CtheIronblooded
Well over a hundred hours of content. Incredible world-building, compelling story, great characters, deep gameplay mechanics, fantastic voice acting, amazingly detailed world design and just overall super immersive, everything you could ever want from a RPG experience and then some. It's no wonder the game is heralded as one of the best of all time, it's certainly one of my favorites.
P.S. Gwent is one of the most fun and addictive mini-games in an RPG since Blitzball, you can easily spend hours just playing it alone.
P.S. Gwent is one of the most fun and addictive mini-games in an RPG since Blitzball, you can easily spend hours just playing it alone.
Paper Mario is a series that will always be very special to me. Paper Mario 64 specifically was the game that really got me into RPGs as a kid and even 20+ years later RPGs are still my favorite genre of games and I have Paper Mario to thank for that. While Paper Mario 64 will always be the most nostalgic and sentimental for me, Paper Mario TTYD is undeniably the best in the series because it takes everything 64 did and improves upon it in every way imaginable.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door follows the iconic mustached plumber himself who receives a treasure map from Princess Peach after she's gone missing which leads him on an adventure to a mysterious unnamed island away from the Mushroom Kingdom and on this island is the town of Rogueport, a den of thieves, con-men and gangs and underneath it all is a complex sewer system which leads to the ancient Thousand Year Door, said to house a legendary treasure inside. The only problem is to open up the Thousand Year Door you need the 7 Crystal Stars which have been spread across the land, so Mario embarks on a quest to find both the Crystal Stars and the Princess as well.
While most of the story beats land in familiar Mario territory there are moments that will genuinely surprise you. Let's just say I'm surprised this game doesn't have a E10+ or even T rating because of some of the themes. However where TTYD truly excels is at its character writing. All of Mario's companion characters are exceptionally written with tons of personality and charm alongside their own various motivations and goals like Goombella an aspiring archeologist with a sassy attitude or Koops an insecure koopa who strives to be brave like his missing father, every one of Mario's companions have defined arcs and real character development throughout the length of the game making them memorable and among some of the best characters in the entire Mario canon.
Another thing The Thousand Year Door and Paper Mario as a series in general excels at is its world-building. Every area from the town of Rogueport to the Glitz Pit and Twilight Town are all just bursting with life and detail from the various races based on iconic Mario characters and even ones that were made just for TTYD which inhabit the areas as NPC characters that you can talk to and area bosses that are slowly built-up through the lore of the world and help the world feel so much more immersive and alive than your average Mario game something the Paper Mario series hasn't been able recapture in this way in the more recent titles.
The gameplay of TTYD is a natural evolution to that of Paper Mario 64 which was an evolution of Super Mario RPG. The battles are in a strategic turn-based format where instead of being lined up side to side they're in a row so positioning is more important and having one character behind another could save them from getting damaged as easily. Mario can attack by jumping or whacking an enemy with a hammer and in the middle of attacking there are action commands like pressing a button or flicking the joystick with proper timing for an increase in attack power and Mario's companions all have different attacks Madam Flurrie a wind spirit who can blow enemies off the screen to Yoshi who can eat enemies and spit them back at each other. There's also an audience that reacts to how Mario and his companions perform in battle which helps build up your star power gauge faster by pulling off stylish moves and bosses will even sometimes interact with the audience as well. On top of all this Mario gains experience for every battle fought and upon leveling up Mario can choose to increase his HP, FP (Flower Points which act as mana) or BP (Badge Points) allowing Mario to equip more badges which unlock powerful skills like being able to jump on all enemies or throw your hammer at a flying enemy as well as modify Mario and his companion's attack and defense. These badges give the game tons of diverse build options suitable for all different play styles.
Paper Mario also has excellent exploration and dungeon design with plenty of creative and clever puzzles spread throughout that have to be solved by using your companion's unique over world abilities like Admiral Bobbery who can blow up and destroy cracked walls or Koops who can shoot his shell to hit switches that are too far away to normally reach. Mario also gains paper-like abilities like turning into a paper airplane or rolling up his body allowing him to reach areas he couldn't previously reach making the world have a bit of a metroidvania-like progression and giving extra incentive to backtrack and find special treasures like Shine Sprites that power up your companions and unlock new abilities for them. A great quality of life improvement is the party ring which allows you to switch to any of Mario's 7 party members with the touch of a button making exploration and backtracking easier than ever before.
The Thousand Year Door might not be one of the most graphically impressive games ever made, but it makes up for it with an incredibly stylish and beautiful papercraft presentation giving its world a pop-up storybook aesthetic and this new Switch version looks better than ever making the textures even more crisp and detailed. The OST has also been remixed to sound more grandiose and orchestral and I personally found the remixes to be very good, but if you aren't a fan of the new tracks there's a special badge that allows you to listen to the OG OST without taking up any BP.
All in all Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has a reputation for being one of the most beloved Mario adventures to date and the Switch remaster is the same game you know and love now with improved graphics and sound featuring a great narrative and world filled with life, color and personality alongside a fantastic cast of characters, a fun battle system with plenty of strategic depth and stylish presentation and an incredibly composed orchestral remixed OST alongside some much needed quality of life improvements that make some of the more outdated elements of TTYD less tedious making Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 2024 the definitive version to experience one of Mario's most legendary adventures.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door follows the iconic mustached plumber himself who receives a treasure map from Princess Peach after she's gone missing which leads him on an adventure to a mysterious unnamed island away from the Mushroom Kingdom and on this island is the town of Rogueport, a den of thieves, con-men and gangs and underneath it all is a complex sewer system which leads to the ancient Thousand Year Door, said to house a legendary treasure inside. The only problem is to open up the Thousand Year Door you need the 7 Crystal Stars which have been spread across the land, so Mario embarks on a quest to find both the Crystal Stars and the Princess as well.
While most of the story beats land in familiar Mario territory there are moments that will genuinely surprise you. Let's just say I'm surprised this game doesn't have a E10+ or even T rating because of some of the themes. However where TTYD truly excels is at its character writing. All of Mario's companion characters are exceptionally written with tons of personality and charm alongside their own various motivations and goals like Goombella an aspiring archeologist with a sassy attitude or Koops an insecure koopa who strives to be brave like his missing father, every one of Mario's companions have defined arcs and real character development throughout the length of the game making them memorable and among some of the best characters in the entire Mario canon.
