Underwhelming yet such an epic video game…

Final Fantasy XVI definitely feels like a new start for the franchise in some ways good and in some ways bad. I am very impressed with the combat. I thought it was going to get boring but I actually found myself really looking forward to the fighting enemies every time I play to try a new ability or trick. However, as fun as the combat is it can feel really dull sometimes. Most enemies you encounter in this game just felt like punching bags with not much competition. Of course not all enemies will be like that since there are mini bosses that offer a decent challenge. And then the boss fights are absolutely fun with more of a challenge. And then we have Eikon battles which are the most epic and cool battles in this game. I wouldn’t say they’re all that challenging but man they are a hell of a lot of fun play. And the soundtrack complements the Eikon battles, I felt like I went to heaven specifically just to listen to this incredible soundtrack. Today’s graphics also make this game all the more flashy. The art style does great on its part to observe the world around you and awesome combat full of colors that look amazing. That being said though I did have my fair share of problems with the game. While combat is fun it feels generic and basic in some aspects. I was sad that we could only play as Clive because it would’ve made the combat a lot better if we were able to play as Jill or Cid or even Dion with the powers of their Eikons. I just feel like those are missed opportunities to improve on the combat since it does a little too much to shine the spotlight on Clive. Another thing is that I really wasn’t at all impressed with the RPG mechanics that barely feel present in this game. Upgrading and buying items for me wasn’t a problem since I was easily loaded with gil and making upgrades doesn’t do much other than stat upgrades and the skill tree doesn’t necessarily do much other than trying to master a few new moves and upgrading the power for abilities I already have. I also didn’t generally like how side quests were handled since they were pretty much go and fetch quests. That was a little disappointing since I would get bored of actually doing side quests but at least some of them offer decent writing and offered lore on some of the struggles people go through in the world of FFXVI. I wish there was more innovation for them to make side quests more worth while. I also felt like this was just a very linear game, I’m not saying this should be an open world game, I’m just saying I wish there was more to explore. As I explored in this game it was just a little too straightforward that it was fairly easily to progress which is not by all means bad but it would’ve been nice to have more of a reason to explore. Also, I love the billboard where you can find sheets of paper requesting for you to go and defeat troublesome and formidable opponents all assigned with a rank to determine how powerful they are.. Not only did I have a blast at fighting them but it gave me reason to explore ever so slightly more.

Story is GREAT. Not the best ever but it definitely had solid writing. Every voice actor did a phenomenal job for their respective characters. Clive’s voice sounds so badass and serious but you can still hear the sadness in his voice that feels so real that it had an impact on me. Jill is best girl. I love her chill and wise and caring attitude and I was all always happy to see her. Cid felt like a great father figure and I love his charisma along with many more characters that I liked. I also liked the villains/antagonists of this game. There weren’t exactly impressive but they did a great job by at least playing the role of their characters well but I didn’t necessarily care about them all that much since they didn’t have much depth to speak of. And as said before some side quests have good writing as well that also gives us lore for the world. While I did love the story I wouldn’t say it’s the best story I heard this year.

Final Fantasy XVI is such a cool game and it’s such a shame that it has the problems it has. This game feels way more of action game than an RPG. And because of that I feel like it lacks a lot of the charm other Final Fantasy games have because to me it feels like it doubles down on the complexity which there already isn’t enough of. Other than that this really is a great game and I’d love to play again soon but this time with more of a challenge in Final Fantasy mode.

Easily the worst game I’ve played this year so far. Very questionable and outdated video game.

I’ll get straight to the point, this game sucks hard. So overall gunplay works but the actual gameplay itself is either broken or just flat out boring. I have a high tolerance for bugs but man the glitches in this game made it WAY too easy but at the same time it’s unfair. It’s easy because you’ll encounter enemies (human or vampire) that make no sense. Some people are just randomly floating in mid air for no reason and some don’t even react to you when standing right in front of them. And if they do react all they do is run back and forth all clueless while trying to shoot you but they miss most of the time which made this game way too easy with no fun. It’s also unfair because I had times where I got jumped by a group of vampires and if you take too long to defeat all of them they can revive and kill you out of nowhere. Not only that but some vampires would just randomly despawn with their attacks and power positioned in the spot where they despawned. And HOLY COW the boss fights are a joke. I was disappointed because they’re just as brainless as the rest of the enemies in this game. I also had a bug where some buttons wouldn’t respond and the only thing that fixed it for me is by closing the game and starting it up again. The gameplay is questionable and inconsistent and I hated it. Graphics are just okay but the visuals let down the graphics A LOT. There’s pop in and textures take their sweet ass time to load in right in front of you. Exploration wasn’t worth it either. Exploring is one of my favorite things to do in video games and I couldn’t even enjoy the scenery because there really isn’t much beauty in this game due to visual problems and not much exciting stuff to see anyway. Redfall is such a bland video game, what I mean by that is this game offers almost no diversity in how to complete objectives. The entire game is pretty much run around, shoot a few enemies, find a key, maybe shoot another enemy, unlock a door and move on. Redfall offers a bloated experience with no innovation to make the gameplay worth my time. There’s also side quests as well that literally play out just like main quests and I didn’t even know when is was nearing the end of the video game because of it.

