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Bloodstained is a game that I should not have put off playing for so long. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Order of Ecclesia are two of my favorite games of all time and I knew when that this game would be more of the same.
I was honestly shocked at how much more of the same it was. I'm not an IP lawyer but buddy, I know they consulted one when they made the game. Miriam controls almost identically to how Alucard did in Symphony, the HUD and UI elements are pretty much the same too. It's all the same! And I loved playing every second of it.
Grinding for demons abilities has been reduced significantly, the map is smaller but no less visually interesting and there was just the right amount of hidden items to make exploring the map fun.
I like going for one specific build in these kinds of games so I invested all my resources into leveling the giant sword and ice abilities and the game was versatile enough to let me do this for the entire game and I had a blast.
The food system was clearly an afterthought, as was some of the villagers sidequests but honestly, those are the only nitpicks I could think of.
IGA and his team knocked it out of the park and I am extremely excited whatever project they decide to tackle next.
I was honestly shocked at how much more of the same it was. I'm not an IP lawyer but buddy, I know they consulted one when they made the game. Miriam controls almost identically to how Alucard did in Symphony, the HUD and UI elements are pretty much the same too. It's all the same! And I loved playing every second of it.
Grinding for demons abilities has been reduced significantly, the map is smaller but no less visually interesting and there was just the right amount of hidden items to make exploring the map fun.
I like going for one specific build in these kinds of games so I invested all my resources into leveling the giant sword and ice abilities and the game was versatile enough to let me do this for the entire game and I had a blast.
The food system was clearly an afterthought, as was some of the villagers sidequests but honestly, those are the only nitpicks I could think of.
IGA and his team knocked it out of the park and I am extremely excited whatever project they decide to tackle next.
Is the gameplay in this game fun? Nope.
Is the music good? Definitely not.
Does the story make sense? Not entirely, no.
Do these things blend together to create a game where you are kinda anxious and feel kinda disturbed the whole time? Oh, yeah.
Getting to ending E involved mashing a lot of Square and Triangle but you know what? It was worth it. Ending E has often been described as a joke ending but this is not on the level of Silent Hill 2's dog ending. This is a legitimately interesting, striking and off-putting ending that should not have been hidden beneath 50 hours of button mashing.
Anyway, this game utterly and completely blows. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Is the music good? Definitely not.
Does the story make sense? Not entirely, no.
Do these things blend together to create a game where you are kinda anxious and feel kinda disturbed the whole time? Oh, yeah.
Getting to ending E involved mashing a lot of Square and Triangle but you know what? It was worth it. Ending E has often been described as a joke ending but this is not on the level of Silent Hill 2's dog ending. This is a legitimately interesting, striking and off-putting ending that should not have been hidden beneath 50 hours of button mashing.
Anyway, this game utterly and completely blows. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
This review contains spoilers
I played Genealogy of the Holy in high school and I remember thinking that this game was nothing like any FE game I had ever played before. "Look at the huge map and all these enemies! Why are they giving you 9 playable characters in the first chapter?! " I was blown away. And all these later, the game still holds up.
The characters get very little in the way of interactions, usually getting recruited and only having dialogue during special events. Despite this, I found myself really liking all of the characters. In generation 1, anyway. I felt many of the second generations characters were too focused on "my mom and/or dad was so and so and we are related" and the characters weren't as fun.
I marked this as a spoiler review because I was dumb and did not see the ending of Gen 1 coming. Having your army killed after already watching Cuan and Ethlyn die was incredibly bold of this game. Fire Emblem games are not exactly strangers to disturbing subject matters (Hello Orson!~) but man, the ending of Gen 1 hit me hard.
But you barely have any time to process what happened as Gen 2 roles around and the game doesn't linger too long on what happened. When the shock wore off for me, I heard the theme of the 6th map and I fell in love with it. Light Inheritors is a great piece and is a great way to show the hope of the next generation.
Similarly, For Whose Sake also had an effect on me. The king of Thracia is dead, it's princess is with the rebels. Why do they keep fighting? The music of the chapter makes you feel like the battle is a slog and ultimately pointless. And I don't mean that in a bad way, it's hard to explain but it really gets you to empathize with Seliph's army.
Gameplay wise, the game was pretty difficult for me the first time around. Once you realize this is actually Horse Emblem, the game gets easier. It also gets easier once holy weapons are acquired. Let me just say, the holy weapons in this game are downright BUSTED. Most games just make the might of weapons slightly higher and call it a day but this game is not shy with its bonuses. But the enemy also has its own holy weapon wielders so it's not a complete curbstomp and let me just say, Mjolnir in the last chapter was the bane of my existence.
To wrap up, this is easily my favorite Fire Emblem game in the series and I hope that when we inevitably get a remake it doesn't sugar coat many of the things that make this game interesting.
One more thing: the Great Shield skill is busted and definitely activated more than 20% of the time. Whack!
The characters get very little in the way of interactions, usually getting recruited and only having dialogue during special events. Despite this, I found myself really liking all of the characters. In generation 1, anyway. I felt many of the second generations characters were too focused on "my mom and/or dad was so and so and we are related" and the characters weren't as fun.
I marked this as a spoiler review because I was dumb and did not see the ending of Gen 1 coming. Having your army killed after already watching Cuan and Ethlyn die was incredibly bold of this game. Fire Emblem games are not exactly strangers to disturbing subject matters (Hello Orson!~) but man, the ending of Gen 1 hit me hard.
But you barely have any time to process what happened as Gen 2 roles around and the game doesn't linger too long on what happened. When the shock wore off for me, I heard the theme of the 6th map and I fell in love with it. Light Inheritors is a great piece and is a great way to show the hope of the next generation.
Similarly, For Whose Sake also had an effect on me. The king of Thracia is dead, it's princess is with the rebels. Why do they keep fighting? The music of the chapter makes you feel like the battle is a slog and ultimately pointless. And I don't mean that in a bad way, it's hard to explain but it really gets you to empathize with Seliph's army.
Gameplay wise, the game was pretty difficult for me the first time around. Once you realize this is actually Horse Emblem, the game gets easier. It also gets easier once holy weapons are acquired. Let me just say, the holy weapons in this game are downright BUSTED. Most games just make the might of weapons slightly higher and call it a day but this game is not shy with its bonuses. But the enemy also has its own holy weapon wielders so it's not a complete curbstomp and let me just say, Mjolnir in the last chapter was the bane of my existence.
To wrap up, this is easily my favorite Fire Emblem game in the series and I hope that when we inevitably get a remake it doesn't sugar coat many of the things that make this game interesting.
One more thing: the Great Shield skill is busted and definitely activated more than 20% of the time. Whack!