JoseSuarez
2023
I haven't played Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, but I feel thoroughly satisfied with how standalone-friendly the game is. More to the point, this is the best game I've played since I was a kid tearing hordes through KOTOR. In fact, I want to highlight the experience of exploring Faerun with my companions, since it feels exactly as incredible as I remember doing it in Bioware's opus. This game absolutely shines in the little interactions you share with your companions and the bond you grow with them. The romances are INCREDIBLE, the sheer number of permutations available through your choices leads to always unique dialogue or reactions. Even if the villiains were quite on the weak side and the macro scale of the plot was not especially remarkable, you just can't stop having fun with your party. Seriously, the companions are THAT good.
Exploring Faerun is my joint-top favorite aspect of the game. You can just spend the time searching around the map and you'll always encounter big chunks of amazing lore or trigger cool dialogue with the party. On that note, the landscapes and dungeons look really good and I couldn't stop staring at the scenery. Faerun is dangerous, but beautiful.
Cutscenes and voice acting are another massive strong point. The cinematography and the absolutely gorgeus character models elevate even the most superfluous interaction.
Combat is something I've read the game get bashed for by Infinity Engine enthusiasts, but while I loved KOTOR's combat all my life, I firmly believe turn-based combat is the best (and easiest, to me anyhow) way of effectively managing how your whole party behaves, as opposed to waiting on them to fuck it up and quickly changing to them in order to set them straight as you need to in Real Time with Pause. You could argue pausing at the end of each round basically works the same, but I simply prefer to take turns and be done with it.
The OST is the only aspect where I feel this game does drop the ball a little. It's a perfectly good score, but I've heard better (this is where JRPGs just take the cake).
To wrap it up, this is a solid 10/10 game if I've ever seen one. Thanks to Larian for reviving western turn-based AAA's with this one, and I hope they continue putting out excellent offline roleplaying experiences before they inevitably turn to making shooters, like every developer I ever held faith in has.
Exploring Faerun is my joint-top favorite aspect of the game. You can just spend the time searching around the map and you'll always encounter big chunks of amazing lore or trigger cool dialogue with the party. On that note, the landscapes and dungeons look really good and I couldn't stop staring at the scenery. Faerun is dangerous, but beautiful.
Cutscenes and voice acting are another massive strong point. The cinematography and the absolutely gorgeus character models elevate even the most superfluous interaction.
Combat is something I've read the game get bashed for by Infinity Engine enthusiasts, but while I loved KOTOR's combat all my life, I firmly believe turn-based combat is the best (and easiest, to me anyhow) way of effectively managing how your whole party behaves, as opposed to waiting on them to fuck it up and quickly changing to them in order to set them straight as you need to in Real Time with Pause. You could argue pausing at the end of each round basically works the same, but I simply prefer to take turns and be done with it.
The OST is the only aspect where I feel this game does drop the ball a little. It's a perfectly good score, but I've heard better (this is where JRPGs just take the cake).
To wrap it up, this is a solid 10/10 game if I've ever seen one. Thanks to Larian for reviving western turn-based AAA's with this one, and I hope they continue putting out excellent offline roleplaying experiences before they inevitably turn to making shooters, like every developer I ever held faith in has.
1998
When I finished Umineko, I thought it'd be impossible to find another game carrying such meaning in its plot. Well, here we are lads, this is absolutely the best story ever put to a game. It touches absolutely everything: Religious deception, cyclical history, Jung psychology, genetics, even animal breeding for food. Yes, that's right, this game is even seriously making me consider going vegan. And this was made in 1998, for the PSX. If there's a game that completely deserves being called ahead of it's time, it's this one, but not by far. The PS2 era would have made it the indisputed best game ever, but maybe with how the industry has grown, it was already a miracle that a conceptual mammoth of this caliber was even accepted for production back in the day. And that's the saddest thing, really. That this got shafted, time-limited and budget-cut in favor of FF7. Don't get me wrong, I already gave FF7 a five stars rating here and was my previous pick for GOAT, but after this journey... The scale is completely on a whole new level. Xenogears DESERVED to be FF7. To sum it up, this game has the best plot in absolutely anything I've played up until now, a banger OST by Mitsuda (like always), a really fun and engaging combat system (I liked it far more than FF7's for example) and is even technologically impressive with how it renders all of it's environments in 3D. The only downside to all this virtues is how rushed Disc 2 came out, but considering everything the team had to go through to get the game out, I wholeheartedly thank them for finishing the story in a respectable presentation. Go play this right now, ffs.
