DC422
I had wanted to play this for a while for the same reason I had wanted to watch the anime for a while, and stopped putting off both finally. The OVA was good but very generic for the genre, so I was expecting this to be similar but they actually had some stuff going on here. It’s for the most part very similar to every Metroidvania you’ve played but the dual element mechanic was very interesting and they found cool ways to design multiple boss fights around them. Speaking of bosses, they were mostly well designed and even the harder ones kept me coming. Except for the final boss and penultimate boss rush, whoever designed those is evil.
(Also the spritework was gorgeous and the music was incredible I will be listening to the OST now)
(Also the spritework was gorgeous and the music was incredible I will be listening to the OST now)
This review contains spoilers
Struggling a little to put exactly how I’d feel about this game. As a whole product it’s fucking incredible, one of the greatest visual novels I’ve ever played without a doubt. Playing it genuinely did feel like you’re reading a book all night and can’t put it down. They made a lot of improvements to 999 including directly addressing the whole “you can use information from previous playthroughs” thing and integrating it into the story, which also fit the morphogenetic plot motif better in my opinion. The flowchart was a godsend, if I had to redo all the puzzles everytime I started a new game like in 999 I would’ve spent 100 hours completing this instead of 30. The puzzles I felt were made more difficult(or more accurately, unorthodox) which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing at all, it made for intriguing gameplay mostly.
This game does have a funny paradox to it, which is that to get the full enjoyment out of the story you have to have played 999 previously, but if you have any sort of knowledge of that game’s plot the moment this game re-introduces certain characters you immediately figure out a lot of what’s going on. Makes me wonder what experience people had who played this game first.
This game does have a funny paradox to it, which is that to get the full enjoyment out of the story you have to have played 999 previously, but if you have any sort of knowledge of that game’s plot the moment this game re-introduces certain characters you immediately figure out a lot of what’s going on. Makes me wonder what experience people had who played this game first.
Re-played this as part of a Soul Link challenge with a friend, over a decade since I had played it as a kid originally. I had a blast the second time around but admittedly it was way easier even with all the rules I set for myself, mostly because I was prepared for that evil Hydreigon this time(that boss fight permanently made Hydreigon my favorite Pokémon ever, half because I liked his design and half because I begrudgingly admired how easily he steamrolled through my team the first couple times).
Had a lot of fun playing this. The main game is really well rounded and then if you choose to go for 100% completion then that’s a whole second game unto itself. They made all the side-quests really interesting and found cool ways to integrate them into the lore, like including the Oracle game ladies which was really cute. I’m not quite sure if it surpasses A Link To The Past, but it comes close to say the least.
This review contains spoilers
This game introduces an entire cast of characters to you within the first 20 minutes or so and you get invested in them almost instantly. I’ve played games that can’t get you invested in a single character after 40 hours.
The first 2.5 playthroughs are very gripping murder mysteries, you’re so engaged in the plot and every little detail you learn that you don’t mind having to fast forward through a bunch of text and re-do several of the same puzzles in order to figure out what’s really going on. By the end of my third playthrough I was like 70% sure I pieced together the story and I was sort of right but it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and fuck. Game actually made me cry. One of those games I probably am gonna wish in a couple years that I could wipe my memory of and play for the first time again.
The first 2.5 playthroughs are very gripping murder mysteries, you’re so engaged in the plot and every little detail you learn that you don’t mind having to fast forward through a bunch of text and re-do several of the same puzzles in order to figure out what’s really going on. By the end of my third playthrough I was like 70% sure I pieced together the story and I was sort of right but it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and fuck. Game actually made me cry. One of those games I probably am gonna wish in a couple years that I could wipe my memory of and play for the first time again.
I often hear of this game spoken of as being slightly different from the other “black sheep” NES sequels in that it’s actually good in a lot of ways but just plagued by poor translation and clunky game mechanics. Even early AVGN at his most vulgar, after trashing it in all sorts of ways ends on a note of saying it’s a good game and misunderstood classic. After playing it for myself, I can kind of understand the nostalgia for it but this is just not a good game. And I’m saying this as somebody who enjoys old RPG’s with clunky mechanics and archaic and/or nonexistent translations. Past a certain point I was only playing this to continue onto better Zelda games I want to try. Only reason I’m giving this a 3 instead of 2 is 1)I find the more explicitly dark tone of the story in this game to be really interesting 2)the music is so good especially the Hyrule Temple theme.
2017
Was having a conversation with a friend a couple months ago who said that Hollow Knight surpasses any Castlevania game by a significant margin. I had already been playing Hollow Knight on and off for a while but hadn’t gotten far enough, and being the Castlevania fangirl I am was highly skeptical of this claim. I mean Hollow Knight was a good game from what I had played but better than Aria of Sorrow? I didn’t start to really make progress in the game until the last few weeks or so and wow I think my friend was onto something. This game is immaculate in literally every single way. The story and atmosphere are incredible. Every single bit of flavor text serves the word-building in its own way. The game is full of so much hidden stuff that makes you want to scour the whole map because a room you’ve been to a hundred times can still have something you didn’t figure out until 20 hours in. The charm system adds an entire layer of strategy and has something for almost every style of play. Certain bosses and platforming puzzles can be very hard but in a way that makes you want to spend 40 minutes retrying the same thing out of stubbornness rather than saying “fuck it” and quitting for the day. If a Castlevania game had this level of storytelling and gameplay depth I think it would have an argument for being the greatest game ever along the same lines as Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger. I will definitely be replaying this one sometime in the future.
