trailblazer_l
forgot to finish this til dlc2 came out lol oops. it was ok tho! the story was cute and i love ogerpon, i really just desperately wish the game ran better
1994
it’s been years since i sat down and beat earthbound for the first time, and coming back and doing it again really made all the flaws i had with the game just melt away and i could just enjoy the charm and wit of one of the most unique games of all time to the fullest. it’s not a perfect game, in fact without restore points i would likely have never replayed it again, but it’s an incredible and important masterclass in making a fun, engaging jrpg, which it feels like there’s fewer and fewer of as time passes.
2021
for a game thats barely 2 hours i sure was begging for it to be over. the art is cute but the horror is generic and the puzzles if you can call them that are sooo boring. the story is interesting at least, and i like that it’s all pantomime
it’s a cute idea with a lot of variety in minigames, most of which i suck at. also it is extremely charming in its theming and animations. my big drawback is jesus you need a strong internet connection to make this work. you can turn on latency as high as you want but latency actively puts you at a disadvantage in some games, making particularly the 1v1 games a wifi battle
2023
finally. a mobile game for pretentious blowhards.
the story is incomprehensible but in a very literature-y way that i enjoy. it’s pretty dumb but it has an excellent presentation and the gameplay is all very fun
the story is incomprehensible but in a very literature-y way that i enjoy. it’s pretty dumb but it has an excellent presentation and the gameplay is all very fun
new horizons really soured me on animal crossing and made me forget just how peak this game was until coming back to it. there’s so much progression and tons of interactions that make it really worthwhile to come back every day
the game that never ends. i distinctly remember dragging myself through the 4th dungeon thinking it would give me the ending and it took me straight to dungeon 5 and i just gave up. with such simple gameplay, 4 dungeons that grow exponentially with each new one was already pushing it, but 5??? it had overstayed its welcome by then several times over
2013
when i was a kid, i hated this game more than i have ever hated a game in my life. and i’m not sure why. it’s purposely emulating VERY old rpgs, no combat just walk into enemies and take damage, and it makes the game feel like it’s going through the motions but the puzzles can be headscratchers and the game is quite pretty
2016
when i play this i can feel my brain slowly being sucked through the screen it is meditative i enter a fugue state and suddenly a year has passed in game and it’s 5 am. it’s a very simple business management sim but it’s lethally addicting
2005
i think the nature of growing up with parents vaguely aware of what video games are is ending up with a silly licensed game you love despite yourself. this one is mine. it’s a very strange level based platformer with a lot of weird variety and it doesn’t REALLY hold up but it’s still fun to pop on for a few hours
mostly amazing and groundbreaking, but has a couple iffy worlds that just don’t live up to the massive bar set by the others, particularly the astounding first world
2021
shit only a pretentious nerd art student could enjoy. i have terrible news about the type of person i am
2020
for the first 6 or so badges altered is basically just firered with a bunch of excellently designed type swaps, and i was prepared to recommend it as a simple, fun concept, but it’s that last quarter of the game that really tanked my enjoyment.
after badge 6, the game has several rapid level spikes and starts giving the enemies a complete excess of items, making this simple firered reskin unnecessarily long and grueling. it culminates in the victory road from hell where every random trainer has 5 pokemon and healing items and the final trainers in the route jump from ~54 straight to a level 60 6 pokemon double battle with numerous healing items. this is then only a taste of the elite 4 and champion who have yet another level jump and ridiculous stalling strategies where i was just begging for the game to finally be over. the game has an official hard mode in a separate hack so i question why this completely out of place spike in tedium is here when to even reach this point i’ve already long since opted out of a “hard” mode. if this was changed to just be a good old firered with a new dex and some map changes, easy 3.5-4/5 experience but as is i cannot recommend this game beyond just looking at the sprites online
after badge 6, the game has several rapid level spikes and starts giving the enemies a complete excess of items, making this simple firered reskin unnecessarily long and grueling. it culminates in the victory road from hell where every random trainer has 5 pokemon and healing items and the final trainers in the route jump from ~54 straight to a level 60 6 pokemon double battle with numerous healing items. this is then only a taste of the elite 4 and champion who have yet another level jump and ridiculous stalling strategies where i was just begging for the game to finally be over. the game has an official hard mode in a separate hack so i question why this completely out of place spike in tedium is here when to even reach this point i’ve already long since opted out of a “hard” mode. if this was changed to just be a good old firered with a new dex and some map changes, easy 3.5-4/5 experience but as is i cannot recommend this game beyond just looking at the sprites online
gacha games as a genre will always be money printing machines more than anything but no game makes it as nakedly obvious as this one. i used to be utterly addicted to this game and i decided to come back to see how things have changed in the past few years and the answer is that it has only gotten much worse. there are prompts to spend money or watch ads all over the place and regular pop ups. also they removed the main gacha (though costume and treasure gachas remain) in favor of this over-long progression system that is grueling for new players. this game desperately needs to be put to rest
2022
i am generally not a resource management enjoyer, but dome keeper has IT. it is stylish, fun, and downright engrossing with its gameplay loop. the two modes, relic hunt (30-50 minute bursts with a goal) and prestige (uncapped, but generally 3-ish hour score attack mode) are each vastly different play experiences and the 4 domes each play drastically different in each mode. this combined with the various gadgets, modifiers and difficulties means there is a LOT to this game that on the surface seems like it doesn’t have much content.