sunen
First of all, Xenoblade 2 is a game that I hold deep within my heart, it was the reason I bought a Switch years ago while I was still a teenager, but due to studies and certain other things, I ended up dropping it, and only this year, I finally got my hands over it, and while I have some complaints, it did not dissappoint me.
Xenoblade 2 is a captivating and magical experience from start to finish, the first chapters are so engaging, especially the first one, it quickly shows the main characters and antagonists, sets up the story, and shows the worldbuilding.
I feel like most of the main characters are really good, and even if they take some time to develop i'd say most of them are great and they also make a quite unique party.
There's a certain feeling of sadness around all of them, and they all struggle to find their own place.
Some people didn't really like Rex, but I personally like this trope of character, the child who grows, as Gon in HxH or as many other examples in JRPGs, and he definetely experiences many feelings through his arcs.
The worldbuilding is pretty interesting too, as it was in XC1 and there are so many mysteries that you'll want to discover.
The antagonists are amazing, and you can totally understand their behaviours and sympathize with them.
About the plot, I'd say its really hooking and well written, you already want to know what's going on since the beginning, and the story progresses slowly, although with a good pacing most of the time, and relies a lot on cryptiscism and playing with the uknown details and information, it starts really powerful, has some breaks after, but after the first half of the game its quite a ride again.
I think the story is really good, and the ending is powerful too, although I didn't like everything about the latter.
Adressing some issues with the story, there are some fiats/deus ex machinas, questionable writing sometimes, plot holes and just situations where you wonder why certain characters are doing something instead of stuff they already did previously and etcétera, but let's be real, the story is great in general terms and much more interesting and ambitious than the most of the JRPGs.
With that said, I feel like Xenoblade experiences a similar problem to tales of Berseria, and that is that some of the dialogue writing feels a little off, like if the translation wasnt good enough, or some stuff was a little "childish" or unclear, some dialogues are definetely ridiculous, but most of the important lines, hit very strong, thankfully.
The music, of course, is outstanding, just what we would expect from Xenoblade, it has amazing themes, not much more could be said :)
The world is also really beautiful, creative and fun to navigate, and the cities are super pretty and unique, I really felt like "wow im playing one of the top JRPGs of the generation" while playing it, it was definetely an adventure, although, there are some problems with this aspect too, i feel like the game is really hard to navigate sometimes, like you can't know where the next quest is, or where you gotta go, and stuff like that.
Other problem, that was also present in XC1, is how enemies with far higher level than yours follow you around the map and slay you, although i guess we get used to that haha.
About the combat, I personally liked it, and thought it was interesting/unique too, once you kind of understand it, it gets "fun?" and its cool that Xenoblade 2 has its own battle system, but some bosses are a little wanky, and i feel like its way too slow/boring after some dozens of hours, its not bad, maybe its just not for me. I prefer XC1's combat or just turn based / action / or mixed like in FF7RE. But again that's just my personal taste of course.
Now with some real issues, that thankfully, got fixed in Torna and XC3, as far as i know, so they seem to be pretty objective.
First of all, the Gacha System, while its completely free and it kind of makes sense within the story, i dont see the reason for it here, i guess some people who also enjoy gachas might like it, but i just dont feel like its the best mechanic for a jrpg, its grindy and it doesnt allow you to explore all the characters fully, like Torna did, and it focuses instead in some characters that we dont really care about.
And my biggest complain, and the one that held me back for some time and almost made me drop the game, (Insert Scary Music here!) The Field Skills!
I get that this sytem encourages exploration and doing some side content and all that, and before it locked certain parts of the story for me i didnt think it was too bad, i just thought that in case you did those quests and had those skills, you could just access some places sooner than i did, but when it locks the story, come on, thats a really bad design, I dont understand why would i need to have some spare elemental blades, or train dromarch or Brighid to advance on the story. It really bothered me back then and affected the pacing.
And well, i guess that so much fanservice feels a little weird haha, but thats not too much of a problem really.
So in conclusion, Xenoblade 2 is a lovely, and incredible adventure that I doubt i'll ever forget, you guys should definetely try it out if you are into JRPGs, it has some issues, but the pros are far more than the cons, so go ahead!! :)
Xenoblade 2 is a captivating and magical experience from start to finish, the first chapters are so engaging, especially the first one, it quickly shows the main characters and antagonists, sets up the story, and shows the worldbuilding.
I feel like most of the main characters are really good, and even if they take some time to develop i'd say most of them are great and they also make a quite unique party.
There's a certain feeling of sadness around all of them, and they all struggle to find their own place.
