wiill64
2022
At its core Soul Hackers 2 is a distinctly mid budget JRPG title and it comes with all the benefits and flaws you would expect from that.
Starting with the flaws, the only one that really bothered me was its dungeon design. Only the final one really vibed with me aesthetically and they all feature very corridory like design where it's easy to imagine it being like an old school first person dungeon. Unfortunately I'm not big on those kind of dungeons but I did appreciate the puzzle aspects (though the warp panel hell in the later Soul Matrix areas definitely tested my patience) I don't think these dungeons are outright bad, just not my preference in terms of design.
Onto the positives and once again, Atlus knocks it out of the park with art direction and character designs. The menus look great with a purple colour scheme and triangular digital matrix style designs all over. Ringo is such a standout character design with a bold yellow colour scheme and the digital triangles on her jacket. The digital aesthetic tickles my brainworms in all the right ways, with low health enemies having digital green patches show up on them, like it appeals to my tastes in such a good way.
The characters themselves are probably the strongest point. It's rare to have a female protagonist, who speaks, in an adult cast in Atlus games so a lot of this is like a breath of fresh air. Almost like the team were allowed to experiment freely because of the smaller nature of the title and it paid off well. Seeing characters blow off steam at a bar after a mission, struggle with a broken relationship, struggle long time friends taking different paths in their life, it all makes for such a nice change from the usual teenagers in high school stuff we usually get. Like it's just nice seeing a group of characters head back to a run down apartment and chill out with take out meals.
The main party is also just a set 4 characters plus one on dungeon navigation so the game also has a chance to allow all these characters to grow together, struggle together, and support each other without the game having to be like "oh hey, here's a new party member, we gotta focus on introducing them and forget everyone else!" It's nice to have new faces freshen up your party sure, but there is something to appreciate with a fixed party approach too.
The other main benefit of being mid budget means there is no room for excess fluff. The main story runs around 30-40 hours, doesn't waste time with filler, lets you choose to explore additional character depth with hangout events and the Soul Matrix dungeon, and it all flows really nicely. It's just really nice having a JRPG that's just tightly focused on its main story and doesn't end up eating 100s of hours of your life. I can appreciate those super long JRPGs sure but it's nice to have a balance of shorter classics too.
Soul Hackers 2 is a fantastic way to explore an old series and see if it can grow with a new audience. It nails so much with its story, its characters, and aesthetic while falling a little short in dungeon design. I love that Atlus is using the success of the Persona series to take an opportunity to explore some of their back catalogue and revive some series and I can only hope they continue to do so
Starting with the flaws, the only one that really bothered me was its dungeon design. Only the final one really vibed with me aesthetically and they all feature very corridory like design where it's easy to imagine it being like an old school first person dungeon. Unfortunately I'm not big on those kind of dungeons but I did appreciate the puzzle aspects (though the warp panel hell in the later Soul Matrix areas definitely tested my patience) I don't think these dungeons are outright bad, just not my preference in terms of design.
Onto the positives and once again, Atlus knocks it out of the park with art direction and character designs. The menus look great with a purple colour scheme and triangular digital matrix style designs all over. Ringo is such a standout character design with a bold yellow colour scheme and the digital triangles on her jacket. The digital aesthetic tickles my brainworms in all the right ways, with low health enemies having digital green patches show up on them, like it appeals to my tastes in such a good way.
The characters themselves are probably the strongest point. It's rare to have a female protagonist, who speaks, in an adult cast in Atlus games so a lot of this is like a breath of fresh air. Almost like the team were allowed to experiment freely because of the smaller nature of the title and it paid off well. Seeing characters blow off steam at a bar after a mission, struggle with a broken relationship, struggle long time friends taking different paths in their life, it all makes for such a nice change from the usual teenagers in high school stuff we usually get. Like it's just nice seeing a group of characters head back to a run down apartment and chill out with take out meals.
The main party is also just a set 4 characters plus one on dungeon navigation so the game also has a chance to allow all these characters to grow together, struggle together, and support each other without the game having to be like "oh hey, here's a new party member, we gotta focus on introducing them and forget everyone else!" It's nice to have new faces freshen up your party sure, but there is something to appreciate with a fixed party approach too.
The other main benefit of being mid budget means there is no room for excess fluff. The main story runs around 30-40 hours, doesn't waste time with filler, lets you choose to explore additional character depth with hangout events and the Soul Matrix dungeon, and it all flows really nicely. It's just really nice having a JRPG that's just tightly focused on its main story and doesn't end up eating 100s of hours of your life. I can appreciate those super long JRPGs sure but it's nice to have a balance of shorter classics too.
Soul Hackers 2 is a fantastic way to explore an old series and see if it can grow with a new audience. It nails so much with its story, its characters, and aesthetic while falling a little short in dungeon design. I love that Atlus is using the success of the Persona series to take an opportunity to explore some of their back catalogue and revive some series and I can only hope they continue to do so
2022
Digimon is a fascinating series in that it is one that always likes to change things up. It's anime series constantly refreshes it's casts, settings, and even the very rules we think Digimon abides by while the games have dipped their toes into all sorts of genres, only recently settling into two distinct mainline titles: the World games that use the Tamagotchi base for your partner Digimon meaning they have a regenerating life cycle and need to be taken care of, and the Story games that are typical JRPG affairs allowing you to collect and battle monsters in turned based combat. For long time fans like myself, Digimon never resting on its laurels is part of the appeal so when Survive was shown to be a Visual Novel hybrid with Tactical RPG battles, I was very excited to see how it turned out. The Digimon games have started to hit a standard of quality that can appeal to a broader audience than its core audience who grew up with the anime so it makes new projects all the more exciting.
So Survive itself is around 70/30 visual novel to trpg which means the bulk of the gameplay is exploring backgrounds and talking to characters in order to progress the story. These kinds of games live and die by their stories and characters and thankfully Digimon Survive strongly excels in this aspect. Celebrating the animes 20th anniversary, Survive feels strongly influenced by the original Digimon Adventure anime. 8 kids going to a summer camp get transported to a mysterious world full of dangerous monsters and end up meeting partner Digimon as they unravel the mystery of the world to return home is basically the exact same set up. Hell, even the 5 male 3 female split is the exact same! Thankfully what Survive does though is put more of a focus on the survival aspect of being trapped in an unknown world. These kids never feel safe, they struggle for supplies, constantly argue amongst themselves on the best way forward, and the tolls of this struggle actually effect these characters mentally in a realistic way. Missing their parents, the fear of being killed, the struggle of connecting with a monster that is supposed to be your destined partner all end up causing characters to lose their compsure, make mistakes and even end up losing their lives.
Yep, once again the games are free to explore things in a more bold way than the anime is and it results in an intense, gripping narrative. With the "golden route" locked to a New Game + run, you're going to see characters die on your first playthrough and it makes the survival aspect all the more real. How the characters react to seeing their friends die is what makes this an interesting and gripping Digimon tale. It takes conventions laid out by the Digimon Adventure anime and pushes out into exploring things the anime put less focus into. And yes as mentioned earlier, the game does have multiple endings. The dialogue choices that affect your endings are unfortunately colour coded into red, green, and yellow which unfortunately makes it clear where your choices are leading to which I think should only be viewable on a NG+ run, let us be blind on our first playthrough of the story.
On the actual characters themselves, I love the cast. Not everyone is likable, some treat their Digimon horribly but I like that there are people in the group that start off like that. It's realistic that not everyone is going to accept a monster that follows them around everywhere when other monsters are literally trying to kill them. It's realistic that the group are going to clash in their opinions despite everyone wanting the same end goal. The kids are a great cast, each with their own flaws and things they excel in and once you get to learn about their backstories and stuff, you can truly appreciate each individual for who they are. The Digimon partners are great counterparts to their partners here. While they keep the tradition of being extensions of their partners, they have enough individuality to balance out their partners flaws. Aoi constantly struggles with her self confidence but Labramon is always there to support her and give her belief in herself. Minoru is always joking and struggling to take things seriously but Falcomon does his best to bring back down to Earth and isn't afraid to call him out for overstepping the mark. What we get here are some of the best human/Digimon partnerships in the series.
Continuing on with the visual novel gameplay, dialogue choices not only change what ending you'll get but also Takuma's Agumon evolution. Choices can be either Moral, Harmony, or Wrathful which are tied into the Vaccine, Data, or Virus types of Digimon. That means depending on what choices you make more of, Agumon's evolution will follow the path of either a Vaccine, Data, or Virus Digimon. I won't spoil all the evolutions but it's clear the Vaccine line is Agumon's standard Greymon line but the other lines include some really neat Digimon choices and that is another fantastic thing about this game.
