roxaloxa
BACKER
marking this done for now even tho i wanna go back to it to finish up the co-op quests
really enjoyed it! has some loot grindy jank, but you know, it's originally a gacha so that's to be expected. really solid gameplay and fun story. happy to see granblue get some real love in the west.
really enjoyed it! has some loot grindy jank, but you know, it's originally a gacha so that's to be expected. really solid gameplay and fun story. happy to see granblue get some real love in the west.
This review contains spoilers
nomura belongs in jail
love the moment to moment, the character interactions, the banter, the detailed locales, the music, the expanded history on stuff like the republic, the open world that focuses on fewer more meaningful things to do instead of a thousand useless things to do, half the mini-games
hate the combat, the other half of the mini-games, all the alternate world shit that only exists to justify changing canon (which i'm not even against, just feels like a nuclear overkill plot device), completely changing what the reunion means, the needless complications and changes to the scene after temple of the ancients with the black materia and sephiroth (barret knocks it out of cloud's hand, sephiroth picks it up, then he drops it again so he can make cloud give it to him???), the fact that zack is on the cover and the big mystery yet does absolutely nothing of value the entire game until a suddenly crucial final boss fight, a dozen or so more minor issues that are more about changes to what i personally felt were important themes and narratives from the original and are no longer such here (or poorly done), chadley. game feels like it constantly undermines itself emotionally by pulling the heavier punches that the original had (dyne's suicide, for one)
also no remake scene of sephiroth beaming cloud with a materia, flipping around, and flying at the camera, so. dogshit.
love the moment to moment, the character interactions, the banter, the detailed locales, the music, the expanded history on stuff like the republic, the open world that focuses on fewer more meaningful things to do instead of a thousand useless things to do, half the mini-games
hate the combat, the other half of the mini-games, all the alternate world shit that only exists to justify changing canon (which i'm not even against, just feels like a nuclear overkill plot device), completely changing what the reunion means, the needless complications and changes to the scene after temple of the ancients with the black materia and sephiroth (barret knocks it out of cloud's hand, sephiroth picks it up, then he drops it again so he can make cloud give it to him???), the fact that zack is on the cover and the big mystery yet does absolutely nothing of value the entire game until a suddenly crucial final boss fight, a dozen or so more minor issues that are more about changes to what i personally felt were important themes and narratives from the original and are no longer such here (or poorly done), chadley. game feels like it constantly undermines itself emotionally by pulling the heavier punches that the original had (dyne's suicide, for one)
also no remake scene of sephiroth beaming cloud with a materia, flipping around, and flying at the camera, so. dogshit.
2024
wild this has the early access tag, it's a full ass game. duo'ed with my partner, really loved it. a hand crafted map makes replay hard, but the experience is so much better for it imo. earlier survival games like minecraft were so much more about being in a randomized world and telling your own story -- enshrouded has a story to tell and the finely crafted level design to do it in.
2017
hot damn, what a fucking game. whatever gripes i have with the awful map system and poorly paced intro hours are completely washed away from how fucking stellar the rest of the game is. i immediately watched the trailer for silksong and lost my shit within like 15 seconds. ready to join the hollow knight sickos
103%, void heart/radiance ending
103%, void heart/radiance ending
This review contains spoilers
replay, first played at ps4 version’s launch
i somehow completely forgot about how explicit they are with the implication of the original game already having happened. i remembered aerith being sus as hell but the one that stands out to me the most is when cloud falls from sector 5 reactor, he has a vision where he’s talking to himself and the other cloud is like “last time we got out of this with a scraped knee, come on, get on up” or something like that.
intermission was fun to play, although i still can’t believe they are making dirge of cerberus canon. i knew it was coming but i was not prepared to see deepground soldiers and nero and weiss. woof.
i somehow completely forgot about how explicit they are with the implication of the original game already having happened. i remembered aerith being sus as hell but the one that stands out to me the most is when cloud falls from sector 5 reactor, he has a vision where he’s talking to himself and the other cloud is like “last time we got out of this with a scraped knee, come on, get on up” or something like that.
intermission was fun to play, although i still can’t believe they are making dirge of cerberus canon. i knew it was coming but i was not prepared to see deepground soldiers and nero and weiss. woof.
i knew what i was going into so it wasn’t a surprise, but yeesh. the gameplay does pick up near the end, but not in time to save it. plus-side is a fun batshit stupid story though
2012
pretty damn good still. i had forgotten a lot of minor details that really help it stand out, so i’m glad i replayed it. back third suffers from what i assume is a rushed translation but otherwise real fuckin solid
2023
very gripping story told through a wonderfully designed visual novel UI. sick as hell, in many definitions of the word sick
loved the running storyline from teal mask, loved the return to base game stuff, loved the double battles and increased difficulty. their teacher should probably be fired tho
fun powers, level design, and gameplay. story was decent enough although it's hard to give a shit about odin vision stuff
annoying level design and story
fun level design and story
2014
striking and evocative level and environment design but unfortunately not too interesting on the puzzle design. the real-time modular music stuff was really sick and well done though. enjoyed it!
2023
delightful earthbound-like with combat that's also mario&luigi mashed up with warioware microgames, and way more pokemon references than you'd even guess
the combat balance is... completely wacky to be honest, the offensive skills seem just completely worse than hitting Fight every turn and racking up combo bonus damage.
the story and writing are fun, but not much more than that. i wish it went a bit more deeper on character development and depth especially in regards to their relationships to you/the protag.
still makes for a great time though! full of secrets too if you're into that stuff. wanted a bit more out of it but still happy with what it was.
the combat balance is... completely wacky to be honest, the offensive skills seem just completely worse than hitting Fight every turn and racking up combo bonus damage.
the story and writing are fun, but not much more than that. i wish it went a bit more deeper on character development and depth especially in regards to their relationships to you/the protag.
still makes for a great time though! full of secrets too if you're into that stuff. wanted a bit more out of it but still happy with what it was.
2008
somehow skipped this entirely growing up, i think the n64 really was primarily a mario 64 machine for me as a kid. finally played via the XBLA release and had a good time despite it being so rough mechanically. also felt like the last few levels were mostly unfun to play despite being good conceptually. all in all, glad i filled this hole in my backlog, but i don't think it did much for me.
loved kazooie's dialogue though, what a good piece of shit character
(all jiggies, notes, honeycombs)
loved kazooie's dialogue though, what a good piece of shit character
(all jiggies, notes, honeycombs)