Some people didn't really like Rex, but I personally like this trope of character, the child who grows, as Gon in HxH or as many other examples in JRPGs, and he definetely experiences many feelings through his arcs.
The worldbuilding is pretty interesting too, as it was in XC1 and there are so many mysteries that you'll want to discover.
The antagonists are amazing, and you can totally understand their behaviours and sympathize with them.
About the plot, I'd say its really hooking and well written, you already want to know what's going on since the beginning, and the story progresses slowly, although with a good pacing most of the time, and relies a lot on cryptiscism and playing with the uknown details and information, it starts really powerful, has some breaks after, but after the first half of the game its quite a ride again.
I think the story is really good, and the ending is powerful too, although I didn't like everything about the latter.
Adressing some issues with the story, there are some fiats/deus ex machinas, questionable writing sometimes, plot holes and just situations where you wonder why certain characters are doing something instead of stuff they already did previously and etcétera, but let's be real, the story is great in general terms and much more interesting and ambitious than the most of the JRPGs.
With that said, I feel like Xenoblade experiences a similar problem to tales of Berseria, and that is that some of the dialogue writing feels a little off, like if the translation wasnt good enough, or some stuff was a little "childish" or unclear, some dialogues are definetely ridiculous, but most of the important lines, hit very strong, thankfully.
The music, of course, is outstanding, just what we would expect from Xenoblade, it has amazing themes, not much more could be said :)
The world is also really beautiful, creative and fun to navigate, and the cities are super pretty and unique, I really felt like "wow im playing one of the top JRPGs of the generation" while playing it, it was definetely an adventure, although, there are some problems with this aspect too, i feel like the game is really hard to navigate sometimes, like you can't know where the next quest is, or where you gotta go, and stuff like that.
Other problem, that was also present in XC1, is how enemies with far higher level than yours follow you around the map and slay you, although i guess we get used to that haha.
About the combat, I personally liked it, and thought it was interesting/unique too, once you kind of understand it, it gets "fun?" and its cool that Xenoblade 2 has its own battle system, but some bosses are a little wanky, and i feel like its way too slow/boring after some dozens of hours, its not bad, maybe its just not for me. I prefer XC1's combat or just turn based / action / or mixed like in FF7RE. But again that's just my personal taste of course.
Now with some real issues, that thankfully, got fixed in Torna and XC3, as far as i know, so they seem to be pretty objective.
First of all, the Gacha System, while its completely free and it kind of makes sense within the story, i dont see the reason for it here, i guess some people who also enjoy gachas might like it, but i just dont feel like its the best mechanic for a jrpg, its grindy and it doesnt allow you to explore all the characters fully, like Torna did, and it focuses instead in some characters that we dont really care about.
And my biggest complain, and the one that held me back for some time and almost made me drop the game, (Insert Scary Music here!) The Field Skills!
I get that this sytem encourages exploration and doing some side content and all that, and before it locked certain parts of the story for me i didnt think it was too bad, i just thought that in case you did those quests and had those skills, you could just access some places sooner than i did, but when it locks the story, come on, thats a really bad design, I dont understand why would i need to have some spare elemental blades, or train dromarch or Brighid to advance on the story. It really bothered me back then and affected the pacing.
And well, i guess that so much fanservice feels a little weird haha, but thats not too much of a problem really.
So in conclusion, Xenoblade 2 is a lovely, and incredible adventure that I doubt i'll ever forget, you guys should definetely try it out if you are into JRPGs, it has some issues, but the pros are far more than the cons, so go ahead!! :)
2016
I started Tales of Berseria last year after the dissappointment that Tales of Arise was, as i heard that this title was better, and with those expectations I played around the 50% of the game and ended up dropping it, as I felt dissappointed again.
Two weeks ago or so, I picked up this game again, with different expectations, trying to appreciate the beauty of Berseria, and somehow...it felt different.
Let's talk about the good things!:
First of all, I want to talk about Velvet, not only she has a cool as fuck design, and a very iconic main skill (her demonic hand), she's also quite a well written main character! she has some issues (as everyone in the game due to the writing), but aside from that i feel like her motivations are super valid, her breakdowns are great and make lots of sense, and she has a really good character development.
The story is fine in general, it's not really crazy, but i think it performs decently, its very JRPGish, it makes sense most of the time, i feel like it inspired endwalker (you'll know why), and it has many touching moments.
It has pretty good foreshadowing, and in general, the story keeps getting better and better (not too much though lol).
