7LeggdSpidrEater
16 reviews liked by 7LeggdSpidrEater
Drakengard
2003
This game got me in a fucking chokehold, because oh my god this is the fifth log and I really hope it will be the last one.
Drakengard is, first and foremost, an experience. Every single aspect of it is a cog in the machine that works tirelessly to create the feeling of pure madness in a rapidly crumbling world, whether it is gameplay, narrative, music or art design. Judging those elements by themselves is pointless, if you analyse this game critically it easily falls apart and you lose a track of what it makes Drakengard truly special. Not to say that those elements are BAD, hell even gameplay is nowhere near "the worst game I played" or "intentionally bad" and is completely serviceable, they are just not really THAT interesting in vacuum, like e.g. Automata's story or Replicant's characters.
Drakengard is hardly enjoyable, not even in cathartic sense. I found it unengaging and straight up frustrating at times, but you know... It is fine that way. Yeah, gameplay is insanely repetitive and clunky, but it is fine that way. Music is pure cacophony to your ears, but it is fine that way. Characters might not develop past their horrible traits, but it is fine that way. Story might be just a constant steam of the unfortunate events with barely any satisfaction, but it is fine that way.
Because the moment you process it all and put everything together in your head is the moment the thought like "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" strucks into your head and you finally realize how masterfully Drakengard portrays the whole sense of dread, terror, insanity and hopelessness in such a surreal horrifying story, is practically irreplaceable. Every single part of it works just right for its cause and it's absolutely fantastic.
This conclusion might not come immediately, it might take few days, a week, a month(or two, in my case), a year or who knows, maybe never.
But that's the thing that elevates Drakengard above other games, it is art in its rawest, crazy and pain-in-the-ass-to-engage-with form. An absolute must-play whether you will love it or hate it.
Drakengard is, first and foremost, an experience. Every single aspect of it is a cog in the machine that works tirelessly to create the feeling of pure madness in a rapidly crumbling world, whether it is gameplay, narrative, music or art design. Judging those elements by themselves is pointless, if you analyse this game critically it easily falls apart and you lose a track of what it makes Drakengard truly special. Not to say that those elements are BAD, hell even gameplay is nowhere near "the worst game I played" or "intentionally bad" and is completely serviceable, they are just not really THAT interesting in vacuum, like e.g. Automata's story or Replicant's characters.
Drakengard is hardly enjoyable, not even in cathartic sense. I found it unengaging and straight up frustrating at times, but you know... It is fine that way. Yeah, gameplay is insanely repetitive and clunky, but it is fine that way. Music is pure cacophony to your ears, but it is fine that way. Characters might not develop past their horrible traits, but it is fine that way. Story might be just a constant steam of the unfortunate events with barely any satisfaction, but it is fine that way.
Because the moment you process it all and put everything together in your head is the moment the thought like "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" strucks into your head and you finally realize how masterfully Drakengard portrays the whole sense of dread, terror, insanity and hopelessness in such a surreal horrifying story, is practically irreplaceable. Every single part of it works just right for its cause and it's absolutely fantastic.
This conclusion might not come immediately, it might take few days, a week, a month(or two, in my case), a year or who knows, maybe never.
But that's the thing that elevates Drakengard above other games, it is art in its rawest, crazy and pain-in-the-ass-to-engage-with form. An absolute must-play whether you will love it or hate it.
Metroid Dread
2021
This review contains spoilers
Metroid Dread is without a doubt one of the best 2D platformers ever made. It perfects the classic Metroid formula while also bringing in many new twists to the gameplay to freshen up the experience. It is going to be very difficult for me to name everything amazing about this game, so forgive me if I miss one of the many things this game gets right.
Metroid Dread has some unbelievably smooth controls. Samus nearly always does exactly what you want her to do. You almost never feel like you're losing any momentum while performing any given action. The returning melee attack from Samus Returns really helps with momentum as well. Rather than having to stop and shoot if an enemy is in your way, you can simply time your melee attack correctly to get a really satisfying camera effect and keep all your speed. All of this is aided by the game's incredible animation fluidly connecting everything together. Samus never clips into any other objects, and her model never jumps around from pose to pose. Everything she does while controlled by the player looks as if it could be found within a cutscene as well.