What can I say about the, probably, most polarizing game made in history? Well, I say that it's a bona fide masterpiece and the smartest game I've ever played.
Kojima was getting exhausted of seeing how his portrayal of Solid Snake in MGS, a broken man who was trying to find something to fight for, was completely misunderstood and instead Snake was to the fans a badass who could do no wrong. He took every single thing the fans loved about MGS (even those he didn't intend to be loved) and turned them upside down, one by one, smashing the whole concept of what a sequel is supposed to be, and actually putting the sequel definition over it's head: He made a game that doesn't just rehash MGS, it takes everything you knew about it and uses the in-game parallels as an actual plot point.
All while breaking the concept of how a game should adress itself, or if it's even permitted to do it, with a 4th wall breaking final segment that genuinely scares you with how outlandishly is the twist carried out. It even makes a social commentary on the massive influence of social media as far back as 2001 - no one could really understand how true what the game touches upon would become during this decade.
There's so much to be said about this game that this mere 4 paragraphs won't do it any justice, but be sure that playing the original MGS is absolutely mandatory to completely understand the utter madness of what Kojima has brought to us with this game. No game EVER has come remotely close to the magnitude of what this game has done for the videogame industry.
Kojima was getting exhausted of seeing how his portrayal of Solid Snake in MGS, a broken man who was trying to find something to fight for, was completely misunderstood and instead Snake was to the fans a badass who could do no wrong. He took every single thing the fans loved about MGS (even those he didn't intend to be loved) and turned them upside down, one by one, smashing the whole concept of what a sequel is supposed to be, and actually putting the sequel definition over it's head: He made a game that doesn't just rehash MGS, it takes everything you knew about it and uses the in-game parallels as an actual plot point.
All while breaking the concept of how a game should adress itself, or if it's even permitted to do it, with a 4th wall breaking final segment that genuinely scares you with how outlandishly is the twist carried out. It even makes a social commentary on the massive influence of social media as far back as 2001 - no one could really understand how true what the game touches upon would become during this decade.
There's so much to be said about this game that this mere 4 paragraphs won't do it any justice, but be sure that playing the original MGS is absolutely mandatory to completely understand the utter madness of what Kojima has brought to us with this game. No game EVER has come remotely close to the magnitude of what this game has done for the videogame industry.
"15 years ago, there was a war. Well, war's broken out here plenty of times before."
With those two sentences, starts the most heartfelt Ace Combat game. In my opinion, one of the most heartfelt games ever. You're set up in a plane as a replacement for the deaths of most of your squadron and sent to the bitter frontlines for an amazing ride (flight?) with the most lovable wingmen you could have. You'll genuinely get to care a whole lot about those three guys: Chopper, your best bro - Grimm, the dilligent yet anxious rearguard - and Nagase, your 2nd in command with an undying loyalty and care for you.
You blast through hordes of enemy squadrons while taking care of your squadmate's gear and actions in a really ambiguous war where it growingly becomes clear that nobody really knows why the war is actually being fought. It's your job as the Osean Federation's ace squad to defend your allies and to reach the truth of the conflict - to a final extremely emotive conclusion.
The soundtrack is, in my humble musician's opinion, one of the biggest highlights for you to get this game right now. You go from a jazz fusion briefing theme, through bombastic symphonic arrangements and it all meshes up extremely well to make up one of the best ost's EVER, courtesy of the in-house genius Keiki Kobayashi, as always.
I don't even know how else to boil it all down to a single statement: You need to play this ASAP. The only thing keeping this game (and the whole franchise) from going mainstream in the PS2 days is the sadly niche concept that is a flight game. If you pay no heed to that, you'll encounter an absolute gem to be remembered for the ages.
With those two sentences, starts the most heartfelt Ace Combat game. In my opinion, one of the most heartfelt games ever. You're set up in a plane as a replacement for the deaths of most of your squadron and sent to the bitter frontlines for an amazing ride (flight?) with the most lovable wingmen you could have. You'll genuinely get to care a whole lot about those three guys: Chopper, your best bro - Grimm, the dilligent yet anxious rearguard - and Nagase, your 2nd in command with an undying loyalty and care for you.
