Before Final Fantasy VI, I don't think I ever thought of video games as anything more than a fun pastime. I'm sure many gamers tend to have that one "Eureka!" moment when they play a game that transcends all prior preconceptions they may have had about the medium, and for me it just happened to be this one. It was the first game to make me feel deeper emotions other than simple joy or mere frustration; emotions such as pity, grief, indignation, and love. It was the first game to make me cry. It was the first game to make me realize the worth that this medium has as an art form; an observation I made moreso in retrospect as I got older. Regardless, it was obvious to me in those days that this was a special game and that I would never forget it.

I feel like writing an in-depth review for this game is pointless. Never mind the countless video essays and online discourse that exists on it, but there are some things I hold too near and dear for me to scrutinize for it to not feel like a trite obligation. All I can really add to the endless discussion is that this game definitely solidified my life-long love for JRPGs. I came to love these characters and view them as family. I became enthralled in their struggles and the rage I felt towards Kefka was very much real. Hell, this clown may still hold the spot for most puncheable video game villain of all time for me. It's a title that could very well translate to greatest video game villain of all time, as well.

Please, if you haven't played this game, I strongly urge you to. I may never be able to fully express just how much this game means to me, but after putting off a review for so long, I'm just glad to have at least tried.

Moments I remember crying to (iykyk):

- The Train scene
- The Opera scene
- The Greatest Video Game Track Ever Composed

i think everyone has probably verbalised my feelings about this game better than i can, but i'll try and keep it nice and short.

anyways, being a part of this game's world for 3 months or so was definitely such a precious and immersing experience i don't think i felt recently. it's just so beautiful and fun and it's just a game that i find myself thinking about a lot.

arthur's story is something so emotional, something so human, it made me connected to everyone around him and himself of course and made his whole journey so memorable with just simply being human beings who make mistakes and try to connect despite being flawed and coming from various ways one can encounter in life.

roaming around camps, listening to everyone's story, trying to make the best out of life even though you're in deep, that's arthur morgan to me. arthur passing the baton to john and their bond is something so beautiful to me and even though the end of arthur's journey was so sad and tragic, john's epilogue and little family has healed me, truly an amazing way to end the game.

even just riding your horse around the huge map, enjoying the scenery, fishing or just strolling around town is fun and not something tedious and boring.... i love how every character had their relevance and story and how you can in every step find something relevant to them. the characters feel real, their struggles and emotions feel very human and not tropey and even the antagonists are written in a fear inducing way, not because of the violence or gore, in a psychological way mostly.

i'm rambling once again but you just need to experience this game once in your life. such an amazing and emotional narrative that i will always remember. instant 5/5.

at some point you gotta stop saying vaguely evocative shit and making me rorschach test it into something of value

and actually show me something of value

barring a few sleights of hand in the presentation, this is a borderline waste of time. and if you're interested in said sleights of hand, you would probably be better off making ur way through satoshi kon's actual oeuvre. or anything by yuasa. the only thing this gains out of being a videogame is... weirdly long chunks of time getting lost in a huge archvis greybox doing random fetch quests with minimally helpful markers and no map?

2015 was an insane year for video games, I need to stress that. Witcher, Metal Gear, Batman, and Fallout! So many big names, so many hits! How does this one stack up?

Not too well, I’m afraid.

The first time I played Fallout 4, I was impressed. Improved combat, fresh factions, a great score and atmosphere, and the added settlement system added up my playtime quickly. However, there’s a fly in the ointment - like many Bethesda titles, it’s fantastic on first contact and deteriorates with repeated playthroughs.

Fallout 4 is too streamlined, too smoothed over, and lacks the defining bumps or characteristics that made New Vegas and 3 stand out. It is the ultimate Bethesda game - most of the series’ RPG elements have been stripped clean, the main story is lacking, and the whole experience has been thoroughly idiot-proofed. The majority of quests are kill/fetch errands, and dialogue is relegated to four options. Honestly, it feels like the game plays itself half the time. Let me explain.

Nate will ask an NPC what’s up. The NPC will explain, Nate will respond in the attitude of choice, your companion will like/dislike it, and then you take the quest. Rarely is there ever a branching path or second option, it’s just a straight line. Characters seldom sound invested or urgent in dialogue, it’s just two people droning lines at each other. I’m not someone who hates the idea of voiced protagonists, but it requires a tremendous amount of talent to get it right. This goes doubly so for an RPG, where playtime will be in the tens or even hundreds. Nate and/or Nora don’t cut it for me, it’s just an additional sting for how bland the dialogue is. The one part of the dialogue system I do enjoy is how it interacts with your companion. Companion comments breathe a bit of life into the game, and make you feel like you’re not alone on the dull journey. The system built around them is a positive addition: learning their likes and dislikes over time is neat, and I think each one fills a niche that ensures that everyone will have at least a favorite or two by the time they finish the game. Nick was a big one in my first run, and Codsworth rocked in my second. It’s reminiscent of the first Dragon Age, though I think it’s done better there.

