tsdenizen
2023
Octopath Traveler was a good game that did a lot well. Visually, it pioneered the HD-2D style, successfully marrying retro and modern techniques to create a distinct identity. The music was phenomenal: Yasunori Nishiki's compositions are on par with the best of Square's golden era. And the battle system was a clever tweaking of the Brave/Default system from Team Asano's earlier games. Structurally, it borrowed from the Romancing SaGa series and Live A Live, creating a semi-open world that was refreshing for the turn-based RPG genre. All of this was exceedingly promising but, at times, the game was let down by poor pacing, chapter structure repetition, bland character writing and ultimately, a brutally unfair final boss gauntlet cryptically locked behind side quests.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.
Part of me wants to dismiss this as a stupid meme game: a QWOP-style prank on the player where the "enjoyment" comes from laughing at your own frustration at the intentionally terrible controls. Two things prevent me from doing this:
1. The writing is peak stupid fun. Unlike QWOP, this has a simple story that spirals completely out of control over the course of its brief runtime. Your pedestrian aquarium visit devolves into a gloriously chaotic mess of romantic flashbacks, stealth sections, and needlessly intense action set-pieces. This is much, much funnier than the vast majority of CG-animated family films and Octodad would be an absolute banger of a Dreamworks flick.
2. While playing this solo pisses me off, it's great fun in co-op: where each player controls different tentacles. Seriously: grab a buddy. It's not necessarily less frustrating, but it's annoying in a way that is much more enjoyable than screaming and crying alone in your room, begging the flaccid mollusc man to just walk down the fucking aisle already as you inadvertently break both of your thumbs.
1. The writing is peak stupid fun. Unlike QWOP, this has a simple story that spirals completely out of control over the course of its brief runtime. Your pedestrian aquarium visit devolves into a gloriously chaotic mess of romantic flashbacks, stealth sections, and needlessly intense action set-pieces. This is much, much funnier than the vast majority of CG-animated family films and Octodad would be an absolute banger of a Dreamworks flick.
2. While playing this solo pisses me off, it's great fun in co-op: where each player controls different tentacles. Seriously: grab a buddy. It's not necessarily less frustrating, but it's annoying in a way that is much more enjoyable than screaming and crying alone in your room, begging the flaccid mollusc man to just walk down the fucking aisle already as you inadvertently break both of your thumbs.
2010
I'm not a 2D twitch platforming savant -- though I have beaten this and have thoroughly enjoyed challenging games such as Slime-san -- but I didn't really enjoy this too much. I didn't hate it: from a purely technical perspective, this is impressive, especially as something of an early pioneer of this style of platforming.
But it's just not very fun to get through, beyond being able to say you pulled it off. Even that, to a degree, rings hollow. What sinks this one for me is that even though I got through it (note that I'm using "got through" and not "beat"), I never really felt like I was actually getting better at Super Meat Boy. Rather, I bashed against a level enough times for my thumbs to finally do the right thing. I can't take pride in my skill or growth here, only my perseverance. Taken another way, I spent a whole lot of time frustrating myself and it sort of felt wasted.
I think the issue is, ironically, that the controls are "too" precise, or overly sensitive. This is a trademark of twitch platformers, but Meat Boy moves so quickly and erratically based on movements that you're often barely aware of making that for many, it's difficult to ever truly get a handle on him. Going back to Slime-san, that game was quick and floaty but not to these extremes. Additionally, the slow-down mechanic had enough downsides to not be a crutch, but it did afford the player the opportunity to more closely observe how the character responded to input. By the end of Slime-san, I felt like I was much better at Slime-san than I was when I started. That didn't happen here.
Beyond that, the visuals are pretty drab (it's based off a flash game and you can tell) and the humor is immature (Dr. Fetus). Dug the music though.
Anyways, you should play Slime-san.
But it's just not very fun to get through, beyond being able to say you pulled it off. Even that, to a degree, rings hollow. What sinks this one for me is that even though I got through it (note that I'm using "got through" and not "beat"), I never really felt like I was actually getting better at Super Meat Boy. Rather, I bashed against a level enough times for my thumbs to finally do the right thing. I can't take pride in my skill or growth here, only my perseverance. Taken another way, I spent a whole lot of time frustrating myself and it sort of felt wasted.
I think the issue is, ironically, that the controls are "too" precise, or overly sensitive. This is a trademark of twitch platformers, but Meat Boy moves so quickly and erratically based on movements that you're often barely aware of making that for many, it's difficult to ever truly get a handle on him. Going back to Slime-san, that game was quick and floaty but not to these extremes. Additionally, the slow-down mechanic had enough downsides to not be a crutch, but it did afford the player the opportunity to more closely observe how the character responded to input. By the end of Slime-san, I felt like I was much better at Slime-san than I was when I started. That didn't happen here.
Beyond that, the visuals are pretty drab (it's based off a flash game and you can tell) and the humor is immature (Dr. Fetus). Dug the music though.
