Bio
Been gaming since the 90s. Started on the NES, but it wasn't until the PS1 era, and the release of Final Fantasy VII, where I realized games could be much more than just a high score or a fun way to pass the time. It was my first experience of a game "taking me on a journey". I've been hooked ever since. I enjoy all genres, but RPGs are my favorite.
Personal Ratings
1★
5★

Badges


1 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year

Adored

Gained 300+ total review likes

Roadtrip

Voted for at least 3 features on the roadmap

GOTY '23

Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event

Well Written

Gained 10+ likes on a single review

Donor

Liked 50+ reviews / lists

Pinged

Mentioned by another user

Shreked

Found the secret ogre page

Popular

Gained 15+ followers

Gamer

Played 250+ games

Loved

Gained 100+ total review likes

Best Friends

Become mutual friends with at least 3 others

Noticed

Gained 3+ followers

Gone Gold

Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page

N00b

Played 100+ games

Liked

Gained 10+ total review likes

Favorite Games

Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics
Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal

381

Total Games Played

000

Played in 2024

193

Games Backloggd


Recently Reviewed See More

I love what this game attempted to do... I really do. For what was originally a SNES title, this game was incredibly ambitious for its day. I was shocked at the mature storytelling and themes it tackled as I progressed through its lengthy campaign...

The many different characters and their motivations, political history, and the game's world can be fascinating, albeit a bit overwhelming, especially at the beginning. I was consistently referring to the game's Warren Report - which is essentially an encyclopedia of events, history, important plot points, characters, and lore just to keep up with all the names & places being mentioned.

Combine that with multiple different choices/paths, recruitable characters, and endings, I am a bit shocked at how much I just didn't like it by the end... and even now, I sit at the end dungeon in Chapter 4, a handful of hours from the game's conclusion, but I just don't really have the fortitude to continue on to the game's ending. I just feel kind of done with it. And this makes me incredibly sad...

I appreciate what was attempted here, and being a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, I can still respect Tactics Ogre as being a cornerstone in paving the way for the tactical RPG genre... but unfortunately, there were just too many things that bothered me to truly enjoy this title.

Firstly, let's start with the characters and story. Some of the character motivations are head-scratching at best... I couldn't get over a certain decision made at the end of Chapter 1 and the lack of impact it had... I think with the appropriate build-up, this could have been an incredibly groundbreaking moment, but instead it felt forced and a bit silly. Some actions just didn't feel believable to me, especially with the game presenting it as a choice for our main "hero". And don't get me started on the two "childhood friends": Catiua and Vyse. I absolutely despised these 2, almost from the very beginning... and as the game wore on, they just kept getting worse and worse. They never once felt like "friends" and the decisions some of these characters make and the choices presented were infuriating and/or laughable at times.

I feel that they just didn't work well, and that Matsuno re-attempted it (in a much more believable way, and with greater success) in Final Fantasy Tactics with the character, Delita Hyral. In each and every way, whether it be story, characters or gameplay, I just couldn't shake the feeling that this game was a rough draft, beta version, and an overall inferior product to FFT.

All in all, the game's plot, characters, and themes were so very close to being great... I loved the localization and dialogue presented, but I feel it was a bit overly ambitious and just couldn't reach those legendary heights at which it aspired to reach.

But even saying all of this, I could still have loved this game if only I enjoyed the gameplay... but I don't... in fact, this is where I surprisingly had the most problems with the game. There are so many little things that bothered me where I just found the entire experience unenjoyable. I'll summarize a handful of my issues with the gameplay below:

1. There are too many characters allowed into a battle - I enjoy the party mechanics of having only 4-6 party members in battle like in FFT, but anytime I saw 10+ in this game, rather than feel like it was going to be some epic fight, I braced myself for I knew it was going to be a long, arduous, and boring slog... those 12 party fights were a true pain in the ass to get through. They felt like they took forever... and there are just far too many of them.
2. The first 2-3 turns in combat... they are literally just rushing or waiting to get close to the enemy so you could actually perform actions... dragging the combat out even further.
3. Too much health - Jesus Christ, why does it take so many hits to down an enemy. This shit was ridiculous... nothing ever dies quickly. Neither your team, nor the enemy. With this many characters, at least let them go down fast, I mean goddamn.
4. The level cap mechanic - I understand trying to keep the game challenging and strategic, but there were so many battles where it felt like an enormous waste of time with me getting into 30+ minute fights with no real reward. When fights feel like they're wasting a player's valuable time, I start trying to rush through them.
5. It is all a bit basic - if it wasn't for the other issues, this wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but the intricacies of the combat, and the lack of character abilities/customization, compounded some of the issues I had with it...

I didn't expect to dislike this game as much as a I did... the more I think about it, the more problems I have with it... I'll leave it shelved for now, as I know I'm right at the end. Maybe I'll bump it a half a point if the ending makes it feel like the journey was all worth it, but unfortunately, I doubt it.