The choices of Digimon chosen to be in this game is so good. The focus is mainly on a lot of the original Digimon designs from the Adventure era, and while that does mean the usual suspects of Agumon, Gabumon, Patamon, the Dark Masters, etc appearing we also get a lot of rarely used Digimon, like the original design of Falcomon and the return of Kunemon. We've got stuff like Floramon and Syakomon as partners and evolution lines include some really neat picks. It's nice seeing fresh faces over the recent need to include every Royal Knight and Demon Lord Digimon in the game.
Now the weakest aspect of Survive is the tactical rpg side of things unfortunately. The map designs are simple, objectives rarely deviate from "kill all/certain enemies" and conbat itself mainly falls to trying to pull of side/back attacks. Normal difficulty rarely provides a challenge and it's the second highest difficulty in the game.
While I would've liked a deeper combat experience, I do appreciate that its simplicity makes this a lot easier to recommend to newcomers of the genre. Stuff like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy can so many moving parts that they're off-putting for those unfamiliar with the genre while with Survive you only really need to keep track of SP and basic positioning as well as your two equipment slots.
I really like how evolution works in tandem with the combat. It's closer to the anime in that you can evolve whenever in battle but only for as long as you have SP, run out of that and you revert back to Rookie level. Higher evolution level monsters drain 5/10/15 SP per turn and use more SP for specials so it discourages relying on pulverising everything with one Mega Digimon. That said, the SP drops aren't enough to make this a consistent thing to worry about. There was only a handful of occasions where I felt the need to drop back down to Rookie to rebuild my SP supply. I think the foundation of the tactical RPG battles is solid here, it does an excellent job of making fights feel more mechanically in line with the anime, it just unfortunately lacks the depth required to be anything other than a nice way to break up the visual novel segments.
I played this game on the Switch and while for the most part it runs fine and looks great (having Toei work on the animation side of things means the art style replicates the anime very well) there are a couple of minor performance issues. Any fog like effects cause the framerate to drop, which considering these are mostly static backgrounds with animated characters is a bit frustrating and poorly optimised. Loading times for going into battle feel too long to the point it can be off putting doing the free battles multiple times in a row because it eats up so much time. Aside from that the performance is fine from my experience.
Digimon Survive is another fantastic Digimon game in a recent line up of great titles. It captures the spirit of the original Adventure anime series and uses it to tell a more serious tale of the dangers of kids being lost in another world full of montsers that can and will kill them. Digimon is always willing to try new things and I am glad this passion project turned out so well after years of development issues. Here's hoping the team have a chance to build off the foundation they laid here sometime in the future.
So Survive itself is around 70/30 visual novel to trpg which means the bulk of the gameplay is exploring backgrounds and talking to characters in order to progress the story. These kinds of games live and die by their stories and characters and thankfully Digimon Survive strongly excels in this aspect. Celebrating the animes 20th anniversary, Survive feels strongly influenced by the original Digimon Adventure anime. 8 kids going to a summer camp get transported to a mysterious world full of dangerous monsters and end up meeting partner Digimon as they unravel the mystery of the world to return home is basically the exact same set up. Hell, even the 5 male 3 female split is the exact same! Thankfully what Survive does though is put more of a focus on the survival aspect of being trapped in an unknown world. These kids never feel safe, they struggle for supplies, constantly argue amongst themselves on the best way forward, and the tolls of this struggle actually effect these characters mentally in a realistic way. Missing their parents, the fear of being killed, the struggle of connecting with a monster that is supposed to be your destined partner all end up causing characters to lose their compsure, make mistakes and even end up losing their lives.
Yep, once again the games are free to explore things in a more bold way than the anime is and it results in an intense, gripping narrative. With the "golden route" locked to a New Game + run, you're going to see characters die on your first playthrough and it makes the survival aspect all the more real. How the characters react to seeing their friends die is what makes this an interesting and gripping Digimon tale. It takes conventions laid out by the Digimon Adventure anime and pushes out into exploring things the anime put less focus into. And yes as mentioned earlier, the game does have multiple endings. The dialogue choices that affect your endings are unfortunately colour coded into red, green, and yellow which unfortunately makes it clear where your choices are leading to which I think should only be viewable on a NG+ run, let us be blind on our first playthrough of the story.
On the actual characters themselves, I love the cast. Not everyone is likable, some treat their Digimon horribly but I like that there are people in the group that start off like that. It's realistic that not everyone is going to accept a monster that follows them around everywhere when other monsters are literally trying to kill them. It's realistic that the group are going to clash in their opinions despite everyone wanting the same end goal. The kids are a great cast, each with their own flaws and things they excel in and once you get to learn about their backstories and stuff, you can truly appreciate each individual for who they are. The Digimon partners are great counterparts to their partners here. While they keep the tradition of being extensions of their partners, they have enough individuality to balance out their partners flaws. Aoi constantly struggles with her self confidence but Labramon is always there to support her and give her belief in herself. Minoru is always joking and struggling to take things seriously but Falcomon does his best to bring back down to Earth and isn't afraid to call him out for overstepping the mark. What we get here are some of the best human/Digimon partnerships in the series.
Continuing on with the visual novel gameplay, dialogue choices not only change what ending you'll get but also Takuma's Agumon evolution. Choices can be either Moral, Harmony, or Wrathful which are tied into the Vaccine, Data, or Virus types of Digimon. That means depending on what choices you make more of, Agumon's evolution will follow the path of either a Vaccine, Data, or Virus Digimon. I won't spoil all the evolutions but it's clear the Vaccine line is Agumon's standard Greymon line but the other lines include some really neat Digimon choices and that is another fantastic thing about this game.
The choices of Digimon chosen to be in this game is so good. The focus is mainly on a lot of the original Digimon designs from the Adventure era, and while that does mean the usual suspects of Agumon, Gabumon, Patamon, the Dark Masters, etc appearing we also get a lot of rarely used Digimon, like the original design of Falcomon and the return of Kunemon. We've got stuff like Floramon and Syakomon as partners and evolution lines include some really neat picks. It's nice seeing fresh faces over the recent need to include every Royal Knight and Demon Lord Digimon in the game.
Now the weakest aspect of Survive is the tactical rpg side of things unfortunately. The map designs are simple, objectives rarely deviate from "kill all/certain enemies" and conbat itself mainly falls to trying to pull of side/back attacks. Normal difficulty rarely provides a challenge and it's the second highest difficulty in the game.
While I would've liked a deeper combat experience, I do appreciate that its simplicity makes this a lot easier to recommend to newcomers of the genre. Stuff like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy can so many moving parts that they're off-putting for those unfamiliar with the genre while with Survive you only really need to keep track of SP and basic positioning as well as your two equipment slots.
I really like how evolution works in tandem with the combat. It's closer to the anime in that you can evolve whenever in battle but only for as long as you have SP, run out of that and you revert back to Rookie level. Higher evolution level monsters drain 5/10/15 SP per turn and use more SP for specials so it discourages relying on pulverising everything with one Mega Digimon. That said, the SP drops aren't enough to make this a consistent thing to worry about. There was only a handful of occasions where I felt the need to drop back down to Rookie to rebuild my SP supply. I think the foundation of the tactical RPG battles is solid here, it does an excellent job of making fights feel more mechanically in line with the anime, it just unfortunately lacks the depth required to be anything other than a nice way to break up the visual novel segments.
I played this game on the Switch and while for the most part it runs fine and looks great (having Toei work on the animation side of things means the art style replicates the anime very well) there are a couple of minor performance issues. Any fog like effects cause the framerate to drop, which considering these are mostly static backgrounds with animated characters is a bit frustrating and poorly optimised. Loading times for going into battle feel too long to the point it can be off putting doing the free battles multiple times in a row because it eats up so much time. Aside from that the performance is fine from my experience.
Digimon Survive is another fantastic Digimon game in a recent line up of great titles. It captures the spirit of the original Adventure anime series and uses it to tell a more serious tale of the dangers of kids being lost in another world full of montsers that can and will kill them. Digimon is always willing to try new things and I am glad this passion project turned out so well after years of development issues. Here's hoping the team have a chance to build off the foundation they laid here sometime in the future.
The more I think about this game, the more everything clicks in my head about it. The way Xenoblade Chronicles 3 chooses to tell it's story means that by the end, I think a decent amount of people will be unsatisfied with aspects because the game chooses to insuate things rather than go into a massive lore dump about everything and for me personally, I love that. I love that since beating the main game I have been joining the dots with all the information floating around in my head and forming my own conclusions on things. I love that I can read how other people have interpreted things and have that further build upon my thoughts. The approach to storytelling in XC3 feels very similar to XCX but only that it gives you enough information to form conclusions that feel right for you. I think it's the perfect way to wrap up a trilogy focused on seizing your own future.
