Emms
235 reviews liked by Emms
fuck you
Black Souls 2
The Rising Tide brings more Final Fantasy XVI, with both the positives and negatives.
I really found myself enjoying the opening hours, and found the new areas to explore breathtaking. The new story is engaging, and the new combat abilities are fun to play around with.
Unfortunately, I found the soundtrack okay, the new primal fight underwhelming, and the new "arcade" mode a rehash of existing systems. Sidequests return in their all their FF14 glory, that is more mundane MMO fetch quests.
Overall it's more FFXVI, a game I enjoyed. The price ¥2420, (about $15USD) fits for the amount of content, but I felt like there was lots of content I didn't ask for. I wish they had taken some feedback on board and played more to the games strengths.
I really found myself enjoying the opening hours, and found the new areas to explore breathtaking. The new story is engaging, and the new combat abilities are fun to play around with.
Unfortunately, I found the soundtrack okay, the new primal fight underwhelming, and the new "arcade" mode a rehash of existing systems. Sidequests return in their all their FF14 glory, that is more mundane MMO fetch quests.
Overall it's more FFXVI, a game I enjoyed. The price ¥2420, (about $15USD) fits for the amount of content, but I felt like there was lots of content I didn't ask for. I wish they had taken some feedback on board and played more to the games strengths.
This review contains spoilers
The perspective that we all inevitably meet the same fate, but the journey there varies from person to person is something I’ve always enjoyed seeing explored in fiction. The meaning of life is what we make of it, even if all of our outcomes are the same. The universe in all of its entropy and impartiality simply is, and conversely we and the choices we make, the struggles we endure, and ultimately what we make of ourselves… we simply are. Is there not beauty in that? Is there not meaning? We’re all on our own journeys and we all have the same destinations, and yet sometimes our paths cross; we intersect, intertwine.
What a moment of love.
What a moment of love to stare into the endless, abyssal, all-consuming void knowing you’re not alone. That you were never alone; to have your fingers interlaced with the hands of all the people you have met… have loved… have lost. To stare into the eyes of your own reflection one last time, and to leave the world with no regrets.
In fewer words, this essentially the wisdom Acheron imparts on Aventurine, whom is racked with the gnawing regrets of his childhood. He spent his life desperately seeking the answers to questions no one could ever answer, only to hear a new perspective on the brink of annihilation from an Emanator of Nihility. To have her take him deathly seriously… to have the patience to share her thoughts with him… to give not just him, but Kakavasha relief…
Another moment of love.
After taking Acheron’s words to heart, Aventurine stared into the endless shroud of darkness before him. The still waters gently lapped at the shores of nothingness, as he unfurled Dr. Ratio’s note. The note was the doctor’s parting gift that he instructed the gambler to open in the jaws of death… To call this note a request would be an understatement: it’s a plea. A plea to live, and live, and live, and that Ratio wished him good luck in his endeavors. He doesn’t tell Aventurine to rely on Gods… on Aeons… From one human to another, he wished him “the best of luck.” A firm reminder that not even the Gods can intervene in the inevitability of death, but humans can make the journey there easier on each other. We inspire hope and a passion for life in one another in ways that deities cannot. Aventurine takes his unfathomably risky gamble in stride, reassured with the fact that no matter what, at least one person will be in his corner… at least one person will want to see him again. At least one person wants him to fight against the overwhelming gravitational pull of death. At least one person wants him to live.
Yet another moment of love.
At the end of it all, when Aventurine bids Kakavasha farewell after their final prayer together, he leaves behind his hat. He leaves behind a memento, something his father, mother, and sister have all done before. Material goods have no value in death — no, but they have value to those they leave behind. Cherished belongings that remind us that we do not fight our struggles alone. That when we reach the black, shapeless gates of eternity, we have not done so alone. That in the swirling darkness we will rejoin them in nothingness. That our paths will cross in finality, even if we do not have the consciousness to acknowledge it. Aventurine entrusts his hat to Kakavasha as a show that he ventures forth with no regrets; instead, he places his trust in his gamble. Either he lives, allowing the Trailblazer to solve the mystery while also carving a path for the IPC, or he returns to the embrace of his family. Either way he cannot lose, and either way he has nothing to regret.