One of the things Metroid Dread does best is fooling the player into thinking they're a genius. Despite being a metroidvania, Metroid Dread doesn't really open up that much. There are many times where there is only one set route for the player to take and get to where they need to be, but the game does a very good job hiding this. The map is so naturally designed to point the player to where they need to be at any given moment that most players will likely just take the game's intended path first. They'll feel clever about it too, because from the player's perspective they just figured out how to navigate Metroid Dread's maze of a map on their first try. It is a personal skill of mine to be able to get lost in the simplest maps imaginable while playing literally any video game, so I feel like the fact that I was never confused on where to go for more than 5 minutes, not even once, really says something about how great this game's map is.
Now for one last subject on the topic of gameplay, THIS GAME HAS AMAZING BOSSES!!! I am generally someone that struggles while playing difficult video games, but Metroid Dreads bosses had me coming back for more every single time I was defeated. Despite most of them having huge flashy attacks that seem impossible to avoid, they slowly become more and more recognisable the more you fight each boss over and over. You’ll need to be able to remain composed in frantic and crazy situations and have full knowledge of each boss's moveset if you want to have any hope of taking them down. But once you finally do, it seems hard to believe that you ever could have struggled at all in the first place. You learn so much during each fight that you feel (in a similar way to mastering navigation) like a genius after every one, despite that being (also similar to navigation) the game's exact intention.
I touched on presentation briefly before, but I'll go into more detail here. This game looks absolutely amazing. As I previously mentioned, all of the game's animations are great, but there's more to it than that. To start, the game graphically looks really excellent. Despite the map you interact with being fairly blocky and video game-ish, It always blends perfectly into the beautiful backgrounds on each map. All of the backgrounds manage to be unique in their own way through incredible lighting, wonderfully realistic weather effects, meticulously crafted environments, and a general sense of life to everywhere you visit. I have never before played a 2D game that was able to make me feel so small in such massive areas. Also, because every location on every map is so detailed, the camera can pan all over the place and never has to be restricted to a purely 2D perspective. It's another major reason this game looks so good and feels so fun to play. When fighting bosses or discovering major locations the camera can go absolutely crazy and make you feel like you're watching an action movie.
One aspect I did not feel so positively about was the story. All of the game's cutscenes look great, it was very cool to see Samus interacting with real life chozos, and It's certainly cool that the game tries to be a conclusion to the original 2D metroid storyline. The problem is that it doesn't really conclude anything. I really wish Nintendo wasn't allergic to having a full proper story in their games the way other developers do. While it's true that story isn't absolutely necessary and fun is most important, stories in games can elevate them to much higher levels than they would otherwise be able to achieve, and I feel that there was a significant amount of missed potential here. It was very disappointing for the story to end simply with the planet exploding and then 5 seconds later… credits. Samus being a metroid is cool, but what does it mean for her? What are the consequences? Why do her powers suddenly disappear at the end of the game? Why does the X parasite become loyal to her? None of it is properly explained. It feels like it all happens for the sake of an easy ending. It's disappointing both as a conclusion to the series and as a reward for beating the game's very tough final boss.
As I’m writing this I’m realizing I never wrote anything about the E.M.M.I. sequences, so I'll put that here. They are pretty horrifying and stressful at first, but similar to the bosses they begin to get predictable and avoidable over time. It is very satisfying to become more and more skilled at evading them throughout the course of the game, Especially while each new E.M.M.I. ends up being better at hunting you than the last. I’d say that they do initially succeed at creating the desired feeling of dread the game tries to give you.
Overall metroid dread is incredible. Despite my disappointment with the narrative, the game presents itself so well it's hard for me to be stuck on that one issue. The fluid gameplay, amazing boss fights, excellent level design, and great sense of atmosphere is what really makes the game for me. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 19 years for the next 2D Metroid game.
Metroid Dread has some unbelievably smooth controls. Samus nearly always does exactly what you want her to do. You almost never feel like you're losing any momentum while performing any given action. The returning melee attack from Samus Returns really helps with momentum as well. Rather than having to stop and shoot if an enemy is in your way, you can simply time your melee attack correctly to get a really satisfying camera effect and keep all your speed. All of this is aided by the game's incredible animation fluidly connecting everything together. Samus never clips into any other objects, and her model never jumps around from pose to pose. Everything she does while controlled by the player looks as if it could be found within a cutscene as well.
