skeleseer
2023
Coming back to this game after so many years was a nostalgic treat and I was surprised how well certain aspects of this game still held up very well, from the visuals to the gameplay and even to the open world itself, it's definitely one of the better games from the 7th generation and a great "remaster" of a timeless classic. However, there were some drawbacks...
Structurally, Red Dead Redemption falls victim to the age old Rockstar syndrome of occasional repetitive mission/story structure pertaining to doing chores endlessly for different characters. Although not as tedious as certain predecessors such as Bully or the classic GTA trilogy, the age still slightly shows in the game design. As to be expected with a 2010 game, too, there were still a bit of jankiness in some of the gameplay control/mechanics. While the horse mechanics are honestly better and more arcadey than Red Dead Redemption II, there was also a sense of tediousness as well, or maybe just RDR2 spoiling me on the responsiveness specifically of being able to u-turn on horseback without my horse constantly heading straightforward and not even slowing down. But, making up for it is the gunplay, which utilised dead eye a little bit more than the sequel in the sense that it almost feels like an absolute necessity in pretty much every gunfight encounter you'll have, which really was a good thing. A nice, fresh, innovative approach to third person shooters, which felt like it took some inspiration from the Max Payne series.
Narratively, first time around, it's really great. The approach of not knowing anything about John Marston or his past or even the general world really sold the story, it kept things mysterious and often the repetitive mission structure reaped rewards of pieces of knowledge you really wanted to get your hands on to better understand John as a character. First playthroughs without any knowledge of the series prior would really make this game and it really did back when it was fresh. Unfortunately for me, I've already played this game and in specific, I've played the sequel at least three times over. The sense of mystery as you can imagine isn't there for me anymore, I'm not really as awestruck about the story as I used to be, it felt a little bit more hollow than anything. I feel like if you played this series in chronological order, went from RDR2 to RDR1, you probably would not enjoy this game as much. The answers would already be there, so a lot of the twists in the story would have zero weight to them so I really beg anyone NOT to play the sequel first because it will most definitely ruin the experience a little. In any case, there were still some really cool moments and some really funny ones too. John Marston is still a great protagonist and a complete badass, I really enjoyed being able to play as him again.
But, what I loved about this game the most wasn't it's gameplay or the narrative but rather the atmosphere and the world in general. For a 7th generation title, I was surprised just how well the open world still holds up. NPCs reacting to things was something I had become so accustomed to with PS4-PS5 titles that I completely forgot that RDR1 was one of the first games to implement this kind of thing. It feels just like real life, it's really immersive. One moment that really got me was not long after I had cheated and been caught in a poker game, I dueled the guy that caught me and won. Few days later, some random NPC said to me "Good to see you're still in one piece after that poker game" and I was really surprised the NPCs were even able to remember what had happened. I also thought in the right light, the game looks visually stunning for it's time, unless I'm mistaking some remaster magic happening.
Red Dead Redemption is still a solid 7th generation game and I think it'll still hold up well for a few more years to come as it does now. Extremely well aged, especially for first timers to the series and it's really interesting seeing how different certain aspects of both games in the series are and how far it has come since 2010. Definitely play this one first.
Structurally, Red Dead Redemption falls victim to the age old Rockstar syndrome of occasional repetitive mission/story structure pertaining to doing chores endlessly for different characters. Although not as tedious as certain predecessors such as Bully or the classic GTA trilogy, the age still slightly shows in the game design. As to be expected with a 2010 game, too, there were still a bit of jankiness in some of the gameplay control/mechanics. While the horse mechanics are honestly better and more arcadey than Red Dead Redemption II, there was also a sense of tediousness as well, or maybe just RDR2 spoiling me on the responsiveness specifically of being able to u-turn on horseback without my horse constantly heading straightforward and not even slowing down. But, making up for it is the gunplay, which utilised dead eye a little bit more than the sequel in the sense that it almost feels like an absolute necessity in pretty much every gunfight encounter you'll have, which really was a good thing. A nice, fresh, innovative approach to third person shooters, which felt like it took some inspiration from the Max Payne series.
Narratively, first time around, it's really great. The approach of not knowing anything about John Marston or his past or even the general world really sold the story, it kept things mysterious and often the repetitive mission structure reaped rewards of pieces of knowledge you really wanted to get your hands on to better understand John as a character. First playthroughs without any knowledge of the series prior would really make this game and it really did back when it was fresh. Unfortunately for me, I've already played this game and in specific, I've played the sequel at least three times over. The sense of mystery as you can imagine isn't there for me anymore, I'm not really as awestruck about the story as I used to be, it felt a little bit more hollow than anything. I feel like if you played this series in chronological order, went from RDR2 to RDR1, you probably would not enjoy this game as much. The answers would already be there, so a lot of the twists in the story would have zero weight to them so I really beg anyone NOT to play the sequel first because it will most definitely ruin the experience a little. In any case, there were still some really cool moments and some really funny ones too. John Marston is still a great protagonist and a complete badass, I really enjoyed being able to play as him again.
