I fucking love music wow and I'm writing this while watching sanremo so you know im crazy

some part of me really wanted to enjoy this game way more than I actually did its probably one of the most artistically pleasing mechanically deep genre bending queer narrative driven puzzle adventure ever created and also probably a super slog to go through PLEASE DONT DOX ME YET PLEASE WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

so I'm famously known nationally as a hater of puzzle games because my IQ is so below the average that I have to look up solutions after solutions to actually get the façade of a bump-less experience throughout . now puzzles in this one are not the worst shit ever because of the main mechanic being not only super interesting and ever shifting but also characterised by puzzle segments that are not super long (but sometimes could get really trying and repetitive) and not super difficult (once you understand the secret formula) and still I ended up kind of hating those parts after a while the game makes a lot of effort to shuffle things up a bit but I'm not the target audience for this type of gameplay

now the main gimmick is pretty fun !!! since youre a bard most of the stuff youre gonna do ingame is sing so most of if not the entirety of the puzzles are gonna be about you matching notes with the cues that are gonna come out of nowhere USUALLY since the developers are so fuccking intelligent thay they managed to bend this simple premise to new heights with some of the most forward thinking use of a simplistic gameplay mechanic to the point that it could rival undertale and the little bullet hell heart literally at first I thought this was gonna be a rhythm game but a part of me is super glad that is is absolutely fucking NOT a rhythm game at all for some reason you should be using the analog stick to match the notes but what these developers end up doing with it is absolutely insane

so yeah for this stuff I actually did enjoy going through the game because they just kept reinventing the main mechanic every 30 minutes and for that I'm genuinely so impressed I have no idea how they did that SURE sometimes the sing circle isn't really the most comfortable way of expressing the design philosophy the developers were aiming for but it comes real close its janky yes but also a damn blast throughout thats definitely one thing that kept me interested till the end of the game

again while this should be a praise sometimes it hindered the experience in some ways because of the puzzle segments I wish these parts were either streamlined or integrated better because they're whole areas of JUST puzzles that honestly made me go insane sometimes its not like they're hard or anything most of them are pretty easy but it's just that why would you put puzzle pieces in a narrative driven game if the reason is to make me more engaged in the game rest assured that you're doing the exact opposite ong which is basically what happened when chicory went full puzzle and to this day I still can't finish it for the life of me because wow do I hate puzzle segments

the narrative driven moments are definitely some of the best parts of the game but NOT ALWAYS the pirates arc was boring as shit the beginning of the game was really slow and I actually began to be enthralled by this whole experience when the game decided to go full majoras mask and until then I actually played this sporadically throughout the months because wow is this game slow and boring sometimes wow please don't kill me

it's not like it's inherently bad and I think if it weren't for my mind numbing adhd I wouldve probably enjoyed this laid back experience way more than I did but there's some really weird pacing throughout where either nothing really happens and you're left with countless and countless of boring dialogue or everything happens all at once - wait isn't this the title of that movie

I'm not against laid back experiences I'm so much in love with night in the woods my heart could explode and what really sets them apart is that wandersong while having basically the same structure fails to make me care for anything happening in the world or any single character appearing on screen

most of the events of the game arent moving until you actually get at least ⅓ in which isn't a lot for a 10 something hours game but it can be detrimental to the pacing nonetheless and the characters are either one trick ponies that are used for some kind of interesting dialogue interactions but then they're just taken out if the entire picture which makes me just not care for any of them UNTIL miriam comes in and im gonna talk about her plenty in a second and at that point i start caring for everything in this game all of the sudden

so yeah these are my main issues here puzzles i hate puzzles one note characters (they're not bad they're just how do you say usa e getta in english mmmmm disposable ??? yeah something like that like they're used for a single joke and then killed off screen . not cool man) and the story takes a lot to digest

it could also very well be that I wasn't in a particularly good moment that's also an interesting point of discussion