I love the Penacony story. I love what’s being said between the lines. I haven’t even touched on Welt’s patience and solemnity in his conversations with Acheron, but it makes me feel the same way Aventurine’s story does. I cannot wait to see where the story takes us next.
What a moment of love.
What a moment of love to stare into the endless, abyssal, all-consuming void knowing you’re not alone. That you were never alone; to have your fingers interlaced with the hands of all the people you have met… have loved… have lost. To stare into the eyes of your own reflection one last time, and to leave the world with no regrets.
In fewer words, this essentially the wisdom Acheron imparts on Aventurine, whom is racked with the gnawing regrets of his childhood. He spent his life desperately seeking the answers to questions no one could ever answer, only to hear a new perspective on the brink of annihilation from an Emanator of Nihility. To have her take him deathly seriously… to have the patience to share her thoughts with him… to give not just him, but Kakavasha relief…
Another moment of love.
After taking Acheron’s words to heart, Aventurine stared into the endless shroud of darkness before him. The still waters gently lapped at the shores of nothingness, as he unfurled Dr. Ratio’s note. The note was the doctor’s parting gift that he instructed the gambler to open in the jaws of death… To call this note a request would be an understatement: it’s a plea. A plea to live, and live, and live, and that Ratio wished him good luck in his endeavors. He doesn’t tell Aventurine to rely on Gods… on Aeons… From one human to another, he wished him “the best of luck.” A firm reminder that not even the Gods can intervene in the inevitability of death, but humans can make the journey there easier on each other. We inspire hope and a passion for life in one another in ways that deities cannot. Aventurine takes his unfathomably risky gamble in stride, reassured with the fact that no matter what, at least one person will be in his corner… at least one person will want to see him again. At least one person wants him to fight against the overwhelming gravitational pull of death. At least one person wants him to live.
Yet another moment of love.
At the end of it all, when Aventurine bids Kakavasha farewell after their final prayer together, he leaves behind his hat. He leaves behind a memento, something his father, mother, and sister have all done before. Material goods have no value in death — no, but they have value to those they leave behind. Cherished belongings that remind us that we do not fight our struggles alone. That when we reach the black, shapeless gates of eternity, we have not done so alone. That in the swirling darkness we will rejoin them in nothingness. That our paths will cross in finality, even if we do not have the consciousness to acknowledge it. Aventurine entrusts his hat to Kakavasha as a show that he ventures forth with no regrets; instead, he places his trust in his gamble. Either he lives, allowing the Trailblazer to solve the mystery while also carving a path for the IPC, or he returns to the embrace of his family. Either way he cannot lose, and either way he has nothing to regret.
I love the Penacony story. I love what’s being said between the lines. I haven’t even touched on Welt’s patience and solemnity in his conversations with Acheron, but it makes me feel the same way Aventurine’s story does. I cannot wait to see where the story takes us next.
Fun fact: 99% of gamblers quit just before they're about to hit it big
I don't know what happened after Xianzhou Snooze-fu's epilogue that made John Hoyo say "I have to lock in." but I am so here for it dude.
Final Fantasy VII Remake project has absolutely no right working as well as it does, and Rebirth doubles down on what made Remake work -- and occasionally what really brought it down, with more unsavory additions to spare. But don't get the wrong idea, in Rebirth's extravangance and conceptually superfluous presentation exists the most actualized and engrossing take on the events of Final Fantasy VII's post-Midgar disc one that one could possibly even imagine, and I'm saying this as somebody whose love for the original is ironclad and unbreakable: Rebirth is probably going to end up being my favorite way to experience the moments tucked away in what was once a maybe 7 to 12 hour-ish section of a 25 hour long game -- with the 7 to 12 hour section now being close to 50 or 60 hours on average I'd imagine. That is to say, I've come to terms with a lot of the liberties Square has taken with the narrative and characterization and presentation, everything really; what made the original special to me, and most likely to many others as well, can't be perfectly replicated anyways, so I really do mean it when I say that the end result given here is bordering on a "best case scenario" for an adaptation of this vast a scope.