But, what I loved about this game the most wasn't it's gameplay or the narrative but rather the atmosphere and the world in general. For a 7th generation title, I was surprised just how well the open world still holds up. NPCs reacting to things was something I had become so accustomed to with PS4-PS5 titles that I completely forgot that RDR1 was one of the first games to implement this kind of thing. It feels just like real life, it's really immersive. One moment that really got me was not long after I had cheated and been caught in a poker game, I dueled the guy that caught me and won. Few days later, some random NPC said to me "Good to see you're still in one piece after that poker game" and I was really surprised the NPCs were even able to remember what had happened. I also thought in the right light, the game looks visually stunning for it's time, unless I'm mistaking some remaster magic happening.
Red Dead Redemption is still a solid 7th generation game and I think it'll still hold up well for a few more years to come as it does now. Extremely well aged, especially for first timers to the series and it's really interesting seeing how different certain aspects of both games in the series are and how far it has come since 2010. Definitely play this one first.
2023
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast. We can be better."
An insane follow-up to Deliver Us the Moon, excelling above it and having some really interesting, rich storytelling compared to the first.
I think this game blows it's predecessor out of the water. I really enjoyed the first one, I didn't expect much out of this when I heard it was coming out and even getting ready to go into it, but it really put into perspective how far this indie developer has come since the first. It's visually stunning, the puzzles aren't as tedious and the story is really well done. It could've been an amazing game if everything was as well executed as these aspects were, but unfortunately I think there's still some things to be improved upon.
While, yes, the puzzles are less tedious, they are also too watered down and a little too far and in-between what was standard in the first. I think they sacrificed a lot of the puzzles for other things, which is fine. Stuff like traversal and the like, which wasn't that bad either, or even exploration which I felt unfortunately wasn't as grandiose as the moon, but still looked visually stunning in comparison. But regardless, given puzzles being somewhat the main precipice of the gameplay in this series, it under delivered and felt a little lazy. They were good puzzles, but there's only two puzzle mechanics and one of them (encrypted holograms) were kind of a chore after awhile, but the holograms themselves were worth it at least.
Which brings me to the narrative, something I surprisingly really enjoyed. The first was presented well, but there just wasn't much going on in the way of stuff like voice acting or even character moments, there were holograms still where the story was told, but I didn't feel connected to the actual character you were playing as until the end. Here, I really enjoyed the voice acting and how the story developed, I almost didn't want it to end because how could I ever want to leave space? 😠Without spoiling though, there were some really wholesome, depressing and heartfelt moments, so the story was really worth the while, even if the character models looked a bit off at times (excusable given the caliber of game this is.)
Overall, a really solid sequel, a step up from it's predecessor in almost everyway and I'm really interested to see if the story gets a continuation or not.
An insane follow-up to Deliver Us the Moon, excelling above it and having some really interesting, rich storytelling compared to the first.
I think this game blows it's predecessor out of the water. I really enjoyed the first one, I didn't expect much out of this when I heard it was coming out and even getting ready to go into it, but it really put into perspective how far this indie developer has come since the first. It's visually stunning, the puzzles aren't as tedious and the story is really well done. It could've been an amazing game if everything was as well executed as these aspects were, but unfortunately I think there's still some things to be improved upon.
While, yes, the puzzles are less tedious, they are also too watered down and a little too far and in-between what was standard in the first. I think they sacrificed a lot of the puzzles for other things, which is fine. Stuff like traversal and the like, which wasn't that bad either, or even exploration which I felt unfortunately wasn't as grandiose as the moon, but still looked visually stunning in comparison. But regardless, given puzzles being somewhat the main precipice of the gameplay in this series, it under delivered and felt a little lazy. They were good puzzles, but there's only two puzzle mechanics and one of them (encrypted holograms) were kind of a chore after awhile, but the holograms themselves were worth it at least.
Which brings me to the narrative, something I surprisingly really enjoyed. The first was presented well, but there just wasn't much going on in the way of stuff like voice acting or even character moments, there were holograms still where the story was told, but I didn't feel connected to the actual character you were playing as until the end. Here, I really enjoyed the voice acting and how the story developed, I almost didn't want it to end because how could I ever want to leave space? 😠Without spoiling though, there were some really wholesome, depressing and heartfelt moments, so the story was really worth the while, even if the character models looked a bit off at times (excusable given the caliber of game this is.)
Overall, a really solid sequel, a step up from it's predecessor in almost everyway and I'm really interested to see if the story gets a continuation or not.
"The trouble with wanting something is the fear of losing it, or never getting it. The thought makes you weak."
God, this turned out to be such a relatable game and also a great follow up to the original Max Payne. It had been years that I had been familiar with the first game, it was the first game I ever played as a kid and I eventually went back to it, enjoyed it and had a sense of nostalgic bias for it. It made me fall in love with Sam Lake as a writer and an industry icon. I had heard from certain corners of the internet that it's sequel was a "fall from grace" and quite literally "the fall of Max Payne," but having played it now... where were they even coming from?
