window is also unreasonably tight, considering they expect you to be doing this often, as enemies will constantly have weak points on their backs. I pulled one off exactly once, and not even intentionally. "Git gud", I hear you say.
Flashlight charges don't necessarily correlate with the amount of time you need to remove an enemy's shadow, so you will often end up spending multiple charges on a single enemy. This seems to be an unintentional side effect of changing the focus to a button tap, rather than a hold action. It simply feels buggy.
Enemy aggression fluctuates wildly. The same Taken will swing once, then back off, or just wail on you relentlessly, stun-locking you to death. I had frequent deaths in which an enemy 3-hit combo'd me to death from full health because I mistimed a dodge. Teleporting enemies that can do that, and, in some cases, one-shot kill you if you don't happen to have a flare? It feels needlessly harsh, even on Normal difficulty.
1987
Had a real breezy time blasting through this game in the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, with boosts set to 4x.
2023
Overall, it's good! I would recommend it!
Feel free to stop reading now, if you don't feel like suffering through me nitpicking the game. Struggling to compartmentalize my thoughts, so here's some notes, in no particular order:
- There is entirely too much filler. This is a 40-hour game that got stretched out to 60. There is just too much "content" that doesn't enhance the story or characters in any meaningful way. This game has goddamn wine side quests. Fuck's sake, Yoshi P.
- Game of Thrones has not aged well, and neither has its tropes.
- The loot is overwhelmingly mediocre. Picking up weapons or armor from chests is extremely rare. Monsters do not drop gear. Things that you pick up in the field end up being either paltry amounts of gil, potions, or crafting materials.
- Too many traditional FF mechanics were scrapped in favor of more action-oriented gameplay. That's not to say that the gameplay is bad, it's phenomenal. But, how you gon' have a Final Fantasy game without status effects? Without proper spells?
- You only control Clive (and the Phoenix, in a handful of scenes). There is no reason why you couldn't have "previews" of other character's moveset by temporarily gaining control of them for a story section or two. Different perspectives throughout the story would've gone a long way to promote variety. Strangely, certain characters leave the party and go off on their own little side adventures that you're not privy to. Feels like Squeenix might try to pull some more FFXV DLC bullshit.
Feel free to stop reading now, if you don't feel like suffering through me nitpicking the game. Struggling to compartmentalize my thoughts, so here's some notes, in no particular order:
- There is entirely too much filler. This is a 40-hour game that got stretched out to 60. There is just too much "content" that doesn't enhance the story or characters in any meaningful way. This game has goddamn wine side quests. Fuck's sake, Yoshi P.
- Game of Thrones has not aged well, and neither has its tropes.
- The loot is overwhelmingly mediocre. Picking up weapons or armor from chests is extremely rare. Monsters do not drop gear. Things that you pick up in the field end up being either paltry amounts of gil, potions, or crafting materials.
- Too many traditional FF mechanics were scrapped in favor of more action-oriented gameplay. That's not to say that the gameplay is bad, it's phenomenal. But, how you gon' have a Final Fantasy game without status effects? Without proper spells?
- You only control Clive (and the Phoenix, in a handful of scenes). There is no reason why you couldn't have "previews" of other character's moveset by temporarily gaining control of them for a story section or two. Different perspectives throughout the story would've gone a long way to promote variety. Strangely, certain characters leave the party and go off on their own little side adventures that you're not privy to. Feels like Squeenix might try to pull some more FFXV DLC bullshit.
I don't get to say this very often, but I truly believe this is a perfect game.
2022
Still early, but this is an odd one for me.
Mechanically, this game is pretty fun, and there's enough variety in the combat that it doesn't get stale. It's fun using different weapons, and switching between different move sets within those weapons, so there's plenty of variety.
The maps are pretty simple (so far), but they hide treasures everywhere, so there's a nice little exploration aspect. I'll often see a treasure chest behind some trees, and then go out of my way to figure out how to get to it. The game even shows you a treasure counter for each area! That's neat!
The music is wonderful. It's very much a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana. It's interesting to hear a more "modern" take on some of the musical ideas from the classic Mana games. Hiroki Kikuta killed it on this one.
Where the game kinda falters for me is in the graphics and story.
Nothing looks bad, per se, but some of the environment designs are a bit bland, and could use a bit of polish. The non-aliased cel shading can look a bit rough, too. I don't want to put this squarely on Unity's shoulders, but it does look like a slightly under cooked Unity project, at times, if that makes any sense?
Characters and story (at the moment) are bit meh for me, but that kinda thing tends to be more subjective, so YMMV.
Definitely don't appreciate that "we're not ACTUALLY related tee-hee" little sister trope tho. Get that shit right the fuck outta here.
Mechanically, this game is pretty fun, and there's enough variety in the combat that it doesn't get stale. It's fun using different weapons, and switching between different move sets within those weapons, so there's plenty of variety.
The maps are pretty simple (so far), but they hide treasures everywhere, so there's a nice little exploration aspect. I'll often see a treasure chest behind some trees, and then go out of my way to figure out how to get to it. The game even shows you a treasure counter for each area! That's neat!
