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 come across 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.

/!\ /!\ /!\ 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

I played the Steam version of Chrono Trigger. I've tried getting into old-school JRPG several times, but it's the first time I enjoy one of those.

Despite my distaste of turn-based combat, I had fun fighting enemies in that game. It's snappy and it never lasts for too long. The animations are quick and the music is dynamic.
As the party members level up, each of them unlocks more techs. And the more techs each character has, the more double & triple techs your team will have access to.
It was so satisfying to experiment new attacks as the game progresses, triple techs especially. They went out of their way to give these ones spectacular animations.
I also want to point out that I had the "active" mode enabled in combat, not the "wait" mode. So I had to make decisions as quickly as possible.
It's not entirely turn-based now that I think about it. It's kinda weird, like a mix of turn-based & real time combat.

Outside of combat, your character is fast aswell. And I appreciate that you can run away from most regular fights. It makes the random encounters more bearable.

You can trigger side quests by doing specific actions in the Past, and then seeing NPCs behaviors changing entirely once you go back in the Present.
Taking the time to talk to every NPC gives you valuable informations, such as specific enemies weaknesses, and locations of bonus items, which felt really rewarding. They can offer you consumables too, if you come talk to them later in the story.

The game had several events that were moving or wholesome. The moment when Robo is getting bullied by all his old friends in the underground facility was touching.
I also remember when the characters were partying with Ayla in the prehistoric era. It made the game much more lively & spirited.
Or sometimes, I just had to wait and watch silently as the event unfolds, for example when Bosch & Lucca were repairing Grandleon, which made those moments more enthralling.

The music never goes unnoticed, whether it's upbeat, melancholic or mysterious. I could name so many tracks that I kept listening to after I was done playing the game.
It really enhanced the events of the story, and put your adventure on a bigger scale. The soundtrack is grand.

Bosses weren't just damage sponges, and you need to perform specific actions on some of them to be able to damage them efficiently. It made the combat really engaging.
For example against the jugglers, you need to alternate physical & magic attacks; against Nizbel you have to figure out that you need to shock him with Chrono's Lightning to reduce his defense; or against Magus where you need to alternate the elements of your spells.

My favorite moment in the game has to be when Frog opens the path to the Magic Cave. His theme is so epic. He is my favorite character in Chrono Trigger!
The side quest where he finds Cyrus grave and gives him one final goodbye was also really touching.

Another noteworthy moment is when the party manages to resurrect Chrono. The scene leading up to it, with the beautiful background & music made it unforgettable. The game has some beautiful landscapes.

It was interesting to see the effects the party's accomplishments had on the different time periods. You witness the changes you make in each timeline as the game progresses, and it's really satisfying.

After Robo is done replanting the forest, we witness Lucca's Past in one of her dreams, and we understand what caused her to become a scientist. It taught us more about her motive, and it gave her more personality. It was a really nice moment, and the shot of the party resting around the camp fire was quite memorable.

The quests at the Lost Sanctum were AWFUL. Never again.
It took me 6 hours going up & down the Mount Emerald dozens of times to finish this optional content. I'll try erasing this part of the game from my memory because it's the complete opposite of the rest of the game in terms of fun. Please, just ignore that section of the game altogether, it's not worth the hassle.
It's crazy to think this wasn't in the original game, they decided to add it in later versions (DS & Steam). What a terrible decision!

All the endgame quests leading up to the encounter with Lavos delivered nice bits of story, while also giving you the best gear possible to deal with the final Boss.
Whether it's Robo and the encounters with Atropos & Mother brain; Glenn saying goodbye to his old friend Cyrus; or Marle making up with her father. All those quests were interesting and also had fun boss fights.

I really appreciate that I didn't have to grind at any point in the game. Every fight was manageable with my current gear, and I never got stuck against an impossibly hard Boss that forced me to come back after leveling up a bit.
Mind you, some Bosses were still challenging.

The ending was really moving, it almost made me cry. From the moment you defeat Lavos till the last second of the game was absolutely amazing.
The scene where they all have to say goodbye to each other before going back in their respective timeline, with the really sad music ("Epilogue ~ To Good Friends"); then you have the cutscene with Chrono & Marle's wedding; Glenn being made knight by the King; and then you can watch the characters flying the Epoch as the credits are rolling (with the music "To Far Away Times" playing in the background)... Everything just feels right. We really couldn't have a more perfect ending to this game.

In conclusion, this JRPG has aged incredibly well. If some of you are like me and have trouble getting into old-school JRPG, please trust me. What makes this one special is its combat system that is unique & truly enjoyable. Other aspects of the game are great aswell, but it's the gameplay that sets him apart from the rest.