It goes above and beyond what the first did, the narrative is much more hard-hitting, the gameplay is an insane improvement over the first and the style is so refined that it's very easy to notice the birth of Remedy's signature in gaming. Fragmented answers, mind fuckery and some ambitious level design that would go on to solidify Remedy's identity.
I think that, overall, this is a very important shooter, a milestone in the third-person shooter genre. While sometimes bullet time can be a broken mechanic and some of the design choices are a bit questionable, I think that for it's time it was ahead of it's time. The ragdoll physics are really good, Max Payne feels even more unstoppable than in the first, the weapon selection is pretty good and the atmosphere is genuinely amazing. The world feels so lived in, the NPCs have these long conversations that seem never ending that really adds depth to the world and the dialogue is genuinely really good when it comes to the NPCs and of course, the overall writing. Payne is still as dark, gritty and serious as he was in the first, reciting things in metaphors never gets old. I don't know if I can even go back to the original Max Payne, even when I had nostalgic bias for it, Max Payne 2 just completely dethroned it in every aspect.
A great sequel, something Sam Lake seems to have a knack for considering how good Alan Wake II turned out to be, and this marks probably the last Remedy game I will be able to play for awhile so I'm really hoping that Control 2 holds out this insane trend of Sam Lake and sequels.
God, this turned out to be such a relatable game and also a great follow up to the original Max Payne. It had been years that I had been familiar with the first game, it was the first game I ever played as a kid and I eventually went back to it, enjoyed it and had a sense of nostalgic bias for it. It made me fall in love with Sam Lake as a writer and an industry icon. I had heard from certain corners of the internet that it's sequel was a "fall from grace" and quite literally "the fall of Max Payne," but having played it now... where were they even coming from?
It goes above and beyond what the first did, the narrative is much more hard-hitting, the gameplay is an insane improvement over the first and the style is so refined that it's very easy to notice the birth of Remedy's signature in gaming. Fragmented answers, mind fuckery and some ambitious level design that would go on to solidify Remedy's identity.
I think that, overall, this is a very important shooter, a milestone in the third-person shooter genre. While sometimes bullet time can be a broken mechanic and some of the design choices are a bit questionable, I think that for it's time it was ahead of it's time. The ragdoll physics are really good, Max Payne feels even more unstoppable than in the first, the weapon selection is pretty good and the atmosphere is genuinely amazing. The world feels so lived in, the NPCs have these long conversations that seem never ending that really adds depth to the world and the dialogue is genuinely really good when it comes to the NPCs and of course, the overall writing. Payne is still as dark, gritty and serious as he was in the first, reciting things in metaphors never gets old. I don't know if I can even go back to the original Max Payne, even when I had nostalgic bias for it, Max Payne 2 just completely dethroned it in every aspect.
A great sequel, something Sam Lake seems to have a knack for considering how good Alan Wake II turned out to be, and this marks probably the last Remedy game I will be able to play for awhile so I'm really hoping that Control 2 holds out this insane trend of Sam Lake and sequels.
2020
A really nice callback to classic Doom while also being it's own thing and incredibly artistic with it's retro art style. It's a little bit hard to follow what's happening sometimes, narratively, and the ending was very anti-climatic literally ending with a shortly paragraphed text, but this is how most of the story is explained to the best of it's ability anyways.
I really enjoyed the first half of this game, it was a little repetitive in areas I guess, but the enemy types weren't all that bad. I got annoyed in the second half, it felt like the game should have ended already and was really dragging out pulling me into a different dimension with the worst bits of the game but I liked how it kind of went back to form at the end and the final level was like a test of your ability which was really fun.
I liked it, but I don't have much to say about it, because it is what it is from start to finish. It tries to make things feel different and becomes more of an annoyance than a breath of fresh air.
I really enjoyed the first half of this game, it was a little repetitive in areas I guess, but the enemy types weren't all that bad. I got annoyed in the second half, it felt like the game should have ended already and was really dragging out pulling me into a different dimension with the worst bits of the game but I liked how it kind of went back to form at the end and the final level was like a test of your ability which was really fun.
I liked it, but I don't have much to say about it, because it is what it is from start to finish. It tries to make things feel different and becomes more of an annoyance than a breath of fresh air.
For a standalone expansion, it's substantially well done. With low expectations and being well aware of it's general scope, not being a direct sequel to Alan Wake at all but instead a small detour, it does what it sets out to do pretty well.
It feels like the same old Alan Wake but with enemy types that are just really variations of what we already saw in the first, they don't actually expand much on the gameplay at all and are more so just bullet sponges than anything else. It was incredibly easy in comparison too and the puzzles weren't really head scratches.
