Armakeen
My first Castlevania game.
The movements were really responsive. Alucard isn't slippery, he doesn't gain a weird momentum as soon as he starts moving forward, or any other shenanigan. It just felt very smooth. The same can be said about the bat form.
It was such a sick ability btw, being able to fly wherever you want, dodging every enemy while backtracking. And I like the detail of the bat changing color depending on Alucard's outfit.
The soundtrack is extremely catchy. There are elements from multiple musical genres, including classical, techno, rock and metal. It fitted perfectly with the gothic aesthetics of the game. The atmosphere is just very charming.
The game has a good amount of teleporters that are well spaced between each other. I could reach any part of the map pretty quickly. It's too rare in those retro games.
While some of the Bosses were too easy, I still enjoyed them a lot overall. Many of them have a really cool chara design, like Granfaloon, Medusa, Scylla and Shaft. And honestly, I usually prefer too easy rather than too hard.
By the way, having to fight Doppelganger 30 minutes into my playthrough was a big surprise. It was probably the most difficult Boss in the entire game. Still a great Boss tho 👌
I liked the RPG aspect of the game, with the items you can drop on defeated enemies, or by finding them during your exploration. Whether it's weapons, cloaks or talismans to make Alucard stronger, or consumables to heal yourself and boost your statistics momentarily in battle. I wish we could use items without having to unequip our weapon or shield tho...
The sub-weapons I used the most were the knives for their ease of use & high damage, and also the stopwatch. I didn't use the other ones very often.
I like how there is a possibility of getting a bad ending if you rush to the top of the castle before doing the necessary to save Richter. I ruthlessly killed him even though he is a human, and immediatly realized my mistake.
Hopefully I was able to reload my save right away to get the true ending.
I remember being stuck at some point, and I found a clue while looking at the tactic for Dracula, in the Librarian's Shop. When you watch this tutorial where Richter is fighting him, you can see that he opens a secret path at the very beginning, right before the fight. So I was able to go there myself, and I found an item that helped me to progress. I just think that was a cool way to proceed.
At first, when I reached the Reverse Castle, I was excited about the idea to go through the same map but upside down.
But when I realized that many of the rooms were now filled to the brim with enemies, I decided to keep using the bat & mist to breeze through the map and reach the Final Boss a lot quicker.
This last segment in the Reverse Castle felt like padding to be honest. It wasn't as great as the rest of the game.
Still, I had a very good time with the game overall. I enjoyed it more than Super Metroid which I played right before SOTN. (I mention it because I saw that there is a heated debate between the fans of both games to decide which one is the best 😂)
Anyway, if I play another Castlevania game in the future, it's gonna be Aria of Sorrow! 👍
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on May 8th & finished on May 10th 2024]
Playtime: 13 hours
I was at 88% after getting the first ending.
And at 150% after getting the true ending.
The movements were really responsive. Alucard isn't slippery, he doesn't gain a weird momentum as soon as he starts moving forward, or any other shenanigan. It just felt very smooth. The same can be said about the bat form.
It was such a sick ability btw, being able to fly wherever you want, dodging every enemy while backtracking. And I like the detail of the bat changing color depending on Alucard's outfit.
The soundtrack is extremely catchy. There are elements from multiple musical genres, including classical, techno, rock and metal. It fitted perfectly with the gothic aesthetics of the game. The atmosphere is just very charming.
The game has a good amount of teleporters that are well spaced between each other. I could reach any part of the map pretty quickly. It's too rare in those retro games.
While some of the Bosses were too easy, I still enjoyed them a lot overall. Many of them have a really cool chara design, like Granfaloon, Medusa, Scylla and Shaft. And honestly, I usually prefer too easy rather than too hard.
By the way, having to fight Doppelganger 30 minutes into my playthrough was a big surprise. It was probably the most difficult Boss in the entire game. Still a great Boss tho 👌
I liked the RPG aspect of the game, with the items you can drop on defeated enemies, or by finding them during your exploration. Whether it's weapons, cloaks or talismans to make Alucard stronger, or consumables to heal yourself and boost your statistics momentarily in battle. I wish we could use items without having to unequip our weapon or shield tho...
The sub-weapons I used the most were the knives for their ease of use & high damage, and also the stopwatch. I didn't use the other ones very often.
I like how there is a possibility of getting a bad ending if you rush to the top of the castle before doing the necessary to save Richter. I ruthlessly killed him even though he is a human, and immediatly realized my mistake.
Hopefully I was able to reload my save right away to get the true ending.
I remember being stuck at some point, and I found a clue while looking at the tactic for Dracula, in the Librarian's Shop. When you watch this tutorial where Richter is fighting him, you can see that he opens a secret path at the very beginning, right before the fight. So I was able to go there myself, and I found an item that helped me to progress. I just think that was a cool way to proceed.
At first, when I reached the Reverse Castle, I was excited about the idea to go through the same map but upside down.
But when I realized that many of the rooms were now filled to the brim with enemies, I decided to keep using the bat & mist to breeze through the map and reach the Final Boss a lot quicker.
This last segment in the Reverse Castle felt like padding to be honest. It wasn't as great as the rest of the game.
Still, I had a very good time with the game overall. I enjoyed it more than Super Metroid which I played right before SOTN. (I mention it because I saw that there is a heated debate between the fans of both games to decide which one is the best 😂)
Anyway, if I play another Castlevania game in the future, it's gonna be Aria of Sorrow! 👍
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on May 8th & finished on May 10th 2024]
Playtime: 13 hours
I was at 88% after getting the first ending.
And at 150% after getting the true ending.
1994
This is my first Metroid game.
Samus movements are a bit clunky. First, I never became truly comfortable with the Spin Jump. I couldn't get used to the momentum of this move, and often ended up slipping off platforms.
Figuring out how to use the Wall Jump wasn't obvious at all. I had to train on a wall for a few minutes to get a good grip of it.
And worst of all, the Space Jump: Underwater, I was able to perform this move without any issue, but outside of that, I was never able to chain them consistently. The timing is just so weird and unintuitive, and that's the reason I had such a bad time in the last area, Ridley's Lair. You need to fly across rising lava as quickly as possible using this move, and that was terrible.
Also, this isn't the game's fault, but I don't vibe with the sci-fi/alien/futuristic setting... Different strokes, right?
There are some items that are fun to use. I liked being able to freeze the enemies to use them as platforms, thanks to the Ice Beam. Swinging myself around with the grapple beam was also kinda fun.
I didn't like the abundance of hidden paths. Having to stop constantly to use the X-Ray kinda ruins the pace of exploration. It's the biggest issue in the game for me.
I enjoyed the boss fights for the most part. They aren't too easy nor too hard. I do want to note that I was using save states. So whenever I died against a Boss, I could respawn in front of it and retry immediatly.
Crocomire was pretty cool, the fact that you need to push him into the lava rather than reducing his HP to 0. And the way he comes back as a skeleton to scare you one last time was neat.
Draygon was my favorite Boss in the game, and I also had a good time with Golden Torizo.
Using the Power Bomb in Maridia to break the glass tunnel was such an Eureka moment for me. I was stuck for so long, and it felt very satisfying to finally figure this out!
As I said earlier, I kind of had enough once I reached Ridley's Lair. I got stuck at the 2 Ridley's Guards.
I didn't have enough ammo to deal with them, and I was really fed up with this area, so I didn't have the courage to backtrack to gather HP & ammo. The lack of teleporters is definitely a deal-breaker.
So I stopped here and watched the rest of the game on YouTube.
Honestly, I had a good time in the first half of the game. Before I reached the last quarter of the game, I thought about giving it 3.5 stars, or even 4 stars. But it became really tedious near the end, hence my final rating.
I'm still happy I played such an iconic game, it was about time I played this series! I feel like I would have more fun with Metroid Dread tho?
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on May 5th & stopped on May 7th 2024]
Playtime: 18 hours
I stopped at the 2 Ridley's Guards.
Samus movements are a bit clunky. First, I never became truly comfortable with the Spin Jump. I couldn't get used to the momentum of this move, and often ended up slipping off platforms.
Figuring out how to use the Wall Jump wasn't obvious at all. I had to train on a wall for a few minutes to get a good grip of it.
And worst of all, the Space Jump: Underwater, I was able to perform this move without any issue, but outside of that, I was never able to chain them consistently. The timing is just so weird and unintuitive, and that's the reason I had such a bad time in the last area, Ridley's Lair. You need to fly across rising lava as quickly as possible using this move, and that was terrible.
Also, this isn't the game's fault, but I don't vibe with the sci-fi/alien/futuristic setting... Different strokes, right?
There are some items that are fun to use. I liked being able to freeze the enemies to use them as platforms, thanks to the Ice Beam. Swinging myself around with the grapple beam was also kinda fun.
I didn't like the abundance of hidden paths. Having to stop constantly to use the X-Ray kinda ruins the pace of exploration. It's the biggest issue in the game for me.
I enjoyed the boss fights for the most part. They aren't too easy nor too hard. I do want to note that I was using save states. So whenever I died against a Boss, I could respawn in front of it and retry immediatly.
Crocomire was pretty cool, the fact that you need to push him into the lava rather than reducing his HP to 0. And the way he comes back as a skeleton to scare you one last time was neat.
Draygon was my favorite Boss in the game, and I also had a good time with Golden Torizo.
Using the Power Bomb in Maridia to break the glass tunnel was such an Eureka moment for me. I was stuck for so long, and it felt very satisfying to finally figure this out!
As I said earlier, I kind of had enough once I reached Ridley's Lair. I got stuck at the 2 Ridley's Guards.
I didn't have enough ammo to deal with them, and I was really fed up with this area, so I didn't have the courage to backtrack to gather HP & ammo. The lack of teleporters is definitely a deal-breaker.
So I stopped here and watched the rest of the game on YouTube.
Honestly, I had a good time in the first half of the game. Before I reached the last quarter of the game, I thought about giving it 3.5 stars, or even 4 stars. But it became really tedious near the end, hence my final rating.
I'm still happy I played such an iconic game, it was about time I played this series! I feel like I would have more fun with Metroid Dread tho?
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on May 5th & stopped on May 7th 2024]
Playtime: 18 hours
I stopped at the 2 Ridley's Guards.
1996
I already knew plenty of things about this game before starting it. In the past few years, I've watched a bit of SM64 content on YouTube, especially speedruns...
It's unfortunate that I didn't go in Mario 64 completely blind, but hey, doesn't mean I didn't have fun!
And since the only speedruns I've watched are any%, I was still very unfamiliar with most of the levels.
I played an unofficial PC port of the game called "Super Mario 64 Plus"
The best additions of this port are the improved movements with Mario, and free camera control.
I've seen everyone and their mother complain about the game's controls, and how poorly they have aged. I guess this port did a wonderful job fixing the controls, because they didn't bother me at any point 👍
I love how fluid the movements are compared to Mario Galaxy, which is the only other 3D Mario game I've played. The Side Somersault especially is so much better. I often found myself using this move into wall jump to reach really high places. These moves are very flexible & satisfying to use.
Yes. I threw the baby penguin in the void after his mama gave me the Star 😈 evil laugh
"File Select", "Inside Peach's Castle" and "Dire Dire Docks" are my 3 favorite pieces of music in the game. It's just so good, I'm not surprised Mario 64's soundtrack has become so iconic!
I like how peaceful the exterior of the Castle is. No music, just the sound of waterfalls, birds & grasshoppers. Very calming ❤
For a game released in 1996, there were very interesting ideas in the level-design:
- The fact that they were already messing with the gravity, way before Sunshine & Galaxy (the tall pillars in Shifting Sand Land)
- In Tiny-Huge Island, the way you teleport to a shrunken version of the level gives the illusion that Mario shrinks after entering the green pipes. It was pretty clever.
- It's cool how some World's layouts change depending on how you enter the paintings! Whether it's Wet-Dry World with the water level, or Tick Tock Clock with the pendulum's speed.
This only occured to me after finishing the game, but the Worlds are really tiny. And what's great is that they all seem to be packed with content. There isn't any wasted space in any of the levels.
I also like how after unlocking the wing cap, vanish cap & metal cap, new stars become accessible in every level. It gave a satisfying feeling of progression.
After obtaining the 120 stars, you can meet Yoshi on the castle's roof and receive a sweet message from the developers. This was such a cool reward for finishing the game.
I don't know if I would have enjoyed the game as much as I did if I played it vanilla. This PC port made the adventure really enjoyable!
To end this review, I felt like ranking each World from most to least favorite:
1) Wet-Dry World
2) Lethal Lava Land
3) Hazy Maze Cave
4) Jolly Roger Bay
5) Big Boo's Haunt
6) Snowman's Land
7) Cool Cool Mountain
8) Tick Tock Clock
9) Dire Dire Docks
10) Tall Tall Mountain
11) Shifting Sand Land
12) Whomp's Fortress
13) Bob-Omb Battlefield
14) Tiny-Huge Island
15) Rainbow Ride
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on April 28th & finished on May 1st 2024]
Playtime: 16 hours
100% Completion
It's unfortunate that I didn't go in Mario 64 completely blind, but hey, doesn't mean I didn't have fun!
