appreciate the item indicators. controls/general gameplay are great. bosses are decent. pacing is totally wacko, first power bomb minutes before the final boss is ridiculous, etc. hated the stealth/alarm/whatever part. overall, solid
came into this having only played mystery journey so this was a pleasant improvement lol. the story is simple but effective and the small world has so much charm. the puzzles are also generally decent, although the slide puzzles are all terrible and there was maybe a tad too much repetition more generally. i would also say the pacing is kinda weird, especially when all the buildup resolves to layton just exposition-ing the whole plot at the end instead of like getting you to piece things together yourself, but maybe i'm just too ace attorney brained
anyway, still a very solid 7/10 i think
anyway, still a very solid 7/10 i think
2023
absolutely incredible in every way. even as short as it is, the story it tells is enthralling and tear-wrenching and it takes no time at all to become completely entrenched in the world. the music is phenomenally beautiful and the art is out-of-this-world fantastic. i love that the "jrpg" gameplay is a story-driving element in itself, and that it doesn't need to be super challenging to be as effective as it is, especially with the constant shifts in the ways the battles play out; every individual battle feels special, and makes the amount of heart and soul that went into this game abundantly clear. i firmly believe that everybody should play this game. 10/10
2002
i was originally gonna give this a higher rating but it started getting progressively worse about halfway through.
- controls are generally good, but they seem to be more sensitive than zero mission (in a bad way). i often had jumps cancelled against my will by accidentally sliding past up on the dpad for half a second when going from left to right
- story is corny and a bit forced but i don't mind that at all
- overall map design is quite good. i do think the hand-holding with all the navigation rooms goes a bit far but also at the same time i still desperately want some kind of in-game map/item percentage tracker for each area so i have little room to complain.
- however, endgame map design gets a bit silly. some of the hidden puzzles after getting screw attack are absurdly difficult and very much not fun. i also hate that once again the game tries to lure you into fighting the final boss(es) to lock you out of exploring for the final items without giving you any indication that it will do so. "hey heres your next objective, also by the way you cant explore anymore haha bye"
- i hate sa-x. im glad the sa-x chase segments are super minor but also i hate that they are there at all, they suck and are not fun whatsoever. also, the fact that it destroys entrances without marking them differently on the map is horrible
- the bosses were pretty good at first, but by the end (p much everything after nightmare, possibly including nightmare) they became horrible awful hp sponges, and the final core phase of most of them just became an absolute nuisance, especially for bosses that are already hard to beat with any health left
but yeah still a pretty good game, 8/10
- controls are generally good, but they seem to be more sensitive than zero mission (in a bad way). i often had jumps cancelled against my will by accidentally sliding past up on the dpad for half a second when going from left to right
- story is corny and a bit forced but i don't mind that at all
- overall map design is quite good. i do think the hand-holding with all the navigation rooms goes a bit far but also at the same time i still desperately want some kind of in-game map/item percentage tracker for each area so i have little room to complain.
- however, endgame map design gets a bit silly. some of the hidden puzzles after getting screw attack are absurdly difficult and very much not fun. i also hate that once again the game tries to lure you into fighting the final boss(es) to lock you out of exploring for the final items without giving you any indication that it will do so. "hey heres your next objective, also by the way you cant explore anymore haha bye"
- i hate sa-x. im glad the sa-x chase segments are super minor but also i hate that they are there at all, they suck and are not fun whatsoever. also, the fact that it destroys entrances without marking them differently on the map is horrible
- the bosses were pretty good at first, but by the end (p much everything after nightmare, possibly including nightmare) they became horrible awful hp sponges, and the final core phase of most of them just became an absolute nuisance, especially for bosses that are already hard to beat with any health left
but yeah still a pretty good game, 8/10
fantastic as long as you play on normal and not hard or nightmare (or inferno...) lmaoooo
2023
as usual, another great ys game! i enjoyed it a lot, although it still is nowhere close to ys 8 (but really i doubt falcom will ever make a better ys game than 8, it set the bar so damn high).