Anyways, you should play Slime-san.
Not going to give this a "real" review: I'll save that for when I dig into Platinum one of these days.
What I will say is that this isn't outright bad, simply by the virtue that, at its core, this is still Sinnoh Pokemon and Sinnoh Pokemon is good. They also made one very solid change: the new Pokemon in the Underground remedy the original's Dex issue. No longer do you have to pick Chimchar or get saddled with Ponyta if you want a fire type: get yo ass a Houndour. Cool (ignoring the fact that if you really care, you can set up trades).
BUT: secret bases are ruined. Contests are ruined. There's no Battle Frontier. The graphics are ASS. No, I don't hate chibi on principle, this is just really bad chibi. You can argue whether or not it was good to not choose to incorporate newer mechanics such as Mega Evolution or Z-moves, but at least the former's inclusion in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire made the game a different experience than the originals.
The worst thing that can be said about Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is they don't have any real reason to exist beyond Platinum being a bit expensive on the secondary market now. Sinnoh but worse is still Sinnoh, but what is the point in playing this when there are better alternatives?
What I will say is that this isn't outright bad, simply by the virtue that, at its core, this is still Sinnoh Pokemon and Sinnoh Pokemon is good. They also made one very solid change: the new Pokemon in the Underground remedy the original's Dex issue. No longer do you have to pick Chimchar or get saddled with Ponyta if you want a fire type: get yo ass a Houndour. Cool (ignoring the fact that if you really care, you can set up trades).
BUT: secret bases are ruined. Contests are ruined. There's no Battle Frontier. The graphics are ASS. No, I don't hate chibi on principle, this is just really bad chibi. You can argue whether or not it was good to not choose to incorporate newer mechanics such as Mega Evolution or Z-moves, but at least the former's inclusion in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire made the game a different experience than the originals.
The worst thing that can be said about Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is they don't have any real reason to exist beyond Platinum being a bit expensive on the secondary market now. Sinnoh but worse is still Sinnoh, but what is the point in playing this when there are better alternatives?
Etrian Odyssey, if it had the systems depth of Disgaea, the storytelling of NieR: Automata, and some of the most mechanically engaging, Metroidvania-esque first-person dungeon crawling ever put to code. Pretty easily the greatest blobber of all-time.
Yes, even better than Strange Journey.
Fair warning: this game is incredibly long. Longer than Persona 5, if you're doing what you're supposed to. When reviewers (and even NIS) were saying this is about 40-50 hours, that's for part 1. Parts 2 and 3 are locked behind specific, not necessarily obvious requirements and part 2 is quite a bit longer than part 1. These ARE NOT post-game. They are the continuation of the story, unlock brand new mechanics and classes, etc. They are essential to the experience. You do have to play this game with a completionist mindset, or you will miss out on the vast majority of this game. Nippon Ichi, even with the marketing, were on a mission to swerve people hard with this one. I won't say exactly how, but bear it in mind so you don't miss out.
Might do a more thorough review at some point, but honestly, there's so much to talk about that the task feels daunting, not to mention that getting into the weeds with this would mean some massive spoilers. Play this game.
Yes, even better than Strange Journey.
Fair warning: this game is incredibly long. Longer than Persona 5, if you're doing what you're supposed to. When reviewers (and even NIS) were saying this is about 40-50 hours, that's for part 1. Parts 2 and 3 are locked behind specific, not necessarily obvious requirements and part 2 is quite a bit longer than part 1. These ARE NOT post-game. They are the continuation of the story, unlock brand new mechanics and classes, etc. They are essential to the experience. You do have to play this game with a completionist mindset, or you will miss out on the vast majority of this game. Nippon Ichi, even with the marketing, were on a mission to swerve people hard with this one. I won't say exactly how, but bear it in mind so you don't miss out.
Might do a more thorough review at some point, but honestly, there's so much to talk about that the task feels daunting, not to mention that getting into the weeds with this would mean some massive spoilers. Play this game.
2023
Effectively a perfect remake of a massively influential, zero-fat RPG experience. Beat this in about 13 hours but nothing was cut: I'd estimate 4 or so hours were shaved off just through QoL improvements. That said, I still have a bunch of side/post-game content to do (everything I have done has been great) so I can see it doubling as I go for 100 jumps and do the side quests and fill out the monster list details and get high scores at the minigames, etc. Incredibly faithful to the original except when it's better. Seeing Mallow and Geno in 3D was a joy. Between this and the Thousand-Year Door remake, Mario RPGs could make a comeback and thank god for that. Bring Mallow and Geno back for a sequel!
2018
Nearly perfect game (except Terror Time, all my homies hate Terror Time). You can spend 100+ hours in Blasters and it's an optional side mode. Best monster collector since B2W2, best America parody since Earthbound. So many spontaneous little events, the multiple main character angle works really well and allows the world you get to explore be pretty damn big. Insane number of Yo-kai, revamped battle system, we can go on and on.