Another thing The Thousand Year Door and Paper Mario as a series in general excels at is its world-building. Every area from the town of Rogueport to the Glitz Pit and Twilight Town are all just bursting with life and detail from the various races based on iconic Mario characters and even ones that were made just for TTYD which inhabit the areas as NPC characters that you can talk to and area bosses that are slowly built-up through the lore of the world and help the world feel so much more immersive and alive than your average Mario game something the Paper Mario series hasn't been able recapture in this way in the more recent titles.
The gameplay of TTYD is a natural evolution to that of Paper Mario 64 which was an evolution of Super Mario RPG. The battles are in a strategic turn-based format where instead of being lined up side to side they're in a row so positioning is more important and having one character behind another could save them from getting damaged as easily. Mario can attack by jumping or whacking an enemy with a hammer and in the middle of attacking there are action commands like pressing a button or flicking the joystick with proper timing for an increase in attack power and Mario's companions all have different attacks Madam Flurrie a wind spirit who can blow enemies off the screen to Yoshi who can eat enemies and spit them back at each other. There's also an audience that reacts to how Mario and his companions perform in battle which helps build up your star power gauge faster by pulling off stylish moves and bosses will even sometimes interact with the audience as well. On top of all this Mario gains experience for every battle fought and upon leveling up Mario can choose to increase his HP, FP (Flower Points which act as mana) or BP (Badge Points) allowing Mario to equip more badges which unlock powerful skills like being able to jump on all enemies or throw your hammer at a flying enemy as well as modify Mario and his companion's attack and defense. These badges give the game tons of diverse build options suitable for all different play styles.
Paper Mario also has excellent exploration and dungeon design with plenty of creative and clever puzzles spread throughout that have to be solved by using your companion's unique over world abilities like Admiral Bobbery who can blow up and destroy cracked walls or Koops who can shoot his shell to hit switches that are too far away to normally reach. Mario also gains paper-like abilities like turning into a paper airplane or rolling up his body allowing him to reach areas he couldn't previously reach making the world have a bit of a metroidvania-like progression and giving extra incentive to backtrack and find special treasures like Shine Sprites that power up your companions and unlock new abilities for them. A great quality of life improvement is the party ring which allows you to switch to any of Mario's 7 party members with the touch of a button making exploration and backtracking easier than ever before.
The Thousand Year Door might not be one of the most graphically impressive games ever made, but it makes up for it with an incredibly stylish and beautiful papercraft presentation giving its world a pop-up storybook aesthetic and this new Switch version looks better than ever making the textures even more crisp and detailed. The OST has also been remixed to sound more grandiose and orchestral and I personally found the remixes to be very good, but if you aren't a fan of the new tracks there's a special badge that allows you to listen to the OG OST without taking up any BP.
All in all Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has a reputation for being one of the most beloved Mario adventures to date and the Switch remaster is the same game you know and love now with improved graphics and sound featuring a great narrative and world filled with life, color and personality alongside a fantastic cast of characters, a fun battle system with plenty of strategic depth and stylish presentation and an incredibly composed orchestral remixed OST alongside some much needed quality of life improvements that make some of the more outdated elements of TTYD less tedious making Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 2024 the definitive version to experience one of Mario's most legendary adventures.
Bare with me, this is a very long review because this game is very special to me. If you take the time to read it all I greatly appreciate it, but if you don't that's fine too.
Over the last couple days I played through this game for the first time in almost 10 years since it is now available through PS NOW PS3 streaming. I'm probably one of the few hardcore Castlevania fans to have this opinion, but I have a deep love for Lords of Shadow (Just the first game, we don't talk about the sequels) and it has always been a personal favorite of mine so I wanted to see how well it holds up and even 12 years later it is still better than most games that come out nowadays as far as I'm concerned.
The setting of Lords of Shadow takes place in the year 1047 during an apocalyptic event known as "the end of days" where the Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been severed by a malevolent order known as the Lords of Shadow who have casted a dark spell which has trapped the souls of the dead in limbo and stopped them from reaching paradise while also conjuring evil creatures to lay waste to the Earth and its people.
We follow the story of Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, a holy order of elite knights who protect and defend innocents against the supernatural creatures of the night. Guided on his journey by his recently murdered wife Marie who is trapped in Limbo and Zobek the oldest member of his order who acts as his mentor and friend, Gabriel sets off to defeat the Lords of Shadow to claim the God Mask, an ancient relic with unfathomable power said to even be able to resurrect the dead which Gabriel hopes to use to bring back his beloved Marie.
I can not express how much I love the story of Lords of Shadow into words, it is a tragic epic that really evokes classical literature in its timeless philosophical "balance between light and darkness" themes and its emotional core. This is a dark and mature story that is all about the sacrifices one is willing to make all in the name of love and the depths they will go to for the sake of revenge and if they can still be redeemed when all is said and done and I just think it's a very beautiful and relatable story.
A big part of what makes the narrative for Lords of Shadow so convincing and compelling is the incredible voice acting from an all star voice cast of big Hollywood actors which I still consider to be one of the absolute best among all video games to this day. From the one and only Sir Patrick Stewart as Zobek and the narrator to Jason Isaacs as the literal biblical fallen angel Lucifer himself and the show stealing performance from Robert Carlyle as Gabriel which really adds this extra layer of humanization to his character this is just some of the best voice acting around. The cast themselves even made their own contributions to the characters while recording due to their love of the script and it really shows in their performances.
When it comes to gameplay Lords of Shadow is well known for being a God of War-like and I won't deny it, it definitely has a lot in common with God of War. They're both third-person action-adventure games with fixed camera angles, focused around gory combo-based combat featuring a vast variety of upgradable weapons and skills, platforming, puzzles and cinematic boss fights that utilize a gratuitous amount of QTEs, but like...It does everything God of War does and it does it just as well so I really don't care that it is a copy.
