MVK23
2017
Much like 0 and Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2 modernizes the classic Yakuza formula in a great way. Good storytelling, audio is drastically improved from Y0 and K1, fun combat, and plenty of things to do around the two cities. Again, substory engagement is hit or miss. I found myself leaving a lot of substories unfinished. Overall, really good game. Not sure if it matches Y0 in terms of storytelling for me.
2018
I've gotten some enjoyment out of this game via playing with friends, but even still the criticisms about this game are warranted. Most of the quests in the game are very boring. They mostly involve you reading a terminal, note, or listening to a holotape and then travelling to a different location and doing the same thing until you get something that resembles a short story. There are so many issues with the core loop of the game, that I'm not even going to bother describing them all. Anything I would have to say has already been said anyway. The game is at its best when discovering interesting locations while wandering, and stumbling across powerful monsters and cryptids.
2017
A very weird game about becoming Everything. Some philosophical themes about our perception of scale and time that get mildly existential at times. Cranking the scale up on weird objects and then shrinking down to a much smaller size can create some very trippy environments.
Dragon Quest is a game about adventure in its purest form. You play as the Luminary, Yggdrasil's chosen one, on a quest to defeat the Lord of Shadows. If that sounds familiar, it's probably because it is. On paper the story sounds exactly like every other RPG you've ever played, but what sets DQXI apart from the others is the characters and overall polish of the gameplay.
DQXI is paced nearly perfectly every step of the way, although my interest in exploring every nook and cranny faltered a little ways into the second half of the main story. All of the supporting characters are colorful and expertly written. The voice performances for each and every character are phenomenal and ooze personality. The character and monster designs of Akira Toriyama look beautiful and animate fluidly. The combat was mostly great, although the second half of the game can be entirely trivialized by a very simple combination of skills.
It also goes without saying that the orchestral score of Dragon Quest is remarkable, with heroic tunes that force you to hum and whistle along as you march along on your adventure.
The game isn't perfect, but I give it a 5 as a testament to its achievement as one of the greater JRPGs of recent years.
DQXI is paced nearly perfectly every step of the way, although my interest in exploring every nook and cranny faltered a little ways into the second half of the main story. All of the supporting characters are colorful and expertly written. The voice performances for each and every character are phenomenal and ooze personality. The character and monster designs of Akira Toriyama look beautiful and animate fluidly. The combat was mostly great, although the second half of the game can be entirely trivialized by a very simple combination of skills.
It also goes without saying that the orchestral score of Dragon Quest is remarkable, with heroic tunes that force you to hum and whistle along as you march along on your adventure.
The game isn't perfect, but I give it a 5 as a testament to its achievement as one of the greater JRPGs of recent years.
2020
Cute little puzzle game with a nice artstyle. I found the narrator voice slightly annoying. There were also more bugs that actually hindered progress than I would have expected.
2022
The feeling of exploring this game for the first time is unforgettable. I kept a journal to keep track of progress and where NPCs were going and still missed plenty on my first playthrough. The variety in playstyles that this game has is staggering, there are so many more weapons and abilities than past Souls games.
This game isn't without negatives however. Some bosses are just awful to fight, and many of them will show up several times throughout the world. I think this is a game that suffers from being too big. I tried to do 2nd and 3rd playthroughs of the game like I usually do with Souls games, but ended up losing motivation on several different characters because of how spread out everything is. There are tons of catacombs that either lead to an important item or Spirit Ashes, and it's hard to know where all the fluff is in order to avoid it. Despite that, this game is one of a kind for a first, blind playthrough.
This game isn't without negatives however. Some bosses are just awful to fight, and many of them will show up several times throughout the world. I think this is a game that suffers from being too big. I tried to do 2nd and 3rd playthroughs of the game like I usually do with Souls games, but ended up losing motivation on several different characters because of how spread out everything is. There are tons of catacombs that either lead to an important item or Spirit Ashes, and it's hard to know where all the fluff is in order to avoid it. Despite that, this game is one of a kind for a first, blind playthrough.
2021
Remarkable 2D entry in the Metroid series. Great combat, very atmospheric setting, great music. Just really fun.
A cute little adventure game about preserving nature. Some fun wildlife photography gameplay with a neat art style and setting.