One of the things Metroid Dread does best is fooling the player into thinking they're a genius. Despite being a metroidvania, Metroid Dread doesn't really open up that much. There are many times where there is only one set route for the player to take and get to where they need to be, but the game does a very good job hiding this. The map is so naturally designed to point the player to where they need to be at any given moment that most players will likely just take the game's intended path first. They'll feel clever about it too, because from the player's perspective they just figured out how to navigate Metroid Dread's maze of a map on their first try. It is a personal skill of mine to be able to get lost in the simplest maps imaginable while playing literally any video game, so I feel like the fact that I was never confused on where to go for more than 5 minutes, not even once, really says something about how great this game's map is.
Now for one last subject on the topic of gameplay, THIS GAME HAS AMAZING BOSSES!!! I am generally someone that struggles while playing difficult video games, but Metroid Dreads bosses had me coming back for more every single time I was defeated. Despite most of them having huge flashy attacks that seem impossible to avoid, they slowly become more and more recognisable the more you fight each boss over and over. You’ll need to be able to remain composed in frantic and crazy situations and have full knowledge of each boss's moveset if you want to have any hope of taking them down. But once you finally do, it seems hard to believe that you ever could have struggled at all in the first place. You learn so much during each fight that you feel (in a similar way to mastering navigation) like a genius after every one, despite that being (also similar to navigation) the game's exact intention.
I touched on presentation briefly before, but I'll go into more detail here. This game looks absolutely amazing. As I previously mentioned, all of the game's animations are great, but there's more to it than that. To start, the game graphically looks really excellent. Despite the map you interact with being fairly blocky and video game-ish, It always blends perfectly into the beautiful backgrounds on each map. All of the backgrounds manage to be unique in their own way through incredible lighting, wonderfully realistic weather effects, meticulously crafted environments, and a general sense of life to everywhere you visit. I have never before played a 2D game that was able to make me feel so small in such massive areas. Also, because every location on every map is so detailed, the camera can pan all over the place and never has to be restricted to a purely 2D perspective. It's another major reason this game looks so good and feels so fun to play. When fighting bosses or discovering major locations the camera can go absolutely crazy and make you feel like you're watching an action movie.
One aspect I did not feel so positively about was the story. All of the game's cutscenes look great, it was very cool to see Samus interacting with real life chozos, and It's certainly cool that the game tries to be a conclusion to the original 2D metroid storyline. The problem is that it doesn't really conclude anything. I really wish Nintendo wasn't allergic to having a full proper story in their games the way other developers do. While it's true that story isn't absolutely necessary and fun is most important, stories in games can elevate them to much higher levels than they would otherwise be able to achieve, and I feel that there was a significant amount of missed potential here. It was very disappointing for the story to end simply with the planet exploding and then 5 seconds later… credits. Samus being a metroid is cool, but what does it mean for her? What are the consequences? Why do her powers suddenly disappear at the end of the game? Why does the X parasite become loyal to her? None of it is properly explained. It feels like it all happens for the sake of an easy ending. It's disappointing both as a conclusion to the series and as a reward for beating the game's very tough final boss.
As I’m writing this I’m realizing I never wrote anything about the E.M.M.I. sequences, so I'll put that here. They are pretty horrifying and stressful at first, but similar to the bosses they begin to get predictable and avoidable over time. It is very satisfying to become more and more skilled at evading them throughout the course of the game, Especially while each new E.M.M.I. ends up being better at hunting you than the last. I’d say that they do initially succeed at creating the desired feeling of dread the game tries to give you.
Overall metroid dread is incredible. Despite my disappointment with the narrative, the game presents itself so well it's hard for me to be stuck on that one issue. The fluid gameplay, amazing boss fights, excellent level design, and great sense of atmosphere is what really makes the game for me. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 19 years for the next 2D Metroid game.
Metroid Dread
2021
Being my first actual Metriod game, it's a strong reminder that it's the half namesake of the "metriodvania" sub-genre for a reason.
Metroid Dread
2021
gave me many panic attacks
This is one if not the best rougelike of all time and no matter how much time passes it will still be regarded as the goat.