moving on the art direction is absolutely flawless now lemme just address the elephant in the room I'm not a huge fan of the art style………. but they managed to make me love it WOW the characters are incredibly well designed and diverse theres a lot of variety in the sceneries youre going to traverse in this pilgrimage the vivid colors are trying to make you wake up while you're snoozing theres a lot of expressions for the bard even though he's basically a mannequin the pop up book aesthetic has a lot of charm and while YES I don't like it it doesn't necessarily mean that I didnt find it super intriguing and gorgeous I can not like something but also praise it like I do with giottos painting they have that lobotomised use of perspective that would make everyone go crazy but you have to still understand that that was the blueprint of the art we had in the renaissance and so forward

that being said for a game with huge emphasis on music it's pretty weird how the songs can range from soothing to anonymous to epic to bopping to basically whatever they could make on a soundboard and they did a good job my only complaint is that there's a lot of good songs here and there like the ghost chant or something that get outright RUINED with the player-controlled bard noises which is probably a result of me being ass at this game but I don't think most of the time the bards singing actually has some good impact on the tunes in the background that you're gonna emulate does that make sense is that rude to say

the music is still godlike though I hope the die hard fans of this game arent already releasing my IP on the dark web hitmen pages because wow I still need to play a lot of shit please wait at least a few more years ok umh ……. at least persona 3 reload

so yeah art direction and sound design top notch we get it moving on im sleepy

some of the thematic elements of the story deeeeefinitely hit real close with stuff like inadequacy and depression which was something that I was NOT expecting for this game to dab into because it started out as this incredible positive journey of saving the world and living life at the fullest yada yada and shit like that until it actually is NOT and the game starts throwing a lot of deep shit at you like themes of loss and grief themes of not being good enough or not being worthy enough friendship and betrayal and existentialism and idealism if you had seen my fucking face when I realised the sheer variety of stuff the game explores I probably would've been munchs the scream

I do not think this should be overlooked most of the dialogues in the game can be taken as jokes and sometimes they really are but if you dig deeper you can see how sensitive the writing is to the themes its trying to convey and I swear some of them do hit . like . a . truck . some scenes of the game are forever printed on my eyelids and I not even bleach would be able to wash them away

the main trio is probably the main focus of the game and its in their interaction that all of that gorgeous luscious writing starts flowing abundantly and lemme be clear I did not care for the bard or any of them in the beginning but wow I ended up loving all of them so dearly

for some reason I think it's fitting how the bard starts as such a blank character until it actually grows a spine and some balls to confront injustices enemies and while literally the end of the world . he's definitely not my favorite one in the game and i would've preferred a more interesting approach to the protagonist BUT the way his character changed from this dilly dallying carefree bard to an idealistic mid-apocalyptic dummie is probably the best character development I couldve asked for in a game like this

I gotta give the developers an Oscar for creating my most hated character in the entire world now Audrey is a fucking pain I tried and tried to like her I cried for her I pained listening to her but she was MADE to be hated and they succeeded if I were there I wouldve showed shibuya a real incident

now

drums

my baby

my wife

my beloved

miriam

most of the reasons why I actually ended up enjoying the game as much as I did even despite all the problems I talked about can be summarized in: miriam

shes a grumpy little witch serious impatient and hates the bards attitude towards a more positive demeanour and at first I thought she was gonna be another one of those characters just falling in the background but she sure as hell became the most important character of the story for me

most of the game she just closes off from the entire world and doesn't really think about opening up to others in any way shape or form but slowly she begins to sweeten to the bards presence and starts sharing a bond that could be called friendship

while I definitely don't think this is the most convoluted character writing in the entire world I relate to her to a personal level and I think she's possibly one of the sweetest 2d beings I got to know till now just thinking about all the cute interactions she exchanged with the bard is making my heart warmer not even talking about the trauma dump or the finale literally words can't express how much I love this stupid fucking bitch I'm in love with her I want to adopt her and I want her to be happy for the rest of her life im not joking

i won't go into too much detail but miriam is special miriam deserves the world and miriam is the best character in the game bar none and if you wonder if you should play this game just do it for miriam im crazy for her

she got an inferiority complex and copes with anger issues she feels like an outsider and is scared of friendship and emotional intimacy she's just like me frfr

what got me was that the real reason saphy sent miriam on a quest to save the world and told the bard to go with her is simply because she wanted her granddaughter to make a friend before the world ended

point is I could talk about miriam forever so lets just

wandersong is perfect but also flawed it's interesting and boring it has a lot of great ideas and weird execution incredible characters and monotonous ones its such a fucking dilemma how they managed to either make me go crazy cry tear my hair out or

oh

forgot to say

cried like a fucking bitch too this game got me if you played the games you know the miriam scenes I'm talking about literally could not see the screens through the years . embarrassing

