CrossOfFate
2014
A gold standard for how to remake a game.
A pointless and unnecessary Third Person Shooter that could have worked as a pretty decent spin-off if the gameplay wasn't just a shallow knockoff of Armored Core and the story wasn't so incredibly bad.
2013
I feel like I'm one of the only people out there who actually likes this game. The writing and characters are surprisingly good for what this is, even if the story is kind of generic. Yeah it's a pretty big departure from the other two games in the series, but it definitely feels like it succeeds at what it's trying to do.
A solid enough shooter that has a few unique ideas like branching paths that give you different guns with each play through, but the controls are the main thing that holds it back (why the fuck can’t I look up?) The fact you can beat each run in under two hours makes it a lot easier to recommend, since even with its problems it doesn’t outstay its welcome. That and the classic RE shitty voice acting makes the story hilarious to go through.
2016
I really want to like this game more than I do, but for all its good ideas the execution just makes it infuriating to play. It uses the same engine as the remake of the first game so the graphics still hold up really well and the pre-rendered backgrounds especially look beautiful. I like the idea behind the partner system and there are a ton of locations so the variety of where you go is nice.
But the game absolutely falls apart when it comes to actually playing it. The partner AI is fucking brain dead, so you need to constantly baby sit them so they don't get themselves killed. They waste all your ammo when you have to fight because their aim is shit, but you have to keep giving them ammo because if you don't they'll just stand still and die. Any puzzle that requires you to split up is incredibly tedious because now you have to switch between Billy and Rebecca so it takes twice as long to solve. And the game goes on for way too long, it feels like its about to end like 3 times.
Overall, this game desperately needed to focus up and streamline itself. I get what they were trying to do here but the lack of focus makes this a game that's a lot better on paper than it is in practice.
But the game absolutely falls apart when it comes to actually playing it. The partner AI is fucking brain dead, so you need to constantly baby sit them so they don't get themselves killed. They waste all your ammo when you have to fight because their aim is shit, but you have to keep giving them ammo because if you don't they'll just stand still and die. Any puzzle that requires you to split up is incredibly tedious because now you have to switch between Billy and Rebecca so it takes twice as long to solve. And the game goes on for way too long, it feels like its about to end like 3 times.
Overall, this game desperately needed to focus up and streamline itself. I get what they were trying to do here but the lack of focus makes this a game that's a lot better on paper than it is in practice.
An amazingly well written vampire story attached to a pretty solid action adventure game. While the gameplay may have aged a bit (mostly with the hit boxes during combat), everything else about it is more than good enough to make up for it. I could honestly listen to Simon Templeman narrate anything and I'd be interested after hearing his performance as Kain in this.
2015
Its the best one. Even the others at their best don't even come close to Bloodborne.
1995
One of the best Tactical RPGs I've ever played, this game manages to pull off fights on a scale that games today struggle with, let alone a game for the SNES. The route system is amazing and every route feels like there's a valid reason for picking it and the soundtrack is one of the best of all time (Knight's Errant is one of the best songs to ever be put in a video game, even if the genesis version is better and the Reincarnation/Mobile version is the best). While the fights might get pretty slow as the game goes on, everything else about the game more than makes up for it.
2013
One of my favorite guilty pleasure game. Dark is an absolute train wreck, but it's so much fun to laugh at that I can't help but love it.
The game desperately wants to be a serious vampire noire story (specifically, it really wants to be Vampire: The Masquerade), but the plot is nonsense, the characters are paper thin and the voice acting is downright hilarious, even though the voice actor for Geralt from the Witcher is voicing the main character. It's impossible to take anything here seriously, but the fact that the game tries so hard to take itself seriously is exactly why it's so funny.
The gameplay is also incredibly easy to break. One of the first moves you can get is a force choke that instantly kills whoever you use it on. The AI is too stupid to function on a basic level, so the enemies pose no threat to you. And even without any special moves you can just sprint up to most enemies and one shot them with a single punch.
If you can get this on sale and like vampire stories, I'd say give it a try. If you like Vampire: The Masquerade, this is a great way to see what VTMB could have looked like if all the devs were completely incompetent.