story was great all the way through, basically no complaints there. gameplay was also great and engaging, though while I liked the new combat I don't think it was as fun as the previous combat system. It also felt like half the mechanics weren't explained at all so it took until pretty late in the game for me to fully grasp how everything worked. i also actually kinda liked the ship combat in the end which i wasn't expecting as i really didn't like it at first - the upgrades def made it much more enjoyable. really my biggest gripe with this game though is the simple lack of variety - and this was a problem with 9 to an extent as well - most of the islands blended together and only a small handful have any real identity. in ys 8 discovering a new area was always exciting, whereas discovering a new island in 10 was moreso just hoping for something new. the enemy variety definitely exacerbates the issue as well; it really feels like there are only 20 unique enemies in the game and so when most of the islands are not only visually similar but littered with a majority of the same enemies or basic reskins of them, it becomes really hard for them to stand out. that all said though, it was all still a lot of fun to play and explore, and i still came out of it having had a fantastic experience. hoping whatever's next is even greater! 9/10
story was great all the way through, basically no complaints there. gameplay was also great and engaging, though while I liked the new combat I don't think it was as fun as the previous combat system. It also felt like half the mechanics weren't explained at all so it took until pretty late in the game for me to fully grasp how everything worked. i also actually kinda liked the ship combat in the end which i wasn't expecting as i really didn't like it at first - the upgrades def made it much more enjoyable. really my biggest gripe with this game though is the simple lack of variety - and this was a problem with 9 to an extent as well - most of the islands blended together and only a small handful have any real identity. in ys 8 discovering a new area was always exciting, whereas discovering a new island in 10 was moreso just hoping for something new. the enemy variety definitely exacerbates the issue as well; it really feels like there are only 20 unique enemies in the game and so when most of the islands are not only visually similar but littered with a majority of the same enemies or basic reskins of them, it becomes really hard for them to stand out. that all said though, it was all still a lot of fun to play and explore, and i still came out of it having had a fantastic experience. hoping whatever's next is even greater! 9/10
This review contains spoilers
i wish this had just been packaged as a single game from the start, because that's what it really is - the first game is basically just a long winded intro to the second and neither works without the other. my impressions of the first game initially were lowered because it failed to match the pace I was expecting for a self contained game, but when treated as a preamble to the masterpiece that is TGAA2 it's all well worth it. so - treating this all as 1 game - the overarching story is easily one of the best in the series and the main cast is incredible - loved how many recurring characters were intertwined in the complex lattice of events, making for so many satisfying reveals toward the end. on the other hand though, particularly in TGAA1, i found the side characters wholly unsatisfactory; i found it difficult to care about many of the witnesses/etc as they were either boring or explicitly detestable (2 was definitely better in this regard). i also really am not a fan of the jury system in the trials. it didn't affect my enjoyment of the game too much, but i just found them a constant nuisance whenever they were at the forefront, especially when interrupting trials for no good reason other than to awkwardly force the plot forward. i also found the jurors to be the most blatant perpetrators of xenophobia/racism across the board. while surely period-accurate, it really doesn't make me want to listen to more of their dialogue when half the time it's some spin on "japanese bad". at least van zieks has some motivations about it (speaking of - awesome prosecutor, but it did take quite a while for me to think of him anywhere above average). it speaks volumes that my favorite trials from a gameplay perspective were the ones with no jurors! but in any case, still was all worth it in the end. (though they never did explain the deal with all the repeat jurors... I kinda expected that to be a major plot point somewhere, but nope?) I definitely do hope we get to see more of this cast in the future, whether it's in britain or japan or some wholly new location - honestly as characters i think ryunosuke and susato are way more interesting than phoenix and maya lol, not to mention sholmes, iris, gina and the like.
