stovetop
This was my first Dragon Quest Monsters game, and my like 4th dragon quest game in general. As a whole the game is fine, as least to me but I'll go into detail later on about my gripes. For the positives: The voice acting was very well done and I love that Dragon Quest's voice acting just HAS to be british. Dragon quest music is always good (if a bit repetitive) and the environments were varied despite each area having multiple levels you'll be going through as you progress. Giving the player access to Zoom pretty much near the onset of the game was also a VERY good decision. The dungeons in the later few levels I thought were not very good as then consisted of a lot of running back and forth through it to get done correctly. I will always love Akira Toriyama's designs, its why I even played the series to begin with. Yes I grew up with Dragon Ball, so the artstyle is comforting to me. I'm gonna buy that upcoming Sandland game for this reason alone. Syncing is also very in depth, to the point where I think its a boon and detriment, more detail on the later later, but you can easily make monsters into your perfect or near perfect specimen if you put in the effort.
People have compared it to pokemon but I think its much much closer to at least smt nocture (only real smt I've played to compare) or Digimon Cyber Sleuth. The main loop of the game is going around the maps as you make your way towards the dungeon to fight the boss, getting monsters to join due to "show of force" based on your party stats, monster types and enemy status, fusion monsters together to get completely different things along with inheritable skills and abilities. If you put in the work, your stuff is strong. One of my monsters was taking 1 damage from the final boss for instance. Other than fighting with monsters you capture, there isn't much other comparisons to pokemon. Actually thats not true, the game runs about as well as Scarlet on a good day. Its not as glitchy though so it has that going for it.
Speaking of performance, its the main reason for the score. It gave me eye strain and then a headache that continued into the following day. This not occur when playing it in the inferior handheld mode of the switch so I unfortunately had to break my "Switch doesn't leave the dock" stance and settle for playing it that way. The game itself just felt very tedious half the time. Like it felt way worse than what I remember from Cyber Sleuth when it came to upgrading monsters. It might have just been because I was trying to get high level monsters too early but even later in the game I just felt like the entire synthesis system was more arduous than it needed to be unless you buy that mole hole dlc (which my impatient ass did, I apologize). Not like you can ignore it either because in true Dragon Quest fashion, it had that spike which lead to my only game over. It was a cheap shot, dumb back to back boss stuff that I beat on the second try so the cheap shot was the only reason I lost. ITS NOT A COPE! I could typically beat all normal encounters in a turn so I never felt outclassed but I couldn't be bothered to make more than one monster above A rank (the third highest) just because of how tiresome I found it all even with the mole hole cuz its has its own issues outside of it being a dlc. When I played there was basically no information on the game in general so I had to scour forums like it was the mid 2000's again for synth trees which rarely ever yielded fruit. Shoutouts to metalkid for their great site that had lots of information which I learned existed pretty much at the end of my playthrough.
As for the story, its not much but it was rather engaging. Not that I expect a grandiose plot from a dragon quest game but it might also have to do with me not having played or knowing anything about 4. The game loves to throw choices at you and aside from the one the decides your starter, every choice the game gives shouldn't even have options. It should have just played the scene out without the unnecessary input. At one point I initially made the right choice at one point but since they aren't choices at all so I had to go thorough the rigamarole of the "incorrect choice" and then go and DO THE CHOICE I INITIALLY PICKED. I assume that was something related to DQ4 given its outcome but as I said above I haven't played that one.
If you are someone who lives for the grind or like monster catching/collecting games then by all means pick this game up as my gripes most likely do not concern you, but do be warned of its performance if you are someone who cares about that. Nintendo's next console can't come soon enough.
People have compared it to pokemon but I think its much much closer to at least smt nocture (only real smt I've played to compare) or Digimon Cyber Sleuth. The main loop of the game is going around the maps as you make your way towards the dungeon to fight the boss, getting monsters to join due to "show of force" based on your party stats, monster types and enemy status, fusion monsters together to get completely different things along with inheritable skills and abilities. If you put in the work, your stuff is strong. One of my monsters was taking 1 damage from the final boss for instance. Other than fighting with monsters you capture, there isn't much other comparisons to pokemon. Actually thats not true, the game runs about as well as Scarlet on a good day. Its not as glitchy though so it has that going for it.
Speaking of performance, its the main reason for the score. It gave me eye strain and then a headache that continued into the following day. This not occur when playing it in the inferior handheld mode of the switch so I unfortunately had to break my "Switch doesn't leave the dock" stance and settle for playing it that way. The game itself just felt very tedious half the time. Like it felt way worse than what I remember from Cyber Sleuth when it came to upgrading monsters. It might have just been because I was trying to get high level monsters too early but even later in the game I just felt like the entire synthesis system was more arduous than it needed to be unless you buy that mole hole dlc (which my impatient ass did, I apologize). Not like you can ignore it either because in true Dragon Quest fashion, it had that spike which lead to my only game over. It was a cheap shot, dumb back to back boss stuff that I beat on the second try so the cheap shot was the only reason I lost. ITS NOT A COPE! I could typically beat all normal encounters in a turn so I never felt outclassed but I couldn't be bothered to make more than one monster above A rank (the third highest) just because of how tiresome I found it all even with the mole hole cuz its has its own issues outside of it being a dlc. When I played there was basically no information on the game in general so I had to scour forums like it was the mid 2000's again for synth trees which rarely ever yielded fruit. Shoutouts to metalkid for their great site that had lots of information which I learned existed pretty much at the end of my playthrough.
As for the story, its not much but it was rather engaging. Not that I expect a grandiose plot from a dragon quest game but it might also have to do with me not having played or knowing anything about 4. The game loves to throw choices at you and aside from the one the decides your starter, every choice the game gives shouldn't even have options. It should have just played the scene out without the unnecessary input. At one point I initially made the right choice at one point but since they aren't choices at all so I had to go thorough the rigamarole of the "incorrect choice" and then go and DO THE CHOICE I INITIALLY PICKED. I assume that was something related to DQ4 given its outcome but as I said above I haven't played that one.
If you are someone who lives for the grind or like monster catching/collecting games then by all means pick this game up as my gripes most likely do not concern you, but do be warned of its performance if you are someone who cares about that. Nintendo's next console can't come soon enough.
Now that all the dlc is out I can think about doing the replay because as a whole I do enjoy Scarlet in spite of its unignorable flaws but I doubt I'll play either dlc again when that happens as both I didn't really find all the good. I'm sad Nidoking didn't make the cut, my dream of playing through a game (pokemon must be catchable before post game) with my 6 favorites without needing to trade or import is never gonna happen it seems.