And since the only speedruns I've watched are any%, I was still very unfamiliar with most of the levels.
I played an unofficial PC port of the game called "Super Mario 64 Plus"
The best additions of this port are the improved movements with Mario, and free camera control.
I've seen everyone and their mother complain about the game's controls, and how poorly they have aged. I guess this port did a wonderful job fixing the controls, because they didn't bother me at any point 👍
I love how fluid the movements are compared to Mario Galaxy, which is the only other 3D Mario game I've played. The Side Somersault especially is so much better. I often found myself using this move into wall jump to reach really high places. These moves are very flexible & satisfying to use.
Yes. I threw the baby penguin in the void after his mama gave me the Star 😈 evil laugh
"File Select", "Inside Peach's Castle" and "Dire Dire Docks" are my 3 favorite pieces of music in the game. It's just so good, I'm not surprised Mario 64's soundtrack has become so iconic!
I like how peaceful the exterior of the Castle is. No music, just the sound of waterfalls, birds & grasshoppers. Very calming ❤
For a game released in 1996, there were very interesting ideas in the level-design:
- The fact that they were already messing with the gravity, way before Sunshine & Galaxy (the tall pillars in Shifting Sand Land)
- In Tiny-Huge Island, the way you teleport to a shrunken version of the level gives the illusion that Mario shrinks after entering the green pipes. It was pretty clever.
- It's cool how some World's layouts change depending on how you enter the paintings! Whether it's Wet-Dry World with the water level, or Tick Tock Clock with the pendulum's speed.
This only occured to me after finishing the game, but the Worlds are really tiny. And what's great is that they all seem to be packed with content. There isn't any wasted space in any of the levels.
I also like how after unlocking the wing cap, vanish cap & metal cap, new stars become accessible in every level. It gave a satisfying feeling of progression.
After obtaining the 120 stars, you can meet Yoshi on the castle's roof and receive a sweet message from the developers. This was such a cool reward for finishing the game.
I don't know if I would have enjoyed the game as much as I did if I played it vanilla. This PC port made the adventure really enjoyable!
To end this review, I felt like ranking each World from most to least favorite:
1) Wet-Dry World
2) Lethal Lava Land
3) Hazy Maze Cave
4) Jolly Roger Bay
5) Big Boo's Haunt
6) Snowman's Land
7) Cool Cool Mountain
8) Tick Tock Clock
9) Dire Dire Docks
10) Tall Tall Mountain
11) Shifting Sand Land
12) Whomp's Fortress
13) Bob-Omb Battlefield
14) Tiny-Huge Island
15) Rainbow Ride
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on April 28th & finished on May 1st 2024]
Playtime: 16 hours
100% Completion
This review contains spoilers
Finally a Xenoblade DLC that I enjoyed thoroughly!
Very nice QoL features: You can pin items required for quests, gem crafting or even X-reader upgrades. And it will then show you if you find an enemy that drops the item you're looking for.
Finally having access to a bestiary is also very welcomed! Now we can find specific resources more efficiently.
The game does a great job at being an Openworld. Exploring & doing side quests is very rewarding, as Unlock Kits are what allow you to upgrade your characters and become stronger. And the X-reader helps you locate hidden treasures very easyly. It's just a joy to explore.
The battles flow quite well even without using chain attacks, I'm really happy about that.
Just cancelling your arts nonstop and doing Unity combos depletes the enemies HPs quickly enough.
Sometimes, I didn't even use chain attacks even though I could. It just feels better to not use those all the time.
I mostly focused on strengthening Shulk because he is my favorite character. When I found Unlock Kits, I would always use them on him first. I also had fun using Matthew, A and Glimmer.
Btw, it was really sweet seeing the father/son relationship between Shulk & Nikol and Rex & Glimmer. Seeing Nikol having the same passion for engineering than his father is so wholesome.
There are a lot of callbacks to the previous games: The moment the kids ask Na'el to sing them songs, and they name-drop famous tracks from previous Xenoblade games, it made me giggle. "Gaur Plain! Tomorrow with you! Bringer of Chaos, Ultimate!"
The original Colony 9 from Xenoblade 1 is back, along with its music and the battle theme "Time to fight".
More over, they continued to mix up environments from previous games just like they did in base game Xenoblade 3. Combining the three snowy areas from each Xeno game to create the Black Mountains was sick!
And making Prison Island the final area of the DLC was amazing. The developers really wanted to trigger a reaction in the player with all this nostalgia.
Even though he did that to serve his own purposes in the long run, seeing Z team up with Shulk & Rex to try and get rid of Alpha was kinda raw. He's the last person I would have expected to team up with our beloved Heroes.
I was quite invested in the cutscenes showing the Past of Na'el, her struggles with the war & endless killing. The voice actor did a good job portraying her emotions and making us understand why Alpha chose her as a vessel.
After defeating Alpha for good, Shulk, Rex & Alvis leave to become the new avatars of the Trinity processor. This ending really got me in the feels. I loved the story of Future Redeemed, this was a great way to wrap-up the trilogy.
Also, we learn that Matthew is part of the Vandham lineage 🤯
The end credits were so good, great music, and I love that we see a recap of all 3 Xeno games, with actual in-game footage. It was an amazing send-off.
Playing that DLC reinforced my love for those games and the Xenoblade series in general. This really is my favorite video game franchise, no doubt about it.
I can't wait to see what Xenoblade 4 is gonna be like. Because the producer said Future Redeemed put an end to this trilogy, and the next Xenoblade games are gonna be quite different, with an entirely different storyline. So I'm very curious!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on April 7th & finished on April 26th 2024]
Playtime: 28 hours
100% Completion
Very nice QoL features: You can pin items required for quests, gem crafting or even X-reader upgrades. And it will then show you if you find an enemy that drops the item you're looking for.
Finally having access to a bestiary is also very welcomed! Now we can find specific resources more efficiently.
The game does a great job at being an Openworld. Exploring & doing side quests is very rewarding, as Unlock Kits are what allow you to upgrade your characters and become stronger. And the X-reader helps you locate hidden treasures very easyly. It's just a joy to explore.
The battles flow quite well even without using chain attacks, I'm really happy about that.
Just cancelling your arts nonstop and doing Unity combos depletes the enemies HPs quickly enough.
Sometimes, I didn't even use chain attacks even though I could. It just feels better to not use those all the time.
I mostly focused on strengthening Shulk because he is my favorite character. When I found Unlock Kits, I would always use them on him first. I also had fun using Matthew, A and Glimmer.
Btw, it was really sweet seeing the father/son relationship between Shulk & Nikol and Rex & Glimmer. Seeing Nikol having the same passion for engineering than his father is so wholesome.
There are a lot of callbacks to the previous games: The moment the kids ask Na'el to sing them songs, and they name-drop famous tracks from previous Xenoblade games, it made me giggle. "Gaur Plain! Tomorrow with you! Bringer of Chaos, Ultimate!"
The original Colony 9 from Xenoblade 1 is back, along with its music and the battle theme "Time to fight".
More over, they continued to mix up environments from previous games just like they did in base game Xenoblade 3. Combining the three snowy areas from each Xeno game to create the Black Mountains was sick!
And making Prison Island the final area of the DLC was amazing. The developers really wanted to trigger a reaction in the player with all this nostalgia.
Even though he did that to serve his own purposes in the long run, seeing Z team up with Shulk & Rex to try and get rid of Alpha was kinda raw. He's the last person I would have expected to team up with our beloved Heroes.
I was quite invested in the cutscenes showing the Past of Na'el, her struggles with the war & endless killing. The voice actor did a good job portraying her emotions and making us understand why Alpha chose her as a vessel.
After defeating Alpha for good, Shulk, Rex & Alvis leave to become the new avatars of the Trinity processor. This ending really got me in the feels. I loved the story of Future Redeemed, this was a great way to wrap-up the trilogy.
Also, we learn that Matthew is part of the Vandham lineage 🤯
The end credits were so good, great music, and I love that we see a recap of all 3 Xeno games, with actual in-game footage. It was an amazing send-off.
Playing that DLC reinforced my love for those games and the Xenoblade series in general. This really is my favorite video game franchise, no doubt about it.
I can't wait to see what Xenoblade 4 is gonna be like. Because the producer said Future Redeemed put an end to this trilogy, and the next Xenoblade games are gonna be quite different, with an entirely different storyline. So I'm very curious!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on April 7th & finished on April 26th 2024]
Playtime: 28 hours
100% Completion
This review contains spoilers
I had such a great time with Tears of the Kingdom ❤
The new mechanics introduced in that game are so crazy that you feel like they're going to be game-breaking when you unlock them for the first time!
The Ultrahand added so much depth to the gameplay. I was already blown away by the different puzzles & game design in BOTW, especially inside the shrines. But this is on another level here.
You can do basically ANYTHING. So much freedom in the way you approach puzzles.
The way I was solving the shrines often made me laugh. For many of those, I could definitely tell I wasn't doing what the developers intended.
I tried as much as possible to take advantage of all the game mechanics offered by the game. I used Ultrahand and the Zonai devices everytime I saw an occasion to travel faster using vehicles. Surfing on my shield is also extremely satisfying, it never stopped being fun.
After I finished Breath of the Wild, I regretted not using the abilities at my disposal as much as I should have, so I'm glad I set things right in TOTK.
What I liked about the fuse ability is that it made beating stronger enemies really worthwhile, as you can use their materials to make stronger & more durable weapons.
I wasn't a fan of the weapon durability system in BOTW, but this new feature made me completely forget about it !
The game has so many movement features that it felt like I could go literally anywhere at anytime. I could always use the Travel Medallion, Paraglider, Tulin's vow, the rockets, the springs or the wings to reach far away places. If you thought BOTW had a lot of movement options, they went above and beyond with TOTK !
What's cool is that you don't even feel like doing all the shrines you see to unlock more teleporters, because you can already travel anywhere very quickly.
This time, I didn't make the mistake that I made in BOTW: trying to do as many side content as possible, trying to get all the Koroks, Shrines & Side quests at all costs.
Instead, I simply focused on the main story, and I only did a little bit of side content, but not too much. I got rid of that completionism itch 😅
I enjoyed the recurring missions, like the ones where I had to prevent the Hudson signs from falling off; escorting the musical troupe in front of the great fairies so they can perform their song; joining the monster-control-squad to defeat several Monster Forces; investigating with Penn at all the Stables, etc...
The ascent of Wind Temple was pretty epic with the music and the jumps on the ships to reach the top of the cyclone.
Colgera was an amazing first Boss. I wish the fight wasn't so easy tho, because everything else about this Boss is great.
The fact that you fight him while being high up in the air, maneuvering with your Paraglider, surrounded by tornados, and having to hit its weak spots using the bow in slow-motion. Idk, it just felt freaking epic.
The reason that fight was so easy is because of Bullet time, this mechanic is absolutely broken. It slows time tremendously, and it lasts forever. This really trivialized this Boss fight... I used this mechanic as little as possible for the rest of the game.
Vow of Tulin proved to be very useful during the rest of the game, whether it's his wind power, or the fact that he was actively participating to all my battles. He has perfect aim and dealt good amount of damages to enemies. All the sages proved to be very useful in battle. The sage abilities aren't as fun as the Champions abilities in BOTW tho.
It was fulfilling to help every race while progressing in the main story. First, I helped the Ritos getting rid of the blizzard in their region; then I managed to free the Gorons from their spell; after that I stopped the sandstorm in Gerudo Town; and finally I got rid of the Black Sludge in Zora's Domain.
The mini Bosses were really exciting to fight. It felt rewarding to beat my first Battle Talus in early-game. Having to use the Ultrahand & Recall abilities to defeat the Flux Constructs was also hella fun. Same when defeating Master Kohga in the Depths, and other minor Bosses like Frox & Lynels.
It was also nice to rematch the major Bosses in the Depths (Colgera, Marbled Gohma, Mucktorok & Queen Gibdo)
About the side content, there are still those Korok seeds to find throughout all of Hyrule, and there are even more this time around: 1000 instead of 900 !
Even though I ignored them most of the time, I have to admit the few I did were really enjoyable to get. I precisely remember an instance where I had to build a boat and bring the Korok on the other side of a lake. This was extremely cool! And there were other instances where I could build devices to propel the Koroks directly towards their friend using rockets.
Building a vehicle and seeing it work as intended is one of the most satisfying aspects of TOTK !
Moragia was another freaking epic Boss. You have to fly a plane and shoot Yunobo directly at each one of the Bosses heads. The ingenuity with all those Bosses mechanics is just crazy.
