slopguzzler
Game makes a big deal about exploring and then gives you a vast, empty world filled with nothing but Fisher Price puzzles and enemies you have no incentive to engage. Skyrim syndrome.
Got me through quite a few panic-attack induced bouts of insomnia with its serene atmosphere.
This might be my personal favorite Fire Emblem game and I feel like it stands equal to FE4. In fact I feel like part of its greatness comes from its context within the broader FE4 story. The atmosphere of this game is immaculate; seldom have I played a game that so perfectly captures the feeling of a rag-tag group of revolutionaries, from its music, to gameplay mechanics and dialogue. It makes some improvements on some of Genealogy's aspects while returning to a more "traditional" Fire Emblem experience. It's reputation as difficult isn't unearned but I feel like its severity is vastly overblown.
1998
This game has a rocking soundtrack and a ton of cool ships to choose from and I really like the framing of it being a simulation that leads into a "real" mission but unfortunately I feel like this game is punishingly difficult to a fault which makes it hard to enjoy compared to others. It's one of those games that I'd play the shit out of if there was a cabinet in a local arcade or the laundromat or whatever but when I can choose any shmup to play it's probably not gonna be this.
Kind of a strange game to review for me because while I found it flawed and ruthlessly frustrating, I also couldn't put it down. Something about what it got right was compelling enough that when that mission-critical npc decides to suicide, after the wave of seething anger washed over and through me, I was able to pick the game back up, and with a renewed determination and surgical precision, cheesed the fuck out of the mission. A good next step from the Majin Tensei era.
Makes some much needed improvements in a lot of areas but is overall not as good as previous entries in regards to the actual meat of the game.
2014
It's hard to succinctly summarize my thoughts on this game because it's bad but also good. Improvements to movement and things like dual-wielding are a huge improvement over the original but things like deceitful hitboxes and the level design are staggeringly atrocious. Like, go look up early-development DS1 maps and you can see the meticulous care put into designing a cohesive world. Look at the mishmash levels in DS2 and tell me that same level of care was put in. Not to mention how SOTFS took abysmal level design and floored the gas pedal. Such a transparent cashgrab from the publisher that it legitimately turned me off from playing DS3. This is one of those games that its more fun to think about playing than it actually is to do so.
2001
I actually wrote this game off as a Snake's Revenge type situation a long time ago and never bothered to even acknowledge it let alone give it a try. But this game actually fucking rocks. Maybe I'm just a sucker for graze but energy mode feels very satisfying to play and the scoring mechanics manages to avoid a lot of the tedium I usually dislike. Say what you will, it's the game that convinced CAVE to stay in the arcade business.
Touhou fan games are often renowned for their quality. It would seem there are exceptions to everything.
2021
Gameplay is probably the best its ever been but boy howdy was the story a huge let down. Given the infodump cutscenes and how only one of the main alignment characters seemed to really get any development or screen time it really makes the game feel unfinished when looking back. Vengeance is coming out soon though so hopefully it fixes these issues.
I picked this up one day hunting through the dregs of steam for garbage games. Well, I found what I was looking for.
2012
Excellent metroidvania with some incredible (if inscrutable at times) puzzles. Only major weak point is that combat sucks ass. Bonus points for making people Read The Fucking Manual™
2021
Pretty disappointing. The map and world were pretty big let-downs and I feel like that's a huge component of metroid games. Makes it feel like any other random platformer action game so much so to the point they have to throw in a bunch of legacy characters to remind you what game you're playing. Making morph ball unavailable until like halfway through was kinda baller though. Not worth the wait in my opinion.
My main gripe is with the gameplay. I don't mind that it's switched to turn-based combat but it feels like a default RPG maker game; no strategy required just pick the most recent move you've learned. Encounter rate puts early Persona games to shame. For a studio known for creating some impressive set pieces the dungeons were bland.
Genealogy takes the series to heights it has not reached since. Every mechanic is carefully selected and subtly tuned to balance the difference of its strategic and role-playing elements. In fact, FE4 has such a delicate ecosystem of gameplay mechanics and loops I'm honestly terrified of any possible remake, because I know it will upset one of them, completely changing the experience; My ideal remake is a literal re-release of the super famicom rom with an updated translation patch.