Probably my new favorite Pokemon game period. I want to give this a higher score, but it's hard to deny that in some areas it's pretty janky and a tad rough. But that said, the new gameplay loop owns, and I can't imagine future Pokemon games without them taking a hefty amount from this one. I just hope they're given the resources to give it a bit more polish.
2017
I really wanted to like it more, and it's objectively it's a high quality game with excellent visuals... Just not really my thing. A death by 100 cuts situation. The story was kinda interesting... but a LOT of it is delivered through audio logs or holograms you have to stand around during gameplay to watch, and I didn't find many of the characters outside of Aloy very entertaining. The gameplay is solid, but I didn't like how restricted movement felt. Specifically the restrictions on climbing locations felt very at odds with the game a lot of times. I could go on.
The sequel looks like it improves most of this, so hopefully it's something I can be more on board with!
The sequel looks like it improves most of this, so hopefully it's something I can be more on board with!
I have a tradition with some friends where we play all the way through a bad game to appreciate all of the good games out there. Most of them end up not as bad as you would think, funny enough.
This is every bit as bad as you would think.
This is every bit as bad as you would think.
The battle system tweaks are incredible, and some of the characters are pretty good (god I loved Adam). Other than that though, I can't say I liked it. The story is an absolute mess that doesn't really add much at all to the main game. It had so much potential to elevate some of those moments and instead it's incredibly safe and consists mostly of events you have literally seen onscreen or have been explained to you elsewhere. If I hadn't had to grind so many sidequests to beat it, I may have been more positive on it (seriously, that is the absolute WORST part of this).
I enjoyed the presentation, the more frequent crazy choreographed cutscenes, some of the characters are fun, and it plays pretty decent. But overall this one is a miss for me. The story starts really good, then rapidly becomes uninteresting and filler-y in the middle and the crazy endgame isn't enough to recover it. The game will frequently present you with interesting ideas about the universe, then proceed to never touch said ideas again. It's unnecessarily bogged down by systems (blade abilities are the worst idea in the whole series), the resolution is a disaster... I could go on. I really wanted to like it more, but I just can't. Hopefully whatever is next for the series is better.
Still my favorite Disgaea game. I love how the cast truly feels like a band of misfits. I think it hits a really nice balance between comedic and serious, and the gameplay systems are solid. I hope one day we can get it ported to something else.
2012
God I wish they could figure out a way to put this on any other system. Absolutely adore this game, super fun and fast paced, great writing and TONS of gameplay variety.
2011
Very underrated Tales game, and my current favorite of the bunch. Perfect length, great gameplay systems, a fun cast, and has just enough to make a second playthrough down the line worth it.
2021
Hard to really say much other than yet another high quality Picross game! I feel like the last couple have really had a nice even difficulty curve.
No matter what version of this you're playing, it's not good.
2005
Objectively a better game than the first, but it's also kinda dull? I actually think the hack and slash gameplay is a marked improvement and remains fun through most of the game. The dragon gameplay is worse in some ways and better in others. Most of the story ranges from forgettable to actively bad excluding the bits with Caim, which luckily manage to stand out as the best part of the story. In the end, I think I prefer the first for being an interesting bad game rather than an interesting okay one, but overall it was a really interesting curio.
2003
This game is absolutely abhorrent on almost every level, but over time it starts to weirdly endear itself to you. It's hard to explain why. It interestingly has a similar plot structure to Taro's other games, where the intrigue grows as you play more, but to more extreme ends of the spectrum. Weirdly glad I played it. Maybe I'll do it again? Oh god.
2010
A flawed masterpiece. The additions and tweaks to the new version make this a bit harder to go back to, but I still look fondly upon this version. It is not nearly as bad as it's made out to be, and it originated a lot of the fun genre bending, no matter how janky the combat was.
Absolutely incredible VN, completely unmatched in world building. Gameplay can be a slight drag, but the stellar localization really helps this one stand out from the pack.
2021
It's a step in the right direction for the series overall and I'm glad it was able to bring the series more into the mainstream, I enjoyed what I played. But ultimately, I found myself wishing that the game would relish a bit more in its "fun" moments. The skits are predominantly additional story cutscenes rather than equal part fun interactions with the characters, which I was a bit bummed by. I think the party really needed an agent of chaos type character because most everyone tends to take things very seriously.