The other themes of being afraid of the end and trying to maintain an endless now to avoid an uncertain future also struck a chord with me. I think that while a lot of the villains fell a bit flat for me, Consul N explored this theme expertly and I absolutely loved his parallel to Noah. I think Z was also a great final villain, drawing some inspiration from Xenosaga that is nicely tied up to the whole trilogy in some post game dialogue.
So yeah, while I don't think the story will satisfy every fan, for me personally, the bits it does well are done so well that they resonate with me on a deeply personal level and the bits that let me join the dots for myself I adore. The emotional rollercoaster I went through at the end of Chapter 5/the start of Chapter 6 is by far the craziest ride I've been on in a videogame. When I finished Chapter 5 I had to take a break to emotionally recover from what I just witnessed, absolutely sobbing my heart out, struggling to find the will to push forward and nothing has ever done that to me before. It was truly incredible and probably my favourite set of scenes in anything ever.
One last bit with the story, I really appreciate how the aspects from XC1/2 are handled. The cast of XC3 are allowed to shine while fans of 1 and 2 get their moments without overshadowing this game.
Speaking of the cast in XC3, this is my favourite group in the series. While the villains were hit and miss for me, the core group 6 party members and the Hero characters were all wonderfully done. Noah is a solid protagonist who has his own ideals but he has his doubts and moments of weakness. Mio is the perfect counterpart, living on a mere 3 months to go trying to make her mark on the world before her time is up. Eunie is the sassiest High Entia ever and I fucking love her to pieces. Taion overthinks too much and is super analytical, often too afraid to put his own opinion forward out of fear. Lanz is a lovable muscle head struggling to move on from the past and Sena is a lovable muscle head struggling to be herself, too worried about pleasing others. By having these 6 constantly together from near the beginning, it allows for a lot neat moments and character dynamic building that has at times fell a little short in other Xenoblade games. I didn't even notice heart to hearts weren't in this game because I was getting the interactions I wanted from the main story.
Hero characters are a fantastic addition, taking the good idea of the Blades in XC2, removing the gacha nonsense, and implementating them into the world in a far more natural way. Their quests further build upon the world of Aionios and they give the main 6 characters someone new to bounce off every now and then to help keep the party fresh.
Now speaking of the world of Aionios, a lot of its sense of wonder is very dependent on having played XC1/2 I feel. Unlike 1 or 2 where you're on the back of these giant titans and it's easy to be like whoa, this is incredible, XC3's environment is a lot less interesting at a first glance. The magic and wonder of Aionios comes from having played both XC1 and 2. Recognising landmarks in a completely different way and figuring out what two areas are combined, that is the drive to exploration in this game. Seeing the Mechonis sword and Urayan titan in the background means little to newcomers but for long time fans it drives you to visit these areas to see what's changed, to try and put together what happened. This is what drives the sense of wonder in Aionios.
The world building is very well done too and that is thanks to the Side quests and Hero quests. Nearly every quest in this game helps give further context to the world, it's characters and the situation. Every colony has its own needs to survive and the quests do such a great job at showing you those. I have never cared so much about seeing the outcome of a potato farm before but damn did I get invested in that quest here! The side quests are so good that I had to force myself to stop doing them so I could actually finish the main story and I am someone who is usually too happy to just leave side quests alone and focus on the far more interesting main story but here though, it all works in tandem to deliver a far richer experience than I have had in most games.
Exploring the world itself is mostly the same Xenoblade experience. Massive landscapes full of enemies on a wide scale of levels and secrets to be discovered. The field skills from XC2 make a return but again, XC3 fixes every issue XC2 had with them. Field skills are now taught through certain characters and the bulk of them are in the story. What this does now is change it into something more akin to Metroid where the world opens up more as you gain new field skills and you return back to previous areas able to discover new places. There's no faffing about trying to get the right characters with the right abilities into your party, once you have the field skill that's it set for the rest of the game and that is a million times better. Traversal is still locked to on foot with the exception of one later area in the game (which calls back to one of my favourite games ever and I love it). It's unfortunate there isn't anything like Skells from XCX to help make travel a bit quicker because these land masses are absolutely huge and taking a detour can mean a lot of running is involved. Quick travel points are always nice but nothing beats having a mech that transforms into a car for some speedy travel.
The battle system is an excellent fusion of XC1 and XC2. It's a beautiful combination where by fusing arts of both XC1 and XC2 origin, you can charge up your new Ouroboros form quicker and wail on enemies for a limited time. Ouroboros are a fantastic addition where a Kevesi (XC1) and an Agnian (XC2) fuse into the closest thing we're getting to playable mechs in the numbered Xenoblade games. They look incredible, have flashy specials and deal massive damage. Of course chain attacks are still here with them changing functionally where you pick characters to attack to try and build TP to over 100% to launch a special attack. It's simple on the surface level but the depth comes from tryinf to find the order that will all you to hit 4 or 5 chains. Personally XC2 still has my favourite battle system in the series but what is offered here is a fantastic alternative.
Once again, the music is outstanding. Area themes a less bombastic and more atmospheric than what XC1/2 offered but they work well and will often aspects of songs from XC1/2 hidden in them. The battle songs go harder than ever and there are so many different ones that it's incredible how they came up on where to use them all. The Moebius battle theme has an incredible choir throughout it and there's some story specific fights that use a more somber battle song that makes for an incredibly emotional fight. The vocal songs are used to help bring tears to even the dryest eyes and the Weight of Life, while used incredibly sparingly, brings home the most epic scenes with the sound they deserve.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes the best of XC1 and XC2 and fuses them together to make an incredible experience. A little bit of dna from Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade Chronicles X sprinkled in too means most fans will probably be able to take away something they love from this game. It has its own flaws sure, but they pale in comparison to what this game gets right. How people will feel about it will be dependant on what they wanted from it but there is no doubt that this is another fantastic entry into the series and an excellent point for us to leave this arc behind and look forward to an unknown future with a content smile on our faces
The other themes of being afraid of the end and trying to maintain an endless now to avoid an uncertain future also struck a chord with me. I think that while a lot of the villains fell a bit flat for me, Consul N explored this theme expertly and I absolutely loved his parallel to Noah. I think Z was also a great final villain, drawing some inspiration from Xenosaga that is nicely tied up to the whole trilogy in some post game dialogue.
So yeah, while I don't think the story will satisfy every fan, for me personally, the bits it does well are done so well that they resonate with me on a deeply personal level and the bits that let me join the dots for myself I adore. The emotional rollercoaster I went through at the end of Chapter 5/the start of Chapter 6 is by far the craziest ride I've been on in a videogame. When I finished Chapter 5 I had to take a break to emotionally recover from what I just witnessed, absolutely sobbing my heart out, struggling to find the will to push forward and nothing has ever done that to me before. It was truly incredible and probably my favourite set of scenes in anything ever.
One last bit with the story, I really appreciate how the aspects from XC1/2 are handled. The cast of XC3 are allowed to shine while fans of 1 and 2 get their moments without overshadowing this game.
Speaking of the cast in XC3, this is my favourite group in the series. While the villains were hit and miss for me, the core group 6 party members and the Hero characters were all wonderfully done. Noah is a solid protagonist who has his own ideals but he has his doubts and moments of weakness. Mio is the perfect counterpart, living on a mere 3 months to go trying to make her mark on the world before her time is up. Eunie is the sassiest High Entia ever and I fucking love her to pieces. Taion overthinks too much and is super analytical, often too afraid to put his own opinion forward out of fear. Lanz is a lovable muscle head struggling to move on from the past and Sena is a lovable muscle head struggling to be herself, too worried about pleasing others. By having these 6 constantly together from near the beginning, it allows for a lot neat moments and character dynamic building that has at times fell a little short in other Xenoblade games. I didn't even notice heart to hearts weren't in this game because I was getting the interactions I wanted from the main story.
Hero characters are a fantastic addition, taking the good idea of the Blades in XC2, removing the gacha nonsense, and implementating them into the world in a far more natural way. Their quests further build upon the world of Aionios and they give the main 6 characters someone new to bounce off every now and then to help keep the party fresh.
Now speaking of the world of Aionios, a lot of its sense of wonder is very dependent on having played XC1/2 I feel. Unlike 1 or 2 where you're on the back of these giant titans and it's easy to be like whoa, this is incredible, XC3's environment is a lot less interesting at a first glance. The magic and wonder of Aionios comes from having played both XC1 and 2. Recognising landmarks in a completely different way and figuring out what two areas are combined, that is the drive to exploration in this game. Seeing the Mechonis sword and Urayan titan in the background means little to newcomers but for long time fans it drives you to visit these areas to see what's changed, to try and put together what happened. This is what drives the sense of wonder in Aionios.