But I think, overall, the narrative as lackluster it is definitely scratches the itch of an Alan Wake experience, even a dumbed down one at this size. You have to remember that it's a standalone DLC, not a full blown experience and with that in mind, I think it's very hard to actually be disappointed.
What made this worthwhile for me was the inclusion of Mr. Scratch, the worldbuilding/getting to know what happened to Barry Wheeler and Alice Wake, the overall interesting, laid back town vibe of what I assume is supposed to be Night Springs and being able to see what ideas were picked up, better developed and maybe even teased for Alan Wake II.
As an Alan Wake fan, it's a passable experience, a pretty decent way to spend 4 hours, but if you looked at this outside of the "I love Alan Wake" lenses, then I guess it wouldn't be too much of an experience at all.
It feels like the same old Alan Wake but with enemy types that are just really variations of what we already saw in the first, they don't actually expand much on the gameplay at all and are more so just bullet sponges than anything else. It was incredibly easy in comparison too and the puzzles weren't really head scratches.
But I think, overall, the narrative as lackluster it is definitely scratches the itch of an Alan Wake experience, even a dumbed down one at this size. You have to remember that it's a standalone DLC, not a full blown experience and with that in mind, I think it's very hard to actually be disappointed.
What made this worthwhile for me was the inclusion of Mr. Scratch, the worldbuilding/getting to know what happened to Barry Wheeler and Alice Wake, the overall interesting, laid back town vibe of what I assume is supposed to be Night Springs and being able to see what ideas were picked up, better developed and maybe even teased for Alan Wake II.
As an Alan Wake fan, it's a passable experience, a pretty decent way to spend 4 hours, but if you looked at this outside of the "I love Alan Wake" lenses, then I guess it wouldn't be too much of an experience at all.
Peak DLC, my introduction to rougelikes that makes me want to explore more of them and it's free. Surprisingly some pretty in-depth and rich storytelling for a free DLC of this caliber, too, and a pretty lengthy one that doesn't overstay it's welcome. It is an exceptional trip down memory lane, revisiting Kratos' youth and sort of feels like a teaser for a remaster? remake? of the original series, which would be super fucking cool if so.
The combat isn't too different from the base game, but it reminded me how intense and amazing it felt to fuck shit up as Kratos, even more so here with the constraints and unlimited variety of skills that made it feel more like a sandbox of experimentation for the combat especially with the arenas too.
The combat isn't too different from the base game, but it reminded me how intense and amazing it felt to fuck shit up as Kratos, even more so here with the constraints and unlimited variety of skills that made it feel more like a sandbox of experimentation for the combat especially with the arenas too.
A huge improvement on both Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, making them pale in comparison in pretty much every way from gameplay to narrative, becoming THE definitive Spider-Man video game experience.
When it comes to the gameplay, many people playing this one will tell you that they don't think that they could ever go back to the previous games and I couldn't agree with a fanbase more. Spider-Man 2 is such an innovative step in a better direction, I remember having huge issues with repetitiveness and bloated traversal that got really old after awhile, but here's that's like... barely an issue. The open world and it's crime activities (that gave me fatigue in the first) are such an improvement, there's a lot more variety and it's super satisfying, too. I really liked the approach to bosses, it feels a lot more like how video game bosses should do. I always had a slight issue with the older bosses, they felt way too easy and cinematically scripted for my liking so I was very pleased to actually face a challenge on spectacular difficulty for once and be able to sandbox a little with the bosses, which were some of the best I've ever seen in a video game and the best in the superhero genre (so far.) The little combat moments are super good, too. Combos are way more satisfying with the additions of power skills as well as some extra little tidbits like kicking the absolute shit out of an enemy against a wall which scratched a little bit of a Yakuza itch for some reason. The level design overall was really well done, the first didn't disappoint there but they went and topped it without even much of an effort.
A very emotional and heartbreaking story, it starts a little slow but with some awesome moments already, the pacing is absolutely perfect. Not sure why this game gets a lot of hate for it's narrative in certain corners of the internet, because it was perfectly fine. It's still not the best narrative games have to offer, and by no means do I think it's at "best PlayStation exclusive" status just yet, but compared to the first game? The stakes are so, so much more higher and the story does not nearly feel as generic as the first. There was maybe some rough dialogue here and there, but given Spider-Man is also catered towards a younger audience, that's totally acceptable, there were still some really well written moments regardless and I think a lot of the excess hate for this narrative just comes from weird ass bigotry towards Miles and Mary Jane (typical for the community, though)
I really liked how ominous the narrative started to feel and seeing how far certain characters would go to get what they want. There was a perfect blend of wholesomeness with stakes so high even the player starts to become hopeless if there really is a good turning point for any of the characters involved. It really pushed the boundaries for the superhero genre in games I think and could be pretty hard to top for the upcoming Marvel releases. I was also surprised by some of the side missions, specifically the one concerning Howard. A lot of effort were put into some of those that really gave the open world a sense of character the first didn't achieve on the same level. It made things much more personal and down to earth and I would have liked to have seen more of that, I really hope Spider-Man 3 goes absolutely balls out with the world building and smaller things.
