AbdullahAlTaie
26 reviews liked by AbdullahAlTaie
Drakengard 3
2013
My Goat
Drakengard 3
2013
I love my wife Zero and I would do anything for her
Drakengard 3
2013
Beneath layers of hilarious humor and an unusual list of characters with unfiltered interactions lies one of the most beautiful and impacting stories ever told showcasing many themes that are rarely touched upon correctly in media
Yoko Taro games usually tackle subjects not so different from each other but every single one of them does it in a very unique way that never feels repetitive and always feels like it has Yoko Taro's signature on it
tackling the subjects of self-acceptance and questioning the sets of beliefs and drives people have and human nature
I don't subscribe to the idea that dod 3 is "bad on purpose" or whatever many people throw around
in fact, the moment I was thrown into its world i was interested
the game starts off with a clean plan and blueprint and you are nothing but a spectator trying to understand the reasoning/meaning behind the drive of the main character and the setting of this insane world and it ties it up perfectly with a cathartic ending that left me stunned
know the game has some inherent shortcomings because of its age but beyond it all is genuinely one of the most impactful stories ever.
the structure and branching and narrative of the game are incredible it's sad that this will always be an underappreciated gem
to talk about every single theme this game conveys and how Yoko Taro's themes and how he tackles them are always the greatest ever would take too much and I still have much to learn from all the side content. i just loved the game and that is all that matters to me
Yoko Taro games usually tackle subjects not so different from each other but every single one of them does it in a very unique way that never feels repetitive and always feels like it has Yoko Taro's signature on it
tackling the subjects of self-acceptance and questioning the sets of beliefs and drives people have and human nature
I don't subscribe to the idea that dod 3 is "bad on purpose" or whatever many people throw around
in fact, the moment I was thrown into its world i was interested
the game starts off with a clean plan and blueprint and you are nothing but a spectator trying to understand the reasoning/meaning behind the drive of the main character and the setting of this insane world and it ties it up perfectly with a cathartic ending that left me stunned
know the game has some inherent shortcomings because of its age but beyond it all is genuinely one of the most impactful stories ever.
the structure and branching and narrative of the game are incredible it's sad that this will always be an underappreciated gem
to talk about every single theme this game conveys and how Yoko Taro's themes and how he tackles them are always the greatest ever would take too much and I still have much to learn from all the side content. i just loved the game and that is all that matters to me
Oh my god. I'm still in disbelief at what I just played. Finishing this game made me increase both this game and Innocent Sin to a 4.5 star rating, it really is that great. Another persona game that makes me ugly cry at the ending of the game. Ooooh how much I love the P2 Cast and the world and the story. My opinions on the combat and dungeon design haven't changed as I still think they're terrible.
The story. My god I had some major whiplash going from mute Tatsuya to mute Maya. it felt super jarring at first that Maya went from a character who probably had one of the most important roles in Innocent Sin to a mute protagonist. That was kind of a turn off, but it didn't deter me from playing this amazing game. This game was all about deja vu, and the repeat dungeons and scenes truly symbolised 'Eternal Punishment'. I do enjoy this games story more than Innocent Sin because they don't dump the Xibalba and the Last Battalion stuff on you all in one go. I enjoyed how you had to sometimes fight some of your main party members as part of their development and plot, I think that just enhanced my experience with the game. The game feels extremely eerie with some shops being switched to different areas of Sumaru, and it works wonderfully, contributing to the setting of the game. Overall, a great story that literally had me bawling at the end of the game.
Gameplay, there really isn't much to say that's different from my Innocent Sin review. There aren't really any dungeons I enjoyed myself, and I hated all of the dungeons that made you fall through the floor and restart the entire thing all over again, terribly designed. I also disliked the final dungeon where you couldn't deal damage to a specific enemy unless you had a specific persona with you, that's also terrible. Honestly, the only reason this game and Innocent Sin aren't 5/5 is because of the terrible gameplay. I did use the velvet room this time around to try and get into the gameplay, and it was just plain annoying honestly. Play this game for the story and characters, not for the battling.
Characters. This game shows that they can write a great persona game with an adult-centric cast. Katsuya, Ulala, and the return of the persona 1 characters are all great additions to the roster, and I love the bickering between Baofu, Katsuya, and Ulala, almost reminiscient of Lisa and Eikichi. Baofu is great, not on the level of Katsuya, Ulala or Tatsuya for me, but I like his little monologues about being an adult to Tatsuya. But I have to talk about Tatsuya Suou, probably turning out to be one of my favourite characters ever. The turmoil and suffering he has to go through, and then the ending to top it all off really made me all emotional. He truly got eternally punished for committing an innocent sin. Persona as a series is just great at writing characters that make me fall in love with them. This cast might be one of my favourites casts ever, alongside Innocent Sins cast.