You blast through hordes of enemy squadrons while taking care of your squadmate's gear and actions in a really ambiguous war where it growingly becomes clear that nobody really knows why the war is actually being fought. It's your job as the Osean Federation's ace squad to defend your allies and to reach the truth of the conflict - to a final extremely emotive conclusion.
The soundtrack is, in my humble musician's opinion, one of the biggest highlights for you to get this game right now. You go from a jazz fusion briefing theme, through bombastic symphonic arrangements and it all meshes up extremely well to make up one of the best ost's EVER, courtesy of the in-house genius Keiki Kobayashi, as always.
I don't even know how else to boil it all down to a single statement: You need to play this ASAP. The only thing keeping this game (and the whole franchise) from going mainstream in the PS2 days is the sadly niche concept that is a flight game. If you pay no heed to that, you'll encounter an absolute gem to be remembered for the ages.
This VN has the single most mindblowing plot twist ever put in a VN. The plot spends 4 routes perfectly fleshing out the characters and introducing both physical and metaphysical concepts that will be integral to the story's solution while keeping all the ends loose, and then on the final route wraps it up in such a spectacular way that will leave you K.O. for a long time before you even get out of the shock to continue reading. Get a flowchart though, you don't want to risk missing the true ending.
2009
To sum it up, there's not a single piece of media (and I mean that) so consistent with it's inner physics of time travel and at the same time using them for actual plot and character development. This VN has it all: one of the best, if not the best, protagonist ever written in japanese media, a wonderful support cast, fantastic soundtrack, excellent pacing and some of the best plot twists I've ever seen. This is my ultimate favorite thing ever when it comes to entertainment and would give it 100 stars if I could.
This review contains spoilers
First off, what an spectacular soundtrack. It was so bloody good that I enjoyed it more than the actual story. My top 3 themes were Petalouda, Skia Oura and this: https://youtu.be/J1I9iz9dDJc
Especially the last one, where the melody starts off as if it was a vals in 3/4, but around the build up at minute 4:14 it grows evident it was triplets in 4/4. I think I'll steal it for one of my songs, because that buildup is genuinely beautiful.
Well, continuing with the art style, it somewhat disturbed me a little at first, but grew to love it as much as I loved Steins;Gate.
Then, to the story. It's really hard to give an opinion on it, because while it's true that I've been glued to the screen for almost 2 weeks, I feel bad because I get the feeling that it didn't impact me as hard as it should have. I mean, it was an incredibly interesting tale, but I was sold to the notion that it would make me feel sad to the point it would hurt to play, but I guess I really didn't feel the tragedy with my entire being. I could empathize with how everyone was bound to do what they did because of their circumstances and how helpless they were to their fates, but I wasn't actually destroyed emotionally or anything. In fact, the first 3 doors were the parts which most got me on an emotional level. Maybe the rest didn't hit me because I got the notion that it didn't matter because everybody was already dead anyway? I don't know.
The characters were incredible, they all felt so human and real. It was genuinely heart breaking seeing the backstory to Michel's situation, how cruel fate was on him. Another thing: The White-Haired Girl is my new crush. Especially the 3rd door's.
All around, pay no heed to your preconcieved notions of what this masterpiece might be, since it'll turn over your head. Definitely into my top 3.
Especially the last one, where the melody starts off as if it was a vals in 3/4, but around the build up at minute 4:14 it grows evident it was triplets in 4/4. I think I'll steal it for one of my songs, because that buildup is genuinely beautiful.
Well, continuing with the art style, it somewhat disturbed me a little at first, but grew to love it as much as I loved Steins;Gate.
Then, to the story. It's really hard to give an opinion on it, because while it's true that I've been glued to the screen for almost 2 weeks, I feel bad because I get the feeling that it didn't impact me as hard as it should have. I mean, it was an incredibly interesting tale, but I was sold to the notion that it would make me feel sad to the point it would hurt to play, but I guess I really didn't feel the tragedy with my entire being. I could empathize with how everyone was bound to do what they did because of their circumstances and how helpless they were to their fates, but I wasn't actually destroyed emotionally or anything. In fact, the first 3 doors were the parts which most got me on an emotional level. Maybe the rest didn't hit me because I got the notion that it didn't matter because everybody was already dead anyway? I don't know.
