Absolutely a DLC quest in every sense, but damn if this wasn't fun.

After almost half a year since beat the game on Final Fantasy Mode I re-adapted to the combat much quicker than expected. By locking the DLC quest behind 4 or 5 previously-optional ones, I got to get some practice in with measly level 85 enemies before heading into the new lvl 95+ dungeon.
Still almost 20 levels below most of them, it wasn't difficult per se but it did allow for much flashier encounters and more ults and so on -- Enemies all having a billion hp on FF mode got a bit tiresome because the game is so long that by the end it feels like it's just dragging it out, but honestly I think it kind of worked in this DLCs favour, as it prevented me feeling like I was breezing through and gave me more time to, well, play.

The DLC still only took 3-4 hours in which is a good length for what it is, I assume (/hope?) that the other quest releasing next year will be more narratively-driven vs this one being combat, but mostly just so we get some more 'meat' out of it.

In a way this DLC had me feeling a lil souls-y with its bosses, but that may just be my smoothbrain interpreting reading patterns and timing dodges as some unique concept lol. I'll wrap things up but if you're unsure about getting this and you like the combat in the main game, do it. The final boss was a ride, at first I sorta wished it was something more recognisable, but once it got going and the music kicked in and- 😩 So good man, I had a lot of fun with it.

Thanks for reading as always, didn't expect the finale of this to hype me up enough to review but here we are!

Absolute perfection. Monolith Soft have perfected the Xenoblade franchise with Future Redeemed. Everything has been building to this moment, and it's one hell of a send-off for my favorite trilogy in gaming.

The combat was expertly refined from XB3; Mitsuda's music is, as always, flawless; and the story was so fucking good, I can't even begin to put it into words. Future Redeemed manages to connect all 3 games together in the perfect package with so many amazing call-backs and references to the previous games.

The high quality bar that Takahashi and the rest of the folks at Monolith Soft have kept up over the years is astounding. They keep outdoing themselves with every release, and Future Redeemed is the pinnacle of them at their craft. I can't wait to see what their next Xeno project will be (although I wouldn't mind a Xenoblade Chronicles X Switch port since I never got to play it).

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was a game that I adored so, so much, that I couldn't bring myself to start writing a review for it. I could talk about that game for hours, and yet, I'm lost for words.

There is no way to properly explain the way this series hits any more. Half the reason I never tried writing about XC3 was that so much of what I wanted to say would touch on spoilers in one way or another, and given the nature of this expansion the same is going to apply here. (So this is more a rant summarising my feelings on this series as a whole)

One thing I will say, however, is that I am honestly devastated that my memory is as bad as it can be, in particular with this franchise. I have loved, loved all 3 parts of this trilogy but if you asked me to even summarise one of the first 2 games I'd get maybe 5% of the story right, it kinda sucks😭

I'm pretty confident that 3 is my favourite, and not just for recency bias, but the combat, the party, the world, the story, the relationships and development of the characters.. It is truly deserving of the label peak because it genuinely sits at the top of the JRPG mountain in my opinion. I fucking love that game dude, they even added a navigation line to follow!
(Unfortunatley, this expansion removes that again 😭 2 games and 2 expansions to finally stop me from getting lost only to rob me of it again, wounded!)

Anyway if you can't tell I'm already losing myself, these games have got me bad, man. It is all heart, I have no brain, no thoughts (no memory 😔) - I barely understand myself how they've touched me this much, but there's an undeniable charm and sincerity to them that's really just 😩

To make some comments about Future Redeemed specifically, I fully understand the reasoning behind Matthew et al, but I can't help but wonder if I'd have preferred somehow getting to bring things to fruition with familiar faces. Matthew is great don't get me wrong, but his specific personality archetype is an interesting one to go with for the main character of this expansion lol.
Also, without saying anything else: Holy shit the glow up, the future is not the only thing being redeemed god damn.

Final thoughts I think I preferred the combat and overall dynamics in the main game vs this, and locking arts and accessory slots behind finding rare items instead of your player level is kinda oof, but I got by. It felt a bit like XC3 but stripped back a little instead of further improved which is a shame, but with the bar set by XC3 I really don't think there was anywhere to go but backwards anyway.
Difficulty wise there was one boss near the end that was a huge spike for me, but admittedly I'd been playing somewhat lazily until then anyway and it didn't take too long to overcome it.