I fucking hate this game
Judgment
2021
This review contains spoilers
"These guys won't stop comin on us"
OK DUDE THIS IS SOME VERY GOOD FRICKING SHIT!!!! I already knew that i was gonna love this game because it's a detective game and i love detective stuff!(detective conan my beloved) And i also have a few friends who really love the game, so that probably pushed my expectations higher.
Judgment introduces a bunch of new things that aren't present in the yakuza games. One of the new features is the investigation mode, which is when the player has to look around for clues (you can also find cats during the investigation mode :3). Other new features include:lock picking, a dope ass drone that you can fly and a bunch of funny disguises. Am i forgetting something? Oh right tailing missions! Yayyyy i love following slow ass suspects while trying to not be spotted yayyy!
What about the combat? DUDE ITS SO FRICKING GOOD!!! Judgment brings back style switching but unlike in 0 and kiwami you only have 2 fighting styles which may not seem much but it is more than enough. Crane style in my opinion is insanely underrated, a lot of ppl call it inferior to the tiger style and some ppl have flat out called it useless, but i disagree. Crane style is only useless when used against bosses but when you utilize it against large groups of enemies, you will absolutely devastate everything around you because crane style is much faster and has a much wider range than tiger style. Tiger style isn't very good against large groups of enemies because it has less range and it's less faster than crane style, BUTT tiger style is much more useful against bosses since it has the ability to break guards and tiger style has the flux fissure which is insultingly overpowered since it can deal massive amounts of damage and it can charge your ex gauge by a lot if you upgrade it. You can also juggle enemies in the air which is very fun. You also have the ex boost which can be activated by pressing R2, and once you activate it Yagami becomes an unstoppable force.
Lastly Yagami has the ability to perform a wall jump, and by pressing the attack button you can do a wall jump attack (is that how you call it) and obviously there are ex actions aswell.
The boss were overall very solid in my opinion. There are many bosses where the crane style gets to shine and a few bosses where the tiger style gets to shine. A good example of a boss where the crane style shines is Satoshi Shioya because it has a large group of enemies, and a good example of a boss where the tiger style shines is the 2nd Hamura fight because you are only fighting a single guy. Anyways my favorite bosses in this game are:
3. Toru Higashi 2nd fight:
This boss fight is insanely underrated in my opinion, both fighting styles get some spotlight, Higashi has a dope ass moveset, the music absolutely slaps and the dynamic intro is obviously amazing.
2.Cane man:
You fight this dude a bunch of times and everytime you fight him, he whips out a new weapon which changes his moveset and that is just very cool, and cane man's theme really slaps.
1. Mitsuru Kuroiwa 2nd fight:
Ok this honestly might be my favorite boss out of all the rgg games that i played. First of all we all know how amazing that dynamic intro is, and i especially love how in the intro Yagami and Kuroiwa are in the same pose which shows how identical their moveset is. The setting in this fight is unique and amazing, and the music is very awesome too! Another awesome thing about this fight is that after you beat Kuroiwa, Kuroiwa returns from the dead and injects idk a phoenix down to himself, he regains all of his health and the 2nd phase starts.
Ok now lets talk about side content.
Judgment replaces substories with side cases, and most side cases consist of Yagami taking a job from someone, and similar to substories, side cases are way less serious than the main story. Side cases can be unlocked by increasing your city reputations which is done by increasing your friendship with people scattered around kamurocho.
I honestly really liked the ability to befriend people since normally they would just be boring npcs that you forget that exist, and they did a really good job at making most of them have unique personalities. A few of these people that you befriend can actually be found wandering around kamurocho, and whenever i see one of them it kind of reminds me of those times where you randomly meet a friend in public, and some of them will actually help you in random encounters.They weren't gonna make the drone feel underused so they made a fricking drone racing minigame which is a lot of fun in my opinion. There's also this paradise vr minigame where you throw dice and have to reach a goal. Lastly there are a few side cases that you are actually forced to do during the main story, and some people call them useless filler but i will call them fun filler, because those side cases were fun af and you know it!
Kamurocho in this game looks absolutely beautiful, i think they stepped it up a bit in visuals and graphics.