Specifically here, I didn't care for it being all double battles or influenced by the cancer that is competitive pokemon but I could just breeze through it with my maxed out team so it was a non issue. Well, except for when the game wanted to waste my time and was forced to use a new team so I was petty and just perish songed the whole ordeal with a Lapras. The day the mainline games succumb to that minority of online fans who want these games to "push people into the VGC" or defaulty be difficult to the point you can't viably run with a team of pokemon you like without force feeding them vitamins or selectively fighting specific pokemon for EV yields is the day I leave this series for good. They don't understand why most play pokemon to begin with. Even with how much easier it is to get a team competitively trained, its still such a mind numbing grind that I'd rather have a nail go through my foot again.
The BB quest system's payout is way too small too since its needed for biome improvement, buying items and doing the legendary quests. Its a grind so boring I opted to clean my house over partaking in it once I got the dex completed. Once again its them trying to push co op cuz those pay out more which I am not a fan of in the slightest. Also you NEED to do co op to get all the legendaries which is straight up ass. I found the story to be weaker in this part compared to the Teal Mask as well and I wish you could have walked around with your group at the end like in the base game instead of them teleporting to the next objective.
Specifically here, I didn't care for it being all double battles or influenced by the cancer that is competitive pokemon but I could just breeze through it with my maxed out team so it was a non issue. Well, except for when the game wanted to waste my time and was forced to use a new team so I was petty and just perish songed the whole ordeal with a Lapras. The day the mainline games succumb to that minority of online fans who want these games to "push people into the VGC" or defaulty be difficult to the point you can't viably run with a team of pokemon you like without force feeding them vitamins or selectively fighting specific pokemon for EV yields is the day I leave this series for good. They don't understand why most play pokemon to begin with. Even with how much easier it is to get a team competitively trained, its still such a mind numbing grind that I'd rather have a nail go through my foot again.
The BB quest system's payout is way too small too since its needed for biome improvement, buying items and doing the legendary quests. Its a grind so boring I opted to clean my house over partaking in it once I got the dex completed. Once again its them trying to push co op cuz those pay out more which I am not a fan of in the slightest. Also you NEED to do co op to get all the legendaries which is straight up ass. I found the story to be weaker in this part compared to the Teal Mask as well and I wish you could have walked around with your group at the end like in the base game instead of them teleporting to the next objective.
To get it out of the way, Metal Gear is my favorite series. While I didn't have many issues whilst playing the collection and I can understand that people wanted more, saying the ports outright suck due to your own overzealous imagination is not something I can get behind. Yes this collection is pretty barebones in terms of graphical touch ups but I'm someone who chooses to play games on actual hardware so I'm not drooling over playing something like MGS1 in 4k. I didn't notice framerate problems either, even in MGS3 but it takes some massive drops for me to notice those. The issues I did run into will be given in detail when talking about the game in question. But the short of it is, the games themselves are fully playable but I ran into issues in 2 and 3 that I never had on ps3 Hd collection or in the ps2 versions in all my years of playing that do not have anything to do with the 360 controls I am not used to.
In terms of Master collection specific content you have the entire screenplay and master books which while cool, I'd rather have those in my hand instead of on my tv and only skimmed them due to that. You got some music tracks too with a selection that could be described as random, however I don't turn on my consoles to listen to music so I never gave them much of a listen. I can just pull up songs on youtube or use these things called CDs of the osts I have should I ever want to listen anyway. On PS5 much like the Battle Network Legacy Collection, each thing has its own icon and install instead of it being one all encompassing package. Other language versions are options but in my experience some had to be downloaded as did the digital graphic novels but the main games (MG 1,2, MGS1, VR missions, 2 and 3) were on there from the get go. Pressing L1+R1 brings up a menu which you can use to pause cutscenes (thought it takes a few seconds) but I only had it work in MGS1. A shame cuz I really could have used it when going for no alerts in 2 and 3 since I couldn't get the usual reset code to work.
Onto the games themselves:
MG1 and 2- These are the ones from MGS3 subsistance/HD collection but ripped out and made its own launcher. They even still use the mgs3 save screen. Yes NES Metal Gear and Snakes revenge are in the master collection too but I will NOT play the NES one again and refuse to touch Snake's Revenge. As far as MG1 goes, I've never been a fan of it. It very easy to get yourself suck either due to missing a prisoner, card, ammo what have you and the hitboxes on the pitfalls were always absurd at best. Yeah I get it, old game design but still I find MG1 to be more annoying than enjoyable which is why I've only played it a couple times. I can only take so much near unavoidable damage cuz everything respawns on a screen change. As for Metal Gear 2, its honestly shameful how little I've played this one cuz it cannot be overstated how much of a step up it is compared to 1 and its where you see what the series will become take form. Still WAY too much backtracking especially at the end, and while MGS1 is close to a 3d version of this game, they were smart enough to cut back on it aspect. The other old game design aspects still apply but the addition of the radar at least let me be mostly prepared for the enemy on the other side of the screen change.
MGS1- Still my favorite game and always will be. No problems while playing for me other than johnny has pants on for some reason after Meryl knocks him out. Its the ps1 version complete with its weird texture warping quirk games on that system had. You can make fake save data for Mantis' stuff so this version is 1000% better than the pc release you can buy on GOG and its not up for debate. I didn't see these loading issues with cutscenes people keep bringing up either but even I'm not blind enough to not notice the fuzzyness the game had at times. I also went through VR missions and thats all I have to say about that cuz I never cared for VR missions. Integral is there too and it was my first time playing that version. While its cool to be able to listen to the TAPPY main theme at whim via codec instead of on a third playthrough (my favorite rendition), its not as novel now that youtube exists. Yes I know about Meryl's new costume in it but I pretty much went back to the original MGS1 after that initial playthrough.