It's a really solid sequel in a year of very solid games, definitely a step in the right direction for Insomniac's Spider-Man and I'm really eager to see how they'll improve on the franchise next.
When it comes to the gameplay, many people playing this one will tell you that they don't think that they could ever go back to the previous games and I couldn't agree with a fanbase more. Spider-Man 2 is such an innovative step in a better direction, I remember having huge issues with repetitiveness and bloated traversal that got really old after awhile, but here's that's like... barely an issue. The open world and it's crime activities (that gave me fatigue in the first) are such an improvement, there's a lot more variety and it's super satisfying, too. I really liked the approach to bosses, it feels a lot more like how video game bosses should do. I always had a slight issue with the older bosses, they felt way too easy and cinematically scripted for my liking so I was very pleased to actually face a challenge on spectacular difficulty for once and be able to sandbox a little with the bosses, which were some of the best I've ever seen in a video game and the best in the superhero genre (so far.) The little combat moments are super good, too. Combos are way more satisfying with the additions of power skills as well as some extra little tidbits like kicking the absolute shit out of an enemy against a wall which scratched a little bit of a Yakuza itch for some reason. The level design overall was really well done, the first didn't disappoint there but they went and topped it without even much of an effort.
A very emotional and heartbreaking story, it starts a little slow but with some awesome moments already, the pacing is absolutely perfect. Not sure why this game gets a lot of hate for it's narrative in certain corners of the internet, because it was perfectly fine. It's still not the best narrative games have to offer, and by no means do I think it's at "best PlayStation exclusive" status just yet, but compared to the first game? The stakes are so, so much more higher and the story does not nearly feel as generic as the first. There was maybe some rough dialogue here and there, but given Spider-Man is also catered towards a younger audience, that's totally acceptable, there were still some really well written moments regardless and I think a lot of the excess hate for this narrative just comes from weird ass bigotry towards Miles and Mary Jane (typical for the community, though)
I really liked how ominous the narrative started to feel and seeing how far certain characters would go to get what they want. There was a perfect blend of wholesomeness with stakes so high even the player starts to become hopeless if there really is a good turning point for any of the characters involved. It really pushed the boundaries for the superhero genre in games I think and could be pretty hard to top for the upcoming Marvel releases. I was also surprised by some of the side missions, specifically the one concerning Howard. A lot of effort were put into some of those that really gave the open world a sense of character the first didn't achieve on the same level. It made things much more personal and down to earth and I would have liked to have seen more of that, I really hope Spider-Man 3 goes absolutely balls out with the world building and smaller things.
It's a really solid sequel in a year of very solid games, definitely a step in the right direction for Insomniac's Spider-Man and I'm really eager to see how they'll improve on the franchise next.
2018
At first, I wasn't exactly sure what to think of this one. The first few hours of the game were pretty solid and it felt good to be back in the world of Yakuza, but around the latter half of the game I honestly felt like the pacing was a bit too slow but... hard to judge for, because there were some engrossing and solid moments to boot as well and the closing chapter was pretty decent, too.
What I disliked the most about this installment in the franchise was the gameplay, and not just the combat, the combat itself was actually pretty solid, the best yet on the Dragon Engine. Everything else was just... kinda draining, very repetitive and often times unnecessary. I absolutely despised the tailing missions, no clue why they put that into a Yakuza game, and they were pretty poorly designed too, felt more like unnecessary time padding. Mortal wounds is one of the absolute, if not, the worst additions to this series they've ever cooked up. It made things so much more unnecessarily harder than they really had to be, it was such a pain having to scrounge up enough money to be able to get rid of mortal wounds (because I regrettably often blew a lot of it), but this should NEVER be an issue. I shouldn't have to struggle with keeping my health bar in check, it's such a tedious design that I hope is done away with in Lost Judgment. The combat, while the best this engine has seen, also felt a little dumbed down in the way of heat actions, didn't feel like there was as much of a variety both in what heat actions I could previously use in the series and even what weapons I could use. No sharp objects, no guns... I get trying to take the series a bit more serious, Yagami not being killer, removing the ludonarrative dissonance but in all honesty... who actually really cares? It's Yakuza, I'm sure no one actually takes Kiryu in the other games "killing" people that serious lmfao, but I digress. Combat as I mentioned was really nice, though. Style switching coming back was what I needed so much in this series again, it made it a lot less repetitive than it was, even though I ended being absolutely fed up running into street thugs in free roam for the first time in a Yakuza game.