The leveling system is honestly really solid, it is much better than yakuza 6's level system mainly because this time you only have 1 single currency, which is just enough for me.
Ok time for the best thing about this game which is the story. Our main protagonist is Takoyaki Yagami, an ex lawyer who is now a detective. 3 people died with their eyes gouged out and the Matsugane family captain Hamura gets arrested because they think that he has commited one of the murders. Yagami and a lawyer named Shintani succesfully defend Hamura, but Yagami wants to pursue the truth and find the real killer also knows as the mole. My favorite part about the story of judgment is its fantastic cast of characters.
Yagami is an amazing protagonist, do i love him a lot because i am a sucker for detective characters like the GOAT detective gumshoe? Hell yeah! But for me he is a really well written character aswell.
Yagami doesn't forgive himself for proving a killer named Shinpei Okubo innocent in the past, but this whole thing motivates him to pursue the truth and find who is behind all the murders in the game because he knows what happens if he doesn't, and Yagami never attempts to give up despite facing many obstacles throughout the main story. Deciding to chase the truth was probably the best decision that Yagami has ever made, because he learns that Shinpei Okubo was actually innocent, and there's one particular scene in the game where Yagami tells Okubo that he believes that he is innocent, and this scene is very important to Yagami's character because he forgives himself and his past doesn't weigh him down anymore, and for Okubo it was a possibility to not fucking die because of a crime he didn't commit.
Yagami is not alone in pursuing the truth because he is joined by a bunch of friends.
Masaharu Kaito is easily my favorite side character in this game. Kaito used to be in the matsugane family but he was a big obstacle to Hamura, one of the villains of the game, so Hamura got him kicked out of the family, and after that Kaito became Yagami's loyal partner. Kaito is the definition of a loveable character, there is nothing i hate about this guy, he offers plenty of help to Yagami, he is funny, he is cool, and idk man he is just a very awesome bro character.
During the main story Yagami gains 2 new allies which are Toru Higashi and Sugiura.
Sugiura is a particular character, at first he was basically just a mysterious masked guy who randomly decides to help you, but then we find out that his real name is Fumiya Terisawa, Emi Terasawa's brother (the girl who we thought got murdered by Shinpei Okubo but she actually got murdered by someone else). Helping out Yagami was a good decision because if he didn't, the real killer of Emi would've never been found.
Toru Higashi is quite a cool dude. Higashi used to be close with Kaito but they got separated after Kaito got expelled from the matsugane clan. He was first introduced as a person who changed and became a tougher and meaner dude, but we quickly learn that behind all that toughness lies a kind person.
Genda and Matsugane are 2 people that Yagami see as a father figure.
Saori and Hoshino are also pretty memorable characters who lend a hand to Yagami during the main story.
The villains in this game are absolutely awesome sauce.
Kyohei Hamura is a really well written villain. Despite being quite an unlikeable asshole, Hamura's actions were for the benefit of his clan. What makes Hamura a sympathetic villain is that his actions lead to the death of Matsugane, and for once Hamura isn't being a huge cunt, instead we see him feel sorry, and after that Hamura actually decides to help Yagami by revealing him the identity of the mole and giving him some crucial evidence for the trial in the final chapter.
Shono is quite a particular villain, he isn't strong or scary looking like many rgg villains, shit if you told me that he was a child cosplaying as a scientist then i would believe you. Shono is basically the main reason why the main story happened.
Kuroiwa is without a doubt the best villain in this game. Similar to Hamura, Kuroiwa is a character that you first think is an asshole but unlike Hamura, Kuroiwa doesn't get any sort of redemption arc. After it is revealed that he is the mole Kuroiwa steals the spotlight for every single scene that he is in, mostly because of how scary, intimidating, batshit insane and dangerous he feels. Kuroiwa is also the only one who gives Yagami a very hard time when fighting. Kuroiwa's character is brought to life by Shosuke Tanihara's fantastic voice acting, he fuckin killed it.
Music is fucking amazing like i expected it to be so here are my favorite tracks:
My own style plays during a few battles and my god does it slap! I probably love this one so much because i am a sucker for tracks with vocals even tho the rapping here is barely understandable.
Flower of chivalry is my favorite boss theme in this game and it's one of my favorite boss themes in general, and that fucking guitar man🔥.
