It is absolutely amazing how a single design decision like the removal of item boxes can absolutely cripple an entire game. That's far from the only problem though. Small QOL issues like picking up items/loading new areas/inventory screens all being obnoxiously slow are rampant. The story is pretty undercooked and uninteresting, and the main villain is definitely campy, but not the type of campy I like out of Resident Evil. The map design also makes traversal a huge chore and the amount of pointless backtracking is very high. Positives: Rebecca and Billy are both great, visually it's very impressive... ehhh

Had a really great time with this one! I respect it a ton and Mikami is amazing. The level design here is just so labyrinthian and it gets very satisfying to finally start to learn the layout of the mansion the further in you go. A great argument for fixed camera angles, the game looks absolutely gorgeous still and the camera does a lot to add to that moody atmosphere. Crimson heads are a fantastic idea and add so much to the tension, forcing you to plan out routes to avoid creating more potential headache later on. Some small complaints: It'd be real nice to skip door opening animations... at the time it obviously wasn't possible but I'd love to see this version of the game patched or reworked to have more seamless loading. Also, the inventory management got just a bit too out of hand for me at times. With all that being said, I'm really glad I finally played this.

Not an original opinion here but this is one of the worst games I've ever played lmao. Why does Yuji Naka think his stupid one button philosophy is a good idea for a 3D platformer of all things? Losing the ability to jump with certain costumes kneecaps the level design so hard and the decision is entirely arbitrary.

Movement feel is terrible, art/designs are mostly garish and simply bizarre, technical problems are everywhere. The "Tims" are just... not explained? Anywhere? And they seem to be the only point of the collectible gems as well so the fact that it's this obtuse is baffling. A platformer with awful platforming, a collectathon with bland, confusing collectibles that aren't even placed in interesting locations. Don't even get me started on the "combat."

Why is there just terrible raw mo-cap data slapped on exaggerated cartoony characters with no extra work done... why do all of the NPCs just vanish when you get close to them... why does the world have this nauseating stage morph effect always going on... I'm just rambling at this point.

This entire trainwreck is absolutely hilarious to the point where if you didn't already consider him to be a bad game director I think this has to force you to reevaluate Naka's entire legacy. Final point: Arzest should be shut down for crimes against humanity, we can't keep letting them get away with it

I'd say this game is at its best in the first half and just gets progressively worse and worse. It's lacking basically all of the fine tuning RE4 had and as a result its systems don't gel nearly as well with one another (treasures and the gun upgrading system feel very imbalanced compared to 4 especially). The combat encounters and level design also are a big step back.

The story, while giving some satisfying moments as a series fan also feels all over the place compared to its predecessors. Wesker is fantastically hammy but the secondary antagonists don't shine and the rest of the plot is not very engaging.

Gameplay variety is great in the first half with imo very fun rail shooter segments and interesting enough gimmicks in the encounters (especially co-op) but it's the second half where we get a lot more confusing progression triggers as well as the introduction of enemy types that are just obnoxious to fight. Kind of couldn't believe what was happening as I watched this slowly turn into a mediocre cover shooter.

2-1 is mostly fluff and forgettable, 2-2 is pretty good, 2-3 is bad, and 2-4 is fantastic. A step down from the first, but the high (2-4) is higher than the first game ever got. Franziska Von Karma is a very annoying new character, the whip gimmick gets old quickly, and I think she's just not as fun to go up against as Edgeworth, which makes his late game return a welcome one. Pearl is a much more likable and funny addition to the series.

As for gameplay, I felt this game had more frustrating moments than the first, both in terms of pacing and in how unravelling the cases seemed overall less logical than the first. A lot of moments where you have to present a specific piece of evidence where another one should have led down the same line of thinking, or the game wants something out of you that isn't very clear. Overall, I had fun, but it could definitely be tedious in parts.

Some occasionally clunky writing and VO (game also crashed on me twice which was a shame) , but this is otherwise a pretty great experience! I love it whenever developers experiment with unique methods of control and this manages to really flesh out its blink mechanic. This medium is capable of so many things and it doesn't have to be limited to mouse and keyboard/face buttons and analog sticks. The way the mechanic is used for art, visualizing a shifting concept in your "mind's eye" and blinking to "lock it in" was particularly inventive. It might be a bit of a cheap shot/manipulative narratively but the execution was good enough to the point where I was still emotional at points despite that. More stuff like this!