The characters were incredible, they all felt so human and real. It was genuinely heart breaking seeing the backstory to Michel's situation, how cruel fate was on him. Another thing: The White-Haired Girl is my new crush. Especially the 3rd door's.
All around, pay no heed to your preconcieved notions of what this masterpiece might be, since it'll turn over your head. Definitely into my top 3.
2009
This review contains spoilers
Well, I gotta say that I am frankly surprised that the team that made this came up with Steins;Gate just 2 years later. What a quality upgrade.
Not to say that this was bad by any means, I did enjoy it as a whole, but it's still the worst VN I've read.
The plot was really good and had a lot of potential, the build up to chapter 10 was excellent and the cast was, at least, good enough. The problem comes with two points:
1.Takumi, what a pathetic guy. Had me wanting to scream sometimes because he just COULDN'T OPEN HIS FUCKING MOUTH TO SAY A THING. After the reveal of him being a delusionary existence, he actually got interesting, but the sudden man-up he got at the end of chapter 10 with the di-sword was too far detatched of his pathetic background.
The endings felt completely rushed. It was like "yeah, finally got your di-sword 5 minutes ago, now go kill Norose". Which oh, by the way, was a terrible villain with generic delusional plans. Some other guy said somewhere that Rimi's motivation to kill or not Takumi didn't have a good established causal relation between Takumi's choices and her action, which I totally agree with. So both A and AA endings, in original C;H terms for those that haven't played Noah, felt really badly done. Ending B felt a lot more interesting because of the highscho delusion.
Now moving to the girls' routes, I really enjoyed them all, but added some details to the original plot that obviously weren't even thought about when the original VN was developed. For example, at the end of Kozue's route (or was it Sena's? Can't remember), we can hear a phone conversation between almost certainly Momose and the cometee of the 300 that directly implies she was an agent. This doesn't fit inside the canon of the original VN. Also, in Yua's route, it is revealed that it was actually Yua who had died in the first new gen incident and then Mia felt guilty and impersonated Yua. It was really cool to know that, but it felt totally wrong that they only tried to add that on Noah because they hadn't come up with it for the first release.
Some other things to say... Let's see, Sena best waifu bar none, really bland OST aside from the track that pops up in sexual delusions, Kozue's slaughterfest in her route was INCREDIBLE...
...Aaaaand can't think of anything else, which probably kinda speaks a lot of how much this VN didn't do for me. Let's hope that Chaos;Child is the giant step up in quality that a succesor to Steins;Gate deserves.
TL;DR Good idea with great build up but extremely dumb ending.
Not to say that this was bad by any means, I did enjoy it as a whole, but it's still the worst VN I've read.
The plot was really good and had a lot of potential, the build up to chapter 10 was excellent and the cast was, at least, good enough. The problem comes with two points:
1.Takumi, what a pathetic guy. Had me wanting to scream sometimes because he just COULDN'T OPEN HIS FUCKING MOUTH TO SAY A THING. After the reveal of him being a delusionary existence, he actually got interesting, but the sudden man-up he got at the end of chapter 10 with the di-sword was too far detatched of his pathetic background.
The endings felt completely rushed. It was like "yeah, finally got your di-sword 5 minutes ago, now go kill Norose". Which oh, by the way, was a terrible villain with generic delusional plans. Some other guy said somewhere that Rimi's motivation to kill or not Takumi didn't have a good established causal relation between Takumi's choices and her action, which I totally agree with. So both A and AA endings, in original C;H terms for those that haven't played Noah, felt really badly done. Ending B felt a lot more interesting because of the highscho delusion.
Now moving to the girls' routes, I really enjoyed them all, but added some details to the original plot that obviously weren't even thought about when the original VN was developed. For example, at the end of Kozue's route (or was it Sena's? Can't remember), we can hear a phone conversation between almost certainly Momose and the cometee of the 300 that directly implies she was an agent. This doesn't fit inside the canon of the original VN. Also, in Yua's route, it is revealed that it was actually Yua who had died in the first new gen incident and then Mia felt guilty and impersonated Yua. It was really cool to know that, but it felt totally wrong that they only tried to add that on Noah because they hadn't come up with it for the first release.
