It has a character named Kino...

Future Connected takes place one year after the events of Xenoblade Chronicles and takes Shulk and Melia to an unexplored region of the Bionis, where they stumble upon two stowaways who help them against the seemingly untouchable Fog King terrorizing the local people. Yes, this premise is pretty basic, but it's more of an expansion to round off Melia's character arc than an actual story expansion.

The highlight and key aspect of Future Connected is the exploration of Bionis' Shoulder, a previously unreleased area that has been planned ever since the original release of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, but never made the cut. Now it has been repurposed as the central setpiece of the epilogue and I'm quite glad for this decision, as it's easily one of my favorite areas in the game now and I had a lot of fun exploring it. There are many great views and it looks particularly cool during thunderstorms (even better when there's a cutscene playing). Fairly early on you're introduced to the Ponspectors, a group of archaeologist Nopon, who have lost their boss and now are scattered all across the Shoulder, where you can pick them up (most of the times you need to do a short quest beforehand) and add them to your own personal Nopon army. This literal army of furball companions not only deals passive damage during combat, but also replaces the chain attacks with some QTE combos, which can be upgraded by adding more Ponspectors to your squad. They're also masters of taking a toll on the framerate, as things can get seriously laggy when there's a dozen Nopon hammering away on a bunch of enemies during a thunderstorm while several other flashy animations are playing. Despite this, I thought the Ponspectors were a fun change of pace in terms of combat usage, but there was something else I disliked instead in terms of combat, and that's the removal of vision attacks. This sounds insane at first, considering vision attacks only make your life harder, but the thing is that they're still in the game, you're just not informed when the enemy will hit you with them anymore. Always a pleasure to see a boss hit you with "Attack VIII" without warning just to survive with a mere sliver of health, so the existence of the Shield and Impulse Monado Art hardly justify themselves in Future Connected, as they are practically useless - you're better off using the Armor Art instead.

I don't think the story present here is that bad, just considerably weaker than the main narrative, which is to be expected from a free expansion that released 10 years after the source material. For me the main issues are the underwhelming villains (the fate of one major villain here is literally revealed in a sidequest) and the lack of any real stakes here, so the true highlight are the character interactions instead. The heart-to-heart mechanic from the main game has been rebranded to "quiet moments" and is now available anytime after certain points in the story have been passed, as long as the time is right and the party members you need for the support are in your current party setup. They're also fully voiced and do not require any previous affinity building between characters, which is something that would be very cool to see in future Xenoblade games (or atleast Xenoblade 3, considering 2 released before Future Connected), as voice acting alone in these moments can make them a lot more impactful and memorable already. While Kino's and Nene's supports help characterize Riki further, Melia's are particularly interesting as she as a person had to undergo significant changes after the events of the main storyline. Shulk takes the backseat here and is more of a mentor for the Nopon kids, which is sweet in its own way.

To wrap it up, it's a nice little bonus campaign after the grand scope of Xenoblade's main story and I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants more of the same. As far as I know, Future Connected is ultimately skippable, but there's no harm in giving it a try atleast - else you're missing out on some fantastic tracks like the Bionis Shoulder battle theme or the Fogbeasts encounter theme.

A game that brings me nothing but pure joy. All the boxes are checked. Insanely loveable cast, sprawling world to explore, stellar voice performances, gut punching story, gorgeous soundtrack, and an option filled combat system. Another entry where I constantly want to know what happens next whilst never wanting the game to end. A euphoric feeling, felt a third time over. A few QoL issues like no reloading in-game, chain attacks taking too long, no leveling down before post-game are but small blemishes.

The day after Christmas 2016, I got my PS4. A couple months prior, I finally got back into Playstation gaming after strictly being a Nintendo Fanboy for years. With my PS4, I got the Uncharted Collection, Uncharted 4, Skyrim, Little Big Planet 3 and Final Fantasy XV. I couldn't wait to dive into all these games I wouldn't have even given a chance years before. Fast forward to early April, I decided on a whim to pick up Persona 5 only a day after it came out. I knew almost nothing about Persona besides my one friend always recommending the series so I took a chance, and ended up loving it. Fast forward to May 2017, I pick up NieR Automata. That one friend who recommended the Persona series, would also show me gameplay of the original NieR. At this time I was still in the middle of playing Persona 5, but knowing I took a chance on that and was loving it, I took a chance on Automata as well. I didn't start it until June and didn't beat it until August of that year, but from my memories of 6 years ago I remember absolutely loving it. Fast forward to today and I decided I wanted to replay this game finally. I was wondering all this time if I'd love this game as much as I did back then, because 2017 was my absolute favorite year ever...at least that timespan of like April-August and it could have clouded my judgement. Well my thoughts are complicated but as you can see by my score, I do indeed still love this game overall.