The Boss of Fire Temple, Marbled Gohma, was just as good as Colgera. It's impressive how consistently great the Bosses are!
Same thing again with Lightning Temple, Queen Gibdo being extremely fun to fight, and one of the most challenging Bosses in the game.
I was very happy with the Temples overall. They don't have the huge scope of the dungeons in previous Zelda games, where it can take up to 2 or 3 hours to complete one single dungeon.
But the puzzles you'll find in those Temples are high quality regardless. It's just less stuffed with content, and shorter.
In games like BOTW and TOTK, having less time-consuming Temples doesn't bother me at all, considering the amount of content these games already have outside the dungeons.
And I have to say the Bosses of these dungeons were absolutely amazing, much MUCH better than the Blight Ganons inside BOTW's Divine Beasts.
I just wish some of the Bosses offered more challenge.
It felt so good teaming up with the 4 sages to beat up all the enemies on our path inside Hyrule Castle.
You feel so powerful at this stage of the game! I was able to fuse a shit ton of weapons with all the monster materials I got on my way. I was running out of weapons before exploring the castle, and after that, I had over a dozen of weapons with +60 or +70 attack damage.
The game-design never ceased to amaze me... The 5th dungeon where you have to fight the hordes of enemies & the Seized Construct Boss using Mineru's own Construct was fire.
The cutscene we see at the end of this dungeon has to be one of the best moments in the game: "Years from now, someone will appear with the sword that seals the darkness. A swordman with the power to defeat you, Link. Remember this name.." That was amazing!
And a few moments later, we are able to recover the Master Sword in a beautiful scene on the Light Dragon's head.
The Final fight was definitely a lot more fun than Dark Beast Ganon in BOTW. The swordfight was actually quite challenging, it took me a few tries to get the timing right on the parry & dodge.
The last face off between Demon Dragon Ganon and Light Dragon Zelda was majestic.
In the end, I'd say I had more fun with TOTK than BOTW. This time around, I was playing more comfortably overall. Looking back on the way I played BOTW, I can tell I wasn't as practiced with video games as I am right now. I wasn't taking advantage of all the features offered by the game, and it definitely played a part in my overall appreciation of the game.
Of course, it's not the only reason I prefered TOTK. I'd say the 2 best aspects of the game were the freedom in the exploration (mainly thanks to the Ultrahand & Zonai devices), and the Bosses were so much better.
----------Playtime & Completion---------
[Started on February 25th & finished on March 18th 2024]
Playtime: 75 hours
I finished the main quest, and I didn't do a lot of side content.
50 shrines completed, 40 Korok Seeds collected, all dragon's tears collected, and I only explored the Depths a little bit with 35 lightroots lit up.
The new mechanics introduced in that game are so crazy that you feel like they're going to be game-breaking when you unlock them for the first time!
The Ultrahand added so much depth to the gameplay. I was already blown away by the different puzzles & game design in BOTW, especially inside the shrines. But this is on another level here.
You can do basically ANYTHING. So much freedom in the way you approach puzzles.
The way I was solving the shrines often made me laugh. For many of those, I could definitely tell I wasn't doing what the developers intended.
I tried as much as possible to take advantage of all the game mechanics offered by the game. I used Ultrahand and the Zonai devices everytime I saw an occasion to travel faster using vehicles. Surfing on my shield is also extremely satisfying, it never stopped being fun.
After I finished Breath of the Wild, I regretted not using the abilities at my disposal as much as I should have, so I'm glad I set things right in TOTK.
What I liked about the fuse ability is that it made beating stronger enemies really worthwhile, as you can use their materials to make stronger & more durable weapons.
I wasn't a fan of the weapon durability system in BOTW, but this new feature made me completely forget about it !
The game has so many movement features that it felt like I could go literally anywhere at anytime. I could always use the Travel Medallion, Paraglider, Tulin's vow, the rockets, the springs or the wings to reach far away places. If you thought BOTW had a lot of movement options, they went above and beyond with TOTK !
What's cool is that you don't even feel like doing all the shrines you see to unlock more teleporters, because you can already travel anywhere very quickly.
This time, I didn't make the mistake that I made in BOTW: trying to do as many side content as possible, trying to get all the Koroks, Shrines & Side quests at all costs.
Instead, I simply focused on the main story, and I only did a little bit of side content, but not too much. I got rid of that completionism itch 😅
I enjoyed the recurring missions, like the ones where I had to prevent the Hudson signs from falling off; escorting the musical troupe in front of the great fairies so they can perform their song; joining the monster-control-squad to defeat several Monster Forces; investigating with Penn at all the Stables, etc...
The ascent of Wind Temple was pretty epic with the music and the jumps on the ships to reach the top of the cyclone.
Colgera was an amazing first Boss. I wish the fight wasn't so easy tho, because everything else about this Boss is great.
The fact that you fight him while being high up in the air, maneuvering with your Paraglider, surrounded by tornados, and having to hit its weak spots using the bow in slow-motion. Idk, it just felt freaking epic.
The reason that fight was so easy is because of Bullet time, this mechanic is absolutely broken. It slows time tremendously, and it lasts forever. This really trivialized this Boss fight... I used this mechanic as little as possible for the rest of the game.
Vow of Tulin proved to be very useful during the rest of the game, whether it's his wind power, or the fact that he was actively participating to all my battles. He has perfect aim and dealt good amount of damages to enemies. All the sages proved to be very useful in battle. The sage abilities aren't as fun as the Champions abilities in BOTW tho.
It was fulfilling to help every race while progressing in the main story. First, I helped the Ritos getting rid of the blizzard in their region; then I managed to free the Gorons from their spell; after that I stopped the sandstorm in Gerudo Town; and finally I got rid of the Black Sludge in Zora's Domain.
The mini Bosses were really exciting to fight. It felt rewarding to beat my first Battle Talus in early-game. Having to use the Ultrahand & Recall abilities to defeat the Flux Constructs was also hella fun. Same when defeating Master Kohga in the Depths, and other minor Bosses like Frox & Lynels.
It was also nice to rematch the major Bosses in the Depths (Colgera, Marbled Gohma, Mucktorok & Queen Gibdo)
About the side content, there are still those Korok seeds to find throughout all of Hyrule, and there are even more this time around: 1000 instead of 900 !
Even though I ignored them most of the time, I have to admit the few I did were really enjoyable to get. I precisely remember an instance where I had to build a boat and bring the Korok on the other side of a lake. This was extremely cool! And there were other instances where I could build devices to propel the Koroks directly towards their friend using rockets.
Building a vehicle and seeing it work as intended is one of the most satisfying aspects of TOTK !
Moragia was another freaking epic Boss. You have to fly a plane and shoot Yunobo directly at each one of the Bosses heads. The ingenuity with all those Bosses mechanics is just crazy.
The Boss of Fire Temple, Marbled Gohma, was just as good as Colgera. It's impressive how consistently great the Bosses are!
Same thing again with Lightning Temple, Queen Gibdo being extremely fun to fight, and one of the most challenging Bosses in the game.
I was very happy with the Temples overall. They don't have the huge scope of the dungeons in previous Zelda games, where it can take up to 2 or 3 hours to complete one single dungeon.
But the puzzles you'll find in those Temples are high quality regardless. It's just less stuffed with content, and shorter.
In games like BOTW and TOTK, having less time-consuming Temples doesn't bother me at all, considering the amount of content these games already have outside the dungeons.
And I have to say the Bosses of these dungeons were absolutely amazing, much MUCH better than the Blight Ganons inside BOTW's Divine Beasts.
I just wish some of the Bosses offered more challenge.
It felt so good teaming up with the 4 sages to beat up all the enemies on our path inside Hyrule Castle.
You feel so powerful at this stage of the game! I was able to fuse a shit ton of weapons with all the monster materials I got on my way. I was running out of weapons before exploring the castle, and after that, I had over a dozen of weapons with +60 or +70 attack damage.
The game-design never ceased to amaze me... The 5th dungeon where you have to fight the hordes of enemies & the Seized Construct Boss using Mineru's own Construct was fire.
The cutscene we see at the end of this dungeon has to be one of the best moments in the game: "Years from now, someone will appear with the sword that seals the darkness. A swordman with the power to defeat you, Link. Remember this name.." That was amazing!
And a few moments later, we are able to recover the Master Sword in a beautiful scene on the Light Dragon's head.
The Final fight was definitely a lot more fun than Dark Beast Ganon in BOTW. The swordfight was actually quite challenging, it took me a few tries to get the timing right on the parry & dodge.
The last face off between Demon Dragon Ganon and Light Dragon Zelda was majestic.
In the end, I'd say I had more fun with TOTK than BOTW. This time around, I was playing more comfortably overall. Looking back on the way I played BOTW, I can tell I wasn't as practiced with video games as I am right now. I wasn't taking advantage of all the features offered by the game, and it definitely played a part in my overall appreciation of the game.
Of course, it's not the only reason I prefered TOTK. I'd say the 2 best aspects of the game were the freedom in the exploration (mainly thanks to the Ultrahand & Zonai devices), and the Bosses were so much better.
----------Playtime & Completion---------
[Started on February 25th & finished on March 18th 2024]
Playtime: 75 hours
I finished the main quest, and I didn't do a lot of side content.
50 shrines completed, 40 Korok Seeds collected, all dragon's tears collected, and I only explored the Depths a little bit with 35 lightroots lit up.
I played the Wii version on Dolphin emulator, using a Gamecube controller.
The game has 2 storylines, and you have to make a choice when you begin your adventure. You either start playing as the Princess Momohime, or the Ninja Kisuke.
I completed the entirety of Momohime's story, and then played about half of Kisuke's story, but I grew tired of the game before I could finish it and get all the endings. So I watched the rest on YouTube.
Muramasa is a Hack and Slash set in feudal Japan, with an absolutely gorgeous artstyle.
The characters all look so pretty, and the animations are extremely stylish whenever you run or swing your sword around in battle.
Slashing hordes of enemies from left to right, sending them into the air, and cutting through all of them at the same time using the quick draw is so exhilarating.
It would have been great to have more enemies with different patterns to make the combat less repetitive. Some of the environments & layouts are also recycled, stressing even more the repetitiveness of the game.
That's weird how they handled the regular encounters.
When you die during a fight, you respawn immediatly, but the enemies don't. So the game deprives you of all this exp, which is required to earn spirits & souls to unlock more weapons.
I'm still not sure how to feel about it. On one hand, it's a bummer to miss out on this exp, but on the other hand, it allows you to progress in the story more rapidly.
I really dig the use of japanese folklore. Muramasa is full of those myths & traditions, with kitsunes, spirits and onis.
There's an evil spirit taking ownership of Momohime's body during most of the game. The NPCs often mention ghost apparitions, possessions, and you even travel through Heaven & Hell. There are also mentions of Buddha and Amitabha.
All these legendary elements made for a really fascinating adventure.
The soundtrack is pretty nice overall, and it does have some heavy hitters. I loved "Womanizing", "Dim Twilight" and "Deep in Mountain and Valley"
Now that I've seen the 2 storylines more or less, I think I enjoy Kisuke's story more. I wonder if I would have prefered starting the game with him. There are more interesting moments during his storyline, and I liked the encounters with Torahime a lot.
I'll try coming back to this game later on to do the DLCs 👌
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 22th & stopped on February 3rd 2024]
Playtime: 12 hours
I finished Momohime's story and stopped halfway through Kisuke's story, at Sayo Boss fight. I watched the rest of the game including the endings on YouTube.
The game has 2 storylines, and you have to make a choice when you begin your adventure. You either start playing as the Princess Momohime, or the Ninja Kisuke.
I completed the entirety of Momohime's story, and then played about half of Kisuke's story, but I grew tired of the game before I could finish it and get all the endings. So I watched the rest on YouTube.
Muramasa is a Hack and Slash set in feudal Japan, with an absolutely gorgeous artstyle.
The characters all look so pretty, and the animations are extremely stylish whenever you run or swing your sword around in battle.
Slashing hordes of enemies from left to right, sending them into the air, and cutting through all of them at the same time using the quick draw is so exhilarating.
It would have been great to have more enemies with different patterns to make the combat less repetitive. Some of the environments & layouts are also recycled, stressing even more the repetitiveness of the game.
That's weird how they handled the regular encounters.
When you die during a fight, you respawn immediatly, but the enemies don't. So the game deprives you of all this exp, which is required to earn spirits & souls to unlock more weapons.
I'm still not sure how to feel about it. On one hand, it's a bummer to miss out on this exp, but on the other hand, it allows you to progress in the story more rapidly.
I really dig the use of japanese folklore. Muramasa is full of those myths & traditions, with kitsunes, spirits and onis.
There's an evil spirit taking ownership of Momohime's body during most of the game. The NPCs often mention ghost apparitions, possessions, and you even travel through Heaven & Hell. There are also mentions of Buddha and Amitabha.