Some other things to say... Let's see, Sena best waifu bar none, really bland OST aside from the track that pops up in sexual delusions, Kozue's slaughterfest in her route was INCREDIBLE...
...Aaaaand can't think of anything else, which probably kinda speaks a lot of how much this VN didn't do for me. Let's hope that Chaos;Child is the giant step up in quality that a succesor to Steins;Gate deserves.
TL;DR Good idea with great build up but extremely dumb ending.
This review contains spoilers
I must say that I played Ever17 first. It seems to be like a general rule that whichever Uchikoshi game you play first will be the one with the most impact on you.
SPOILERS FOR EVER17
Well, the atmosphere in 999 is definitely more tense from the start and the cast is very good, but I don't really think it was better than Ever17 in any way. I never had a single pacing issue with Ever17, and the lightheartedness of the start only helps to make the endings more powerful and agonizing. Tsugumi ending is making my eyes wet only from remembering it and damn, You's bad end with everybody dying from Tief Blau was so fucking heartwrenching. I have to say, tief blau was one of the best things in Ever17's buildup.
Also, I got warned that Zero Escape reused several concepts from Ever17, somebody even going as far as saying that VLR's twist (which I haven't played yet) is a blatant rip-off from Ever17. But hell, 999 already felt totally recycled with the "connect the paradox" mechanic, so I can't even start to think in what way VLR could be more recycled.
Anyway, I did really enjoy 999 and a lot of it was because of the cast, especially June (love her), though from a first play and chronological point of view, Ever17 feels like it did a lot more merits.
SPOILERS FOR EVER17
Well, the atmosphere in 999 is definitely more tense from the start and the cast is very good, but I don't really think it was better than Ever17 in any way. I never had a single pacing issue with Ever17, and the lightheartedness of the start only helps to make the endings more powerful and agonizing. Tsugumi ending is making my eyes wet only from remembering it and damn, You's bad end with everybody dying from Tief Blau was so fucking heartwrenching. I have to say, tief blau was one of the best things in Ever17's buildup.
Also, I got warned that Zero Escape reused several concepts from Ever17, somebody even going as far as saying that VLR's twist (which I haven't played yet) is a blatant rip-off from Ever17. But hell, 999 already felt totally recycled with the "connect the paradox" mechanic, so I can't even start to think in what way VLR could be more recycled.
Anyway, I did really enjoy 999 and a lot of it was because of the cast, especially June (love her), though from a first play and chronological point of view, Ever17 feels like it did a lot more merits.
1997
I had never completed a PSX era game before this one. Sure, I played like 10 of them back in the day as I had a PSX as a kid, but I never actually finished them. So I got a PSP Go some months ago just to have a portable PSX machine and finally try out FF7 after years of hearing praise. I've never cared at all for graphics, as I understand that art style weights more, and THAT does never age. I have a lot of experience with JRPGs and visual novels, so I jumped to the game expecting a fairly anime trope-y plot and whatnot. Good lord. What a game. The characterization, the worldbuilding, the subjacent plot, the SOUNDTRACK, everything. I finished the game 2 weeks ago and watching the remake gameplays already brought me to tears, as if I had been a 20 year old fan who knew the story since forever. I'm obsessed about this characters, about this plot, about the number 7. This game is the ultimate testament to the artistic power of videogames, which are and should be much more than mere games. Fuck online, fuck gameplay, the real heart of this medium is having the plot at a button's reach.
2019
I fucking stood up and saluted my Colonel at the end. No more words are needed.
Well, to get this out of the way quickly, the game is by no means as terrible as some people here tend to point out. In fact, it was quite enjoyable in the sense that there were some really good characters, the protagonists are fun and the game knows where to be lighthearted.
The translation is rough at some places, namely the 3rd or 4th chapter, but the plot and the interactions are completely understandable and each character portrays their unique personality. I really don't get why people would complain about it if they are able to enjoy SNES era rpgs to be honest.
The story is interesting enough to keep you wanting to know more about the world and all the scattered lore about the Moonlight Witch, hyping her up quite well.
The combat is plain, straightforward and kinda slow, though you'll rarely need to grind at all as long as you kill some 3-4 monsters in each highway screen. The game is that easy. There's practically 5 bossfights in the whole game and if you reach the final dungeon at lvl 36 then the game is as good as beaten. The game being piss easy is a plus to me, because the combat being as lame as it is, the major attraction to this trilogy would be going quick into the story.