MGS2- Still MGS2 where its 1/3 codec conversations despite being 3 feet from each other and why the codec has a bad name. If people weren't bitching about these games being some sort of 720p over the promised 1080p I wouldn't have known, and tbh I still didn't notice much. This was my first time experiencing the new controls that where part of the 360 version of the HD collection. In MGS2 they were fine but even after several playthroughs I still kept trying to play the game the normal way with pressure sensitive buttons that don't exist. It took me several playthroughs and a snake tale to internalize that the coolant spray uses the right stick now and not square. Being able to click the left stick to raise and lower your weapon is something I think is a good idea actually. Other than that I did have the game freeze on me twice for several seconds, one time on two different playthroughs and both on Big Shell while the Tanker had no issues. One of those times was during the Harrier boss and the other while escorting EE where you need to put out the fire. Both of these involved fire effects now that I think about it. As I said these were FREEZES not crashes, they sorted themselves out after like 5 seconds but in all my years of playing this game on PS2 and later ps3, I never saw this before. It reminded me of playing games with scratched discs but mine aint scratched even if somehow EVERY game that I order online is loose in case when I take it out of the mailbox without fail. Since it is the HD collection version it also means you don't get the best optional content in the series, SKATEBOARDING with a kick ass rendition of the main theme!
MGS3- While MGS1 is my favorite, I do think MGS3 is the overall best entry and because of that I have nothing much to say. The game is still amazing and I didn't notice any stock footage, apparently the reason why the original collection was delisted in the first place, missing. Here is where the new controls really screwed with me the most. Honestly kind of felt like it wasn't reading what I intended when trying to slam vs grab. I had a similar freeze moment like I did in 2, once while swimming and once during the bike sequence. The flashback scenes towards the end did look a bit fuzzy as well and some animal models in the food screen looked pretty rough but special mention goes to The End's parrot. I also missed a Kerotan on my first run and I have no idea where so I'm PISSED. And it should og without saying but its the HD collection version so no second disc bonuses. Even the previous bonus of MG1 and 2 are their own things now so its truly just MGS 3 subsistence diet edition.
I do hope a volume 2 happens whether its of similar barebones ports or not. MGS4 deserves better than to be locked on the ps3 though other than Peace Walker I can't imagine what else they are gonna put in it. Will they just throw in the definitive edition of 5? Will they actually go all in and put Portable ops and the Acid games on here? Ghost Babel (though that should have been in collection 1) Revengence?? Lord only knows. I'm just happy more people can play these great games now on more current platforms and don't have to either decide between starting with the likes MGS5 which is an awful decision or something unlike any of the other games like Revengence. As it stands I could see myself using this collection for MGS1 replays but for 2 and 3, ignoring the convenience of already having this collection installed and system set up, I don't think I see myself playing these versions over the ps3 hd collection or ps2 releases. I can't so easily overwrite almost 20 years of conditioning for pressure sensitive inputs.
In terms of Master collection specific content you have the entire screenplay and master books which while cool, I'd rather have those in my hand instead of on my tv and only skimmed them due to that. You got some music tracks too with a selection that could be described as random, however I don't turn on my consoles to listen to music so I never gave them much of a listen. I can just pull up songs on youtube or use these things called CDs of the osts I have should I ever want to listen anyway. On PS5 much like the Battle Network Legacy Collection, each thing has its own icon and install instead of it being one all encompassing package. Other language versions are options but in my experience some had to be downloaded as did the digital graphic novels but the main games (MG 1,2, MGS1, VR missions, 2 and 3) were on there from the get go. Pressing L1+R1 brings up a menu which you can use to pause cutscenes (thought it takes a few seconds) but I only had it work in MGS1. A shame cuz I really could have used it when going for no alerts in 2 and 3 since I couldn't get the usual reset code to work.
Onto the games themselves:
MG1 and 2- These are the ones from MGS3 subsistance/HD collection but ripped out and made its own launcher. They even still use the mgs3 save screen. Yes NES Metal Gear and Snakes revenge are in the master collection too but I will NOT play the NES one again and refuse to touch Snake's Revenge. As far as MG1 goes, I've never been a fan of it. It very easy to get yourself suck either due to missing a prisoner, card, ammo what have you and the hitboxes on the pitfalls were always absurd at best. Yeah I get it, old game design but still I find MG1 to be more annoying than enjoyable which is why I've only played it a couple times. I can only take so much near unavoidable damage cuz everything respawns on a screen change. As for Metal Gear 2, its honestly shameful how little I've played this one cuz it cannot be overstated how much of a step up it is compared to 1 and its where you see what the series will become take form. Still WAY too much backtracking especially at the end, and while MGS1 is close to a 3d version of this game, they were smart enough to cut back on it aspect. The other old game design aspects still apply but the addition of the radar at least let me be mostly prepared for the enemy on the other side of the screen change.
MGS1- Still my favorite game and always will be. No problems while playing for me other than johnny has pants on for some reason after Meryl knocks him out. Its the ps1 version complete with its weird texture warping quirk games on that system had. You can make fake save data for Mantis' stuff so this version is 1000% better than the pc release you can buy on GOG and its not up for debate. I didn't see these loading issues with cutscenes people keep bringing up either but even I'm not blind enough to not notice the fuzzyness the game had at times. I also went through VR missions and thats all I have to say about that cuz I never cared for VR missions. Integral is there too and it was my first time playing that version. While its cool to be able to listen to the TAPPY main theme at whim via codec instead of on a third playthrough (my favorite rendition), its not as novel now that youtube exists. Yes I know about Meryl's new costume in it but I pretty much went back to the original MGS1 after that initial playthrough.
MGS2- Still MGS2 where its 1/3 codec conversations despite being 3 feet from each other and why the codec has a bad name. If people weren't bitching about these games being some sort of 720p over the promised 1080p I wouldn't have known, and tbh I still didn't notice much. This was my first time experiencing the new controls that where part of the 360 version of the HD collection. In MGS2 they were fine but even after several playthroughs I still kept trying to play the game the normal way with pressure sensitive buttons that don't exist. It took me several playthroughs and a snake tale to internalize that the coolant spray uses the right stick now and not square. Being able to click the left stick to raise and lower your weapon is something I think is a good idea actually. Other than that I did have the game freeze on me twice for several seconds, one time on two different playthroughs and both on Big Shell while the Tanker had no issues. One of those times was during the Harrier boss and the other while escorting EE where you need to put out the fire. Both of these involved fire effects now that I think about it. As I said these were FREEZES not crashes, they sorted themselves out after like 5 seconds but in all my years of playing this game on PS2 and later ps3, I never saw this before. It reminded me of playing games with scratched discs but mine aint scratched even if somehow EVERY game that I order online is loose in case when I take it out of the mailbox without fail. Since it is the HD collection version it also means you don't get the best optional content in the series, SKATEBOARDING with a kick ass rendition of the main theme!