Incredibly polished art direction and animation. Sound and music are on point. New guns are fun to mess around with. Story was decently interesting, if predictable, though the dialogue itself was pretty fun. The game makes amazing use of the haptic feedback in the DualSense controller. A technical marvel too, load times are quick and jumping into side content was effortless to the point that it made me actually want to do most of it. Honestly one of the best "hacking" minigames in the glitch levels." I think if I had one gripe it's that the game felt a little too... safe? Not sure how to describe it. There were plenty of interesting mechanics but there were no memorable moments that I think will stick with me.
This review contains spoilers
[Edit: I mulled it over and decided this game deserves to sit among my other 5 star rated games. It's kind of a masterpiece the more I think about how well all its gameplay systems work together. Even if exploring the world can get repetitive at times, I'm certain I will revisit this game every once in a while.]
I'm sort of torn between giving this game 4 and 4.5 stars. This game has so much charm and clever design in how it lays out characters and stories throughout the open world. Revisiting old friends in each region and seeing how the Upheaval has affected them managed to retain a feeling of mystery and intrigue despite being set in the same locations with the same characters. The temples in this game are a vast improvement from the Divine Beasts of BotW, and I found almost all of them exciting to tackle. I almost feel like I enjoyed the build up to each temple more than the temples themselves. Diving into Death Mountain to discover a lost underground city and braving a sandstorm to see an abandonded Gerudo Town overrun by Gibdos were highlights. Stumbling upon the Spirit Temple and getting to build an pilot a mech was such a great surprise that I'm happy wasn't spoiled for me in any way.
The story as a whole was pretty lacking, with all of the regional characters referring to the big bad in the same exact way. I understand why they had to tell the story this way, but I don't think that excuses it or makes it good. What is much more compelling about the narrative are all of the smaller stories you will come across in the world that have nothing to do with Ganondorf.
Discovering new monsters and ways to use their body parts as weapons was such a fun experience akin to a Monster Hunter lite game. I couldn't help but grin each time I discovered a new combination that made a strong and badass looking weapon. The fuse mechanic in general is incredibly satisfying to use, and it made hunting down Koroks again actually bearable for a while. That being said, there is still an insane amount of repetition and filler in this game. Addison puzzles were cute at first, but less cute when I saw this incompetent man trying to put up some monstrosity of a sign in every corner of the map. Fighting the same Hinoxes and Taluses again all these years later gave me little enjoyment. The Battle Talus was ok, but it was still just a rock monster with some Bokoblins on it. Gleeoks were a terrifying and incredible addition to the game, I found myself desperate to find more miniboss enemies like this, but unfortunately there aren't that many.
The sky islands and chasms were initially mind blowing, I couldn't fathom that there was an entire map beneath the overworld of the same size. I guess I should have been more skeptical because there just isn't anything down there. Hunting down Kohga and seeing the Divine Dragons flying through the chasms was pretty entertaining though, but other than that there's just kind of nothing to do. I could look for all the statue merchants so that I could buy armor that I wouldn't even be able to upgrade fully without some grinding, but that didn't seem very fun to me. Similarly, a lot of the sky islands offer a lot of the same challenges as well. Go to this island to get a crystal so that you can go into a shrine and get a weapon or resource. The only thing that made the sky islands more interesting than the chasm were their vibrancy and the fact that you could just jump down to the overworld from them.
I don't think I will ever be able to go back and play BotW again as this game is just kind of everything BotW had, but better. I was also one of the few people that thought BotW was pretty overrated, and honestly I'm torn on whether or not I feel the same about this entry. However, I do think it deserves the high marks as it's a technical marvel and filled with charming moments.
If you stick to the critical path, you'll have an amazing, physics driven, Zelda experience with total player freedom in how you approach your tasks. If you try to turn over every rock and explore every cave, you will absolutely burn out on the game like I did. There were several times, specifically after my first region clear of Hebra, and during my third region clear of Necluda, that I felt unmotivated to continue playing. I do think I can see myself revisiting this game someday, but I will absolutely not spend as much time scouring the map as I did on my first playthrough.
I'm sort of torn between giving this game 4 and 4.5 stars. This game has so much charm and clever design in how it lays out characters and stories throughout the open world. Revisiting old friends in each region and seeing how the Upheaval has affected them managed to retain a feeling of mystery and intrigue despite being set in the same locations with the same characters. The temples in this game are a vast improvement from the Divine Beasts of BotW, and I found almost all of them exciting to tackle. I almost feel like I enjoyed the build up to each temple more than the temples themselves. Diving into Death Mountain to discover a lost underground city and braving a sandstorm to see an abandonded Gerudo Town overrun by Gibdos were highlights. Stumbling upon the Spirit Temple and getting to build an pilot a mech was such a great surprise that I'm happy wasn't spoiled for me in any way.