Side note, I own the cart. Bought it at launch so I didn't have to take out a loan either. You are all jealous.
Side note, I own the cart. Bought it at launch so I didn't have to take out a loan either. You are all jealous.
2016
Mildly amusing for half a second, good for achievements/trophies, and won't break your wallet.
But you just click a jar.
YOU JUST CLICK A JAR.
A LOT.
MY FINGER HURTS AND MY HEAD IS BORED.
But you just click a jar.
YOU JUST CLICK A JAR.
A LOT.
MY FINGER HURTS AND MY HEAD IS BORED.
Technically playable (?) and mercifully short for a game, but let's be really real: this is an ad, and it's pretty long and unfunny as an ad. Maybe it's better than, like, Big Bumpin'. But is that worth any adulation? I dunno about that, maaaaaaaaaaaaan.
2021
Pretty good stuff! The writing is the right blend of morbid and dumb to place it in the "so bad it's good" category while the combat is just straight up really solid. It's a little "DMC for babies" but the party switching to set off psychoelemental combos is really satisfying and everything is just wicked smooth. Play it at max difficulty though, otherwise it's way too easy. Enemy variety could be better but eh, the gamefeel (ick) could not be much better. You can find this really cheap now! Very worth it!
Minus half a star for the choppy framerate and Gamecube graphics. That aside, this is fantastic. This is about as deep as monster collectors get but it still seems pretty newbie friendly: the number of permutations between monsters (who all have multiple innate passives) and the fact you can graft any 3 skill paths onto anyone is insane but you can't really screw up too bad: rescouting becomes super easy as you progress and you have 1000 monster slots to work with, so getting the right skills on the right monster isn't too tough. Monsterpedia is excellent: if you're worried you need a synthesis guide they really give you a lot of recommended combos, you can check family trees in case you've forgotten past synthesis, etc. Really user-friendly without being handholdy. As long as people play ladder (and it's never been easier to make great, unique monsters), it'll never get stale.
This is a BIG game too: my memory may be foggy but I feel like the campaign is about twice as long as past entries. The story strikes a nice balance between telling a solid isolated narrative and being a geeky fanservice what-if prequel for the Zenithian trilogy freaks (Why is Toilen Trubble a main character here? I dunno man but he's a piece of shit and I'm happy he's here to rob everyone in the name of science).
Localization slaps. Took a screenshot every time they announced a new arena fighter, dialogue is insanely dumb in the best way. Anyways eat your damn heart out, Pokemon.
This is a BIG game too: my memory may be foggy but I feel like the campaign is about twice as long as past entries. The story strikes a nice balance between telling a solid isolated narrative and being a geeky fanservice what-if prequel for the Zenithian trilogy freaks (Why is Toilen Trubble a main character here? I dunno man but he's a piece of shit and I'm happy he's here to rob everyone in the name of science).
Localization slaps. Took a screenshot every time they announced a new arena fighter, dialogue is insanely dumb in the best way. Anyways eat your damn heart out, Pokemon.
This isn't my favorite Dragon Quest--it's maybe a bit too bread-and-butter to earn that distinction--but oh man is this still a good time. One of those games that really doesn't do anything poorly: good characters, good combat, good pacing, good story, good dungeons. It's just very good. I may have more appreciation for the generational not-the-hero's journey of V, the expansive multi-act ensemble narrative of XI, and the wildly ambitious time-hopping anthology storytelling of VII, but this is still a banger. I don't know if the enhanced port or this is better. I think the PS2 version probably has better game balance but going from 4 to 6 party members is really nice (Red is especially fun), as are a lot of the other additions.
2017
Really, really strong twitch platformer. Yes, it's long. Yes, there are arguably too many mechanics. But this is so good at training a player to get better at these types of games. Slow down mechanic is especially inspired as it doesn't extend your time limit but does let you practice your approach and movements and see exactly just how responsive the controls are and it's handy when used selectively. The visuals are divisive but I think they're hideous and cute in equal measure: the art direction certainly has personality. Lots of cool unlockables too including lots of crazy screen filters that may or may not make the game way harder. A hidden gem!
2014
Now we can debate the merits of nihilism or lack thereof all day long but the real issue is my smart baby ass stocked up early on friends and knowledge and memories so I'd have plenty to spare and then the game just lazily locks you in a loop that isn't actually real until you choose to stop and c'mon my guy that's just not good game design!
I'm a pretty wildly depressed and somewhat nihilistic person but this didn't feel like a good reflection of how this all works. I dunno, if you wanna feel bad play LISA or something. This is gonna have to be a no from me, dawg.
I'm a pretty wildly depressed and somewhat nihilistic person but this didn't feel like a good reflection of how this all works. I dunno, if you wanna feel bad play LISA or something. This is gonna have to be a no from me, dawg.
Better than Persona 5, fight me in the Denny's parking lot about it.