Much like Remake, characters that were once tableaus feel alive and truly connected as a group in a way the original just didn't have the ability to convey, just on an even more detailed and broader scale. And once again don't take that the wrong way, they're tableaus that I cherish dearly -- Final Fantasy VII's cast is my absolute favorite across like, all media -- but they're expanded upon so meaningfully: Tifa's self-destructive people-pleasing, Aerith's down to earth and fun attitude, Barret being the leftist extremist father figure we all know and love, Red XIII's deep loyalty, Yuffie's obnoxious little sister energy, Cait Sith's inopportune joviality, Cid's weird uncle vibes, and Vincent being the resident goth kid that has issues with authority. And their relationships with one other: Aerith's deep friendships with Tifa and Red XIII, Barret's new found friendships with Yuffie and Red XIII, and even the basic and immediate kinship many of them feel towards one other is more detailed and vibrant. I don't know man, I just love all these fuckin' guys, I constantly had the stupidest fucking grin on my face while playing this game it was honestly kinda cringe. Even side characters have so much more going on with them, certain characters that were previously throwaway will often give one a sense that there's something deeper going on with them as they continue to try to exist in this broken world, even the ones that are more comic relief than pathos-invoking.
The plot can often feel clumsy, but I'd say it's a lot more cohesive than the original's, pretty significantly too, the original occasionally feeling aimless and as it tried to find a reason to send you to the next exciting setpiece; even as somebody who replays the game often I find myself being confused which event flag I need to trigger next. And really the original Final Fantasy VII can be best-described as like, a bunch of Final Fantasy VI opera scenes strung together, and Rebirth leans into that so hard that I could see it being way too much for some people. If Final Fantasy XVI was way too dry for many, myself included, I could genuinely see Rebirth being perceived as excessively "wet" for others. Though, as a side note, when playing Final Fantasy XVI I'd often find myself unintentionally dozing off, whereas with Rebirth I actually had enormous trouble sleeping, both in finding a place I wanted to stop playing and the mild insomnia the excitement of getting to play the game again induced in my four day-ish long binge (which, I haven't done in a long fucking time without needing to take significant breaks, which happened quite often with Final Fantasy XVI, and as an adult in her 30s I think that's saying a lot).
On the topic of CBU1 styling super fucking hard on CBU3, god damn the combat in Rebirth is exactly what I wanted it to be, probably my favorite combat in general, from like, any video game? Like, it's not mechanically the deepest action game I've ever played, but it does expand upon Remake's systems in a meaningful way without upending what made those systems work in the first place. Final Fantasy has been focused on telling the player what any given character is about through how they play since like, FF4, and Rebirth's execution of that philosophy doesn't miss at all. Tifa is more fun than ever with an extensive aerial toolkit, I fucking love that she can juggle enemies and it kinda became my go to strategy at a certain point, which like Tifa was the blueprint for young Theia so I'm so glad they did her so good in this game both on a gameplay and narrative level. Red XIII I have to say feels a little bit busted!! I'm bad at playing as him, and he still seems really fucking useful even with unskilled play. Cait Sith I'm still trying to wrap my head around, but I wouldn't have it any other way than making Cait Sith a confusing mess to properly utilize. I wish Vincent was playable, one of like 10 or so boys in media that I actually care about, but I kinda understand why he isn't when he shows up so late that it was probably better to just focus on polishing the rest of the cast than implementing what's probably going to be a pretty unique kit on top of everything else going on.