The only big disappointment was the OST, because aside from the Shrine theme, this rearranged, more symphonic take on the original PC-98 soundtrack really pales in comparition to any other OST I've heard from the Falcom sound team. But well, whatever.
My honest opinion is that you'll be completely fine playing this game if you have any experience with SNES era rpgs and don't come expecting a Trails-level game, which this game is absolutely not. I would strongly disencourage playing this as a standalone game though, since it's just not worth it against any other major game you might want to play at the moment. If you want to play this to dive into the Gagharv trilogy, then be my guest, I myself am going to continue with A Tear of Vermillion and keep writing about Gagharv, but if you don't want to compromise on playing 3 pretty dated games just for the story, then don't lose your time and play something objectively better.
The translation is rough at some places, namely the 3rd or 4th chapter, but the plot and the interactions are completely understandable and each character portrays their unique personality. I really don't get why people would complain about it if they are able to enjoy SNES era rpgs to be honest.
The story is interesting enough to keep you wanting to know more about the world and all the scattered lore about the Moonlight Witch, hyping her up quite well.
The combat is plain, straightforward and kinda slow, though you'll rarely need to grind at all as long as you kill some 3-4 monsters in each highway screen. The game is that easy. There's practically 5 bossfights in the whole game and if you reach the final dungeon at lvl 36 then the game is as good as beaten. The game being piss easy is a plus to me, because the combat being as lame as it is, the major attraction to this trilogy would be going quick into the story.
The only big disappointment was the OST, because aside from the Shrine theme, this rearranged, more symphonic take on the original PC-98 soundtrack really pales in comparition to any other OST I've heard from the Falcom sound team. But well, whatever.
My honest opinion is that you'll be completely fine playing this game if you have any experience with SNES era rpgs and don't come expecting a Trails-level game, which this game is absolutely not. I would strongly disencourage playing this as a standalone game though, since it's just not worth it against any other major game you might want to play at the moment. If you want to play this to dive into the Gagharv trilogy, then be my guest, I myself am going to continue with A Tear of Vermillion and keep writing about Gagharv, but if you don't want to compromise on playing 3 pretty dated games just for the story, then don't lose your time and play something objectively better.
This review contains spoilers
I got to know Ace Combat through the PSP games when I was a child. I also played 7 at launch. I'm on my quest to finish the holy trinity, but right now, I can say that Ace Combat X, for example, feels like a leaps and bounds better game. AC7 is on a whole different level entirely.
Storywise, I didn't like how removed the actual armed conflict was from the plot. Even as Mobius 1, the whole military and political situation that being in a war entails is practically nonexistent. Being Mobius 1 just feels like the pre-story to the showdown with Yellow 13, which doesn't pay off at all. In ACX, for example, we have the reporter who starts unveiling the real motivations for Leasath's invasion on Aurelia, which gives actual plot depth. In 04, the plot is just an excuse towards Yellow 13's characterization. I liked how Yellow 13 was characterized quite well in this cutscenes. This, however, did not translate in any way to the actual game, because as far as gameplay goes, all the Yellows behave exactly the same. They could have made 13 be far more difficult to shoot down at the battle in Farbanti, not to say actually name each plane instead of just all of them being the same YELLOW. The lack of speech from 13 isn't a problem to me, but even SkyEye didn't say a thing during the whole fight, like "whoa this guys really fly" or something, which made me feel really emotionally detatched from the event.
SkyEye also felt completely devoid of character, and don't say that's good for realism, we ain't playing DCS here. For example, Crux in ACX felt much more invested with the plot.
As for gameplay, the handling of the planes feel identical to what would come in the PSP games I played, so good job by Project Aces having that figured out so early in the generation.
The soundtrack is BONKERS, easily the best Ace Combat OST I've heard.
The plane selection is really disappointing. there are just too few compared to the next games.
And the biggest offender: The mission design. The first 4 or 5 missions are ridiculous and just have a shoot down said thing objective, then done. Like, really? They felt really lazy. Then we have a lot of "earn X points before time runs out" that not a single time pose a real challenge and can be passed with more than 10 minutes on the clock, just circling around doing nothing. I passed the game on Hard and didn't die a single time. I literally started last night and finished the whole thing just now. Maybe Ace difficulty puts up something fun, but the first playthrough was a joke. There was no flying fortress either.
