I feel like I wrote off Dragon’s Dogma for many years. I recall seeing mentions of it many years back around the switch release and Christmas sales of the game with people recommending it off the great gameplay, systems and world attached to it. That said, the presentation and a few gameplay videos didn’t do much on selling me the game and what makes it so special as an action RPG, a style with many games that didn’t really work for me despite liking the genre. Additionally, titles like Skyrim and the recent Fallout entries didn’t really click for me either and considering those games were direct influences and mentioned constantly in conjunction with Dragon’s Dogma in recommendations, I kept putting it off until a few months back when it came to playstation plus, and the footage of the sequel did look intriguing so why not. I really wished I got into Dragon’s Dogma sooner because damn...

The gameplay is so enthralling, and the influence of various games like Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter feel so familiar in the moment to moment action while still being its own thing. The starting vocations are pretty standard fare but open up to even more interesting advanced classes like a mystic knight and magick archer that mix two divergent classes in a shockingly satisfying way. I chose strider as my starter because of my love for quick, high octane action with a lot of movement variety, and found myself falling so comfortably into this role for a long while. It’s so seamless going back and forth between being a mid/long distance archer and then facing off in the frontlines in melee with daggers. Also adding to the experience are passive abilities within the class and others that crafted my unique build and kept progression interesting throughout the game; the other vocations feel just as exciting, fleshed out and varied from one another while still being integral to encounters. Even with my time being focused in melee combat through the strider/fighter/assassin vocations, I dedicated some time to being a sorcerer to set up a potential build for the magick archer and mystic knight and it was still such a blast being in this alternate role wiping off foes with miasma, fire and necromancy. What’s here is unique and satisfying in a way I struggle to find in many other action RPGs and it’s no surprise it comes from the mind of Hideaki Itsuno and the other developers at Capcom that worked on DMC and other titles that make the action feel in sync with the RPG mechanics without one or the other being siloed.

What further sets Dragon’s Dogma apart from many others in the genre is how interactive it is with giant monster encounters and how open it is to player freedom. The prologue smartly showcases the mechanical depth of these encounters in a final battle with the chimera. The chimera can be scaled by grabbing and climbing onto it, and specific parts can be damaged or torn off to weaken it such as the snake tail to stop poisonous attacks or the goat head to stop spell casting. Additionally, the chimera has elemental weaknesses that can be exploited by the mage/sorcerer or by picking up and throwing nearby explosive objects; other actions can be part of your play like dousing it in oil and setting it on fire, kicking it off edges if present, freezing it, stunning it, and various other means. These aspects carry on to other giant creatures like the cyclops, drakes, and griffins and they make battles feel very dynamic and fresh like Monster Hunter does with its own giant monsters. Scaling a cyclops blew me away the first time I did it because this kind of option was supported in fighting big enemies rather than being restricted to one part to whittle down or even having to ‘stagger’ them before pulling off cool moves, not to mention actually seeing enemies react to getting hit in specific ways rather than getting no feedback at all. It just feels so good having these avenues available and consciously being thought of by the developers.

The pawn system is possibly the most enticing hook of Dragon’s Dogma when first experiencing this game. It’s strange in a similar manner to the social, online features and interactions ushered in the Souls games through notes and bloodstains left in specific areas to give context to the space. The pawns are similarly a creation of other players with their knowledge and decisions wrapped up in them. They make encounters and excursions even more interesting based on not just their class/stats but also the quirks and characteristics they inherit from their Arisen such as staying long distance in battles or even confronting foes head on. It is fascinating how much influence the pawns take from the Arisen’s lived experience and the battles and quests checked off in the journey, and how remarkable the AI acts for the most part in tackling creatures or leading you to certain locations in quests based on their previous knowledge. It’s a job well done seeing my main pawn stand down against the enemy aggressively and call out to target specific parts as they took away from my previous actions of climbing and attacking a past creature.