And the story…..
The story is barely even present in Redfall. The way the story is portrayed is by a series of slideshows with paintings and a voiceover to tell the story, other than that there’s not a single cutscene. The dialogue was cringe and voice acting sounded so awkward. There’s nothing at all to enjoy the story, better yet there no reason to even be remotely interested in the story. The characters weren’t likeable in any way. They just say a few lines throughout the story and that’s it. They don’t have a narrative for me to pay attention to and had no attachment to any of them. You can’t even directly interact with NPCs, they say some nonsense of wanting help and assume you want to help with no context.
It’s pathetic that there’s not much story and when there is they rush it or make it so uninteresting so I simply just stopped caring about the story early on in Redfall.

It’s very obvious Arkane rushed this game after Deathloop. This really isn’t the kind of game that should be releasing today. This is the kind of game that shouldn’ve came out in the late 2000s or early 2010s and it’s sad that I even have to say that because Arkane made far greater games around that time unlike how Redfall turned out in 2023. The gameplay is awful, the story was handled poorly and even with all the bugs and glitches out of the way this pretty much is an outdated video game for today’s world. I don’t recommend Redfall for anyone, this game really was just a waste of my time.

The force is strong with this sequel…

I absolutely love Jedi Fallen Order and am very happy to have finally played Jedi Survivor. Overall, I would say this is mostly the same game as Fallen Order, which isn’t a bad thing if you want more of what Fallen Order had but at the same time Survivor was able to expand from what we were able to do in Fallen Order. We’ll get new abilities to help solve puzzles or more to do with platforming. On the gameplay side, you can now use 5 different stances with your lightsaber that makes it so much fun to experiment with. As my mains, I used Corssguard because it was useful for bigger and tougher enemies and I kept Double Bladed since it was even on offense and defense. Combat was a hell of lot of fun using different stances and if you’re looking for a good challenge, this game may offer that depending on what you’re looking for with combat. There’s enemy variety and the boss fights are full of action and fun to behold. I love the idea of stances but I wish Respawn gave me more reason to use different stances more often. You can upgrade your abilities with a skill tree. Generally the skill trees works like in Fallen Order but this time there are separate individual skill trees to upgrade depending on what you want to upgrade. You can also take customization to whole new level as there is more to change for Cal and BD-1. You can customize your lightsaber like never before and you can get cosmetics to change BD-1’s appearance. Cal can wear many different outfits and hair styles. You’ll find these cosmetics for Cal and BD-1 or for your lightsaber as you explore the planets/moons you visit and unfortunately you can’t customize the Mantis this time. You can also obtain these cosmetics through vendors as you collect shards, pucks or datadisks throughout your journey. You can also trade for perks which you can use to increase your stats for combat. Exploration was as great as Fallen Order. There’s so much to see and explore with tons of exciting action or just chill and relaxing scenery to take in. There’s also a small touch of gardening which was fun to mess around with as you can collect seeds like in Fallen Order. The worlds in Survivor are somewhat bigger and Koboh actually feels semi open world with side quests to do. Some were worth it for fun or at least worth it for decent side stories. Something that makes exploration a little more special are the creatures you can mount and explore with. Now these creatures won’t always be available for you to use but it was fun and amazing while it lasted. The frame rate now runs at a solid 60FPS with small dips in patch 7. Other than that, I had no bugs, crashes, or glitches to speak of in my experience.

There’s mixed opinions on the story, but I loved the story way more than I thought I would. The thing about Fallen Order is that it did great on having a straightforward but epic story with likable and understandable characters. The plot of Fallen Order is about what the characters NEED to do whereas in Survivor the plot is more about what the characters WANT to do and discovering what they want to do. Because of this, the characters go from being likable to being lovable. Respawn did great on fleshing out their characters and perfectly executed their character development. Cal is definitely one my favorite Jedi now and I love him a lot but definitely still has a lot to learn. The plot and direction for the story itself is right up my alley with the crazy twists and emotionl storytelling, that’s probably the main reason why I loved the story so much for Jedi Survivor. I have a lot to say about the story and what was so great about the character development but for the sake of no spoilers in my review I will leave my thoughts on the story at that.

Respawn made a phenomenal video game that released almost flawless. It gives me reason to keep playing with a lot for me to see and I haven’t seen it all just yet. And with a great story this game really did keep me invested and I loved all the characters whether they were a protagonist or an antagonist. I appreciate the living hell out of Respawn for keeping Star Wars video games alive for me and I will watch their career with great interest!

This is the special game that caught me by surprise!

Base Game Review: Was never a fan of Zelda, being a new comer I didn't know what to expect from this game when I got my Switch in late 2017. And wow I was in for a very specific experience and I didn't even know it. The art style and visuals are among some of the best I've seen in video games. There are mountain, valleys, terrain that make this an incredible open world game. The best part is the fact that you can go almost anywhere. There almost no limitations or boundaries that stop you. Of course you will need to upgrade your stamina and unlock abilities that help you get around in the world. Combat is fun and addictive, you find all kinds of enemies. You're able to pick up and use all kinds of weapons. Which sometimes sucked because I would often get really cool look weapons that didn't want to use because they all eventually break. The are also A LOT of puzzles to solve and in which reward you in one or many different ways.

