AsinineMetal
Bio
Nothing here!
Badges
Liked
Gained 10+ total review likes
1 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year
Best Friends
Become mutual friends with at least 3 others
On Schedule
Journaled games once a day for a week straight
Noticed
Gained 3+ followers
N00b
Played 100+ games
Roadtrip
Voted for at least 3 features on the roadmap
Favorite Games
172
Total Games Played
006
Played in 2024
1137
Games Backloggd
Recently Played See More
Recently Reviewed See More
God damn is this game a mess. While I admire the attempt to translate an MMORPG into a single player experience, the combat ruined any goodwill that concept created. It definitely needed a few more design passes. Attacks are slow, enemies are fast (especially late game), and crowd control (from said enemies) is plentiful. More than once, I got stun-locked by enemy magic, which is AOE and cements you and your party in place, until I got lucky with enemy cast cycles or I died. To make things even worse, all items and skills have to be menu-ed...EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. There are no hotkeys. There are no quick buttons. Many times, I would have the main character stand back and watch the AI fight the enemy as I menu-ed over and over again, throwing out potions or resurrects as needed. It becomes tedious and boring very quickly, with the occasional dip into frustration. All of this combat is done in randomly generated dungeon zones consisting of sets of monster and the occasional chest (most of which contain junk)
This tediousness extends outside of battle as well. In a typical RPG, you would assign gear to your party members all in the same window. Not in this game though. Remember that it's trying to mimic an MMO, so your party members are, within the fiction of the game, "real" people playing avatars. Thus, to give your party members better gear you have to 1) go to the status window and check the level of their gear; 2) go into your inventory and check the level of the new gear, making sure it is a higher level then the old gear; 3) find them in town (they will run off to "shop"); and finally 4) Talk to them and gift them the new gear which they then equip.
As you read these words you might think to yourself: "Isn't there 3 more .Hack games? Maybe they fix these issues in the sequels." Oh no no. The next three games are not really sequels in the normal sense. Transitioning parts in .Hack is more like transitioning discs in a PS1 Final Fantasy game. Its the same game. No updated graphics. No fixes to underbaked mechanics. You pick up the new game in the exact same place you left the previous game. Its one ~80 hour game split into 4 ~20 hour games. And honestly, this would not bother me near as much as it does if the combat were any fun at all to engage in, but slogging through 20 hours only to get to part 2 and realize I have 40 - 60 more is a bit disheartening. I will probably finish the other 3 parts at some point, but I will need loooong breaks between each.
This tediousness extends outside of battle as well. In a typical RPG, you would assign gear to your party members all in the same window. Not in this game though. Remember that it's trying to mimic an MMO, so your party members are, within the fiction of the game, "real" people playing avatars. Thus, to give your party members better gear you have to 1) go to the status window and check the level of their gear; 2) go into your inventory and check the level of the new gear, making sure it is a higher level then the old gear; 3) find them in town (they will run off to "shop"); and finally 4) Talk to them and gift them the new gear which they then equip.
As you read these words you might think to yourself: "Isn't there 3 more .Hack games? Maybe they fix these issues in the sequels." Oh no no. The next three games are not really sequels in the normal sense. Transitioning parts in .Hack is more like transitioning discs in a PS1 Final Fantasy game. Its the same game. No updated graphics. No fixes to underbaked mechanics. You pick up the new game in the exact same place you left the previous game. Its one ~80 hour game split into 4 ~20 hour games. And honestly, this would not bother me near as much as it does if the combat were any fun at all to engage in, but slogging through 20 hours only to get to part 2 and realize I have 40 - 60 more is a bit disheartening. I will probably finish the other 3 parts at some point, but I will need loooong breaks between each.
This review contains spoilers
As a horror fan, I really enjoyed this game. The story is a really good mix of homage and subversion, with some pretty well written characters to boot. The Butterfly Effect system is super interesting and helps make this game leagues more fun to engage with than anything Quantic Dream has done in this space, in my opinion.
It's a true shame that the writers didn't include a Native American character, at all, in any capacity, cause a story about Wendigos should, bare minimum, have had a Native American supporting character. It's pretty cringey, when the expository old man character is a white guy wearing Native jewelry.
It's a true shame that the writers didn't include a Native American character, at all, in any capacity, cause a story about Wendigos should, bare minimum, have had a Native American supporting character. It's pretty cringey, when the expository old man character is a white guy wearing Native jewelry.
I loved this! As someone who has become bored and jaded with Pokemon after the last few iterations, this game feels like a breath of fresh air. The monsters designs are more often than not imaginative, the typing's and their integrations are intuitive (and numerous), and the aesthetic is sublime.
I will say, Cassette Beasts desperately needs some better onboarding. While I love how intuitive the typing system can be, it can be very overwhelming in the beginning of the game; especially when combined with an open world to get buried in.
I will say, Cassette Beasts desperately needs some better onboarding. While I love how intuitive the typing system can be, it can be very overwhelming in the beginning of the game; especially when combined with an open world to get buried in.