I said I was let down by Innocent Sin in that review, but I take it back. I am overly satisfied with the Persona 2 duology, it's great and I'll probably replay it eventually one day. It's gonna feel weird having completed all of the mainline Persona games, but I don't dislike any of them, and that speaks to the volume of how great they all are individually. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was a fantastic game that had me hooked from the start.
The story. My god I had some major whiplash going from mute Tatsuya to mute Maya. it felt super jarring at first that Maya went from a character who probably had one of the most important roles in Innocent Sin to a mute protagonist. That was kind of a turn off, but it didn't deter me from playing this amazing game. This game was all about deja vu, and the repeat dungeons and scenes truly symbolised 'Eternal Punishment'. I do enjoy this games story more than Innocent Sin because they don't dump the Xibalba and the Last Battalion stuff on you all in one go. I enjoyed how you had to sometimes fight some of your main party members as part of their development and plot, I think that just enhanced my experience with the game. The game feels extremely eerie with some shops being switched to different areas of Sumaru, and it works wonderfully, contributing to the setting of the game. Overall, a great story that literally had me bawling at the end of the game.
Gameplay, there really isn't much to say that's different from my Innocent Sin review. There aren't really any dungeons I enjoyed myself, and I hated all of the dungeons that made you fall through the floor and restart the entire thing all over again, terribly designed. I also disliked the final dungeon where you couldn't deal damage to a specific enemy unless you had a specific persona with you, that's also terrible. Honestly, the only reason this game and Innocent Sin aren't 5/5 is because of the terrible gameplay. I did use the velvet room this time around to try and get into the gameplay, and it was just plain annoying honestly. Play this game for the story and characters, not for the battling.
Characters. This game shows that they can write a great persona game with an adult-centric cast. Katsuya, Ulala, and the return of the persona 1 characters are all great additions to the roster, and I love the bickering between Baofu, Katsuya, and Ulala, almost reminiscient of Lisa and Eikichi. Baofu is great, not on the level of Katsuya, Ulala or Tatsuya for me, but I like his little monologues about being an adult to Tatsuya. But I have to talk about Tatsuya Suou, probably turning out to be one of my favourite characters ever. The turmoil and suffering he has to go through, and then the ending to top it all off really made me all emotional. He truly got eternally punished for committing an innocent sin. Persona as a series is just great at writing characters that make me fall in love with them. This cast might be one of my favourites casts ever, alongside Innocent Sins cast.
I said I was let down by Innocent Sin in that review, but I take it back. I am overly satisfied with the Persona 2 duology, it's great and I'll probably replay it eventually one day. It's gonna feel weird having completed all of the mainline Persona games, but I don't dislike any of them, and that speaks to the volume of how great they all are individually. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was a fantastic game that had me hooked from the start.
This review contains spoilers
THEY PLAYED BURNING OUT THE BLUE FOR PYET-A THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER MADE
It is my first entry in granblue fantasy series and it was amazing, I did the main story, many side quests, all fate episodes, all documents, some challenges but I didn't do everything in the endgame content,٫ the performance of the game on PC is great, the graphics and the art style is amazing , the special effects are beautiful and the characters design are great, the music was top notch, I played it in the japanese voice acting and it was really great except the main character,
The main story is simple not deep not new but good it was fun with epic moments and the main Boss fights were epic , the enimes have variety, the main story was sadly short, the lore was amazing and the world building all made me interesting to play the other enteries , the dialogues and characters are very fun , I wish that I could switch characters in fight not before or after a fight in the menu, I did play it solo , I will try to play it co op another time, the gameplay was so much fun, the characters variety and all have their own ways to play,,
The cinematics were epic.
9.2/10
The main story is simple not deep not new but good it was fun with epic moments and the main Boss fights were epic , the enimes have variety, the main story was sadly short, the lore was amazing and the world building all made me interesting to play the other enteries , the dialogues and characters are very fun , I wish that I could switch characters in fight not before or after a fight in the menu, I did play it solo , I will try to play it co op another time, the gameplay was so much fun, the characters variety and all have their own ways to play,,
The cinematics were epic.
9.2/10
Chants of Sennaar
2023
A decent puzzle game with a unique mechanic of deciphering different languages from symbols. I initially quite enjoyed the process of working out the different words and completing journal pages but honestly it got a little stale by game's end, and I often ended up just guessing until I got the right word to match the picture.
Graphics and music are nice but fairly basic, level design is just ok, nothing too memorable, and sometimes the backtracking through levels became tedious, as there is no map to refer to. Story is kinda vague and half baked; you travel upwards through this giant tower deciphering languages until you get to the top, and then you find out there some big evil computer which you have to shut down and that's the whole game basically. Its a short and sweet 10 or so hours to complete and get the Plat. Other games might have stuffed a bunch of collectables to pad out the game length, so I appreciate they didn't do that. Zero replay value too, its def a one and done experience.
