Definitely a case of too much of a good thing. On one hand this has the best combat of the series and Hawaii is a fun fresh setting.

But even if you stick to the critical path the game is just too much - I don't need Yakuza/LAD games to be 50 hours long. This would've benefitted from losing 10-15 hours.

The final chapter in particular is a massive tedious slog of endless fights with occasional boss fights to break things up. I was exhausted by the end.

Also the ending is pretty disappointing. The game was sold as one thing but didn't really end up paying that off. The series has always been convoluted and messy at the best of times but they got especially sloppy here.

Overall I still had a great time, but I think scaling back for LAD 9 and sticking to a one-party system would be ideal.

I can definitely see why this is called The Room of Video Games, though I think it's also clear they weren't trying to make something good unlike Tommy Wiseau.

It's bad but at least it has some funny moments and it's incredibly strange, ensuring it's actually memorable.

Dug all the extra features for this remaster though I kinda wish they didn't stick all the videos behind a naff dungeon crawler mini-game (even if it's not hard).

Interesting release, would like to see more old curiosities get this sort of treatment. Glad to hear the actress actually had a good time making it.

Definitely one of the less "necessary" remakes in recent times, given that the original still looks pretty good for a decade-old game, and this remake does basically nothing to address its jankier gameplay elements.

The environments certainly look nice but I can see some complaining that it looks too clean. Also visibility was a bit of an issue in this version - the visual signposting for what to do next is pretty terrible at times, and I got stuck way more than I remember in the original.

Again, the clunkier aspects are largely unchanged - the controls and some of the puzzle elements are as fiddly as they were back in 2013, for better or worse (I'd say worse).

Indie games have come a long way since 2013 so I can imagine many coming to this game totally fresh may find it a bit underwhelming. I was glad to revisit it, but this hardly feels like the definitive take.

Not bad, just not any good either. A very generic Splatoon knock-off that should very obviously be free-to-play, especially with the aggressive microtransactions.

Gameplay has its moments but movement feels clunky, it's too visually busy and you spend WAY too long in downtime between matches.

Also the fact you're not automatically entered into a matchmaking queue when a round ends is INSANE. Like, this should be the most basic feature of any casual multiplayer game.

Considering how it takes ages to matchmake even within mere days of release I imagine this game isn't long for this world. Dead in a month.

The fighting mechanics and graphics are pretty great, though I think the Heat/Rage attacks casualise the experience a bit too much.

Story Mode was a fun way to spend 3 hours even with the story being total nonsense, and I hated the brief battlefield fights.

Most of the other single player modes are pretty ehh, though. I rented this and that was definitely the right call for me. A solid game but a weekend was enough for me.

I will give this FMV dating sim some credit for not being as leering and pervy as the Super Seducer games. It's at least way more wholesome and earnest, even if it's still very clearly rooted in conservative Chinese values regarding gender roles.

The videos are fairly well produced though the 60fps K-soap opera format looks hideous to me. The leading ladies are incredibly cute which honestly makes this a lot more tolerable than it would be otherwise.

The big failing, however, is forcing you to raise your "affection" rating with all the women in order to advance to successive chapters. It feels like the devs lazily trying to bloat the game's length by forcing you into busy-work.

Also despite the game encouraging you to romance numerous ladies at once, you'll get the shitty "horndog" ending if you do this, as I did, at which point I couldn't be bothered to go back and try to get a happier ending.

As FMV games go the production values are relatively decent, but this is still a thoroughly gross PUA sim that probably isn't a healthy thing for any romantically impaired guys to take tips from.

That said it is pretty damn hilarious. They're clearly leaning way more into the meme-worthy nature of the series this time around with silly gag options both offensive and ridiculous.

Despite being banned from Steam for being too risque, this "uncensored" release is incredibly tame. Nothing here more than unmotivated close-ups of thong-clad behinds and bras ad nauseum.

At least the ladies are good looking and it's quite funny, both intentionally and not, I guess.

Once the charm of the Harry Potter license wears off, this thing falls off HARD.

The first few hours exploring the world are super fun, but once it becomes clear this is basically just a generic Ubisoft open-world game with an IP skin pasted over the top, it becomes a lot less enjoyable.

The quests are super formulaic and forgettable, the story and especially the villain are meh. Level-gating quests is a blatant way to pad out the main campaign.

This is basically a pretty good 15-hour experience padded out into an OK 25-hour one. It does look nice, though.

Bailed after 5 hours. I was so bored by the story/characters/world (Baby's First Game of Thrones), the grey/brown/green aesthetic is dull to me, the combat doesn't have much sense of threat so I just feel like I'm going through the motions. I also think it's too visually busy and often I can't even tell what the hell I'm looking at during chaotic fights - just a shitton of particle effects and blobs flying around.

My only positives would be that graphically it looks great even if I don't like the aesthetic, the score is really good, and the voice acting is solid (especially Ralph Ineson as Cid).

But I'm not not engaged with it at all. I didn't love FF15 but at least that had charm through the party interactions. I just feel nothing about anyone in this game except maybe Cid. Can't do another 25 hours of this so I'm bailing. Time to pick a new Christmas game I guess lmao.

I love this franchise so it's a huge bummer tbh. At least Rebirth will hopefully get the taste out of my mouth in a few months, but if this is the direction for the mainline series moving forward I might be getting divorced from FF.

Played through the Story Mode Kampaign. The story is nonsense as usual for the franchise but the cinematics are really gorgeous, even though the dialogue does feel a bit MCU-ified and some of the VA doesn't really fit the character designs (especially Shang Tsung).

Gameplay is fun as usual for the series and the level designs are super colourful.

Nothing groundbreaking but I had a fun time playing it.