The world building is very well done too and that is thanks to the Side quests and Hero quests. Nearly every quest in this game helps give further context to the world, it's characters and the situation. Every colony has its own needs to survive and the quests do such a great job at showing you those. I have never cared so much about seeing the outcome of a potato farm before but damn did I get invested in that quest here! The side quests are so good that I had to force myself to stop doing them so I could actually finish the main story and I am someone who is usually too happy to just leave side quests alone and focus on the far more interesting main story but here though, it all works in tandem to deliver a far richer experience than I have had in most games.
Exploring the world itself is mostly the same Xenoblade experience. Massive landscapes full of enemies on a wide scale of levels and secrets to be discovered. The field skills from XC2 make a return but again, XC3 fixes every issue XC2 had with them. Field skills are now taught through certain characters and the bulk of them are in the story. What this does now is change it into something more akin to Metroid where the world opens up more as you gain new field skills and you return back to previous areas able to discover new places. There's no faffing about trying to get the right characters with the right abilities into your party, once you have the field skill that's it set for the rest of the game and that is a million times better. Traversal is still locked to on foot with the exception of one later area in the game (which calls back to one of my favourite games ever and I love it). It's unfortunate there isn't anything like Skells from XCX to help make travel a bit quicker because these land masses are absolutely huge and taking a detour can mean a lot of running is involved. Quick travel points are always nice but nothing beats having a mech that transforms into a car for some speedy travel.
The battle system is an excellent fusion of XC1 and XC2. It's a beautiful combination where by fusing arts of both XC1 and XC2 origin, you can charge up your new Ouroboros form quicker and wail on enemies for a limited time. Ouroboros are a fantastic addition where a Kevesi (XC1) and an Agnian (XC2) fuse into the closest thing we're getting to playable mechs in the numbered Xenoblade games. They look incredible, have flashy specials and deal massive damage. Of course chain attacks are still here with them changing functionally where you pick characters to attack to try and build TP to over 100% to launch a special attack. It's simple on the surface level but the depth comes from tryinf to find the order that will all you to hit 4 or 5 chains. Personally XC2 still has my favourite battle system in the series but what is offered here is a fantastic alternative.
Once again, the music is outstanding. Area themes a less bombastic and more atmospheric than what XC1/2 offered but they work well and will often aspects of songs from XC1/2 hidden in them. The battle songs go harder than ever and there are so many different ones that it's incredible how they came up on where to use them all. The Moebius battle theme has an incredible choir throughout it and there's some story specific fights that use a more somber battle song that makes for an incredibly emotional fight. The vocal songs are used to help bring tears to even the dryest eyes and the Weight of Life, while used incredibly sparingly, brings home the most epic scenes with the sound they deserve.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes the best of XC1 and XC2 and fuses them together to make an incredible experience. A little bit of dna from Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade Chronicles X sprinkled in too means most fans will probably be able to take away something they love from this game. It has its own flaws sure, but they pale in comparison to what this game gets right. How people will feel about it will be dependant on what they wanted from it but there is no doubt that this is another fantastic entry into the series and an excellent point for us to leave this arc behind and look forward to an unknown future with a content smile on our faces
2022
A neat collection of short stories cumulating into a fantastic bad and good end. The game does a great job at getting you to care about characters within the 1-2 hours that most of these stories run for and each story manages to feel unique from the rest, each with it's own particular gimmick.
Ultimately, because you can pick any story at any time, the initial 7 stories have to be accessible enough to be anyone's first story and that means they never really get the depth they could have gotten. They feel more like a tutorial to learn the game for the finale where everything comes together and that's fine, but personally I would've liked a bit more.
Live A Live is a fine game, one that experiments well with it's ideas and I can see why it's highly regarded amongst those who played the original, it's just unfortunate that it never clicked with me on that kind of level
Ultimately, because you can pick any story at any time, the initial 7 stories have to be accessible enough to be anyone's first story and that means they never really get the depth they could have gotten. They feel more like a tutorial to learn the game for the finale where everything comes together and that's fine, but personally I would've liked a bit more.
Live A Live is a fine game, one that experiments well with it's ideas and I can see why it's highly regarded amongst those who played the original, it's just unfortunate that it never clicked with me on that kind of level
One of the best videogame experiences I have ever had. No game has made me cry so much, laugh so much, lose my mind so much, made me understand myself better, and appealed to my specific tastes so well.
I think one thing the AI series does well, is straddle the line between parody and seriousness. Like there is no other series where you can go from over the top action sequences with a character getting powered up by porno mags to experiencing a somnium where child experimentation happened. With Nirvana Initiative, I didn't expect to be bawling my eyes out over a character with a square head, or one that looks like he's in a Marshmallow man costume, or a mermaid girl but here I am, cherishing these characters with all my heart, thankful for getting to experience their stories.
The running theme of learning to love yourself and accept yourself despite your flaws, and learning to accept love from others is something that appeals to me on a deep level. It doesn't matter how bad you think you look or how much you think you disability hinders you, if someone tells you that your existence makes them happy and means the world to them, then don't push them away to try and confirm your own self doubts, accept that there are people in this world that would put your happiness above their own because seeing you happy brings them happiness.
As for the actual serial killing case, I don't think that aspect is as pronounced as it was in the first game. I feel like this game goes more for the mental aspect of the damage done rather than the more obvious gruesome damage. The twists and turns are all fantastic but this game feels more like it's about the experience of the journey rather than the conclusion of the story if that makes sense. It's something I think, that once you've beaten the game, and you take time to think back on it, the more you realise holy shit, that was really clever how did this and how this all fits together.
The somniums are much more thematically inventive here as well I feel. Trying not to spoil anything but there are a few that really appealed to me and I couldn't stop smiling until I got the information at the end of them.
There's also a really neat post game easter egg to check out if you want to and oh my gosh, it was one of the best pieces of easter egg content I have seen in a really long time.
So yeah, I adore this game with all of my heart. There are so many moments that truly made this a special experience for me and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Remember to always love yourself because no matter how bad things might be, there is always someone out there who will accept you and be the half to make you whole
I think one thing the AI series does well, is straddle the line between parody and seriousness. Like there is no other series where you can go from over the top action sequences with a character getting powered up by porno mags to experiencing a somnium where child experimentation happened. With Nirvana Initiative, I didn't expect to be bawling my eyes out over a character with a square head, or one that looks like he's in a Marshmallow man costume, or a mermaid girl but here I am, cherishing these characters with all my heart, thankful for getting to experience their stories.
The running theme of learning to love yourself and accept yourself despite your flaws, and learning to accept love from others is something that appeals to me on a deep level. It doesn't matter how bad you think you look or how much you think you disability hinders you, if someone tells you that your existence makes them happy and means the world to them, then don't push them away to try and confirm your own self doubts, accept that there are people in this world that would put your happiness above their own because seeing you happy brings them happiness.
As for the actual serial killing case, I don't think that aspect is as pronounced as it was in the first game. I feel like this game goes more for the mental aspect of the damage done rather than the more obvious gruesome damage. The twists and turns are all fantastic but this game feels more like it's about the experience of the journey rather than the conclusion of the story if that makes sense. It's something I think, that once you've beaten the game, and you take time to think back on it, the more you realise holy shit, that was really clever how did this and how this all fits together.
The somniums are much more thematically inventive here as well I feel. Trying not to spoil anything but there are a few that really appealed to me and I couldn't stop smiling until I got the information at the end of them.
There's also a really neat post game easter egg to check out if you want to and oh my gosh, it was one of the best pieces of easter egg content I have seen in a really long time.
So yeah, I adore this game with all of my heart. There are so many moments that truly made this a special experience for me and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Remember to always love yourself because no matter how bad things might be, there is always someone out there who will accept you and be the half to make you whole
As a follow up to Fire Emblem Warriors, this improves upon nearly every aspect of that game. By using Fire Emblem: Three Houses as a foundation for its focus, we get a bucket load of characters and three routes following much more indepth stories than what the original FE Warriors had.
A lot of Three Houses DNA makes it over with base camp exploration, freedom of class choices, cooking, training, etc etc. There's a ton of supports to gain as well as characters to recruit that in a lot of ways, this is Three Houses but with Warriors battles instead of Tactical RPG fights.
I don't think the game's story stands on it's own though. A lot of what makes the story enjoyable is that it expands upon stuff that Three Houses didn't make enough time for and as a result it assumes you have a lot of knowledge from that games characters and story. For example that academy phase in this game barely lasts a chapter and then it diverges into one of three routes depending on what house you chose. If you had played Three Houses, then the event that abruptly ends the academy phase is a huge oh shit this is cool moment, if you haven't play it then I can only guess you would be like wtf is happening here. So in that regard, while this is an alternate take on the Three Houses story that is completely different, it is also one that you really need to have played to really get the full experience from.