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played in late May 2023]
Playtime: 40 hours
I got the "Beyond Time" ending. It's the main ending.
I didn't restart the game in ng+ yet, but I will probably try to complete a few more endings in the future!

At first, I was worried that the 22 minutes cycle would stress me out more than anything. But it turns out it was barely an inconvenience.

The first moments of Outer Wilds when you explore your home planet really set the mood for the rest of the game. From the get go, there were a lot of intriguing dialogues. The NPCs talk to you about this ancient civilization, the Nomai, from which you need to decipher their language. And you learn that some of your more experienced comrades are already wandering around the galaxy making their own researches.
It got me excited to start exploring the different planets straight away, to follow in their footsteps.

It took me a few minutes to have a good grip of the spaceship's piloting, but I quickly got used to it.
By the way, I had no idea about the death loop when I started the game, so my first death was quite surprising. It really happened out of nowhere.

The very 1st planet I visited was Giant's Deep. I had fun finding data left by the Nomai, inspecting the ruins and solving little puzzles, all while being soothed by the music and quiet atmosphere.

After that, I went to Dark Bramble. It took me a while to progress on this planet with all the deaths caused by the Anglerfishes, and all the crashes. So it was satisfying to eventually find my way through the fog and meet Feldspar. The space-bending properties of this planet were fascinating.

It's interesting how the rewards in this game are not bonus items or better gear to make you more resistant. The only things you'll ever find are data & recording left by the Nomai on each different planet. And there's no combat either. It's purely a game of exploration, investigation & puzzle solving.
And I have to say I got really engaged in the story after some point.

Earlier, I said that the cycle didn't bother me, but having to rush my way through Ember Twin before the sand engulfs everything was a bit underwhelming. Yet another mechanic that completely caught me off guard when I first visited this planet. Waiting for the sand level to decrease on Ash Twin was equally annoying.

I don't know how to put it exactly, but the atmosphere was somewhat unsettling at times. Being all alone in the quietness & emptiness of Space, finding vestiges of ancient civilizations, recollecting their memories through their texts & recordings, and learning about their tragic fate... You just feel like a powerless witness.
There's also the fact that most of the people you find are unaware of the time loop you're all stuck in.

I appreciated the scientific aspects in the gameplay. Whether it's the things shown in the observatory, like the explanations about supernovas and the tidal effect; the fact that you can communicate from one planet to another sending radio signals; the gravity being slightly different on each planet due to their mass; White Hole's teleportation violating Causality... It gave a sense of realism to the game which I found quite appealing.
It surprised me a lot when Brittle Hollow's blackhole sucked me in, and sent me at the other side of the galaxy. I was so confused for a few seconds. "This game even has wormholes? I love it!"

By the way, Brittle Hollow looks amazing, especially underground where you can cross bridges right above the blackhole.
There were many more beautiful places, like Brittle Hollow Southern Observatory; Interloper's ruptured Core; the Sun Station; or even the Quantum Moon sixth location. The game has a beautiful artstyle!

Some places were so well hidden, I really had to go out of my way to find some of the locations required to progress in the story. It took me quite some time to find the access to the Anglerfish fossil in Sunless City, or the Tower of Trials inside Giant's Deep huge cyclone.

The trials in Tower of Quantum were so fun to figure out. Having to use the camera to prevent the archs from teleporting was clever. There's also that little puzzle in Ember Twin's caverns where you need to turn all the lights off to be able to teleport with the quantum shards. I enjoyed those puzzles a lot.
Another fun moment is when you have to go through Interloper's core, going down those slides & dodging the ghost matter.

I loved the process to enter the Tower of Quantum Knowledge on Brittle Hollow. This was one of the last important locations I visited because I couldn't figure out how to enter it for the life of me.
30 hours into the game, I had an epiphany after watching the meteors crash on Brittle Hollow, and I finally understood that I needed to wait for the Tower to fall down in the blackhole and get teleported to the other side.
It was very clever, and it's one of the many moments where I was fascinated with how ingenious the game design is.

I was constantly rewarded for my curiosity, and it incentivized me to explore more & more. It felt rewarding to realize that there was indeed a hidden place inside Giant Deep's massive cyclone; inside the volcanos on Hollow's Lantern; or when I entered the Quantum Moon for the 1st time.
Fun fact: I landed on the Quantum Moon BEFORE finding the Quantum Moon locator on Ember Twin 😅

The exploration on Quantum Moon was captivating, the atmosphere is very eerie. It took me till the end-game to finally reach the 6th location. Finding Solanum was a shock, I was so surprised to meet a Nomai face to face. And I was happy to learn more about the Eye of the Universe.

