BorealPaella
I think this game surpasses the original Half-Life for the fact that you're weak and struggling from start to finish. Which I loved the start of the original game for. It also feels like a horror game from start to finish. Unlike the original and Half-Life Opposing Force, which turn into power fantasies real quick, despite starting impressions.
2023
Very much style over substance with a very simple battle system which makes most characters behave and have the exact same role in teams but with different animations. The story starts out interesting but quickly loses it's steam (up to where I got when I played, which isn't current)
From the classic castlevanias I played, this is the one I enjoyed least. The ones I finished are Castlevania 1 and Bloodlines. But I also played Castlevania 2, 3 and 4.
The player controls feel worse than in Castlevania 1. Enemies have a tendency to blend in the environments more than in the NES games, with a more limited color palette.
The game loves throwing at you a lot of enemies with multiple attacks that are selected at random, in a game where the health bar is tiny. The map design is typically very linear and uninteresting and doesn't gel well with the enemies you fight; they don't complement each other.
The only great things about this game are the music and art in my eyes. All the other classic castlevanias I played were better in my opinion.
The player controls feel worse than in Castlevania 1. Enemies have a tendency to blend in the environments more than in the NES games, with a more limited color palette.
The game loves throwing at you a lot of enemies with multiple attacks that are selected at random, in a game where the health bar is tiny. The map design is typically very linear and uninteresting and doesn't gel well with the enemies you fight; they don't complement each other.
The only great things about this game are the music and art in my eyes. All the other classic castlevanias I played were better in my opinion.
2021
Fun idea and great artstyle but the game is so repetitive and same-y in all the runs from what I played that it doesn't have much to pull me back with for one more run. It also feels lacking in depth. That might change later, but if I'd need to play lots to get real variety, that's an issue in a roguelike game in my eyes.
2015
Very simplistic exploration of the subject matter and too many characters in such a short game for any of them to have any development and they all end up one dimensional.
To add insult to injury, all the emotions it tries to make you feel feel forced. Instead of the story feeling compelling, they guilt trip you into how bad it is to attack monsters in legitimate self defense with a black and white morality.
The gameplay itself is great fun, but the story and character issues won't let me rate this any higher.
To add insult to injury, all the emotions it tries to make you feel feel forced. Instead of the story feeling compelling, they guilt trip you into how bad it is to attack monsters in legitimate self defense with a black and white morality.
The gameplay itself is great fun, but the story and character issues won't let me rate this any higher.
2002
Amazing game but it essentially forces you to learn what should be a speedrun strategy (Baiting enemies to attack and running past them while they recover) to finish it. There's too little ammo and medicine otherwise.
I find it really difficult to recommend unless you are content spending up to 2-3 hours to get used to it and reloading saves often if you get hit. But if you accept that, you have a great horror game to go through.
I find it really difficult to recommend unless you are content spending up to 2-3 hours to get used to it and reloading saves often if you get hit. But if you accept that, you have a great horror game to go through.
I love the world, combat, and interconnected map, but this game really is only made for people who get a kick out of surpassing difficult things. I never feel any accomplishment for finishing a boss I struggled with to have any drive to push forward. The positives don't make up for frustration and I don't feel rewarded to want to chase that high.
2014
Characters all almost behave exactly the same with slightly different hitboxes and animations and different choices of weapons, which all have the same basic attacks on all characters. The game's fun, but characters having no identity outside of their design and animation ruins this for me.
1997
The most confusing map design I've seen in a game ever.
Turn based RPG with an alchemy system where you make your own usable items, armor, weapons for use in battles. Also crafting items to fulfill requests.
If that concept sounds interesting, this game is super simple in the best way imaginable on top of having great characters. The Atelier games after might be better, but this game has such charm and simplicity that I can't not give it a 5/5.
If that concept sounds interesting, this game is super simple in the best way imaginable on top of having great characters. The Atelier games after might be better, but this game has such charm and simplicity that I can't not give it a 5/5.
2009
I love the visual novel also, but I think this is one of the few cases where an adaptation of the source material is better. The anime in this case. A romantic relationship buildup is very important for the last chunk of the game to be impactful. The visual novel made it so if you miss one flag for it, you stop being eligible to get any of the later ones. The ending has little impact in regards to internal conflicts without it. Which you'd need to follow a guide for to get them all.