I was saying

or bore me to no end irritate me and make me regret all my life decisions

but maybe that's fine I slowly started to be seduced by this game it started to seduce me and it delivered

still conflicted to no end but I'm glad I got to play this miriam you're a part of me I will never forget you

gg it has homosexual yeti monsters fucking raw

ys chronicles encore kind of goated but also really damn flawed I'm conflicted

hi im once again marathoning an entire series for the purpose to play a single game in that same series but I do love going in chronological order when there's some kind of story or lore involved and all of this just to play lacrimosa of dana but whatever im enjoying this run

so ys 2 what can I say its basically ys 1 part 2 with all the same praises and gripes that I had with the very first one I think as a remake this is absolutely gorgeous I've seen videos of the original installment and lemme tell you I wouldve NOT played ys 1 + 2 if the only available one wouldve been the fucking turbografx whatever version so im actually glad they polished the OG king to this extent to make a really old and dated vidya kinda modern it has that charm of a low budget rpgmaker game I don't know I really like this

so umh as I was saying this shit is the same the combat is the same bump into enemies and see them explode before your eyes get some items and equipments yada yada BUT !!! they spiced things up with new spells (even though the actual combat spell is only the fireball one but its so fucking fun to use for no actual reason) and in general there's a lot of different useful and or interesting spells to use like the light spell or the morph one theres something for everybody (furries) let's just say that

and yknow the main issue I had with the first one kind of vanished because for some reason in ys 1 the leveling stopped right at level 10 so that I wouldnt be able to grind my way to the bosses which actually made the bosses HARDER because why the fuck would you not make me grind for levels to make the bosses easier thats like the main rpg philosophy fuck you falcom

anyhow this game is not the case you can level up stupidly fast by targeting strong enemies in the solomon shrine and the game kiiiiiiind of becomes easier but its still ys so the bosses are still tough as shit if you don't know what you're doing or you're getting all the danmaku balls in your face and stuff

mind you it gets more unbearable as you go but it's still pretty accessible if you want to grind a little bit more in the longrun that being said the gameplay department got better but at the same time the map and dungeon designs got so much fucking worse now why would you put as the very first dungeon of the game a cave with so many different exits like I'm not gonna rage quit this fucking game ASAP literally lost so much time in there I was getting crazy now not gonna talk badly about the volcano or the sewers they're fine BUT THE SOLOMON SHRINE ???????? you must be joking screens and screens of labyrinth where you have to go from one point to the opposite one and then back again for the story to progress I don't wanna see that shit anymore in my entire life love to see it

so yeah this is what mainly confused me about this stuff there's a lot of innovations in this new installment for better or for worse the combat is tighter and you get more than one fucking item at a time theres a lot of “customization” (practically it's like X item needs to be equipped in Y situation) with a ton and I say A TON of different items but then youre left with these weird game design decision and youre like mmmmm okay

gotta say the story completely blew me away the story of the first installment was simple and it was good it had a nice little mystery element in it and this is the game that actually answers all the questions you couldve had in the first game kind of like higurashi/umineko question/answer arcs you feel me some different plot twists here and there that made me tear my hair out and a more interesting conflict and villain than the one we had in ys 1 and feena and reah in this one are stellar I love them I almost cried in the ending ALMOST don't get me started

unfortunately most of the characters still feel one note and uneventful I only remember the main trio and thats basically it Keith was actually a nice pal and lilia was l my little sweet angel I loved her so much she meant the world to me in the first 10 minutes of the game and then I completely ignored her bye

soooooo I don't know guys its still the same praises I gave ys 1 nice presentation for a remake of a game so fucking old the ost is bombing absolutely timeless and pumping in my ears like its ** pumping in my *** the combat is still pretty fun and with the new additions it's even more enjoyable I have no idea what the fuck they smoked in the falcom headquarters because those map designs should be illegal and punishable yada yada whatever I don't care anymore I just want to move on to ys origin thank you these 2 games were good but now I can move on to installments that hopefully won't take the soul out of me thanks see you soon

I want WANT feena you don't get me

I don't have too much to say about Peakmin 4 but I'm really gunna miss Oatchi going back to play 1 and 2 ...

