Words can't even begin to describe just how special this video game truly is. To me, this game is the definitive example of what video games as an artform can truly do. The intricacies of its narrative are so perfectly interwoven into its gameplay that it continues to surprise me. Furthermore, the soundtrack is, fullstop, the best soundtrack to a video game yet made with my absolute favorite being "The End of YoRHa". The ending to this game is also one of the best in video game history and it never fails to move me whenever I think about it. This game deserves every bit of praise it receives and I will never stop singing its praises. I'd give it a 6 star if I could.

This was one of my biggest childhood video games. That being said, I don't think it holds up all that spectacularly. A huge complaint I hear with this series is that the gameplay is pretty boring and here, I can definetly see why. The reef is awesome to see the first time but when the entire map looks like it, it starts to get pretty repetitive. That being said, there are moments that truly stand out to me. Namely, the Abyss, the Mermaid Cave, the Ship's Rest, and the Atoll Ruins were fantastic changes of pace. Hayley Westenra has the voice of a goddess and her songs add this ethereal beauty to these areas. The Abyss in particular is my favorite area (Even though, as a child, I had to get my dad to play through it because I was too scared to.) Overall, not amazing or even that good by any means. The sequel on the other hand...

I really don't know what to say here other than that it's fantastic but not in a conventional way. The point-and-click gameplay is so frustrating at times because there are some truly heinous and esoteric solutions that I would have never gotten. (The worst being the ash tray solution in the Third Year). But despite this, I can't help but look fondly at this game despite how frustrating some of its solutions were. This game just has such a chill and likeable vibe to it that I really can't pin down. It just feels so classy! The second year is probably the best example of this since you're just going around interacting with the nightife of Rubacava such as the Blue Casket or the High-Rollers Lounge. The soundtrack greatly helps with the atmosphere. My favorite example being the track "Swanky Maximino" which has this absolutely FILTHY saxophone. It felt like I was playing through one of those classic film noirs whichi i think was the purpose. My one big detraction is just the entirety of the third year being less... Interesting I guess. Like, I didn't hate it but it felt a divorced from the aspects that made the game so enjoyable to me. Interacting with the denizens of the afterlife and using your wit and charm to talk your way through finding solutions was what made the game so charming to me. The third year still has that but it's more physically oriented rather than dialogue oriented if that makes sense? I don't know I really don't know how to properly articulate my feelings for this game but it's certainly great! Heavily reccommend even if you need a guide to get through some of puzzles.