Eh, its pretty good, and worth playing. But seems a little overrated judging by other's reviews on here.
Graphics and music are nice but fairly basic, level design is just ok, nothing too memorable, and sometimes the backtracking through levels became tedious, as there is no map to refer to. Story is kinda vague and half baked; you travel upwards through this giant tower deciphering languages until you get to the top, and then you find out there some big evil computer which you have to shut down and that's the whole game basically. Its a short and sweet 10 or so hours to complete and get the Plat. Other games might have stuffed a bunch of collectables to pad out the game length, so I appreciate they didn't do that. Zero replay value too, its def a one and done experience.
Eh, its pretty good, and worth playing. But seems a little overrated judging by other's reviews on here.
This review contains spoilers
‘Now Rean, Let us begin. Together, we shall write the end to this wretched fairy tale. In ink, black as despair.’
People have been debating for a while now whats the best entry into the series. There's Trails in the Sky FC, which is a little dated, but is probably the best entry point (Though I do agree that it is hard to get into so maybe getting hooked into the series first is better). Trails from Zero, although more modern, is also hard to get into, but I would personally recommend this to people who wanted to get into the series. Trails of Cold Steel is also another great entry point, and people have also said Daybreak is another great entry point. Why is this relevant you might ask, well my entry point was Trails of Cold Steel III. Yeah, not my proudest moment, I thought they were standalone games when I initially played this game but I was invested and didn't want to give up there. If i've told anyone that I started with CS1, I apologise, but it's kind of embarassing. Anyways..
Trails of Cold Steel III is the DEFINITION of peak fiction and cinema. This game got me into the series, despite me not knowing anything about it and being confused like 95% of the time, so that has to say something. A smaller group of main characters and a setup that will make you miserable, angry, and depressed, that is what this game is all about. I could write a whole ass essay on this game, but if I did that, this would be the longest review on Backloggd. Just gotta say it's my favourite game in the series, and despite some pretty minor flaws, its a banger in many categories.
Storywise, this game is throwback central. You get callbacks to characters like Tita, Agate, Lloyd, KeA, Arios, and some others who are more relevant to the story like Randy. Instead of being a student this time around, Rean is an instructor for Thors Branch Campus, taking lead over his own Class VII. Each member has their own personality quirks, and some experience more development than others, but that's probably because they still have CS4 to develop. This game is like the replication of CS1, but in my opinion, done so much better because this game just has higher-stakes. Field Exercises are way more enjoyable than Field Studies, going to places like Saint-Arkh, Parm, Hamel, Crossbell, Ordis, Raquel, and Heimdallr. Heimdallr especially feels more high-stakes, even the music, sounding less juvenile, like in CS1. Class VII isn't the only new characters in this game, and I like interacting with all of the major students from the branch campus, each having their own individual quirks and struggles too. Now talking about the main story, Chapter 1 just makes me so excited for the rest of the game because of the return of Ouroboros, as well as the raid on the Field Exercise Camp, and the reunion of a couple of Class VII members. I will say, finally getting to explore Hamel was great, and just made it that much eerie, especially with the appearance of Fie's 'father' and a divine knight that looks eerily similar to Valimar. I will say that I believe Chapter 2 is probably my favourite chapter across the entire trails series because of how pissed it made me. I've heavily invested in the Trails world, and when they stir shit with Crossbell, I lose it, which is probably why Juna is my favourite character in this game, because of her entire arc in this chapter, I completely get her. Chapter 2 is just great in general because we get more development from Ash and Musse, and more insight into how dodgy the Ironbloods and related parties are becoming. Can't forget 3D Crossbell, with the return of Tio, and reunions from Emma and Alisa (Machias is there as well I guess). We also get more of Sharon's backstory, as she's remained a mystery most of the first-half of the arc. We also get a great segment from McBurn and Campanella (though I wish I could say the same about both boss fights but Emma just destroys both of them). I've never been as politically invested into a world and into a country as I am with Crossbell and I was literally on the verge of breakdown when they kept slandering it (this what happens when I got to invested into Zero and Azure). Overall, a great chapter that just has so many highs. Chapter 3 Ash and Musse join Class VII, and I'm happy to get to learn more about them. We get to go to Ordis, probably one of the most gorgeous towns in Trails, and everything is just jampacked. From jaegers, to the Imperial Provincial Council, to the infamous Wilhelm Ballad, and the railway cannons that are aimed at Ordis. We also can't forget the Stahlritter, Arianrhod, and the battle for Juno. This chapter is great and everything just kept changing and changing, and we even get cryptic conversations