When I first started this, I decided to replay it on hard. It had been 6 years since I played it but I figured I could do it. After dying 10 times in the super long intro, I decided to bump it down to normal. It might be a skill issue but I didn't find it fun to die in 2 or sometimes even 1 hit. I played the entire game on normal and I don't feel bad, I just wanted to have fun. Though tbh, on my first playthrough through Route A...halfway into it I kinda wasn't having much fun. My main issue was, I kept comparing every little thing to Gestalt which is the consequence of playing this immediately after that. I kept missing the main cast of that game and just wasn't digging Automata's cast much. By the end of route A, I was disappointed in the game...and disappointed in myself for feeling this way. I absolutely adored this back in 2017...did I change? Was I too cynical now or something?

My main reason for being disappointed was because my favorite aspect of Gestalt, the cast, was not even comparable in this game I felt. My favorite character was 9S and his best scenes don't even happen until the later routes. The cast of this game is solid I'd say but doesn't come close at all to Gestalt's main cast, at least for me. That was my main hangup during route A, and is still even now the biggest downgrade this game has compared to Gestalt.

During route A, even though I was disappointed by the end of it, there were still plenty of things I liked about the game and several improvements compared to Gestalt. The combat for one is definitely improved overall. Yes the combat is not on par with something like Bayonetta or DMC, but it's still flashy enough so that it feels good. You have two weapons at once and it feels good to switch between both. You also have these Pods that act as the Weiss of this game. You can switch abilities with them, and some of the abilities are straight up ones from Gestalt which was cool. Same with the weapons, some of them were ones from Gestalt so you know I had to use my beloved Beastbain. I also really loved the movement in this game compared to Gestalt, dashing around this post-apocalyptic world...especially in mid-air on top of buildings, god it feels good.

Speaking of the post-apocalyptic world..this a bit of a running gag in my discord server that I have a major hard on for it. And that's correct, I still absolutely adore the world in Automata. The world is not as fleshed out as actual open worlds, but that's partly why I love it. I think the world is the absolutely perfect size for a gaming world. It's small enough where I don't find getting around to be a chore, even if you can fast travel...and big enough where it's fun to actually explore and take in the amazing locales. Goddamn I love the aesthetic this world provides. The starting area is a ruined city overgrown with plant life and that aesthetic is like my #1 aesthetic now thanks to this game. You also have a massive desert with a whole city half buried in the sand at the end of it. You have an abandoned amusement park full of celebrating machines. There's more ruined buildings on the coastline. There's a forest area that leads to a grassy castle. Right before that area, you go through a little shopping center that's full of overgrowth. There is no area I dislike going to because every single one has such a cool aesthetic which really does it for me. The world/setting of the game was my absolute favorite aspect when I first played (besides the OST) and even now it's still probably my favorite aspect. If there's any single one thing that this game destroys Gestalt on, it's definitely its world.

Speaking of the OST, it is still fantastic 6 years later. While personally, I do prefer Gestalt's OST by a fair margin...Automata's is still awesome. Back then my favorite themes were all the area themes and while they're still great, I really like a lot of the battle themes now. Grandma Destruction and Emil Despair, obviously because they're remixes of Gestalt songs but A Beautiful Song may be my favorite totally originally Automata song now, it's fantastic. The OST is indeed objectively amazing but I think the reason why I don't like it as much as Gestalt's now is because the songs have way more going on in them while Gestalt's are more simple. Automata's songs are also generally more epic and fast paced vs Gestalt's more elegant sounding songs. I still do love Automata's OST tho and it's definitely one of my favorites ever. Honestly tho I think Gestalt might have my favorite OST ever in any game, at least as of now so ofc that would be hard to top but Automata certainly isn't that far off.

