Ghost_In_Hand
7 reviews liked by Ghost_In_Hand
Virtua Tennis
1999
Zero hyperbole, zero exaggeration, one of the greatest video games ever made. Local multiplayer genuinely does not get better than this. Game is so easy to pick up and play and so fucking hard to master. Presentation is still amazing to this day with smooth animations, tv style replays, graphics that hold up and an iconic butt rock guitar soundtrack. Def recommend playing on an arcade stick if you can. Sega at its best.
Persona 4
2008
HEARTBEAT HEARBEAT IT KEEPS ON POUNDING
HEARTBEAT HEARBREAK YOU TELL ME GOODBYE
HEARTBEAT HEARBREAK YOU TELL ME GOODBYE
Wow.
This game is far from perfect, the middle to end part of the game wasn't very interesting, there are too many interesting characters that you barely interact with and the worldbuilding is in some ways pretty bad, there's some frankly weird gender stuff going on with who can or can't become a witch and describing the home planet of the only major black character as more primitive was certainly a choice that could have been entirely avoided.
But when this game works, it works really well. I was hooked for most of it (except during the aforementioned middle to end part) and especially the final chapter had me glued to the game like very few other games have managed.
It really made me feel like an incredibly powerful witch, a level of power fantasy I have never felt in any other game.
The game never really explains how its core mechanic works and I think that is a brilliant move to make the magic feel more magical. And i intend to keep that mystery up by not replaying the game, at least not for a while, even though there are so many possibilities I wish to explore.
I'd even go so far as to say that it's one of those games that managed to broaden my horizon of what a game can be.
This game is far from perfect, the middle to end part of the game wasn't very interesting, there are too many interesting characters that you barely interact with and the worldbuilding is in some ways pretty bad, there's some frankly weird gender stuff going on with who can or can't become a witch and describing the home planet of the only major black character as more primitive was certainly a choice that could have been entirely avoided.
But when this game works, it works really well. I was hooked for most of it (except during the aforementioned middle to end part) and especially the final chapter had me glued to the game like very few other games have managed.
It really made me feel like an incredibly powerful witch, a level of power fantasy I have never felt in any other game.
The game never really explains how its core mechanic works and I think that is a brilliant move to make the magic feel more magical. And i intend to keep that mystery up by not replaying the game, at least not for a while, even though there are so many possibilities I wish to explore.
I'd even go so far as to say that it's one of those games that managed to broaden my horizon of what a game can be.
God of War Ragnarök
2022
This review contains spoilers
There’s a lot to like about God of War Ragnarok, but its strict adherence to the now slightly-overplayed PlayStation Studios cinematic style prevents it from hitting the same narrative and gameplay highs as its 2018 predecessor.
God of War has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. The original trilogy has not particularly aged well both gameplay and narrative wise, but are still solid hack and slash games when you’re feeling like playing something fairly mindless. I was a huge fan of the 2018 God of War reboot on the PlayStation 4; in my opinion, the series successfully reinvented itself, blending a combat update that felt modern and damn satisfying, along with a much more intimate and quiet story and a greater emphasis on writing and character development with Kratos and Atreus.
For better or for worse, Ragnarok is more of what we got in 2018’s GoW reboot, with not many new conventions to really shake it up as much as the original game. Ragnarok is still a single shot, third person cinematic action game, still a game about the bonds between father and son and how they cope with their prophetic journeys across the Nine Realms, and still loaded with superfluous gameplay mechanics that seem hellbent on making sure players are occupied at all times.
The combat system has mostly stayed the same, but with the major additions of Atreus as a playable character, new companions that each have their own unique abilities and skill trees, as well as a third weapon you’ll unlock in the back half of the game. I personally loved Atreus’ gameplay more than Kratos’ - his blend of fast paced ranged combat with his bow (that controls much better than trying to do ranged moves with Kratos’ axe) and melee attacks, along with a floating sword companion you’ll unlock feels great and you have tons of options with how you want to engage with combat. On the Kratos side, the axe and chains still feel good and the updated skill tree moves you unlock throughout the game are still fun, but a lot of the camera issues and annoying off screen enemies from the last game still persist here. Kratos’ third weapon he unlocks, the Draupnir spear, is a fun tool to play around with but has nowhere near the same level of impact unlocking the blades did in the previous game.
