Bio
Millennial nonsense. Follow me on Twitter for the occasional live take as I play through my backlog and beyond.

Backloggd will be specifically for, well, not backlogging my games, but -logging- them as I go. Once I finish a game, I'll do a cute little writeup for you to read. As of July 2022 I'm no longer giving games a starred rating, will just be sharing some extended thoughts about it. Stuff I liked, stuff I didn't. If it's something you're interested in, you can be the judge!
Personal Ratings
1★
5★

Badges


GOTY '23

Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event

N00b

Played 100+ games

Loved

Gained 100+ total review likes

Popular

Gained 15+ followers

GOTY '22

Participated in the 2022 Game of the Year Event

Best Friends

Become mutual friends with at least 3 others

2 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 2 years

GOTY '21

Participated in the 2021 Game of the Year Event

Liked

Gained 10+ total review likes

Noticed

Gained 3+ followers

Favorite Games

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Final Fantasy XIV Online

106

Total Games Played

002

Played in 2024

000

Games Backloggd


Recently Played See More

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Mar 08

Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Granblue Fantasy: Relink

Feb 05

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising

Dec 29

The Legend of Tianding
The Legend of Tianding

Dec 11

Astlibra Revision
Astlibra Revision

Dec 09

Recently Reviewed See More

I'll lead off with this: I truly did enjoy Sea of Stars. Sabotage Studios put together a competent, downright gorgeous RPG on a dime, an incredible feat in itself for a studio whose prior project was very much detached from the genre.

In some ways, their history is pretty clear -- SoS doesn't do a ton of innovating in its 25-ish hour runtime -- but it still shows a pretty solid understanding of the building blocks of the classical console RPG in its execution. Combat is crispy and encounters run pretty quick (despite the lack of a 'flee' option), exploration is an easy highlight punctuated by how free-flowing traversal is, and its soundtrack has some great earworms and guest tracks from industry legend Yasunori Mitsuda to boot. For the most part, the gameplay loop is also paced pretty well -- dungeons and zones never really run on for too long and there's a solid mix of puzzles and fights to keep players engaged. Some fights even feel like puzzles, thanks to the "locks" system (players can interrupt the occasional enemy action by breaking a series of locks a la Octopath Traveler), combo attacks, and turn delays.

Sea undeniably feels pretty good to play from moment to moment, but the general long haul vibe of an RPG sometimes works to its detriment. There is very little out-of-battle character building to focus on, minimal customization (toggleable relics and some accessories slightly modify how the game is played), and the full party's individual skills cap out at a paltry 4 each, including an ultimate ability that very rarely gets used outside of boss fights. These particular points might leave more seasoned RPG enjoyers left wanting, and at times I did feel like the cycle of [collect new stat stick -> level up a couple times -> use the same moves to clear trash mobs] wore on me, but I can definitely see it all working well as a surface-level examination of the genre.

That said, surface-level is a pretty common feeling throughout; Sabotage's latest ticks a bunch of the boxes that I think made some of those classic adventures charming, but with a bit less gameplay grit and an English script that could've used another editing pass and some grammatical polish. There are still surprises sprinkled across Zale and Valere's journey to become guardians of their world, and I did find some moments genuinely affecting, but too often does Sea fumble about trying to get its cast moving along to the next major story beat. For better or worse, though, most of this happens in the early hours -- once the 4th party member joins, a couple new layers of intrigue get added to the plot and some of the less enjoyable main-side-quest aspects start washing away. A sequence around the midpoint of the game in particular was pretty spectacular.

Ultimately, I think Sea of Stars is quite memorable, for both its triumphs and its shortfalls -- as a highly successful kickstarter project it already had some big shoes to fill -- but I could definitely see myself recommending it to folks who are looking for something with a few modern touches that isn't overly complex. There's a demo available that I think does a pretty good job of showing off the overall vibe, so give it a look if you're interested.

The boys are back in town!! (sunglasses emoji)

Perhaps a touch hyperbolic, but Rise of the Dragons really embodies what I think is the future of the Arcadey Beat-Em-Up. In lieu of a proper write up I'll list out some pros and cons for a quick glance:

---------PROS---------
+ Very straightforward, pick-up-and-play combat with a surprising amount of nuance and tech (CC, cancels, tag specials, upgrades)
+ Sizable amount of varied characters to choose from
+ Modular difficulty options that allow players to tailor to their preferences
+ Cool Tunes
+ Dynamic progression (upgrades, stages)

---------TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT---------

+/- Roguelike structure (no progress saved, no permanent character growth)
+/- Chibi art style reminiscent of other beat-em-ups

---------CONS---------
- Late-game boss variants can feel pretty unfair
- Only 5 stages
- No online
- Some characters take a long time to unlock

All in all, a ton of steps in the right direction for the genre. I'm a big fan of the stage progression in particular; clearing stages raises the threat level in subsequent zones, leading to additional areas and boss variants. For a game that on the surface looks very short, it's key that there's some reason to revisit and try different sequencing, and stages are snappy enough that the "just one more" mentality has a chance to win out. Not what I'd call perfect but so easy to fire up for a couple plays at a time.

Exoprimal is fun, frantic, absolutely off-the-wall bonkers and full of a confidence that's surprisingly not misplaced. I went into the game sold on the sci-fi PvE robots vs. dinosaur premise -- if just a little cheeky about it -- but I was surprised at how smoothly it handles its content.

It certainly reads and looks like the video game equivalent of shotgunning an energy drink, but after playing some it becomes quite clear that the game was definitely put together function-before-form. The core loop involves queueing up for matches, where you race against another team to defeat wave after wave of angry dinos before a head-to-head finale where initial advantage is determined by how well your team completed the opening phase. Completing matches progresses the story, which is revealed piecemeal via small vignettes, data logs, radio cuts, etc. and unlocks some new mission types, including some surprises in the form of 10-player cooperative raid bosses a la Monster Hunter, where chaos is really allowed to flourish. The action, gunplay, and skill sets all feel reasonably diverse even with only a handful of available exosuits at launch, and Capcom miraculously struck a balance between making players feel beastly during the dino battles and keeping PvP seeming fair.

It doesn't have a streamlined campaign quite in the way that, say, Lost Planet 2 does, opting for a completely off-the-rails story about the dangers of unchecked capitalism and AI (surprisingly relevant for what it is). Unfortunately, its initial purpose definitely feels like a clumsy impetus to get players queuin' up, which puts it in sort of a weird middle ground that admittedly may be a bit off-putting to people looking for a more curated experience -- some might not want to grind semi-competitive matches just to see story, some might not want to see story at all and feel bottlenecked by having a bunch of cutscenes and data to skip over. That said, I definitely see it as an intentional middle ground (even the repeated match queueing is "written into" the story under the guise of data collection!) rather than a game suffering from an identity crisis. A generous read, perhaps, but to be completely honest I can totally imagine Overwatch 2's now-cancelled campaign to have resembled this.

Having really loved Exoprimal, I do have some concern for its future; crossplay is limited to matchmaking only, so it's impossible to round up friends from across the game's numerous available platforms for matches (everyone's gotta be in the same ecosystem) and content updates have been entertaining but sparse. I'm really hoping that even as content starts to wind down (whenever that is) sales and the like will help breathe life into the game whenever possible. Definitely recommend it to anybody who's looking for some wacky, noncommittal fun in a shooter.