I was also vastly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed the mechanic of weight and encumbrance for my character. The amount of stuff you carry on your person matters here and character creation even adapts this through the height and weight you select. The encumbrance of your character affects how fast they move and their stamina recovery rate. You can change this through running back to storage at save points to dump items, but also allocating materials between pawns. as well. It’s a similar play to Resident Evil in managing inventory and weighing decisions of whether you want to bring specific materials with you or not and how it affects your own character's movement in the world and battles, though a bit less tense than classic Resident Evil’s inventory management.

The open world of Gransys and its cities and dungeons are fulfilling with getting the sense of adventure across. Though unfortunately very few, the cities of Cassardis and Gran Soren feel alive and offer a good amount of rewards and secrets through exploring and platforming. This extends outside the cities and into the open fields, forests, and caverns in Gransys with a small number of landmarks overall but still impactful in their own right. The few caves in the game feel wholly unique from one another and involve different ways of traversing them with specific creatures appearing; the Soulflayer Canyon plays on verticality very well and pairs a cyclops on a small rock crossing over a cascading ravine that could mean you or your pawn's death or even the creature’s by knocking them off of it. Past this encounter are several pathways through water sliding that lead to valuable loot, rewarding you for that earlier encounter while also leading back to the main path of the cave to continue traveling. While it would have been cool to have some element of environmental storytelling in some spaces to fill in the emptiness, what’s here feels rewarding and meaningful with explicit choices that showcase the fun level design of specific caverns and forests and have benefits to clearing them out and even returning with chests respawning after a time.

I touched on tension earlier when talking about encumbrance and management, but this comes into play heavily in traversing the open world and its day-night cycle that shakes up the exploration. There’s various paths to follow that lead to major places around the region and they lead you there in mostly the safest way possibly, even the pawns themselves state that straying from the designated path could spell danger and this is very real for quite awhile in the game. Gransys isn’t overwhelming large, but the slow traversal and lack of fast travel options until later through portcrtystals gets that feeling across, next to the enemies you encounter by going off the beaten path, especially at night. Encountering an ogre during the nighttime in the open fields as a low level Arisen scared the shit out of me as I spammed for my pawns to run away with me, but I eventually came to love nighttime traversal as I got stronger and faced down with what awaits during the night, even with the pitch black landscape setting the ominous atmosphere.

The quests are the only aspect where I take some issue. Most of them, including the main quests, are pretty simple from a gameplay perspective and the stories and characters within are pretty alright and do their thing for the runtime, even with their signature speech style. The affinity system is similarly underdeveloped and obscure that I almost forgot about it until a pivotal story moment where the main villain steals a special person to the Arisen that surprised me with what the game chose for me since I didn't care much for anyone. The main traversal can be an tedious for some since the only way of getting across Gransys is by foot outside of placing portcrystals in specific spots for fast travel and using a limited number of ferry stones (or just using the eternal ferry stone in this version of the game), but I didn’t mind this much over other aspects. The half-baked nature could also be applied to the world and enemy variety, though I do feel what they have in the final game, with even more in the post game and Bitterblack Isle expansion, still manages to be fulfilling and interesting unlike the majority of the quest design and characters. I can’t fault these issues too much on the developers as these probably came from development and budgetary constraints and the higher ups wanting to get the game out there.