The game desperately wants to be a serious vampire noire story (specifically, it really wants to be Vampire: The Masquerade), but the plot is nonsense, the characters are paper thin and the voice acting is downright hilarious, even though the voice actor for Geralt from the Witcher is voicing the main character. It's impossible to take anything here seriously, but the fact that the game tries so hard to take itself seriously is exactly why it's so funny.
The gameplay is also incredibly easy to break. One of the first moves you can get is a force choke that instantly kills whoever you use it on. The AI is too stupid to function on a basic level, so the enemies pose no threat to you. And even without any special moves you can just sprint up to most enemies and one shot them with a single punch.
If you can get this on sale and like vampire stories, I'd say give it a try. If you like Vampire: The Masquerade, this is a great way to see what VTMB could have looked like if all the devs were completely incompetent.
2014
Quite possibly the single worst designed game I have ever played. I platinumed this fucking game out of spite, and to tell anyone who tries to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about to fuck off. Every gameplay decision in this game is so baffling stupid, that I cannot believe that this was created by a team of actual humans.
First off, the game barely has any kind of story. The characters have no discernable traits and the plot exists solely so you can go to a bunch of different maps and fight random groups of enemies. And you know what, that's fine. If they wanted to keep the story basic and focus on the battle system, then that would be fine. But the problem is that would require them to make the battle system not complete fucking dogshit.
Natural Doctrine is not a tactical RPG. It is an incredibly shitty puzzle game pretending to be a tactical RPG. Despite the skill tree and equipment system making it look like you can build you characters in different ways, every level in the game has one and only one correct way to solve it. There is no room for deviation allowed, only trial and error until you find the very specific way to win that level, and then you move on. If you try and do anything other than what the game decides is the right move, you will be instakilled and forced to restart at a checkpoint. This is made worse by this game having one of the single worst checkpoint systems of all time, with most levels being over an hour long and having one checkpoint at most. Hell, there are at least 3 levels that take 40 minutes to beat each that don't have any checkpoints at all!
There's also the braindead decision that, for 99% of the entire game, if anyone in your party dies it's an immediate game over. So not only does the game demand perfection for most of its run time, but some levels also have enemies that you are told not to kill and get a game over if they die, despite the fact that they will still try and kill you and your characters will auto attack back without you being able to stop them! And then, for the last 3 levels, they throw all that shit out the window and just have permadeath for your whole party. What is the fucking point of introducing an entirely new system for handling party deaths at the very end of the game?
IGN, the absolute joke of a website that it is, gave this a 3/10 and that score is too damn high. It deserves a single half point because it's technically functional (as in, you can turn it on and play it) and that is it. What a fucking waste of space.
First off, the game barely has any kind of story. The characters have no discernable traits and the plot exists solely so you can go to a bunch of different maps and fight random groups of enemies. And you know what, that's fine. If they wanted to keep the story basic and focus on the battle system, then that would be fine. But the problem is that would require them to make the battle system not complete fucking dogshit.
Natural Doctrine is not a tactical RPG. It is an incredibly shitty puzzle game pretending to be a tactical RPG. Despite the skill tree and equipment system making it look like you can build you characters in different ways, every level in the game has one and only one correct way to solve it. There is no room for deviation allowed, only trial and error until you find the very specific way to win that level, and then you move on. If you try and do anything other than what the game decides is the right move, you will be instakilled and forced to restart at a checkpoint. This is made worse by this game having one of the single worst checkpoint systems of all time, with most levels being over an hour long and having one checkpoint at most. Hell, there are at least 3 levels that take 40 minutes to beat each that don't have any checkpoints at all!
There's also the braindead decision that, for 99% of the entire game, if anyone in your party dies it's an immediate game over. So not only does the game demand perfection for most of its run time, but some levels also have enemies that you are told not to kill and get a game over if they die, despite the fact that they will still try and kill you and your characters will auto attack back without you being able to stop them! And then, for the last 3 levels, they throw all that shit out the window and just have permadeath for your whole party. What is the fucking point of introducing an entirely new system for handling party deaths at the very end of the game?