All these legendary elements made for a really fascinating adventure.
The soundtrack is pretty nice overall, and it does have some heavy hitters. I loved "Womanizing", "Dim Twilight" and "Deep in Mountain and Valley"
Now that I've seen the 2 storylines more or less, I think I enjoy Kisuke's story more. I wonder if I would have prefered starting the game with him. There are more interesting moments during his storyline, and I liked the encounters with Torahime a lot.
I'll try coming back to this game later on to do the DLCs 👌
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 22th & stopped on February 3rd 2024]
Playtime: 12 hours
I finished Momohime's story and stopped halfway through Kisuke's story, at Sayo Boss fight. I watched the rest of the game including the endings on YouTube.
Another video game from my childhood !
I originally played the Wii version "Prince of Persia - Rival Swords". It's a different name that is exclusive to the Wii release, but it's exactly the same game.
I remember spending more time watching my father & brother play it, rather than playing it myself. It was too hard for 10-years old me. I don't even remember if we ever finished it.
Tho to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if playing with my Xbox controller made the game considerably easier than playing it back then with a Wiimote & motion controls.
The PC version is janky and I had to do some workarounds when I started the game.
Setting my controller correctly was troublesome, and there was an issue with the graphics:
When you set the special effects to "High" the game has an extreme bloom effect that makes it considerably less pleasant to look at.
But if you set the special effects to "Medium" or "Low" your character's shadow turns green (don't ask me why).
I chose to stay on "Low" cause the bloom effect is just terrible.
The audio is also fucked up. In several cutscenes, there is a delay between what you hear and what's happening on screen.
Despite all those technical issues, the game was definitely playable. None of them were too much of a nuisance.
I was very happy with the gameplay. The controls are intuitive, and your character's movements are very fluid. He jumps far and he climbs ladders & ledges quickly.
It was a lot of fun to hang onto those curtains, and traverse the platforming sections full of traps. You need to have good timing, and dodging all those contraptions is really satisfying. The Prince definitely feels super agile!
The rewind mechanic was also welcomed. It was an interesting way to justify having a few extra chances upon failing a jump, and it also serves a purpose in the story & the Prince's character development.
The combat was engaging for the most part. There is an infiltration aspect to it, with an execution QTE everytime you manage to land a surprise attack. You also have plenty of combos, and you'll need to be clever to defeat some of the enemies. For example you can insta-kill the dogs if you attack them while they have their mouth opened.
You can also avoid direct confrontation. Whenever there is an enemy encounter, you aren't locked with them, and you can actually ignore them entirely by rushing to the next platforming segment (well, most of the time).
Another option if you want to avoid fighting is to knock the enemies over the rooftops. It works like a charm!
I wasn't a big fan of the Dark Prince transformation. I understand the idea of forcing the player to play more agressively to change the pace a bit, but it was kinda stressful to lose HP constantly. It's like having a timer, which I've never been fond of. And the combat itself isn't exciting. You can just spam the whip over & over until every enemy is dead.
The game has well designed Boss fights, and all of them are really challenging:
- The 1st Boss fight in the arena was great, I like that it relies a lot on platforming.
- The 2nd Boss fight against Mahasti was equally good. It involves a lot of melee combat with the use of parry & the Dark Prince transformation to get rid of her. Plus she has a sick chara design!
- The 3rd Boss fight against the Twin Warriors was probably the hardest in the game. But fun nonetheless.
Games that ask you to choose a difficulty before beginning your adventure, but don't let you change the difficulty again afterwards are a big no-no for me. I don't recommand starting the game on the highest difficulty if you ever decide to give it a try.
I keep thinking that if I started the game on Hard, maybe I would have never made it to the end 😅
The endgame areas were my favorites. I love the atmosphere in the Hanging Gardens.
After that, you have to make your way through the Palace's old well, and it's just as good. After a tough parkour segment, the Prince finds his dead father, and he finally manages to take control of his alter ego. It was a really cool story moment!
The final Boss fight, just like all the other ones, was very entertaining. It mixes melee combat, platforming & QTE, and it was so rewarding to defeat him.
When I thought I had finished my adventure, the Dark Prince reappeared out of nowhere to try and get rid of us. The end consists of a final platforming segment in the Prince's psyche, and the visuals were pretty neat.
Honestly, the last hours of the game went so smoothly, it was such a satisfying ending.
I'm surprised I enjoyed the game so much. The fact that Prince of Persia isn't a huge franchise that isn't talked about a lot, and the fact that the game came out in 2005.. I didn't expect it to be so good. It holds up really well!
I'll definitely play the first two games of the trilogy in the future: Sands of Time & Warrior Within.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 14th & finished on January 15th 2024]
Playtime: 14 hours
Main story complete.
I originally played the Wii version "Prince of Persia - Rival Swords". It's a different name that is exclusive to the Wii release, but it's exactly the same game.
I remember spending more time watching my father & brother play it, rather than playing it myself. It was too hard for 10-years old me. I don't even remember if we ever finished it.
Tho to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if playing with my Xbox controller made the game considerably easier than playing it back then with a Wiimote & motion controls.
The PC version is janky and I had to do some workarounds when I started the game.
Setting my controller correctly was troublesome, and there was an issue with the graphics:
When you set the special effects to "High" the game has an extreme bloom effect that makes it considerably less pleasant to look at.
But if you set the special effects to "Medium" or "Low" your character's shadow turns green (don't ask me why).
I chose to stay on "Low" cause the bloom effect is just terrible.
The audio is also fucked up. In several cutscenes, there is a delay between what you hear and what's happening on screen.
Despite all those technical issues, the game was definitely playable. None of them were too much of a nuisance.
I was very happy with the gameplay. The controls are intuitive, and your character's movements are very fluid. He jumps far and he climbs ladders & ledges quickly.
It was a lot of fun to hang onto those curtains, and traverse the platforming sections full of traps. You need to have good timing, and dodging all those contraptions is really satisfying. The Prince definitely feels super agile!
The rewind mechanic was also welcomed. It was an interesting way to justify having a few extra chances upon failing a jump, and it also serves a purpose in the story & the Prince's character development.
The combat was engaging for the most part. There is an infiltration aspect to it, with an execution QTE everytime you manage to land a surprise attack. You also have plenty of combos, and you'll need to be clever to defeat some of the enemies. For example you can insta-kill the dogs if you attack them while they have their mouth opened.
You can also avoid direct confrontation. Whenever there is an enemy encounter, you aren't locked with them, and you can actually ignore them entirely by rushing to the next platforming segment (well, most of the time).
Another option if you want to avoid fighting is to knock the enemies over the rooftops. It works like a charm!
I wasn't a big fan of the Dark Prince transformation. I understand the idea of forcing the player to play more agressively to change the pace a bit, but it was kinda stressful to lose HP constantly. It's like having a timer, which I've never been fond of. And the combat itself isn't exciting. You can just spam the whip over & over until every enemy is dead.
The game has well designed Boss fights, and all of them are really challenging:
- The 1st Boss fight in the arena was great, I like that it relies a lot on platforming.
- The 2nd Boss fight against Mahasti was equally good. It involves a lot of melee combat with the use of parry & the Dark Prince transformation to get rid of her. Plus she has a sick chara design!
- The 3rd Boss fight against the Twin Warriors was probably the hardest in the game. But fun nonetheless.
Games that ask you to choose a difficulty before beginning your adventure, but don't let you change the difficulty again afterwards are a big no-no for me. I don't recommand starting the game on the highest difficulty if you ever decide to give it a try.
I keep thinking that if I started the game on Hard, maybe I would have never made it to the end 😅
The endgame areas were my favorites. I love the atmosphere in the Hanging Gardens.
After that, you have to make your way through the Palace's old well, and it's just as good. After a tough parkour segment, the Prince finds his dead father, and he finally manages to take control of his alter ego. It was a really cool story moment!
The final Boss fight, just like all the other ones, was very entertaining. It mixes melee combat, platforming & QTE, and it was so rewarding to defeat him.
When I thought I had finished my adventure, the Dark Prince reappeared out of nowhere to try and get rid of us. The end consists of a final platforming segment in the Prince's psyche, and the visuals were pretty neat.
Honestly, the last hours of the game went so smoothly, it was such a satisfying ending.
I'm surprised I enjoyed the game so much. The fact that Prince of Persia isn't a huge franchise that isn't talked about a lot, and the fact that the game came out in 2005.. I didn't expect it to be so good. It holds up really well!
I'll definitely play the first two games of the trilogy in the future: Sands of Time & Warrior Within.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 14th & finished on January 15th 2024]
Playtime: 14 hours
Main story complete.
2003
The game has a cool vibe to it. I like the spatial/spacecraft aesthetics, and the racers all have flamboyant costumes & haircuts 😄
I knew Captain Falcon for so long because he has always been part of every Smash game, so it was nice to finally play his own series after all this time!
The driving mechanics were so special. The spacecrafts are extremely sensitive when you turn, and they all feel really floaty.
I tried a lot of different ones during the first hour, but I eventually stuck to the Astro Robin. This vehicle had great acceleration and top speed, really satisfying & noob-friendly vehicle.
I didn't expect F-Zero GX to be so challenging. The game seems to have a high skill ceiling, and it made ending up in 1st place all the more rewarding.
It's not simple to avoid hitting the walls, and you can easyly fall into the void because you went too fast, or because another racer pushed you into it. And you have to use your boost carefully, because using too much of it can cause your vehicle to overheat.
There were several well designed tracks. I liked the circuit "Port Town - Long Pipe" where you're driving through a tube most of the race while avoiding the pillars in the way. Casino Palace and Cosmo Terminal were also really cool.
The TV interviews always crack me up for some reason. It's so goofy and cliché but in a good way.
I had enough of the game after 5 hours. I don't really have any criticism really, it just didn't manage to grab me for very long. Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of racing games.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 6th & stopped on January 12th 2024]
Playtime: 5 hours
I stopped after winning the Diamond Cup.
I knew Captain Falcon for so long because he has always been part of every Smash game, so it was nice to finally play his own series after all this time!
The driving mechanics were so special. The spacecrafts are extremely sensitive when you turn, and they all feel really floaty.
I tried a lot of different ones during the first hour, but I eventually stuck to the Astro Robin. This vehicle had great acceleration and top speed, really satisfying & noob-friendly vehicle.
I didn't expect F-Zero GX to be so challenging. The game seems to have a high skill ceiling, and it made ending up in 1st place all the more rewarding.
It's not simple to avoid hitting the walls, and you can easyly fall into the void because you went too fast, or because another racer pushed you into it. And you have to use your boost carefully, because using too much of it can cause your vehicle to overheat.
There were several well designed tracks. I liked the circuit "Port Town - Long Pipe" where you're driving through a tube most of the race while avoiding the pillars in the way. Casino Palace and Cosmo Terminal were also really cool.
The TV interviews always crack me up for some reason. It's so goofy and cliché but in a good way.
I had enough of the game after 5 hours. I don't really have any criticism really, it just didn't manage to grab me for very long. Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of racing games.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on January 6th & stopped on January 12th 2024]
Playtime: 5 hours
I stopped after winning the Diamond Cup.
Back in the day, I had this game on my Wii, and I desperately wanted to play it in coop with my older brother. Unfortunately he never wanted to, and as a result I never played the game... (I didn't want to play it in singleplayer at the time.)
I was so frustrated about it for so long, and I promised myself to play through it one day, even if it has to be in solo. And this day has finally come! Mind you, it doesn't mean my expectations for this game were really high.
Oh and btw I haven't played any other game in the PS2 trilogy. So I don't have any prior knowledge of the events that happened in A New Beginning & The Eternal Night.
The only other Spyro games I've played are the ones on the PS1.
As it's often the case with those PS2 games, the camera is janky and systematically decides to reposition itself without asking me. So it makes the overall camera movement unbearable.
It's a nightmare during combat. You'll always find yourself running in circles to try and get a better angle of the enemies.
And don't get me started on the enclosed/underground areas where the game doesn't allow you to move the camera freely, but always gives you the most horrendous camera angles.
It's a shame because the combat system is quite fun. It's a Beat'em up where you fight with 2 characters, Spyro & Cynder.
And you can switch between the two whenever you want.
Each of them has 4 different elements that you can upgrade throughout your adventure, and some enemies are only vulnerable to specific elements, which means you'll have to choose your spells adequately.
So the combat can be enjoyable, but it's spoiled by this one very annoying issue with the camera.
I was pleasantly surprised with the area themes and the environment aesthetics. Twilight Falls and Valley of Avalar have that mystical vibe that was really appealing to me. And the music always hit right.
I'm not a fan of the chara designs, whether it's Spyro, Sparx, or all the cheetahs. The only one I liked was Cynder's, she looks so stylish. She was the only cool character in the game to be honest.