i don't know how i'd even begin to rate this as two separate games, but as a complete experience - minor gripes aside - truly fantastic. it's simply a long, slow burn, but with the greatest show of fireworks you've ever seen waiting at the end. 9.7/10
i don't know how i'd even begin to rate this as two separate games, but as a complete experience - minor gripes aside - truly fantastic. it's simply a long, slow burn, but with the greatest show of fireworks you've ever seen waiting at the end. 9.7/10
i got to around chapter 5 before the finicky controls and required precision started making the game truly unenjoyable. doesn't feel worth the effort to keep playing beyond that point for what i assume to be an average conclusion to an average story
solid remake. terrible party games. all achievements is absolutely miserable as a result but if you don't care about that then it's good
well, it's still mostly the same game, so it still has a lot of the problems the original game had, plus its own share of new problems. that said, the good changes outweigh the bad, this game is absolutely an improvement over the original. still mid though
absolutely the best kiseki game.
- gameplay is the peak of the series by far. action combat is rudimentary but complements the turn-based combat incredibly well and switching between them is shockingly fun. most enjoyable the combat has ever been
- story is excellent and im so glad they went a darker route than previous games. theres some seriously fucked up shit in this game and it rules. ofc there are some of the classic falcom tropes but they are pretty minor overall
- music is overall good, some of jindo's best work and koguchi is making a huge impact. i feel like singa's contributions have a lot of good ideas this time around but as usual they tend to be badly stitched together and/or poorly arranged, but in the context of the game they don't bother me much. also sonoda is there
overall: 10/10 please oh please let kuro 2 not be shit
- gameplay is the peak of the series by far. action combat is rudimentary but complements the turn-based combat incredibly well and switching between them is shockingly fun. most enjoyable the combat has ever been
- story is excellent and im so glad they went a darker route than previous games. theres some seriously fucked up shit in this game and it rules. ofc there are some of the classic falcom tropes but they are pretty minor overall
- music is overall good, some of jindo's best work and koguchi is making a huge impact. i feel like singa's contributions have a lot of good ideas this time around but as usual they tend to be badly stitched together and/or poorly arranged, but in the context of the game they don't bother me much. also sonoda is there
overall: 10/10 please oh please let kuro 2 not be shit
This review contains spoilers
what a game. i'm glad i went in completely unspoiled, i definitely get why ppl say even the tiniest thing could ruin the experience. story and cast are obviously the highlights, i really liked all the characters pretty much all the way through and even when the story beats and twists were sort of predictable they were still supplemented with enough surprises and mystery to keep things really interesting. obviously can't ignore the couple big blatant "problematic" things; they didn't really take away from the game for me but i still got a little uncomfortable every time they said "he" after that reveal (which i'm sure there are many many long discussions to be had about, but i'm no authority on that). the gameplay itself is pretty rudimentary but for the most part is not bad; the trial minigames grew on me more as the game went on, though a couple of the threads of logic are reeeeal thin and the flashback mechanic was really annoying. the moving around controls are also kinda clunky but it's a minor inconvenience at worst. honestly my biggest gripe is that the blood is pink lmfao, great game, can't wait to play the sequel(s), 9/10
man, where do i even start lol.
the story and characters are outstanding, leagues ahead of the first game. that said, i think it would not be nearly as effective without the setup from the entire first game, so it's hard to judge it purely on its own merits. frankly though, i loved pretty much every beat of the story, and the twists/reveals/tie-ins near and at the end were actually way more satisfying than i expected them to be; if i was judging the game on that alone it'd probably be a solid 10. but of course then there are the trials. luckily the minigames are still a quite minor part of the experience, but pretty much all of them are significantly worse than the originals (or just plain bad). the new hangmans gambit is so awful i don't know how it even got through testing. panic talk action is way too cluttered so it's way harder to focus on anything that isn't just the timing indicators. the new "consent" mechanic in the debates is usually just confusing and felt wholly unnecessary. the rebuttal minigame, as well as the increased number of truth bullets in general, highlight a really annoying flaw that was present in the original too, which is just... there's no time to actually think, and no mechanism provided to the player to actually inspect the relevant information without a tedious stream of pausing, unpausing, checking which things are available, possibly writing things down, etc.; even if the game just showed like a little checkmark in the truth bullets menu next to the active ones, that would be a massive improvement. luckily new closing argument and logic dive were actually quite fun; logic dive does have the same problem of no time to think though, especially when it hits you with questions you have zero possible way of predicting and expects you to pick the right answer with absurd speed. BUT as much as i can go on and on about how bad the minigames are, they are again such a minor factor that they had a minimal impact on my overall experience. ultimately a great game.