As for the three routes, I started with the Blue Lions and Azure Gleam and while I enjoyed it diving into TWSITD and the Tragedy of Duscur a lot more, I think it also horribly handles Edelgard's character and a few key characters from the Empire. I still found it enjoyable overall but I come away from it thinking it may be the most mixed route of the bunch
But yeah, there's plenty of content here and Fire Emblem meshes so well with the Warriors gameplay. I still have two routes to play at the time of writing this but I feel confident in saying this is the best Nintendo Warriors spin off we have gotten so far
Updating for Scarlet Blaze thoughts:
A very consistent route that handles it's characters well and doesn't fumble anything like how Azure Gleam does. My favourite route so far despite being more of a Blue Lions fan from Three Houses
A lot of Three Houses DNA makes it over with base camp exploration, freedom of class choices, cooking, training, etc etc. There's a ton of supports to gain as well as characters to recruit that in a lot of ways, this is Three Houses but with Warriors battles instead of Tactical RPG fights.
I don't think the game's story stands on it's own though. A lot of what makes the story enjoyable is that it expands upon stuff that Three Houses didn't make enough time for and as a result it assumes you have a lot of knowledge from that games characters and story. For example that academy phase in this game barely lasts a chapter and then it diverges into one of three routes depending on what house you chose. If you had played Three Houses, then the event that abruptly ends the academy phase is a huge oh shit this is cool moment, if you haven't play it then I can only guess you would be like wtf is happening here. So in that regard, while this is an alternate take on the Three Houses story that is completely different, it is also one that you really need to have played to really get the full experience from.
As for the three routes, I started with the Blue Lions and Azure Gleam and while I enjoyed it diving into TWSITD and the Tragedy of Duscur a lot more, I think it also horribly handles Edelgard's character and a few key characters from the Empire. I still found it enjoyable overall but I come away from it thinking it may be the most mixed route of the bunch
But yeah, there's plenty of content here and Fire Emblem meshes so well with the Warriors gameplay. I still have two routes to play at the time of writing this but I feel confident in saying this is the best Nintendo Warriors spin off we have gotten so far
Updating for Scarlet Blaze thoughts:
A very consistent route that handles it's characters well and doesn't fumble anything like how Azure Gleam does. My favourite route so far despite being more of a Blue Lions fan from Three Houses
2022
There's a lot this collection does right
A museum full of music, art, and manuals from the classic games is a nice feature to look through.
A story mode bridging together Sonic 1, CD, 2, and 3&K with brand new animated cutscenes that are super adorable is a nice feature for long time fans.
Each game being updated to a widescreen resolution, with Sonic's drop dash ability from Mania being added and lives being replaced by special coins that allow you to retry Special Stages or unlock museum items are all excellent changes.
Yes for the most part, this is just the Taxman mobile ports of Sonic 1/CD/2 ported to consoles (which includes Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 2) but this is something we've asked for ages so I'm personally glad at the opportunity to finally be able to play these games.
There's some other extras like a mission mode, boss rush, and mirror mode which are nice extras but don't really do much for me.
Another huge plus is that Big Arms and a proper transition to the Sonic & Knuckles portion of S3&K has been added to the Sonic route of the game (S3&K removed the Big Arms fight in the Sonic/Tails route)
Now the collection does have some big flaws
Tails and Knuckles are playable in Sonic 1 but for some reason Knuckles isn't playable in CD
Carnival Night, Ice Cap and Launch Base Zone have had their music changed from the original Sonic 3 release due to the issues surrounding Michael Jackson's involvement on the soundtrack. While I understand why these songs had to be changed, I really don't vibe with a lot of the new music, Launch Base ESPICALLY AS IT DOES NOT FIT AT ALL. I don't mind the new Super Sonic theme but that was an unnecessary change for the sake of using something different from the Sonic & Knuckles invincibility theme.
The museum includes music from Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and Knuckles' Chaotix and I love that but it's also like, you included those games full soundtracks but not the games themselves? Like a rerelease of Chaotix would've been really nice, even if it was just the original game.
It also would've been nice if they included Mighty and Ray in these games as well. They borrowed the drop dash from Mania so including those two as bonus characters would've been a nice treat (honestly have the feeling they'll release an enhanced version of this game alongside a physical edition down the line just like they did with Mania)
While I have nitpicks with this collection, it is ultimately the best versions (music from Sonic 3 aside) of the games that defined my childhood and that remain some of my favourite games today, so in that regard, I have so much to love here. It is just unfortunate that there's a few missed opportunities that means this falls short of its potential
A museum full of music, art, and manuals from the classic games is a nice feature to look through.
A story mode bridging together Sonic 1, CD, 2, and 3&K with brand new animated cutscenes that are super adorable is a nice feature for long time fans.
Each game being updated to a widescreen resolution, with Sonic's drop dash ability from Mania being added and lives being replaced by special coins that allow you to retry Special Stages or unlock museum items are all excellent changes.
Yes for the most part, this is just the Taxman mobile ports of Sonic 1/CD/2 ported to consoles (which includes Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 2) but this is something we've asked for ages so I'm personally glad at the opportunity to finally be able to play these games.
There's some other extras like a mission mode, boss rush, and mirror mode which are nice extras but don't really do much for me.
Another huge plus is that Big Arms and a proper transition to the Sonic & Knuckles portion of S3&K has been added to the Sonic route of the game (S3&K removed the Big Arms fight in the Sonic/Tails route)
Now the collection does have some big flaws
Tails and Knuckles are playable in Sonic 1 but for some reason Knuckles isn't playable in CD
Carnival Night, Ice Cap and Launch Base Zone have had their music changed from the original Sonic 3 release due to the issues surrounding Michael Jackson's involvement on the soundtrack. While I understand why these songs had to be changed, I really don't vibe with a lot of the new music, Launch Base ESPICALLY AS IT DOES NOT FIT AT ALL. I don't mind the new Super Sonic theme but that was an unnecessary change for the sake of using something different from the Sonic & Knuckles invincibility theme.
The museum includes music from Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and Knuckles' Chaotix and I love that but it's also like, you included those games full soundtracks but not the games themselves? Like a rerelease of Chaotix would've been really nice, even if it was just the original game.
It also would've been nice if they included Mighty and Ray in these games as well. They borrowed the drop dash from Mania so including those two as bonus characters would've been a nice treat (honestly have the feeling they'll release an enhanced version of this game alongside a physical edition down the line just like they did with Mania)
While I have nitpicks with this collection, it is ultimately the best versions (music from Sonic 3 aside) of the games that defined my childhood and that remain some of my favourite games today, so in that regard, I have so much to love here. It is just unfortunate that there's a few missed opportunities that means this falls short of its potential
Another tale of missed potential from a Nintendo sports game on Switch
There's some good changes here, returning to a style closer to the Gamecube original stripping back the gimmicks from the Wii game and adding in more depth gameplay wise with team tackles and through balls
I hate the regular tackle changes as charging them now is so inaccurate compared to the old system of headbutts and slide tackles.
Boom Boom's AI is garbage. He so easy to fool and bully and he struggles to catch or hold anything whereas Kritter in the OG game was a menace in goals and defended his box like a king.
Not keen on mixing characters up for teams over the old system of Captains and Sidekicks. It means teams lose their identities and the single player cup battles are just against random lineups. It also means there's no league format because there's no Wario team or Peach team etc so the cup battles are all knockout focused so they feel shallow and are much lighter in content than previous games.
Speaking of content, sure it's nice we're getting more in the future but this is struggling to hit the bare minimum. 5 stadiums, 10 characters, less items than ever before...... It's enough for me to make something out of but it's less than the original GameCube game in every department which is disappointing.
I personally do not care for the gear system at all. I prefer my characters to have set stats and it makes online frustrating because it comes down to who has the better gear set up instead of battling it out based on skill
Ultimately, I prefer it over the Wii game but it falls short of my love for the Gamecube game. There's enough quality in the core mechanics for me to have fun making my own leagues offline with friends and self imposed rulesets but it falls short of the potential of the Strikers series and is another frustrating example of Nintendo dropping a sports game content light and thinking adding a few characters later is enough to make up for it when most people will have lost interest by then
There's some good changes here, returning to a style closer to the Gamecube original stripping back the gimmicks from the Wii game and adding in more depth gameplay wise with team tackles and through balls
I hate the regular tackle changes as charging them now is so inaccurate compared to the old system of headbutts and slide tackles.
Boom Boom's AI is garbage. He so easy to fool and bully and he struggles to catch or hold anything whereas Kritter in the OG game was a menace in goals and defended his box like a king.