Something I definitely loved this time around was the Gestalt connections I wouldn't have ever gotten when I first played. Like certain lines reminiscent of Gestalt, or really obvious things nowadays like how the desert machines all wear Facade-like clothing. There's a quest in the desert that even has you finding hidden items that were all connected to Facade which was amazing to discover. Speaking of quests, I honestly think they were a lot better in this game compared to Gestalt. Sure, you don't have the amazing banter between NieR and Weiss. However as a whole, I found there to be less fetch quests and more memorable quests that felt somewhat impactful towards the worldbuilding. Obviously, the single best quests are the Emil ones for me just cuz they connect to Gestalt so heavily but that was gonna be a given. Oh yeah, Emil is back...his side quests were awesome as stated before but besides that he's only really here as a shopkeeper which is okay I guess. If he didn't have either of the side quests, he would have been a big disappointment but those salvage his appearance I'd say. Also up to the end of Route A, I'd say the bosses were solid overall but none of them really wowed me besides Simone who was amazing. That's partly because A Beautiful Song plays during it but still. Also Also, I forgot to mention I did do every side quest and of course upgraded all weapons to max. For what you get from doing that, which is some of the best content in the game imo, I think it's worth it.

Anyways, a lot of things have been improved from Gestalt but the big downgrade being the cast hampered my enjoyment of the 2nd half of Route A cuz I kept comparing the two games the entire time. I established this before, so you'd think Route B would be even worse because it's pretty much a retread of Route A except with small changes here and there, kinda like Route B in Gestalt except not nearly as good. Well here's the weird thing, I honestly enjoyed myself more with Route B than A. That's weird because usually people hate Route B from what I've seen but idk I digged it. Maybe it's because I was playing as 9S who I enjoyed a lot more than 2B. Or maybe it was the addition of hacking which I honestly quite enjoy even tho I know many others don't. Idk but once I beat route B, I was definitely enjoying myself more than I did at the end of route A. So I don't get when people say Route B is bad, it's different enough that it's fun to play through again. Then Route C is next and that's where the story has it's peaks...and where the game definitely won me over again.

Route C is totally different from A and B and that's a huge change from route C in Gestalt. There it was the exact same as Route B except with two new endings so Route C in Automata is definitely a big improvement. There's tons of twists, reveals and heartbreak and it's 100% the best route no question. I still don't think the story elements or character interactions come close to gestalt in its ending, but they're definitely very good. I think story-wise, I like it less overall then Gestalt's just because of the inferior cast but it has some really emotional singular moments and so I like to think I love the moments in this game more than the entirety of its story which is opposite of Gestalt. Going into those moments though, and they both happened in Route C, they were the final super boss that you access by getting every weapon to max...and ending E.

The final super boss I knew would get me because of its connection to Gestalt, and they are huge connections, but I didn't think the waterworks would flow as hard as they did. Even more surprising was ending E. I still remembered what happened but idk man it really got me. When that certain part happens and you hear the choir, I broke down. This is THE moment I'm giving this game a 10 for now. I was contemplating whether to actually drop it to a 9, and I still might eventually who knows, but the fact I cried to something that had no connection to Gestalt really...that made me realize I do still love this game even without the Gestalt shit.

I may not be in love with the game's story or cast, and I think the OST is somewhat of a downgrade..however. The combat being improved, the still wonderful OST, my favorite world in any game and the worldbuilding and connections to Gestalt I do love. And so as of now I'm going to keep this at a 10, again I might drop it down eventually but Ending E won me over for now. I do definitely love Gestalt more now as you already know, which is so weird because I once had this at a 10 and Gestalt at an 8 lol. Funny how things change.

I realise I completely forgot to write a review for this months after finishing. Truthfully, I have little to say. Many of the problems that plague the base game are even more noticeable, such as unacceptable and insulting performance. That alone has doomed this DLC to be nothing more than extremely mediocre. While we have some neat things, such as fun characters with an actual story to follow (the bar really isn't high here), there are few things this DLC does we haven't seen before. The area we get to explore is painfully dull, only made slightly interesting by the giant mountain its centre that we can travel through.

I do hope the Indigo Disc is better. This franchise needs to be better than the horrible state it currently is in.

Yep, as everybody and their mom knows, Bloodborne is that guy. I've tried getting into it multiple times in the past but it never clicked like it did this time. So, I finally get it. Bloodborne is a masterfully crafted experience from top to bottom. The stunning world and level design, the visceral combat including that immensely satisfying pistol stun mechanic. The excellent DLC, adding some of the best bosses in the game is an absolute must too. Overall, it is such an enthralling and well paced journey, yet it still left me wanting even more by the end...