MGS3- While MGS1 is my favorite, I do think MGS3 is the overall best entry and because of that I have nothing much to say. The game is still amazing and I didn't notice any stock footage, apparently the reason why the original collection was delisted in the first place, missing. Here is where the new controls really screwed with me the most. Honestly kind of felt like it wasn't reading what I intended when trying to slam vs grab. I had a similar freeze moment like I did in 2, once while swimming and once during the bike sequence. The flashback scenes towards the end did look a bit fuzzy as well and some animal models in the food screen looked pretty rough but special mention goes to The End's parrot. I also missed a Kerotan on my first run and I have no idea where so I'm PISSED. And it should og without saying but its the HD collection version so no second disc bonuses. Even the previous bonus of MG1 and 2 are their own things now so its truly just MGS 3 subsistence diet edition.
I do hope a volume 2 happens whether its of similar barebones ports or not. MGS4 deserves better than to be locked on the ps3 though other than Peace Walker I can't imagine what else they are gonna put in it. Will they just throw in the definitive edition of 5? Will they actually go all in and put Portable ops and the Acid games on here? Ghost Babel (though that should have been in collection 1) Revengence?? Lord only knows. I'm just happy more people can play these great games now on more current platforms and don't have to either decide between starting with the likes MGS5 which is an awful decision or something unlike any of the other games like Revengence. As it stands I could see myself using this collection for MGS1 replays but for 2 and 3, ignoring the convenience of already having this collection installed and system set up, I don't think I see myself playing these versions over the ps3 hd collection or ps2 releases. I can't so easily overwrite almost 20 years of conditioning for pressure sensitive inputs.
PLAYABLE DAISY!
Sorry, I had to write that down otherwise I couldn't focus on the rest of what I wanted to write. All in all, I thought the game was solid. Controlled great, was responsive but the lack of a triple jump mixed me hard for the first hour or so. Is the game easy? As far as the stuff outside of the secret worlds in concerned, sure. I was so good on coins and lives that I was opting to kill myself in levels if I missed secrets instead of having to replay them without ever having to worry. The search party stages I think were pretty awful though, at least for a solo player. Jump around and find the hidden blocks so you can get the shit you need like its a shit mario maker level.
The badges while a decent implementation, I do feel like it ended up stripping the characters of any unique gameplay quirks (Luigi's past floaty-ness is a badges not for instance, he controls like everyone else now). Also how fucked is it that this game can have badges but Paper Mario can't? The few boss battles that there are were definitely lacking (some worlds didn't have a boss at all) outside of the final boss and while the wonder mechanic is visually appealing they started to repeat about halfway through. Like most I also don't agree with making Yoshi a permanant easy mode character but at least it made me not have to fight with myself over who to play. I also feel like you wouldn't lose anything if you removed the talking flowers. They rarely say anything of substance and half the time seem like they exist to fill dead air or are the intrusive thoughts of the dev team with such bangers as "I wonder what saltwater tastes like". If this is the start of the Switch's swan song, its a strong one.
Sorry, I had to write that down otherwise I couldn't focus on the rest of what I wanted to write. All in all, I thought the game was solid. Controlled great, was responsive but the lack of a triple jump mixed me hard for the first hour or so. Is the game easy? As far as the stuff outside of the secret worlds in concerned, sure. I was so good on coins and lives that I was opting to kill myself in levels if I missed secrets instead of having to replay them without ever having to worry. The search party stages I think were pretty awful though, at least for a solo player. Jump around and find the hidden blocks so you can get the shit you need like its a shit mario maker level.
The badges while a decent implementation, I do feel like it ended up stripping the characters of any unique gameplay quirks (Luigi's past floaty-ness is a badges not for instance, he controls like everyone else now). Also how fucked is it that this game can have badges but Paper Mario can't? The few boss battles that there are were definitely lacking (some worlds didn't have a boss at all) outside of the final boss and while the wonder mechanic is visually appealing they started to repeat about halfway through. Like most I also don't agree with making Yoshi a permanant easy mode character but at least it made me not have to fight with myself over who to play. I also feel like you wouldn't lose anything if you removed the talking flowers. They rarely say anything of substance and half the time seem like they exist to fill dead air or are the intrusive thoughts of the dev team with such bangers as "I wonder what saltwater tastes like". If this is the start of the Switch's swan song, its a strong one.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this from start to finish. I felt like a kid again and I should be ashamed how much a simple movie costume showing up filled me with joy. My boys Venom and Lizard also just looked so good, I was grinning every time they were on screen.
While it can be considered safe by most standards and the game did plenty of things I expected, it also surprised me in several ways both good and bad. The good I cannot get into without spoilers and I don't feel like tagging the whole review as such (this site needs a selective censoring option) but in terms of dislikes: The treatment of older villains is one of my largest complaints, it just kind of seemed wasteful. The game also had, at least to me, more glitches and bug that requires me to reset than the first one and miles combined. Not reading my inputs on those mandatory "do this move" interruptions, buildings that I need to run up not loading, and sound cutting out (this one I remember from the first game) being the most common and I would have been much more annoyed if the checkpoints weren't very generous. Has those not been there this easily would have been a 5/5.
Despite me above saying a certain movie costume had me giddy as a school girl, I did find the general costume selection to not be as good as the first one. The style system is not a good replacement for full on outfits either since it just makes most color schemes get shared by all outfits. I love me the black suit as much as the next guy but I didn't need it's color scheme as an option for every outfit and have several other unmodifiable black suits as costumes as well. Not all outfits are created equal either, at least in Miles' case who seemed to be allowed more variety in look. Most of Peter's were "what flavor of movie/offshoot of the classic design do you want?" on top of the "other Spider-Man" outfits.
In terms of combat, if it is an improvement it's slight. The abilities honestly felt weak for how long it takes to get the skills themselves and faster recharges. They are not problem solvers, they are just bonus tools. Running into the other Spider-Man while playing was cool, and I never got tired of seeing the team up attacks. Otherwise the combat was just as fun and fluid as the first game. Traversal was also fun, it never got boring despite them making the map larger and a lot of that has to do with the wings. Yes it did end up just becoming "spiderman can basically fly now" but it also didn't invalidate the webswinging. Traversal being fun isn't something open world games do often, so if I didn't get bored by it then I think it succeeded.
All in all, I think if you enjoyed the first game then without a shadow of a doubt you'll enjoy this one too.
