Cardeeson
The Great Ace Attorney duology has hung over me way long than it should have. Playing both these games has taken me over 2 years, and while that’s partially caused by me flowing in and out of interest with it, a lot of it has to do with my biggest problem with the game. The pacing.
It’s not that previous Phoenix Wright games have had great pacing, but because the plot here is much more dense I think some cases drag on longer than they need to. Both games also aren’t immune to the leaps in logic and questionable character choices the other games have, while it didn’t bother me too much I still noticed it sometimes.
Even though I have issues, there’s still a lot of great things about these games. The new gameplay is fun, the cast is solid, and the cases are consistently strong with a great overarching story that makes some amazing moments in the end game. It’s definitely worth playing for both OG’s and newcomers to the series (also AA7 when???).
It’s not that previous Phoenix Wright games have had great pacing, but because the plot here is much more dense I think some cases drag on longer than they need to. Both games also aren’t immune to the leaps in logic and questionable character choices the other games have, while it didn’t bother me too much I still noticed it sometimes.
Even though I have issues, there’s still a lot of great things about these games. The new gameplay is fun, the cast is solid, and the cases are consistently strong with a great overarching story that makes some amazing moments in the end game. It’s definitely worth playing for both OG’s and newcomers to the series (also AA7 when???).
Stylistically Scott Pilgrim vs The World The Game is amazing. It captures the original comic super well and the music is great too. The problem is the gameplay, it’s mostly fine, but lots of enemies and hazards just demolish you. Maybe it’s better with multiplayer or I’m just not into beat em ups but I wish I liked this game more than I do.
2023
Mario RPG is a very charming game. The story is basic but cute, the battle system is simple but snappy, and the soundtrack is great. To me it didn’t have the same oomf as other Mario games I’ve played, but I can see why some people really love this game.
2000
Ok I have sooooo much to say about this damn game. To start this feels retro in a good and bad way. The background art, character portraits, and soundtrack make everything such a vibe while playing helped by the solid writing across every route. The drawbacks to this are that the music is very limited and there are a lot of baffling choices made in general.
From the elongated pacing some parts have, the pointless ‘good’ endings that (almost) all feel like ass pulls, and the insanely unnecessary sex scenes that are all bad. I still think the writing good, but I can’t ignore these issues.
Now to get into each route specifically, I’ll just go in order.
Arcueid: As the ‘first’ route I think it being way simpler than all the other ones puts at a disadvantage, and it’s not helped at all by how I personally feel pretty neutral on Arcueid herself. She’s well written and her relationship with Shiki has some great moments, but something about her never clicked with me. I still think the foundation this route lays is pretty solid and only suffers from being dragged out a bit.
Ciel: Objectively this route feels weaker in a lot of ways especially when compared to Arcueid’s. The plot beats are way too similar and everything involving Arcueid feels like a waste of time when Ciel is supposed to be the focus. In retrospect knowing how little screen time she gets in the far side routes makes me appreciate her presence here more, but she still could have been implemented better. Even with that issue though I think this route gets way more interesting once it starts changing things up. The tone feels more ominous, Shiki get way more depth, and Ciel has a ton of cool moments once the story actually focuses on her. I still can’t say it’s better than the Arcueid route but I like the ideas here more and think there’s a lot of missed potential.
Akiha (+ Satsuki): It feels weird to not talk about Satsuki, I thought it nice that they finally expanded on her but it all feels a bit rushed. Before I knew Satsuki was in all the far side routes I thought the shift to Akiha would be too forced but it felt surprisingly natural here (and in Hisui & Kohaku’s routes). The route proper could be a little faster, but once it gets going it stays pretty interesting. The Akiha and Shiki relationship is, uh… weird. It doesn’t kill the route but that doesn’t make it any less weird. I think the ending and interesting villain make up for it well enough though. I’m honestly underselling this route cause with a few tweaks it could be the best one.
Hisui: Damn, I wasn’t sure if this route would live up to the hype but I’d totally did. It wasn’t how I expected it to go though, the focus is much more on building up suspense and plot twists, and while I figured out some before they were revealed others totally blindsided me. The ending is also amazing, which is true for basically all the routes but this one really stood out. Plus this is the only good ending where even though it’s still unnecessary, it doesn’t feel like a total asspull so bonus points for that.
Kohaku: Compared to everything that came before it this route feels the tightest. Since you’re literally required to do Hisui’s route before this one there are a lot clever switch ups and twists I didn’t see coming. The ending here is pretty good, but honestly my least favorite true ending of all the routes. If it had more punch this route could be better than Hisui’s but even though it isn’t for me it was still great (also no good ending is still a plus).