In general terms, I like the concept, how everyone in the party is partially evil/selfish, the message of rebellion is well done, and I think that the game succeeds in most of the things it tries, delivering a good message, and being able to touch our hearts, definetely not your typical story.
Everyone in the main party is a pretty good character, which is not something easy at all, they all feel really charistmatic and natural, I liked their skits and their development/motivations.
The main antagonist is also pretty cool and their ideas are not silly.
The combat is suprisingly pretty good and engaging, the exploration is not really bad, and the badtracking is not as bad as i thought it would be, it has some puzzles that arent really great but could definetely be worse.
Now, let's go with the bad things:
The writing is very questionable, and with this, I mean some of the choices in the story, and especially the dialogues, it's like some of them feel really off when they shouldn't. I feel like this damages the whole game, I also experienced something similar with Xenoblade 2, which has a great story but also features this problem, and what bothers me is that i can't exactly pinpoint what happens, but I hope you all guys get it.
The game also looks kinda outdated for its release, and many textures are pretty ugly, thanks goodness the cell shading and the artistic direction saves the game a little, but im glad they improved this part with Arise, despite fucking up many other things on the go.
Some animations are really really bad and they turn me really off in some important scenes.
The music is memorable at times, and i guess it works well generally, but its not really inspired at all, except for the main theme and a few themes more.
The pacing really really hurts, theres some filler especially in the beginning, and the backtracking also hurts a little.
And at last, some things in the story really feel like Deus Ex Machinas, they either happen because they have to, or some resolutions make no sense at all, some other things just straight up make 0 sense, and etc, I guess this is part of the writing problem, but I just felt like mentioning it.
Anyways, despite its many flaws, I doubt i'll ever forget Tales of Berseria!
Two weeks ago or so, I picked up this game again, with different expectations, trying to appreciate the beauty of Berseria, and somehow...it felt different.
Let's talk about the good things!:
First of all, I want to talk about Velvet, not only she has a cool as fuck design, and a very iconic main skill (her demonic hand), she's also quite a well written main character! she has some issues (as everyone in the game due to the writing), but aside from that i feel like her motivations are super valid, her breakdowns are great and make lots of sense, and she has a really good character development.
The story is fine in general, it's not really crazy, but i think it performs decently, its very JRPGish, it makes sense most of the time, i feel like it inspired endwalker (you'll know why), and it has many touching moments.
It has pretty good foreshadowing, and in general, the story keeps getting better and better (not too much though lol).
In general terms, I like the concept, how everyone in the party is partially evil/selfish, the message of rebellion is well done, and I think that the game succeeds in most of the things it tries, delivering a good message, and being able to touch our hearts, definetely not your typical story.
Everyone in the main party is a pretty good character, which is not something easy at all, they all feel really charistmatic and natural, I liked their skits and their development/motivations.
The main antagonist is also pretty cool and their ideas are not silly.
The combat is suprisingly pretty good and engaging, the exploration is not really bad, and the badtracking is not as bad as i thought it would be, it has some puzzles that arent really great but could definetely be worse.
Now, let's go with the bad things:
The writing is very questionable, and with this, I mean some of the choices in the story, and especially the dialogues, it's like some of them feel really off when they shouldn't. I feel like this damages the whole game, I also experienced something similar with Xenoblade 2, which has a great story but also features this problem, and what bothers me is that i can't exactly pinpoint what happens, but I hope you all guys get it.
The game also looks kinda outdated for its release, and many textures are pretty ugly, thanks goodness the cell shading and the artistic direction saves the game a little, but im glad they improved this part with Arise, despite fucking up many other things on the go.
Some animations are really really bad and they turn me really off in some important scenes.
The music is memorable at times, and i guess it works well generally, but its not really inspired at all, except for the main theme and a few themes more.
The pacing really really hurts, theres some filler especially in the beginning, and the backtracking also hurts a little.
And at last, some things in the story really feel like Deus Ex Machinas, they either happen because they have to, or some resolutions make no sense at all, some other things just straight up make 0 sense, and etc, I guess this is part of the writing problem, but I just felt like mentioning it.
Anyways, despite its many flaws, I doubt i'll ever forget Tales of Berseria!
Final Fantasy XIV's Grand Finale.
An amazing closure for an amazing videogame, it ties everything so well, from the cryptic scenes about gods to the political interests between nations.
It has extremely touching that had me sobbing all the time, and the music is even better if that was possible at all, what Soken did really had no sense.
It also has one of my all time favourite characters ever, Venat! Who has one of my favourite sequences and message from the whole game and perhaps from even gaming!