Narrative-wise, Ragnarok tries to tell a more bombastic story than the previous game, to mixed success. The game revolves around Kratos and Atreus trying to prevent Ragnarok from occurring, while dealing with the potential consequences several prophecies involving Kratos’ death, and Atreus learning more about his past as a Giant, and his fated end of serving Odin. The story beats still hit just as hard as the previous game, and I do give the writing team credit for handling the more heartfelt moments - particularly during the last few hours of the game. I also really like many of the new characters introduced - Agyrboda and the various members of Odin’s family being my favorite new additions. Agyrboda’s section of the game where you first control Atreus brought a level of fun to the story without being too overbearing and Odin’s family are written super well - they are more layered than what you’d expect, Thor particularly. The lore of the game continues to be very interesting as well, the world is fun to explore, looks amazing and the side content arguably is more enjoyable than some of the story missions.
Unfortunately, the story suffers from bloat during the intro and middle parts of the game, as well as a very poor script and extremely annoying dialogue. Some of this is due to the insistence of a single shot for the entire game - most of the exposition comes from the same pattern of walk through the environment, kill a bunch of enemies, hear whichever character you’re controlling try and hash out their problems with their companion, rinse and repeat. While many of the games heartfelt moments are handled well and provide genuine emotion, just as many are very hamfisted and almost feel like parody - for example, the opening shot being just a shot of what looks like Kratos crying with a camera awkwardly hanging on him for a bit too long. Character dialogue is the worst offender - the script feels like it was written by a new dad in his early 40s who reads Reddit “Am I The Asshole?” threads every single day. Characters quip and quip and quip, quickly becoming unfunny and lessening the impact of the more emotional moments. There are no quiet moments either unlike the last game - even alone, characters frequently monologue to themselves which frequently becomes annoying to listen to. Mimir in particular went from being the funny and interesting lore guy to being a guy that just never shuts up. The tone of the game feels too much like a marvel movie (derogatory). For a game about the impending apocalypse, the tone of the game only really starts to feel desperate and melancholy during the final act after the death of a major character, which I feel like should have been like that through the whole game.
While the core mechanics of GoW Ragnarok are solid, the game doesn’t shy away from some of the more common AAA game mechanic trends that unfortunately bring the experience down. I was not a fan of the RPG-lite elements of the first game and was disappointed to see they were brought back and made even more complicated. The game encourages you to constantly craft new armor and weapon upgrades, but the rewards for doing so are superfluous for the most part beyond very minor stat boosts and new outfits if you like playing dress up. It feels like it wants to have character builds a la Diablo or Path of Exile, but doesn’t really commit to it as the attacks always feel the same and you can ignore builds for the most part as long as you are constantly leveling up. The game is always throwing new mechanics at you which honestly made the game systems seem bloated. I do enjoy God of War puzzles, but characters speak too much during them, often revealing hints for you before you even get a chance to think. Many times I’ve entered a room with an idea on how to solve a puzzle, only to have Atreus blurt out the answer immediately. Conversely, companions stay silent on a handful of puzzles I found myself walking in circles for a few minutes on. Characters are constantly throwing side missions and begging you to go off the beaten path to find treasure, but as someone who mainly plays these games for the story and prefers to save the side stuff for the end, I found the constant nagging to be incredibly annoying. Considering the sensory overload of constant dialogue, new mechanics, tons of tooltips and fight sequences, the game seems hell bent on making sure players are never bored, but at the consequence of not being able to stop to think and catch your breath, and you don’t get the more quiet, intimate moments that really defined the 2018 GoW.
Overall, GoW Ragnarok was a solid experience. I enjoyed the story and the few side missions I played (and want to do more before I move on to another game), but the game just doesn’t have the same impact GoW 2018 had on me when I played it five years ago. I hope we get to see more of Kratos and Atreus, but I hope they take more creative risks and try to break the PlayStation AAA mold they seem to be boxed into.
A few final notes:
The game visually looks amazing. The realms pop with color and detail and character models look great. PS4 technical limitations definitely held this game back (all the classic crawling through wall loading screen tricks are back!)
I LOVED the soundtrack. Very unique instrument choices and the more ambient tracks really stood out and helped set the mood.
The accessibility options provided are extremely impressive and should be the standard in games going forward.