There's a particular level involving Cait Sith that I'm pretty sure is gonna become like the third or fourth most contentious thing about the game, but I fucking loved it in a really fucked up Banjo-Tooieian way and nobody can take that away from me. The thing I can see becoming the second most contentious aspect about the game, what I thought would be the primary contention until I got to the ending (which I'll get to in a bit, and without spoiling anything, but if you don't want to know literally anything just be forewarned), is the open world game design elements. The best way to describe it is probably Xenoblade with some pointless Ubisoft shit, but it's not really as bad as it sounds, and much of it is entirely optional only providing secondary or tertiary benefits to character progression. As a "modern" interpretation of the original's wide, open, and mostly empty fields populated by sets of random enemy tables, I think it's probably a fair enough way to go about things. The life springs and towers I wasn't so much a fan of, like why do the towers play the BotW theme But At Home when you activate them, but the summon temple thingies felt a lot more meaningful than just picking up a materia off the ground, like how it usually worked in the original (seriously who was dropping all those bahamut variants and just leaving them there). The map designs themselves I did enjoy though, even if the Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga regions can be a little tedious at times, I honestly prefer having to mentally map out the geographical logic of an open world than the modern trend of empty fields with little identity and often no reason to engage with a game's environments and systems.
That said, the more linear "dungeon" levels are kinda mostly the same deal, but they did an even better job at making them feel like real places you're exploring this time 'round, as opposed to the modified FF13 hallway dealie in Remake. They're still largely linear, but the best way to explain why I think they work better is how the Final Fantasy standby of forked paths with option A being progression and option B being a treasure chest is more heavily obscured; I actually got a little bit lost in a couple of levels!!! Though sometimes that was the result of perhaps poor tutorialization of a level's specific gimmick or progress not being visually distinct enough, which like god damn the graphics are so fucking good in this game that it's almost hard to see anything unless I walked up to my TV (maybe I just need to invest in a larger screen for my old lady eyes but whateverrr), it's no wonder that there are several areas where the Uncharted climbing walls have the RE4R yellow paint on them. I know people are gonna slam the game for shit like that, which is like, yeah I can kinda get it, personally would've preferred more non-diegetic signaling over things that make me have annoying CinemaSin-esque intrusive thoughts about "who is painting all this shit out here in the middle of nowhere".
And you know, it's not gonna be the most discussed thing in the end, as uninspired as Rebirth's "structural quirks" may feel now, they'll probly become innocuous given enough time; that's just how these thing typically go. I wanna say the same will happen for the game's ending which... yeah. Not gonna say much here, but if you find yourself frustrated by it, I'd say give yourself some space and rewatch it on YouTube or something. It's a lot to take in, and I found it a lot more impactful after I had gotten some sleep and finally digested what was being shown to me. I don't think it was all exactly what I wanted it to be, far from it maybe, but there's something to be said about the way the entirety of Rebirth takes special moments dear to us and recontextualizes them into new special moments, sometimes even more special.
And a bit of a tangent, but I loathe the critic scores for this game. Not so much because they're necessarily wrong for enjoying the game, but because I'm starting to strongly believe that art, and especially interactive art, can't really be quantified on such simple terms, especially when people tend to have such viscerally opposed reactions to their experiences with any given work. What does a 10/10 even mean? On a personal level I could almost understand, but detached from the context of that personal experience how can we consider any piece of media to be in some arbitrary upper percentile of perfection? I guess I'm saying this because I know with scores like that people are going to come at this game with a certain set of expectations, but despite it being one of the most gorgeous and polished Final Fantasy titles that CBU1 has brought out in recent years, it's a deeply uneven experience. You will be frustrated, maybe you'll even get annoyed at the many side quests that suck ass and are total shit!!! Or something, maybe you'll hate the combat even if it's exactly what my brain has always wanted FF7's combat to be. But I guess like, when you look at a piece of art in its totality as opposed to a given qualification of Good or Bad, it's easier to just appreciate things as they are. Or even fucking hate them for what they are! People on this website tend to tear the shit out of really popular games and who's to say they're wrong for looking past consensus into a deeper inner truth, which you know, even if that comes from a place of unfounded contrarianism, good for them, man. Fuck video games!!