"Just you left, is it?"
"Yeah... just me."

Let me just get this out of the way immediately: this is the greatest open world game I've ever played, bar none! In comparison to other open world games, it isn't even a fair fight; this is easily the finest crafted in the entire "open world/sandbox" genre. Rockstar is just on another level when compared to other developers, which is why I'll always be there Day 1 whenever they release a new title.

RDR2 improved upon the 1st in every conceivable way. An incredible amount of detail was put into this work of art to create a massive, living, breathing world... the realism on display here is utterly unbelievable. When I played this, I was completely immersed into the setting and never got tired of playing it throughout its lengthy campaign. All in all, there is so much to see and so much to do in this game, that I know even after putting over 100+ hours into it, I still am not even close to seeing everything.

Starting with the characters - the Van der Linde gang has an amazing assortment of personalities: some you love, others you love to hate... it truly feels like a family at the beginning that slowly begins to unravel and decline. The personal journeys, their character arcs, and the direction the storyline heads in is Rockstar at its absolute best. This is peak storytelling, world building, and character development in a video game.

Dutch van der Linde, the de facto leader of the group, has such charisma and personality, that he'll even convince (more like manipulate) some players that "he has a plan" and that he'd be a good person to follow. He's a fascinating character here unlike what little you see of him in RDR1. Also, I loved seeing a younger John Marston... it gave me a bit of nostalgic feelings, but also at the same time, made me wonder (and dread) how the events were going to unfold to get to where we end up in the 1st game.

And then there is the lead, Arthur Morgan - it didn't take long for me to no longer miss playing as John, and absolutely fall in love with him. His character journey I think may even outshine John's from the 1st game. The scene with Sister Calderon is seered into my memory - a very powerful moment. How great the voice acting and facial animations are in this game are really on display during this pivotal scene. Saying all of that though, I still love John Marston. Both him and Arthur are the 2 greatest protagonists that Rockstar has ever created.

Even with God of War coming out in 2018, this was my personal GoTY that year. If you loved the spaghetti westerns of old, such as "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" - just imagine if you could play it... That is what it feels like with this game. It's an epic, legendary masterpiece, with a storyline and conclusion that will leave you feeling all sorts of different emotions... combine that with some of the best music that feels perfectly in line with the late, great Ennio Morricone, and you have one of the easiest 5/5 scores I could ever give out. An absolute must play, and Rockstar's greatest game.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - RDR2 has probably the greatest epilogue in all of video games. The epilogue alone is as long as most full AAA games in terms of how much story there still is to play out, and it is fan service done to perfection! I've never been more hyped hearing certain musical tracks and experiencing character/story moments. An experience I'll never forget.

"First Law: All puppets must obey their Creator's commands.
Second Law: A puppet may not harm humans.
Third Law: A puppet protects and serves humans and the city of Krat.
Fourth Law: A puppet cannot lie.
Fifth Law: You MUST play this game!"


Is it too late to take back my Game of the Year vote? After just completing Lies of P, I think this may overtake everything else I've played in 2023... I may need some time for it truly sink in, as I don't want to fall victim to recency bias, but coming off the excellent ending, it leaves me wanting more, and eagerly anticipating another game from Neowiz Games.

I was initially apprehensive when I first saw this game get announced... and even after playing the demo, I wasn't fully sold on this game. My impressions were that it was a full-on clone of Bloodborne...and somewhat embarassingly so... because of this, I didn't really have much of an interest of playing it beyond surface level of it being another "Souls-like".

It wasn't until I played the full game did I start seeing the game stand on its own terms, and appreciated the interesting new ideas it had.

The gameplay was tons of fun, the music hauntingly beautiful, the story was excellent and I had a great time exploring its world. I also loved how much more digestible and understandable the story was than any From Software game - I love not missing NPC interactions, missing item descriptions, or having to go to VaatiVidya to provide a comprehensive college course on understanding the game's lore. Much appreciated.

Lastly, I'll just mention that this was the next "Souls game" I played after beating Elden Ring from a couple years ago, and I absolutely adored this game's linear and tight game design. It was the absolute perfect length, coming in at around 30 hours, which makes it highly replayable. I literally booted up a 2nd playthrough for New Game+ immediately afterwards, and tried out a different weapon/playstyle. I miss games like this that don't overstay their welcome and feel like they are padding content out and wasting the player's time.

One of the best games I played in an absolutely stacked year!

Below contain some of my favorite songs from the game:

Feel - my favorite record song in the game.
Krat Hotel - perfect ambiance for a place that is the main hub of the game.
Trinity Sanctum - I love how mysterious this sounds.
Someday - another excellent record that I played in the hotel throughout the game.