Kratos and Thor should have at least kissed once or something :/
God of War has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. The original trilogy has not particularly aged well both gameplay and narrative wise, but are still solid hack and slash games when you’re feeling like playing something fairly mindless. I was a huge fan of the 2018 God of War reboot on the PlayStation 4; in my opinion, the series successfully reinvented itself, blending a combat update that felt modern and damn satisfying, along with a much more intimate and quiet story and a greater emphasis on writing and character development with Kratos and Atreus.
For better or for worse, Ragnarok is more of what we got in 2018’s GoW reboot, with not many new conventions to really shake it up as much as the original game. Ragnarok is still a single shot, third person cinematic action game, still a game about the bonds between father and son and how they cope with their prophetic journeys across the Nine Realms, and still loaded with superfluous gameplay mechanics that seem hellbent on making sure players are occupied at all times.
The combat system has mostly stayed the same, but with the major additions of Atreus as a playable character, new companions that each have their own unique abilities and skill trees, as well as a third weapon you’ll unlock in the back half of the game. I personally loved Atreus’ gameplay more than Kratos’ - his blend of fast paced ranged combat with his bow (that controls much better than trying to do ranged moves with Kratos’ axe) and melee attacks, along with a floating sword companion you’ll unlock feels great and you have tons of options with how you want to engage with combat. On the Kratos side, the axe and chains still feel good and the updated skill tree moves you unlock throughout the game are still fun, but a lot of the camera issues and annoying off screen enemies from the last game still persist here. Kratos’ third weapon he unlocks, the Draupnir spear, is a fun tool to play around with but has nowhere near the same level of impact unlocking the blades did in the previous game.
Narrative-wise, Ragnarok tries to tell a more bombastic story than the previous game, to mixed success. The game revolves around Kratos and Atreus trying to prevent Ragnarok from occurring, while dealing with the potential consequences several prophecies involving Kratos’ death, and Atreus learning more about his past as a Giant, and his fated end of serving Odin. The story beats still hit just as hard as the previous game, and I do give the writing team credit for handling the more heartfelt moments - particularly during the last few hours of the game. I also really like many of the new characters introduced - Agyrboda and the various members of Odin’s family being my favorite new additions. Agyrboda’s section of the game where you first control Atreus brought a level of fun to the story without being too overbearing and Odin’s family are written super well - they are more layered than what you’d expect, Thor particularly. The lore of the game continues to be very interesting as well, the world is fun to explore, looks amazing and the side content arguably is more enjoyable than some of the story missions.
Unfortunately, the story suffers from bloat during the intro and middle parts of the game, as well as a very poor script and extremely annoying dialogue. Some of this is due to the insistence of a single shot for the entire game - most of the exposition comes from the same pattern of walk through the environment, kill a bunch of enemies, hear whichever character you’re controlling try and hash out their problems with their companion, rinse and repeat. While many of the games heartfelt moments are handled well and provide genuine emotion, just as many are very hamfisted and almost feel like parody - for example, the opening shot being just a shot of what looks like Kratos crying with a camera awkwardly hanging on him for a bit too long. Character dialogue is the worst offender - the script feels like it was written by a new dad in his early 40s who reads Reddit “Am I The Asshole?” threads every single day. Characters quip and quip and quip, quickly becoming unfunny and lessening the impact of the more emotional moments. There are no quiet moments either unlike the last game - even alone, characters frequently monologue to themselves which frequently becomes annoying to listen to. Mimir in particular went from being the funny and interesting lore guy to being a guy that just never shuts up. The tone of the game feels too much like a marvel movie (derogatory). For a game about the impending apocalypse, the tone of the game only really starts to feel desperate and melancholy during the final act after the death of a major character, which I feel like should have been like that through the whole game.