I hope it doesn't come off like I'm waffling or anything, I just really love this game, and I feel like the things I hated about it only made me love it more in a really fucked up way. I think playing Drakengard 3 for the first time a year ago gave me brain damage or something. Also like, on a final note, let me get more on brand here: there's some premier fucking queerbaiting going on here, and if that ain't more accurate to the actual single lesbian in her early 30s experience than any other AAA video game that has some fake ass porn-afflicted interpretation of sapphic romance where flesh puppets say sweet nothings at each other after completing a single questline or whatever the fuck, than I don't know what is. Anyways, sorry I had to make it gay in the end, but truly that is what the Final Fantasy VII was about all along: twinks with swords and bisexual women who can suplex kaijus. Which, you know, being able to do the latter is what's going to be main determinant if part 3 is good or not, so the ball's in your court now Square...
Much like Remake, characters that were once tableaus feel alive and truly connected as a group in a way the original just didn't have the ability to convey, just on an even more detailed and broader scale. And once again don't take that the wrong way, they're tableaus that I cherish dearly -- Final Fantasy VII's cast is my absolute favorite across like, all media -- but they're expanded upon so meaningfully: Tifa's self-destructive people-pleasing, Aerith's down to earth and fun attitude, Barret being the leftist extremist father figure we all know and love, Red XIII's deep loyalty, Yuffie's obnoxious little sister energy, Cait Sith's inopportune joviality, Cid's weird uncle vibes, and Vincent being the resident goth kid that has issues with authority. And their relationships with one other: Aerith's deep friendships with Tifa and Red XIII, Barret's new found friendships with Yuffie and Red XIII, and even the basic and immediate kinship many of them feel towards one other is more detailed and vibrant. I don't know man, I just love all these fuckin' guys, I constantly had the stupidest fucking grin on my face while playing this game it was honestly kinda cringe. Even side characters have so much more going on with them, certain characters that were previously throwaway will often give one a sense that there's something deeper going on with them as they continue to try to exist in this broken world, even the ones that are more comic relief than pathos-invoking.
The plot can often feel clumsy, but I'd say it's a lot more cohesive than the original's, pretty significantly too, the original occasionally feeling aimless and as it tried to find a reason to send you to the next exciting setpiece; even as somebody who replays the game often I find myself being confused which event flag I need to trigger next. And really the original Final Fantasy VII can be best-described as like, a bunch of Final Fantasy VI opera scenes strung together, and Rebirth leans into that so hard that I could see it being way too much for some people. If Final Fantasy XVI was way too dry for many, myself included, I could genuinely see Rebirth being perceived as excessively "wet" for others. Though, as a side note, when playing Final Fantasy XVI I'd often find myself unintentionally dozing off, whereas with Rebirth I actually had enormous trouble sleeping, both in finding a place I wanted to stop playing and the mild insomnia the excitement of getting to play the game again induced in my four day-ish long binge (which, I haven't done in a long fucking time without needing to take significant breaks, which happened quite often with Final Fantasy XVI, and as an adult in her 30s I think that's saying a lot).
On the topic of CBU1 styling super fucking hard on CBU3, god damn the combat in Rebirth is exactly what I wanted it to be, probably my favorite combat in general, from like, any video game? Like, it's not mechanically the deepest action game I've ever played, but it does expand upon Remake's systems in a meaningful way without upending what made those systems work in the first place. Final Fantasy has been focused on telling the player what any given character is about through how they play since like, FF4, and Rebirth's execution of that philosophy doesn't miss at all. Tifa is more fun than ever with an extensive aerial toolkit, I fucking love that she can juggle enemies and it kinda became my go to strategy at a certain point, which like Tifa was the blueprint for young Theia so I'm so glad they did her so good in this game both on a gameplay and narrative level. Red XIII I have to say feels a little bit busted!! I'm bad at playing as him, and he still seems really fucking useful even with unskilled play. Cait Sith I'm still trying to wrap my head around, but I wouldn't have it any other way than making Cait Sith a confusing mess to properly utilize. I wish Vincent was playable, one of like 10 or so boys in media that I actually care about, but I kinda understand why he isn't when he shows up so late that it was probably better to just focus on polishing the rest of the cast than implementing what's probably going to be a pretty unique kit on top of everything else going on.