Overall: this is insane. This series is nothing short of beautiful and if you don't believe me then the soundtrack alone can prove you wrong with ease. I don't know if I want more or not but I definitely want more of something from this team. Do not let British voice acting put y'all off these games bro, yes I know XC2 sounds kinda goofy but you can play in Japanese if you must and even if you don't I guarantee that the voicework does not detract from how good they are. (Also Mio and Nia's accents are too good to pass up on smh shame on you)

Thanks for reading to all who did, hope it's okay that this is just word vomit but I really wasn't kidding when I said I have no words. Hope you're all having a wonderful December and enjoy any festivities you may or may not partake in. Until next time🙏

Damn shame this one ngl, there's a really good 2-3 hour game here but the walking speed being set to fuckin 0.5% and half the PS trophies being "stand still for 5 minutes lol" make the whole game feel like a waste of time.

The story was genuinely interesting and the map is very well crafted, if I was able to move around it at human speed I'd have had a wonderful time exploring, but playing as what I assume was a 200lb camera being pushed around by a small child made it feel more like reading a picture book on a tablet with shitty internet.

It seriously takes almost a full minute to get from the front door of a house down the yard and across the road, bro has a fucking 3 hour commute to his shop half a mile away.
Anyway I'm sure everyone is as bored of walking-speed rants/complaints as they were being let down by what should've been a much better game.

Thanks for reading if you did, sorry for the moan but it's gone 4am now and this game would've been twice as good were it half as slow. Can't wait to speedrun it again tomorrow for the platinum! :D

Hope you all have a lovely December, hopefully I'll have a proper review before it's over but brief thoughts for now: Persona 5 Tactica was great, much better story than expected. Jedi Survivor has been really good so far, Ace Attorney isn't as good as TGAA was but it's a joy and Maya is 😌

Excellent. Looking forward to the next one!

Jedi Survivor is better than Fallen Order in just about every way in my opinion. I enjoyed the first game for sure, but I was never really 'excited' for it, nor this. After beating this one, well let's just say the reveal for the next one is going to be hype 😌

The story (while starting a little weird considering where FO left off) was pretty straightforward, but is told in such a way that I think this worked to its benefit. There were still twists, some more obvious than others, and only one moment that was egregiously silly. One reveal in particular seemed so glaringly obvious that I spent the whole game calling it out and then questioning whether I was just being cynical or if it was a red herring, and while I am of course a genius who clearly knows everything, my favourite thing about this was that the game handled this event in such a way that it was possible for me to have this ongoing struggle, and I think that's cool as shit. When I was proven right it wasn't with a sigh and an "of course", it was an "I FUCKING KNEW IT!!" - and if a game can get me that invested and excited over a "cliche" or an "obvious" reveal then it must be doing something better than everything else I'm just sayin'.

The characters in particular shine bright in this entry. Cal is a genuinely interesting protagonist and while a lot of the arcs and tropes he goes through in this can be compared to similar stories, some as recent as this year, that doesn't detract from how much of a blast it was to experience his. Cameron Monaghan's performance is as great as expected and by the end I really found myself invested in Cal's story, and I will be there when the next chapter of it releases.

Quickfire some other comments now the gush is over:
The environments felt much less overwhelming in this entry, and the navigation assist was a godsend in helping me not get lost. The maps are still pretty big and while I could understand people complaining about bouncing between the same few planets it didn't bother me at all.

The combat felt better as well, it's still not amazing with the stances being limited to so few combos, but having them at all was a nice touch. I do agree with the masses that only being able to switch between two of them at a time is a shame but it is what it is.

And most importantly: Merrin 😌

That'll do it, don't sleep on this one folks, in a year absolutely stacked with bangers this definitely sits up in the upper echelons, don't let the fact that it's still buried under other GOATs stop you from playing it!