However I will say Lords of Shadow adds in some unique flavor of its own with the Light and Dark Magic system which is both symbolic and fitting for the overall themes of the game, but also just an incredibly fun gameplay mechanic which adds an extra element of strategy to the fights since your primary healing source is your Light Magic and your Dark Magic is a damage buff and your main source of replenishing them is the focus meter which only increases if you don't get hit in combat. Therefore you have to learn when to use or when to save magic and this system constantly tests your reflexes, especially on the harder difficulties. One other thing Lords of Shadow differs in from God of War is how it is structured into a replayable mission based format much like Devil May Cry.
Visually Lords of Shadow is a breathtaking game with impeccable art direction that really captures the grandiose adventurous style the game goes for, from lush fairytale like forests to snowy mountains, gothic castles and deserted lands of the dead you'll visit a variety of unforgettable vistas on your journey which still look graphically impressive even 12 years later.
The bombastic cinematic score composed by Óscar Araujo utilizing a 120-piece orchestra really gives me vibes of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score and it perfectly captures the feeling of travelling across the world on an adventure. While Michiru Yamane is one of my fave composers in all of video games and her tracks are much more individually memorable I just can't picture her type of baroque/neoclassical music over this game due to its cinematic nature and I think the film score style OST fits much better and helps with the epic atmosphere Lords of Shadow conveys.
What Lords of Shadow lacks in originality it more than makes up for it with a truly beautiful story alongside a top notch voice cast, tight and addictive gameplay with tons of depth plus stunning visuals and a bombastic score that enhances the atmosphere and when all is said and done that makes it stand side-by-side with the best the action-adventure genre has to offer and it still outclasses most games made even 12 years later.
P.S. The only reason this game gets shit is because it did something from the norm of Castlevania, if this would've been a new IP and didn't have the Castlevania title attached to it, I think it would've been a massive success...Or it would've flopped because the whole reason the Castlevania name was even attached was for marketing reasons and it clearly worked since Lords of Shadow is the best selling game in the series regardless of the reception it got from fans.
Over the last couple days I played through this game for the first time in almost 10 years since it is now available through PS NOW PS3 streaming. I'm probably one of the few hardcore Castlevania fans to have this opinion, but I have a deep love for Lords of Shadow (Just the first game, we don't talk about the sequels) and it has always been a personal favorite of mine so I wanted to see how well it holds up and even 12 years later it is still better than most games that come out nowadays as far as I'm concerned.
The setting of Lords of Shadow takes place in the year 1047 during an apocalyptic event known as "the end of days" where the Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been severed by a malevolent order known as the Lords of Shadow who have casted a dark spell which has trapped the souls of the dead in limbo and stopped them from reaching paradise while also conjuring evil creatures to lay waste to the Earth and its people.
We follow the story of Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, a holy order of elite knights who protect and defend innocents against the supernatural creatures of the night. Guided on his journey by his recently murdered wife Marie who is trapped in Limbo and Zobek the oldest member of his order who acts as his mentor and friend, Gabriel sets off to defeat the Lords of Shadow to claim the God Mask, an ancient relic with unfathomable power said to even be able to resurrect the dead which Gabriel hopes to use to bring back his beloved Marie.
I can not express how much I love the story of Lords of Shadow into words, it is a tragic epic that really evokes classical literature in its timeless philosophical "balance between light and darkness" themes and its emotional core. This is a dark and mature story that is all about the sacrifices one is willing to make all in the name of love and the depths they will go to for the sake of revenge and if they can still be redeemed when all is said and done and I just think it's a very beautiful and relatable story.
A big part of what makes the narrative for Lords of Shadow so convincing and compelling is the incredible voice acting from an all star voice cast of big Hollywood actors which I still consider to be one of the absolute best among all video games to this day. From the one and only Sir Patrick Stewart as Zobek and the narrator to Jason Isaacs as the literal biblical fallen angel Lucifer himself and the show stealing performance from Robert Carlyle as Gabriel which really adds this extra layer of humanization to his character this is just some of the best voice acting around. The cast themselves even made their own contributions to the characters while recording due to their love of the script and it really shows in their performances.
When it comes to gameplay Lords of Shadow is well known for being a God of War-like and I won't deny it, it definitely has a lot in common with God of War. They're both third-person action-adventure games with fixed camera angles, focused around gory combo-based combat featuring a vast variety of upgradable weapons and skills, platforming, puzzles and cinematic boss fights that utilize a gratuitous amount of QTEs, but like...It does everything God of War does and it does it just as well so I really don't care that it is a copy.
However I will say Lords of Shadow adds in some unique flavor of its own with the Light and Dark Magic system which is both symbolic and fitting for the overall themes of the game, but also just an incredibly fun gameplay mechanic which adds an extra element of strategy to the fights since your primary healing source is your Light Magic and your Dark Magic is a damage buff and your main source of replenishing them is the focus meter which only increases if you don't get hit in combat. Therefore you have to learn when to use or when to save magic and this system constantly tests your reflexes, especially on the harder difficulties. One other thing Lords of Shadow differs in from God of War is how it is structured into a replayable mission based format much like Devil May Cry.
Visually Lords of Shadow is a breathtaking game with impeccable art direction that really captures the grandiose adventurous style the game goes for, from lush fairytale like forests to snowy mountains, gothic castles and deserted lands of the dead you'll visit a variety of unforgettable vistas on your journey which still look graphically impressive even 12 years later.
The bombastic cinematic score composed by Óscar Araujo utilizing a 120-piece orchestra really gives me vibes of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score and it perfectly captures the feeling of travelling across the world on an adventure. While Michiru Yamane is one of my fave composers in all of video games and her tracks are much more individually memorable I just can't picture her type of baroque/neoclassical music over this game due to its cinematic nature and I think the film score style OST fits much better and helps with the epic atmosphere Lords of Shadow conveys.
What Lords of Shadow lacks in originality it more than makes up for it with a truly beautiful story alongside a top notch voice cast, tight and addictive gameplay with tons of depth plus stunning visuals and a bombastic score that enhances the atmosphere and when all is said and done that makes it stand side-by-side with the best the action-adventure genre has to offer and it still outclasses most games made even 12 years later.
P.S. The only reason this game gets shit is because it did something from the norm of Castlevania, if this would've been a new IP and didn't have the Castlevania title attached to it, I think it would've been a massive success...Or it would've flopped because the whole reason the Castlevania name was even attached was for marketing reasons and it clearly worked since Lords of Shadow is the best selling game in the series regardless of the reception it got from fans.