There's a particular level involving Cait Sith that I'm pretty sure is gonna become like the third or fourth most contentious thing about the game, but I fucking loved it in a really fucked up Banjo-Tooieian way and nobody can take that away from me. The thing I can see becoming the second most contentious aspect about the game, what I thought would be the primary contention until I got to the ending (which I'll get to in a bit, and without spoiling anything, but if you don't want to know literally anything just be forewarned), is the open world game design elements. The best way to describe it is probably Xenoblade with some pointless Ubisoft shit, but it's not really as bad as it sounds, and much of it is entirely optional only providing secondary or tertiary benefits to character progression. As a "modern" interpretation of the original's wide, open, and mostly empty fields populated by sets of random enemy tables, I think it's probably a fair enough way to go about things. The life springs and towers I wasn't so much a fan of, like why do the towers play the BotW theme But At Home when you activate them, but the summon temple thingies felt a lot more meaningful than just picking up a materia off the ground, like how it usually worked in the original (seriously who was dropping all those bahamut variants and just leaving them there). The map designs themselves I did enjoy though, even if the Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga regions can be a little tedious at times, I honestly prefer having to mentally map out the geographical logic of an open world than the modern trend of empty fields with little identity and often no reason to engage with a game's environments and systems.
That said, the more linear "dungeon" levels are kinda mostly the same deal, but they did an even better job at making them feel like real places you're exploring this time 'round, as opposed to the modified FF13 hallway dealie in Remake. They're still largely linear, but the best way to explain why I think they work better is how the Final Fantasy standby of forked paths with option A being progression and option B being a treasure chest is more heavily obscured; I actually got a little bit lost in a couple of levels!!! Though sometimes that was the result of perhaps poor tutorialization of a level's specific gimmick or progress not being visually distinct enough, which like god damn the graphics are so fucking good in this game that it's almost hard to see anything unless I walked up to my TV (maybe I just need to invest in a larger screen for my old lady eyes but whateverrr), it's no wonder that there are several areas where the Uncharted climbing walls have the RE4R yellow paint on them. I know people are gonna slam the game for shit like that, which is like, yeah I can kinda get it, personally would've preferred more non-diegetic signaling over things that make me have annoying CinemaSin-esque intrusive thoughts about "who is painting all this shit out here in the middle of nowhere".
And you know, it's not gonna be the most discussed thing in the end, as uninspired as Rebirth's "structural quirks" may feel now, they'll probly become innocuous given enough time; that's just how these thing typically go. I wanna say the same will happen for the game's ending which... yeah. Not gonna say much here, but if you find yourself frustrated by it, I'd say give yourself some space and rewatch it on YouTube or something. It's a lot to take in, and I found it a lot more impactful after I had gotten some sleep and finally digested what was being shown to me. I don't think it was all exactly what I wanted it to be, far from it maybe, but there's something to be said about the way the entirety of Rebirth takes special moments dear to us and recontextualizes them into new special moments, sometimes even more special.