The music is wonderful. It's very much a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana. It's interesting to hear a more "modern" take on some of the musical ideas from the classic Mana games. Hiroki Kikuta killed it on this one.
Where the game kinda falters for me is in the graphics and story.
Nothing looks bad, per se, but some of the environment designs are a bit bland, and could use a bit of polish. The non-aliased cel shading can look a bit rough, too. I don't want to put this squarely on Unity's shoulders, but it does look like a slightly under cooked Unity project, at times, if that makes any sense?
Characters and story (at the moment) are bit meh for me, but that kinda thing tends to be more subjective, so YMMV.
Definitely don't appreciate that "we're not ACTUALLY related tee-hee" little sister trope tho. Get that shit right the fuck outta here.
This often gets compared to Chrono Trigger, and it is well deserved. The entire premise is "What if you could go back and choose differently?": the video game. The timeline is nowhere near as grandiose in scope as CT, but instead focuses on a couple hundred years of history for one small continent. It makes the stakes a bit more personal, even when the plot ratchets things up to save-the-world levels of threat.
The characters are very likeable (for the most part) and have great party dynamics, which I was sorely missing while I was playing Octopath Traveler II. Yoko Shimomura killed it on the soundtrack; it can give off some CT/CC vibes, at times.
Story aside, the combat might be my favorite thing about this game. Grid-based positioning and combo scaling make it so that fights can become fun little puzzles, as you try to group enemies together and get some looooong-ass combos going. The longer the combo, the more damage you end up dealing with the last hit. It was extremely satisfying styling on the final boss with a 47-hit combo that depleted half of its health in the final phase.
It's honestly wild to me that this game isn't more well regarded. A triple-A hidden gem, if you can believe it. HIGHLY recommended.
The characters are very likeable (for the most part) and have great party dynamics, which I was sorely missing while I was playing Octopath Traveler II. Yoko Shimomura killed it on the soundtrack; it can give off some CT/CC vibes, at times.
Story aside, the combat might be my favorite thing about this game. Grid-based positioning and combo scaling make it so that fights can become fun little puzzles, as you try to group enemies together and get some looooong-ass combos going. The longer the combo, the more damage you end up dealing with the last hit. It was extremely satisfying styling on the final boss with a 47-hit combo that depleted half of its health in the final phase.
It's honestly wild to me that this game isn't more well regarded. A triple-A hidden gem, if you can believe it. HIGHLY recommended.
It's remarkable how generous the demo is. Really lets you get sucked into the world. I'll be picking this back up after I'm done with some of the other games on my backlog.
2013
I don't have the mental acuity necessary to comprehend how anyone can come up with such a concept, much less make it extremely fun.
I can't believe how well this holds up.
The first-person dungeon crawling is primitive compared to games like Etrian Odyssey, but it is surprisingly deep for its time! The 3D effect still looks really good! Honestly, I would love to see a version of Phantasy Star 4 with these kinda dungeons.
Primitive in all the ways you would expect of an 8-bit JRPG, but the SEGA Ages port by M2 added some creature comforts that made it a pretty breezy experience! Oh! And if you do play this version, make sure to turn on the FM Synth! The soundtrack is waaaaay better with this sound chip on!
The first-person dungeon crawling is primitive compared to games like Etrian Odyssey, but it is surprisingly deep for its time! The 3D effect still looks really good! Honestly, I would love to see a version of Phantasy Star 4 with these kinda dungeons.
Primitive in all the ways you would expect of an 8-bit JRPG, but the SEGA Ages port by M2 added some creature comforts that made it a pretty breezy experience! Oh! And if you do play this version, make sure to turn on the FM Synth! The soundtrack is waaaaay better with this sound chip on!
Dipping my toes into this one, since I've heard good things. So far, I am enjoying the slightly brainless combat, it's legit fun just running around and beating the heck out of everything.
You can kinda tell where they cut corners because of budget reasons. Aside from the characters, which all look really good, the rest feels like they're re-using FFXIV assets? I can recognize some of the "emote" animations. Very rudimentary facial animations. It's very odd, but somehow still charming?
I'm diggin' it, tho. Surprisingly fun. I just hope it can deliver more on the sci-fi aspect, because I want dumb anime Star Trek adventures.
You can kinda tell where they cut corners because of budget reasons. Aside from the characters, which all look really good, the rest feels like they're re-using FFXIV assets? I can recognize some of the "emote" animations. Very rudimentary facial animations. It's very odd, but somehow still charming?
I'm diggin' it, tho. Surprisingly fun. I just hope it can deliver more on the sci-fi aspect, because I want dumb anime Star Trek adventures.
The quintessential "You had to be there" JRPG. Voice-acted anime cutscenes back in "the day" were unbelievable. An incredible level of polish for an admittedly basic game. Brimming with charm, it's easy to ignore Working Designs' jank, sometimes anachronistic localization. Heck, I would argue it adds to the overall vibe.
This is an early 90's anime VHS tape of a video game.
This is an early 90's anime VHS tape of a video game.