Lucca202
BACKER
2010
It's a shame how this franchise's quality decayed over its sequels. The first Darksiders was one of the best Zelda games up to that point, marrying the dungeon design of that series to the combat of God of War. It felt great to play and didn't overstay its welcome.
2010
I hear the first game is far better, and someday, maybe I'll still try it. This one has an atrocious plot and rather broken gameplay. I remember being most of the game without the dodge roll skill, which made most bosses really cheap. To add insult to injury, it had online modes that were unstable and mechanically poor, the kind of thing you'd find in games in the early 2010s to tick a box in marketing that says "multiplayer".
2010
DeathSpank is an action RPG with slight Diablo influences and dated but inoffensive humor. At the time this was released, there were very few games in the PS Store, and so it stood as one of the better offerings in there. And it's not bad, but there are a gazillion better games out there that do what it does, especially nowadays.
It's literally more of the first, picking up exactly where the first game ended, and replicating its systems almost exactly, so your enjoyment will depend on how much you like the prequel.
I used to love Disgaea before I went for the platinum in this game. It's one thing to grind levels without looking at the screen, but a lot of the platinum work, even if you use the duplication glitch, is centered around getting lucky on bonus items. It's really tiresome, because it means literal hours of grinding can amount to nothing. The saving grace of the game is, of course, the cast and their dialogs. Pity only ~10% of your final playtime will be spent on that.
I never wanted to play Disgaea again, as without the original cast, it just didn't feel like it made sense to. Lo and behold, they made a direct sequel to the original game. I just had to try it out.
I really loved revisiting the Netherworld with Laharl, Etna and Flonne... but the series is stuck in time, still using the exact same mechanics it had ten years before. I've put myself through the grind once, I'm not doing it again.
I really loved revisiting the Netherworld with Laharl, Etna and Flonne... but the series is stuck in time, still using the exact same mechanics it had ten years before. I've put myself through the grind once, I'm not doing it again.
2009
I was never into western RPGs and thought they were kind of boring, made to appeal to western sensitivities I did not share. Dragon Age: Origins single-handedly changed my opinion.
The game takes place in Thedas, a land under the threat of the Blight, that is, a siege by an army of tainted creatures. called the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn, led by an Archdemon, threaten to raze the entire land and kill all of its people.
You play as... it depends. DA had this ambitious opening where you could choose one of six entirely different origin stories for your character, and it wasn't simply a menu choice like in the Mass Effect series, but an entire, hour-long opening sequence where you'd learn the basics of the setting, gameplay, and of your own character.
Regardless of your choice, you would end up recruited by the Grey Wardens, a group of warriors dedicated to fighting the Darkspawn and fending off their invasion. The game presents you with a pretty high stakes narrative where the land is slowly covered by the Blight as you scuttle around trying to unite the people of the land against the invading force.
In doing so, you recruit a number of allies who will join you in your journey. Now, to WRPG fans, this was maybe mundane, but to me, the depth given to each character was mindblowing. Never mind the romances and the silly clothed sex, but just sitting and hearing these characters tell me about their lives, or their families, or even tell me stories from their land was incredible.
The game also offered plenty of replayability by allowing you to build your character in completely different ways, as well as making different choices during the story itself, which could paint a completely different ending for your character.
I guess for nowadays me, Mass Effect resonates a lot more strongly, but the fact of the matter is, Dragon Age: Origins was a fantastic game that changed my perception on an entire genre. Also, Leli is love.
The game takes place in Thedas, a land under the threat of the Blight, that is, a siege by an army of tainted creatures. called the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn, led by an Archdemon, threaten to raze the entire land and kill all of its people.
You play as... it depends. DA had this ambitious opening where you could choose one of six entirely different origin stories for your character, and it wasn't simply a menu choice like in the Mass Effect series, but an entire, hour-long opening sequence where you'd learn the basics of the setting, gameplay, and of your own character.
Regardless of your choice, you would end up recruited by the Grey Wardens, a group of warriors dedicated to fighting the Darkspawn and fending off their invasion. The game presents you with a pretty high stakes narrative where the land is slowly covered by the Blight as you scuttle around trying to unite the people of the land against the invading force.
In doing so, you recruit a number of allies who will join you in your journey. Now, to WRPG fans, this was maybe mundane, but to me, the depth given to each character was mindblowing. Never mind the romances and the silly clothed sex, but just sitting and hearing these characters tell me about their lives, or their families, or even tell me stories from their land was incredible.
The game also offered plenty of replayability by allowing you to build your character in completely different ways, as well as making different choices during the story itself, which could paint a completely different ending for your character.
I guess for nowadays me, Mass Effect resonates a lot more strongly, but the fact of the matter is, Dragon Age: Origins was a fantastic game that changed my perception on an entire genre. Also, Leli is love.
2007
Eternal Sonata was a unique game. Taking place in the dreams of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin while in his deathbed, it explored a magical world themed around music and actually featured the composer himself as a character.