When people say 'One of the worst games ever made' it's not an exaggeration. You already know how bad it is, I don't have to tell you.
2014
There's a reason why this game is often labeled as a masterpiece of Survival Horror.
This is a TRUE survival horror experience. You have to be smart with your ammo because it is very limited so it gives a very intense and terrifying atmosphere. The level design is incredible and super enjoyable to traverse, the puzzles are creative and fun and this is of course the start of the iconic Resident Evil saga, the story is really interesting, the dialogue is pure camp in the best way possible and getting to see the origins of characters like Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker is just awesome.
This is a TRUE survival horror experience. You have to be smart with your ammo because it is very limited so it gives a very intense and terrifying atmosphere. The level design is incredible and super enjoyable to traverse, the puzzles are creative and fun and this is of course the start of the iconic Resident Evil saga, the story is really interesting, the dialogue is pure camp in the best way possible and getting to see the origins of characters like Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker is just awesome.
I wish I could go back in time and punch 10 year-old me in the face for actually liking this garbage, what the fuck was wrong with that guy.
Like a Dragon Gaiden is a spin-off of the mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Taking place alongside the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Gaiden brings back the old-school beat 'em up combat style and follows the series original protagonist Kazuma Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 6 when he disappeared from the world and signed a pact with the secret organization the "Daidoji faction". Now under the codename "Joryu" Kiryu operates as one of the Daidoji's secret agents from the shadows until a mysterious figure who seems to know Kiryu's past draws him out of hiding and into a whole new conflict.
Gaiden is the shortest Yakuza game taking me merely 30 hours (As according to the in-game time counter) to not only beat the game, but to 100% it and get the platinum trophy as well. However due to being so short it's also one of the most focused and tightly paced Yakuza games in the whole series featuring some of the best moments in the whole series including the best final boss and best antagonist as well with some great twists too.
Gaiden is also the best Kiryu has ever felt to play in the entire series running on the Dragon Engine and giving him 2 styles similar to Yagami in Judgment and feeling very fast, fluid and stylish. On top of his standard Yakuza style which incorporates many different moves from all Kiryu's past styles in previous games and serves as the heavy style to be used on one-on-one fights and bosses, Kiryu now has the Agent style which allows him to fight with advanced techniques he learned from the Daidoji based on martial arts from all over the world alongside various spy-like gadgets like a grappling gun, exploding cigarettes and even jet powered shoes the agent style is tons of fun and acts as the crowd control style Kiryu uses when up against waves of enemies.
Gaiden also brings back a fan favorite system from Yakuza 0 allowing you to purchase skills with money, but it combines that with a similar SP system that the Judgment games have as well. You earn SP by completing challenges and side missions for Sotenbori's jack-of-all-trades Akame. There's also gear and stat increases similar to Like a Dragon. In a way Gaiden acts as a jack-of-all-trades itself and combines parts of systems from all past Yakuza games. I also have to mention that I enjoy how most sub-stories have something to do with Kiryu's past.
While Gaiden may be the shortest Yakuza game it still has just as many side activities and mini-games to do like the classics such as pool, darts, karaoke, gambling, Majong, Shogi and even the return of the fan favorite...Pocket Circuit! There's also a colosseum where you can partake in both one-on-one battles and clan battles where you can fight with a group of NPC characters you recruit and the colosseum even lets you play as other characters besides Kiryu as well.
Overall Gaiden is a short, but fantastic companion piece to Yakuza 7 giving Kiryu even more development and a new side to his character as he works as a secret agent with no name while fleshing out his side of the events that happened in Yakuza 7. There are plenty of memorable sub-stories, side activities and good fan service moments for those who have experienced Kiryu's journey from the beginning and the combat is the best the mainline Yakuza series has ever felt. The antagonist and final boss, their motivations and the themes have so much depth to think about and I would easily count them among the series absolute best as well and even if we never get another Yakuza game in the classic beat 'em up style I can think of no more fitting way for it to go out than Gaiden's incredible finale.
Gaiden is the shortest Yakuza game taking me merely 30 hours (As according to the in-game time counter) to not only beat the game, but to 100% it and get the platinum trophy as well. However due to being so short it's also one of the most focused and tightly paced Yakuza games in the whole series featuring some of the best moments in the whole series including the best final boss and best antagonist as well with some great twists too.
Gaiden is also the best Kiryu has ever felt to play in the entire series running on the Dragon Engine and giving him 2 styles similar to Yagami in Judgment and feeling very fast, fluid and stylish. On top of his standard Yakuza style which incorporates many different moves from all Kiryu's past styles in previous games and serves as the heavy style to be used on one-on-one fights and bosses, Kiryu now has the Agent style which allows him to fight with advanced techniques he learned from the Daidoji based on martial arts from all over the world alongside various spy-like gadgets like a grappling gun, exploding cigarettes and even jet powered shoes the agent style is tons of fun and acts as the crowd control style Kiryu uses when up against waves of enemies.
Gaiden also brings back a fan favorite system from Yakuza 0 allowing you to purchase skills with money, but it combines that with a similar SP system that the Judgment games have as well. You earn SP by completing challenges and side missions for Sotenbori's jack-of-all-trades Akame. There's also gear and stat increases similar to Like a Dragon. In a way Gaiden acts as a jack-of-all-trades itself and combines parts of systems from all past Yakuza games. I also have to mention that I enjoy how most sub-stories have something to do with Kiryu's past.
While Gaiden may be the shortest Yakuza game it still has just as many side activities and mini-games to do like the classics such as pool, darts, karaoke, gambling, Majong, Shogi and even the return of the fan favorite...Pocket Circuit! There's also a colosseum where you can partake in both one-on-one battles and clan battles where you can fight with a group of NPC characters you recruit and the colosseum even lets you play as other characters besides Kiryu as well.
Overall Gaiden is a short, but fantastic companion piece to Yakuza 7 giving Kiryu even more development and a new side to his character as he works as a secret agent with no name while fleshing out his side of the events that happened in Yakuza 7. There are plenty of memorable sub-stories, side activities and good fan service moments for those who have experienced Kiryu's journey from the beginning and the combat is the best the mainline Yakuza series has ever felt. The antagonist and final boss, their motivations and the themes have so much depth to think about and I would easily count them among the series absolute best as well and even if we never get another Yakuza game in the classic beat 'em up style I can think of no more fitting way for it to go out than Gaiden's incredible finale.