While the core mechanics of GoW Ragnarok are solid, the game doesn’t shy away from some of the more common AAA game mechanic trends that unfortunately bring the experience down. I was not a fan of the RPG-lite elements of the first game and was disappointed to see they were brought back and made even more complicated. The game encourages you to constantly craft new armor and weapon upgrades, but the rewards for doing so are superfluous for the most part beyond very minor stat boosts and new outfits if you like playing dress up. It feels like it wants to have character builds a la Diablo or Path of Exile, but doesn’t really commit to it as the attacks always feel the same and you can ignore builds for the most part as long as you are constantly leveling up. The game is always throwing new mechanics at you which honestly made the game systems seem bloated. I do enjoy God of War puzzles, but characters speak too much during them, often revealing hints for you before you even get a chance to think. Many times I’ve entered a room with an idea on how to solve a puzzle, only to have Atreus blurt out the answer immediately. Conversely, companions stay silent on a handful of puzzles I found myself walking in circles for a few minutes on. Characters are constantly throwing side missions and begging you to go off the beaten path to find treasure, but as someone who mainly plays these games for the story and prefers to save the side stuff for the end, I found the constant nagging to be incredibly annoying. Considering the sensory overload of constant dialogue, new mechanics, tons of tooltips and fight sequences, the game seems hell bent on making sure players are never bored, but at the consequence of not being able to stop to think and catch your breath, and you don’t get the more quiet, intimate moments that really defined the 2018 GoW.
Overall, GoW Ragnarok was a solid experience. I enjoyed the story and the few side missions I played (and want to do more before I move on to another game), but the game just doesn’t have the same impact GoW 2018 had on me when I played it five years ago. I hope we get to see more of Kratos and Atreus, but I hope they take more creative risks and try to break the PlayStation AAA mold they seem to be boxed into.
A few final notes:
The game visually looks amazing. The realms pop with color and detail and character models look great. PS4 technical limitations definitely held this game back (all the classic crawling through wall loading screen tricks are back!)
I LOVED the soundtrack. Very unique instrument choices and the more ambient tracks really stood out and helped set the mood.
The accessibility options provided are extremely impressive and should be the standard in games going forward.
Kratos and Thor should have at least kissed once or something :/
Citizen Sleeper
2022
I could talk at length about how bad the UI is, how tedious every single action ends up becoming, how the replayability is way lower than the game designers think it is, how basically none of your dialogue options matter, or how character customization is pretty much irrelevant because of how you always end up being a jack of all trades at the end but ultimately, the game’s most fatal flaw is that the goal is to escape the Eye but you’re never really given a reason to want to escape the Eye.
You hear about how life sucks everywhere, not just on your station, and you can pretty easily not just survive, but thrive.
The first couple of hours, before I had things figured out, were pretty cool though, I’ll admit that.
You hear about how life sucks everywhere, not just on your station, and you can pretty easily not just survive, but thrive.
The first couple of hours, before I had things figured out, were pretty cool though, I’ll admit that.
Dark Souls III
2016
Whenever I play Dark Souls 3, I can't shake the feeling that I'm just running down a very long hallway. The entire game feels like a straight line from beginning to end in a way that's sort of unsettling once you notice it. And I could see myself maybe appreciating that experience... if I liked the areas, enemies, or combat in this game. Unfortunately, I don't.
The movesets on every enemy in this game are so fast and combo oriented that it makes progressing a slog. In the previous two games, basic enemies are threatening in numbers but rarely one-on-one, especially for an experienced player. This keeps early areas and fights from being too overwhelming for newer, more cautious players. Crucially, though, it also makes repeated trips through an area frustration-free on the combat side once you do understand what's there and how to respond.
This is not the case in Dark Souls 3. No matter how many times I play it, I live in constant fear of stun-lock combos and enemies chasing me faster than I can sprint even in early areas. I never feel like I reach that point where I can use my experience to confidently cut my way through an area that I do in the first two games. Every fight potentially being a near death experience is not what I want from Souls games, yet that's what FromSoft seems to want from them now if this and portions of Elden Ring are anything to go by. And don't get me started on how much they ruined magic with this one.
The story here is also the flimsiest of the trilogy, content to just shrug and say, "Idk, all that old stuff you liked is back because the world is ending, I guess". But in a nearly Rise of Skywalker-tier display of pettiness, the "old stuff you liked" is apparently all from the first Dark Souls. Hardly a hint of 2 anywhere to be found. The NPC stories are also a step back from 2, as following most characters' quests without a guide is now hilariously obtuse. How this happened when the game is the most linear of the three is beyond me.
This is the only one of the trilogy I haven't even gotten close to finishing, my motivation always petering out somewhere around the Smouldering Lake/Irithyll section of the game at the latest. It just isn't for me, and I'm okay with that. Even if it is disappointing.