2022
Pokémon x Fire Emblem was a crossover idea I had in my mind for years, so when I heard somebody made it I was very excited but also curious if it would actually work in practice. This game is really fun overall, but combining Fire Emblem with Pokémon damage mechanics basically means that past the early game any super effective attack is a one hit kill and every boss battle becomes more about who gets the first strike on the other’s mons. Ironically it felt a lot more like playing Advance Wars than a regular FE game.
1996
This review contains spoilers
I heard about this game in some random video I was watching to pass time at work several months ago. Specifically the video mentioned this game was made by the same company as Lufia and that the character designs were drawn by Yasuhiro Nightow of Trigun fame(one of my favorite anime’s ever), which is probably a top 5 pitch from anybody trying to sell me on a game I’ve never heard of. I have a thing for obscure mid 90’s RPG’s so that didn’t hurt either. For most of this game I would’ve described my experience playing it as:this game is incredibly clunky and heavily unpolished, but there’s so many good ideas that somebody could build a masterpiece off of. It kept falling just short off the mark of greatness, which was frustrating cuz this game has so much cool shit, as well as one of the greatest SNES soundtracks I’ve ever heard. There was also this funny quality in the story and dialogue, I don’t know if the original Japanese is like this or the fan translation was off but a lot of exchanges just felt very bizarre and there often was no setup to major story events which made them lack the significance they would’ve had otherwise because you weren’t given the proper foreshadowing to build up your attachment to different characters.
And then in the last several hours, out of nowhere, the game really picks up. The story goes from kind of off beat to really demanding your attention and character deaths and plot twists start having the significance they’re supposed to. It doesn’t hurt that the game is very good at using leitmotif to reflect story themes in a way that reminded me of another great RPG I beat recently(Persona 3). I probably won’t play this again but I’m very happy I gave it a chance, these kinds of old hidden gems deserve a lot more love.
And then in the last several hours, out of nowhere, the game really picks up. The story goes from kind of off beat to really demanding your attention and character deaths and plot twists start having the significance they’re supposed to. It doesn’t hurt that the game is very good at using leitmotif to reflect story themes in a way that reminded me of another great RPG I beat recently(Persona 3). I probably won’t play this again but I’m very happy I gave it a chance, these kinds of old hidden gems deserve a lot more love.
I have a strong fondness for this game going back to my teenage years, which I later learned is not a mainstream opinion. It’s kinda janky and hard as balls but those are the kind of flaws I can rationalize very easily in this type of game. As a big Capcom fan I found SNK’s take on their rival’s different franchises to be very endearing, especially with the unique roster that offered characters you don’t normally see in this type of game. I like the pre-fight banter between characters, especially when it gets very meta and inside humor-y. And the music is very good as well. Also off the top of my head, I think this might be the last major fighting game to have Dmitri and his Midnight Bliss animation so <3
This is probably my second or third favorite game of all time, I’ve played this more times than I can count over the past decade and a half or so. My last playthrough was in college 5 years ago so I decided to give it another go for old time’s sake when I saw it was on the Switch’s virtual console. I forgot how annoying replaying Lyn Mode is because you can’t skip it the first time around but thankfully you can clear that whole thing in like 45 minutes if you’re a long time player. I’m almost definitely biased but this will always be the quintessential Fire Emblem experience for me, and I would recommend it to beginning players before anything except maybe Three Houses. Your first playthrough is a good beginner’s experience to break into the strategy genre, and the subsequent re-plays add much needed difficulty and layers to the story and series lore. Most people are going to be emulating this obviously, but there are few experiences in gaming like playing Hector Hard Mode on the original cartridge as a kid, painstakingly trying to keep all your units alive and knowing any tactical error or bad luck will be a reset. And throw in a gorgeous musical score for good measure.
2008
This is one of those nostalgia/comfort games I replay every few years. I enjoy it a lot for what it is, but realistically if you’re playing this game in 2024 it’s not for the first time.
Another game I played on and off. I found a lot of the changes to the UI and game mechanics(like the removal of a basic attack using the A button that doesn’t consume PP) to be really jarring but I eventually got used to them. I actually really did like the art style, it had its own charm but also paid homage to the spirit of the original games which was a nice touch. If I’m being honest though I would probably rather play the original Red/Blue Rescue Team on most days if given a choice, or especially Explorers of Sky since that’s the best of them all.
2023
I actually am struggling to think of the right words to put here. This game is beautiful and I’m glad I got to play it at least once.
Game I played on and off for a while. Of the 5D’s games, 2009 is the one I have the most nostalgia for, but it has some of the worst game design and balancing of any game I’ve ever played, and 2011 is probably the most complete and accessible of the bunch gameplay-wise, but the removal of complete battle sprites for cards was really noticeable. This hit the sweet spot of the trilogy in my opinion, it has the best story mode and the most interesting premise, and it holds up enough that I think a lot of times I’d rather play this than ‘11 even though that one gives you more cards.