2014
I never realized I was in such a minority of people who loved this game, but these reviews and ratings have shown me that.
Great combination of Silent Hill atmosphere and Resident Evil 4 gameplay.
Played through the game 3 times and had tons of fun with every playthrough. The story concept is pretty cool and while there isn't a whole lot of character writing Sebastian does have that 'cool' factor a protagonist should have. Ruvik, Juli and Joseph were cool characters too.
Level design was great and the game can be very punishing and I personally love how challenging it is and how you really need to learn strategies and conserve your ammo (Especially on the harder difficulties)
P.S. You don't know true pain until you attempt AKUMU mode. This is still my proudest platinum trophy.
Great combination of Silent Hill atmosphere and Resident Evil 4 gameplay.
Played through the game 3 times and had tons of fun with every playthrough. The story concept is pretty cool and while there isn't a whole lot of character writing Sebastian does have that 'cool' factor a protagonist should have. Ruvik, Juli and Joseph were cool characters too.
Level design was great and the game can be very punishing and I personally love how challenging it is and how you really need to learn strategies and conserve your ammo (Especially on the harder difficulties)
P.S. You don't know true pain until you attempt AKUMU mode. This is still my proudest platinum trophy.
I loved everything about this game. I was honestly surprised as to how much I loved it, but to call it a masterpiece is not an exaggeration. Best cinematic movie game I've ever played even surpassing my old favorite in this style which was Uncharted 4.
It's one massive intergalactic adventure that has Star-Lord and the gang traverse multiple planets and exotic locations. All the scenery and set-pieces were amazing and part of that is due to the incredible graphics as well. I have to mention I adore how at certain moments throughout the story you have to make choices and for once in a game they legitimately do matter and can change a lot of different things from playthrough to playthrough! The plot, themes about finding family and coming to terms with grief, general dialogue and character development (Each individual character has a fleshed out arc) was honestly so much better than I ever expected from a comic book game (It's a lot more faithful to the comics than the movies as well), I only wish the MCU had the kind of quality writing this game has.
I also loved all the banter between each character and their interactions as well and unlike in Marvel movies where the comedy is often cringe-worthy, the comedy in this game is actually super funny and endearing, I was laughing so much while playing. The OST kicked ass too, everything from the licensed classic rock and pop tunes of the 80s to the original in game heavy metal band Star-Lord and even the whimsical, bombastic, heroic Marvel style orchestral score, it all fit the style and theme of the game and every moment was scored perfectly.
Speaking of style, the actual gameplay of the game has you only taking control of Star-Lord himself, but it's very fast paced and fluid and as you unlock new powers and abilities you can chain together DMC style (The game even has a DMC-like style meter, there's no way it wasn't influenced by DMC) combos alongside giving orders to the other Guardians via an abilities menu you pop open during battle. When outside of battle there's some platforming and puzzle solving ala Uncharted, but the puzzles are pretty cool and creative as each Guardian has a unique overworld ability that you can command them to do in order to solve the puzzles.
All in all Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect mix of the over-the-top gameplay style of DMC and the cinematic movie-like experience of Uncharted topped off with impeccable writing, fun and memorable dialogue and character interactions, a killer OST and beautiful graphics. If you're someone who plays games and is even remotely interested in Marvel you'd be crazy to skip this adventure and even if you don't like comics I'd still say give the game a shot because it might end up surprising you with how impressive it is and how much better than the movies it is.
It's one massive intergalactic adventure that has Star-Lord and the gang traverse multiple planets and exotic locations. All the scenery and set-pieces were amazing and part of that is due to the incredible graphics as well. I have to mention I adore how at certain moments throughout the story you have to make choices and for once in a game they legitimately do matter and can change a lot of different things from playthrough to playthrough! The plot, themes about finding family and coming to terms with grief, general dialogue and character development (Each individual character has a fleshed out arc) was honestly so much better than I ever expected from a comic book game (It's a lot more faithful to the comics than the movies as well), I only wish the MCU had the kind of quality writing this game has.
I also loved all the banter between each character and their interactions as well and unlike in Marvel movies where the comedy is often cringe-worthy, the comedy in this game is actually super funny and endearing, I was laughing so much while playing. The OST kicked ass too, everything from the licensed classic rock and pop tunes of the 80s to the original in game heavy metal band Star-Lord and even the whimsical, bombastic, heroic Marvel style orchestral score, it all fit the style and theme of the game and every moment was scored perfectly.
Speaking of style, the actual gameplay of the game has you only taking control of Star-Lord himself, but it's very fast paced and fluid and as you unlock new powers and abilities you can chain together DMC style (The game even has a DMC-like style meter, there's no way it wasn't influenced by DMC) combos alongside giving orders to the other Guardians via an abilities menu you pop open during battle. When outside of battle there's some platforming and puzzle solving ala Uncharted, but the puzzles are pretty cool and creative as each Guardian has a unique overworld ability that you can command them to do in order to solve the puzzles.
All in all Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect mix of the over-the-top gameplay style of DMC and the cinematic movie-like experience of Uncharted topped off with impeccable writing, fun and memorable dialogue and character interactions, a killer OST and beautiful graphics. If you're someone who plays games and is even remotely interested in Marvel you'd be crazy to skip this adventure and even if you don't like comics I'd still say give the game a shot because it might end up surprising you with how impressive it is and how much better than the movies it is.
Masterpiece. There's nothing else like it. It's a mixture of visual novel and tower defense strategy.
Describing this game isn't easy especially since 90% of it is story and you'd have to be a damn mad scientist to even write a narrative like this, it's something better experienced for yourself than having described to you, but all I can say is if you're even slightly a fan of Sci-Fi mystery stories, you really owe it to yourself to experience this one.
You experience the narrative through the eyes of 13 individual protagonists who control these mechs called Sentinels and have to work together to stop a Kaiju invasion from their city and as you go through the story and past events of each protagonist you are constantly unveiling mysteries that will make you question what's real and what isn't, who can you trust and how can you survive the invasion? Sounds like a simple enough plot, but trust me...It's not.