I don't know, I get that this is the first modern AC game and was a landmark for the development of the next ones, but being in a so called "Holy Trinity" doesn't feel earned aside from the OST, more like there are only 3 AC games on PS2. I'll take ACX before this one any day of the week, which even has a lot of replay value thanks to the multiple mission routes you can take.
Storywise, I didn't like how removed the actual armed conflict was from the plot. Even as Mobius 1, the whole military and political situation that being in a war entails is practically nonexistent. Being Mobius 1 just feels like the pre-story to the showdown with Yellow 13, which doesn't pay off at all. In ACX, for example, we have the reporter who starts unveiling the real motivations for Leasath's invasion on Aurelia, which gives actual plot depth. In 04, the plot is just an excuse towards Yellow 13's characterization. I liked how Yellow 13 was characterized quite well in this cutscenes. This, however, did not translate in any way to the actual game, because as far as gameplay goes, all the Yellows behave exactly the same. They could have made 13 be far more difficult to shoot down at the battle in Farbanti, not to say actually name each plane instead of just all of them being the same YELLOW. The lack of speech from 13 isn't a problem to me, but even SkyEye didn't say a thing during the whole fight, like "whoa this guys really fly" or something, which made me feel really emotionally detatched from the event.
SkyEye also felt completely devoid of character, and don't say that's good for realism, we ain't playing DCS here. For example, Crux in ACX felt much more invested with the plot.
As for gameplay, the handling of the planes feel identical to what would come in the PSP games I played, so good job by Project Aces having that figured out so early in the generation.
The soundtrack is BONKERS, easily the best Ace Combat OST I've heard.
The plane selection is really disappointing. there are just too few compared to the next games.
And the biggest offender: The mission design. The first 4 or 5 missions are ridiculous and just have a shoot down said thing objective, then done. Like, really? They felt really lazy. Then we have a lot of "earn X points before time runs out" that not a single time pose a real challenge and can be passed with more than 10 minutes on the clock, just circling around doing nothing. I passed the game on Hard and didn't die a single time. I literally started last night and finished the whole thing just now. Maybe Ace difficulty puts up something fun, but the first playthrough was a joke. There was no flying fortress either.
I don't know, I get that this is the first modern AC game and was a landmark for the development of the next ones, but being in a so called "Holy Trinity" doesn't feel earned aside from the OST, more like there are only 3 AC games on PS2. I'll take ACX before this one any day of the week, which even has a lot of replay value thanks to the multiple mission routes you can take.
It was one convulted plot, but I LOVED IT. It's no doubt the friggin' best story out of the AC games I've played (3, 04, X, X2). I really hope Namco makes another AC game completely centered in the storytelling as it's selling point. It might be ironic given that AC is one of my favorite franchises, but I'm actually not that big on the gameplay department of games. So while ACX is definitely miles above AC3 in just about anything related to the actual game, the multimission and branching storyline just takes the cake for me. With more fleshing out for the characters of course, which all seemed like they just were "there". The music was also a really welcome departure from the usual symphonic osts, and all around the cyberpunk atmosphere completely won me over.
Do it Namco, AC3 remake.
Do it Namco, AC3 remake.
This review contains spoilers
This is going straight into my top 5 VNs. If I had to pick out a single phrase of the novel that described perfectly my feelings and that will probably reshape the way I see life, it's this one said (I'm gonna write it more or less as I remember it) by Battler in EP6: "People are so fragile that they can't bring themselves to commit to love if they don't get an absolute confirmation".
Without love, it cannot be seen. Without conviction in your beliefs, you're bound to be dragged by the others. That's what it all comes down to. The novel explores deconstructs the very definition of "truth" in a very aristotelic fashion, that truth is just a social construction that requires someone to state it and more people to aknowledge it, independently of if it's an actual fact or not. So long as you believe something to be real just because it's the generally accepted truth, you'll never reach your own satisfying answer. You can stop right there and say "that's advantageous because you would be able to claim whatever suits you best as the truth". I, myself, have thought that way, but the story bets hard on the message that there's nothing wrong with using magic to get you by through life to make it happier. It might change my worldview from now on. I loved how Ryukishi predicted the way fans would take on the lack of answers and turned them into goats incapable of loving. It hit me hard.