The voice acting is really goofy at times, and Sparx is one of the most insufferable characters I've ever seen. All his lines are attempts to be funny, but it fails miserably everytime. I wish he was silent like in the PS1 games..
Flying was so-so. They did a decent job with the controls, but the invisible walls and the fact that you can't change your altitude made flying very clumsy. It's also very slow whenever you try to land, which was quite irritating.
There are some platforming segments that were really unintuitive aswell. Using the boulder spell mid-air to destroy those walls in Ruins of Warfang was so annoying.
The game had a lot of interesting puzzles with enjoyable game design. I liked the ones where you need to get one of the protagonists on a platform, and then pull it with the other dragon, thank to the chain that is shackling Spyro & Cynder together.
There's also that puzzle in Ruins of Warfang where you need to swing yourself with the chain to light the flames around the wheel. Pretty clever!
More over, the game expects you to experiment & figure out some mechanics by yourself. For example, you can get through iron gates using Cynder's shadow spell. It was satisfying to find this out without help!
If I had to summarize this game in one sentence: It's sprinkled with good ideas but bad execution.
The game is usually well paced, except on some occasions when the beat'em up parts drag on for too long (whether because there are too many enemies to defeat in a row, or because an enemy is too tanky).
The part on the Destroyer was a cool idea, when you need to break all the crystals one by one, and then go inside the beast to destroy its core crystals and escape before it implodes. But since flying is so inconvenient & clumsy, it makes this part a bit tedious, which is quite unfortunate.
The game ended on a bright note, with the Final Boss fight being very fun.
The story was really cliché but it didn't bother me. Like I said earlier, what bothered me were the cheap voice acting & bad chara designs. It looks like the Elder Dragons are ALWAYS smiling in any situation. It's kinda eerie.
And if I could throw Sparx in the volcano myself, I would do it without hesitation.
Anyway, flawed game but I had a good time nonetheless. I'm glad I finally played it!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on December 30th & finished on December 31st 2023]
Playtime: 13 hours
Main story complete.
I was so frustrated about it for so long, and I promised myself to play through it one day, even if it has to be in solo. And this day has finally come! Mind you, it doesn't mean my expectations for this game were really high.
Oh and btw I haven't played any other game in the PS2 trilogy. So I don't have any prior knowledge of the events that happened in A New Beginning & The Eternal Night.
The only other Spyro games I've played are the ones on the PS1.
As it's often the case with those PS2 games, the camera is janky and systematically decides to reposition itself without asking me. So it makes the overall camera movement unbearable.
It's a nightmare during combat. You'll always find yourself running in circles to try and get a better angle of the enemies.
And don't get me started on the enclosed/underground areas where the game doesn't allow you to move the camera freely, but always gives you the most horrendous camera angles.
It's a shame because the combat system is quite fun. It's a Beat'em up where you fight with 2 characters, Spyro & Cynder.
And you can switch between the two whenever you want.
Each of them has 4 different elements that you can upgrade throughout your adventure, and some enemies are only vulnerable to specific elements, which means you'll have to choose your spells adequately.
So the combat can be enjoyable, but it's spoiled by this one very annoying issue with the camera.
I was pleasantly surprised with the area themes and the environment aesthetics. Twilight Falls and Valley of Avalar have that mystical vibe that was really appealing to me. And the music always hit right.
I'm not a fan of the chara designs, whether it's Spyro, Sparx, or all the cheetahs. The only one I liked was Cynder's, she looks so stylish. She was the only cool character in the game to be honest.
The voice acting is really goofy at times, and Sparx is one of the most insufferable characters I've ever seen. All his lines are attempts to be funny, but it fails miserably everytime. I wish he was silent like in the PS1 games..
Flying was so-so. They did a decent job with the controls, but the invisible walls and the fact that you can't change your altitude made flying very clumsy. It's also very slow whenever you try to land, which was quite irritating.
There are some platforming segments that were really unintuitive aswell. Using the boulder spell mid-air to destroy those walls in Ruins of Warfang was so annoying.
The game had a lot of interesting puzzles with enjoyable game design. I liked the ones where you need to get one of the protagonists on a platform, and then pull it with the other dragon, thank to the chain that is shackling Spyro & Cynder together.
There's also that puzzle in Ruins of Warfang where you need to swing yourself with the chain to light the flames around the wheel. Pretty clever!
More over, the game expects you to experiment & figure out some mechanics by yourself. For example, you can get through iron gates using Cynder's shadow spell. It was satisfying to find this out without help!
If I had to summarize this game in one sentence: It's sprinkled with good ideas but bad execution.
The game is usually well paced, except on some occasions when the beat'em up parts drag on for too long (whether because there are too many enemies to defeat in a row, or because an enemy is too tanky).
The part on the Destroyer was a cool idea, when you need to break all the crystals one by one, and then go inside the beast to destroy its core crystals and escape before it implodes. But since flying is so inconvenient & clumsy, it makes this part a bit tedious, which is quite unfortunate.
The game ended on a bright note, with the Final Boss fight being very fun.
The story was really cliché but it didn't bother me. Like I said earlier, what bothered me were the cheap voice acting & bad chara designs. It looks like the Elder Dragons are ALWAYS smiling in any situation. It's kinda eerie.
And if I could throw Sparx in the volcano myself, I would do it without hesitation.
Anyway, flawed game but I had a good time nonetheless. I'm glad I finally played it!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on December 30th & finished on December 31st 2023]
Playtime: 13 hours
Main story complete.
It's a Collectathon game with very basic platforming & combat. You control Scrat and pursue acorns as you progress your way through the icy plains & mountaintops.
The game is based on the movie of the same name.
I played this game purely for nostalgia reasons! It's one of those games that I got during my childhood, and I never thought much of it despite getting all the way to the end when I was a kid.
It recently popped up in my mind after I had forgotten about it for over 15 years, so I was intrigued to replay it to relive my childhood.
The game is really holding your hand at all times. There are tutorials signs for the most basic actions, such as jumping, climbing vines, attacking enemies, etc... And you see some of those tutos multiple times. I guess they really wanted the 4 years old to be able to beat the game.
The camera was bad, I was annoyed that you couldn't increase its speed. It's so slow when you need to look around you. And the camera starts panicking when you're close to a wall. But honestly it's a PS2 game, so I'll forgive it on that.
I didn't pay too much attention to the soundtrack. I did enjoy the one inside the volcano when you have to save Sid, but the rest wasn't memorable.
The short cutscenes that tell the events of the movie feel so disconnected from the gameplay segments with Scrat, it was kinda weird.
The ending was bland. You just go through your last platforming section that isn't any different from the rest of the game, then there is a 30 seconds cutscene to show you that the characters are finally safe from the meltdown, and voila... It felt a bit lazy.
There isn't much else to say about this game. It was never bad or frustrating, but it was never good either. It's a really forgettable adventure. But at least it was short !
I'm still happy I played it, but I doubt I'll look back too much on it in the future.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played on 29th December 2023]
Playtime: 4 hours
I got all the way to the end. No bonus or side content in this game.
The game is based on the movie of the same name.
I played this game purely for nostalgia reasons! It's one of those games that I got during my childhood, and I never thought much of it despite getting all the way to the end when I was a kid.
It recently popped up in my mind after I had forgotten about it for over 15 years, so I was intrigued to replay it to relive my childhood.
The game is really holding your hand at all times. There are tutorials signs for the most basic actions, such as jumping, climbing vines, attacking enemies, etc... And you see some of those tutos multiple times. I guess they really wanted the 4 years old to be able to beat the game.
The camera was bad, I was annoyed that you couldn't increase its speed. It's so slow when you need to look around you. And the camera starts panicking when you're close to a wall. But honestly it's a PS2 game, so I'll forgive it on that.
I didn't pay too much attention to the soundtrack. I did enjoy the one inside the volcano when you have to save Sid, but the rest wasn't memorable.
The short cutscenes that tell the events of the movie feel so disconnected from the gameplay segments with Scrat, it was kinda weird.
The ending was bland. You just go through your last platforming section that isn't any different from the rest of the game, then there is a 30 seconds cutscene to show you that the characters are finally safe from the meltdown, and voila... It felt a bit lazy.
There isn't much else to say about this game. It was never bad or frustrating, but it was never good either. It's a really forgettable adventure. But at least it was short !
I'm still happy I played it, but I doubt I'll look back too much on it in the future.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played on 29th December 2023]
Playtime: 4 hours
I got all the way to the end. No bonus or side content in this game.
2017
This review contains spoilers
/!\ /!\ /!\ HEAVY SPOILERS /!\ /!\ /!\
NieR Automata's main strengths are its story, atmosphere & music.
I enjoyed the combat aswell. They did a great job with the character fighting animations, and it made the combat really thrilling. You can start doing sick combos if you use all your arsenal, especially with Pod Programs like [Wire] and [Slow]. Doing all that isn't necessary by any mean, but it feels very rewarding. It felt like I was playing Devil May Cry sometimes 😁
I want to discard the game's flaws before moving on to the good stuff:
- The prologue has an issue. It's way too long with countless fights and 2 Bosses you need to defeat. There isn't any checkpoint, so dying at any point during this 40 minutes prologue immediatly sends you back to the very beginning. Clearly not the best way to start your adventure. I'm pretty sure it filtered a lot of players right at the start of the game, which is quite unfortunate.
- The difficulty levels weren't handled really well in my opinion. Playing on [Normal] made the combat effortless, and playing on [Hard] made it very easy to die in a single hit. There is too much of a gap in enemy's damage between the two.
- The loading screens felt a bit too long at times. I actually counted how long exactly, and it was about ~20 seconds for me.
My PC isn't even bad.
- I'm nitpicking here, but the 3D map isn't really ergonomic. Sometimes when you're looking at a marker for a quest, you don't understand where the marker is exactly, and you have to rotate the map in all directions to have a better idea of where it is.
That's pretty much the only negatives I can think of!
NieR Automata is full of unforgettable moments:
- Following the epic battle between 2B, 9S and the Goliath in the middle of City ruins, the area is completely ravaged by the Goliath's self-destruction, and you have to explore the caves under the city. Those tunnels were really creeping me out 😅
I remember being blown away when Adam told them the truth about the aliens, and their extermination by the machines.
I certainly didn't expect this kind of twist, but I was happy to be taken aback by the story
- The section in Copied City was so intense, with the fight against Adam. 2B successfully manages to kill him and rescue 9S at the same time. And It was really interesting to experience this event again during route B, but from 9S' perspective.
- Finding out about the machine cult was fascinating. The way they eventually all throw themselves into the lava was quite disturbing. Oh and by the way... "𝘽𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝘼𝙎 𝙂𝙊𝘿𝙎 ! ♪ 𝘽𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝘼𝙎 𝙂𝙊𝘿𝙎 ! ♪" was stuck in my head for a long time 😄
- 2B's death at the very beginning of route C completely devastated me emotionally... I was so mad with the game when it happened😅 Honestly, I was salty that they killed 2B, because I got so attached to her.
It took me quite some time to appreciate A2, but I eventually got used to her. Plus she has a cool fighting style, and she looks amazing with long brown hair & destroyer outfit 🤍
- When you revisit the abandoned factory during route C, the area is completely pitch-black, and you have to make your way through it using your flashlight. Exploring the factory in those conditions was really haunting & memorable.
- The relation between Pascal and the kids from the machine's village was so heartwarming. Witnessing their demise in route C was gut-wrenching...
- And of course there's route E where I think many players cried. It's just... I don't even know what to say.
Despite the overall seriousness of the story, there are lots of moments to lighten up the mood.
It was so funny to see 9S being enthusiastic over the tiniest things, especially during the first part of the game, and being completely shut down by 2B everytime. "Feelings are prohibited 😠"
There are several other moments that made me smile: Emil goofing around City Ruins on his motorcycle; the little sister machine asking 2B & 9S how to make babies; the Romeo and Juliet play in the Amusement Park; Jean-Paul's side quests; and many more encounters with silly machines throughout the game...
And can we talk about the fact there is a hidden boss fight against the CEOs of PlatinumGames & Square Enix? (Yes this is a real thing, I'm not joking). They really didn't take themselves seriously, breaking the 4th wall like that. It was surprising and quite fun!
The game also has callbacks to NieR Replicant, but I only became aware of it after I played that game a few months later. Whether it's the masked machines in the Trial of Sand being a reference to Façade; the presence of Devola & Popola in the Resistance Camp; the Library from Replicant's inside the Tower; Emil and his search for Lunar Tears; Kainé's shack near 2B's grave; all the documents related to Project Gestalt; etc...
It was very cool to realize all those connections between the two games when I played Replicant for the first time!
I have to reiterate, but the atmosphere in NieR Automata is unmatched.
After the battle in the Pacific and the mission to rescue 9S, you can eventually come back to the Flooded City. And I don't know if it's the music, the lighting, or the fact that you can see the giant machine you just fought standing in the middle of the ocean, but holy shit, chilling here is mesmerizing.