The tower defense strategy Kaiju battle sections were a lot of fun too and definitely give the game variety from just being a pure visual novel, being able to playthrough both the protagonists story sections and the battles at your own pace was nice too. If you just want to do the story you can just focus on that, if you want to do that battles you can do that or you can alternate between the two for variety.
The 2D visuals are beautiful, the OST is awesome being a mix of hard electronic beats and more organic classical strings which really fits well for the Sentinel vs Kaiju battles and during the story segments the OST is a lot more calmer and atmospheric, setting the mood.
In the entire 40 hours I put into this game I never felt bored once due to the cast of characters being interesting and likeable and so many plot twists and revelations constantly being thrown in your face, even though most of it makes no sense for the first half of the story, you're always compelled to learn more and the way it all comes together in the end is truly something marvelous and ingenious.
I have no complaints and would easily consider this one of the best VNs I've ever played and among the best narratives I've seen in a video game and I firmly believe that everyone should experience it.
Describing this game isn't easy especially since 90% of it is story and you'd have to be a damn mad scientist to even write a narrative like this, it's something better experienced for yourself than having described to you, but all I can say is if you're even slightly a fan of Sci-Fi mystery stories, you really owe it to yourself to experience this one.
You experience the narrative through the eyes of 13 individual protagonists who control these mechs called Sentinels and have to work together to stop a Kaiju invasion from their city and as you go through the story and past events of each protagonist you are constantly unveiling mysteries that will make you question what's real and what isn't, who can you trust and how can you survive the invasion? Sounds like a simple enough plot, but trust me...It's not.
The tower defense strategy Kaiju battle sections were a lot of fun too and definitely give the game variety from just being a pure visual novel, being able to playthrough both the protagonists story sections and the battles at your own pace was nice too. If you just want to do the story you can just focus on that, if you want to do that battles you can do that or you can alternate between the two for variety.
The 2D visuals are beautiful, the OST is awesome being a mix of hard electronic beats and more organic classical strings which really fits well for the Sentinel vs Kaiju battles and during the story segments the OST is a lot more calmer and atmospheric, setting the mood.
In the entire 40 hours I put into this game I never felt bored once due to the cast of characters being interesting and likeable and so many plot twists and revelations constantly being thrown in your face, even though most of it makes no sense for the first half of the story, you're always compelled to learn more and the way it all comes together in the end is truly something marvelous and ingenious.
I have no complaints and would easily consider this one of the best VNs I've ever played and among the best narratives I've seen in a video game and I firmly believe that everyone should experience it.
2021
If you're a fan of SMT you'll love this game. If you're not a fan of SMT it probably won't do much to change your mind.
SMT V is basically Nocturne for the current gen, but with god-tier exploration that almost feels like it came out of a platformer or action game and the combat has been sharpened to the finest point possible. While there's some great concepts and an interesting battle of ideologies shown, the plot and characters are sadly kinda underdeveloped and also rely very heavily on typical SMT tropes that might have you saying 'Here we go again', but SMT has never been a story heavy series and its tropes are certainly unique among the J-RPG genre, so it's not that much of a problem to me. It's all about the gameplay and rocking music and those things are absolutely top notch in SMT V.
Also Idun's idle animation. I rest my case.
SMT V is basically Nocturne for the current gen, but with god-tier exploration that almost feels like it came out of a platformer or action game and the combat has been sharpened to the finest point possible. While there's some great concepts and an interesting battle of ideologies shown, the plot and characters are sadly kinda underdeveloped and also rely very heavily on typical SMT tropes that might have you saying 'Here we go again', but SMT has never been a story heavy series and its tropes are certainly unique among the J-RPG genre, so it's not that much of a problem to me. It's all about the gameplay and rocking music and those things are absolutely top notch in SMT V.
Also Idun's idle animation. I rest my case.
2022
One of the most average and safe games I've played in recent memory which is beyond disappointing to me because I was very excited for this game and I absolutely love The Evil Within 1 & 2.
The story was very generic, main villain kidnaps the protagonist's sister, the protagonist, Akito goes on a revenge quest to save her and teams up with a wraith and former detective called KK who possesses him. The story does have some nice thematic elements of family bonds, love, learning to forgive yourself and finding a purpose for your life again, but it really just scratches the surface of these themes and just wasn't fleshed out enough to leave much of an impression on me.
The Ethereal Weaving magical based FPS combat while fun is simplistic and gets very repetitive the longer you play the game. There's only 3 different Ethereal Weaving powers which you unlock very early on, Gust which acts like fast wind bullets, Aqua which is more of a shotgun blast and is good for wide bursts that attack groups of enemies and Fire which acts like a powerful grenade launcher that has very limited ammo. You also get some various Talismans which stun and expose the enemies spirit cores so you can take them down fast, however these are expensive and I found myself rarely using them because using your base Ethereal Weaving powers is just more effective and cheaper. You also have a bow which you can use to snipe targets, but ultimately it still feels pointless and I hardly used it as well.
There are obligatory skill trees and level up systems which let you unlock abilities and strengthen your powers, but I feel like much like the combat or story these systems weren't deep enough and I had almost everything unlocked and at max level before even beating the game. Plus you hardly get experience just for fighting enemies or completing quests and most of your experience comes from finding Lost Souls through the city and transferring them through the phone lines. This is another part of the game that gets very repetitive seeing how you constantly have to do this just to level up.
The open world is very much the most typical overused Ubisoft checklist gaming formula down to a T (Hell, the protagonist even gets a damn 'Spectral Vision' Assassin vision power to show enemies and items on the map). Cleanse the Torri Gate, uncover more of the map, unlock a bunch of map markers for side objectives, find useless collectables, rinse and repeat. I will say some of the side quests are interesting because they highlight Japanese folklore, but at the end of the day a lot of encounters feel very samey and a few of them like cleansing corrupted Cherry Blossoms or capturing various Yokai you do multiple times so it cheapens the encounter and makes something cool at first feel repetitive the next 5 times you have to do it.