By the end, I have to aknowledge Ange as the true protagonist of the tale, because her dilemma is the factor that carries the biggest message of them all. The actual method of how Yasu/Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice actually carried the murders out remains a mistery inside the cat box until the end, though I get the general concept of how the threeway deadlock on Yasu's heart (love for George as Shannon, love for Jessica as Kanon, love for Battler as Beatrice) torn her apart and decided to bet it all on who would get out alive after she found the gold and set up the explosives. The meta-world fight between Battler and Beatrice is something I still don't understand that well because, given the fact that the real plot only starts with Ange's appearance on EP4, that would make the first three games just the means to flesh out the setting and characters. I understand the Beato-Battler games as a necessary step for Battler to gain the philosophical view able to give Ange a meaning to her life, as he was the only possible medium for that, with said fight only tangentially ending on Battler's love for the Witch that taught him how to understand the heart. Practically anything else besides this, is just the metaphor of magic as a tool for happiness.
At the end, when it's revealed that Battler had survived but ended up with cerebral damage after trying to rescue Yasu from suicide by throwing himself to the sea, the way Tohya is shown by Ange the Ushiromiya hall in the Gospel House and finding all his friends there feels like the Battler inside his mind was finally able to rest in peace and become a separate entity and so was able to reach the Golden Land.
I don't really get the timeline of 1998 because the final choice sends you to two different spots in time, and the whole part of Ange as a miko of Auaurora got me confused on the order of events, but whatever.
Anyway, this is a big ass 11/10 for meaningfulness, characters, plot, writing, creativity, MUSIC and the gorgeous voice acting and sprites of the PS3 version. I can't believe I left this abbandoned for more than 2 years after my first attempt and getting only to chapter 2.
Without love, it cannot be seen. Without conviction in your beliefs, you're bound to be dragged by the others. That's what it all comes down to. The novel explores deconstructs the very definition of "truth" in a very aristotelic fashion, that truth is just a social construction that requires someone to state it and more people to aknowledge it, independently of if it's an actual fact or not. So long as you believe something to be real just because it's the generally accepted truth, you'll never reach your own satisfying answer. You can stop right there and say "that's advantageous because you would be able to claim whatever suits you best as the truth". I, myself, have thought that way, but the story bets hard on the message that there's nothing wrong with using magic to get you by through life to make it happier. It might change my worldview from now on. I loved how Ryukishi predicted the way fans would take on the lack of answers and turned them into goats incapable of loving. It hit me hard.
By the end, I have to aknowledge Ange as the true protagonist of the tale, because her dilemma is the factor that carries the biggest message of them all. The actual method of how Yasu/Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice actually carried the murders out remains a mistery inside the cat box until the end, though I get the general concept of how the threeway deadlock on Yasu's heart (love for George as Shannon, love for Jessica as Kanon, love for Battler as Beatrice) torn her apart and decided to bet it all on who would get out alive after she found the gold and set up the explosives. The meta-world fight between Battler and Beatrice is something I still don't understand that well because, given the fact that the real plot only starts with Ange's appearance on EP4, that would make the first three games just the means to flesh out the setting and characters. I understand the Beato-Battler games as a necessary step for Battler to gain the philosophical view able to give Ange a meaning to her life, as he was the only possible medium for that, with said fight only tangentially ending on Battler's love for the Witch that taught him how to understand the heart. Practically anything else besides this, is just the metaphor of magic as a tool for happiness.
At the end, when it's revealed that Battler had survived but ended up with cerebral damage after trying to rescue Yasu from suicide by throwing himself to the sea, the way Tohya is shown by Ange the Ushiromiya hall in the Gospel House and finding all his friends there feels like the Battler inside his mind was finally able to rest in peace and become a separate entity and so was able to reach the Golden Land.
I don't really get the timeline of 1998 because the final choice sends you to two different spots in time, and the whole part of Ange as a miko of Auaurora got me confused on the order of events, but whatever.
Anyway, this is a big ass 11/10 for meaningfulness, characters, plot, writing, creativity, MUSIC and the gorgeous voice acting and sprites of the PS3 version. I can't believe I left this abbandoned for more than 2 years after my first attempt and getting only to chapter 2.