- 30 hours played
- Chosen starter - Litten

I slowly chipped away at this game over two months. My 3ds informs me i spent an average of 33 minutes a session. This was the right way for me to play this game because its pacing can sometimes be god awful. It’s a hell of a lot of cut scenes and dialogue that ends up delivering a paper thin plot stretched over 30 hours. Pokemon has never been known for its plot but when the game rips control away this often, you expect a better reason for it. That's not the case here. Other issues i had were the rival choosing the starter that's weak against your chosen starter Pokemon. This series is already easy so that just makes it even easier. I also wasn't a fan of waiting until the last area of the game to fully evolve my charjabug into Vikavolt, a pokemon i caught at the beginning of my journey. Especially since it’s a bug pokemon whose whole typing is known for early full evolution then dropping off mid to late game. Also I usually highly anticipate the new fossil Pokémon that come with each game release and I was disappointed to find this game had fossils from previous games with nothing new added. Golisopod should of been a fossil option alongside something else as exciting.

Another weird problem i had was that my Poliwrath never had access to a strong physical water based attack pre elite four. I had to beat the elite four before i could battle two trainers who reward Surf and Waterfall as TMs. It was sad going up against a member of the elite four who also had a Poliwrath and who sadly had access to waterfall. There's the usual pokemon problems here as well. late game battles with the evil team use base evolutions for the majority. Trainers in the wild only running teams of one pokemon against your team of six. There was also some really noticeable slow down in double battles and sometimes in single battles. The game is turned based so it never really affected gameplay but it’s there.

I also found that despite the game being set across multiple islands that it felt very small and constrained. There would be later areas teased, hidden behind abilities gained later on but when finally reaching them they never felt worth it. Maybe just hiding a TM down a linear corridor. And because the game is so handholding in regards to constantly pointing the way forward, it's lacking a sense scope and adventure. This isn't helped by weird constraints placed on where you can surf and where you can fish.

So mainly negatives on a three star review, well here's what i enjoyed. I think since pokemon has moved to 3d, this game is my favourite graphically. I find the newer Pokemon games like Shield and Scarlet are quite boring to look at. Lacking soul and character. Alola i found to be very bright, colourful and charming. I've always thought the pixel artstyle the best way to convey the world of Pokemon. But since we most likely are never going to go back to that, this is the style i enjoy.

I also loved the Pokedex. I had a lot of fun putting my team together. The new Pokemon added are all great with some of my recent favourites added. I also think these are the best starter choices since Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

I love that they completely removed HM's. Alola adds the use of rideable Pokemon. At a press of a button pokemon can be called up to use Fly or Strength which means you never have to sacrifice a precious slot in your team for a HM user or force on a special attacking move like Surf a physically attacking water Pokemon.

All in all i really enjoyed this game and it was a super cosy playthrough. it was nice to come home from work and have this to sit at for half an hour and escape to a sunny tropical paradise. Below i shall list my team. I loved these Pokemon but i had a big problem with how slow the team was.

My Team
- Incineroar lvl 63
- Poliwrath lvl 55
- Vikavolt lvl 55
- Mudsdale lvl 56
- Toucannon lvl 56
- Alolan Exeggutor lvl 52

- 21 hours played

Playing Phantom Liberty was a great excuse to jump back into Cyberpunk. A game I enjoyed but by the end, I didn’t love. I loved the characters and the quests, the side ones especially. But the game was a mess when I played it. The streets were empty. Roads devoid of all traffic. Not many people walking around. The wanted level system didn’t function. The gunplay was unsatisfying, the driving was atrocious and overall the game felt like it was held together by tape and a dream. But that dream part was important because now, now it’s much better.

I adored the time I spent with Phantom Liberty. This dlc introduces the Dog Town region of the map. It’s a decent sized chunk of new real estate to explore and my favourite part of Night City. This place is down trodden and seedy as hell. I loved it. I also loved the narrow streets and all the debry around the roads and paths. The mountains of rubbish bags. The run down basketball court over looking the crumbling skyscrapers. The environmental story telling is top notch and the immersion is fantastic.

The story, wow. This dlc offered up choices that really had me pausing the game to give me time to consider. One choice in particular had me mulling it over for days. I knew what was coming so I took the time to do side quests to give me time to decide what I wanted to do with the main story. I haven’t thought this much about consequences in a game for a long time. I also preferred that the dlc main story revolves around spy’s and espionage. It didn’t matter who I was talking to in game, I couldn’t trust a single person. Everyone has their own agenda and every conversation is a way to work towards it. I never wanted to reveal too much and it’s this constant level of distrust that kept me wholly engaged. I much prefer this style of story compared to the street crime shenanigans of the base game. I also loved the 10 new Gigs added as they offered up some surprisingly deep and very interesting side stories. Overall the dlc tells a great story whether that’s main campaign or side quest. I will say the ending I got was massively bleak and somewhat depressing. I like that CD project just went out there and wrote an ending like this, the cyclical dog eat dog nature of Night City consuming V. But man it was soul destroying. And it’s not my Canon ending. I am sticking with that of the base game.