Not keen on mixing characters up for teams over the old system of Captains and Sidekicks. It means teams lose their identities and the single player cup battles are just against random lineups. It also means there's no league format because there's no Wario team or Peach team etc so the cup battles are all knockout focused so they feel shallow and are much lighter in content than previous games.
Speaking of content, sure it's nice we're getting more in the future but this is struggling to hit the bare minimum. 5 stadiums, 10 characters, less items than ever before...... It's enough for me to make something out of but it's less than the original GameCube game in every department which is disappointing.
I personally do not care for the gear system at all. I prefer my characters to have set stats and it makes online frustrating because it comes down to who has the better gear set up instead of battling it out based on skill
Ultimately, I prefer it over the Wii game but it falls short of my love for the Gamecube game. There's enough quality in the core mechanics for me to have fun making my own leagues offline with friends and self imposed rulesets but it falls short of the potential of the Strikers series and is another frustrating example of Nintendo dropping a sports game content light and thinking adding a few characters later is enough to make up for it when most people will have lost interest by then
Having laid a very good foundation with Caligula Effect 1, it's clear from the off that this game was able to build off that and with a budget that wasn't actively hindering it.
This game looks and runs much better on Switch than Overdose did (some framerate drops here and there and a low resolution handheld performance still though) with nice environments and character models as well as smoother animations.
The battle system now flows much better with picking one move instead of 3 and target switching automatically when an enemy dies. There's also a neat little boost you can activate from X for more damage too.
Dungeon wise my gosh what an upgrade. Gone are the bland corridors in favour of more interactive and well designed areas inside train stations and museums with puzzles to suit each location.
So yeah gameplay wise, this an upgrade over the original in every way possible.
Story wise, it's very solid. It does a great job at throwing the player off of its late game twists, the new Go-Home Club are a fantastic bunch of characters, each with their own regrets and issues, and each one has a musician to bounce off. There's plenty of intense moments and heartwarming scenes and X as our main virtuadoll companion this time round is an absolute blast of a partner.
Unfortunately, the game's story and cast here didn't quite resonate as well with me as Overdose did. Overdose, for all its flaws, hit me with the raw ugly side of emotional trauma for its characters, further helped by having character episodes for it's musicians too which really helped let you understand the mental trauma these characters faced. It was uncomfortable, it did perhaps cross the line in some areas but it also felt real and it was something that I connected with more. 2 tends to focus more towards characters regrets, like pretending to be someone else or regretting a career choice and lost years and while the character episodes are really good (especially for Marie, Kiriko, Gin, and Niko) it doesn't quite resonate with me on the same level unfortunately. That's not to say I don't love these character episodes, Gin in particular did a much better job handling something similar from Overdose, just that I preferred those messier and uglier episodes from Overdose.
I also have a preference towards Mu and her story over Regret's. I think the ending needed a bit more time between it's revelations and a little bit more insight into Bluffman and his relationship with certain characters. I also would have liked the connections to Overdose to have been explored a little bit more. A few characters are mentioned a few times but we don't get to see much or any of them outside of the singularity point.
But yeah, those slight grievances aside, the story and characters were really good here. It did get me to cry at a few moments and while the cast might not have resonated with me as strongly as Overdose's did, they do still have a place in my heart (especially Marie who deserves the world)
Ultimately, The Caligula Effect 2 is almost a perfect sequel. My story and character preferences/stuff that resonates with me more is the only thing stopping me adding it to my 5 star collection because otherwise, this takes the foundation of the original game smashes it out of the park
This game looks and runs much better on Switch than Overdose did (some framerate drops here and there and a low resolution handheld performance still though) with nice environments and character models as well as smoother animations.
The battle system now flows much better with picking one move instead of 3 and target switching automatically when an enemy dies. There's also a neat little boost you can activate from X for more damage too.
Dungeon wise my gosh what an upgrade. Gone are the bland corridors in favour of more interactive and well designed areas inside train stations and museums with puzzles to suit each location.
So yeah gameplay wise, this an upgrade over the original in every way possible.
Story wise, it's very solid. It does a great job at throwing the player off of its late game twists, the new Go-Home Club are a fantastic bunch of characters, each with their own regrets and issues, and each one has a musician to bounce off. There's plenty of intense moments and heartwarming scenes and X as our main virtuadoll companion this time round is an absolute blast of a partner.
Unfortunately, the game's story and cast here didn't quite resonate as well with me as Overdose did. Overdose, for all its flaws, hit me with the raw ugly side of emotional trauma for its characters, further helped by having character episodes for it's musicians too which really helped let you understand the mental trauma these characters faced. It was uncomfortable, it did perhaps cross the line in some areas but it also felt real and it was something that I connected with more. 2 tends to focus more towards characters regrets, like pretending to be someone else or regretting a career choice and lost years and while the character episodes are really good (especially for Marie, Kiriko, Gin, and Niko) it doesn't quite resonate with me on the same level unfortunately. That's not to say I don't love these character episodes, Gin in particular did a much better job handling something similar from Overdose, just that I preferred those messier and uglier episodes from Overdose.
I also have a preference towards Mu and her story over Regret's. I think the ending needed a bit more time between it's revelations and a little bit more insight into Bluffman and his relationship with certain characters. I also would have liked the connections to Overdose to have been explored a little bit more. A few characters are mentioned a few times but we don't get to see much or any of them outside of the singularity point.
But yeah, those slight grievances aside, the story and characters were really good here. It did get me to cry at a few moments and while the cast might not have resonated with me as strongly as Overdose's did, they do still have a place in my heart (especially Marie who deserves the world)
Ultimately, The Caligula Effect 2 is almost a perfect sequel. My story and character preferences/stuff that resonates with me more is the only thing stopping me adding it to my 5 star collection because otherwise, this takes the foundation of the original game smashes it out of the park
Yet another Nintendo published sports game on Switch that gets the core gameplay right but only offers a bare bones experience with the promise of free updates later
Each of the sports play really well, capturing the motion fun of the original Wii Sports but there's like no extra modes to them at all. Bowling has a challenge mode and Football has a mode that uses the leg strap but that's it. There's little incentive to play the game solo at all offline
Online though, it's pretty good. There's new costumes and items to unlock every week and ranks to climb in every sport to give you an incentive to keep playing.
Playing online with friends is neat but for some reason Tennis will not let you play doubles with 4 people on 4 different Switch consoles online, noooooo you have to have your doubles partner on the same console because yeah that makes sense. Volleyball doesn't though despite being the exact same set up???
Anyways, the core experience is fine but it's let down by a lack of options and content in a very similar way that Mario Tennis and Golf were unfortunately
Each of the sports play really well, capturing the motion fun of the original Wii Sports but there's like no extra modes to them at all. Bowling has a challenge mode and Football has a mode that uses the leg strap but that's it. There's little incentive to play the game solo at all offline
Online though, it's pretty good. There's new costumes and items to unlock every week and ranks to climb in every sport to give you an incentive to keep playing.
Playing online with friends is neat but for some reason Tennis will not let you play doubles with 4 people on 4 different Switch consoles online, noooooo you have to have your doubles partner on the same console because yeah that makes sense. Volleyball doesn't though despite being the exact same set up???
Anyways, the core experience is fine but it's let down by a lack of options and content in a very similar way that Mario Tennis and Golf were unfortunately
I played the Switch port of this and you can tell that it was a poorly optimised port of what looks like a budget Vita game, with slowdown and some weird graphical glitches here and there. It's still playable but it does have an impact on the experience unfortunately.
The game itself is alright. It's a nicely paced 25-30 hour JRPG that doesn't waste the players time with fluff. The dungeons are very SMT/early Persona like, basically corridor/hallway like in design and unfortunately don't really deviate enough with puzzles or memorable gimmicks so they can drag on a little. The music for the dungeons is incredible though, each with their own unique song that gains lyrics whenever you enter a battle which is a nice touch. They could've done with having longer loops as they can get repetitive but the songs are all really good.
Now where the game really shines is in its characters, story, and setting.
As someone who fell in love with the concept of a digital world with Digimon, seeing something else explore that with the addition of virtual idols is right up my alley. Basically people who are done with their real life are drawn into Mobius, a virtual world, after they hear a virtual idol singing. It's a place where people can be whoever they want and abandon their trauma. The Virtuadolls take away their negative energy in hopes of making them happy and it's a really cool concept.
What's also cool is its wonderful cast of characters, each with their own stories where you can delve into their trauma and find out why they are the way they are. These characters all deal with something that is bound to be relatable to someone out there. Eating disorders, abusive parents, bullying, suicide and more are all tackled as you dive into character episodes and it's great to see a game tackle these issues. I can't say it handles everything perfectly (there are some scenes that poke fun at obesity which feel out of place for example) but I did find myself relating to a lot of these characters and the problems they faced in their lives and that is what makes this game special. Kotono has become one of my favourite characters of all time because of how much I could relate to her specific issues.