Even with the complaints, I do appreciate how the main quests don’t railroad you towards a specific path or limit exploring certain areas until you get to a specific quest that adds context and availability outside of one or two “end game” areas that make sense. The forgery mechanic comes into play in great and hilarious ways with certain quests such as being tasked with recovering a special ring for the Duke and giving back fake copy to keep the real one for stat bonuses; the developers even go out of their way to construct scenes and situations for this like with the aforementioned one showing the king try to open a chest with the fake ring but failing to do so, giving you the opportunity to sneak in the castle at night and take the reward in the chest yourself with the real ring in hand. Also thankfully, there are not a huge amount of side quests here and they are even missable too though specific choices you make during the game, something I feel many games and open world games in particular today shy away from for the player to know everything and all in the first play through. Even with the rote quests, they still offer an element of fun in the freedom found in some and the interesting lore that comes from completing the quests that further unravel the mysteries surrounding pawns, Gransys, the Arisen and many other details in the world. The Bitterblack Isle and postgame complements the lore of Dragon’s Dogma so well, but I’m still progressing through it as I write this.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks to be my most anticipated game releasing this year and in two months I cannot wait to unravel what the new world has in store. Even with this bigger budget and possibly even more ambitious sequel coming out, the original Dragon’s Dogma still and will continue to hold a special place for me in these months leading up to and beyond the sequel’s release in future new game plus runs and combing through more of the expansion. Maybe Action RPGs aren’t done with surprising me in great ways.

The presentation of Signalis is off the charts; very obviously drawing on the aesthetics and atmospheric feel of numerous survival horror games of the 5th and 6th generation and doing those styles in a committed and distinctive way. The environments, character design, sound design, animated cutscenes and occasional first person sequences work so well in producing a visual marvel that was executed so well by just two people. The title screen and menus alone are a strong show of confidence and style than most AAA games can barely muster today, outclassing even recent Resident Evil that is somehow still missing the iconic flare of the announcer saying "Resident EVIL" when booting up the new games. I guess it's just too campy nowadays to do something like that.

I just wish I liked Signalis even more on the gameplay front. It utilizes many great approaches from Resident Evil, in particular the first entry, but the execution felt off or even too derivative, the latter of which doesn't bother me that much. The 6 item limit felt too restrictive for the amount of puzzle solving and items the game gives out, which leads to a ton of backtracking through the same pathways to the same item box to stash items and run back through the same path to get the item(s) you left. Incorporating a way to expand to at least 8 slots like in RE1 or assigning specific items like the flashlight (not bad but bizarre to make that take an inventory slot) to key items would alleviate this issue without potentially undercutting the tension with decision-making of space for more resources to deal with enemies versus holding items for main and optional progression. (Also apparently there's been a patch for this that addresses this complaint but I didn't experience it on switch).

I was also surprised with how poor the shooting and lock on is here. Even classic RE has more accurate aiming and in Signalis there were many times where shots straight up missed opponents even while I was directly facing them. It's very wonky which's probably in service of the tension of encounters, but I felt frustrated more than tense when mess ups like that happened commonly. Not to mention many encounters can be cheesed easily by running past enemies or tanking damage rather than having to waste resources because of a missed shot or two. They were better alternatives for me than just downing enemies and this never really failed in my run of the game. This isn't much of a gripe for me, but it could've been addressed through introducing a new enemy type that challenged or punished running or even allowing enemies or certain ones to follow you into or walk through doors into different rooms. It would make encounters and traversal even more perilous and unexpected and be much better than recycling one of my least favorite mechanics from RE1 (burning bodies) and upping it by applying it to all enemies and making it way more frequent, thus making me less likely to want to use my weapons.

That said, the puzzles do make up for the lackluster survival horror gameplay. While they don't involve too much brain power to solve, most of them possess quite a bit of intriguing lore and detail to the world and made me even more curious about my surroundings. The signal based puzzles and few enemy encounters that used the radio were a sonic and visual treat respectively and added even more questions and intrigue to the setting than just only reading random notes that gesture to the going-ons of the place. I also love the textural differences across some puzzles that make it feel like you are operating or fumbling with some outdated or obtuse tech as it prevents them from being very simplistic in feel/look and solving. The puzzles overall work in part in crafting a strong story and world for many excellent survival horror games and Signalis carries on this tradition with its puzzles communicating a great sense of environmental design and storytelling, aside from the hilarious amount of puzzle solving prizes being more key cards.