The story as a whole was pretty lacking, with all of the regional characters referring to the big bad in the same exact way. I understand why they had to tell the story this way, but I don't think that excuses it or makes it good. What is much more compelling about the narrative are all of the smaller stories you will come across in the world that have nothing to do with Ganondorf.
Discovering new monsters and ways to use their body parts as weapons was such a fun experience akin to a Monster Hunter lite game. I couldn't help but grin each time I discovered a new combination that made a strong and badass looking weapon. The fuse mechanic in general is incredibly satisfying to use, and it made hunting down Koroks again actually bearable for a while. That being said, there is still an insane amount of repetition and filler in this game. Addison puzzles were cute at first, but less cute when I saw this incompetent man trying to put up some monstrosity of a sign in every corner of the map. Fighting the same Hinoxes and Taluses again all these years later gave me little enjoyment. The Battle Talus was ok, but it was still just a rock monster with some Bokoblins on it. Gleeoks were a terrifying and incredible addition to the game, I found myself desperate to find more miniboss enemies like this, but unfortunately there aren't that many.
The sky islands and chasms were initially mind blowing, I couldn't fathom that there was an entire map beneath the overworld of the same size. I guess I should have been more skeptical because there just isn't anything down there. Hunting down Kohga and seeing the Divine Dragons flying through the chasms was pretty entertaining though, but other than that there's just kind of nothing to do. I could look for all the statue merchants so that I could buy armor that I wouldn't even be able to upgrade fully without some grinding, but that didn't seem very fun to me. Similarly, a lot of the sky islands offer a lot of the same challenges as well. Go to this island to get a crystal so that you can go into a shrine and get a weapon or resource. The only thing that made the sky islands more interesting than the chasm were their vibrancy and the fact that you could just jump down to the overworld from them.
I don't think I will ever be able to go back and play BotW again as this game is just kind of everything BotW had, but better. I was also one of the few people that thought BotW was pretty overrated, and honestly I'm torn on whether or not I feel the same about this entry. However, I do think it deserves the high marks as it's a technical marvel and filled with charming moments.
If you stick to the critical path, you'll have an amazing, physics driven, Zelda experience with total player freedom in how you approach your tasks. If you try to turn over every rock and explore every cave, you will absolutely burn out on the game like I did. There were several times, specifically after my first region clear of Hebra, and during my third region clear of Necluda, that I felt unmotivated to continue playing. I do think I can see myself revisiting this game someday, but I will absolutely not spend as much time scouring the map as I did on my first playthrough.
2021
A nice little adventure game marred by some poor design choices regarding enemy combat. Most enemies are incredibly easy to fight, but some are way overturned. Short windups and very heavy tracking make bosses like Betty and The Last Lord of Doors feel really cheap. It wouldn't feel as bad if the health system wasn't so punishing. "Soulslike" does not mean "just don't get hit," but that's what the endgame bosses devolve into. I wasn't completely thorough, but I did look around quite a bit and I was unable to upgrade either my health or magic. Not having a world map did not encourage me to explore, and I also did not feel like backtracking to previous areas just to scrounge for an extra health point. It would have been nice if each boss had given you a health crystal so that by the end of the game most players were guaranteed to have at least one additional hit point. It would have made the last couple bosses more tolerable.
The music in this game was surprisingly really great. Lots of memorable pieces like The Gravedigger's Heart, which will honestly probably stick with me as one of my favorite game compositions. The art style is clean and the puzzles and navigation of new areas felt rewarding. The artificial difficulty felt pretty arbitrary to try and extend the playtime of the game or force it into being considered a "Soulslike," which it really isn't.
Overall, it's a nice and polished experience.
The music in this game was surprisingly really great. Lots of memorable pieces like The Gravedigger's Heart, which will honestly probably stick with me as one of my favorite game compositions. The art style is clean and the puzzles and navigation of new areas felt rewarding. The artificial difficulty felt pretty arbitrary to try and extend the playtime of the game or force it into being considered a "Soulslike," which it really isn't.
Overall, it's a nice and polished experience.
2019
It's kind of like if The Witness was actually a good game.
In all seriousness though, this game is a really unique experience that I think most people should just experience blind. Incredible soundtrack, fun physics based gameplay, and an undeniable sense of mystery.