Gameplay felt much improved. This isn’t down to the dlc, rather the patches the game has received since I played it. But it no longer feels jank as hell to play. Gunplay feels tighter. The driving fares a little better but I still find most cars take too long to break and they still corner like boats. I stuck almost entirely to driving motorcycles. The police wanted system is up and running. It’s not perfect and it’s quite easy to exploit. There’s too many layers to Night City, I found pulling off the main road and walking up some stairs enough to lose all wanted level. But there’s actual consequences now to running over civilians, they just happen to not be very dire. Overall the game no longer feels like it’s going to unravel at any second and fall apart.

I don’t have it in me to replay the base game but due to my time with this dlc I’ve decided to revise my original score from 3/5 to 4/5. This dlc gets top marks because I just much prefer the tale it had to tell and the setting it did it in. Dog town is fantastic. Idris Elba was cool af as Solomon Reed. Seeing him in scenes alongside Keanu Reeves was sweet. The story, choice and consequence was chefs kiss. And the game actually ran well. 5/5 baby. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- 27 hours played

It felt great to be back in Elden Ring. I adore this game but it was a one time playthrough. A very special playthrough yet I find the game is so vast that the idea of starting from scratch scares me. An expansion is the perfect reason to dive back in.

This is more Elden Ring. Shadow of the Erdtree is not going to convince you to love it if the base game wasn’t for you. What I got here was just more Elden goodness, new bosses, weapons and weird yet wonderful locations to explore. The art direction here is sublime. These places are just beautiful to behold. Often I would stop what I was doing and select the Sit down emote. Just leave my character there chilling whilst I myself relaxed and took in the majestic view. They also seemed to just go crazy with the colours in this dlc and each place had a vibe. The royal blue of the flowers in Cerulean coast. The yellow sky of Scadu Atlus. The red unwelcoming atmosphere of the Jagged peaks along with heavy lightning. Despite everywhere being close together each region of the map offered something different whilst fitting together cohesively. I also loved the verticality of the new map. This place was vast but it extended both up and down, as well as off into the horizon. It tantalisingly teased me, offering me a view of an explorable location yet not offering up a super obvious way of reaching it. The legacy dungeons were also great. Massive, twisting and packed full of content, bosses to fight and items to find. Shadowkeep especially, man that place was chefs kiss. This dlc also managed to blow my mind again just like the base game, when I exited a small side dungeon to find out I had exited onto a new unrevealed part of the map.

The main draw of these games for me is the boss experience and despite outcry online I adored these bosses. They are tough and they hit very hard but that’s the usual Fromsoft experience. Pretty much every boss has multi chain combos and very small openings for damage but they are very doable. The community seems to be lacking patience, calling for nerfs already when the dlc has only been out a week. Some bosses have attacks that seem wholly bullshit but when you spend a little time learning them, you realise Messmers multi thrust jumping spear attack can be entirely negated by dodging once into the spear thrust. Roll towards him. When you figure that out the fight goes from bullshit to a glorious dance and he no longer seems unfair. I’m not saying all these bosses are perfectly balanced because it wouldn’t be a Fromsoft experience if it was, but they are beatable and I think the nerfs were too quick to come.

Progression has changed here. For some reason I see a massive outcry online about this as well. Scadu tree fragments have been introduced and these are needed to level up attack damage and negation. As well as that of your spirit summons. Your base game level won’t help you much in the dlc as enemy scaling goes wholly off of this new system. I think people came into this expansion expecting to slap these enemies silly. When they got slapped they didn’t like it. The developers have so much to balance in this game. They have to consider every weapon or dual weapons, pieces of armour, 4 talismans, items used for buffs, Ashes of war and spirit summons. The best way to balance all of that variety in builds is to offer a flat buff to stats. These new items that increase your level can be found throughout the world through exploration. It’s an incentive to stick your nose in every nook and cranny of this gorgeous world. This system also offered a feeling of progression in the dlc. I entered this dlc at level 234. I need over 400,000 runes to increase my character one level. So instead of levelling up a small handful of times throughout the experience, I progressed 20 levels and it felt good. It’s always a satisfying feeling when your damage increases as you level up.

So I adored the visuals, bosses and general exploration of this expansion. Was there anything I wasn’t a fan of? Only two things and they affected my enjoyment very little hence the score. I sometimes thought despite how big these new areas were, outside of the first two areas there wasn’t much to explore. Some big chunks of the map were not hiding any ruins, dungeons or caves. Some big chunks would maybe just have a boss or a weapon to pick up. One area in particular offered new gameplay in the form of a forced stealth section but despite how massive that area was, outside of a boss there was nothing of note down there. Powerpyx claims there is 104 sites of grace in the dlc and on a blind playthrough I managed to find 96. So I didn’t miss much of this dlc. And like I said some of it felt big yet a little empty. I also wasn’t a fan of the repeated use of bosses from the base game. Fromsoft loves to do that but it doesn’t do it for me. I’ve beaten them once, don’t make me do it again and again.

Overall though this was a fantastic addition to an already amazing game. And the two pieces of content together just make this all timer even greater.