Level design and exploration is probably the only other detriment I have with Signalis. While I love the amount of detail put into each of the rooms and spaces, it felt really straightforward much of the runtime. I definitely tried exploring around the rooms for anything interesting that would come up, but this usually didn't amount to much outside of the usual finds. Nothing much off the beaten path or even an alternate path or two that makes exploring more inviting. This isn't much of a huge thing, but it was a bit disappointing going down just one predetermined path for most of the time.

Could it have used less overt mentions to stuff like Evangelion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil and other horror and sci-fi media to cultivate more of its own storytelling? Yeah I agree and it is a bit grating in some moments of directly signaling said influences that did take me out of a good game Signalis is; the whole 'nowhere' section was very eye rolling given Silent Hill 1 is very fresh on my mind and I didn't care much for the take on it here. It isn't all overwhelming and the game still manages to carve out its own path with its lore, style and characters like Elster and Ariane and their cute relationship. I don't really agree with Signalis being the 'best' aspects of classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill like some people dub it, but it's still a strong and compelling effort in its own right. I enjoyed this sapphic ass tale and I'm interested in what the developers make next that will probably be even better than Signalis for me. Hopefully without a puzzle that is completely spoiled by a note sitting five feet away from it.

Not gonna mince words, Dino Crisis 1 was a very paint by the numbers survival horror, which is funny given the talent behind it. The corridors of Ibis Island were bland and sterile and the dinosaurs lacked much variety in action and how they attempt to scare and put you on edge; the puzzles similarly lacked in execution and mostly fell into same-y computer and moving box puzzles. At the very least there are some interesting threads in the world and the crafting and narrative branching systems lend to some interesting pathways, but those aspects were few and far between. I was very surprised that this was the game people kept going on about and begging for a remake, which it still fully deserves. Maybe a modern take could flesh out the missed potential and give Regina the respect she deserves, and I didn't have much confidence going into the second game and was ready to write it off like the first...and yet.

Dino Crisis 2 rules. Rather than expanding upon the c-tier survival horror approach of the first game, Dino Crisis 2 completely shifts away from that approach and becomes a full on arcade action game and I generally believe it is better off in this zone and way more mechanically satisfying. This change in style might ward off those that enjoyed the puzzles, narrative and the "panic horror", and even going in this change should be a complete mess, but it's not. Oh no, I really enjoyed Dino Crisis 2 in all its stupid dumb fun and glory of an 80s action flick.

Rather than planning out routes and approaching tight spaces with threatening creatures, it's all guns blazing and killing dinosaurs in much more open arenas with Regina and new playable partner Dylan. The potential monotony is addressed well with the introduction of several mechanics and systems: the new Extinction Points system to buy resources, weapons and upgrades, the incorporation of Combo points through killing dinosaurs in precise successive fashion, and even clearing out and progressing through areas without taking damage. There's vastly more weapons available to use and each new option are sick in design and feeling while mowing down enemies and they are pretty worthwhile to invest in. The introduction of different species spices up the lack of variety issue in DC1 and prevent the encounters from feeling too mindless for awhile at least.

While encounters generally felt fun to engage with through and through, some frustrations came up from time to time due to turning lag, leading to getting jumped by numerous enemies all at once when trying to avoid or run away. The game does throw a near endless spawn of enemies which makes combat a bit more intense, though it can be overbearing when playing as Dylan versus Regina with their different loadouts prioritizing close combat and medium/long distance respectively. Backtracking is a huge annoyance with how much the game wants you to run back and forth between the base and other areas of the map. I enjoy the expanded map and level design though outside of that primary issue and there's way more interesting locales offered here compared to the first like an underwater transport section with Regina later in the game.

The arcade-y approach overall is addictive and feels more distinctive compared to what the first entry was trying to accomplish and I feel more interested in completing multiple runs. A modern remake would be great with adding in the advancements made by Resident Evil 4 and onwards and giving more Regina screentime, but that obviously won't sell as much as a Resident Evil 5 Remake.