The devs went to great lengths to represent Japanese folklore, history and culture and there are tons of interesting database entries and things in the world that do achieve this goal, like collecting Tanuki, seeing Nekomata run convenience stores, using Tengu to grapple and glide etc, but at the end of the day you can only do so much to disguise the Ubisoft formula and this is one we've seen far too many times before and I'm personally beyond sick of it (I could at least tolerate it in a game like Ghost of Tsushima because the story was so compelling), especially even more so after just recently experiencing the peak of open world gaming that is Elden Ring.
I will say however one of the strongest elements of Ghostwire is its visuals and atmosphere. Tokyo looks great and really captures the bleak and isolate feeling of being one of the last people left in the city after everyone has been spirited away. You'll find remnants of the lost souls everywhere you look from clothing and phones to abandoned cars, which makes for good environmental storytelling. Tango primarily being known for horror games is evident by the creature design that's inspired by Japanese folklore and Yokai because though limited it's still very good and I also enjoyed the moments when the environment and world shifts around you in a psychological way which reminded me of The Evil Within or Silent Hill.
When all is said and done I think the best way to describe Ghostwire Tokyo is simplistic and repetitive. The devs put so much care into crafting a detailed beautiful supernatural version of Tokyo that represents Japanese folklore, culture and history, but if only they put that much care into crafting the gameplay mechanics and story. For games focusing on Japanese folklore, culture and history I'll just stick with Nioh.
The story was very generic, main villain kidnaps the protagonist's sister, the protagonist, Akito goes on a revenge quest to save her and teams up with a wraith and former detective called KK who possesses him. The story does have some nice thematic elements of family bonds, love, learning to forgive yourself and finding a purpose for your life again, but it really just scratches the surface of these themes and just wasn't fleshed out enough to leave much of an impression on me.
The Ethereal Weaving magical based FPS combat while fun is simplistic and gets very repetitive the longer you play the game. There's only 3 different Ethereal Weaving powers which you unlock very early on, Gust which acts like fast wind bullets, Aqua which is more of a shotgun blast and is good for wide bursts that attack groups of enemies and Fire which acts like a powerful grenade launcher that has very limited ammo. You also get some various Talismans which stun and expose the enemies spirit cores so you can take them down fast, however these are expensive and I found myself rarely using them because using your base Ethereal Weaving powers is just more effective and cheaper. You also have a bow which you can use to snipe targets, but ultimately it still feels pointless and I hardly used it as well.
There are obligatory skill trees and level up systems which let you unlock abilities and strengthen your powers, but I feel like much like the combat or story these systems weren't deep enough and I had almost everything unlocked and at max level before even beating the game. Plus you hardly get experience just for fighting enemies or completing quests and most of your experience comes from finding Lost Souls through the city and transferring them through the phone lines. This is another part of the game that gets very repetitive seeing how you constantly have to do this just to level up.
The open world is very much the most typical overused Ubisoft checklist gaming formula down to a T (Hell, the protagonist even gets a damn 'Spectral Vision' Assassin vision power to show enemies and items on the map). Cleanse the Torri Gate, uncover more of the map, unlock a bunch of map markers for side objectives, find useless collectables, rinse and repeat. I will say some of the side quests are interesting because they highlight Japanese folklore, but at the end of the day a lot of encounters feel very samey and a few of them like cleansing corrupted Cherry Blossoms or capturing various Yokai you do multiple times so it cheapens the encounter and makes something cool at first feel repetitive the next 5 times you have to do it.
The devs went to great lengths to represent Japanese folklore, history and culture and there are tons of interesting database entries and things in the world that do achieve this goal, like collecting Tanuki, seeing Nekomata run convenience stores, using Tengu to grapple and glide etc, but at the end of the day you can only do so much to disguise the Ubisoft formula and this is one we've seen far too many times before and I'm personally beyond sick of it (I could at least tolerate it in a game like Ghost of Tsushima because the story was so compelling), especially even more so after just recently experiencing the peak of open world gaming that is Elden Ring.
I will say however one of the strongest elements of Ghostwire is its visuals and atmosphere. Tokyo looks great and really captures the bleak and isolate feeling of being one of the last people left in the city after everyone has been spirited away. You'll find remnants of the lost souls everywhere you look from clothing and phones to abandoned cars, which makes for good environmental storytelling. Tango primarily being known for horror games is evident by the creature design that's inspired by Japanese folklore and Yokai because though limited it's still very good and I also enjoyed the moments when the environment and world shifts around you in a psychological way which reminded me of The Evil Within or Silent Hill.
When all is said and done I think the best way to describe Ghostwire Tokyo is simplistic and repetitive. The devs put so much care into crafting a detailed beautiful supernatural version of Tokyo that represents Japanese folklore, culture and history, but if only they put that much care into crafting the gameplay mechanics and story. For games focusing on Japanese folklore, culture and history I'll just stick with Nioh.
If you liked the first Nioh, you'll definitely like this one too and if you haven't played the first Nioh...What are you waiting for?
It's mostly more of the same with a bit of a revamped combat system giving you some new yokai powers to use, new weapon skills, a couple new weapons and a massive skill tree, there's tons of variety and you can really experiment and play around with tons of different builds. You're also playing as a custom created character in this game instead of a set protagonist like William in the first game and I have to say the character creator is pretty damn great and detailed.
The boss design is absolutely killer, all the main game bosses look really cool and have some great move-sets, especially the late game bosses really wowed me. Level design is a step up from the first game, but still kinda weak in some areas. The story is pretty basic and it is very slow in the beginning, but does pick up in the later chapters and gets more interesting and I did actually start to care about the characters, there's some fan service-y moments since it's a prequel and you do visit some areas you went to or worked with some people you fought in the first game, but I think it's pulled off very well. However if you decide to read all the lore entries for the different yokai and the character backgrounds, that stuff is arguably more interesting than the main story itself.
My biggest problem with the game is the side missions being very bland (much like the first game) and a lot of them you just fight waves of enemies or collect a specific item and to make it worse almost all the side mission level design is not original and just re-uses previous levels in the main game and previous bosses, so you might go through the same area like 5 different times or fight the same boss repeatedly and it gets boring quick. My biggest advice to anyone who picks up the game is just play through the main missions first and if you enjoy it enough go through the side missions afterwards, because I did most of the side missions as they appeared and it broke up the pacing for the main story pretty bad.
Anyways, if you liked the first Nioh or just want a great and challenging Soulslike I'd recommend grabbing it, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on the game.