While it can be considered safe by most standards and the game did plenty of things I expected, it also surprised me in several ways both good and bad. The good I cannot get into without spoilers and I don't feel like tagging the whole review as such (this site needs a selective censoring option) but in terms of dislikes: The treatment of older villains is one of my largest complaints, it just kind of seemed wasteful. The game also had, at least to me, more glitches and bug that requires me to reset than the first one and miles combined. Not reading my inputs on those mandatory "do this move" interruptions, buildings that I need to run up not loading, and sound cutting out (this one I remember from the first game) being the most common and I would have been much more annoyed if the checkpoints weren't very generous. Has those not been there this easily would have been a 5/5.
Despite me above saying a certain movie costume had me giddy as a school girl, I did find the general costume selection to not be as good as the first one. The style system is not a good replacement for full on outfits either since it just makes most color schemes get shared by all outfits. I love me the black suit as much as the next guy but I didn't need it's color scheme as an option for every outfit and have several other unmodifiable black suits as costumes as well. Not all outfits are created equal either, at least in Miles' case who seemed to be allowed more variety in look. Most of Peter's were "what flavor of movie/offshoot of the classic design do you want?" on top of the "other Spider-Man" outfits.
In terms of combat, if it is an improvement it's slight. The abilities honestly felt weak for how long it takes to get the skills themselves and faster recharges. They are not problem solvers, they are just bonus tools. Running into the other Spider-Man while playing was cool, and I never got tired of seeing the team up attacks. Otherwise the combat was just as fun and fluid as the first game. Traversal was also fun, it never got boring despite them making the map larger and a lot of that has to do with the wings. Yes it did end up just becoming "spiderman can basically fly now" but it also didn't invalidate the webswinging. Traversal being fun isn't something open world games do often, so if I didn't get bored by it then I think it succeeded.
All in all, I think if you enjoyed the first game then without a shadow of a doubt you'll enjoy this one too.
2023
What is going on over there with you Sega? Horizons and now this? If this is Sonic trajectory going forward I'm going to be tapping out
Before getting to what really annoyed me, in general I found the levels to be rather bland and if you had told me they got DIMPS back to make this I would have believed you. Aside from two tracks the music is forgettable. New Character is cool though, I like her and its funny cuz I was just talking to a friend about how we need more of that type in sonic's friend group. I didn't care for any of the emerald powers and most of them I found pretty useless outside of their intended purposes and more than half are useless against bosses imo. Also why does the slow down time power not slow the timer?
I don't know how they managed to do it, but they made every single boss in this game tedious and you are WAY too reliant on insta kills but you also add multiple phases and time limits (unless the timer means nothing since I was fighting a boss for several minutes despite it being at 0:00). Plus you have the bosses have prolonged immunity states. I was bouncing on the boss for 5 second and it took no damage where as just about any other 2d sonic game it would have been obliterated. I originally wrote this before "fully" beating it but that has since changed however my general opinion of the game has not. I was pretty lukewarm on the game before doing this unlocked stuff but I decided to continue on and I quite frankly regret it.
Before getting to what really annoyed me, in general I found the levels to be rather bland and if you had told me they got DIMPS back to make this I would have believed you. Aside from two tracks the music is forgettable. New Character is cool though, I like her and its funny cuz I was just talking to a friend about how we need more of that type in sonic's friend group. I didn't care for any of the emerald powers and most of them I found pretty useless outside of their intended purposes and more than half are useless against bosses imo. Also why does the slow down time power not slow the timer?
I don't know how they managed to do it, but they made every single boss in this game tedious and you are WAY too reliant on insta kills but you also add multiple phases and time limits (unless the timer means nothing since I was fighting a boss for several minutes despite it being at 0:00). Plus you have the bosses have prolonged immunity states. I was bouncing on the boss for 5 second and it took no damage where as just about any other 2d sonic game it would have been obliterated. I originally wrote this before "fully" beating it but that has since changed however my general opinion of the game has not. I was pretty lukewarm on the game before doing this unlocked stuff but I decided to continue on and I quite frankly regret it.
I was looking forward to this. I was offered a free dessert after enjoying the main meal but it would take awhile. I gladly waited. They came out and gave me a cupcake covered in concrete that they expect me to use my teeth to chip away at.
Stop listening to the 2% who only want games to be difficult cuz their life is meaningless without it
Stop listening to the 2% who only want games to be difficult cuz their life is meaningless without it
2023
As an old man who still puts Chrono Trigger at some of the highest peaks the genre can reach, this is one of those rare times where a "heavily inspired by" or "spiritual successor" type game didn't just outright make me want to play the inspiration game instead. I'm glad I'm finally starting to get more of the "hits" when it comes to games I've backed now that they're actually starting to release since my record with that was looking worse than whoever the Harlem Globetrotters go against.
The sprite art and animations are fluid and very well done, I would honestly say they are better animated than the actual animated scenes that are peppered throughout the game as a whole. The world is filled with enough varied races that make them all stand out, though I wish some more of that spread into the playable party. I thought for sure one character you meet was going to become one but they never did.
In terms of combat and systems I also thought it was very well done. This is true turn based, enemies on map like CT and regular battles never lasted too long along with the enemies had a visible number that showed on what turn they would act. The game also tried to break you out of your "hold onto magic and items for big attacks on bosses/large enemies only" habit by having a 10 useable item limit (which is just healing items), low mx mp threshold, having basic attacks recover mp, and needing to use specific damage types to break enemy locks. The lock system is fine. Its not a standard break system, thank god cuz I'm honestly sick of those, but it instead allows you to stop an enemy from casting/using skills (it does not show up for normal attacks) if you do enough of the visible damage type, similar to octopath or braverly, in enough turns. Though there were times were I didn't think it was possible to actually break them all before the cast went off, at the very least each lock you break reduces the power of the incoming attack by a visible percentage. Its was probably a deliberate design so you can't get the boss to just never cast a spell, ever. The game also outright tells you that the action commands are not required to be done correctly to get through the game. That's good. I love me some action commands, but I always agree they should be purely for bonus damage/reduction. Also for bonus points, any boss I used the delay causing skill on was actually effected by it so it was ACTUALLY USEFUL for when you would actually want to use it. The fact that character swapping in battle doesn't cost a turn is a LARGE plus. You don't need to worry about anyone being underleveled either because everyone is always going to be the same level, even if they leave the party. The characters don't have individual exp bars, its one shared one and when it fills then everyone gets their level up. Also you get X Strike in this game cuz any good CT inspired romp needs X Strike.