Even so, the anime presented it much better. Other than that, this game has a lot more filler. At least compared to Chaos;Head Noah and Steins;Gate 0 from the same company. Early in the game, the game takes 2 hours to explain all the time travel theories at the time of the game's release, for an example.
What you lose, the non-canon endings not present in the anime don't affect the experience much. They all feel harem-y where it's just focused on the main character getting buddy buddy with the other women. They have nice ideas, but they all boil down to that.
Ideally, if you liked either, I think it's great to watch the anime or play the game also. But I think watching the anime and seeing the Mayuri ending for the visual novel also is enough.
Even so, the anime presented it much better. Other than that, this game has a lot more filler. At least compared to Chaos;Head Noah and Steins;Gate 0 from the same company. Early in the game, the game takes 2 hours to explain all the time travel theories at the time of the game's release, for an example.
What you lose, the non-canon endings not present in the anime don't affect the experience much. They all feel harem-y where it's just focused on the main character getting buddy buddy with the other women. They have nice ideas, but they all boil down to that.
Ideally, if you liked either, I think it's great to watch the anime or play the game also. But I think watching the anime and seeing the Mayuri ending for the visual novel also is enough.
The only good thing this game does is some of the tightest and most engaging shootouts I've seen in a long while. They feel incredibly well designed and smart for a cover shooter. But the downside is that even for me, who has a lot of shooting game experience, it felt really difficult. And that's on normal difficulty. I think it might be too difficult (unless easy is a lot easier) for people who aren't as experienced past a point.
I might remember wrongly, but the first game had far more puzzles and platforming. The balance is skewed towards shooting in this by a large margin. Which I don't really like.
The writing is awful as was the first game's, except this one is dumber. The banter between characters is still great, just like the first game. I wish it extended to general writing quality though.
I might remember wrongly, but the first game had far more puzzles and platforming. The balance is skewed towards shooting in this by a large margin. Which I don't really like.
The writing is awful as was the first game's, except this one is dumber. The banter between characters is still great, just like the first game. I wish it extended to general writing quality though.
2004
I liked what I played of it, but I don't want to play 60 hours of a dating sim with every woman in the cast to get to the actual story. The game was really fun to start, but even in just one route I did, it felt like it took too long without much of substance happening by the end. I lost interest in the second route I tried to do because the story structure or the pacing didn't change much.
The biggest positive for me was that the game was really funny. Didn't feel a lot towards the romance. I'm sure I wouldn't have finished even one route if it didn't have such hilariously stupid joke interactions. The music is also stellar. And I personally really love the artstyle.
The biggest positive for me was that the game was really funny. Didn't feel a lot towards the romance. I'm sure I wouldn't have finished even one route if it didn't have such hilariously stupid joke interactions. The music is also stellar. And I personally really love the artstyle.
2014
Very competent little roguelike FPS. They took great advantage of enemy synergy despite randomization and different weapon types are better at dealing with certain enemies. So, ideally, you want to have an arsenal equipped for dealing with most things.
It's not going to blow anyone's mind in any department, but it's obviously so well designed that I can't rate it any lower. And I also have a soft spot for wizard themed FPS games.
It's not going to blow anyone's mind in any department, but it's obviously so well designed that I can't rate it any lower. And I also have a soft spot for wizard themed FPS games.
Does open world better than many current open world games. It's all a quest to gather information from people, piece it together and eventually reach the end of the game.
The morality system is great and I enjoyed the experience of making my maps for the overworld by hand. Unlike the dungeons, I can quickly draw it and have more room for error in interpretation.
However, it has the WORST battle system I have ever seen. It's also incredibly slow and you need to grind a fair bit. I'd honestly recommend this to anyone interested in RPG history and a unique experience to open world exploration. But don't force yourself past the point it stops being fun.
The morality system is great and I enjoyed the experience of making my maps for the overworld by hand. Unlike the dungeons, I can quickly draw it and have more room for error in interpretation.
However, it has the WORST battle system I have ever seen. It's also incredibly slow and you need to grind a fair bit. I'd honestly recommend this to anyone interested in RPG history and a unique experience to open world exploration. But don't force yourself past the point it stops being fun.