The same thing happened when I discovered the Bunker, Resistance Camp, Desert Zone, Amusement Park or Machine Village for the 1st time. This game's atmosphere & music are just out of this world. Contender for my #1 favorite OST ever.
I was so obsessed with this game that I immediatly did a 2nd playthrough right after I deleted my save file at the end of route E, but aiming for 100% completion this time around.
After doing all of that, I was still avid for this universe and its characters, so I started looking for all the content available outside of the game. I read all the short stories, and I watched the concert & the stage play.
I felt so empty when I finally exhausted every side material related to NieR Automata, these memories will stay with me for a long time!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played between late January & early February 2022]
Playtime: 70 hours
100% Completion
NieR Automata's main strengths are its story, atmosphere & music.
I enjoyed the combat aswell. They did a great job with the character fighting animations, and it made the combat really thrilling. You can start doing sick combos if you use all your arsenal, especially with Pod Programs like [Wire] and [Slow]. Doing all that isn't necessary by any mean, but it feels very rewarding. It felt like I was playing Devil May Cry sometimes 😁
I want to discard the game's flaws before moving on to the good stuff:
- The prologue has an issue. It's way too long with countless fights and 2 Bosses you need to defeat. There isn't any checkpoint, so dying at any point during this 40 minutes prologue immediatly sends you back to the very beginning. Clearly not the best way to start your adventure. I'm pretty sure it filtered a lot of players right at the start of the game, which is quite unfortunate.
- The difficulty levels weren't handled really well in my opinion. Playing on [Normal] made the combat effortless, and playing on [Hard] made it very easy to die in a single hit. There is too much of a gap in enemy's damage between the two.
- The loading screens felt a bit too long at times. I actually counted how long exactly, and it was about ~20 seconds for me.
My PC isn't even bad.
- I'm nitpicking here, but the 3D map isn't really ergonomic. Sometimes when you're looking at a marker for a quest, you don't understand where the marker is exactly, and you have to rotate the map in all directions to have a better idea of where it is.
That's pretty much the only negatives I can think of!
NieR Automata is full of unforgettable moments:
- Following the epic battle between 2B, 9S and the Goliath in the middle of City ruins, the area is completely ravaged by the Goliath's self-destruction, and you have to explore the caves under the city. Those tunnels were really creeping me out 😅
I remember being blown away when Adam told them the truth about the aliens, and their extermination by the machines.
I certainly didn't expect this kind of twist, but I was happy to be taken aback by the story
- The section in Copied City was so intense, with the fight against Adam. 2B successfully manages to kill him and rescue 9S at the same time. And It was really interesting to experience this event again during route B, but from 9S' perspective.
- Finding out about the machine cult was fascinating. The way they eventually all throw themselves into the lava was quite disturbing. Oh and by the way... "𝘽𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝘼𝙎 𝙂𝙊𝘿𝙎 ! ♪ 𝘽𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝘼𝙎 𝙂𝙊𝘿𝙎 ! ♪" was stuck in my head for a long time 😄
- 2B's death at the very beginning of route C completely devastated me emotionally... I was so mad with the game when it happened😅 Honestly, I was salty that they killed 2B, because I got so attached to her.
It took me quite some time to appreciate A2, but I eventually got used to her. Plus she has a cool fighting style, and she looks amazing with long brown hair & destroyer outfit 🤍
- When you revisit the abandoned factory during route C, the area is completely pitch-black, and you have to make your way through it using your flashlight. Exploring the factory in those conditions was really haunting & memorable.
- The relation between Pascal and the kids from the machine's village was so heartwarming. Witnessing their demise in route C was gut-wrenching...
- And of course there's route E where I think many players cried. It's just... I don't even know what to say.
Despite the overall seriousness of the story, there are lots of moments to lighten up the mood.
It was so funny to see 9S being enthusiastic over the tiniest things, especially during the first part of the game, and being completely shut down by 2B everytime. "Feelings are prohibited 😠"
There are several other moments that made me smile: Emil goofing around City Ruins on his motorcycle; the little sister machine asking 2B & 9S how to make babies; the Romeo and Juliet play in the Amusement Park; Jean-Paul's side quests; and many more encounters with silly machines throughout the game...
And can we talk about the fact there is a hidden boss fight against the CEOs of PlatinumGames & Square Enix? (Yes this is a real thing, I'm not joking). They really didn't take themselves seriously, breaking the 4th wall like that. It was surprising and quite fun!
The game also has callbacks to NieR Replicant, but I only became aware of it after I played that game a few months later. Whether it's the masked machines in the Trial of Sand being a reference to Façade; the presence of Devola & Popola in the Resistance Camp; the Library from Replicant's inside the Tower; Emil and his search for Lunar Tears; Kainé's shack near 2B's grave; all the documents related to Project Gestalt; etc...
It was very cool to realize all those connections between the two games when I played Replicant for the first time!
I have to reiterate, but the atmosphere in NieR Automata is unmatched.
After the battle in the Pacific and the mission to rescue 9S, you can eventually come back to the Flooded City. And I don't know if it's the music, the lighting, or the fact that you can see the giant machine you just fought standing in the middle of the ocean, but holy shit, chilling here is mesmerizing.
The same thing happened when I discovered the Bunker, Resistance Camp, Desert Zone, Amusement Park or Machine Village for the 1st time. This game's atmosphere & music are just out of this world. Contender for my #1 favorite OST ever.
I was so obsessed with this game that I immediatly did a 2nd playthrough right after I deleted my save file at the end of route E, but aiming for 100% completion this time around.
After doing all of that, I was still avid for this universe and its characters, so I started looking for all the content available outside of the game. I read all the short stories, and I watched the concert & the stage play.
I felt so empty when I finally exhausted every side material related to NieR Automata, these memories will stay with me for a long time!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played between late January & early February 2022]
Playtime: 70 hours
100% Completion
This is my introduction to the FromSoftware franchise.
I've wanted to play this series for so long, but I always felt left out due to the difficulty of those games. I've actually tried getting into it 2 times in the Past, but got my ass kicked both times, and gave up out of frustration.
The first time was when I tried the same game over a year ago, and the second time was when I tried Elden Ring at its release. This time, I wanted to give it a serious shot, asked for advices on Discord, Reddit, etc... and I was definitely more prepared to take on this adventure.
I liked how connected all the areas were. I was often surprised to find an elevator or a gate that would lead me directly to a previously explored area. Since you're so focused on trying to survive every enemy encounter, you don't immediatly notice that you eventually always loop back to another region that you've already traversed.
The world has a lot of verticality, which is very enjoyable and offers a lot of surprises during the exploration. I needed to be very observant cause there were a lot of paths & treasures that were viciously well hidden.
The lack of map & teleporters for a good part of the game obliged me to have good spatial awareness and memorization. It was somewhat difficult to remember all the different pathways & shortcuts connecting each location, but it gave a nice feeling of accomplishment when I eventually got used to it and managed to navigate from place to place without much issue. This eventually goes away once you unlock warping tho, but I didn't mind!
The World is full of ominous & otherworldly locations that really left a mark on me. Whether it's exploring Anor Londo for the first time; discovering Ash Lake deep under the earth of Lordran; meeting the Daughter of Chaos in Quelaag Domain; or entering Kiln of the First Flame to defeat Gwyn... The atmosphere surrounding those places is always top-notch, and the lack of music works surprisingly well. I liked the contrast with the epic themes you hear during most Boss fights.
For the first few hours, I only had the Longsword, until I found the Claymore and kept it till the end of my adventure, making sure to upgrade it regularly.
Once I found Havel Armor, I also kept it till the end, but I often switched with a lighter armor such as Gold-Hemmed for many of the Boss fights. Fast rolls are so useful.
I feel like the game doesn't encourage you to try out different weapons/game styles. If you went with a melee build and want to try a pyromancer or mage build midway through the game, you just can't, since you can't reset your caracteristics.
Even simply wanting to change your sword can also be discouraging, because you need to upgrade it all the way to +15 again, which is long & costly.
Beating Bosses was the most rewarding part of the game. My favorites are of course Smough & Ornstein with how challenging they were, and considering what happens after you beat them.
Nito was SO memorable to me. Not necessarily gameplay-wise, but he was by far the most intimidating Boss in the game. His aura, his theme, the fact that you traversed an area that is completely pitch-black to reach him... I was so frightened when the cutscene started!
Chaos Witch Quelaag and Sif are also some of my favorites because of their importance in the lore of Dark Souls.
I also want to point out that I didn't kill Priscilla. I mean, who would even attack her upon seeing her for the first time?
She is so nice with you and just politely asks you to leave her alone. I hope you didn't kill her!
Talking about Smough & Ornstein, I loved the part in Anor Londo. Defeating them felt so fulfilling. And your reward for defeating them is an encounter with Gwynevere, and the ability to warp between bonfires. The music in the princess chamber sounds so triumphant. This was really a high point in my adventure, probably the best part of the game.
Some areas were a bit tedious, and on the really stressful side. Blight Town comes to mind. No bonfire between the top and the very bottom of the area where the swamp is located, and the blowdart snipers are a pain in the ass. But in retrospect, the area isn't THAT terrible.
By far the worst area was Tomb of the Giants. You can't see shit, you have to switch between your lantern and your shield regularly, and the enemies make you fall off the ledge quite easyly, since like I said, you can't see anything. It simply wasn't fun.
I enjoyed the online features. The messages from other players giving advices along the way (or just being trolls), and the fact that I could regularly see their ghosts fighting or resting at the bonfire. It added a nice touch to the game, and made me feel less lonely. I really felt like we were helping each other and doing this adventure together.
While the music is absent most of the time, there are still a few ones that were really memorable to me: Daughters of Chaos; Great Grey Wolf Sif; Ornstein & Smough; Gwynevere Princess of Sunlight.
Duke's archives & Crystal Caves were my favorite regions. I prefer brighter & more colorful areas, and this place looked amazing. The reflections of light on the tiles in the archives were so nice to look at. Plus the area was easy to go through, including the Boss Seath. So yeah, best part of the game purely in terms of exploration.
New Londo was also one of the best places. I enjoy the atmosphere with the spooky ghosts, and the Abyss realm where you fight the Four Kings was very haunting.
The ending felt really abrupt. When I was fighting Gwyn, I didn't even realise it was the final boss fight, and I was surprised to see the credits roll.
I was disappointed to miss out on the DLC content. Finishing the game automatically started a new NG+ file, and I couldn't go back.
Since I missed on it but didn't want to replay the game, I watched a playthrough of Artorias of the Abyss on YouTube. Maybe I'll play it myself one day, but I had enough of Dark Souls 1 for now!
After I finished the game, I watched several videos of VaatiVidya to learn more about the lore of Dark Souls 1. Despite paying attention while I was playing, there were still many story details & subplots that I didn't understand during my adventure.
Especially to learn more about the fate of some important characters, such as the Witch of Izalith & her 7 daughters, Nito, Gwyn, Siegmeyer, or even Solaire.
DLC aside, I also missed some other content like Gwyndolin Boss fight and Solaire side quest, nor did I try to attack Gwynevere in Anor Londo (I watched what it does on YouTube tho)
The replay value for this game must be great. You can do another playthrough by adding some challenge to your adventure: trying a less conventional build, not upgrading your weapon & armor, taking a different path at the beginning... There would be tons of ways to make your adventure different!
As I said at the beginning, it was really hard to get into this franchise, but I'm glad I finally managed to break this glass ceiling. There are a lot of FromSoftware games, so I'm really excited for the future! My next step is gonna be Dark Souls 2.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on November 25th & finished on December 11th 2023]
Playtime: 50 hours
I got the "To Link the Fire" ending. I didn't do the DLC unfortunately... The game doesn't tell you how to access it, and I don't want to replay a big chunk of the game in NG+ just to do it. Maybe next time!
I've wanted to play this series for so long, but I always felt left out due to the difficulty of those games. I've actually tried getting into it 2 times in the Past, but got my ass kicked both times, and gave up out of frustration.
The first time was when I tried the same game over a year ago, and the second time was when I tried Elden Ring at its release. This time, I wanted to give it a serious shot, asked for advices on Discord, Reddit, etc... and I was definitely more prepared to take on this adventure.
I liked how connected all the areas were. I was often surprised to find an elevator or a gate that would lead me directly to a previously explored area. Since you're so focused on trying to survive every enemy encounter, you don't immediatly notice that you eventually always loop back to another region that you've already traversed.
The world has a lot of verticality, which is very enjoyable and offers a lot of surprises during the exploration. I needed to be very observant cause there were a lot of paths & treasures that were viciously well hidden.
The lack of map & teleporters for a good part of the game obliged me to have good spatial awareness and memorization. It was somewhat difficult to remember all the different pathways & shortcuts connecting each location, but it gave a nice feeling of accomplishment when I eventually got used to it and managed to navigate from place to place without much issue. This eventually goes away once you unlock warping tho, but I didn't mind!