Sonic already had a great running start when it came to the success of his original game, which brought him into the spotlight as Sega’s newest heavy hitter and potential mascot, but then when Sonic 2 was released, it solidified that role for him. Not only was Sonic 2 better than the original game in almost every single way, but it introduced many mainstays of the franchise, such as with Tails and Super Sonic, making it not just one of the best Sonic games out there, but also one of the best titles to have on the Sega Genesis. So, of course, like with Alex Kidd, Sega was going to make sure to keep Sonic games coming, with the next of these titles initially starting out as a port of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega CD. However, this then quickly changed into a completely different game, which would be developed alongside Sonic 2, and would take place in between that game and the original. Eventually, the game would be released alongside two other brand new Sonic games (which we will get to at a later date), and it would simply be known as Sonic the Hedgehog CD, or just Sonic CD for short.

Whenever it comes to what many consider to be the best Sega CD game, people will often point to this title, while also calling it one of the best Sonic games ever made, and while I personally wouldn’t completely agree with that sentiment, I will say it is still a really great entry in the series. Like with the previous mainline Sonic game, it manages to take what was established in the previous games and add onto it, introducing completely new mechanics and gimmicks that would rarely get used ever again, making this one of the more unique and entertaining titles in the series. Of course, it does have its share of problems, as any Sonic game does (as any fan should be used to by now), but for what we got here, it still holds up pretty well to this day, and a must-play for anyone who owns a Sega CD.

The story is similar to the other Sonic games, except this time you are now saving a damsel in distress, and stopping Robotnik from taking over the extraterrestrial body known as Little Planet, and most of this is even shown to us through these very well animated cutscenes made by Toei Animation………… which look absolutely crusty on the original hardware, but hey, they are some of the better cutscenes seen on the system, the graphics are of a similar quality to the previous Genesis Sonic titles, but they still look great here, not only being just as colorful and detailed as before, but also having plenty of different new animations for characters for that extra level of detail, the music is…. complicated, with there being two different soundtracks that were made, one for the US and one for everywhere else, and while there are definitely plenty of great tracks to be heard in the US soundtrack, the Japanese soundtrack knocks it out of the park in every single way, it is so damn good, the control is typical of what you would expect from a Sonic game, so not much to talk about there, and the gameplay is familiar with those who have played the previous Sonic titles, but introduces plenty of new mechanics to keep things interesting.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of Sonic once again, go through a set of seven zones, each with three acts a piece, run through them at the speed of sound while defeating many different badniks in your path to free all of the little animals trapped within them, gather plenty of rings, shields, and invincibility boxes along the way to give you an edge over the many robotic enemies you will face, and take on the evil Robotnik’s many different contraptions, ranging from the creative and challenging, to the completely pathetic and pointless. It has all the markings of your typical 2D Sonic title, but to its credit, it still manages to be pretty fun, and the level of speed is properly maintained throughout this title for the most part, making it still pretty fun to play.

In terms of new additions, like with Sonic 2, there are quite a few. For starters, Sonic still retains his Spin Dash from the previous game, but now, he also has a brand new move called the Super Peel Out, where he can rev up his feet into a figure-8 pattern and take off towards whatever lies ahead of him. When you think about it, it is essentially just a fancier version of the Spin Dash, but honestly, I love using this move, and the speed and distance you get with it is really satisfying. It’s a shame that it is barely ever brought back after this, aside from one or two exceptions here or there. Alongside this, we also have two brand new characters who, like Tails, would go onto being mainstays of the entire Sonic franchise. The first of these new characters would be Amy Rose, Sonic’s on-again-off-again love interest, who for this game is just relegated to the damsel in distress role, because I guess Sega really was trying really hard to push Sonic as their own personal Mario. While I myself don’t personally like her as much as other characters seen throughout the franchise, I would still say that Amy is a pretty great character, one that is usually fun to see whenever she shows up in future games (especially ones where she talks), and whenever you get the chance to play as her in certain installments, she is also usually fun to play as. Not to mention, her classic design is fucking adorable, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

The second character that was introduced, on the other hand, was not only another great inclusion for this series, but has been my favorite character in the entire franchise ever since I first saw him: Metal Sonic. He may not be that creative of a character, with him just being an evil, robotic version of Sonic, but he makes up for it not only with his cool as FUCK design, but also with his many different appearances across the franchise. Usually, he is one of the highlights of anything he appears in, and most of his boss fights are some of the best in the entire series. In terms of what he does in this game though, not only does he show up to actually kidnap Amy right in front of you, but you also race against him to avoid Robotnik’s rainbow laser of death, and while it can be a bit annoying if you don’t time your jumps right, it is one of the best boss fights in the game in my opinion.