Story wise, not a very story driven game but it definitely has its moments worth paying attention to. The lore of this world was also worth hearing about and it’s interesting to say the very least.

I feel as if this is the one video game that I believe everyone should at least play once in their life. The amount of freedom this game offers exceeds anything I could've ever expected from a video game. Props to Nintendo for delivering one of the best experiences in my life.

DLC Review: This DLC is split into 2 parts. First we have Trial of the Sword. In exchange for making the master sword more powerful, you take on a series of trials which really put your skills on survival to the test. Can be difficult but it's a breeze once you get the hang of it. Fairly short but was fun and adds in new clothing with unique abilities. The second part of the DLC is called Ballad of Champions. I liked this one more than the first part because it offers a lot more. We learn more about the Champions and with 15 new shrine to conquer. You also get 1 new dungeon to take on and you unlock a motor bike from it. This DLC was worth the $20 and I recommend it if you haven't tried it yet.

Truly a prime and the best example on how remakes should be made. Capcom is goated for this video game.

Honestly after RE3remake I wasn’t sure how Capcom would deliver RE4remake and I have to say this game was no disappointment AT ALL. First off I was always curious on how RE4 would look like with today’s modern graphics and I was blown away by it. I was always on the edge of my seat because I never had a moment in this game where I didn’t feel ominous. The visuals and small attentions to detail that stood out to me A LOT. This game better improves many of the mechanics from the original. Not saying the original is bad but this remake definitely made those same mechanics feel fresh. The puzzles are fun as always. They always seem challenging but after completing them I just feel so badass to accomplish them. Something Capcom always executed perfectly is the combat. I feel overwhelmed knowing many enemies are coming my direction with very little ammo left and I somehow still manage to survive. Despite Capcom using this concept I NEVER get tired of it as I love the feeling of relief afterwards. I also love all the weapons you can use. It’s awesome that you can now parry incoming attacks using your knife. I’m the assault kind of guy so I primarily focus on sub machine guns and the shot gun felt very essential when I struggled to take down bigger and tougher enemies. Luckily the merchant is still around and I still love him. Always seems reasonable for business all while delivering on cheesy lines. My only problem with the merchant is that he doesn’t usually have ammo in stock when I desperately need it. You can also do side missions for the merchant which will give you Spinels so that you can trade rather than buy items from him. These side missions were fairly straightforward and simple to do so I had fun. They also added stealth mechanics to this game. This isn’t a very big aspect and it’s simple to do and it’s not complex. In some cases to take out a few enemies it works but Resident Evil games were never about stealth for me as it’s more fun to run around guns blazing. The enemies were FREAKISHLY overwhelming and I mean that in a good way. Some enemies would come back to life so I wasn’t always sure if they were really dead or not and it would catch me off guard sometimes. Capcom also did great in getting you to use your knife carefully as it can break. And the boss fights were so fucking epic. Capcom always made horrifying and disgusting bosses that make your skin crawl and the fights itself are full of action. And of course there are many changes but this time I really didn’t mind most of them as it did help improve this remake from the original and added features that were all well worth it.

Story is great and full of excitement. I’ve always loved Leon being this chill man but a professional at what he does. He’s reliable and a badass. Story had a few changes here and there but the major changes to the story were for Luis and Ashley. I’m so glad we got more of Luis and doesn’t seem like a throwaway character. And this time I actually really cared about Ashley a lot. I never knew she needed this character development until I played this game and it got me so hooked on her. She’s a nice young lady that learns what she needs to do and got along with Leon. Something many people didn’t like were the interactions between Ada and Leon but I do appreciate how Capcom handled Ada’s and Leon’s relationship. On one hand I do prefer their interactions from the original RE4 but on the other hand their interactions felt more realistic in the remake. Let’s not forget in RE2remake Ada basically played with Leon’s feelings for her own personal gain which got Leon to distrust her. It’s understandable why Leon gave Ada the cold shoulder in this remake. And I appreciate it because whenever you have a loved one that tricks you to be a fool, it’s natural human behavior to be rude and distrust them or at least be more cautious around them and RE4remake is more believable on that aspect. And it’s obvious Ada still does care about Leon but he has a ways to go before he realizes that. Otherwise Ada and Leon are perfect for each other, after all who doesn’t want a gorgeous woman like Ada who gifts you an RPG at the end of the game? Right…? Jokes aside I love setting of this game, the village, the castle and island in Spain worked out great and parasites can be soooooooo creepy.

Capcom outdid themselves, they delivered on a remake that I can say is my favorite remake of all time. The original RE4 is already a phenomenal game for its time and RE4remake is a modern classic. I can go on forever with the amount changes that were made but I don’t want to make my review any longer than it already is. But I’ve already started on NG+ and I look forward to doing everything I can accomplish in this game. Not sure what Capcom has plans for next but I will patiently wait for it with a smile on my face.