fantastic as long as you play on normal and not hard or nightmare (or inferno...) lmaoooo
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
1994
really solid aside from the bosses, which are mostly garbage. also some really bullshit cryptic moments (which wouldn't be so bad for optional stuff, but when required to progress...). also maridia just stinks in general. still quite fun overall though
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
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
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
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
2021
from the perspective of someone who has never played a final fantasy game, and especially no other version of ff1:
i enjoyed this way more than i thought i would honestly. like you can obviously tell it's an old game and they hadn't quite refined the formula yet but it's enjoyable in its simplicity. i was surprised at how easy the progression was to follow, aside from the airship (fuck the airship) there wasn't much i found too cryptic. the difficulty is really unbalanced but i mean it was an nes game so it went more smoothly than i expected. there also isn't really a story but again it's an nes game lol. the port itself definitely has a few issues; the font choice is absurd but at least it's easily modded, cursor memory being off by default is stupid (why is that even an option??), the bestiary being on the title screen and inaccessible in-game was very annoying, achievements not activating until after a battle for no clear reason is super wack, etc. overall though it's a good game and port, the remastered music is fantastic and i look forward to playing the others eventually. 7/10
i enjoyed this way more than i thought i would honestly. like you can obviously tell it's an old game and they hadn't quite refined the formula yet but it's enjoyable in its simplicity. i was surprised at how easy the progression was to follow, aside from the airship (fuck the airship) there wasn't much i found too cryptic. the difficulty is really unbalanced but i mean it was an nes game so it went more smoothly than i expected. there also isn't really a story but again it's an nes game lol. the port itself definitely has a few issues; the font choice is absurd but at least it's easily modded, cursor memory being off by default is stupid (why is that even an option??), the bestiary being on the title screen and inaccessible in-game was very annoying, achievements not activating until after a battle for no clear reason is super wack, etc. overall though it's a good game and port, the remastered music is fantastic and i look forward to playing the others eventually. 7/10
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 review contains spoilers
this game blew all of my expectations completely out of the water, honestly. it's somehow an improvement on the previous games in nearly every possible way. there wasn't a single character i outright disliked, and i feel like there were so many strong personalities in this game compared to the previous two that it really made the conversational dialogue shine to new heights; the training group was one of the biggest highlights for sure and i especially liked watching maki and kaito's relationship transform throughout the later chapters. kokichi alone is also possibly the most interesting character in the entire series, and his dynamic with both miu and keebo was fantastic. even the monokubs i thought were a really fun addition to the villain cast (though they took a bit of time to grow on me). characters aside, i also thought the actual cases were more fun and unique overall, especially with twists like in the 5th trial. and on the subject of trials... they're also the best in the series BY FAR - both of the first two games had serious issues with the trial minigames being anywhere from mediocre to pure misery, with few exceptions; in this game pretty near every minigame is at minimum enjoyable, if not very much so. the regular debates are made more interesting via more inspired text movement and the lie mechanic (which is SO MUCH BETTER than the flashback bullshit from the first two games). the mass panic debates are simple but cute. armament argument is EASILY the best iteration of the rhythm minigame. psyche taxi is just plain fun. mind mine is mostly whatever but it's not misery or anything. new hangman's gambit is nothing special but definitely way better than 2's (though the correct words were still sometimes a bit bullshit). v3's closing argument is also easily the best iteration of it. the only one i can say i dislike is the debate scrum, since there's no way to discern the "correct" word without either failing or letting the entire script run through, and it kind of lacked substance in general. there's also of course still some weird logic throughout the game but i didn't find it nearly as sketchy as either of the previous games. the whole game really does feel like a fitting conclusion to the trilogy, both in gameplay and story. i have heard from multiple sources that the ending is hotly debated but i really enjoyed it, even if i don't think the mastermind was a very interesting character for the most part - and i don't mind that, since in the end that was kind of a secondary reveal anyway. but yeah, this is easily my favorite of the trilogy and just a phenomenal game overall; even if i have some minor issues, this is definitely a 10/10 for me
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 game is a masterpiece in pretty much every way. one of the greatest pieces of media i have ever experienced. it's hard to put into words how GOOD this game is without spoiling literally everything but like. man. the writing is excellent all around; it strikes a great balance overall of humor and seriousness, and each on their own delivers hard. the jokes pretty much all land and are rewarding for the extra effort of looking at everything, and the serious parts feel extremely real, especially when dealing with trauma, grief, etc. (annihilation route, dude...). i was also like shocked constantly at how well all the twists are set up; they hit hard and yet never feel forced or nonsensical; it's insane how many times i was like "there's no way it can get even more crazy" and then was immediately proven wrong. even with all the different routes, the way information was spread across them that allows the player to piece more and more of the story together without one particular route (until the end) being more important... and then everything falling into place.. was just so damn good. and the true ending/credits are wild (in the best way). i don't think i've ever seen a video game top everything off the way this one did with the credits but it was such a fitting and emotional way to finish. ALSO unrelated to the writing at all but the gameplay is really good too!! i loved the somniums, the mechanics were fun and unique and there was SO MUCH care and detail put into every single one of them. i had only heard good things about this game before playing it but it still way exceeded my expectations.. i can't wait for the sequel, i don't know if it can possibly top this one but if it does then holy shit. because this is one of the easiest 10/10's ever
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
i love edgeworth but this game is very much carried by the last two cases lol. the first three are pretty tedious and just serve as setup for the ending really. but i did very much enjoy those last two; turnabout ablaze is probably in my top 3 ace attorney cases, i loved how long and elaborate it was without ever being boring, and the reveals were pretty satisfying, although i do hate calisto with all my heart. i grew to like the other recurring characters a whole lot by the end, though, especially badd and kay (and lang, to some extent). i think this format works best with longer cases, since one of my main problems with the earlier cases is that almost all of the case-specific characters end up with not enough development time and feel pretty one-dimensional for the most part; i do think the format is fun though and i look forward to eventually getting around to the sequel to see how they improve on it.
i did enjoy the game overall; with everything in consideration i think it's a solid 7/10
i did enjoy the game overall; with everything in consideration i think it's a solid 7/10