In general I think this is the best game of the trilogy. Edgeworth is fantastic, but Godot is probably my favorite prosecutor in the trilogy now. The character arc he goes through is extremely well done and he's just fun to go up against. Even the filler cases manage to be engaging, and the main story is the most emotionally resonant. The cases manage to all have tons of twists and turns with satisfying set ups and payoffs, while not getting as obtuse as the ones in the second game. There I found that the logic tied to what to present and where was often a bit arbitrary, but this entry does a much better job of making the cases as implausible as ever but still giving you enough of a clear flaw in testimonies to follow through.

I'm also very impressed by how this game managed its large ensemble cast with such cleverness and care. Almost every notable character from the first two games is brought back along with fresh new faces, and they all manage to get time to shine.

Hot take incoming: I have very complicated feelings about the nature of remakes/less faithful remasters, but every time Nintendo/Grezzo have gone back and revisted a Zelda game they've made it the superior version. Yes this includes Majora's Mask, Wind Waker (lighting changes and all), and Link's Awakening. Note that I didn't say "definitive version" as I absolutely think there is still a lot of merit in playing the originals in every case but Shadow of the Colossus 2018 these are not.

This has me very excited for what they end up doing with this game which has flaws that run deeper than any other 3D Zelda despite in my opinion still being very enjoyable on the whole. There's no "faster sailing" button they can push for this and as a result I imagine I'll still consider it my least favorite 3D Zelda. That being said, I hope the inevitable quality of life improvements and control adjustments help people come around to this one and recognize it's strengths: namely some actually very fun combat and fantastic dungeon design. Shame they're not gonna cut all that filler though and frankly, this is probably the worst the exploration side of Zelda has ever been. The world outside of Skyloft just doesn't feel alive.

Getting to experience this for the first time was something I'll never forget. Being someone coming to this after Automata, I feel similarly that this is not a perfect game, but it is a 10/10 game.

Personally I think Automata is better structured - the way the endings are "formatted" for lack of a better term in that game has you constantly unraveling new layers and pushing the story forward. The journey to ending C and D by comparison feels somewhat redundant - though it can be argued that this monotony and the fact that you have to put in what genuinely feels like "work" to get the end of the game makes some of it's final moments that much more impactful.

With that being said, the characters in this game are even more vibrant and fully realized than what Automata offers. Stellar voice performances and Okabe's soundtrack just carrying the emotion on it's shoulders create a cast that you really empathize with. The writing really has to be commended too - the visual novel segments are some of the highlights of the game narratively, proving that even when you strip out all of the other presentational aspects what's left is still gripping.

The combat is actually great for what it needs to be. Yes, it's monotonous, yes, it requires little to no thought - but what would really be accomplished by adding complex combo trees and 50 enemy types to a game like this? The combat feels bloody and brutal, and that's all it needs to do for the game to pull it's trick. While perhaps predictable, that trick is still so incredibly effective and such an obvious way to emotionally invest a player through their actions that it's amazing that only Taro (and shockingly... Neil Druckmann???) are doing it.

So yeah, I'm a Yoko Taro fan for life now. This was deeply earnest. Also, perhaps the greatest and most awe inspiring soundtrack ever put to a game.
...though they do lean on Kaine's theme kind of often lol

I had a good amount of fun with this! At it's core it's about viewing Pokemon as living creatures and just letting them be at home in their environment, something the main series does a shockingly poor job of. I also felt that the level variety and number of new discoveries you are constantly making to be really enjoyable.

The re-snap feature is supremely important - for those who complain about the game incentivizing "boring" shots re-snap was created to solve this problem. Take a shot that plays by the game's rules for points, then go back to that moment frozen in time to reframe the shot to your artistic sensibilities. This lets the game have things both ways very elegantly, the alternative would be trying to get the scoring algorithm to "objectively" judge the artistic value of shots (lol) and also would move the core gameplay away from its more rail shooter like elements (at it's core Pokemon Snap has always just been a slow-pace rail shooter). I also appreciated the depth of field edits, they really help make the shots look a lot better.

All that being said, I think the game's strengths are also some of it's big weaknesses. Namely, the Pokemon still don't quite feel alive enough for my liking. Oftentimes playing the melody did absolutely nothing, even when right next to sleeping Pokemon, and in general the way you can interact with the world often seemed finicky. I also would have appreciated more unique animations and interactions, as while what's there is great, it often feels too few and far between for this sort of game.