from both Ash and Musse, making me even more interested in them, as well as the cliffhanger with Angelica at the cemetry. The highlight of the chapter is of course the battle between Class VII and Aurelia vs. Arianrhod and the Stahlritter, it truly is that epic. Chapter 4 is probably where all hell breaks loose. The branch campus versus the main campus, the catacombs, terrorists, and then the inevitable curse that prompts Ash to shoot the Emperor. You can really tell how much the tone shifts between Chapter 4 and the finale. Everyone turns on Class VII. The Ironbloods, Sharon, Aurelia and co (though I wouldn't call that turning on us), George, everyone truly sucks in this timeline. The Infernal Castle didn't feel that satisfying because people kept saving us, but the Spiral of Erebos was truly a great dungeon. There is no cavalry following Class VII to aid us, we are truly the sole cavalry. It's Class VII versus everyone else to prevent the 'end of the world'. The series of events that occur in this dungeon just sweeps me off of my feet. Olivier, Toval, and Viscount Arseid die in an explosion, George turns traitor on everyone, Gaius reveals himself as a member of the Gralsritter, 'Siegfried's' mask breaks, Alisa whips out another orbal gear, Cedric choking Altina (screw you Cedric), Millium sacrificing herself to save Altina and Rean, Rean going berserk due to Millium's death causing the end of the world, and then that bone-chilling cliffhanger that gives me goosebumps anytime I witness it, this is truly the best game in the series for me, hands down. I will say I am not fond of the developers painting Rean as a pedophile at the start of Chapter 2 in Crossbell over a misunderstanding from Altina, didn't find it very funny and probably the worst part of the game for me imo. The game also heavily reuses the 'Heed my call Vali-' and the 'That won't be necessary' schtick. The story in this game had me sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
Characters. There's just so many great additions, between all of the new Class VII members, Aurelia, Arianrhod, Duvalie, they are all great. Highlights for me are definitely Juna and Altina. I'm still annoyed by the bonding point system, but it doesn't affect me on NG+ runs. This game is also great at making me hate certain characters, like Cedric and Rufus, they're written to perfection, but I hate their guts and want to deck them in the face. Then there's misses, like Angelica, who's libido has been upped by like x1000 since the last game, and Black Alberich, dude is boring as hell. I also want the game to stop pushing Rean and Elise, as well as Agate and Tita together. The game has a great cast of characters, with a couple of duds, but these do not sour my experience with the game.
The music is great. My favourite is definitely the Spiral of Erebos theme. I also enjoy the new Abend Time theme, and all of the town themes, and the battle themes, and probably all of the music in this game. The composers truly do not disappoint me with more banger tracks in each game.
Gameplay! I love how games where you can just abuse the system to make the game x100 easier. Brave Orders completely break the game, with Juna's especially allowing you to insta-break any enemy and send them to the shadow realm. Musse is a war machine in the late game with high tier arts, and Rean is just an overall powerful unit with Gale now on his craft list. I love break gauges in gameplay, and Trails is no exception, it just makes me enjoy combat way more. I love building Fie as a 'plague-spreader' as she can equip every status ailment quartz, and just give every enemy cancer. Nightmare is pretty much a breeze in this game, but that's porbably because I'm well-experienced in the games combat. Overall, solid gameplay, that offers a wide variety of customisation.
I have to always praise trails and their NPC dialogue, because its so great. I love how little substories develop as the game goes on, like how some of the shop owners are getting together, or two nobles are planning to run away together, i just love seeing how these subplots unfold, in relation to the main story. Probably one my favourite features of trails games (and probably the main reason why I don't play any of the other released trails games in Japanese because I don't believe the translators translate all NPC dialogue). If you haven't given talking to every NPC a go, I highly recommend it, it is very enjoyable.
I need to end this review somehow, and I just want to talk about how much of a masterpiece this game truly is. I enjoy every second of this game, and it truly is the reason why I've gotten into this series, so I do have a place in my heart for it. The story is amazing, with a brilliant cast of characters, with great gameplay and music, with a couple of duds, but not everything can be perfect. Osborne is the perfect villain, and the way this game leaves you on a cliffhanger is exhilarating. I could talk about a lot more, but I'm going to stop my review here before I keep rambling.
UPDATE: I lied. I need to ramble more. This game reminds me of the end of the Infernal Castle with the amount of plot twists that they throw at you at the end of the game. We beat the final boss, but it doesn't feel like a good ending, no, Rean just unleashed a curse onto the entire world. Rean is even taken captive by the enemy. Can my man catch a break? Seriously, this series just loves dunking on Rean, he deserves the best. Also they made Shining op for the fact that it has a small AoE now and isn't single target, what were they thinking? Also, CROW ARMBRUST IS BACK AAAAAAAAAAAA!