And a bit of a tangent, but I loathe the critic scores for this game. Not so much because they're necessarily wrong for enjoying the game, but because I'm starting to strongly believe that art, and especially interactive art, can't really be quantified on such simple terms, especially when people tend to have such viscerally opposed reactions to their experiences with any given work. What does a 10/10 even mean? On a personal level I could almost understand, but detached from the context of that personal experience how can we consider any piece of media to be in some arbitrary upper percentile of perfection? I guess I'm saying this because I know with scores like that people are going to come at this game with a certain set of expectations, but despite it being one of the most gorgeous and polished Final Fantasy titles that CBU1 has brought out in recent years, it's a deeply uneven experience. You will be frustrated, maybe you'll even get annoyed at the many side quests that suck ass and are total shit!!! Or something, maybe you'll hate the combat even if it's exactly what my brain has always wanted FF7's combat to be. But I guess like, when you look at a piece of art in its totality as opposed to a given qualification of Good or Bad, it's easier to just appreciate things as they are. Or even fucking hate them for what they are! People on this website tend to tear the shit out of really popular games and who's to say they're wrong for looking past consensus into a deeper inner truth, which you know, even if that comes from a place of unfounded contrarianism, good for them, man. Fuck video games!!
I hope it doesn't come off like I'm waffling or anything, I just really love this game, and I feel like the things I hated about it only made me love it more in a really fucked up way. I think playing Drakengard 3 for the first time a year ago gave me brain damage or something. Also like, on a final note, let me get more on brand here: there's some premier fucking queerbaiting going on here, and if that ain't more accurate to the actual single lesbian in her early 30s experience than any other AAA video game that has some fake ass porn-afflicted interpretation of sapphic romance where flesh puppets say sweet nothings at each other after completing a single questline or whatever the fuck, than I don't know what is. Anyways, sorry I had to make it gay in the end, but truly that is what the Final Fantasy VII was about all along: twinks with swords and bisexual women who can suplex kaijus. Which, you know, being able to do the latter is what's going to be main determinant if part 3 is good or not, so the ball's in your court now Square...
A game that knows exactly what it is and celebrates that fact wholeheartedly, this is perhaps the best action game I’ve ever played. Stylish and sick as hell from top to bottom, from the characters, to the music, and the combat, the fucking combat. Doing combo after combo on defenseless demons is one of the most hype feelings imaginable, and when you manage to pull off a series of moves you thought up it gets the adrenaline flowing. I’ve never really been a heavy action game player but this makes me feel like I’ve been in love with the genre for years.
I might’ve played this game on the lowest difficulty but I had such a good time even then that I can for sure see myself replaying, something I don’t really do a lot anymore. Hell I already started doing Devil Hunter mode with Vergil. This game is just too fun, yes I know I sound like a broken record saying this as much as I have but man I haven’t had such a good time with a combat system in years. There’s still so much I don’t fully grasp about it but I’m looking forward to unlocking more skills, doing even wilder moves, and fully mastering this game in due time.
As someone who knew about this game for a long time and knew a lot of the story beats being spoiled through osmosis, I’m still very pleasantly surprised how much I adored it still, along with the fantastic characters. Everyone who’s playable has a unique personality and charm to them along with a signature fighting style that conveys that very well to the player. For a game that I completed in about ten hours, I feel like I’ve grown far more attached to these characters than I would in most given ten hour stretches of games. The dynamics between everyone feel so charged with every interaction being a treat. This being my first go-round with the series I feel like there’s definitely a bunch I’m missing but they knew exactly what to do to bring me up to speed.
I could go on about the story for a while but I’ll simply stick to my basic thoughts of it being fun as hell, intense, and cathartic all at once. Given what I do know about the story of the earlier games this feels like such an immense payoff and if I was a lifelong DMC fan I would’ve been so incredibly happy to see this game come to fruition. The climax was incredible and felt like the culmination of so much about the series, from the relationship between Dante and Vergil, to this being a coming of age story for Nero; all incredibly strong notes to end on.
This game is kinda perfect in my eyes, does its job Smokin’ Sexy Style! all the way through
I might’ve played this game on the lowest difficulty but I had such a good time even then that I can for sure see myself replaying, something I don’t really do a lot anymore. Hell I already started doing Devil Hunter mode with Vergil. This game is just too fun, yes I know I sound like a broken record saying this as much as I have but man I haven’t had such a good time with a combat system in years. There’s still so much I don’t fully grasp about it but I’m looking forward to unlocking more skills, doing even wilder moves, and fully mastering this game in due time.