This might be the second best narrative in the series, behind 0, it was really intriguing, engrossing and really grounded too, which is a first. I really enjoyed the new cast of characters, Yagami and Kaito were really great and Hamura was a great antagonist for what little screen time he had. Really enjoyed the narrative overall, what I didn't enjoy though was the unnecessary main story time padding they had in between a few chapters. Honestly really stupid shit like "omg, who ate Saori's cake?" or having to save Kaito from an old childhood friend, though I did like the one where Kaito had to babysit a kid for a bit and sure, some of these are nice character moments but... would have been much more appreciated as side content instead of being stuck in my face every so often. It was jarring when something really big would happen and then the time padding would just kind of ruin the whole vibe, was not a fan. But a great story, nonetheless, even if I got a bit restless in some of the latter chapters, the final chapter really took it home overall.
What else can I say really? It's like any other Yakuza game, but better. It's a great experience and probably a really good introduction to the series too. I just wish RGG would learn to stop putting bad things in good games, ever since I've played 0 it's been impossible for it to be topped because every other game just always has something that brings it down a notch, they always get a great formula and taint it somehow, it's such a weird trend. More and more it makes me feel like Yakuza 0 may have been their lightning in a bottle, but I still have a small chunk of the series to go... I really hope there's another title that blows me away.
What I disliked the most about this installment in the franchise was the gameplay, and not just the combat, the combat itself was actually pretty solid, the best yet on the Dragon Engine. Everything else was just... kinda draining, very repetitive and often times unnecessary. I absolutely despised the tailing missions, no clue why they put that into a Yakuza game, and they were pretty poorly designed too, felt more like unnecessary time padding. Mortal wounds is one of the absolute, if not, the worst additions to this series they've ever cooked up. It made things so much more unnecessarily harder than they really had to be, it was such a pain having to scrounge up enough money to be able to get rid of mortal wounds (because I regrettably often blew a lot of it), but this should NEVER be an issue. I shouldn't have to struggle with keeping my health bar in check, it's such a tedious design that I hope is done away with in Lost Judgment. The combat, while the best this engine has seen, also felt a little dumbed down in the way of heat actions, didn't feel like there was as much of a variety both in what heat actions I could previously use in the series and even what weapons I could use. No sharp objects, no guns... I get trying to take the series a bit more serious, Yagami not being killer, removing the ludonarrative dissonance but in all honesty... who actually really cares? It's Yakuza, I'm sure no one actually takes Kiryu in the other games "killing" people that serious lmfao, but I digress. Combat as I mentioned was really nice, though. Style switching coming back was what I needed so much in this series again, it made it a lot less repetitive than it was, even though I ended being absolutely fed up running into street thugs in free roam for the first time in a Yakuza game.
This might be the second best narrative in the series, behind 0, it was really intriguing, engrossing and really grounded too, which is a first. I really enjoyed the new cast of characters, Yagami and Kaito were really great and Hamura was a great antagonist for what little screen time he had. Really enjoyed the narrative overall, what I didn't enjoy though was the unnecessary main story time padding they had in between a few chapters. Honestly really stupid shit like "omg, who ate Saori's cake?" or having to save Kaito from an old childhood friend, though I did like the one where Kaito had to babysit a kid for a bit and sure, some of these are nice character moments but... would have been much more appreciated as side content instead of being stuck in my face every so often. It was jarring when something really big would happen and then the time padding would just kind of ruin the whole vibe, was not a fan. But a great story, nonetheless, even if I got a bit restless in some of the latter chapters, the final chapter really took it home overall.
What else can I say really? It's like any other Yakuza game, but better. It's a great experience and probably a really good introduction to the series too. I just wish RGG would learn to stop putting bad things in good games, ever since I've played 0 it's been impossible for it to be topped because every other game just always has something that brings it down a notch, they always get a great formula and taint it somehow, it's such a weird trend. More and more it makes me feel like Yakuza 0 may have been their lightning in a bottle, but I still have a small chunk of the series to go... I really hope there's another title that blows me away.
2023
This game just keeps getting better and better on replay, the more you think about it, the more thought provoking it is, the more captivating it is and the more emotional. I cried a lot in the final chapters, didn't think I was going to, but it really touched me. This game helped me get through and over a spiral of depression I didn't think I was going to get out of for a long time over the course of 4 months. I am eternally grateful to Sam Lake and Alan Wake as a character for showing me how to find the light in the darkness. Easily top 5 games as of now, probably top 3 by the time I get around to The Final Draft and the eventual DLCs.
"Hey, BD-1? Thanks for being my friend."
Still a pretty awesome game. Been finding quite a few games I've gone back and replayed didn't hold up as well so I was glad I was able to enjoy this all over again. Still some issues with bugs, but the gameplay and story were pretty good in themselves it was easy to look past the funny glitches which were nothing more than funny.
Still a pretty awesome game. Been finding quite a few games I've gone back and replayed didn't hold up as well so I was glad I was able to enjoy this all over again. Still some issues with bugs, but the gameplay and story were pretty good in themselves it was easy to look past the funny glitches which were nothing more than funny.
2023
"This is not the story that I hoped it would be, this is not the ending that I wanted, this story will eat us alive. This story is a monster and monsters wear many faces."