People have been debating for a while now whats the best entry into the series. There's Trails in the Sky FC, which is a little dated, but is probably the best entry point (Though I do agree that it is hard to get into so maybe getting hooked into the series first is better). Trails from Zero, although more modern, is also hard to get into, but I would personally recommend this to people who wanted to get into the series. Trails of Cold Steel is also another great entry point, and people have also said Daybreak is another great entry point. Why is this relevant you might ask, well my entry point was Trails of Cold Steel III. Yeah, not my proudest moment, I thought they were standalone games when I initially played this game but I was invested and didn't want to give up there. If i've told anyone that I started with CS1, I apologise, but it's kind of embarassing. Anyways..
Trails of Cold Steel III is the DEFINITION of peak fiction and cinema. This game got me into the series, despite me not knowing anything about it and being confused like 95% of the time, so that has to say something. A smaller group of main characters and a setup that will make you miserable, angry, and depressed, that is what this game is all about. I could write a whole ass essay on this game, but if I did that, this would be the longest review on Backloggd. Just gotta say it's my favourite game in the series, and despite some pretty minor flaws, its a banger in many categories.
Storywise, this game is throwback central. You get callbacks to characters like Tita, Agate, Lloyd, KeA, Arios, and some others who are more relevant to the story like Randy. Instead of being a student this time around, Rean is an instructor for Thors Branch Campus, taking lead over his own Class VII. Each member has their own personality quirks, and some experience more development than others, but that's probably because they still have CS4 to develop. This game is like the replication of CS1, but in my opinion, done so much better because this game just has higher-stakes. Field Exercises are way more enjoyable than Field Studies, going to places like Saint-Arkh, Parm, Hamel, Crossbell, Ordis, Raquel, and Heimdallr. Heimdallr especially feels more high-stakes, even the music, sounding less juvenile, like in CS1. Class VII isn't the only new characters in this game, and I like interacting with all of the major students from the branch campus, each having their own individual quirks and struggles too. Now talking about the main story, Chapter 1 just makes me so excited for the rest of the game because of the return of Ouroboros, as well as the raid on the Field Exercise Camp, and the reunion of a couple of Class VII members. I will say, finally getting to explore Hamel was great, and just made it that much eerie, especially with the appearance of Fie's 'father' and a divine knight that looks eerily similar to Valimar. I will say that I believe Chapter 2 is probably my favourite chapter across the entire trails series because of how pissed it made me. I've heavily invested in the Trails world, and when they stir shit with Crossbell, I lose it, which is probably why Juna is my favourite character in this game, because of her entire arc in this chapter, I completely get her. Chapter 2 is just great in general because we get more development from Ash and Musse, and more insight into how dodgy the Ironbloods and related parties are becoming. Can't forget 3D Crossbell, with the return of Tio, and reunions from Emma and Alisa (Machias is there as well I guess). We also get more of Sharon's backstory, as she's remained a mystery most of the first-half of the arc. We also get a great segment from McBurn and Campanella (though I wish I could say the same about both boss fights but Emma just destroys both of them). I've never been as politically invested into a world and into a country as I am with Crossbell and I was literally on the verge of breakdown when they kept slandering it (this what happens when I got to invested into Zero and Azure). Overall, a great chapter that just has so many highs. Chapter 3 Ash and Musse join Class VII, and I'm happy to get to learn more about them. We get to go to Ordis, probably one of the most gorgeous towns in Trails, and everything is just jampacked. From jaegers, to the Imperial Provincial Council, to the infamous Wilhelm Ballad, and the railway cannons that are aimed at Ordis. We also can't forget the Stahlritter, Arianrhod, and the battle for Juno. This chapter is great and everything just kept changing and changing, and we even get cryptic conversations from both Ash and Musse, making me even more interested in them, as well as the cliffhanger with Angelica at the cemetry. The highlight of the chapter is of course the battle between Class VII and Aurelia vs. Arianrhod and the Stahlritter, it truly is that epic. Chapter 4 is probably where all hell breaks loose. The branch campus versus the main campus, the catacombs, terrorists, and then the inevitable curse that prompts Ash to shoot the Emperor. You can really tell how much the tone shifts between Chapter 4 and the finale. Everyone turns on Class VII. The Ironbloods, Sharon, Aurelia and co (though I wouldn't call that turning on us), George, everyone truly sucks in this timeline. The Infernal Castle didn't feel that satisfying because people kept saving us, but the Spiral of Erebos was truly a great dungeon. There is no cavalry following Class VII to aid us, we are truly the sole cavalry. It's Class VII versus everyone else to prevent the 'end of the world'. The series of events that occur in this dungeon just sweeps me off of my feet. Olivier, Toval, and Viscount Arseid die in an explosion, George turns traitor on everyone, Gaius reveals himself as a member of the Gralsritter, 'Siegfried's' mask breaks, Alisa whips out another orbal gear, Cedric choking Altina (screw you Cedric), Millium sacrificing herself to save Altina and Rean, Rean going berserk due to Millium's death causing the end of the world, and then that bone-chilling cliffhanger that gives me goosebumps anytime I witness it, this is truly the best game in the series for me, hands down. I will say I am not fond of the developers painting Rean as a pedophile at the start of Chapter 2 in Crossbell over a misunderstanding from Altina, didn't find it very funny and probably the worst part of the game for me imo. The game also heavily reuses the 'Heed my call Vali-' and the 'That won't be necessary' schtick. The story in this game had me sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
Characters. There's just so many great additions, between all of the new Class VII members, Aurelia, Arianrhod, Duvalie, they are all great. Highlights for me are definitely Juna and Altina. I'm still annoyed by the bonding point system, but it doesn't affect me on NG+ runs. This game is also great at making me hate certain characters, like Cedric and Rufus, they're written to perfection, but I hate their guts and want to deck them in the face. Then there's misses, like Angelica, who's libido has been upped by like x1000 since the last game, and Black Alberich, dude is boring as hell. I also want the game to stop pushing Rean and Elise, as well as Agate and Tita together. The game has a great cast of characters, with a couple of duds, but these do not sour my experience with the game.