As someone who knew about this game for a long time and knew a lot of the story beats being spoiled through osmosis, I’m still very pleasantly surprised how much I adored it still, along with the fantastic characters. Everyone who’s playable has a unique personality and charm to them along with a signature fighting style that conveys that very well to the player. For a game that I completed in about ten hours, I feel like I’ve grown far more attached to these characters than I would in most given ten hour stretches of games. The dynamics between everyone feel so charged with every interaction being a treat. This being my first go-round with the series I feel like there’s definitely a bunch I’m missing but they knew exactly what to do to bring me up to speed.
I could go on about the story for a while but I’ll simply stick to my basic thoughts of it being fun as hell, intense, and cathartic all at once. Given what I do know about the story of the earlier games this feels like such an immense payoff and if I was a lifelong DMC fan I would’ve been so incredibly happy to see this game come to fruition. The climax was incredible and felt like the culmination of so much about the series, from the relationship between Dante and Vergil, to this being a coming of age story for Nero; all incredibly strong notes to end on.
This game is kinda perfect in my eyes, does its job Smokin’ Sexy Style! all the way through
Not everyone has the same trauma or reacts to it similarly but that doesn't make their emotions any less valid. In some ways it even ends up resonating with people and becomes mirrors for their past or current self.
This is one of those games that need to be more experienced than verbally discussed in order to get a feel for it but this was definitely something I need in my life right now and it's hard not the detach myself with the vulnerability Taylor was willing to put out with this work. Trauma looping is an endless cycle and no matter how long it takes, sometimes the losses you face are what you need to accept yourself and move forward.
"I wanted to be clean again."
This is one of those games that need to be more experienced than verbally discussed in order to get a feel for it but this was definitely something I need in my life right now and it's hard not the detach myself with the vulnerability Taylor was willing to put out with this work. Trauma looping is an endless cycle and no matter how long it takes, sometimes the losses you face are what you need to accept yourself and move forward.
"I wanted to be clean again."
Final Fantasy VII
1997
For starters, I was not expecting myself to have binge this game so soon after buying the game.
FF7 was not the first game I was originally intending to play in this series but I couldn't help still wanting to play it due to recommendations from friends and as rebirth has just came out.
What I hadn't expect though was a story, so entrenched in so many ideas that I think it reasons that it stands the test of time. From the beginning, insinuating a anti-corporation stance with Barret and Avalanche, it truly immerses you to midgar.
What this game does with it's protagonist has to be one of the most touching story I've seen in gaming. Cloud's character paved the way for a lot of my favourite characters in some shape or form, but that's not even the full brunt on what makes me appreciate him. His inspirations and insecurities are at the heart of the story. They somehow managed to trick me multiple times in terms of reveals that one its all said and done, it does so in such a profound and human way.
It feels like a triumph in storytelling and video games and I'm genuinely happy I got to experience this classic to it's fullest.
FF7 was not the first game I was originally intending to play in this series but I couldn't help still wanting to play it due to recommendations from friends and as rebirth has just came out.
What I hadn't expect though was a story, so entrenched in so many ideas that I think it reasons that it stands the test of time. From the beginning, insinuating a anti-corporation stance with Barret and Avalanche, it truly immerses you to midgar.
What this game does with it's protagonist has to be one of the most touching story I've seen in gaming. Cloud's character paved the way for a lot of my favourite characters in some shape or form, but that's not even the full brunt on what makes me appreciate him. His inspirations and insecurities are at the heart of the story. They somehow managed to trick me multiple times in terms of reveals that one its all said and done, it does so in such a profound and human way.
It feels like a triumph in storytelling and video games and I'm genuinely happy I got to experience this classic to it's fullest.