9.5/10
the story and characters are outstanding, leagues ahead of the first game. that said, i think it would not be nearly as effective without the setup from the entire first game, so it's hard to judge it purely on its own merits. frankly though, i loved pretty much every beat of the story, and the twists/reveals/tie-ins near and at the end were actually way more satisfying than i expected them to be; if i was judging the game on that alone it'd probably be a solid 10. but of course then there are the trials. luckily the minigames are still a quite minor part of the experience, but pretty much all of them are significantly worse than the originals (or just plain bad). the new hangmans gambit is so awful i don't know how it even got through testing. panic talk action is way too cluttered so it's way harder to focus on anything that isn't just the timing indicators. the new "consent" mechanic in the debates is usually just confusing and felt wholly unnecessary. the rebuttal minigame, as well as the increased number of truth bullets in general, highlight a really annoying flaw that was present in the original too, which is just... there's no time to actually think, and no mechanism provided to the player to actually inspect the relevant information without a tedious stream of pausing, unpausing, checking which things are available, possibly writing things down, etc.; even if the game just showed like a little checkmark in the truth bullets menu next to the active ones, that would be a massive improvement. luckily new closing argument and logic dive were actually quite fun; logic dive does have the same problem of no time to think though, especially when it hits you with questions you have zero possible way of predicting and expects you to pick the right answer with absurd speed. BUT as much as i can go on and on about how bad the minigames are, they are again such a minor factor that they had a minimal impact on my overall experience. ultimately a great game.
9.5/10
this was such a refreshing experience!!! i pretty much loved everything about it, from the catching to the exploration to the boss fights... well most of them, anyway. the music (even though it's mostly/all remixes) is maybe some of the best game freak has ever put out; ichinose has been on the absolute top of his game lately. the graphics i don't care about, they look fine for what the game is. the character models and expressions are adorable, and the clothing options are excellent. i loved having a pokemon game where catching everything was the actual goal and was actually feasible to do; pretty much every change to the battle system and to the way evolutions, moves, etc. work is a plus that i hope carries over to the next main generation. honestly my only real complaint is that some of the boss fights (especially the last few) are too hard to read/react to and do not give you enough health, but the mechanics themselves are fun and i generally still enjoyed the bosses; i would definitely not complain if pokemon leaned even more into the action rpg genre in the future. sorry this is super stream of consciousness but UHH yeah i hope we get to see more in the "legends" series, this was a blast. 9.7/10
this was my first kirby game in a long time, but i'm really glad i played it. the levels are pretty much all great, with lots of variety in both theming and in gameplay. really liked the ability upgrade progression, and the trials were a cool and (mostly) fun way to show them off. some of the target times are absolutely miserable to get though, kinda disappointed they don't count for anything except a few coins for how much of a challenge they are. it's pretty stupid that the fucking gacha of all things counts for more than they do. mouthful mode was a great (if slightly disturbing) addition, except for the car which controls like a nightmare. the postgame is where the game really shines though; the challenge is great, and the collection aspect is way more fun than the missions in the main game. like i don't hate the missions but it's really annoying that they aren't all revealed at once, especially for the bosses with super arbitrary conditions. they could have just done the soul collection thing with the waddle dees i think and it would have been awesome. the postgame bosses are great too, pretty much all of them except sillydillo were really enjoyable, and especially chaos elfilis was incredibly interesting and fun (and challenging!).
overall i'm definitely impressed, here's hoping kirby continues along this style because i would buy the sequel to this immediately. 9.5/10
overall i'm definitely impressed, here's hoping kirby continues along this style because i would buy the sequel to this immediately. 9.5/10