Not really sure what to make of this game, but I do know that I enjoyed it. I was pretty frustrated for awhile that I had no clue what was going on, but after a certain point I realised that the story really is what you make it and it was never going to make sense, something Christopher Nolan said once... just feel it.
Nevertheless, a great plot, convoluted for it's own sake, Sam Lake really giving Kojima a run for his money with absolute balls out, nonsensical gibberish and really amazing creative direction. Never before did I ever think I'd be playing through a musical in a video game but they did it and they made it work, so many things here were very daring, pushed the medium forwards in so many instances and were very ambitious. I think both Remedy and Sam Lake took a chance with this one and I'd like to say that it paid off.
My only issue was the lack of gameplay, really. If we compare this to the first game, surprisingly Alan Wake had a lot more going for it in the gameplay department. There were so many encounters with Taken, a lot of tense moments with them that at a certain point playing it's companion sequel, I felt a little underwhelmed and sort of associated the survival horror genre this game claimed with the first instead. I think what makes it work here was the atmosphere and level design. Sure, there's less Taken and you really don't have to fight any of them if you didn't want to, but the art direction and set pieces such as the Herald of Darkness musical or the Dark Ocean Summoning segments were really tense in themselves and scratched (haha) that itch of wanting to take on hoards of Taken. Speaking of which, the music in this game was really well done, made me an instant fan of Poets of the Fall and Old Gods of Asgard which I looked over in the first game.
When there is Taken and gameplay segments though, it does nail the feel of a survival horror in any case. I think the atmosphere is up there and even in some aspects rivals the likes of Resident Evil 2 (2019), they feel very similar in atmospheric execution but... I wouldn't pit it above RE2R as some would, I think there is a lot as aforementioned that could have been improved on and hopefully Remedy will remedy in the coming DLCs.
Back to the narrative, though (this game is making me loosely pun like I'm in a meta narrative ðŸ˜), regardless of whether or not you get it, you have to admit, it is great in it's execution and there are so many great plot elements that when you figure it all out, actually make a whole lot of sense, too many for me to talk about without spoiling, but, yeah, it's just really beautifully crafted with a ton of attention to detail that pretty much anything you read in the game means something. Even the writing on the walls.
They went above and beyond with this one, it is definitely Remedy's magnum opus and a cut above the original Alan Wake, a cut above Control, Max Payne... a real push forward for the limitations of what this industry can achieve with great minds like Sam Lake.
Not really sure what to make of this game, but I do know that I enjoyed it. I was pretty frustrated for awhile that I had no clue what was going on, but after a certain point I realised that the story really is what you make it and it was never going to make sense, something Christopher Nolan said once... just feel it.
Nevertheless, a great plot, convoluted for it's own sake, Sam Lake really giving Kojima a run for his money with absolute balls out, nonsensical gibberish and really amazing creative direction. Never before did I ever think I'd be playing through a musical in a video game but they did it and they made it work, so many things here were very daring, pushed the medium forwards in so many instances and were very ambitious. I think both Remedy and Sam Lake took a chance with this one and I'd like to say that it paid off.
My only issue was the lack of gameplay, really. If we compare this to the first game, surprisingly Alan Wake had a lot more going for it in the gameplay department. There were so many encounters with Taken, a lot of tense moments with them that at a certain point playing it's companion sequel, I felt a little underwhelmed and sort of associated the survival horror genre this game claimed with the first instead. I think what makes it work here was the atmosphere and level design. Sure, there's less Taken and you really don't have to fight any of them if you didn't want to, but the art direction and set pieces such as the Herald of Darkness musical or the Dark Ocean Summoning segments were really tense in themselves and scratched (haha) that itch of wanting to take on hoards of Taken. Speaking of which, the music in this game was really well done, made me an instant fan of Poets of the Fall and Old Gods of Asgard which I looked over in the first game.
When there is Taken and gameplay segments though, it does nail the feel of a survival horror in any case. I think the atmosphere is up there and even in some aspects rivals the likes of Resident Evil 2 (2019), they feel very similar in atmospheric execution but... I wouldn't pit it above RE2R as some would, I think there is a lot as aforementioned that could have been improved on and hopefully Remedy will remedy in the coming DLCs.
Back to the narrative, though (this game is making me loosely pun like I'm in a meta narrative ðŸ˜), regardless of whether or not you get it, you have to admit, it is great in it's execution and there are so many great plot elements that when you figure it all out, actually make a whole lot of sense, too many for me to talk about without spoiling, but, yeah, it's just really beautifully crafted with a ton of attention to detail that pretty much anything you read in the game means something. Even the writing on the walls.
They went above and beyond with this one, it is definitely Remedy's magnum opus and a cut above the original Alan Wake, a cut above Control, Max Payne... a real push forward for the limitations of what this industry can achieve with great minds like Sam Lake.