It's mostly more of the same with a bit of a revamped combat system giving you some new yokai powers to use, new weapon skills, a couple new weapons and a massive skill tree, there's tons of variety and you can really experiment and play around with tons of different builds. You're also playing as a custom created character in this game instead of a set protagonist like William in the first game and I have to say the character creator is pretty damn great and detailed.
The boss design is absolutely killer, all the main game bosses look really cool and have some great move-sets, especially the late game bosses really wowed me. Level design is a step up from the first game, but still kinda weak in some areas. The story is pretty basic and it is very slow in the beginning, but does pick up in the later chapters and gets more interesting and I did actually start to care about the characters, there's some fan service-y moments since it's a prequel and you do visit some areas you went to or worked with some people you fought in the first game, but I think it's pulled off very well. However if you decide to read all the lore entries for the different yokai and the character backgrounds, that stuff is arguably more interesting than the main story itself.
My biggest problem with the game is the side missions being very bland (much like the first game) and a lot of them you just fight waves of enemies or collect a specific item and to make it worse almost all the side mission level design is not original and just re-uses previous levels in the main game and previous bosses, so you might go through the same area like 5 different times or fight the same boss repeatedly and it gets boring quick. My biggest advice to anyone who picks up the game is just play through the main missions first and if you enjoy it enough go through the side missions afterwards, because I did most of the side missions as they appeared and it broke up the pacing for the main story pretty bad.
Anyways, if you liked the first Nioh or just want a great and challenging Soulslike I'd recommend grabbing it, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on the game.
This game is kinda like the black sheep of the Trails family since it isn't structured the same way as any of the other games.
It's more like a traditional dungeon crawler mixed with a visual novel and a lot of people don't like the fact that it isn't as much of an RPG as the first two and the fact it's linear and there's no towns or side quests to really do.
Personally I don't mind this because all the story content is just as great as the first two games, especially seeing as how the main story focuses on Kevin Graham, a side character from Sky SC because he's the main character in this game and learning his whole backstory and motivations, the game is essentially a character study for him and that made me happy because I love him a lot and love him even more now after this game. One of my fave characters in the series.
All the side story content is also really great and either fleshes out other characters from the first two Sky games even more or shows some history and world events for areas we've yet to visit in Zemuria.
The gameplay in this one was probably the most fun to me since you have all the past playable characters from the first 2 games and then some extras, so there's tons of variety in team building.
Also anyone who says you can skip this game is a fool because even if you consider Kevin's story a side story and irrelevant to Joshua and Estelle, you learn so much more about events in the world that become important in the Cold Steel and Crossbell games, plus get tons of valuable character interactions and most importantly Sky the 3rd serves as the closer to the Liberl arc and you get a very touching 'goodbye' scene between all the characters at the end of the game and that's worth the price of admission alone to me.
If you enjoyed the stories and characters of Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky SC I highly recommend you give this game a chance too and don't let the haters persuade you otherwise because it's just as great as the first two as far as I'm concerned and my personal favorite in the Sky trilogy.
It's more like a traditional dungeon crawler mixed with a visual novel and a lot of people don't like the fact that it isn't as much of an RPG as the first two and the fact it's linear and there's no towns or side quests to really do.
Personally I don't mind this because all the story content is just as great as the first two games, especially seeing as how the main story focuses on Kevin Graham, a side character from Sky SC because he's the main character in this game and learning his whole backstory and motivations, the game is essentially a character study for him and that made me happy because I love him a lot and love him even more now after this game. One of my fave characters in the series.
All the side story content is also really great and either fleshes out other characters from the first two Sky games even more or shows some history and world events for areas we've yet to visit in Zemuria.
The gameplay in this one was probably the most fun to me since you have all the past playable characters from the first 2 games and then some extras, so there's tons of variety in team building.
Also anyone who says you can skip this game is a fool because even if you consider Kevin's story a side story and irrelevant to Joshua and Estelle, you learn so much more about events in the world that become important in the Cold Steel and Crossbell games, plus get tons of valuable character interactions and most importantly Sky the 3rd serves as the closer to the Liberl arc and you get a very touching 'goodbye' scene between all the characters at the end of the game and that's worth the price of admission alone to me.
If you enjoyed the stories and characters of Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky SC I highly recommend you give this game a chance too and don't let the haters persuade you otherwise because it's just as great as the first two as far as I'm concerned and my personal favorite in the Sky trilogy.
If you haven't played Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, let me STOP YOU RIGHT HERE and tell you to go purchase that and play it ASAP. The Trails series is NOT Final Fantasy, it NEEDS to be played consecutively because the entire series is one massive interconnecting story. Second Chapter is a direct sequel to the events of the first game and if you haven't played the first game before going into this one, you'll be completely lost. It'll be like starting The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Return of the King instead of The Fellowship.
Now that I've said that piece, if you HAVE played First Chapter and you're reading reviews instead of purchasing this game INSTANTLY after that jaw-dropping ending of the first game. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PLAY THIS GAME NOW. It takes everything you loved about the first and amplifies it 10 fold. The story, characters and lore of the world are greatly expanded upon and developed even further, the combat is even more refined and varied with extra attack options like chain crafts and 3rd tier artes and the music is just as beautiful as the first game. If you thought First Chapter was a masterpiece like I did, you haven't seen anything yet because SC surpasses it in every-way possible.
Honestly if you're a J-RPG fan and you still haven't gotten into the Trails series in 2020, you're missing some of the absolute best the genre has to offer and should rectify that IMMEDIATELY.
Now that I've said that piece, if you HAVE played First Chapter and you're reading reviews instead of purchasing this game INSTANTLY after that jaw-dropping ending of the first game. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PLAY THIS GAME NOW. It takes everything you loved about the first and amplifies it 10 fold. The story, characters and lore of the world are greatly expanded upon and developed even further, the combat is even more refined and varied with extra attack options like chain crafts and 3rd tier artes and the music is just as beautiful as the first game. If you thought First Chapter was a masterpiece like I did, you haven't seen anything yet because SC surpasses it in every-way possible.
Honestly if you're a J-RPG fan and you still haven't gotten into the Trails series in 2020, you're missing some of the absolute best the genre has to offer and should rectify that IMMEDIATELY.