It has some filler, which is sadly understandable in this MMO format, some questionable decisions and some pacing issues again, I'd probably say that ShB was their peak, but still, Endwalker delivers an extremely good story and message that none of us will never forget.
An amazing closure for an amazing videogame, it ties everything so well, from the cryptic scenes about gods to the political interests between nations.
It has extremely touching that had me sobbing all the time, and the music is even better if that was possible at all, what Soken did really had no sense.
It also has one of my all time favourite characters ever, Venat! Who has one of my favourite sequences and message from the whole game and perhaps from even gaming!
It has some filler, which is sadly understandable in this MMO format, some questionable decisions and some pacing issues again, I'd probably say that ShB was their peak, but still, Endwalker delivers an extremely good story and message that none of us will never forget.
The Deconstruction of the Light vs Shadow trope, and a magnificient story, everything is so well written, it really shows XIV's true potential.
The setting, ambient and problematique are absolutely charming and captivating, the music is also absurdly iconic and masterfully composed, just bravo.
On the other hand, it has some pacing issues, but that's the only con i can find.
It's such a masterpiece and gives us one of the best villains in the whole franchise.
The setting, ambient and problematique are absolutely charming and captivating, the music is also absurdly iconic and masterfully composed, just bravo.
On the other hand, it has some pacing issues, but that's the only con i can find.
It's such a masterpiece and gives us one of the best villains in the whole franchise.
Stormblood is a pretty interesting expansion, it had a lot of politics, which i enjoyed a lot, it also brought us a villain/antagonist and did set a lot of context for the next and best expansion.
It was also the best expansion when it came to content.
Nevertheless, the story had some weird decisions, stuff that totally felt like filler and especially an absolutely awful pacing.
It was also the best expansion when it came to content.
Nevertheless, the story had some weird decisions, stuff that totally felt like filler and especially an absolutely awful pacing.
Heavensward my beloved!!
This is where the story of XIV started getting pretty good.
In this expansion there's a little of everything, social criticism against poberty, racism and religion, intense politics, lots of drama, epic dragon fights and everything you've ever wanted!
It's very Game of Throne-ish!
This is where the story of XIV started getting pretty good.
In this expansion there's a little of everything, social criticism against poberty, racism and religion, intense politics, lots of drama, epic dragon fights and everything you've ever wanted!
It's very Game of Throne-ish!
I will be talking about FFXIV: A Realm Reborn exclusively now.
I've recommended this game several times to my friends, and even if the game is mechanically fun, it takes a long time until it gets good, same with the story, but even worse, I am aware of how many times Square/CB3 remade ARR, and how many filler quests they removed and readapted, but its never enough, its a really tough experience for newcomers.
And even if the game does a good job setting everything for the future and providing OK content, it's just very boring.
The story is really meh until the end, when it gets just a little better when its all about geopolitics, but nothing remarkable.
I've recommended this game several times to my friends, and even if the game is mechanically fun, it takes a long time until it gets good, same with the story, but even worse, I am aware of how many times Square/CB3 remade ARR, and how many filler quests they removed and readapted, but its never enough, its a really tough experience for newcomers.
And even if the game does a good job setting everything for the future and providing OK content, it's just very boring.
The story is really meh until the end, when it gets just a little better when its all about geopolitics, but nothing remarkable.
It's just a 3D version of the Inazuma Eleven games for the DS, but now available for Wii, it was quite similar to FIFA games, and was entertaining for a few matches, but removing all the RPG elements made it a little mediocre/forgettable.
2013
This game is a little mediocre compared to the DS games, still it brought all the Pokémons to 3D and remade all of their sprites and models, it also brought us a new type and the mega evolutions! so...I guess thats something?
This game is very heartwarming and fun, I have a lot of nostalgia for it!
I used to play this game with my bestie back in 2014/2015 in our PS3s, it wasnt really crazy but it was entertaining haha.
As good as Pokemon White/Black, perhaps even better!
Many QoL changes were added, although some little charming things were removed!
Many QoL changes were added, although some little charming things were removed!
Oh god, I love this game, it's probably as good as the 4th gen, but I was amazed to see pokemons following you around! And it was mindblowing to have two regions at the time!
Also, the name of this game is so beautiful <3
Also, the name of this game is so beautiful <3
2007
I gotta replay it cause i really do not remember much.
I did love it as a kid!
I did love it as a kid!
2015
The Story was better than in other fighting games such as MK X.
The combat was also pretty interesting and complex, i liked playing online even though i was pretty bad.
The combat was also pretty interesting and complex, i liked playing online even though i was pretty bad.