Biggest complaint by far is that some late-game cave enemies are super BS and can devour far too many piks at once if you don't have the right crew/approach (I'm ngl I soloed half the final cave as Oatchi) -- This wasn't bad for most of the game but it got to a point where I'd only have a couple dozen of one type and I'd lose all of them instantly if I got licked or knocked over or screeched at the wrong moment. Skill issue I'm sure but still a bummer.

In terms of positives though, everything else! Level designs were great, music is beautiful, having so many pikmin types was fun (even if half of them were so rare it was easier to use Oatchi) -- This was really fun to just sit down with before bed and I really can't believe I spent nearly 30 hours on it before reaching the true ending. There's something so addicting about figuring out how to get stuff done and then watching cute lil guys put the work in.

Really recommend this to anyone interested, super chill time (until it was the most stressful thing ever, but that's over now, it can't hurt me 😌) - easy to get into and honestly just buy it regardless so we real gamers can get a 5th one :p
It even has hands down the most hateable villain in all of media 🥹

That'll do it anyhow, thanks for reading folks, hope you're all well! I'm 110 hours deep in Infinite Wealth so hoping to finish that this week, review will likely end up similar to this one but we'll see -- Until then! 🙏

Alan Wake II is a prime example of how taking a big fucking swing can really pay off.

Its 13-year-old predecessor was met with a mixed reception (strong atmosphere; naff characters and combat) and sadly failed to get its intended sequel made at the time. But, despite my dislike of that first game, it was heartwarming to see, at last, Sam Lake championing Alan Wake II, all the way to the recent Game Awards.

Even from that first teaser trailer, it was clear Remedy was doubling down, putting everything they had into this. The result is a culmination of ideas born from their prior games, including Quantum Break and Control, notably the seamless blend of gameplay and live action footage.

And if Twin Peaks was a key inspiration for the first game, the second is very much its own Twin Peaks: The Return - crazier, scarier, and richer from its many years in the metaphorical slow-cooker - even the plot (SPOILER ALERT) is very much The Return: new characters piece together past and present events in order to bring back the absent hero trapped in the Black Lodge/Dark Place.

This Return segment focuses on player character FBI agent Saga Anderson, investigating cult ritual murders in different areas of Bright Falls, using a ‘mind palace’ system to organise jigsaw pieces of the case, profile suspects and keep count of how many wall-mounted deer heads she’s caressed. I found these detective segments so enjoyable that the later levels as Alan, wandering around his mind (in a form of Otherworldly New York Plaza), were underwhelming by comparison. There are some game highlights in playing the title character, such as a spooky hotel and a movie theatre; and who could forget the Herald of Darkness musical segment?! But Saga’s… saga moves the story forward at a more engaging pace.

The combat indeed feels weightier but no less annoying for the most part. The enemies that can speed-dodge attacks are a nightmare to pinpoint in darker areas where they hide and throw stuff at you. I also found it frustrating when circling back to areas to find hidden items, only to constantly have enemies respawn for the same annoying fight on lower ammo. There are a couple of horde-based enemy sequences, similar to the first game, which also border on tedium. All of that said, most of the boss levels still manage to be quite tense.

All the stuff with the fictional Old Gods of Asgard band, the Alex Casey movie segments and Wake’s usual bullshit writing can be campy and indulgent as expected, but Sam Lake gets away with it, this time, by having the rest of the game be just as bold and bombastic. Its heightened visuals - notably those live action ’monochrome visions’ and the dark murmuring figures aberrating in and out of the moody environment - make every moment unpredictable.