The music is great. My favourite is definitely the Spiral of Erebos theme. I also enjoy the new Abend Time theme, and all of the town themes, and the battle themes, and probably all of the music in this game. The composers truly do not disappoint me with more banger tracks in each game.
Gameplay! I love how games where you can just abuse the system to make the game x100 easier. Brave Orders completely break the game, with Juna's especially allowing you to insta-break any enemy and send them to the shadow realm. Musse is a war machine in the late game with high tier arts, and Rean is just an overall powerful unit with Gale now on his craft list. I love break gauges in gameplay, and Trails is no exception, it just makes me enjoy combat way more. I love building Fie as a 'plague-spreader' as she can equip every status ailment quartz, and just give every enemy cancer. Nightmare is pretty much a breeze in this game, but that's porbably because I'm well-experienced in the games combat. Overall, solid gameplay, that offers a wide variety of customisation.
I have to always praise trails and their NPC dialogue, because its so great. I love how little substories develop as the game goes on, like how some of the shop owners are getting together, or two nobles are planning to run away together, i just love seeing how these subplots unfold, in relation to the main story. Probably one my favourite features of trails games (and probably the main reason why I don't play any of the other released trails games in Japanese because I don't believe the translators translate all NPC dialogue). If you haven't given talking to every NPC a go, I highly recommend it, it is very enjoyable.
I need to end this review somehow, and I just want to talk about how much of a masterpiece this game truly is. I enjoy every second of this game, and it truly is the reason why I've gotten into this series, so I do have a place in my heart for it. The story is amazing, with a brilliant cast of characters, with great gameplay and music, with a couple of duds, but not everything can be perfect. Osborne is the perfect villain, and the way this game leaves you on a cliffhanger is exhilarating. I could talk about a lot more, but I'm going to stop my review here before I keep rambling.
UPDATE: I lied. I need to ramble more. This game reminds me of the end of the Infernal Castle with the amount of plot twists that they throw at you at the end of the game. We beat the final boss, but it doesn't feel like a good ending, no, Rean just unleashed a curse onto the entire world. Rean is even taken captive by the enemy. Can my man catch a break? Seriously, this series just loves dunking on Rean, he deserves the best. Also they made Shining op for the fact that it has a small AoE now and isn't single target, what were they thinking? Also, CROW ARMBRUST IS BACK AAAAAAAAAAAA!
Zelda II was one of several mainline Zelda games I had yet to play at this point. I didn't know why I skipped trying this one out when I went and beat Zelda 1 in 2020. Maybe it was because it's such a departure from every other game, or the fact I heard it wasn't good. Either way, this marathon gave me a good excuse to finally play this one. Sadly, what I've heard people say about this game is true. I unfortunately found this game to be straight up bad overall.
The story this time around revolves around the Triforce of Courage. The last game only had the Triforce of Wisdom and Power, but this game reveals there's a third. Basically, the King of Hyrule hid it far away so no evil can ever get it. The prince, aka Zelda's brother, wants it for himself. He gets the help of a wizard to have Zelda tell him where it is, since only she knows, by using a truth spell on her. When that doesn't work, the wizard puts Zelda to sleep, and so Link must get the Triforce of Courage and wake Zelda up from the sleep spell. He must do this by going to each of the six main palaces and placing a crystal there, so it opens up the Great palace, which houses the Triforce. Pretty effective plot tbh, it's weird that Zelda has a brother because he never gets mentioned in any other game (at least to my knowledge) but it's interesting.