Penumbra is Kuroiwa's boss theme and not only does it kick ass but it also fits Kuroiwa perfectly in my opinion.
Destination plays during the final long battle. Hearing this while kicking the ass of many cops with the whole gang was an amazing moment.
Arpeggio plays during the opening cinematic, and this is easily one of my favorite vocal tracks in videogames.
Alright alright time for the flaws of this game.
Even tho i think that the side cases were good overall, i heavily dislike the fact that a handful of them include boring and tedious tailing missions.
The keihin gang invasions and mortal wounds can be described with 2 words: mildly infuriating. Even tho i didn't mind them, i can understand why ppl think that investigations can be quite annoying.
Judgment may have a few annoying issues but honestly who cares when so many things about the game are so amazing?
10/10 one of favorite games of all time
OK DUDE THIS IS SOME VERY GOOD FRICKING SHIT!!!! I already knew that i was gonna love this game because it's a detective game and i love detective stuff!(detective conan my beloved) And i also have a few friends who really love the game, so that probably pushed my expectations higher.
Judgment introduces a bunch of new things that aren't present in the yakuza games. One of the new features is the investigation mode, which is when the player has to look around for clues (you can also find cats during the investigation mode :3). Other new features include:lock picking, a dope ass drone that you can fly and a bunch of funny disguises. Am i forgetting something? Oh right tailing missions! Yayyyy i love following slow ass suspects while trying to not be spotted yayyy!
What about the combat? DUDE ITS SO FRICKING GOOD!!! Judgment brings back style switching but unlike in 0 and kiwami you only have 2 fighting styles which may not seem much but it is more than enough. Crane style in my opinion is insanely underrated, a lot of ppl call it inferior to the tiger style and some ppl have flat out called it useless, but i disagree. Crane style is only useless when used against bosses but when you utilize it against large groups of enemies, you will absolutely devastate everything around you because crane style is much faster and has a much wider range than tiger style. Tiger style isn't very good against large groups of enemies because it has less range and it's less faster than crane style, BUTT tiger style is much more useful against bosses since it has the ability to break guards and tiger style has the flux fissure which is insultingly overpowered since it can deal massive amounts of damage and it can charge your ex gauge by a lot if you upgrade it. You can also juggle enemies in the air which is very fun. You also have the ex boost which can be activated by pressing R2, and once you activate it Yagami becomes an unstoppable force.
Lastly Yagami has the ability to perform a wall jump, and by pressing the attack button you can do a wall jump attack (is that how you call it) and obviously there are ex actions aswell.
The boss were overall very solid in my opinion. There are many bosses where the crane style gets to shine and a few bosses where the tiger style gets to shine. A good example of a boss where the crane style shines is Satoshi Shioya because it has a large group of enemies, and a good example of a boss where the tiger style shines is the 2nd Hamura fight because you are only fighting a single guy. Anyways my favorite bosses in this game are:
3. Toru Higashi 2nd fight:
This boss fight is insanely underrated in my opinion, both fighting styles get some spotlight, Higashi has a dope ass moveset, the music absolutely slaps and the dynamic intro is obviously amazing.
2.Cane man:
You fight this dude a bunch of times and everytime you fight him, he whips out a new weapon which changes his moveset and that is just very cool, and cane man's theme really slaps.
1. Mitsuru Kuroiwa 2nd fight:
Ok this honestly might be my favorite boss out of all the rgg games that i played. First of all we all know how amazing that dynamic intro is, and i especially love how in the intro Yagami and Kuroiwa are in the same pose which shows how identical their moveset is. The setting in this fight is unique and amazing, and the music is very awesome too! Another awesome thing about this fight is that after you beat Kuroiwa, Kuroiwa returns from the dead and injects idk a phoenix down to himself, he regains all of his health and the 2nd phase starts.
Ok now lets talk about side content.
Judgment replaces substories with side cases, and most side cases consist of Yagami taking a job from someone, and similar to substories, side cases are way less serious than the main story. Side cases can be unlocked by increasing your city reputations which is done by increasing your friendship with people scattered around kamurocho.