If I had to rank each of them I’d probably go.
Hisui > Kohaku > Akiha > Arcueid > Ciel
To conclude there’s just something about this game I can’t shake. I genuinely love some parts of it but it feels to held back by its flaws most of the time. I’ve heard the remake fixes most of these problems so I’m excited to check that out, but I still recommend Tsukihime to anyone that may be interested in it.
From the elongated pacing some parts have, the pointless ‘good’ endings that (almost) all feel like ass pulls, and the insanely unnecessary sex scenes that are all bad. I still think the writing good, but I can’t ignore these issues.
Now to get into each route specifically, I’ll just go in order.
Arcueid: As the ‘first’ route I think it being way simpler than all the other ones puts at a disadvantage, and it’s not helped at all by how I personally feel pretty neutral on Arcueid herself. She’s well written and her relationship with Shiki has some great moments, but something about her never clicked with me. I still think the foundation this route lays is pretty solid and only suffers from being dragged out a bit.
Ciel: Objectively this route feels weaker in a lot of ways especially when compared to Arcueid’s. The plot beats are way too similar and everything involving Arcueid feels like a waste of time when Ciel is supposed to be the focus. In retrospect knowing how little screen time she gets in the far side routes makes me appreciate her presence here more, but she still could have been implemented better. Even with that issue though I think this route gets way more interesting once it starts changing things up. The tone feels more ominous, Shiki get way more depth, and Ciel has a ton of cool moments once the story actually focuses on her. I still can’t say it’s better than the Arcueid route but I like the ideas here more and think there’s a lot of missed potential.
Akiha (+ Satsuki): It feels weird to not talk about Satsuki, I thought it nice that they finally expanded on her but it all feels a bit rushed. Before I knew Satsuki was in all the far side routes I thought the shift to Akiha would be too forced but it felt surprisingly natural here (and in Hisui & Kohaku’s routes). The route proper could be a little faster, but once it gets going it stays pretty interesting. The Akiha and Shiki relationship is, uh… weird. It doesn’t kill the route but that doesn’t make it any less weird. I think the ending and interesting villain make up for it well enough though. I’m honestly underselling this route cause with a few tweaks it could be the best one.
Hisui: Damn, I wasn’t sure if this route would live up to the hype but I’d totally did. It wasn’t how I expected it to go though, the focus is much more on building up suspense and plot twists, and while I figured out some before they were revealed others totally blindsided me. The ending is also amazing, which is true for basically all the routes but this one really stood out. Plus this is the only good ending where even though it’s still unnecessary, it doesn’t feel like a total asspull so bonus points for that.
Kohaku: Compared to everything that came before it this route feels the tightest. Since you’re literally required to do Hisui’s route before this one there are a lot clever switch ups and twists I didn’t see coming. The ending here is pretty good, but honestly my least favorite true ending of all the routes. If it had more punch this route could be better than Hisui’s but even though it isn’t for me it was still great (also no good ending is still a plus).
If I had to rank each of them I’d probably go.
Hisui > Kohaku > Akiha > Arcueid > Ciel
To conclude there’s just something about this game I can’t shake. I genuinely love some parts of it but it feels to held back by its flaws most of the time. I’ve heard the remake fixes most of these problems so I’m excited to check that out, but I still recommend Tsukihime to anyone that may be interested in it.
1998
I’ve wanted to play these games for a while, and after playing the first one I’m super impressed by how well it’s aged. The story is a perfect blend of cool and corny, the cast is great, and it still feels fun to play without feeling janky. The only big issue I have is with the backtracking, it sometimes makes sense but mostly feels like unnecessary padding. It’s not that big of a deal though, this game still hits even 25 years after it came out.
Sekiro is a game I’ve appreciated for a while, but never beat until now. The game skill checks you hard in a lot of places and it can sometimes feel frustrating, but once you master it you feel like a god. My only main gripe is how the game constantly surrounds mini bosses with enemies. The game clearly isn’t built for it so it can be annoying to deal with. Outside of that though Sekiro is still a banger game.
2010
If I’m being honest rage games aren’t really my thing. Most of them nowadays feel like they’re chasing a trend, but the biggest issue they have is not being fun. Super Meat Boy is a pretty rare case where its purposeful and unfair difficulty is still mostly fun. I think the controls could be better and the later levels began to get a bit too hard, but you can tell the care they put into this and I respect the hell outta what this game did do gaming as a whole.