Thanks for reading to all who did, hope you're have a great week. After I'm done with the P5T DLC story I'm gunna be going on a brief PS5 hiatus to focus on some Switch and PC games, not sure if or what I'll review of those but first up is XC3 Future Redeemed so stay tuned 🙏

P.S. I don't know whose idea it was to make the enemies in this game so pitiful that I feel bad for killing them but it's equal parts hilarious and 'aw :(' ... Hearing someone ask if Jedi wound people because they don't want to get wounded and then having to cut them in half moments later is 😔 RIP Rick, bud. ✊

Considering how many walking sim indie games there are where you explore what happened on a space ship or station you'd think the concept would get old fast - admittedly I wasn't too eager to play this because I've seen so many of them already, but I'm glad to say I was pleasantly surprised.

It's a simple type of game for sure, but when enough care is put into writing and performing the characters it's hard not to get invested. The fact they normally come with quick and easy platinums makes for a perfect recipe to encourage me to keep experiencing them too, I like it :)

Now back to my many peak stupidly-long games to completely ruin my monthly completions figure 😌

Signalis is 'old school' survival horror done well.. Too well honestly.

The limited inventory was a really big hurdle for me (and it seems many others) in the early hours of this game, applying a level of difficulty that very quickly becomes more frustrating than anything. Bringing a healing item, a weapon and a flashlight takes up half your inventory alone, leading me personally to an endless cycle of backtracking just to drop something off, or worse - having to go all the way back through rooms of enemies just to get a torch so you can see a new room with more enemies... And so many items than you can't carry them all since you have a torch now 🥹

Once you adapt to this restriction it becomes a lot easier though I think. I'm very much a resource hoarder in these games, convinced that I'll need a million health kits and 30 guns for the final boss alone, so I often left more enemies standing than I should've, only to run into them on every trip through a room.. I also kept pack-muling things back to the chest 'just in case' despite going the whole game without using some items at all... Don't be like me and I'm sure you'll have a much easier time :p

Besides the inventory/difficulty, there were some technical shortcomings in terms of doors not working if I turned slightly, taking so long to pick items up that I take free damage, or simply aiming my weapon (did not like that)
- but for a game made by two people it's pretty solid on the whole. It's a bit abstract in it's storytelling for a decent chunk of its runtime, but by the end things come together and are made a lot clearer. I definitely wouldn't say I understood everything, what with how long I wasted backtracking and getting lost giving me time to forget, but I feel like I took away enough that even on the surface level I liked the story.

All that said I don't want to ramble too long because I've got a busy night ahead -- short version is that if you're at all interested you should give this game a try, with it being on Gamepass as well it deserves at least a shot to win you over.

Thanks for reading as always, quicker one today because I'm hoping to finish off the last couple of chapters of FF7 Remake before bed as well, doubt I'll review it cause I couldn't do it justice, but tl;dr it's my all time favourite 😌
Enjoy your spooky season everyone, upcoming completions are hopefully Sea of Stars, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (slowly but surely) and I'm considering starting Clock Tower 3 once I beat FF7R, we'll see. Until next time!

Technically this is still in early access so can’t say it’s finished just yet, but with Act 5 out it seems mostly content complete as is. And what’s here is really good, very creative rhythm game that makes just tapping one button much more difficult than it would seem

The goal is to tap on the seventh beat of the song, but it tries its best to distract you from that with the visuals for each stage. Trying to pay attention to the beat while also looking at the level’s really cool, especially for certain ones throughout that caught me off guard. And as it goes it’ll start adding new beats to listen to that can quickly ramp up what you’ll need to keep track of. Hopefully there’s a bit more levels to look forward to before it’s officially released

I know a lot of people were kinda soft on it but I really loved the story mode for the base game so I found this DLC to be a bit frustrating. Its good, expected comic book-y stuff like the rest of Mortal Kombat but I don't know. My favorite part of the base game was the mom-daughter stuff with Cassie and Sonya. So of course this DLC focused a lot on the worst mother character of all time, Sindel. It does make for an interesting contrast and the focus on villains is cool but I just am not sure the ending is satisfying enough to make up for how it felt like all my favorite characters got done dirty. The most frustrating aspect of this DLC is that my opinion on it entirely depends on what happens in the next two Mortal Kombat games lol.

Other than that I like the three new characters (Fujin the most) and having Robocop is sweet but I already had my mains so wasn't too interested in trying them out.