In terms of story and characters, it was ok. I think those are the weaker part of it and the main reason why this game is 4.5 instead of 5 for me. Only one character design wise really stuck with me and you can tell the team had A LOT of fun animating them. Writing was good at best and try hard memey at worst (especially for one character and some naming). Some emotional moments fell flat cuz I didn't care for the character in question. The ending also felt kind of anticlimactic but I have since learned there's a true ending (that you need to beat the game first to even attempt to get) so maybe my mind will change in that regard once I do it. The requirements for that though seem kind of annoying I'll be honest. Music was good the whole way through, with the battle theme being one of the best in the game and due to the battles not overstaying their welcome it didn't get old. The game also wasn't very long for a first time run, took me a little over 23 hours and that's with me going out of my way to do extra things which I think its a fine time. This is what I expected given its sources as this time was around that time during my last replays of CT. Brevity is lost in this medium and I'll always appreciate a game that knows when to end itself.
I found exploration to be a bit tedious. Not in terms of your first times going through areas, but on returns if you wanted to check those newly accessible puzzles with your unlocked abilities. The areas aren't long but that doesn't make the trek through them any better, especially when low level aggressive enemies still want to attack you. Thank god there's no encounters on the overworld map, but I would have appreciated getting the fastest form of travel anytime other than RIGHT before entering the final dungeon. Clearly they intended the player to do the return trips and cleanup at that point or later, and it will make that 18 times easier. Speaking of puzzles they were I think the perfect level. Most were easy and didn't take much though but the ones that did weren't horribly obtuse or asinine, they just took looking at it more than 10 seconds.
If you like Chrono Trigger or other games similar to it, you owe it to yourself to play this game. GOTY contender for me easily, though imo it doesn't have much non remaster/remake competition.
The sprite art and animations are fluid and very well done, I would honestly say they are better animated than the actual animated scenes that are peppered throughout the game as a whole. The world is filled with enough varied races that make them all stand out, though I wish some more of that spread into the playable party. I thought for sure one character you meet was going to become one but they never did.
In terms of combat and systems I also thought it was very well done. This is true turn based, enemies on map like CT and regular battles never lasted too long along with the enemies had a visible number that showed on what turn they would act. The game also tried to break you out of your "hold onto magic and items for big attacks on bosses/large enemies only" habit by having a 10 useable item limit (which is just healing items), low mx mp threshold, having basic attacks recover mp, and needing to use specific damage types to break enemy locks. The lock system is fine. Its not a standard break system, thank god cuz I'm honestly sick of those, but it instead allows you to stop an enemy from casting/using skills (it does not show up for normal attacks) if you do enough of the visible damage type, similar to octopath or braverly, in enough turns. Though there were times were I didn't think it was possible to actually break them all before the cast went off, at the very least each lock you break reduces the power of the incoming attack by a visible percentage. Its was probably a deliberate design so you can't get the boss to just never cast a spell, ever. The game also outright tells you that the action commands are not required to be done correctly to get through the game. That's good. I love me some action commands, but I always agree they should be purely for bonus damage/reduction. Also for bonus points, any boss I used the delay causing skill on was actually effected by it so it was ACTUALLY USEFUL for when you would actually want to use it. The fact that character swapping in battle doesn't cost a turn is a LARGE plus. You don't need to worry about anyone being underleveled either because everyone is always going to be the same level, even if they leave the party. The characters don't have individual exp bars, its one shared one and when it fills then everyone gets their level up. Also you get X Strike in this game cuz any good CT inspired romp needs X Strike.
In terms of story and characters, it was ok. I think those are the weaker part of it and the main reason why this game is 4.5 instead of 5 for me. Only one character design wise really stuck with me and you can tell the team had A LOT of fun animating them. Writing was good at best and try hard memey at worst (especially for one character and some naming). Some emotional moments fell flat cuz I didn't care for the character in question. The ending also felt kind of anticlimactic but I have since learned there's a true ending (that you need to beat the game first to even attempt to get) so maybe my mind will change in that regard once I do it. The requirements for that though seem kind of annoying I'll be honest. Music was good the whole way through, with the battle theme being one of the best in the game and due to the battles not overstaying their welcome it didn't get old. The game also wasn't very long for a first time run, took me a little over 23 hours and that's with me going out of my way to do extra things which I think its a fine time. This is what I expected given its sources as this time was around that time during my last replays of CT. Brevity is lost in this medium and I'll always appreciate a game that knows when to end itself.
I found exploration to be a bit tedious. Not in terms of your first times going through areas, but on returns if you wanted to check those newly accessible puzzles with your unlocked abilities. The areas aren't long but that doesn't make the trek through them any better, especially when low level aggressive enemies still want to attack you. Thank god there's no encounters on the overworld map, but I would have appreciated getting the fastest form of travel anytime other than RIGHT before entering the final dungeon. Clearly they intended the player to do the return trips and cleanup at that point or later, and it will make that 18 times easier. Speaking of puzzles they were I think the perfect level. Most were easy and didn't take much though but the ones that did weren't horribly obtuse or asinine, they just took looking at it more than 10 seconds.
If you like Chrono Trigger or other games similar to it, you owe it to yourself to play this game. GOTY contender for me easily, though imo it doesn't have much non remaster/remake competition.
People told me not to worry about this being a tactic game and they were right. This is barely one, its closer to a jrpg with limited attack ranges. This game was also WAY shorter than I expected, not that I weight game length in my rankings. I though this would at least take me into the next day but I beat this in a sitting. Anyway this was a generally solid all around experience the whole way through. The sprite art and animations were well done. Also this game is a literal musical. I know its called "Rhapsody: A musical adventure" but I thought it was just music related. There were like 8 different songs and you could even choose if they were sung in english or japanese. If I have one complaint, its that the game liked to have me return to places I literally just came from for progression. Most of the areas aren't too big but its still annoying to come from the forest only to be told I gotta go back.
I'm looking forward to playing the other 2 once I get a hold of that collection
I'm looking forward to playing the other 2 once I get a hold of that collection
I found the hitboxes to be kinda wack at times but otherwise it was a solid castlevania inspired romp. The levels were short enough in of themselves that the whole "second run" the game tells you to do to actually beat it wasn't a chore. Also for being a galgun game, there wasn't a whole lot of what you associate that series with here. There was like maybe a handful of them, and most weren't overt. Shinobu and Maya play differently enough from each other but I always found myself trying to do actions that would fit in these types of games (no double jump or backdash, or dash) but the game is more limited in character actions. Shinobu for example can't hit small enemies unless you've been firing long enough once you get to round 2 unless you wanna spend your sub weapon points. I did find some other ways to speed up my rounds with clever use of the subweapon mechanics, one was clearly intended as it says so in the tutorial but the other was CLEARLY not and I was able to avoid entire rooms and platforming challenges with it.