IGN, the absolute joke of a website that it is, gave this a 3/10 and that score is too damn high. It deserves a single half point because it's technically functional (as in, you can turn it on and play it) and that is it. What a fucking waste of space.
2011
The JRPG equivalent of Mass Effect, this is a truly special game that sadly looks like it will be locked to the Wii forever. Not only is the combat a ton of fun and the soundtrack is amazing (Invitation to Madness is one of Uematsu's best/most underrated battle themes), but the story is a perfect example of how to do romance well in a JRPG like this.
This and Lost Odyssey desperately need ports to anything else so more people can experience how great they are, but sadly that's unlikely to ever happen.
This and Lost Odyssey desperately need ports to anything else so more people can experience how great they are, but sadly that's unlikely to ever happen.
2004
There was no better place to go to watch dumb shit happen on a per second basis. This shit used to be like an addiction for me back in high school. Haven’t played it much since 2016 but damn did I sink way too much time into it when I did.
This review contains spoilers
The first Trails game I ever actually beat, Cold Steel I will always have a special place in my heart for getting me into the series. I tried playing Sky FC first but gave up after getting bored around the beginning of chapter 2, and even though this game has a lot of the same problems, they didn’t bother me as much for a few reasons.
First, exploring the world from a third person perspective made it a lot easier for me to get immersed than the old top down view (Even if some of the animations are rough as fuck. Seriously there’s a fight scene in this game that’s laughable with how badly it’s animated). Erebonia by itself is an incredibly interesting setting since you’re seeing things from the perspective of the people who live in the “Evil JRPG Empire.” The way this game and its sequels flesh out the country and its people are why I stuck with this through its many problems.
And the biggest problem is the pacing. Good. Fucking. God. The pacing. I’m going to preface this by saying that there is not a single Trails game out there with good pacing. Even Azure at its best struggled with this and that’s considered the best paced game in the series. But here, Holy Shit. This is one of the slowest fucking games I have ever played in my life. Not from a gameplay standpoint since the combat is much better and has a lot more going on than FCs (another reason why I beat this first) but the story moves at such a slow fucking pace that the only word to properly describe it is “unreasonable.” It is unreasonably slow. This is the kind of game that can actually put someone to sleep if they don’t care about really intricate worldbuilding or slice of life character stuff. And I really liked all that and still thought the game needed to pick the fuck up way faster than it did.
Thankfully, this game has one of the best endings I’ve ever seen, and it’s a perfect example of how to do a cliffhanger right. It hits you like a punch to the gut and makes you desperate to know what happens next. It’s something that it learned well from Sky FC (with that cliffhanger having the same effect on me when I went back and beat it), and something that CS III should have taken notes from considering how fucking bad that game’s ending is. But this does mean that CS I has now directly tied the quality of its story to its sequel, because while the cliffhanger might be effective it’s not a satisfying ending at all. But when you take it by itself, Cold Steel I is a good game to play like a few times a month over the course of a year. It’s insanely fucking long for a game that’s pure setup and way too slow for its own good, but I’d say it still succeeds at what it sets out to do and is worth playing.
First, exploring the world from a third person perspective made it a lot easier for me to get immersed than the old top down view (Even if some of the animations are rough as fuck. Seriously there’s a fight scene in this game that’s laughable with how badly it’s animated). Erebonia by itself is an incredibly interesting setting since you’re seeing things from the perspective of the people who live in the “Evil JRPG Empire.” The way this game and its sequels flesh out the country and its people are why I stuck with this through its many problems.
And the biggest problem is the pacing. Good. Fucking. God. The pacing. I’m going to preface this by saying that there is not a single Trails game out there with good pacing. Even Azure at its best struggled with this and that’s considered the best paced game in the series. But here, Holy Shit. This is one of the slowest fucking games I have ever played in my life. Not from a gameplay standpoint since the combat is much better and has a lot more going on than FCs (another reason why I beat this first) but the story moves at such a slow fucking pace that the only word to properly describe it is “unreasonable.” It is unreasonably slow. This is the kind of game that can actually put someone to sleep if they don’t care about really intricate worldbuilding or slice of life character stuff. And I really liked all that and still thought the game needed to pick the fuck up way faster than it did.