The movesets on every enemy in this game are so fast and combo oriented that it makes progressing a slog. In the previous two games, basic enemies are threatening in numbers but rarely one-on-one, especially for an experienced player. This keeps early areas and fights from being too overwhelming for newer, more cautious players. Crucially, though, it also makes repeated trips through an area frustration-free on the combat side once you do understand what's there and how to respond.
This is not the case in Dark Souls 3. No matter how many times I play it, I live in constant fear of stun-lock combos and enemies chasing me faster than I can sprint even in early areas. I never feel like I reach that point where I can use my experience to confidently cut my way through an area that I do in the first two games. Every fight potentially being a near death experience is not what I want from Souls games, yet that's what FromSoft seems to want from them now if this and portions of Elden Ring are anything to go by. And don't get me started on how much they ruined magic with this one.
The story here is also the flimsiest of the trilogy, content to just shrug and say, "Idk, all that old stuff you liked is back because the world is ending, I guess". But in a nearly Rise of Skywalker-tier display of pettiness, the "old stuff you liked" is apparently all from the first Dark Souls. Hardly a hint of 2 anywhere to be found. The NPC stories are also a step back from 2, as following most characters' quests without a guide is now hilariously obtuse. How this happened when the game is the most linear of the three is beyond me.
This is the only one of the trilogy I haven't even gotten close to finishing, my motivation always petering out somewhere around the Smouldering Lake/Irithyll section of the game at the latest. It just isn't for me, and I'm okay with that. Even if it is disappointing.
"Oh, hello! Don't mind me, I'm just recording my thoughts about Dark Souls 2. But please, stay! You're not a bother, and I promise my completed work will be of interest to you. Now if only I could remember where to start..."
Perhaps you've seen it, maybe in a dream
A murky, forgotten land
Dark Souls 2 does most of what I appreciate from the first game, but it also makes a huge, immediately obvious change to the original's structure. The first Dark Souls up until Anor Londo is almost more impossibly layered diorama than representation of a physical place, full of gestures toward a larger world and details hidden in whatever nooks and crannies could fit them. While not necessarily always to scale, an outside observer could understand all of a little slice of the real Lordran by studying Dark Souls' diorama of it.
But in Dark Souls 2, the diorama's layers have been scattered into dew drops on the joints of a much larger spiderweb that we've fallen into. The geography of the world is continuous but never straightforward or comprehensive. There are two different routes to the same island jail, a dead end for both inlets. Branches flow out cleanly from Majula only to lose coherence as they spiral over top of themselves. Up is down, forward is backward. We cannot comprehend Drangleic because we're trapped in it, flailing to get out.
Without really knowing why
Like a moth drawn to a flame
Flesh in Drangleic is soft and heavy. Even the smallest bodies move with a lumbering, lurching heft and respond to each blow they take with a wet thump. Death is a weighty thud into the floor and stillness thereafter. Even the cursed eventually don't have the strength required to lift themselves back up, instead simply dissolving into nothing.
Flesh in Drangleic is also highly adaptable. The curse makes dramatic changes to your appearance that can be just as easily reversed in an infinite tug of war. Lying in a coffin can reshape your entire physique. Heads and bodies live on separate from each other. People frozen in stone for ages can be thawed, emerging unharmed.
Your past, your future, your very light
None will have meaning and you won't even care
But the mind is not so lucky. Dark Souls 2 reimagines what it means to go hollow. Hollowing is not a sudden flip to the other state of a binary system, it's a slow descent where you're painfully aware of how much you're losing with each step. Characters work tirelessly toward goals even as they forget their motives. The seeming inevitability of it all is terrifying. Even the king, for all his power, could not escape becoming a shell of himself.
For that is your fate
The fate of the cursed
You can fight this of course, while you're able. The variety of weapons and spells offers something for everyone to find and latch onto for safety. Magic is at its most expressive and flexible in the series here, with mountains of sorceries, hexes, miracles, and pyromancies to choose from. Powerstancing is fun, and dual wielding in general just clicks in this game in a way that it never really does in the others.
And if you do fight on, some of the most evocative areas in games await you. Almost every new location makes me stop in my tracks to soak it in when I arrive, even on repeat playthroughs. Drangleic Castle is blanketed by an everlasting thunderstorm not for inscrutable lore reasons, but just because it's a super cool looking backdrop for the Looking Glass Knight fight and the turning point in the story. I love the unpretentious honesty of that.