As a game centered around music, it of course features a beautiful soundtrack, filled with Chopin's compositions as well as original tracks by Golden Sun's Motoi Sakuraba. But more memorable to me were the game's visuals: it featured some of the best art direction I'd seen at the time. The environment artists went all out in fleshing out the places seen in Chopin's dream world, with no amount of color being too much and no level of detail being excessive. Even places that should have every right to be mundane, like the interiors of ships and caves, glisten with bright palettes. ES's visuals aged very well, unlike many of its contemporary games.
The battle system is another thing that stuck with me, not only due to it having light and shadow as foundations for its mechanics, but also due to its use of time as a resource, taking place in turns, but feeling like an action RPG. It also gradually unfolded over the course of the game, as if gradually taking the training wheels off, giving you more freedom but also increasing the risk.
You'll notice I'm not talking about the story, though, and that's because it's... sort of lacking? There are some fun characters, as well as references to Chopin's life, but the overarching plot is dull and features what's perhaps the least intimidating antagonist in the history of JRPGs. There's also a... shall we say, controversial ending that I kind of enjoy, but a lot of people think left a foul taste in their mouth.
Even to this day, fifteen years later, though, I think there has been nothing quite like Eternal Sonata, and to me, that alone warrants checking it out if you have the opportunity. Just, uh, play with Japanese voices if you can. Trust me. You don't want to listen to the dub.
As a game centered around music, it of course features a beautiful soundtrack, filled with Chopin's compositions as well as original tracks by Golden Sun's Motoi Sakuraba. But more memorable to me were the game's visuals: it featured some of the best art direction I'd seen at the time. The environment artists went all out in fleshing out the places seen in Chopin's dream world, with no amount of color being too much and no level of detail being excessive. Even places that should have every right to be mundane, like the interiors of ships and caves, glisten with bright palettes. ES's visuals aged very well, unlike many of its contemporary games.
The battle system is another thing that stuck with me, not only due to it having light and shadow as foundations for its mechanics, but also due to its use of time as a resource, taking place in turns, but feeling like an action RPG. It also gradually unfolded over the course of the game, as if gradually taking the training wheels off, giving you more freedom but also increasing the risk.
You'll notice I'm not talking about the story, though, and that's because it's... sort of lacking? There are some fun characters, as well as references to Chopin's life, but the overarching plot is dull and features what's perhaps the least intimidating antagonist in the history of JRPGs. There's also a... shall we say, controversial ending that I kind of enjoy, but a lot of people think left a foul taste in their mouth.
Even to this day, fifteen years later, though, I think there has been nothing quite like Eternal Sonata, and to me, that alone warrants checking it out if you have the opportunity. Just, uh, play with Japanese voices if you can. Trust me. You don't want to listen to the dub.
2008
Fallout 3 is a dull and completely broken RPG, taking place in a nonsensical, brown-'n-bloom world designed like an amusement park, with a vapid story and terrible characters. Oh, and it's buggy as hell, with every single save in the PS3 version becoming unplayable eventually.
I could go into more detail, but there are better, more in-depth takedowns of the game around the internet, such as this one by hbomberguy. If you never played a Fallout game before, just forget this exists and play New Vegas instead -- that's an actual RPG, not this.
I could go into more detail, but there are better, more in-depth takedowns of the game around the internet, such as this one by hbomberguy. If you never played a Fallout game before, just forget this exists and play New Vegas instead -- that's an actual RPG, not this.
Ah, yes, indie platformer with quirky controls, where have I seen this before. Granted, Fancy Pants gets a pass for being based on a now very old flash game and still feeling somewhat good to play. Still, though, it's one of the reasons I don't buy platformers anymore.
1989
I guess arcade fans are nostalgic for this one, which, fair enough, but I don't think it holds at all in the modern era. It's a pretty middling beat-'em-up with awful character designs.
When your ending is so bad, you try to make another one, and it's still bad. The new missions are simply waves and waves of enemies mindlessly thrown at you, making for an even duller experience than the main game -- an incredible achievement.
Somehow even worse than Broken Steel. When I originally played it, it took me six tries to start the DLC without the game glitching or crashing, with four more freezes coming up later during gameplay.
Was it worth it? Of course not. The setting might have been interesting, but as it its, you're stuck in a loop of kill aliens -> find an inconspicuous switch somewhere -> kill aliens, and said aliens are very resilient to damage and take a while to go down. The sequence drags a bunch, as well. Awful.
Was it worth it? Of course not. The setting might have been interesting, but as it its, you're stuck in a loop of kill aliens -> find an inconspicuous switch somewhere -> kill aliens, and said aliens are very resilient to damage and take a while to go down. The sequence drags a bunch, as well. Awful.
I have to give some credit to this piece of DLC as its story is at least mildly amusing and complements the series' lore very well. It's also more colorful than the entirety of the main game. But it's still attached to Fallout 3, and my god, does it crash.
2009
Reaches the incredibly low bar of being the best Fallout 3 DLC, at least in my opinion. There's actual challenge due to being stripped of your gear as the DLC starts, as well as actual world building and choices -- it almost makes you feel like you're playing an RPG.