Overall Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath is a pretty solid expansion with a good if somewhat frustrating conclusion to the story and good new character additions. I do think the original 40 dollar price tag for it is positively ridiculous but thankfully you can get it for much cheaper on sale. Its a solid add-on to my favorite fighting game and I can't ask for too much more than that.

Just wanted to leave this little mini review. I also recently got the platinum for both the PS4 and PS5 version of the basegame if that doesn't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I currently have MK1 installed and I def need a bit of a fighting game break but I am very eager to play it nonetheless, will definitely be reviewing that as well 😌

-----TLDR----
+ Good new additions to the roster
+ Interesting set up for the future of MK
- Too many of my characters got disrespected in story mode lol

Nancymeter - 70/100
Trophy Completion - N/A
Time Played: 2-4 hours
DLC Completion #2 of November
DLC Completion #35 of 2023

Sure the combat could be better but if you think its bad clearly you've never impulse mega flare permafrost dancing steel into stagger will-o-the-wykes lightning rod gigaflare zantetsuken level 5-ed before and it shows :/

I struggled a good bit throughout my playthroughs of Final Fantasy XVI. It is now the third mainline game in the series I've beaten but at the time I started it I had intended it to be my first. Its a series I've always known i needed to try to get into, and the demo of this game was absolutely amazing, it completely blew me away. I was very unexpectedly hyped for this. And playing it I was like oh yeah this is def 5/5 material, after the Garuda fight I was so sold on the game. The music is fucking fantastic and I've never seen such awesome boss fights. But then after that the game felt like it had already peaked. There are still great boss fights through the rest of the game but they never were as impactful as the first 10 or so hours were for me. I felt myself increasingly disinterested in the plot and all the lore and by extension - the game itself.

All that changed near the end when I finally actually started doing side missions. I surprisingly ended up becoming quite fond of all the side characters in the Hideaway and to a much lesser extent the different characters out in the various towns and villages. The game has a pretty damn good cast. It was around that point that I was pretty hype for the end. And for the most part the finale delivers. Its plenty epic, and I was having a great time. But in the end, I was a bit disappointed in how everything wrapped up. That's not to say that there's really anything wrong with the ending, it just wasn't what I was wanting. How i feel about that is how I feel about Final Fantasy XVI as a whole. Plenty of great moments, but in the end still just a little disappointing.

Now that I've explained that I still think FFXVI is great, I have a lot more to complain about. Mostly minor things but it all added up over my 90 hours spent with the game. Some minor annoyances like enemy phases being tied to health bars so sometimes when you set up a stagger and start unleashing, the game just lets them sit there and recover without taking damage and you being unable to do anything for like 20 seconds before the next phase begins. There's also some battles in the wild where if the fight naturally goes a little further than where it started, enemies may just become immune and run back to their spawn point at full health. There's also without fail after every big boss, a main quest that's meant to let things settle but it just kills the pacing and feels like the game is wasting your time by dishing out forced side quests, sometimes several in a row. In the more dungeon-y areas the game is also pretty bad at leading the player along, there were several times I ran completely in the wrong direction because it doesn't make it clear what doors you can open unless you're right next to them. My final complaint is that Final Fantasy mode, the supposed hard mode for NG+, is a complete joke. Now I'm sort of glad it wasn't hard because it made the platinum obtainable for me and now that i have one for a mainline game in the series I don't ever have to bother again. But like, the games idea of hard is give every enemy 50x as much HP. For normal enemies it ain't nothin a level 5 Zantetsuken can't solve but any enemy with a stagger bar doesn't actually feel harder to fight, they just take ages to fucking kill. Even though i skipped every cutscene and did minimal side content, my FF playthrough felt longer than my first where I did basically everything. It just isn't very fun.

So that's about all of my thoughts with Final Fantasy XVI. But to end on a more positive note: Jill is hot and Titanic Block + Counter is one of the most satisfying moves of all time.

Thanks for reading <3

-----TLDR----
+ Great cast
+ Amazing soundtrack
+ Awesome boss fights throughout
- Story quality and pacing is wildly inconsistent
- Didn't like the way it ended
- Too many little gameplay grievances that add up

Nancymeter - 85/100
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #278)
Time Played: 92 hours
Completion #6 of November
Completion #210 of 2023