Calling Mario Wonder a ‘wonderful’ game is corny af but that doesn’t make it any less true. I played the Wii and Wii U Mario a lot as a kid and while those games are fine, they are pretty stale in its presentation. This game finally has the soul those games needed. With fun gimmicks, a cool badge system, and fresh enemies this game slaps. The only real problems I have is the difficulty most of the time and those damn search party levels. Those were ass, but everything else here is just amazing.
2009
Madworld does an amazing job at having its own identity, the black and white comic book look with red blood looks super cool. Combined with the stage variety, bosses, soundtrack, and those commentators. It has a perfect style.
That doesn’t mean it’s flawless though. Some stages are way too simple or complex, the camera can be awkward, some motion controls feel forced, and the game crashed on me a few times when too much stuff was happening.
Comparing this game to No More Heroes shows some obvious similarities. While I think No More Heroes is better, Madworld is still a great game that deserves more recognition. A remaster would be amazing to see.
That doesn’t mean it’s flawless though. Some stages are way too simple or complex, the camera can be awkward, some motion controls feel forced, and the game crashed on me a few times when too much stuff was happening.
Comparing this game to No More Heroes shows some obvious similarities. While I think No More Heroes is better, Madworld is still a great game that deserves more recognition. A remaster would be amazing to see.
2007
Super Paper Mario is a game I have a ton of nostalgia for. I played it a lot as a kid but I never remember actually beating it. And now after replaying and finally finishing it I can confidently say that it’s an all time favorite for me.
That isn’t to say it’s flawless though, some of the puzzles can be vague, there is a little too much walking, and any kind of map would have been an amazing edition. Speaking personally I can ignore these issues but I can see why someone couldn’t.
The biggest thing the game excels at and what truly resonated with me as a kid were the story and characters along with the art direction. All the worlds have a very distinct feel to them with amazing style. Fueled by charming characters and unique stories that I still really liked (shoutout to the Mario has to pay off debt chapter).
Overall the Super Paper Mario will always be special to me, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves someday.
That isn’t to say it’s flawless though, some of the puzzles can be vague, there is a little too much walking, and any kind of map would have been an amazing edition. Speaking personally I can ignore these issues but I can see why someone couldn’t.
The biggest thing the game excels at and what truly resonated with me as a kid were the story and characters along with the art direction. All the worlds have a very distinct feel to them with amazing style. Fueled by charming characters and unique stories that I still really liked (shoutout to the Mario has to pay off debt chapter).
Overall the Super Paper Mario will always be special to me, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves someday.
Now that I’ve replayed the game twice to get the true ending, I can confidently say this game still kicks ass. I thought all the new stuff in each playthrough was cool, but my opinion of everything didn’t really change much. If you want more out of Armored Core VI after beating it once then I think it’s worth it to play it again
Coffee Talk 2 is mostly on par with the first game. I still liked it, but part of me thinks it could have been better.
This feeling mainly stems from the main story lines in this game, the highs do feel higher here but the lows feel a lot lower. It’s never bad, but I think tweaking some of the weaker plot lines or maybe not even including them would make this game a lot more balanced and probably better than the original.
This feeling mainly stems from the main story lines in this game, the highs do feel higher here but the lows feel a lot lower. It’s never bad, but I think tweaking some of the weaker plot lines or maybe not even including them would make this game a lot more balanced and probably better than the original.
2017
It’s been a while since I’ve replayed Cuphead but even 6 years after it came out this game is still timeless. A unique and gorgeous style blended with great boss rush bullet hell action obviously make an amazing game
Seeing Armored Core 6 get relatively big is pretty cool, especially for the type of game it is. Mecha action games are a pretty niche genre and it’s nice that the reputation Fromsoftware has got helped it so much.
The game also slaps tho. The action is smooth and rapid, running super well. It can be sometimes be mindless but lots of the bosses and AC battles require you to think strategically with changing up your build. I don’t think it’s for everyone but trying out new weapons and leg parts helped everything feel fresh most of the time. The story doesn’t have a huge presence, but I liked the characters and lore. It felt very Dune.
I think some of the older stuff here could have been modernize, like the mission structure and character interactions. But I still thought Armored Core kicked ass and I’ll definitely go for the other endings.
The game also slaps tho. The action is smooth and rapid, running super well. It can be sometimes be mindless but lots of the bosses and AC battles require you to think strategically with changing up your build. I don’t think it’s for everyone but trying out new weapons and leg parts helped everything feel fresh most of the time. The story doesn’t have a huge presence, but I liked the characters and lore. It felt very Dune.
I think some of the older stuff here could have been modernize, like the mission structure and character interactions. But I still thought Armored Core kicked ass and I’ll definitely go for the other endings.
2019
very fun and charming. gotta love all the lower case letters