Lastly, Alan Wake II couldn’t have come at a better time. With a piss-poor opening to an uncertain Silent Hill revival that is Ascension, and (rather fantastic) remakes such as Dead Space and RE4, this year of survival horror was very nearly dismissed as a nostalgia wave for older classics, plus maybe some indie outliers. With a sequel that is far better than anyone could’ve expected, Remedy breathed new life into the genre, showcasing a whole new horizon of potential, graphically, narratively and stylistically.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was a game that I adored so, so much, that I couldn't bring myself to start writing a review for it. I could talk about that game for hours, and yet, I'm lost for words.

There is no way to properly explain the way this series hits any more. Half the reason I never tried writing about XC3 was that so much of what I wanted to say would touch on spoilers in one way or another, and given the nature of this expansion the same is going to apply here. (So this is more a rant summarising my feelings on this series as a whole)

One thing I will say, however, is that I am honestly devastated that my memory is as bad as it can be, in particular with this franchise. I have loved, loved all 3 parts of this trilogy but if you asked me to even summarise one of the first 2 games I'd get maybe 5% of the story right, it kinda sucks😭

I'm pretty confident that 3 is my favourite, and not just for recency bias, but the combat, the party, the world, the story, the relationships and development of the characters.. It is truly deserving of the label peak because it genuinely sits at the top of the JRPG mountain in my opinion. I fucking love that game dude, they even added a navigation line to follow!
(Unfortunatley, this expansion removes that again 😭 2 games and 2 expansions to finally stop me from getting lost only to rob me of it again, wounded!)

Anyway if you can't tell I'm already losing myself, these games have got me bad, man. It is all heart, I have no brain, no thoughts (no memory 😔) - I barely understand myself how they've touched me this much, but there's an undeniable charm and sincerity to them that's really just 😩

To make some comments about Future Redeemed specifically, I fully understand the reasoning behind Matthew et al, but I can't help but wonder if I'd have preferred somehow getting to bring things to fruition with familiar faces. Matthew is great don't get me wrong, but his specific personality archetype is an interesting one to go with for the main character of this expansion lol.
Also, without saying anything else: Holy shit the glow up, the future is not the only thing being redeemed god damn.

Final thoughts I think I preferred the combat and overall dynamics in the main game vs this, and locking arts and accessory slots behind finding rare items instead of your player level is kinda oof, but I got by. It felt a bit like XC3 but stripped back a little instead of further improved which is a shame, but with the bar set by XC3 I really don't think there was anywhere to go but backwards anyway.
Difficulty wise there was one boss near the end that was a huge spike for me, but admittedly I'd been playing somewhat lazily until then anyway and it didn't take too long to overcome it.

Overall: this is insane. This series is nothing short of beautiful and if you don't believe me then the soundtrack alone can prove you wrong with ease. I don't know if I want more or not but I definitely want more of something from this team. Do not let British voice acting put y'all off these games bro, yes I know XC2 sounds kinda goofy but you can play in Japanese if you must and even if you don't I guarantee that the voicework does not detract from how good they are. (Also Mio and Nia's accents are too good to pass up on smh shame on you)

Thanks for reading to all who did, hope it's okay that this is just word vomit but I really wasn't kidding when I said I have no words. Hope you're all having a wonderful December and enjoy any festivities you may or may not partake in. Until next time🙏

Excellent. Looking forward to the next one!

Jedi Survivor is better than Fallen Order in just about every way in my opinion. I enjoyed the first game for sure, but I was never really 'excited' for it, nor this. After beating this one, well let's just say the reveal for the next one is going to be hype 😌

The story (while starting a little weird considering where FO left off) was pretty straightforward, but is told in such a way that I think this worked to its benefit. There were still twists, some more obvious than others, and only one moment that was egregiously silly. One reveal in particular seemed so glaringly obvious that I spent the whole game calling it out and then questioning whether I was just being cynical or if it was a red herring, and while I am of course a genius who clearly knows everything, my favourite thing about this was that the game handled this event in such a way that it was possible for me to have this ongoing struggle, and I think that's cool as shit. When I was proven right it wasn't with a sigh and an "of course", it was an "I FUCKING KNEW IT!!" - and if a game can get me that invested and excited over a "cliche" or an "obvious" reveal then it must be doing something better than everything else I'm just sayin'.