The World is full of ominous & otherworldly locations that really left a mark on me. Whether it's exploring Anor Londo for the first time; discovering Ash Lake deep under the earth of Lordran; meeting the Daughter of Chaos in Quelaag Domain; or entering Kiln of the First Flame to defeat Gwyn... The atmosphere surrounding those places is always top-notch, and the lack of music works surprisingly well. I liked the contrast with the epic themes you hear during most Boss fights.
For the first few hours, I only had the Longsword, until I found the Claymore and kept it till the end of my adventure, making sure to upgrade it regularly.
Once I found Havel Armor, I also kept it till the end, but I often switched with a lighter armor such as Gold-Hemmed for many of the Boss fights. Fast rolls are so useful.
I feel like the game doesn't encourage you to try out different weapons/game styles. If you went with a melee build and want to try a pyromancer or mage build midway through the game, you just can't, since you can't reset your caracteristics.
Even simply wanting to change your sword can also be discouraging, because you need to upgrade it all the way to +15 again, which is long & costly.
Beating Bosses was the most rewarding part of the game. My favorites are of course Smough & Ornstein with how challenging they were, and considering what happens after you beat them.
Nito was SO memorable to me. Not necessarily gameplay-wise, but he was by far the most intimidating Boss in the game. His aura, his theme, the fact that you traversed an area that is completely pitch-black to reach him... I was so frightened when the cutscene started!
Chaos Witch Quelaag and Sif are also some of my favorites because of their importance in the lore of Dark Souls.
I also want to point out that I didn't kill Priscilla. I mean, who would even attack her upon seeing her for the first time?
She is so nice with you and just politely asks you to leave her alone. I hope you didn't kill her!
Talking about Smough & Ornstein, I loved the part in Anor Londo. Defeating them felt so fulfilling. And your reward for defeating them is an encounter with Gwynevere, and the ability to warp between bonfires. The music in the princess chamber sounds so triumphant. This was really a high point in my adventure, probably the best part of the game.
Some areas were a bit tedious, and on the really stressful side. Blight Town comes to mind. No bonfire between the top and the very bottom of the area where the swamp is located, and the blowdart snipers are a pain in the ass. But in retrospect, the area isn't THAT terrible.
By far the worst area was Tomb of the Giants. You can't see shit, you have to switch between your lantern and your shield regularly, and the enemies make you fall off the ledge quite easyly, since like I said, you can't see anything. It simply wasn't fun.
I enjoyed the online features. The messages from other players giving advices along the way (or just being trolls), and the fact that I could regularly see their ghosts fighting or resting at the bonfire. It added a nice touch to the game, and made me feel less lonely. I really felt like we were helping each other and doing this adventure together.
While the music is absent most of the time, there are still a few ones that were really memorable to me: Daughters of Chaos; Great Grey Wolf Sif; Ornstein & Smough; Gwynevere Princess of Sunlight.
Duke's archives & Crystal Caves were my favorite regions. I prefer brighter & more colorful areas, and this place looked amazing. The reflections of light on the tiles in the archives were so nice to look at. Plus the area was easy to go through, including the Boss Seath. So yeah, best part of the game purely in terms of exploration.
New Londo was also one of the best places. I enjoy the atmosphere with the spooky ghosts, and the Abyss realm where you fight the Four Kings was very haunting.
The ending felt really abrupt. When I was fighting Gwyn, I didn't even realise it was the final boss fight, and I was surprised to see the credits roll.
I was disappointed to miss out on the DLC content. Finishing the game automatically started a new NG+ file, and I couldn't go back.
Since I missed on it but didn't want to replay the game, I watched a playthrough of Artorias of the Abyss on YouTube. Maybe I'll play it myself one day, but I had enough of Dark Souls 1 for now!
After I finished the game, I watched several videos of VaatiVidya to learn more about the lore of Dark Souls 1. Despite paying attention while I was playing, there were still many story details & subplots that I didn't understand during my adventure.
Especially to learn more about the fate of some important characters, such as the Witch of Izalith & her 7 daughters, Nito, Gwyn, Siegmeyer, or even Solaire.
DLC aside, I also missed some other content like Gwyndolin Boss fight and Solaire side quest, nor did I try to attack Gwynevere in Anor Londo (I watched what it does on YouTube tho)
The replay value for this game must be great. You can do another playthrough by adding some challenge to your adventure: trying a less conventional build, not upgrading your weapon & armor, taking a different path at the beginning... There would be tons of ways to make your adventure different!
As I said at the beginning, it was really hard to get into this franchise, but I'm glad I finally managed to break this glass ceiling. There are a lot of FromSoftware games, so I'm really excited for the future! My next step is gonna be Dark Souls 2.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on November 25th & finished on December 11th 2023]
Playtime: 50 hours
I got the "To Link the Fire" ending. I didn't do the DLC unfortunately... The game doesn't tell you how to access it, and I don't want to replay a big chunk of the game in NG+ just to do it. Maybe next time!
2018
It was my first time playing a roguelike!
The weapons allow for a variety of different gamestyles, and each one seems well balanced. The bow was my favorite throughout the game. And I was also a big fan of Zeus shield when I eventually unlocked it near the end-game.
There are game mechanics that incentivize you to change weapons & thus game-styles regularly. Everytime you go back to the main hub, one of your weapons will have a bonus on the amount of darkness you get, so you'll often be tempted to switch.
Another thing that motivates the player to experiment different builds are the quests available in Zagreus room; the ones that require purchasing every upgrade at least once.
It helped me to realize how strong some upgrades are, because I was willing to try them out to complete those side quests. It made each run quite different. (at least during the first few hours, but I eventually stuck to the bow near the end of my adventure)
Most weapons & spells have auto-aim whenever you use them, which is very appreciated. It made the game a lot more forgiving.
I was always excited to find out which upgrades would open up to me after I cleaned a room, and whether or not I would get Epic, Heroic, Duo, or Legendary boons.
The RNG involved in those rewards made each run really exciting!
It was especially fun to get the Hammer upgrade because it would vastly modify your weapon sometimes.
The game has great voice acting. I really dig Megaera's voice. She has the raspiest voice I've ever heard, it was butter to my ears!
Along with Nyx, she was my favorite character, and there's a nice chemistry between her and Zagreus.
I like how the roguelike aspect is related to the story, with how Zagreus can revive as much as he wants because he's in Hell and he is linked to the Underworld.
They also gave an explanation as to why Zagreus has to restart from the beginning everytime you finish a run, it's due to the sickness he gets whenever he reaches Greece.
After discussing with Persephone a couple times, we get to learn more about their family issues. She fleed the Underworld after Zagreus was stillborn, allegedly. She couldn't handle the shock and decided to live in Greece, far away from everyone. Seeing her reunite with her son & husband at the end was heart-warming.
Despite that, I wasn't really invested in the story because of the way it was told. But since it's a roguelike, I don't know if there would even be a better way to tell it. I know for a fact that it's one of the rare games in this genre to have a focus on its story tho, so I'll give it that.
The last hours I spent with the game left a sour taste in my mouth. I wish the last runs I did felt less repetitive. At some point, I only kept doing runs because I wanted to see the ending, by successfully completing 10 runs.
But since I wasn't engaged in the story and felt I had already experienced most of the gameplay features, I felt it dragged on by the end, and I was slightly disappointed.
I should definitely have stopped the game earlier, instead of forcing myself through the main ending.
There is another ending, but I need to play a lot more if I want to unlock it. And I need to drop dozens & dozens of nectars to unlock new dialogues with each character.
But I kind of had enough with the game, so I'll leave it at that. It was a nice experience nonetheless!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on October 28th & finished on November 13th 2023]
Playtime: 40 hours
I stopped after completing 10 runs and unlocking the main ending.
The weapons allow for a variety of different gamestyles, and each one seems well balanced. The bow was my favorite throughout the game. And I was also a big fan of Zeus shield when I eventually unlocked it near the end-game.
There are game mechanics that incentivize you to change weapons & thus game-styles regularly. Everytime you go back to the main hub, one of your weapons will have a bonus on the amount of darkness you get, so you'll often be tempted to switch.
Another thing that motivates the player to experiment different builds are the quests available in Zagreus room; the ones that require purchasing every upgrade at least once.
It helped me to realize how strong some upgrades are, because I was willing to try them out to complete those side quests. It made each run quite different. (at least during the first few hours, but I eventually stuck to the bow near the end of my adventure)
Most weapons & spells have auto-aim whenever you use them, which is very appreciated. It made the game a lot more forgiving.
I was always excited to find out which upgrades would open up to me after I cleaned a room, and whether or not I would get Epic, Heroic, Duo, or Legendary boons.
The RNG involved in those rewards made each run really exciting!
It was especially fun to get the Hammer upgrade because it would vastly modify your weapon sometimes.
The game has great voice acting. I really dig Megaera's voice. She has the raspiest voice I've ever heard, it was butter to my ears!
Along with Nyx, she was my favorite character, and there's a nice chemistry between her and Zagreus.
I like how the roguelike aspect is related to the story, with how Zagreus can revive as much as he wants because he's in Hell and he is linked to the Underworld.
They also gave an explanation as to why Zagreus has to restart from the beginning everytime you finish a run, it's due to the sickness he gets whenever he reaches Greece.
After discussing with Persephone a couple times, we get to learn more about their family issues. She fleed the Underworld after Zagreus was stillborn, allegedly. She couldn't handle the shock and decided to live in Greece, far away from everyone. Seeing her reunite with her son & husband at the end was heart-warming.
Despite that, I wasn't really invested in the story because of the way it was told. But since it's a roguelike, I don't know if there would even be a better way to tell it. I know for a fact that it's one of the rare games in this genre to have a focus on its story tho, so I'll give it that.
The last hours I spent with the game left a sour taste in my mouth. I wish the last runs I did felt less repetitive. At some point, I only kept doing runs because I wanted to see the ending, by successfully completing 10 runs.
But since I wasn't engaged in the story and felt I had already experienced most of the gameplay features, I felt it dragged on by the end, and I was slightly disappointed.
I should definitely have stopped the game earlier, instead of forcing myself through the main ending.
There is another ending, but I need to play a lot more if I want to unlock it. And I need to drop dozens & dozens of nectars to unlock new dialogues with each character.
But I kind of had enough with the game, so I'll leave it at that. It was a nice experience nonetheless!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on October 28th & finished on November 13th 2023]
Playtime: 40 hours
I stopped after completing 10 runs and unlocking the main ending.
This review contains spoilers
This game is a masterpiece, clearly a hidden gem considering how little spotlight it had and how poorly it sold. Really a shame!
Phoenotopia looks amazing, I couldn't help myself but take dozens of screenshots while I was playing. Last time I did that was when I played Gris.
The gameplay is simply fantastic, there are tons of smart interactions in the game design, the puzzles really test your spatial perception: whether it's activating a switch by angling your slingshot the right way, using projectiles to knock moonstones off their platform, piling up boxes and bombs to gain barely enough height to reach a platform, or completing parkour sections full of arrow traps with well synchronized jumps.
The puzzles where you need to play the correct song with your flute gave me Zelda Ocarina of Time vibes. I liked how musical notes were often hidden in the background, and I had to spot them to know what I would need to play with the bandit's flute.
The GEO dungeons especially had really different kinds of puzzles. One time you'll have to solve a jigsaw puzzle, the next time it'll be a sliding picture puzzle, then it will involve switching lights in the correct order. There's even a puzzle similar to sudoku.
The game always managed to hold my attention with all its brainteasers.
Cooking mechanic is based on reaction time, it's simple and engaging. I noticed there was a frying pan on display in the Antique Shop near Daea city, but I never managed to obtain it during my playthrough. I suppose it would have modified the cooking minigame in a certain way?
Btw, I like how we immediatly drop cooked meat when we kill a mob/animal with an explosion (bomb or spear). Pretty cool that they thought about that!
The Gear Ring allows you to quickly switch up between 8 different items, it's always a good thing to have a weapon wheel in any game I play. It's very ergonomic and it saved me a lot of time from navigating through the menus.
And I'm thankful that we can use all our weapons as much as we want, without having to worry about ammo.
It's very satisfying when you struggle while exploring an area for the 1st time, having to use your gear in a clever way, dealing with all the enemies and barely surviving. And then when you revisit the same area later in the game with a new ability, you can make it through in a much simpler way. The abilities that you get for traversal exploration are really game-changing. I was so excited to backtrack everytime I got a new one.
Phoenotopia Awakening is very charming, and has a lot of light-hearted moments. I never got tired of listening to "Merry Fellowship" everytime Gail came back to her hometown after a mission, checking in with her brothers & sisters to see if they're okay. The game even manages to be funny sometimes. For example, when Gail and Fran use the teleporter for the 1st time, and Gail thinks Fran died during the teleportation as she watches the pile of dust on the ground, only for Fran to reappear out of nowhere with a big smile on her face.