Moving on from characters though, the third biggest inclusion of this game, as well as the main gimmick of the whole thing, is with time travel. Throughout most of the levels, you will see plenty of signs that say Past or Future, and when you pass by them and then get enough speed, you will then be sent back or forward in time, to where the levels now look and sound different and have a different amount of enemies depending on the time period you’re in. While it doesn’t really change the gameplay that much, it can be pretty neat to swap between these time periods, as well as seeing all the differences between them for each of the levels, if you are that curious. But, if you do want to go for the best ending in the game, the time travel mechanic does become pretty important, as for every single Past version of a level, there will be a hidden transporter that will be producing enemies that you can destroy. When you destroy all of those, you then immediately create a good future for the zone, and unlock the best ending. Honestly though…. I’m not really too big of a fan of this method of completing the game. There is nothing necessarily wrong with it, but I just don’t like searching the levels to find these specific spots where these transporters are, as it completely breaks the pacing that Sonic levels typically have, and that is something I value heavily in these games.

Thankfully though, there is a more traditional alternative for people like me. Like in Sonic 1, if you collect 50 rings, a giant ring will appear at the end of the main stages, and when you jump in said ring, you will be transported to a Special Stage where you will get the chance to get a Time Stone………… yes, a Time Stone, not a Chaos Emerald. Usually, when it comes to special stages in Sonic games, I typically kinda dread getting to them, as they can either be really fun or annoying as hell, with no inbetween a lot of the time. With this game, though, we get to go through the really fun batch of Special Stages, where you are running in a 3D environment trying to destroy these UFOs, and when you destroy them all, you get the Time Stone. Sure, these stages can get kinda annoying at times, given how fast both you and the UFOs can get at times, but honestly, I greatly prefer this over plenty of other special stages in Sonic games, as I feel like I have a lot more control over what I do, and when I fuck up, I do feel like it is my fault rather then the game fucking me over.

So yeah, it may seem like I absolutely adore this game, but trust me, I do have my fair share of complaints about this title. For starters, the Spin Dash, at least in the original version of the game, FUCKING SUCKS. Not only does it look off from what it usually is, but it works differently to where you have to wait for it to charge up before you release the wind up button, making it pretty unreliable when compared to the Super Peel Out. Thankfully, this was fixed in the modern ports of the game made by Christian Whitehead, but if you are playing the original version of the game, or the port on the Sega Gems Collection, that Spin Dash is pretty much completely useless.

And secondly, while I wouldn’t say this applies to every level in the game, I will say that for a majority of the stages in this game, the level design is pretty horrible. Not to say that it doesn’t work well enough, but it feels like in this game specifically that a lot of the time, you can’t properly maneuver around a lot of parts without some jank getting in the way, such as with certain pathways and enemy placements. Not to mention, there are also plenty of moments where you can get stuck in the levels, needing to fight against the gimmicks to hope to make some progress, and there are plenty of examples you can find where you will see rings just clipped through the walls, unable to get. I don’t know how the hell they let that slide, but I guess Sonic Team was always known for half-assing their games at points, even from the beginning.

Overall, despite some shitty level design in places and a completely useless Spin Dash, I would consider Sonic CD to be one of the best 2D Sonic games out there, and it is without a doubt the best game on the Sega CD that I have ever played. I would definitely recommend it to those who are big fans of Sonic games, as well as those love 2D platformers in general, because this title will give you plenty to blaze through and enjoy, every step of the way. Although, if you are gonna play this, here is a quick word of advice: be ready for what you may see in the Sound Test. Some of it is pretty funny, and it can be cute as well, but then some of it is just… shudder....

Game #420

Ace Attorney is not the kind of visual novel a lot of people see themselves playing; trust me, I didn't anticipate it either. But something about the colorful characters and

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(For humour's sake I'm keeping the original review but obviously I want to expand upon it because this series means a lot to me)

Something about the colorful characters and hijinks really draws me in. It has a lot of charm as a series and really has some standout moments for a visual novel. It has its lows, and when it does, they're pretty low, but it creates a story that wraps itself in a neat bow which not a lot of visual novel series can do. Some of the ways one has to get to the conclusions of the case are stupid, like, I know the answer but put the case together in the wrong order. But I think this game is worth a look if you're into visual novels. Very charming and quirky and I really enjoy the mechanics introduced in Rise From the Ashes, wish they came back in the 3DS games more prominently.