The characters in particular shine bright in this entry. Cal is a genuinely interesting protagonist and while a lot of the arcs and tropes he goes through in this can be compared to similar stories, some as recent as this year, that doesn't detract from how much of a blast it was to experience his. Cameron Monaghan's performance is as great as expected and by the end I really found myself invested in Cal's story, and I will be there when the next chapter of it releases.

Quickfire some other comments now the gush is over:
The environments felt much less overwhelming in this entry, and the navigation assist was a godsend in helping me not get lost. The maps are still pretty big and while I could understand people complaining about bouncing between the same few planets it didn't bother me at all.

The combat felt better as well, it's still not amazing with the stances being limited to so few combos, but having them at all was a nice touch. I do agree with the masses that only being able to switch between two of them at a time is a shame but it is what it is.

And most importantly: Merrin 😌

That'll do it, don't sleep on this one folks, in a year absolutely stacked with bangers this definitely sits up in the upper echelons, don't let the fact that it's still buried under other GOATs stop you from playing it!

Thanks for reading to all who did, hope you're have a great week. After I'm done with the P5T DLC story I'm gunna be going on a brief PS5 hiatus to focus on some Switch and PC games, not sure if or what I'll review of those but first up is XC3 Future Redeemed so stay tuned 🙏

P.S. I don't know whose idea it was to make the enemies in this game so pitiful that I feel bad for killing them but it's equal parts hilarious and 'aw :(' ... Hearing someone ask if Jedi wound people because they don't want to get wounded and then having to cut them in half moments later is 😔 RIP Rick, bud. ✊

I know a lot of people were kinda soft on it but I really loved the story mode for the base game so I found this DLC to be a bit frustrating. Its good, expected comic book-y stuff like the rest of Mortal Kombat but I don't know. My favorite part of the base game was the mom-daughter stuff with Cassie and Sonya. So of course this DLC focused a lot on the worst mother character of all time, Sindel. It does make for an interesting contrast and the focus on villains is cool but I just am not sure the ending is satisfying enough to make up for how it felt like all my favorite characters got done dirty. The most frustrating aspect of this DLC is that my opinion on it entirely depends on what happens in the next two Mortal Kombat games lol.

Other than that I like the three new characters (Fujin the most) and having Robocop is sweet but I already had my mains so wasn't too interested in trying them out.

Overall Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath is a pretty solid expansion with a good if somewhat frustrating conclusion to the story and good new character additions. I do think the original 40 dollar price tag for it is positively ridiculous but thankfully you can get it for much cheaper on sale. Its a solid add-on to my favorite fighting game and I can't ask for too much more than that.

Just wanted to leave this little mini review. I also recently got the platinum for both the PS4 and PS5 version of the basegame if that doesn't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I currently have MK1 installed and I def need a bit of a fighting game break but I am very eager to play it nonetheless, will definitely be reviewing that as well 😌

-----TLDR----
+ Good new additions to the roster
+ Interesting set up for the future of MK
- Too many of my characters got disrespected in story mode lol

Nancymeter - 70/100
Trophy Completion - N/A
Time Played: 2-4 hours
DLC Completion #2 of November
DLC Completion #35 of 2023

Damn shame this one ngl, there's a really good 2-3 hour game here but the walking speed being set to fuckin 0.5% and half the PS trophies being "stand still for 5 minutes lol" make the whole game feel like a waste of time.

The story was genuinely interesting and the map is very well crafted, if I was able to move around it at human speed I'd have had a wonderful time exploring, but playing as what I assume was a 200lb camera being pushed around by a small child made it feel more like reading a picture book on a tablet with shitty internet.

It seriously takes almost a full minute to get from the front door of a house down the yard and across the road, bro has a fucking 3 hour commute to his shop half a mile away.
Anyway I'm sure everyone is as bored of walking-speed rants/complaints as they were being let down by what should've been a much better game.

Thanks for reading if you did, sorry for the moan but it's gone 4am now and this game would've been twice as good were it half as slow. Can't wait to speedrun it again tomorrow for the platinum! :D

Hope you all have a lovely December, hopefully I'll have a proper review before it's over but brief thoughts for now: Persona 5 Tactica was great, much better story than expected. Jedi Survivor has been really good so far, Ace Attorney isn't as good as TGAA was but it's a joy and Maya is 😌