The way the camera shifts defines the space so much in Silent Hill. Even right off the bat in the dream sequence intro, the game's dynamic angles evoke much disorientation to further emphasize the oppressive mood. These sparks of unsettling creativity aren't limited to just the regular exploration but continue in the cutscenes that slowly piece together the cryptic narrative, world, and characters of the game. The merry-go-round sequence is striking where Harry reveals to Cybil that Cheryl isn’t his biological daughter as the text scrolls by with the obscured attraction in operation. The whole final act in general is so thoroughly cinematic and tense with its own stylish flourishes. Everything terrifying, tragic and so effective can be seen with the scene where Lisa comes to realize her fate as she begs Harry to stay, and he flees and shuts the door on her. It’s the peak of the game for me in communicating Silent Hill’s nightmarish tone and themes on the occult, trauma, and religious abuse and domination, and everything else across the short journey adds to that.

Also contributing to the foreboding atmosphere of Silent Hill is the stellar sound design. The densely fog world is eerily quiet with wind howls and Harry’s footsteps filling the zones until the radio static comes alive alerting of nearby fleshy monsters approaching to kill. The flapping, quick successive pattering, distorted laughing, distant creaks, and many other disembodied groans and moans; it's all very threatening as they chase Harry across the town until he reaches the various locales of Silent Hill. It's hard to pick a favorite out of the many as the brilliant sound design is just consistently great across the board; the hospital, elementary school, nowhere and the sewers are particularly oppressive and unnerving to walk and run through, the darkness obscuring the threat of what lurks beyond. Even silence is a powerful tool in raising anxiety on what happens next.

On less frightening things, the progression of main areas through puzzles felt very intriguing to solve. It's very Resident Evil 1 like but sometimes even more cryptic in a handful of puzzles. Outside of those is a good sense of exploration with extra items that can be collected around the areas and many, while still completely optional, can have fascinating effects on how Silent Hill wraps up in the various endings, upping the replayability of the game. How the game controls might be the only sticking point for those filtered by tank controls, but they never felt too unwieldy and are easy to adjust to. Not to mention the game is far easier and more forgiving than Resident Evil's early titles as a surplus of resources are always around the corner and shooting or hitting enemies connects as long as you’re facing them. This might undercut some tension since you can just mow down or run away from them with little risk to taking damage and ending up saving more resources, but this didn’t bother me. Additionally, the boss fights are pretty simple and short to kill, but again who plays these games for the riveting gameplay?

While Final Fantasy 16 has so many moments of pure style and flair that still hit the second time, my overall feeling towards 16 after playing through Final Fantasy mode is just...it's fine. FF mode ups the very by-the-numbers initial difficulty, but this usually amounted to more frustrations/monotony and made the deeper flaws of the gameplay even more noticeable. The encounters are roughly the same but with higher health pools that drive tedium more than difficulty; even mixing up some encounters with a random mini boss thrown in more so pad the experience than fundamentally change it, just another Lvl 5 Zantetsuken to charge or two to move on fast. The narrative, while not without very obvious faults, felt engrossing the first time and I still love the cast, but the bloated quests and very slow pacing hurt a somewhat interesting tale of free will vs fate and freedom vs oppression, though the yikes execution of many story beats and politics makes the themes ring a little hollow. That said, the Eikon battles still feel like the most next-gen thing with so much focus and intensity wrapped in them that I can ignore the simplicity of their movesets unlike the rest of 16's braindead combat and encounters. The DLC release next year may pull me back in, but I'm not sure there's much to come back to with 16 for now.

The wrecked and bloodied corridors of the Ishimura are an unwelcoming space, with dread and anxiety coursing through my veins as I enter yet another unknown and seemingly empty room. Volumes of fog and gases envelope the area along with disembodied groans and noises that bang around the walls, unsure of if the source is failing machinery or nearby necromorphs sneaking behind or preparing to jump through vents, ready to kill in the flickering lights or complete darkness. The surprise jumps me as I rush for the cutter and back away, aiming and shooting their legs to slow their approach as they scream in agony. The plasma cutter cleanly cuts through both their jagged legs in the 3rd-4th shot, yet they still crawl in desperation towards me, and I rush to stomp them down and hope they offer any ammo for my near-empty weapon. Even after I know they're "dead", my body jolts from the sounds of their flesh and bodies creaking and squelching. The door is finally unlocked, and I can move on.