And it's not just your party members you can bond with for these episodes, Overdose lets you bond with the enemy Musicians you fight throughout the story and while some of these characters can be extremely difficult to stand at first, the game does an excellent job at explaining what their trauma is and even allows them to show a lot of growth for their actions which is really well done to pull off.
There will be moments that might test your tolerances to certain subjects but if you can make it through then there is a memorable cast to be met.
Overall The Caligula Effect is a flawed new ip but one whose concept lays a fantastic foundation to build off. The characters carry a slightly messy jrpg experience but if you can stick with it, then you will find something to love about it!
The game itself is alright. It's a nicely paced 25-30 hour JRPG that doesn't waste the players time with fluff. The dungeons are very SMT/early Persona like, basically corridor/hallway like in design and unfortunately don't really deviate enough with puzzles or memorable gimmicks so they can drag on a little. The music for the dungeons is incredible though, each with their own unique song that gains lyrics whenever you enter a battle which is a nice touch. They could've done with having longer loops as they can get repetitive but the songs are all really good.
Now where the game really shines is in its characters, story, and setting.
As someone who fell in love with the concept of a digital world with Digimon, seeing something else explore that with the addition of virtual idols is right up my alley. Basically people who are done with their real life are drawn into Mobius, a virtual world, after they hear a virtual idol singing. It's a place where people can be whoever they want and abandon their trauma. The Virtuadolls take away their negative energy in hopes of making them happy and it's a really cool concept.
What's also cool is its wonderful cast of characters, each with their own stories where you can delve into their trauma and find out why they are the way they are. These characters all deal with something that is bound to be relatable to someone out there. Eating disorders, abusive parents, bullying, suicide and more are all tackled as you dive into character episodes and it's great to see a game tackle these issues. I can't say it handles everything perfectly (there are some scenes that poke fun at obesity which feel out of place for example) but I did find myself relating to a lot of these characters and the problems they faced in their lives and that is what makes this game special. Kotono has become one of my favourite characters of all time because of how much I could relate to her specific issues.
And it's not just your party members you can bond with for these episodes, Overdose lets you bond with the enemy Musicians you fight throughout the story and while some of these characters can be extremely difficult to stand at first, the game does an excellent job at explaining what their trauma is and even allows them to show a lot of growth for their actions which is really well done to pull off.
There will be moments that might test your tolerances to certain subjects but if you can make it through then there is a memorable cast to be met.
Overall The Caligula Effect is a flawed new ip but one whose concept lays a fantastic foundation to build off. The characters carry a slightly messy jrpg experience but if you can stick with it, then you will find something to love about it!
2011
Toad Circuit
Standard circuit course but with a glider section
Daisy Hills
Neat village course with a little sheep/goat on it. Flying through the hot air balloons is cool too
Cheep Cheep Cape
Standard beach style course but with an underwater section
Shy Guy Bazaar
Unique course theme with a cool layout. Gliding past a shy guy on a flying carpet is neat
Wuhu Island Loop
A single lap course around Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort. There's plenty of little shortcuts and some traffic to dodge
Mario Circuit
Driving through Peach's castle is cool but a little short lived. Otherwise a pretty standard circuit affair
Melody Motorway
This one is super cool!! Driving over different instruments for musical effects, head banging piranha plants and really tight drifting sections
Alpine Pass
Features a cool uphill section where you have to avoid boulders tumbling down
Piranha Plant Pipeway
Themed after an underground SMB level, this course is so cool going through a pipe underground, dodging goombas and piranha plants before coming back up for one small outdoor section
Wario's Galleon
An underwater shipwreak and it's pretty cool. Very good course layout with alternate routes to find and optimal paths
Koopa City
Awesome layout for drifting and the rainy night aesthetic is so cool
Wuhu Mountain Loop
Sunset style course through a mountain which makes the more interesting Wuhu course. Single lap again but a cool glider finish where you can choose your path
DK Jungle
DKC Returns inspired course and it's sooooo good. We got Tiki's to avoid, a banger ost, and great course layout
Rosalina's Ice World
Dunno why but this one feels really generic "ice world" for some reason. The layout is decent but it's lacking something
Bowser's Castle
It's BC making full use of MK7's mechanics. Solid course though it's weird having an underwater section in BC lmao
Rainbow Road
Arguably the best RR in the series. Starting on a rainbow road in space before driving around a planet and landing on a moon in what is an excellent use of the single lap system
Standard circuit course but with a glider section
Daisy Hills
Neat village course with a little sheep/goat on it. Flying through the hot air balloons is cool too
Cheep Cheep Cape
Standard beach style course but with an underwater section
Shy Guy Bazaar
Unique course theme with a cool layout. Gliding past a shy guy on a flying carpet is neat
Wuhu Island Loop
A single lap course around Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort. There's plenty of little shortcuts and some traffic to dodge
Mario Circuit
Driving through Peach's castle is cool but a little short lived. Otherwise a pretty standard circuit affair
Melody Motorway
This one is super cool!! Driving over different instruments for musical effects, head banging piranha plants and really tight drifting sections
Alpine Pass
Features a cool uphill section where you have to avoid boulders tumbling down
Piranha Plant Pipeway
Themed after an underground SMB level, this course is so cool going through a pipe underground, dodging goombas and piranha plants before coming back up for one small outdoor section
Wario's Galleon
An underwater shipwreak and it's pretty cool. Very good course layout with alternate routes to find and optimal paths
Koopa City
Awesome layout for drifting and the rainy night aesthetic is so cool
Wuhu Mountain Loop
Sunset style course through a mountain which makes the more interesting Wuhu course. Single lap again but a cool glider finish where you can choose your path
DK Jungle
DKC Returns inspired course and it's sooooo good. We got Tiki's to avoid, a banger ost, and great course layout
Rosalina's Ice World
Dunno why but this one feels really generic "ice world" for some reason. The layout is decent but it's lacking something
Bowser's Castle
It's BC making full use of MK7's mechanics. Solid course though it's weird having an underwater section in BC lmao
Rainbow Road
Arguably the best RR in the series. Starting on a rainbow road in space before driving around a planet and landing on a moon in what is an excellent use of the single lap system
2008
Luigi Circuit
Standard circuit course that doesn't have much in the way to even use the new trick stuff on
Moo Moo Meadows
IT HAS COWS!!!! THAT GO ON THE COURSE!!!!! And some monty moles near the end too. Decent early course
Mushroom Gorge
Pretty cool course with a lot of mushrooms to bounce from as you try to find the best route forward
Toad's Factory
Really cool factory themed course with conveyer belts and moving platforms
Mario Circuit
Similar to the GCN one with a large chain chomp but a way less interesting layout
Coconut Mall
AN ICONIC COURSE!! Racing through a mall is so cool with having to judge escalator directions and the moving cars at the end
DK's Snowboard Cross
Really cool track, starting by firing to the top of a snow covered mountain and you work your way down. The end section with the snowboarding shy guys and trick ramps is awesome
Wario's Goldmine
Another really cool course going through a goldmine with bats and minecarts to dodge
Daisy Circuit
One of the more interesting circuit courses with a neat shortcut and a cool double roundabout section
Koopa Cape
Pretty cool course with an underwater section where getting zapped will shrink you
Maple Treeway
Neat setting with leaves scattered about that can have mushrooms or bananas hidden in them and two giant wigglers to avoid too
Grumble Volcano
Very dynamic course that slowly loses more and more bits as the race goes on, making each lap more intense as fireballs rain down
Dry Dry Ruins
Cool desert course with pillars falling over to create trick jumps and a section that eventually fills with sand forcing you to drive round or boost through with a mushroom
Moonview Highway
One of those traffic courses but set on a highway at night with speedboosts galore to make for a fun course
Bowser's Castle
Solid BC course with a giant bowser spitting fire balls at you and the end section including lava geysers you can trick off
Rainbow Road
Typical Rainbow Road course with plenty of areas to fall off. A wavy section to trick off too but not much else to stand out from other RR
Standard circuit course that doesn't have much in the way to even use the new trick stuff on
Moo Moo Meadows
IT HAS COWS!!!! THAT GO ON THE COURSE!!!!! And some monty moles near the end too. Decent early course
Mushroom Gorge
Pretty cool course with a lot of mushrooms to bounce from as you try to find the best route forward
Toad's Factory
Really cool factory themed course with conveyer belts and moving platforms
Mario Circuit
Similar to the GCN one with a large chain chomp but a way less interesting layout
Coconut Mall
AN ICONIC COURSE!! Racing through a mall is so cool with having to judge escalator directions and the moving cars at the end
DK's Snowboard Cross
Really cool track, starting by firing to the top of a snow covered mountain and you work your way down. The end section with the snowboarding shy guys and trick ramps is awesome
Wario's Goldmine
Another really cool course going through a goldmine with bats and minecarts to dodge
Daisy Circuit
One of the more interesting circuit courses with a neat shortcut and a cool double roundabout section
Koopa Cape
Pretty cool course with an underwater section where getting zapped will shrink you
Maple Treeway
Neat setting with leaves scattered about that can have mushrooms or bananas hidden in them and two giant wigglers to avoid too
Grumble Volcano
Very dynamic course that slowly loses more and more bits as the race goes on, making each lap more intense as fireballs rain down
Dry Dry Ruins
Cool desert course with pillars falling over to create trick jumps and a section that eventually fills with sand forcing you to drive round or boost through with a mushroom
Moonview Highway
One of those traffic courses but set on a highway at night with speedboosts galore to make for a fun course
Bowser's Castle
Solid BC course with a giant bowser spitting fire balls at you and the end section including lava geysers you can trick off
Rainbow Road
Typical Rainbow Road course with plenty of areas to fall off. A wavy section to trick off too but not much else to stand out from other RR
Luigi Circuit
It's a figure 8 but the centre has no walls so chaos ensues when racers are heading in opposite directions
Peach Beach
Has a random offshoot for some reason and annoying quack a lacks but a solid beach course
Baby Park
It's simple but the fact items can go over the middle means this course can become extremely hectic
Dry Dry Desert
There's a twister and plenty of Pokeys to cause trouble here. Also a big sinking sand pit too!