I can see why this is an instant classic. It's just a solid puzzle game that makes use of its central gimmick amazingly well and pushes it to the absolute extreme with different challenges and forces you to think outside the box. I really have no criticisms for it it's just a solid game all around. I guess GLaDOS isn't quite her iconic self yet and there is some tedium for certain puzzles but I really... Don't care lmao. I don't even know why I'm docking half a star it's more I guess it didn't have that extra oomph some other games have but that's probably stupid so take it for what it's worth. Still an instant classic and a must-play IMO.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is probably my favorite entry in the Fire Emblem series. I know lots of classic Fire Emblem fans would disagree, but in all honesty, this installment just does so much better than any other Fire Emblem I've played. The titular Three Houses branching storyline actually has incredible implications for the gameplay and how the characters develop overtime. The fact we start out with the majority of our units is, I think, an amazing plus since now we get a lot more game to develop our bonds with them and actually customize their abilities which leads into one of my favorite aspects of the game: the unit customization. Reclassing has never been so free and fun in the franchise before. I've seen some people complain that this system means that characters lack their own individuality but I could not disagree even harder. Characters still have optimal roles they fit in, I mean nobody's going to turn Lysithea into a brawler in a serious run. But you can if you want to and that's incredible. Furthermore, the class mastery and weapon proficiency mechanics reward you for exploring different classes and makes each enemy encounter actually wortwhile and the feeling of acquiring useful skills such as Fiendish Blow will always be cathartic. The characters are also the best the franchise has ever seen and not one feels unecessary unlike previous titles. Even if you dislike a character's personality, each and every character in the game connects to SOME aspect of Fodlan and the world and I think that's the best way to write an ensemble cast and make sure everyone has an interesting role in the story. It means they can now explore different aspects and perspectives which the game takes full advantage of. Marianne being born with a crest but hating it, Sylvain's relationship with his brother and how their family's obsession with crests have harmed them, Cyril being a representative of Almyra and learning his take on what life there is like. I could go on and on. This also makes the eventual conflict between them all the more emotional. Now, Fire Emblem and war being bad is nothing new. Plenty of Fire Emblem games love to make you feel bad for the enemy your facing by talking about their families or showing aspects of an enemy character that makes their defeat less of a binary good vs. evil kind of deal. But I don't think this has been done nearly as well as in this game because now, we ACTUALLY know the people we're fighting and we know their beliefs. Your former students will fight against you if they're not recruited and they all have unique dialogue for each encounter. While you can recruit students and save them from this fate, you can't recruit all of them and no matter what route, you will have to slay at least a couple of your former allies. Now, this game does have a few glaring issues that hold it back. While the class sytem is great, there still exists some pretty stupid gender locking that makes class paths for some units much less satisfying. Furthermore, some class paths just do not have a Master Class for whatever reason, meaning Swordmasters and male mages just sort of end their growth at Advanced Class. Also, the LGBT representation is heavily skewed for F/F relationships and the lack of actual M/M relationships is... Frustrating to say the least. There are only three, one of which is route locked and the other is DLC. I'm glad there are genuine F/F relationships but M/M should also get their fair share and skewing one over the other should never be encouraged. Lastly, while I sang the praises for the story, some aspects of it I enjoyed much less. Those Who Slither in The Dark kind of go against a lot of what I loved about this game. What made the story so great to me was the conflict between these nations who were your former students and allies and all the raw emotions that amounted from it. I don't care nearly as much about the Church's subplot or their conflict with TWSITD and while they do connect to the themes of the game, I feel they could have been a lot more interesting when focused on. Maybe give us an Agarthan unit or whatever. I'm also somewhat conflicted on Byleth. While he is a self insert character and him not having any speaking roles outside of combat does make his relationship to the students a bit weaker, I also think he's not nearly as lame as people make him out to be. He is supposed to be an empty shell and knowing that his relationship with his students has actually made him smile for the first time ever was actually very heartwarming. I do think that maybe he should've talked in cutscenes to make this more clear. He's still a better character than Roy don't @ me.

Roy's lame and he sucks and if it weren't for Smash Melee tricking people into thinking he's cool then I genuinely don't think anyone would care about this bland piece of white bread. With that being said, is this game terrible? Ehh... Sorta but not completely. I do actually enjoy quite a few things about this title. I think that the simplicty of combat is quite enjoyable for a while. I also love that white magic is a lot more diverse and interesting than in some other titles since it can be used to buff, debuff, or alleviate status effects. Also the animations in this game are just incredible. Three Houses may be my favorite installment, but the animations compared to this game are quite lackluster. I love the ways character attacks come to life and each class comes with its own amazing set of animations that makes combat just feel so much more alive. My personal favorites probably go to the Hero class with all flipping around in the air. There are also some characters I liked such as Zephiel who had one of the most badass introductions in the franchise and also Niime because I love a good old hag and I like that this game has a more diverse cast of characters in terms of body type compared to some of the modern titles. But the characters themselves I could not care less about. This game is BLOATED with uninteresting, forgettable, and bland filler units that just keep coming and coming and a good chunk of them are borderline useless. Most of them don't even have particularly interesting stories they're just there to fill up space. Also, while I do think perfect unit balance in Fire Emblem isn't really necessary, the balance in Binding Blade has a lot of issues when it comes to gameplay since it's heavily centralized around cavaliers and paladins. Also, three are some truly heinous recruitment conditions that are just unforgivably esoteric such as certain characters needing to be present for the recruiment of others without so much as a HINT beforehand. The story's also... Just okay I guess? I actually wasn't really holding the story against it because, to me, I thought the appeal of these GBA games were the gameplay so I don't really hold its story against it. That being said, ending to this game is such a massive anticlimax with one of the least interesting maps in the whole thing. You're now forced to bring along this child character who hasn't been relevant for several chapters and whos sole weapon cannot be replenished. I guess it was fun spamming the legendary weapons but it didn't make the linear map path any better. Couple that with the fact that there is only one kind of enemy and it's just not a good time. While there were some aspects I greatly enjoyed, the animations in particular were incredible, I just do not too much for it. Blazing Blade just does everything this game does but better.