As a first time experience, I was pretty taken aback by the atmosphere of Dead Space from start to finish. The game looks phenomenal, but more impressive is the amount of detail that’s went into every space and crevice of the ship that fully showcase the aftermath of the attacks. The lighting, shadows and claustrophobic level design unsettle each proceeding corridor and make combat encounters even more risky, heightened especially with the game's commitment to limited (yet still decently available) resources and enemies that can tear through your life source hard. Encounters, and going through Dead Space in general, are stressful and I genuinely felt real paranoid entering a new unexplored place and even returning to old ones for now accessible goodies, and I can't say a recent horror game has really accomplished this consistently except maybe Resident Evil 2, though the anxiety there fell somewhere around the sewer section and never reached back to the heights of the Police Station for the rest of the game.

In addition to the incredible atmosphere and sound design/lighting, the gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable, seen strikingly in the weapons and their nice, crunchy feel. The plasma cutter is a main highlight that adds a unique twist to the usual starter handgun that every survival horror protag has; dismemberment is the name of the game here and ups the tension of encounters to aim for limbs rather than just filling necromorph faces with artillery, though you could still do that considering how powerful these weapons get. Speaking of, another mainstay was the force gun, which blows away and decimates crowds in glorious fashion with a sick secondary fire that crowds the aliens into one spot. While the flamethrower and pulse rifle got some time in the first half, the line gun quickly became my third weapon as a more souped up and punchier version of the plasma cutter and it got a ton of utility in slicing up groups of enemies at once and conserving ammo for the cutter. I can definitely see myself working through the ripper in a second run as the numerous amounts of upgrades and other extra content, in part, incentivize multiple runs like every good survival horror game should do.

The only sticking point I could mention regarding the gameplay is the way Isaac moves around in the space. He moves at a decent pace that puts some distance from the necromorphs, though the increased number of enemies in the second half does make things even more dicey. Avoiding projectiles from the lurkers and guardians while trying to kill them is probably the only part where I didn’t feel as engaged with the combat because of Isaac’s awkward maneuvering and a bit of spongy-ness I felt in some situations, along with some moments of hitstun. I felt similar feelings though worse whenever enemies spawned in zero gravity rooms as it always felt disorienting moving around and trying to find and kill the necros attacking Isaac, especially in near darkness. Fortunately, Isaac’s kinesis and stasis abilities, also uniquely engaging and another way of saving ammo, helped in situations like this to just throw flammable interactable objects at them. Though I won’t lie, I really forgot these abilities existed for half of the game and their integration with puzzles and combat don’t really lead to much such as leading or pulling the aliens into malfunctioning doors or traps.

While some details are a bit lost on me, the overall narrative and story progression paced decently well at a brisk speed, though some of the objectives and chapters did feel very fetch quest-y at times. In addition to the main objectives, the side content that's here adds even more intriguing lore and detail on the motivations of key players/organizations and the vicious experiments done aboard the ship. Reading final logs in text and voiced memos makes the world come more alive and even more terrifying and threatening. The mysteries themselves weren't completely new to me since I've watched videos on Dead Space before, but it was still appealing to see how they unravel and develop in real time across the campaign, even on Nicole's 'condition. The performances are genuinely good across the board, with a slight bit of goofiness under the hood of some moments; I know some people prefer how Isaac was in the og game as a silent protagonist but I kinda liked what EA Motive and Gunner Wright did here with making him a more active and voiced lead and delivering lines in a committed fashion albeit hilarious in a few points such as the initial face off against the Hive Mind (absolutely sick creature design) and the final scene of Nicole attacking Isaac in a hallucination. It really fits the vibe of "Resident Evil in Space" at points.