I however do not agree with having no actual map to view outside of the fast travel menu, which is only at the pillars between levels and at your base. This is a metroidvania type game, so there are secret rooms and doors that require the abilities you get latter on to open. You better remember where they are buddy! That compass that they have that points you in the direction of the boss and collectables like upgrades or girls to rescue only works for the later if you're in the same room (I also saw it only have things appear halfway through some long rooms too), plus this compass doesn't have the other collectable on it which are panties. I already told you this was a galgun game, you should have expected it. Also I get that Maya is the younger sister, and smaller the game makes sure you know that, but having the melee focused character have half the hp of the ranged is weird as AF.
It might seem petty, but that whole thing with the map knocked a whole point off my score. I got so tired of running around the levels for the 5th time trying to find my last few girls and panties that I just pulled up a video to find the rest of theme were. A metroid type game needs a readily accessible map!
I however do not agree with having no actual map to view outside of the fast travel menu, which is only at the pillars between levels and at your base. This is a metroidvania type game, so there are secret rooms and doors that require the abilities you get latter on to open. You better remember where they are buddy! That compass that they have that points you in the direction of the boss and collectables like upgrades or girls to rescue only works for the later if you're in the same room (I also saw it only have things appear halfway through some long rooms too), plus this compass doesn't have the other collectable on it which are panties. I already told you this was a galgun game, you should have expected it. Also I get that Maya is the younger sister, and smaller the game makes sure you know that, but having the melee focused character have half the hp of the ranged is weird as AF.
It might seem petty, but that whole thing with the map knocked a whole point off my score. I got so tired of running around the levels for the 5th time trying to find my last few girls and panties that I just pulled up a video to find the rest of theme were. A metroid type game needs a readily accessible map!
(this is written before completing the post game)
Its hard to believe the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs are finally over, and actually stuck the landing. Hearing the words I've been waiting several games for made me tear up. They also stepped up the animation game at times here as in some actual choreography in battle and character moments thats more than just using the premade animations, and even had what looked like accurate lipflaps to the Japanese that I don't remember in any of the other 3d games. The newer character's animations also put the returning character's to shame be it solo victory poses or S-Crafts. This game was also fairly concise, not a lot of meandering or what feels like wasted time which I feel was always an issue with these games. They're long in the tooth. I also am not really into the TRC. It reminds me of Tartarus in a way, where its just general randomized nonsense.
If Reverie is the blueprint for what the series will become in the future, I'm all for it. Except for maybe the TRC, that can go.
Its hard to believe the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs are finally over, and actually stuck the landing. Hearing the words I've been waiting several games for made me tear up. They also stepped up the animation game at times here as in some actual choreography in battle and character moments thats more than just using the premade animations, and even had what looked like accurate lipflaps to the Japanese that I don't remember in any of the other 3d games. The newer character's animations also put the returning character's to shame be it solo victory poses or S-Crafts. This game was also fairly concise, not a lot of meandering or what feels like wasted time which I feel was always an issue with these games. They're long in the tooth. I also am not really into the TRC. It reminds me of Tartarus in a way, where its just general randomized nonsense.
If Reverie is the blueprint for what the series will become in the future, I'm all for it. Except for maybe the TRC, that can go.
2017
I was honestly surprised by this. I had the played the original moemon a bit back when it first released and I didn't think it would be getting new variants now. This hack was more competent than I thought it would be as its not just a sprite swap despite otherwise just being firered again. If anyone cares my team was Tyranitar, Garchomp, Metagross, Venusaur, Staraptor, Gyarados
What it does well:
The sprites were great, I didn't see a single bad one in my whole run
The mons you can find on routes were varied and many
New areas were added to find mons in (one of which let me get a Larvitar as soon as getting cut so that gives this bonus points)
The gym leaders and elite 4 have ample coverage and use strategies but not to the extent where you'll need to waste your time EV training (I even beat the elite 4 before any of my party was level 60, while the champion and lance are in said 60's to 70)
TMs are infinite use
The move reminder is free
Shows the stats effected by a mons nature for those of us who can't be bothered to memorize the table
You can buy all evolution stones and items at the Celedon department store including the link cable item for trade evos
Mega evolutions are in (to me this isn't a plus but to most it is)
Fairy type, physical special split and pokemon at least up to gen 6 are in
What it does bad
Opening the national dex in this version (the most recent as of July 2023) crashes the game
Mega evolution does not work in double battles
Mega stone selection is limited (despite 5/6 of my team being capable of mega evolving only 2 of the stones were in the game)
The level jumps in the back half were a bit steep for my liking. (Basically just added almost 10 levels to everyone in the back half and not much to allow for faster leveling outside of the usual lucky egg grinding)
So while it has some kinks to work out, I had my fun with it. I'm glad it wasn't a tryhard hack cuz I would rather buy a rope for myself than spend any amount of time EV training. The sprites were well done and it asked you to strategize more than just run a team of sweepers without being frustrating to do so.
What it does well:
The sprites were great, I didn't see a single bad one in my whole run
The mons you can find on routes were varied and many
New areas were added to find mons in (one of which let me get a Larvitar as soon as getting cut so that gives this bonus points)
The gym leaders and elite 4 have ample coverage and use strategies but not to the extent where you'll need to waste your time EV training (I even beat the elite 4 before any of my party was level 60, while the champion and lance are in said 60's to 70)
TMs are infinite use
The move reminder is free
Shows the stats effected by a mons nature for those of us who can't be bothered to memorize the table
You can buy all evolution stones and items at the Celedon department store including the link cable item for trade evos
Mega evolutions are in (to me this isn't a plus but to most it is)
Fairy type, physical special split and pokemon at least up to gen 6 are in
What it does bad
Opening the national dex in this version (the most recent as of July 2023) crashes the game
Mega evolution does not work in double battles
Mega stone selection is limited (despite 5/6 of my team being capable of mega evolving only 2 of the stones were in the game)
The level jumps in the back half were a bit steep for my liking. (Basically just added almost 10 levels to everyone in the back half and not much to allow for faster leveling outside of the usual lucky egg grinding)
So while it has some kinks to work out, I had my fun with it. I'm glad it wasn't a tryhard hack cuz I would rather buy a rope for myself than spend any amount of time EV training. The sprites were well done and it asked you to strategize more than just run a team of sweepers without being frustrating to do so.