2022
As soon as I heard living la vida loca of all things, I knew I had to uninstall this pure, unfiltered, bottom of the barrel garbage 🤢
There is absolutely nothing of substance here, at least not enough to power through it. The traversal is absolute dog's ass, the combat is oversimplified, way too easy and requires absolutely no amount of skill at all, the story from what I played was very...... whatever is below middling.
There's really nothing for me to say about this, nothing to remember it for, nothing for it to improve on because... there is really nothing.
There is absolutely nothing of substance here, at least not enough to power through it. The traversal is absolute dog's ass, the combat is oversimplified, way too easy and requires absolutely no amount of skill at all, the story from what I played was very...... whatever is below middling.
There's really nothing for me to say about this, nothing to remember it for, nothing for it to improve on because... there is really nothing.
There are definitely some good, maybe even great, moments in this game even after all these years later but, I still feel like there's a ton holding back from this from being the "undisputed masterpiece" it's fanbase likes to hype it up as.
Gameplay wise, the traversal is fun but has already been outclassed by Miles Morales and the sequel, the same can be said for the combat, which just makes this experience feel much lesser than it ever has before and a lot more easier to pick apart for it's flaws. The open world itself is incredibly repetitive and it's always a more tedious than it is fun grind to get the platinum trophy. The remaster is also buggy as all hell for some reason, tons of instances where enemies clipped into objects or buildings, the latter making it almost impossible to complete a street crime meaning I would have to abandon it all together and try again which is double frustrating when you're grinding to 100% the game. At a certain point, the combat just unclicked for me because I had been doing this for so long it felt repetitive and lost it's substance. There were also bugs relating to button prompts in the same situation requiring the same tedious solution.
Now, when it comes to the narrative, what can I say really... I mean, there's good moments like I mentioned before but I noticed this playthrough a lot of it felt strangely generic, not predictable, but just kinda generic at times. The twists are still pretty good and make the narrative, without the ambitious twists, I think the whole thing could easily fall flat on it's ass. Act 3 was probably the best part of the narrative, mainly the climax because the bits before the Octavious fight felt a bit less themselves too. At the time of first playing, shit hitting the fan, everything happening at once, that was a great experience but, now, it just feels rushed and it probably is. Not enough time to really process everything that's happening or just not enough development at all. I cared less this time than I ever have before, and I've found myself on repeated playthroughs caring less and less, so, maybe it's just that the narrative is more of a first time experience thing.
Overall, it was really solid when it came out, but it's starting to age, it's showing cracks and that is unfortunate. Thankfully, it's successors are proving to scratch that itch this one can no longer achieve.
Gameplay wise, the traversal is fun but has already been outclassed by Miles Morales and the sequel, the same can be said for the combat, which just makes this experience feel much lesser than it ever has before and a lot more easier to pick apart for it's flaws. The open world itself is incredibly repetitive and it's always a more tedious than it is fun grind to get the platinum trophy. The remaster is also buggy as all hell for some reason, tons of instances where enemies clipped into objects or buildings, the latter making it almost impossible to complete a street crime meaning I would have to abandon it all together and try again which is double frustrating when you're grinding to 100% the game. At a certain point, the combat just unclicked for me because I had been doing this for so long it felt repetitive and lost it's substance. There were also bugs relating to button prompts in the same situation requiring the same tedious solution.
Now, when it comes to the narrative, what can I say really... I mean, there's good moments like I mentioned before but I noticed this playthrough a lot of it felt strangely generic, not predictable, but just kinda generic at times. The twists are still pretty good and make the narrative, without the ambitious twists, I think the whole thing could easily fall flat on it's ass. Act 3 was probably the best part of the narrative, mainly the climax because the bits before the Octavious fight felt a bit less themselves too. At the time of first playing, shit hitting the fan, everything happening at once, that was a great experience but, now, it just feels rushed and it probably is. Not enough time to really process everything that's happening or just not enough development at all. I cared less this time than I ever have before, and I've found myself on repeated playthroughs caring less and less, so, maybe it's just that the narrative is more of a first time experience thing.
Overall, it was really solid when it came out, but it's starting to age, it's showing cracks and that is unfortunate. Thankfully, it's successors are proving to scratch that itch this one can no longer achieve.
2017
This game is like, completely filled to the brim with pay to win losers.
Finally platinumed after 3 years.
In any case, great game honestly, it's aged like fine wine and the batmobile parts really aren't as bad as everyone overstates them to be. Definitive Batman game, honestly, even if it isn't the best in the series, it's still pretty fucking good regardless. It has the best combat, open world and overall gameplay going for it, at least, and for it's time... it still looks like it released today.
In any case, great game honestly, it's aged like fine wine and the batmobile parts really aren't as bad as everyone overstates them to be. Definitive Batman game, honestly, even if it isn't the best in the series, it's still pretty fucking good regardless. It has the best combat, open world and overall gameplay going for it, at least, and for it's time... it still looks like it released today.