At the end of the game, when you finally reach the inside of Ash Twin, all the informations are gathered together, and you finally understand the bigger picture.
It was so satisfying to solve those mysteries about the Nomai's extinction, the time loop and the Ash Twin project.
Removing the core tugged at my heartstrings. It was such a compelling adventure... I haven't played ANYTHING like Outer Wilds. It's so different from everything else. I had great moments with it, and I'll probably remember it for a long time.

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Started on July 11th & finished on September 12th 2023]
Playtime: 40 hours
I got the first ending by removing the core inside Ash Twin Project, and I unlocked almost every log inside the space ship.
I still need to unlock the true ending by solving the mystery of the Eye of the Universe, but I'll do it later, along with the DLC "Echoes of the Eye"

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.

My first Zelda game !

The prologue focuses on Link's life in his hometown, and his relation with the other villagers, especially the other kids. The game immediatly stunned me with its music and scenery. The vibe in the Faron Woods is immaculate, and I liked the twilight aesthetics in the opening scene.

The game quickly takes a sharp turn after the invasion of Link's hometown, with his transformation into a wolf; and mostly, the introduction of Midna & the Twilight realm.
I like having a companion in my singleplayer games because it makes me feel less lonely, and Midna was such a great partner. I loved her sassy attitude, and her development throughout the game was heartwarming.

Once I beat the second dungeon, I was more familiar with the zelda formula: the use of keys & backtracking, the map that you need to find to reveal the hidden treasure chests, the new item that you get after beating the mini Boss, etc... it quickly clicked with me. Goron Mines was a great dungeon by the way. I loved the 2 boss fights, both were really cinematic. And I liked the mechanic with the Iron Boots.

After that, I started to spend more time wandering around. I quickly became fond of the openworld, even though some regions were a bit empty, like the Gerudo Desert and the Snowpeaks.
The two themes that you hear in Hyrule Fields are probably my two favorite musics in Twilight Princess. Hyrule Fields night version especially, it's so eerie...
I've always enjoyed going around the hyrule fields after the sun set, solely because of that theme. And riding Epona felt nice. It was a good alternative to fast travel.

Lakebed Temple is where puzzles started to get really spicy. I had a hard time figuring out the layout of the dungeon with the staircases and the flowing water. Despite the epicness of the Boss, I have to admit I was overwhelmed by its non-existent difficulty. In its second phase, the Boss literally doesn't even attack you...

You get a really fun item in Arbiter's Grounds: the Spinner. Sadly you don't get to use it a lot outside of the dungeon, but it was still cool to use a beyblade to kill enemies.
Stallord is the best Boss in the game and it made a great use of the new item.

Palace of Twilight was the least interesting dungeon. It's short, and I expected more from it in terms of puzzles & enemies variety. And its aesthetics weren't interesting enough.
The parts where you're chased by those flying hands were overwhelming. Zant was a great boss fight tho, I liked the idea of turning him into a Boss rush.

Hyrule Castle was such a great final dungeon. Unlike the previous ones, it focuses less on puzzles and more on combat. For once, there were some tough fights, like the moment when you have to beat 2 Darknuts at the same time. And the final encounter against Ganondorf with its multiple phases was neat. The swordfight was fucking epic.

Double Clawshots was my favorite item, and its use in City in the Sky was so satisfying. Amazing boss fight by the way!
But to be honest, there isn't a single bad or mediocre boss in this game. All of them are amazing.

The wolf form was disappointing. It would have been great if Wolf Link acquired new moves throughout the game, just like Human Link.

The conclusion to Midna's storyline was great and almost made me tear up!

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played in February 2021]
Playtime: 50 hours
Main story complete. I also did every Howling Stone and collected every Golden Bug.

My first JRPG !

The opening got me really pumped up. In a couple of minutes, you learn the basis of the battle system, the game briefs you about the confrontation between Bionis & Mechonis, and you understand everything that is at stake. The sequence shot of the ongoing battle between the 2 titans was dope.

Once I discovered the first area, I was blown away by the music. This is becoming a recurring opinion in my reviews, but the environment themes in this game are incredible. All of them are a league above.

I was immediatly hooked on the combat: the cooldown on your arts, the added effects depending on your positioning, the chain attacks, the arts combos... Everything clicked instantly.
And even though some people criticize it for being too spammy, I never got tired of it personally.

I enjoyed spending a lot of time managing my team: getting the best gear, hunting down Unique Monsters to upgrade my arts, increasing the affinity between characters, unlocking their skill trees. There were so many little things to keep me busy, and optimize my team as much as possible.
The side quests were completely uninteresting ("go kill X monsters" type of thing) but I always tried to activate those quests because the rewards were quite generous. This was a good way of getting gold & gems.
Really often, I was completing some of those quests without being aware of it, just by wandering around killing random enemies.