Dead Space is an incredible remake and an excellent survival horror game which I would argue succeeds even Resident Evil 2, and possibly Resident Evil 4 this year in some ways. I enjoy the unique spins it puts on a few core aspects of survival horror game design and can see myself getting even more enjoyment out of it in later new game plus runs. I’ll be seated for Dead Space 2 Remake whenever that comes out, though hopefully EA’s usual greedy, big bucks mentality doesn’t drive the series off a cliff again. They haven’t changed, but at least Isaac gets another chance to shine and not be in the dusted cobwebs of a dead and sabotaged franchise (for now).

A few months back I made the sensible, at the time, but daunting decision that I would play through and complete all of the games I was interested in on ps plus all at once since my subscription ends at the end of December, and those renewal prices are hilariously bad than they already are for what's even been offered now. I've went through many and bounced off a lot including Returnal and Neo TWEWY, which I'll get back to at some point because they're both excellent and might become huge favorites once I dedicate even more time to them. Dragon Quest XI was one on my list to hopefully complete before this year ends. Unfortunately, alongside FF XII, this game has lost me after putting more than 30-35 hours into it these past two months. That's like ten more hours I put into FF XII before I peaced out despite the really intriguing job system attached to it, but this isn't about final fantasy, sort of.

XI isn't even my first dragon quest game; I vaguely recall having one of the DS remake entries in the mid 2000s at some point but...any memory of playing the starting hours of that is lost to the void of my mind somewhere that I won't recall anytime soon. Maybe my long forgotten childhood memory urged me to play this? Maybe me getting more into mainline final fantasy after years of putting it off led me here?

Beating around the bush but I really don't know what to write about in a comprehensive, compact way about Dragon Quest XI outside of riffing about it here. It's a solid jrpg with a narrative stuffed with the usual suspects of the genre, but the core of it is very, very charming and echoing of a bygone era of medieval fantasy classic rpgs, similar to a certain final fantasy game I completed in April/May to prepare for FF XVI. The main combat loop of XI is pretty basic, but what's there works and still gave me some enjoyment and even challenge with a few of the boss fights. The cast fills out to a fun bunch of people as well, Sylvando being a favorite of course. The landscapes are standard but full of life with the many charming beasts roaming around. The side quests blow, but the dialogue and detail that went into the text in every book, every npc, and every waking moment of this game more than make up for the absolutely bland quests and progression. Did I say this game is really charming? Well in addition to how funny this game can be, there's also this intriguing world fully in 2D and the-

So as much as I enjoy the coziness and general retro vibe that DQ XI brings, the tedium of this game, whenever I play or whenever I think of picking it up again, is unbearable. The world is fine with a crazy ambitious scale with decently good music populating many of the spaces, but it all collectively never grew on me with the many tasks and whatever directions the plot wants me to go. The story works with a compelling and appealing cast of characters where I enjoy every single one of them, but I feel so passive to it all outside of the few emotional beats I've encountered so far. The combat is...competent but encounters, especially the litany of random ones while sailing the seas, make me groan with how too familiar they've gotten at this point. DQ XI in general just wallows; it is very witty and enjoyable, but it's also so shallow.

None of what I said I liked before is untrue and I'm so sure there is something really special at the core of this game somewhere along the 90+ journey that this game most likely deserves since it is so well loved on this site and other spaces , and I can see a few of those things even like a third through XI. But real, I think I'll come back to it at some point in like a year or two and finish it and delete this ramble-y ass log with something more concrete and informed of the rest of the two-thirds that I haven't experienced yet. Wouldn't want the 30+ hours I committed to become a very vague memory like the last DQ I played.

Anyways, back to Dead Space until then.

Totally did not have my save wiped randomly after putting 70 hours into this and watch a playthrough for the rest of the game. Definitely did not happen at all...