The game also managed to do the exact opposite on several occasions. I was very anxious during that moment in EDEN's Lab, when you're quietly exploring the rooms and reading notes about those harpys in their stasis chamber. As you progress, you suddently hear glass breaking, and when you turn around, you notice all the harpys broke out.
Those moments, whether tense or joyful, are always accompanied by excellent music. My personal favorites are "Merry/Mellow Fellowship", "Boss battle", "The White Towers", "Katash's theme", "Wheat Road" and "Caves of Mul".
You can't put markers on a map to remember points of interest. So I had to write down informations on a notepad regularly to not get lost and not forget things like treasure chests, entrances to dungeons, or song stones. There are tons of stuff to do and optional content, so having a quest log and a map available at all times would have been useful, but it was definitely manageable without it.
I loved the last part of the game that consists of 3 Boss fights back-to-back. The first one against Mother Computer was the most challenging fight in the entire game. Then you have this amazing showdown with your own shadows, and finally the duel vs Katash.
I have to say this last battle felt a bit anticlimactic. I had encountered Adam earlier in the lab, and I thought I would have to fight this thing, but instead it was a second duel with Katash.
I'm pretty sure (and I hope) that I will have to fight Adam when I'll come back to this game to get the true ending, and I can't wait for it.
I unlocked the first ending after 60 hours with a completion of 62%. I played enough and I don't want to push myself, so I won't go for 100%. However, I will surely come back to this game in a few months to do some more things. Notably exploring Aurantia, beating Katash' 2nd encounter, and accessing the locked room at the top of Pristine City to fight Phalanx.
I don't know how they did it, but the game was never boring, never frustrating, never too hard, never too easy, never repetitive, never bad. There was the right amount of everything: fights, exploration, puzzles and platforming.
Really, as I said earlier, the only thing that people could have a problem with is that it can be difficult to keep track of everything. But it's really not that big of a deal if you pay attention, and of course if you write things down on a notepad or a piece of paper.
This is why I give this game a perfect score. This is one of the best games I've played this year! I'm still a bit salty that this game is so unknown...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on September 25th & finished on October 8th 2023]
Playtime: 60 hours
I stopped after getting the first ending, when Gail manages to free all the Phoenix so they can help Humans defend themselves against the alien invasion.
I got a 62% completion.
Phoenotopia looks amazing, I couldn't help myself but take dozens of screenshots while I was playing. Last time I did that was when I played Gris.
The gameplay is simply fantastic, there are tons of smart interactions in the game design, the puzzles really test your spatial perception: whether it's activating a switch by angling your slingshot the right way, using projectiles to knock moonstones off their platform, piling up boxes and bombs to gain barely enough height to reach a platform, or completing parkour sections full of arrow traps with well synchronized jumps.
The puzzles where you need to play the correct song with your flute gave me Zelda Ocarina of Time vibes. I liked how musical notes were often hidden in the background, and I had to spot them to know what I would need to play with the bandit's flute.
The GEO dungeons especially had really different kinds of puzzles. One time you'll have to solve a jigsaw puzzle, the next time it'll be a sliding picture puzzle, then it will involve switching lights in the correct order. There's even a puzzle similar to sudoku.
The game always managed to hold my attention with all its brainteasers.
Cooking mechanic is based on reaction time, it's simple and engaging. I noticed there was a frying pan on display in the Antique Shop near Daea city, but I never managed to obtain it during my playthrough. I suppose it would have modified the cooking minigame in a certain way?
Btw, I like how we immediatly drop cooked meat when we kill a mob/animal with an explosion (bomb or spear). Pretty cool that they thought about that!
The Gear Ring allows you to quickly switch up between 8 different items, it's always a good thing to have a weapon wheel in any game I play. It's very ergonomic and it saved me a lot of time from navigating through the menus.
And I'm thankful that we can use all our weapons as much as we want, without having to worry about ammo.
It's very satisfying when you struggle while exploring an area for the 1st time, having to use your gear in a clever way, dealing with all the enemies and barely surviving. And then when you revisit the same area later in the game with a new ability, you can make it through in a much simpler way. The abilities that you get for traversal exploration are really game-changing. I was so excited to backtrack everytime I got a new one.
Phoenotopia Awakening is very charming, and has a lot of light-hearted moments. I never got tired of listening to "Merry Fellowship" everytime Gail came back to her hometown after a mission, checking in with her brothers & sisters to see if they're okay. The game even manages to be funny sometimes. For example, when Gail and Fran use the teleporter for the 1st time, and Gail thinks Fran died during the teleportation as she watches the pile of dust on the ground, only for Fran to reappear out of nowhere with a big smile on her face.
The game also managed to do the exact opposite on several occasions. I was very anxious during that moment in EDEN's Lab, when you're quietly exploring the rooms and reading notes about those harpys in their stasis chamber. As you progress, you suddently hear glass breaking, and when you turn around, you notice all the harpys broke out.
Those moments, whether tense or joyful, are always accompanied by excellent music. My personal favorites are "Merry/Mellow Fellowship", "Boss battle", "The White Towers", "Katash's theme", "Wheat Road" and "Caves of Mul".
You can't put markers on a map to remember points of interest. So I had to write down informations on a notepad regularly to not get lost and not forget things like treasure chests, entrances to dungeons, or song stones. There are tons of stuff to do and optional content, so having a quest log and a map available at all times would have been useful, but it was definitely manageable without it.
I loved the last part of the game that consists of 3 Boss fights back-to-back. The first one against Mother Computer was the most challenging fight in the entire game. Then you have this amazing showdown with your own shadows, and finally the duel vs Katash.
I have to say this last battle felt a bit anticlimactic. I had encountered Adam earlier in the lab, and I thought I would have to fight this thing, but instead it was a second duel with Katash.
I'm pretty sure (and I hope) that I will have to fight Adam when I'll come back to this game to get the true ending, and I can't wait for it.
I unlocked the first ending after 60 hours with a completion of 62%. I played enough and I don't want to push myself, so I won't go for 100%. However, I will surely come back to this game in a few months to do some more things. Notably exploring Aurantia, beating Katash' 2nd encounter, and accessing the locked room at the top of Pristine City to fight Phalanx.
I don't know how they did it, but the game was never boring, never frustrating, never too hard, never too easy, never repetitive, never bad. There was the right amount of everything: fights, exploration, puzzles and platforming.
Really, as I said earlier, the only thing that people could have a problem with is that it can be difficult to keep track of everything. But it's really not that big of a deal if you pay attention, and of course if you write things down on a notepad or a piece of paper.
This is why I give this game a perfect score. This is one of the best games I've played this year! I'm still a bit salty that this game is so unknown...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on September 25th & finished on October 8th 2023]
Playtime: 60 hours
I stopped after getting the first ending, when Gail manages to free all the Phoenix so they can help Humans defend themselves against the alien invasion.
I got a 62% completion.
This is the first time I'm writing a negative review, so I hope I'm not going to hurt anyone's feelings.
This is my 2nd Pokémon game. I started with the 1st generation which was Pokémon FireRed, and now I continue with the 2nd generation. I really wanted to give this franchise another chance, after being disappointed with FireRed.
Firstly, everything takes too much time: the text speed; the animations when you start and finish a fight (yes I disabled the attack animations); opening your inventory and navigating through the menus... Those games are REALLY testing your patience to the absolute limit.
I knew this problem would persist in HeartGold, but just like in the previous game, there are way too many random encounters, and it ruins the pace of the game. You can't walk 2 meters without getting attacked... I understand that they did it so that the player would keep getting experience regularly and wouldn't become under-leveled, but it was extremely annoying regardless.
I hate how you need to keep one or two useless Pokémon with you at all times to have all HMs available (Cut, Rock Smash/Climb, Fly, Surf, etc...). This is such a waste of place, and a bad game design.
The fact that you can't quickly teleport from one city to another makes you waste even more time, especially when you've already gone through several towns, and Professor Elm suddently asks you to come & show him your Togepi...
I did notice that there was a subway in Goldenrod City, but I couldn't use it. I guess it's a feature that becomes available later in the game.
At some point, I was so done with this game that I installed cheats (xp multiplier, fast-forward setting, etc...) but I realised it was already too late because I didn't give a shit anymore, so I stopped the game anyway.
I still played the game for 14 hours, which is incredibly long when you're not enjoying something. So yeah I really tried to give the game a fair chance. But it just didn't click with me despite all my efforts.
To the game's credit, I was playing on an emulator, so I didn't have access to many of the features offered by the game. Whether it's trading Pokémon and battling other players on WiFi; getting some Pokémon that can only evolve by doing trades; sending recordings of my battles; etc... It's frustrating that I can't experience the game to the fullest, with many of its features now inaccessible in 2023... The social aspect of the game would have been really appealing to me.
EDIT: I also just learnt about the Pokéwalker. It's really a shame that I couldn't play the game with that device. It must have been so much fun playing that as a kid, and trading Pokémon with people irl.
I spent like 2 hours playing Voltorb Flip in the Casino, this is the best minigame ever. This was legit more fun than the game itself.
I was able to earn enough tickets to trade a Dratini early in my adventure, and I was really excited to evolve it into Dragonair and Dragonite, but I got tired of the game before I could do it.
Something that frustrates me a lot is that the game seems to have really cool Pokémon & Boss fights in mid/end-game. Pokémon like Alakazam, Gengar, Ninetales, Rapidash, Snorlax, Ho-Oh, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Lugia, Mewtwo, etc... But I always get tired of these games before I can get myself a really cool team.
I don't know if I'll try another game in the franchise. Most people were telling me HeartGold is a fan's favorite, and I still didn't enjoy it. So who knows...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on September 16th & stopped on September 24th 2023]
Playtime: 14 hours
I stopped after defeating the Gym Leader in Ecruteak City and reaching Olivine City.
This is my 2nd Pokémon game. I started with the 1st generation which was Pokémon FireRed, and now I continue with the 2nd generation. I really wanted to give this franchise another chance, after being disappointed with FireRed.
Firstly, everything takes too much time: the text speed; the animations when you start and finish a fight (yes I disabled the attack animations); opening your inventory and navigating through the menus... Those games are REALLY testing your patience to the absolute limit.
I knew this problem would persist in HeartGold, but just like in the previous game, there are way too many random encounters, and it ruins the pace of the game. You can't walk 2 meters without getting attacked... I understand that they did it so that the player would keep getting experience regularly and wouldn't become under-leveled, but it was extremely annoying regardless.
I hate how you need to keep one or two useless Pokémon with you at all times to have all HMs available (Cut, Rock Smash/Climb, Fly, Surf, etc...). This is such a waste of place, and a bad game design.
The fact that you can't quickly teleport from one city to another makes you waste even more time, especially when you've already gone through several towns, and Professor Elm suddently asks you to come & show him your Togepi...
I did notice that there was a subway in Goldenrod City, but I couldn't use it. I guess it's a feature that becomes available later in the game.
At some point, I was so done with this game that I installed cheats (xp multiplier, fast-forward setting, etc...) but I realised it was already too late because I didn't give a shit anymore, so I stopped the game anyway.
I still played the game for 14 hours, which is incredibly long when you're not enjoying something. So yeah I really tried to give the game a fair chance. But it just didn't click with me despite all my efforts.
To the game's credit, I was playing on an emulator, so I didn't have access to many of the features offered by the game. Whether it's trading Pokémon and battling other players on WiFi; getting some Pokémon that can only evolve by doing trades; sending recordings of my battles; etc... It's frustrating that I can't experience the game to the fullest, with many of its features now inaccessible in 2023... The social aspect of the game would have been really appealing to me.
EDIT: I also just learnt about the Pokéwalker. It's really a shame that I couldn't play the game with that device. It must have been so much fun playing that as a kid, and trading Pokémon with people irl.
I spent like 2 hours playing Voltorb Flip in the Casino, this is the best minigame ever. This was legit more fun than the game itself.
I was able to earn enough tickets to trade a Dratini early in my adventure, and I was really excited to evolve it into Dragonair and Dragonite, but I got tired of the game before I could do it.
Something that frustrates me a lot is that the game seems to have really cool Pokémon & Boss fights in mid/end-game. Pokémon like Alakazam, Gengar, Ninetales, Rapidash, Snorlax, Ho-Oh, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Lugia, Mewtwo, etc... But I always get tired of these games before I can get myself a really cool team.
I don't know if I'll try another game in the franchise. Most people were telling me HeartGold is a fan's favorite, and I still didn't enjoy it. So who knows...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Started on September 16th & stopped on September 24th 2023]
Playtime: 14 hours
I stopped after defeating the Gym Leader in Ecruteak City and reaching Olivine City.