The first thing you'll notice when actually starting the game, is the change in gameplay. This is no longer a top-down action adventure but is a side-scroller. This is unlike every other mainline Zelda ever and it really does feel off from the rest of the games. Along with it being a side-scroller now, there are also some light RPG mechanics too. There is exp in this game that you get by killing enemies (or collecting exp bags) and you can level up when you get the required amount. You either upgrade your health, magic or your attack power and the game always has a set path with whatever one you get on level up. With the magic, you can get spells throughout the game, and they can be quite useful. The life spell, for instance, is the best spell in the game since it's just a straight up heal. Same with the shield spell, since both make you survive longer. Believe me tho, you're gonna need them! Anyways, the exp system was actually one of the few things I can praise about this game. I thought it was pretty satisfying leveling up every time and it at least makes this game stand out from other Zelda games (if the side-scrolling nature didn't do that already).
The overworld in this game is more like an older RPG than how Zelda 1's was. Instead of having to bomb random locations to find secrets, this game has you progressing the world by using the items you get from palaces. Towns have NPC's that will let you in their house to get a spell in exchange for an item you find. Overworld encounters are now represented by little enemy sprites, that appear once you take a certain number of steps, and they put you into a battle scenario. They can be EXTREMELY obnoxious with how frequently they appear and with how hard it is to dodge them. If you stay on the roads that appear in game, the encounters won't appear but if you take one step off of the road (or just aren't on the roads at all which happens a lot) they will so the roads only help a tiny bit I think. All of this just makes this feel less like a Zelda game and more like an older adventure/RPG. I like the leveling up, but all of this is a downgrade from Zelda 1's formula, even if I wasn't in love with how that game did things.
The start of the game up until Death Mountain, was honestly not bad and was a solid time. Once you get to death mountain tho, this game shows its true colors. This game is incredibly difficult and incredibly bullshit a lot of the time. I know this is an NES game, so this is kinda expected, but Zelda 1 was not like this. Zelda 1 could be hard (mostly in the endgame) but it never felt like NES hard, hard for the sake of it basically. This game definitely does tho and it's worse for it. Death Mountain and the last area and palace were the absolute worst parts of the game. Both were just full of obnoxious BS and I just don't find that very fun. The rest of the game is like that too but to a lesser extent. I had to save state pretty much all the time from Death Mountain until the end, and I don't feel bad about it. It also doesn't help that when you die, there are also lives in this game because you NEED those for a side-scroller I guess, you go back to where Zelda's sleeping (aka the beginning of the game). You can unlock items that make this way better than it sounds, but if you die before you get the hammer and unlock the first shortcut, you must do all of death mountain over again. Without save states, this is very easy to have to do since this game is so brutal. If this game wasn't so hard and bullshit, this wouldn't be too bad because the general gameplay is solid. Link feels good to control and the moves he gets are cool. But due to the NES difficulty, those good elements don't mean much.
Going into the palaces, they're hit or miss. A couple of them I didn't find too bad and actually somewhat enjoyed, while the others were just hell. Palaces are a lot longer in this game and have barely any puzzles. Zelda 1's dungeons weren't super puzzle heavy, but they were more than just find key..unlock door and progress. This game focuses more on the combat than the puzzles and its worse for it since most of the enemies are just frustrating. The bosses aren't anything special, they're either piss easy or super obnoxious like Thunderbird. I always heard Dark Link (or Link's Shadow I guess) was absolutely brutal if you didn't do the duck and swipe method. I just killed him super easily by doing the jump attack method I do on other enemies. Didn't even need to use the shield spell, he was one of the easier bosses in the game lol. Idk if I just got lucky, or I'm just that good but I thought it'd be interesting to mention.
The OST is definitely not as good as the first game's. The palace theme is great and iconic due to it appearing in Smash Bros but that's about it. Every other song was okay at best to me. Nothing, not even the palace theme comes close to being iconic as the overworld theme in the first game.
All in all, while some of the mechanics like leveling up and Link's new swordplay are interesting, it doesn't change the fact this game is just a brutal, bullshit mess of a game. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's hard for the sake of it and just don't like games that do that. It also doesn't help that no other mainline Zelda game that I've played is like this lol. There are some Zelda elements here and there, but this really doesn't feel like a Zelda game to me. I'm glad I finally played this and got it off my bucket list, but I certainly will never be playing this again.