Long ago, in a walled off land far to the North, a great king built a great kindgom
I believe they called it Drangleic...
I wish Dark Souls 2's attitude that prior games were not sacred carried on into FromSoft's future Souls/Souls-adjacent games. But alas, it was not to be. Dark Souls 2 is the Bad One, the one that screwed up so bad we needed 3 to "fix" the series as the real sequel. The first Dark Souls (itself a heavily divergent follow up to Demon's Souls) is now holy doctrine that must be followed to the letter. We would rather stagnate in the ever more dilapidated ruins of the past until we can't even remember why we came here in the first place than commit to a change that might be wrong.
And could there be a more fitting fate for the series after Dark Souls 2's reception than that?
Perhaps you've seen it, maybe in a dream
A murky, forgotten land
Dark Souls 2 does most of what I appreciate from the first game, but it also makes a huge, immediately obvious change to the original's structure. The first Dark Souls up until Anor Londo is almost more impossibly layered diorama than representation of a physical place, full of gestures toward a larger world and details hidden in whatever nooks and crannies could fit them. While not necessarily always to scale, an outside observer could understand all of a little slice of the real Lordran by studying Dark Souls' diorama of it.
But in Dark Souls 2, the diorama's layers have been scattered into dew drops on the joints of a much larger spiderweb that we've fallen into. The geography of the world is continuous but never straightforward or comprehensive. There are two different routes to the same island jail, a dead end for both inlets. Branches flow out cleanly from Majula only to lose coherence as they spiral over top of themselves. Up is down, forward is backward. We cannot comprehend Drangleic because we're trapped in it, flailing to get out.
Without really knowing why
Like a moth drawn to a flame
Flesh in Drangleic is soft and heavy. Even the smallest bodies move with a lumbering, lurching heft and respond to each blow they take with a wet thump. Death is a weighty thud into the floor and stillness thereafter. Even the cursed eventually don't have the strength required to lift themselves back up, instead simply dissolving into nothing.
Flesh in Drangleic is also highly adaptable. The curse makes dramatic changes to your appearance that can be just as easily reversed in an infinite tug of war. Lying in a coffin can reshape your entire physique. Heads and bodies live on separate from each other. People frozen in stone for ages can be thawed, emerging unharmed.
Your past, your future, your very light
None will have meaning and you won't even care
But the mind is not so lucky. Dark Souls 2 reimagines what it means to go hollow. Hollowing is not a sudden flip to the other state of a binary system, it's a slow descent where you're painfully aware of how much you're losing with each step. Characters work tirelessly toward goals even as they forget their motives. The seeming inevitability of it all is terrifying. Even the king, for all his power, could not escape becoming a shell of himself.
For that is your fate
The fate of the cursed
You can fight this of course, while you're able. The variety of weapons and spells offers something for everyone to find and latch onto for safety. Magic is at its most expressive and flexible in the series here, with mountains of sorceries, hexes, miracles, and pyromancies to choose from. Powerstancing is fun, and dual wielding in general just clicks in this game in a way that it never really does in the others.
And if you do fight on, some of the most evocative areas in games await you. Almost every new location makes me stop in my tracks to soak it in when I arrive, even on repeat playthroughs. Drangleic Castle is blanketed by an everlasting thunderstorm not for inscrutable lore reasons, but just because it's a super cool looking backdrop for the Looking Glass Knight fight and the turning point in the story. I love the unpretentious honesty of that.
Long ago, in a walled off land far to the North, a great king built a great kindgom
I believe they called it Drangleic...
I wish Dark Souls 2's attitude that prior games were not sacred carried on into FromSoft's future Souls/Souls-adjacent games. But alas, it was not to be. Dark Souls 2 is the Bad One, the one that screwed up so bad we needed 3 to "fix" the series as the real sequel. The first Dark Souls (itself a heavily divergent follow up to Demon's Souls) is now holy doctrine that must be followed to the letter. We would rather stagnate in the ever more dilapidated ruins of the past until we can't even remember why we came here in the first place than commit to a change that might be wrong.
And could there be a more fitting fate for the series after Dark Souls 2's reception than that?