Like its forebears Oblivion and Fallout 3, the atmosphere and soundtrack is top-shelf. I don’t have any complaints about 4’s sound design, it’s remarkably solid all around. There’s a high level of detail in the presentation, with distinct sounds for every interaction, weapon, and general circumstance. I appreciate how there are distinct markers for loot containers: adhesives/tools for red boxes, drugs for blood-stained yellow ones, etc. There’s a language to scavenging that works here, and the settlement system purposefully connects to it. I played on the hard difficulty and had a fun time in combat, as it plays suitably different from normal. Using landmines and other traps is incentivized, as even your best weapons can have trouble putting down tougher foes.

Even in recognition of its few merits, the game’s skill system puts it all to waste. Gone are the days of allocating skill points and passing skill checks. In Fallout 4 you can be 20% better at something, what joy! Snark aside, its construction is a terrible pity and the reason why I chose to write this review in the first place. By removing skill-stacking, specializing, and instead focusing on perk points, the game attempts to foster a “one more turn” feeling, only to fail due to a crucial fact: the content in this game is slop. MMO-tier quests, stilted dialogue, awful story. What’s the point of chasing those perks if the only path to get there is so boring?

Imagine making your failsafe faction route composed entirely of radiant quests headed by the most annoying fucker in the whole game. That’s The Minutemen. The settlement system stapled to them doesn’t help in the quest department, as every quest is the same. Go here, kill that. The Brotherhood is almost different until they pull out Liberty Prime for the finale, which is a big disappointment. After hearing the game’s radio stations reuse songs from 3 on repeat, seeing the game rip plot points at the finish line felt like salt on a wound. That simile is an apt descriptor of 4 on the story side, as any attempt to draw into it deeper than surface level leads to unending pain.

It feels a bit mean to end my thoughts on Fallout 4 with the idea of “unending pain”, but really, it’s to be expected. 4 is the red-headed stepchild, perpetually damned with faint praise and loved for its DLC alone.

… And Nick Valentine. I think everyone loves Nick Valentine.

This is gonna sound harsh, but it's because I care. Know that what I say comes from a place of love. I love Thousand-Year Door. It's one of my favorite GameCube games. If you look here, you'll see that I named the original release my Eastern RPG of the Year for 2004:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/jamz92/list/eastern-rpg-of-the-year/
That being said, what a shitshow of a remake.

The more I play of this game, the less I like it compared to the GameCube release. Everything is so much SLOWER than the original. At the time I am reviewing this, there's no way to speed up the text scroll speed like there is in the original. Given how chatty this game is, that's a real problem.

Levelling up is significantly slower. When you levelled up in the original, your HP and FP were instantly filled. Now, it ticks up slowly. It acts like you were at zero, even if you were full.

The game runs at 30 FPS, whereas the GameCube version ran at 60 FPS. I assumed that better tech specs meant better performance, but I guess not. The graphics are way too glossy for the tone the original was trying to convey. I HATE the remixed music. Thankfully you can turn it off with a badge that is cheap, but I would prefer to have it in the options. So we have a worse looking, worse sounding, worse performing game that wastes your time compared to the original that costs more than the GameCube game originally did. I say wait for a price drop, or better yet, emulate the original. Don't incentivize Nintendo to cut corners like this with their own history. I haven't seen such a botched remake out of this company since the Diamond and Pearl remakes on Switch.

Simplesmente espetacular, sinceramente. Esse jogo foi o que melhor me entregou a noção do que é realmente jogar um RPG.

No começo eu não queria jogar, pensei em abandonar porque os controles do teclado são bem parecidos com MMOs, o que não me agrada muito. Mas aí bastou conectar um controle e eu pude aproveitar com perfeição as duas melhores coisas que esse jogo pode oferecer: envolvimento com a história e a exploração de builds tanto do seu personagem quanto dos diversos aliados que você recruta pelo caminho.

Inclusive, falando nos personagens: eu adorei a forma como você constrói a sua relação com eles, seja romântica ou de amizade. Chegar no final do jogo e ver todas aquelas pessoas fazendo pequenos gestos e demonstrando uma forte amizade por tudo que você fez pra elas é muito bom, faz você se conectar com o universo e com cada um desses personagens. Eu fiquei feliz por eles como se fossem meus amigos na vida real, isso é insano.

O cliffhanger do final que entrega uma dica pro próximo jogo foi feito de maneira majestosa, e eu to MUITO ansioso pra ver o que vai ser feito com o próximo dragon age.

A verdadeira inquisição são os amigos que fizemos no caminho.

A shudder in the wind.

She is gone. he is gone. they is gone gone. no more.

Fortress . shakes with wind .

gone. the destory er cannot crumble the fortress any longer.