I honestly really liked the ability to befriend people since normally they would just be boring npcs that you forget that exist, and they did a really good job at making most of them have unique personalities. A few of these people that you befriend can actually be found wandering around kamurocho, and whenever i see one of them it kind of reminds me of those times where you randomly meet a friend in public, and some of them will actually help you in random encounters.They weren't gonna make the drone feel underused so they made a fricking drone racing minigame which is a lot of fun in my opinion. There's also this paradise vr minigame where you throw dice and have to reach a goal. Lastly there are a few side cases that you are actually forced to do during the main story, and some people call them useless filler but i will call them fun filler, because those side cases were fun af and you know it!
Kamurocho in this game looks absolutely beautiful, i think they stepped it up a bit in visuals and graphics.
The leveling system is honestly really solid, it is much better than yakuza 6's level system mainly because this time you only have 1 single currency, which is just enough for me.
Ok time for the best thing about this game which is the story. Our main protagonist is Takoyaki Yagami, an ex lawyer who is now a detective. 3 people died with their eyes gouged out and the Matsugane family captain Hamura gets arrested because they think that he has commited one of the murders. Yagami and a lawyer named Shintani succesfully defend Hamura, but Yagami wants to pursue the truth and find the real killer also knows as the mole. My favorite part about the story of judgment is its fantastic cast of characters.
Yagami is an amazing protagonist, do i love him a lot because i am a sucker for detective characters like the GOAT detective gumshoe? Hell yeah! But for me he is a really well written character aswell.
Yagami doesn't forgive himself for proving a killer named Shinpei Okubo innocent in the past, but this whole thing motivates him to pursue the truth and find who is behind all the murders in the game because he knows what happens if he doesn't, and Yagami never attempts to give up despite facing many obstacles throughout the main story. Deciding to chase the truth was probably the best decision that Yagami has ever made, because he learns that Shinpei Okubo was actually innocent, and there's one particular scene in the game where Yagami tells Okubo that he believes that he is innocent, and this scene is very important to Yagami's character because he forgives himself and his past doesn't weigh him down anymore, and for Okubo it was a possibility to not fucking die because of a crime he didn't commit.
Yagami is not alone in pursuing the truth because he is joined by a bunch of friends.
Masaharu Kaito is easily my favorite side character in this game. Kaito used to be in the matsugane family but he was a big obstacle to Hamura, one of the villains of the game, so Hamura got him kicked out of the family, and after that Kaito became Yagami's loyal partner. Kaito is the definition of a loveable character, there is nothing i hate about this guy, he offers plenty of help to Yagami, he is funny, he is cool, and idk man he is just a very awesome bro character.
During the main story Yagami gains 2 new allies which are Toru Higashi and Sugiura.
Sugiura is a particular character, at first he was basically just a mysterious masked guy who randomly decides to help you, but then we find out that his real name is Fumiya Terisawa, Emi Terasawa's brother (the girl who we thought got murdered by Shinpei Okubo but she actually got murdered by someone else). Helping out Yagami was a good decision because if he didn't, the real killer of Emi would've never been found.
Toru Higashi is quite a cool dude. Higashi used to be close with Kaito but they got separated after Kaito got expelled from the matsugane clan. He was first introduced as a person who changed and became a tougher and meaner dude, but we quickly learn that behind all that toughness lies a kind person.
Genda and Matsugane are 2 people that Yagami see as a father figure.
Saori and Hoshino are also pretty memorable characters who lend a hand to Yagami during the main story.
The villains in this game are absolutely awesome sauce.
Kyohei Hamura is a really well written villain. Despite being quite an unlikeable asshole, Hamura's actions were for the benefit of his clan. What makes Hamura a sympathetic villain is that his actions lead to the death of Matsugane, and for once Hamura isn't being a huge cunt, instead we see him feel sorry, and after that Hamura actually decides to help Yagami by revealing him the identity of the mole and giving him some crucial evidence for the trial in the final chapter.
Shono is quite a particular villain, he isn't strong or scary looking like many rgg villains, shit if you told me that he was a child cosplaying as a scientist then i would believe you. Shono is basically the main reason why the main story happened.