Thankfully, this game has one of the best endings I’ve ever seen, and it’s a perfect example of how to do a cliffhanger right. It hits you like a punch to the gut and makes you desperate to know what happens next. It’s something that it learned well from Sky FC (with that cliffhanger having the same effect on me when I went back and beat it), and something that CS III should have taken notes from considering how fucking bad that game’s ending is. But this does mean that CS I has now directly tied the quality of its story to its sequel, because while the cliffhanger might be effective it’s not a satisfying ending at all. But when you take it by itself, Cold Steel I is a good game to play like a few times a month over the course of a year. It’s insanely fucking long for a game that’s pure setup and way too slow for its own good, but I’d say it still succeeds at what it sets out to do and is worth playing.
I’m saying this right off the bat, despite the problems that Trails of Cold Steel II has, it’s still the best Cold Steel game since it doesn’t have CS Is pacing, CS IIIs ending or the bottomless list of shit wrong with CS IV.
The game's story is an amazing follow-up to the ending of CS I. It’s really cool seeing a country, especially one as well fleshed out as Erebonia, in a state of civil war like this. I definitely think Falcom should have leaned further into this, but what they have now gets the job done. Especially since Rean, Fie, Jusis, and a lot of other characters who were still getting setup in CS I have some really great moments here. Rean in particular goes from a kind of generic Stock Light Novel Hero to a really interesting deconstruction of that kind of character and it's one of the things that I really wish CS IV didn't ruin by the end of the arc. But here and in CS III you see the potential, and what they have in both games is truly something special.
The pacing is kind of sporadic and the shrines in the middle feel a lot like mandatory side quests, but overall this is a huge step up from the first game. My biggest gripe with this is how the game ends like 3 fucking times, with you still having about 5 to 10 to 15 hours of gameplay left by the time you beat the finale and think the game is over.
Despite these issues, I really like Cold Steel II. The story is really great, even excellent at points, all the characters are likable and well fleshed out, the introduction of mech fights was an awesome idea (if a little underdeveloped mechanically) and it’s one of the few modern JRPGs to give you an airship (something that I wish more modern games would bring back). It’s kind of sad how this is where the arc peaked with how much CS III and IV were supposed to tie into the rest of the series, but it and CS I are a great story when you take the two together and if Falcom just stuck with what they had here instead of veering off into the stupid Curse shit, this could have been the best arc in the series instead of the most disappointing.
The game's story is an amazing follow-up to the ending of CS I. It’s really cool seeing a country, especially one as well fleshed out as Erebonia, in a state of civil war like this. I definitely think Falcom should have leaned further into this, but what they have now gets the job done. Especially since Rean, Fie, Jusis, and a lot of other characters who were still getting setup in CS I have some really great moments here. Rean in particular goes from a kind of generic Stock Light Novel Hero to a really interesting deconstruction of that kind of character and it's one of the things that I really wish CS IV didn't ruin by the end of the arc. But here and in CS III you see the potential, and what they have in both games is truly something special.
The pacing is kind of sporadic and the shrines in the middle feel a lot like mandatory side quests, but overall this is a huge step up from the first game. My biggest gripe with this is how the game ends like 3 fucking times, with you still having about 5 to 10 to 15 hours of gameplay left by the time you beat the finale and think the game is over.
Despite these issues, I really like Cold Steel II. The story is really great, even excellent at points, all the characters are likable and well fleshed out, the introduction of mech fights was an awesome idea (if a little underdeveloped mechanically) and it’s one of the few modern JRPGs to give you an airship (something that I wish more modern games would bring back). It’s kind of sad how this is where the arc peaked with how much CS III and IV were supposed to tie into the rest of the series, but it and CS I are a great story when you take the two together and if Falcom just stuck with what they had here instead of veering off into the stupid Curse shit, this could have been the best arc in the series instead of the most disappointing.
2015
A completely overhyped dogshit game with some of the most annoying characters and fans in the history of video games. It gets one star because the soundtrack is pretty good, but that is literally it.