The story this time around revolves around the Triforce of Courage. The last game only had the Triforce of Wisdom and Power, but this game reveals there's a third. Basically, the King of Hyrule hid it far away so no evil can ever get it. The prince, aka Zelda's brother, wants it for himself. He gets the help of a wizard to have Zelda tell him where it is, since only she knows, by using a truth spell on her. When that doesn't work, the wizard puts Zelda to sleep, and so Link must get the Triforce of Courage and wake Zelda up from the sleep spell. He must do this by going to each of the six main palaces and placing a crystal there, so it opens up the Great palace, which houses the Triforce. Pretty effective plot tbh, it's weird that Zelda has a brother because he never gets mentioned in any other game (at least to my knowledge) but it's interesting.
The first thing you'll notice when actually starting the game, is the change in gameplay. This is no longer a top-down action adventure but is a side-scroller. This is unlike every other mainline Zelda ever and it really does feel off from the rest of the games. Along with it being a side-scroller now, there are also some light RPG mechanics too. There is exp in this game that you get by killing enemies (or collecting exp bags) and you can level up when you get the required amount. You either upgrade your health, magic or your attack power and the game always has a set path with whatever one you get on level up. With the magic, you can get spells throughout the game, and they can be quite useful. The life spell, for instance, is the best spell in the game since it's just a straight up heal. Same with the shield spell, since both make you survive longer. Believe me tho, you're gonna need them! Anyways, the exp system was actually one of the few things I can praise about this game. I thought it was pretty satisfying leveling up every time and it at least makes this game stand out from other Zelda games (if the side-scrolling nature didn't do that already).
The overworld in this game is more like an older RPG than how Zelda 1's was. Instead of having to bomb random locations to find secrets, this game has you progressing the world by using the items you get from palaces. Towns have NPC's that will let you in their house to get a spell in exchange for an item you find. Overworld encounters are now represented by little enemy sprites, that appear once you take a certain number of steps, and they put you into a battle scenario. They can be EXTREMELY obnoxious with how frequently they appear and with how hard it is to dodge them. If you stay on the roads that appear in game, the encounters won't appear but if you take one step off of the road (or just aren't on the roads at all which happens a lot) they will so the roads only help a tiny bit I think. All of this just makes this feel less like a Zelda game and more like an older adventure/RPG. I like the leveling up, but all of this is a downgrade from Zelda 1's formula, even if I wasn't in love with how that game did things.
The start of the game up until Death Mountain, was honestly not bad and was a solid time. Once you get to death mountain tho, this game shows its true colors. This game is incredibly difficult and incredibly bullshit a lot of the time. I know this is an NES game, so this is kinda expected, but Zelda 1 was not like this. Zelda 1 could be hard (mostly in the endgame) but it never felt like NES hard, hard for the sake of it basically. This game definitely does tho and it's worse for it. Death Mountain and the last area and palace were the absolute worst parts of the game. Both were just full of obnoxious BS and I just don't find that very fun. The rest of the game is like that too but to a lesser extent. I had to save state pretty much all the time from Death Mountain until the end, and I don't feel bad about it. It also doesn't help that when you die, there are also lives in this game because you NEED those for a side-scroller I guess, you go back to where Zelda's sleeping (aka the beginning of the game). You can unlock items that make this way better than it sounds, but if you die before you get the hammer and unlock the first shortcut, you must do all of death mountain over again. Without save states, this is very easy to have to do since this game is so brutal. If this game wasn't so hard and bullshit, this wouldn't be too bad because the general gameplay is solid. Link feels good to control and the moves he gets are cool. But due to the NES difficulty, those good elements don't mean much.
Going into the palaces, they're hit or miss. A couple of them I didn't find too bad and actually somewhat enjoyed, while the others were just hell. Palaces are a lot longer in this game and have barely any puzzles. Zelda 1's dungeons weren't super puzzle heavy, but they were more than just find key..unlock door and progress. This game focuses more on the combat than the puzzles and its worse for it since most of the enemies are just frustrating. The bosses aren't anything special, they're either piss easy or super obnoxious like Thunderbird. I always heard Dark Link (or Link's Shadow I guess) was absolutely brutal if you didn't do the duck and swipe method. I just killed him super easily by doing the jump attack method I do on other enemies. Didn't even need to use the shield spell, he was one of the easier bosses in the game lol. Idk if I just got lucky, or I'm just that good but I thought it'd be interesting to mention.
The OST is definitely not as good as the first game's. The palace theme is great and iconic due to it appearing in Smash Bros but that's about it. Every other song was okay at best to me. Nothing, not even the palace theme comes close to being iconic as the overworld theme in the first game.
All in all, while some of the mechanics like leveling up and Link's new swordplay are interesting, it doesn't change the fact this game is just a brutal, bullshit mess of a game. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's hard for the sake of it and just don't like games that do that. It also doesn't help that no other mainline Zelda game that I've played is like this lol. There are some Zelda elements here and there, but this really doesn't feel like a Zelda game to me. I'm glad I finally played this and got it off my bucket list, but I certainly will never be playing this again.
Please find a better use of your time.