In all seriousness though, this game is a really unique experience that I think most people should just experience blind. Incredible soundtrack, fun physics based gameplay, and an undeniable sense of mystery.
I wasn't expecting to like this game as much as I did. A lot of Sony's first parts offerings lately have been pretty hit or miss for me, but Spider-Man managed to pull me in.
The game is at its best in the first 5-7 hours, when you're still unlocking new abilities and getting into the flow of combat. There are a lot of interesting things to see and do in New York City and you stumble upon and complete them pretty organically. This game looks pretty easy to 100% and I appreciate that.
The combat is flashy and cinematic, and as I said earlier feels really good at the start of the game. By the end, you kind of become pretty OP and the game starts playing itself, which is sort of a bummer. The overall presentation was dynamic enough that it wasn't boring however.
The game is... mostly polished. Like the combat and traversal is solid, but it's odd because it's actually one of the buggier games I've played in the past couple years. There were three distinct times where I would be blocked by a bug on the critical path and have to reload a checkpoint to fix things.
Overall, super stylish and fun Spider-Man game.
The game is at its best in the first 5-7 hours, when you're still unlocking new abilities and getting into the flow of combat. There are a lot of interesting things to see and do in New York City and you stumble upon and complete them pretty organically. This game looks pretty easy to 100% and I appreciate that.
The combat is flashy and cinematic, and as I said earlier feels really good at the start of the game. By the end, you kind of become pretty OP and the game starts playing itself, which is sort of a bummer. The overall presentation was dynamic enough that it wasn't boring however.
The game is... mostly polished. Like the combat and traversal is solid, but it's odd because it's actually one of the buggier games I've played in the past couple years. There were three distinct times where I would be blocked by a bug on the critical path and have to reload a checkpoint to fix things.
Overall, super stylish and fun Spider-Man game.
2024
One of the best 3/5 games I've ever played. I really like how the game makes the Pals feel like they're actually interacting with you and helping you. It does it in a way that I don't think Pokemon has ever really matched. Each time a friend would bring a new pal back to base to show off, it was always met with comments like, "WHOA, IT'S SO COOL, WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?" and then we would run off and go find more of them to bring back. Discovering new Pals to put to work in the base is also really satisfying.
Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing about this game. Cookie cutter survival gameplay was only made tolerable by the inherently fun concept of scouring an open world for different types of Pals. It's a feeling that I still think Gamefreak has not even come close to achieving in their games. I would love to see a game with exploration and discovery like this, but with less survival tedium and more towns, characters, bosses, story... anything but fucking mining ore as the core gameplay loop.
Incredible fun with friends, probably pretty bland if you're playing solo.
MANY of the Pal designs are remarkably better than so many modern Pokemon designs. I don't even care if they slightly rip off various body parts from official Pokemon designs, they're just better than most of the shit we get nowadays. Sorry, not sorry. I believe in Penking supremacy. Orserk is goated. So many of these Pals would be instant favorite Pokemon if they were official designs. They have a surprising amount of personality in their animations and sounds. I hope Pocket Pair keeps iterating on this concept and makes a true Pokemon competitor because god knows we need one.
Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing about this game. Cookie cutter survival gameplay was only made tolerable by the inherently fun concept of scouring an open world for different types of Pals. It's a feeling that I still think Gamefreak has not even come close to achieving in their games. I would love to see a game with exploration and discovery like this, but with less survival tedium and more towns, characters, bosses, story... anything but fucking mining ore as the core gameplay loop.
Incredible fun with friends, probably pretty bland if you're playing solo.
MANY of the Pal designs are remarkably better than so many modern Pokemon designs. I don't even care if they slightly rip off various body parts from official Pokemon designs, they're just better than most of the shit we get nowadays. Sorry, not sorry. I believe in Penking supremacy. Orserk is goated. So many of these Pals would be instant favorite Pokemon if they were official designs. They have a surprising amount of personality in their animations and sounds. I hope Pocket Pair keeps iterating on this concept and makes a true Pokemon competitor because god knows we need one.
2020
It's... ok? I thought it was really boring, feels like they spent most of the budget on actually marketing the game and hiring the voice cast. Most of the game is just listening to the characters talk to each other, and the payoff at the end is just weird. Was hoping for a bit more dynamic gameplay when it came to catching different Bugsnax, but most of the critters felt the same to catch.