Mushroom Bridge
Pretty cool vehicle based course where you can drive over the bridge suspension if you're steady enough and there's a decent mushroom shortcut
Mario Circuit
We got chain chomps, goombas and piranha plants to dodge here in an unusually lively circuit course
Daisy Cruiser
One of the best MK courses! You're on a cruise ship having to dodge sliding tables and can even fall to a lower level before being blasted back to the deck
Waluigi Stadium
Jumps abound through rings of fire! Giant piranha plants to dodge and an all round excellent course
Sherbet Land
The ice is way too slippy here but the shy guys skating is neat. There's also giant freezies that can be difficult to dodge
Mushroom City
The traffic drives against you here making for a difficult course. It features split routes though making for an interesting layout
Yoshi Circuit
THEY MADE A COURSE OUT OF YOSHI!!!! GOAT
DK Mountain
Fired out of a cannon to the top of a mountain then driving down that mountain avoiding boulders and cracked paths? Awesome course
Wario Colosseum
An awesome colosseum course that is pretty long. Very good layout full of great turns and leaps
Dino Dino Jungle
A dinosaur themed course! Featuring one big dino boy and geysers that erupt to dodge. This is a very good course
Bowser's Castle
Features everything you want from a BC, giant fire balls to dodge, difficult track layout and a giant bowser firing fireballs at you!
Rainbow Road
It's a fine course but as a RR, it's one of the more forgettable ones unfortuantely
It's a figure 8 but the centre has no walls so chaos ensues when racers are heading in opposite directions
Peach Beach
Has a random offshoot for some reason and annoying quack a lacks but a solid beach course
Baby Park
It's simple but the fact items can go over the middle means this course can become extremely hectic
Dry Dry Desert
There's a twister and plenty of Pokeys to cause trouble here. Also a big sinking sand pit too!
Mushroom Bridge
Pretty cool vehicle based course where you can drive over the bridge suspension if you're steady enough and there's a decent mushroom shortcut
Mario Circuit
We got chain chomps, goombas and piranha plants to dodge here in an unusually lively circuit course
Daisy Cruiser
One of the best MK courses! You're on a cruise ship having to dodge sliding tables and can even fall to a lower level before being blasted back to the deck
Waluigi Stadium
Jumps abound through rings of fire! Giant piranha plants to dodge and an all round excellent course
Sherbet Land
The ice is way too slippy here but the shy guys skating is neat. There's also giant freezies that can be difficult to dodge
Mushroom City
The traffic drives against you here making for a difficult course. It features split routes though making for an interesting layout
Yoshi Circuit
THEY MADE A COURSE OUT OF YOSHI!!!! GOAT
DK Mountain
Fired out of a cannon to the top of a mountain then driving down that mountain avoiding boulders and cracked paths? Awesome course
Wario Colosseum
An awesome colosseum course that is pretty long. Very good layout full of great turns and leaps
Dino Dino Jungle
A dinosaur themed course! Featuring one big dino boy and geysers that erupt to dodge. This is a very good course
Bowser's Castle
Features everything you want from a BC, giant fire balls to dodge, difficult track layout and a giant bowser firing fireballs at you!
Rainbow Road
It's a fine course but as a RR, it's one of the more forgettable ones unfortuantely
Peach Circuit
It's a fine introductory course, not much more
Shy Guy Beach
Features a ship in the background firing canons at you which is neat, otherwise it's pretty similar to SNES Koopa Beach 1
Riverside Park
Pretty cool course theme and track layout with a couple of neat jumps
Bowser Castle 1
Pretty simple BC. Got thwomps and jumps over lava but there's better ones
Mario Circuit
Pretty simple and standard Circuit style course
Boo Lake
Neat Ghost Valley style course with plenty of gaps and a narrow split path for those willing to take it
Cheese Land
Iconic course with little mice that get in your way
Bowser Castle 2
It's another BC course.... jump over lava, tight turns, thwomps ect
Luigi Circuit
Best of the circuit courses. Rainy weather and puddles to avoid help make it stand out
Sky Garden
Cool theme but it's a pretty simple course
Cheep-Cheep Island
Beach course at sunset and driving over rickety bridges with water gaps in them, pretty cool
Sunset Wilds
THE ICONIC GBA COURSE. The course starts at sunset and slowly fades to night as you avoid shy guys during your race
Snow Land
Would be a decent course if the screen wasn't shaking the whole time? We got penguins, snowmen and ice patches
Ribbon Road
Iconic theme with a few cool jumps in it
Yoshi Desert
It's a desert course alright. A couple of sinking sand sections but otherwise forgettable
Bowser Castle 3
It's BC but blue this time! And that actually kinda makes it better. Cool layout and plenty of wall less grates that make the lava dangerous
Lakeside Park
Really cool course with a volcano that erupts spewing lava balls at you and really tight turns that can leap you over walls in the wrong direction if you're not careful
Broken Pier
Basically what you expect from a late game ghost course, plenty of gaps to fall down
Bowser Castle 4
The culmination of the previous BCs. We got lava, thwomps, jumps, split paths, and even toy koopas to contend with. Really solid course
Rainbow Road
Nearly all the walls are jumps allowing for some pretty crazy shortcuts and chaotic races. There's also dangerous stars and plenty of speed boosts throughout
It's a fine introductory course, not much more
Shy Guy Beach
Features a ship in the background firing canons at you which is neat, otherwise it's pretty similar to SNES Koopa Beach 1
Riverside Park
Pretty cool course theme and track layout with a couple of neat jumps
Bowser Castle 1
Pretty simple BC. Got thwomps and jumps over lava but there's better ones
Mario Circuit
Pretty simple and standard Circuit style course
Boo Lake
Neat Ghost Valley style course with plenty of gaps and a narrow split path for those willing to take it
Cheese Land
Iconic course with little mice that get in your way
Bowser Castle 2
It's another BC course.... jump over lava, tight turns, thwomps ect
Luigi Circuit
Best of the circuit courses. Rainy weather and puddles to avoid help make it stand out
Sky Garden
Cool theme but it's a pretty simple course
Cheep-Cheep Island
Beach course at sunset and driving over rickety bridges with water gaps in them, pretty cool
Sunset Wilds
THE ICONIC GBA COURSE. The course starts at sunset and slowly fades to night as you avoid shy guys during your race
Snow Land
Would be a decent course if the screen wasn't shaking the whole time? We got penguins, snowmen and ice patches
Ribbon Road
Iconic theme with a few cool jumps in it
Yoshi Desert
It's a desert course alright. A couple of sinking sand sections but otherwise forgettable
Bowser Castle 3
It's BC but blue this time! And that actually kinda makes it better. Cool layout and plenty of wall less grates that make the lava dangerous
Lakeside Park
Really cool course with a volcano that erupts spewing lava balls at you and really tight turns that can leap you over walls in the wrong direction if you're not careful
Broken Pier
Basically what you expect from a late game ghost course, plenty of gaps to fall down
Bowser Castle 4
The culmination of the previous BCs. We got lava, thwomps, jumps, split paths, and even toy koopas to contend with. Really solid course
Rainbow Road
Nearly all the walls are jumps allowing for some pretty crazy shortcuts and chaotic races. There's also dangerous stars and plenty of speed boosts throughout