Kuroiwa is without a doubt the best villain in this game. Similar to Hamura, Kuroiwa is a character that you first think is an asshole but unlike Hamura, Kuroiwa doesn't get any sort of redemption arc. After it is revealed that he is the mole Kuroiwa steals the spotlight for every single scene that he is in, mostly because of how scary, intimidating, batshit insane and dangerous he feels. Kuroiwa is also the only one who gives Yagami a very hard time when fighting. Kuroiwa's character is brought to life by Shosuke Tanihara's fantastic voice acting, he fuckin killed it.
Music is fucking amazing like i expected it to be so here are my favorite tracks:
My own style plays during a few battles and my god does it slap! I probably love this one so much because i am a sucker for tracks with vocals even tho the rapping here is barely understandable.
Flower of chivalry is my favorite boss theme in this game and it's one of my favorite boss themes in general, and that fucking guitar man🔥.
Penumbra is Kuroiwa's boss theme and not only does it kick ass but it also fits Kuroiwa perfectly in my opinion.
Destination plays during the final long battle. Hearing this while kicking the ass of many cops with the whole gang was an amazing moment.
Arpeggio plays during the opening cinematic, and this is easily one of my favorite vocal tracks in videogames.
Alright alright time for the flaws of this game.
Even tho i think that the side cases were good overall, i heavily dislike the fact that a handful of them include boring and tedious tailing missions.
The keihin gang invasions and mortal wounds can be described with 2 words: mildly infuriating. Even tho i didn't mind them, i can understand why ppl think that investigations can be quite annoying.
Judgment may have a few annoying issues but honestly who cares when so many things about the game are so amazing?
10/10 one of favorite games of all time
Omori
2020
This review contains spoilers
Sí chicas soy gay y soy autista, así que me gusta omori. Es triste, es queer y tiene musiquita agradable, así que tiene todo lo que necesito. Trata la culpa, un tema muy poco tratado, y la trata con pelos y señales y sin ningún escrúpulo. Para ser un juego de gráficos pixelados, consigue alcanzar un nivel de tensión y de horror gráfico muy desagradable. No te esperas el final, jo, es que es demasiado por asimilar. Su banda sonora es de lo mejorcito que he oído, diez de diez.
Elden Ring
2022
El mundo abierto es una maravilla, me encanta el combate, las animaciones son increíbles. Este juego es genial, me encanta.
OneShot
2016
This review contains spoilers
i love you niko
man i feel like it would have been way better without the meta true ending. i want to try and get it but i hate retreading shit so even my warm feelings towards the world and niko are not enough to motivate me. sorry to the entity but yes i dont believe in happy endings <3
i think the meta stuff is fun but it's really on the nose and i dont see... the point? beyond it being "fun" but it doesn't really deliver it anywhere. what is the use in niko's or the ai's awareness of the player's existence? there's no real triumphant moment where all three come together - niko never makes a decision that you do not guide, nor does the AI really try to go rogue in attempts to protect him, it doesn't force the sun to be shattered etc. it's good framework that refuses to go anywhere
unless ofc that Does happen in the true ending but ugh. i wish i could skip the puzzles at least or something. we've already seen the world and know its worth, why make it happen again? the sense of wonder and discovery of this new world is just gone
its kind of anti-undertale where it actively encourages you to do this again instead of accepting your choices and moving on with your life rather than squeezing more juice out of the box. but i don't see the point in doing so beyond unearned yippee feel good
man i feel like it would have been way better without the meta true ending. i want to try and get it but i hate retreading shit so even my warm feelings towards the world and niko are not enough to motivate me. sorry to the entity but yes i dont believe in happy endings <3
i think the meta stuff is fun but it's really on the nose and i dont see... the point? beyond it being "fun" but it doesn't really deliver it anywhere. what is the use in niko's or the ai's awareness of the player's existence? there's no real triumphant moment where all three come together - niko never makes a decision that you do not guide, nor does the AI really try to go rogue in attempts to protect him, it doesn't force the sun to be shattered etc. it's good framework that refuses to go anywhere
unless ofc that Does happen in the true ending but ugh. i wish i could skip the puzzles at least or something. we've already seen the world and know its worth, why make it happen again? the sense of wonder and discovery of this new world is just gone
its kind of anti-undertale where it actively encourages you to do this again instead of accepting your choices and moving on with your life rather than squeezing more juice out of the box. but i don't see the point in doing so beyond unearned yippee feel good