Anyways, Persona 3 is a classic and many people have already written in length on the greatness of this title and its impact for the series going forward. The cast is amazing, the battle system still feels good to this day, the music is peak 2000s J-pop and Hip Hop edge, and atmosphere and central narrative is brilliantly dense and oppressive, and stands as the strongest in the entire series for me personally. Hyped to experience this world and Tartarus again in Reload in a few months.

An exceptional AAA survival horror experience chocked full of incredible visuals and presentation and a strong narrative between Saga and Alan. The exact content of the story isn't groundbreaking like most games, but I really enjoyed Remedy's approach and attention to detail such as the meshing of live action scenes with the traditional video game cutscenes and the stellar color grading in scenes. The entirety of Alan's chapters in the Dark Place are downright beautiful and trippy and Saga's chapters, while more grounded and realistic, still manages to evoke a foreboding and off-putting atmosphere; Watery itself giving Silent Hill-esque vibes during the first visit with plumes of fog enveloping the landscape. Remedy's always been great with this and Alan Wake II is yet another achievement and visual marvel coming off the isosteric and terrific presentation in Control. Also happy to report that I enjoyed the gameplay for once in Remedy's games. Who knew injecting the modern Resident Evil juice would absolutely make the gameplay, though it's not perfect.

While the gun play feels tight and varied and the dodge finally feels just right, encounters can get dull or frustrating with Alan and Saga's crazy slow movement speed compared to how aggressive and fast (and slightly bullet-spongy) the enemies are, and the game sure loves to throw so many at you at once. The flashlight feels like a downgrade from AW1 with worse feedback and inconsistency with aiming on enemies, leading to more frustrations with wasting battery charges since there are some puzzles that require light boosting to leave the area. Did you also know that enemies respawn quite a lot and that makes navigation around the areas feel even more insufferable, especially worse because traversal, and even healing, is so god damn slow and compounded more by all the other issues brought up? RE4(R) this game is not in the gameplay department, except Leon's equally slow-ish movement while sprinting and the fudged quick turn in the remake.

Moving from gameplay critiques, I didn't expect to take issue with the bugs in this game since I feel like I have a pretty good tolerance for this stuff. The massive one I faced was having to reload my save a few times after my controls completely stopped working during Saga's 2nd boss fight whenever I get hit by the boss at a random moment. Minor ones like some of the subtitles glitching out, the enemy music and sounds meshing into a few cutscenes, and part of the inventory being bugged out for most of my playthrough even with some items taking up the spots that I cannot select. Maybe a bug too but Saga's key item menu doesn't differentiate and remove the key items that had their one use versus the reusable ones, making her menu a bit annoying. I did not happen upon the worse like some people are reporting with their experience, but I do hope they get ironed out as they do take away from a pretty excellent game and moments meant to showcase its greatness in action.

Before I end this, I want to bring up the Mind Room. Alan's is pretty lackluster outside of using his story board to change the environment and detail of certain scenes, which is pretty fun visually. Saga's feels more involved and fully realized, encouraged and made more fun by engaging with the puzzles and exploration in the environment. Connecting evidence on the file maps and profiling major characters for their thoughts on specific topics never got boring at all.

And one last thing, I do wish the route switch was implemented a little better in the end as its fully optional nature does undercut some momentum leading up to the final act if one side isn't progressed enough, which wasn't signposted at all.

Even with my issues on the gameplay front, Alan Wake II is still pretty great and is an easy recommend to anyone even vaguely interested in it. It feels real fresh and ambitious as a AAA survival horror game, the genre which has been feeling a little stale lately with remakes and re-releases being the most of what's there and popular. I do hope that this game does end up with a physical release somewhere down the road just for preservation and box art appreciation, but the current dilemma isn't too bad since this game seems like it will do well. Way better position than whatever is going on with Silent Hill recently and in the near future.

Edit: lowered the score to 4 stars after playing new game plus