I got really attached to some of the characters. Dunban was the first one that really stuck out. The fact that he was the previous wielder of the Monado was really cool. He has the aura of a leader and he teaches a lot to the other characters, he's the mentor/veteran of the party.
There's also Dickson. He's like Shulk's cool uncle, when you see his chara design, personality, and his attitude towards Shulk. I also liked how detached he looked at times.
And of course, there's Melia. She goes through so much during the whole game, she has to be the one who suffers the most throughout the story. I was always cheering for her.

So many beautiful sceneries... Satorl Marsh at night, the waterfalls in Makna Forest, the Frontier Village, Eryth Sea, Valak Mountain, Fallen Arm... They put so much effort into the aesthetics of the environments, and it shows. And when you combine that with the environments themes which I talked about earlier, you get an amazing experience. Exploring can be so damn satisfying.

However, this game (and other xenoblade titles too) has a big flaw in my opinion: your character is way too slow, compared to the HUGE size of the map.
It takes too long to go anywhere... especially when you want to complete your map to the fullest.

The moment when the party finally arrives in Frontier Village was such a high point in the game. You acquire 2 new characters with really different combat mechanics (Melia and Riki).
The party gets biggers, you learn more about the Monado and the different races, especially the High Entias, and the party gets closer to its goal: reaching Prison Island.

Moving forward, the party arrives in Alcamoth, then there are the events at High Entia Tomb, Prison Island, Galahad Fortress, etc... I'm not gonna go over every event happening in the story, but it's just so captivating. It's full of action & great reveals.

Something else that I enjoyed with XC1 is the different points of view that you get of Bionis & Mechonis. Since you're literally traveling on a titan, you're always exploring different parts of its body.
At the beginning, you're on its foot, and as the story progresses, you go higher and higher (leg, back, shoulder, head, etc...)
And you can occasionally deduce where you are by looking at the other titan, since the 2 titans are facing each other. It made for a really coherent World.

Zanza was a good final Boss. I really enjoyed how over-the-top he was, with the stereotypical god complex, and his exaggerated chara design. Not to mention his epic battle theme.

It was a satisfying ending to an epic adventure. And despite its flaws, it has became my favorite singleplayer game.

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played the Wii version in March 2021 & the Definitive Edition in mid-September 2022]
Wii version Playtime: 130 hours
DE version Playtime: 110 hours
100% Completion

This JRPG was refreshing compared to the ones I usually play. Instead of the Middle Ages/Fantasy aesthetics, this one takes place in our era, with a realistic setting in Japan. (monsters & magic powers aside)

The soundtrack followed the same trend, mainly going with jazz and rock/metal. Again, quite different from what I'm accustomed to, but it was a really welcomed change! I vibed so much to many of the songs, whether during combat or while I was walking around in the city.

The User Interface is so clean & smooth. Most of the time, I don't care enough about this kind of stuff to comment about it, but they did an amazing job with the UI in this game.

I wasn't too fond of the turn-based combat, but it didn't hurt my playthrough too much because I chose to play on the easiest difficulty to rush through every fight. And since I had the DLCs, I had a level 90 persona right from the start. So it made the fights even quicker. I also made use of the infiltration mechanics to avoid as many fights as possible. This way, I was able to focus my attention on the social aspect of the game and the story.
Speaking of which, this was the main reason I decided to play the game.
Living your student Life, hanging out with your group of friends, going to school and then dealing with criminals during the night. It was really appealing to me.

Leveling up your social skills and the relations with your confidants was so engaging. I was eager to replay the game in NG+ to experiment many of the events with a different character, and see how it plays out.

Makoto was the best girl in the game, I love the fact that she is smart & goody two-shoes. It was nice to date her and watch her become such an important member of the Phantom Thieves, and be more assertive.
I did the harem route when I replayed the game in NG+ out of curiosity, and it was hilarious to see all the backlash on the protagonist when he got caught.

Locking a big chunk of the game (the 3rd semester and the true ending) behind Maruki's confidant was kinda stupid. The game doesn't explicitly tell you that you need to level him to level 8 in order to get access to all that content.

Maruki was a great refreshing vilain. He had an interesting point of view with his ideology of Escapism, and I was really hesitant to fight him by the end of the game. I kinda hesitated to stay in his fake Reality, but I eventually decided to make the right choice!
Kasumi's story was really moving. I didn't see the plot twist coming at all, but it was clever. I wish this character had more screentime.

I was really sad at the end of the game. I had this moment where I felt completely empty, and this kind of feeling happens rarely to me, when I finish a game.
I got so attached to this group of friends. It was hard to watch the Phantom Thieves disband and go their separate way...

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played between early December 2022 & mid-January 2023]
Playtime: 120 hours
Main story complete. I got every confidant to max level and unlocked the true ending.

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