2023
I put it face down like it says, I wake up and the game was closed. I guess it crashed. Tried again a second night but face up this time. Same results. Uninstalled
I had more crashes in this than my entire time with launch Scarlet and Violet
I had more crashes in this than my entire time with launch Scarlet and Violet
That was pretty tight. Really invoked memories of playing Turtles in Time as a kid when it was an unlockable in TMNT 3:Mutant Nightmare
Coming into this game I had very little experience with pure farming games which is Stardew Valley and Rune Factory 4. Yes you read that right, I have never played a Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons before. I'm not the largest fan of this genre, what got me into wanting to try this was the whole "life" aspect. There aren't many games that I've played where you go through the whole rigmarole of going from young adult, to married with children, to growing old together. I had the ending of this game spoiled for me but I can't be all that upset because the original game is old, I was very much alive and able to play it at the time, and the ending STILL got me so it doesn't matter. Also this game took me longer than most jrpgs, oh my lord. I didn't think it would have taken me over 2 weeks to beat this game.
While it was a bit repetitive, the game definitely could have used more automation upgrades, that is a staple of the genre as far as I'm concerned but I got REAL tired of playing musical chairs with my chickens. Animals also didn't seem to die and from what I can tell that is new to this remake. Speaking of animals I really wish there was a way to put the horse back in the barn without needing to call all the animals back out only to put them all back in. Putting in the effort to get the best tools was worth it because of how much more they let you do. I also wish you could fuse more than one crop at a time, instead of needing to do it for each and every one in the stack you intend to. I get why its limited but its still tedious as af especially when Vinny is needy as all fuck and won't shut the fuck up EVERY TIME you talk to him.
I was iffy on the artstyle. The bachelorettes all looked fine, some of the bachelors were ok and others were not. But some of the regular residents were hideous to me, like Sully. The man looks like what an Easter Island head would be with a full body.
I named my character after myself and played a male character which is something I haven't done in decades. I just don't really care about being "myself" in games but it felt like it should be done here. I married Nami, anyone who knows me even a little bit shouldn't be surprised by this. This game has the Animal Crossing New Horizons issue of lots of repeated dialogue. Outside of events, you get the same couple of lines form everyone and it made me not wanna talk to people unless I had to and even those evens play out mostly the same each year. Also you couldn't gift people items while they were doing ANYTHING but standing still or walking (LET ME GIFT YOU GORDY PUT YOUR FUCKING ARMS DOWN FFS) but you can give them request items during those actions so that dumb stipulation should have been removed along with needing to shove the item in certain characters faces several times before they accept them.
Another thing I don't really agree with or understand is this game's profanity filter. First of all, its a single player game so why is it even here? There is no online connectivity whatsoever. Second half of its triggers didn't make sense. How is Cream not allowed but Creamer is fine or using the number 14 (despite the game calling said crop Crop 14) is unacceptable?
As I said above the whole life aspect is what got me to play. Seeing my character age throughout the game, as well as other characters, just seemed so novel to me. I can't name a game that does this outside of like post credits "where are they now" type deal. Seeing my child become her own person was something I didn't think I'd get to see again in my life, though I think making the kid such a depressed mess was a little too real. I cried right after the credits finished, I held it together but that whole last year had this underlying sadness all throughout its events. Every single one I saw just made me sad which is a far cry from the excitement for seeing each one earlier in the game. The people of the town seemed to think highly of me, my family and animals loved me and the farm was in a great state.
So despite the repetitiveness in actions and dialogue, some iffy character designs, I think the life aspect is what sets this game apart from the rest. If you have some interest in this game I say go for it. I can assure you that you'll most likely have...
A Wonderful Life
While it was a bit repetitive, the game definitely could have used more automation upgrades, that is a staple of the genre as far as I'm concerned but I got REAL tired of playing musical chairs with my chickens. Animals also didn't seem to die and from what I can tell that is new to this remake. Speaking of animals I really wish there was a way to put the horse back in the barn without needing to call all the animals back out only to put them all back in. Putting in the effort to get the best tools was worth it because of how much more they let you do. I also wish you could fuse more than one crop at a time, instead of needing to do it for each and every one in the stack you intend to. I get why its limited but its still tedious as af especially when Vinny is needy as all fuck and won't shut the fuck up EVERY TIME you talk to him.
I was iffy on the artstyle. The bachelorettes all looked fine, some of the bachelors were ok and others were not. But some of the regular residents were hideous to me, like Sully. The man looks like what an Easter Island head would be with a full body.
I named my character after myself and played a male character which is something I haven't done in decades. I just don't really care about being "myself" in games but it felt like it should be done here. I married Nami, anyone who knows me even a little bit shouldn't be surprised by this. This game has the Animal Crossing New Horizons issue of lots of repeated dialogue. Outside of events, you get the same couple of lines form everyone and it made me not wanna talk to people unless I had to and even those evens play out mostly the same each year. Also you couldn't gift people items while they were doing ANYTHING but standing still or walking (LET ME GIFT YOU GORDY PUT YOUR FUCKING ARMS DOWN FFS) but you can give them request items during those actions so that dumb stipulation should have been removed along with needing to shove the item in certain characters faces several times before they accept them.
Another thing I don't really agree with or understand is this game's profanity filter. First of all, its a single player game so why is it even here? There is no online connectivity whatsoever. Second half of its triggers didn't make sense. How is Cream not allowed but Creamer is fine or using the number 14 (despite the game calling said crop Crop 14) is unacceptable?
As I said above the whole life aspect is what got me to play. Seeing my character age throughout the game, as well as other characters, just seemed so novel to me. I can't name a game that does this outside of like post credits "where are they now" type deal. Seeing my child become her own person was something I didn't think I'd get to see again in my life, though I think making the kid such a depressed mess was a little too real. I cried right after the credits finished, I held it together but that whole last year had this underlying sadness all throughout its events. Every single one I saw just made me sad which is a far cry from the excitement for seeing each one earlier in the game. The people of the town seemed to think highly of me, my family and animals loved me and the farm was in a great state.
So despite the repetitiveness in actions and dialogue, some iffy character designs, I think the life aspect is what sets this game apart from the rest. If you have some interest in this game I say go for it. I can assure you that you'll most likely have...
A Wonderful Life