MoeGreenSpecial
2022
A fun concept - bouncing between going on dungeon crawls to get resources to power up your cult, which provides resources to power up subsequent dungeon runs. I did find that by the end the cult side of things felt too micro-mangey for me, but overall it was fun and didn't overstay its welcome. (Perhaps to a fault? When the credits rolled, it felt like a bit of a "that's it?" moment to me).
2022
Cute BOTW-like that knows what it wants to be, delivers that through gameplay and story, and then leaves before overstaying its welcome. Also, quite thankfully, provides post-game assists for mopping up collectibles if you are so inclined.
2023
This review contains spoilers
This was an engaging turn based RPG, with fun varied gameplay, and a good story. Generally the writing was funny and the mood of the game was uplifitng without being saccharine, which I appreciated. The amount of content here is staggering, especially for a team so small. There are a huge variety of biomes, all with unique art, enemies, and music to go with them.
I very much appreciated how the designers of the game kept combat from getting stale. Not only did they use the usual tricks of having different enemies be strong/weak against different damage types - but they introduced a lock system where enemies needed to be hit by specific types of attacks before a specific number of turns in order to prevent an attack. At its best, this functions as a mini in-battle puzzle, trying to figure out how to shuffle your characters and abilities around in order to meet the requirements of the lock. In combination these things really helped avoid the trap that many turn based combat systems can fall into where you find one combination of attacks that works for you and just settle into them for the rest of the game.
For a lot of the game I was wishing there was a fast travel system, but one does appear in the very late game. I do also wish there was a good way to go back to the world map quickly when you were in a level -- this would have been especially useful when mopping up collectibles.
My only major gripe with the game is a spoiler for the very end game ...
...
The final boss fight in the true ending was all fine and good, but then it goes to a space shooter format out of nowhere after the whole game to that point had only required succeeding at turn based combat. Failure on the shooter part resets the final boss's health, which meant that this encounter took me well over an hour to complete when streaming from my Xbox to my Steam Deck. :-/ Additionally, maybe I missed it, but I didn't even see a prompt telling you what the controls were in this portion -- it took me 4 or 4 times through before I realized you could press A to shoot. Having such a required change of pace come out of nowhere so late in the game was truly unfortunate.
I very much appreciated how the designers of the game kept combat from getting stale. Not only did they use the usual tricks of having different enemies be strong/weak against different damage types - but they introduced a lock system where enemies needed to be hit by specific types of attacks before a specific number of turns in order to prevent an attack. At its best, this functions as a mini in-battle puzzle, trying to figure out how to shuffle your characters and abilities around in order to meet the requirements of the lock. In combination these things really helped avoid the trap that many turn based combat systems can fall into where you find one combination of attacks that works for you and just settle into them for the rest of the game.
For a lot of the game I was wishing there was a fast travel system, but one does appear in the very late game. I do also wish there was a good way to go back to the world map quickly when you were in a level -- this would have been especially useful when mopping up collectibles.
My only major gripe with the game is a spoiler for the very end game ...
...
The final boss fight in the true ending was all fine and good, but then it goes to a space shooter format out of nowhere after the whole game to that point had only required succeeding at turn based combat. Failure on the shooter part resets the final boss's health, which meant that this encounter took me well over an hour to complete when streaming from my Xbox to my Steam Deck. :-/ Additionally, maybe I missed it, but I didn't even see a prompt telling you what the controls were in this portion -- it took me 4 or 4 times through before I realized you could press A to shoot. Having such a required change of pace come out of nowhere so late in the game was truly unfortunate.
2022
A fun enough auto-shooter, although I wish there was a bit more variety and perhaps some meta-progression to work toward. It was great how each character has very different rules - which forces you to change up your strategy for each one. I also liked how the RNG biases toward decisions you've already made, so you can influence what kinds of build you would like to have while still retaining some level of randomness.
I do wish that there was more variety in terms of the map - both the physical map and the types and waves of enemies that spawn. As it is, you play each character on the same map and the enemy waves are the same each time, which creates a feeling of repetitiveness. I also wish there was some sort of meta-progression. While each character you win with typically unlocks a new weapon, that wasn't enough to make it feel like I was growing with each run as is common in rouge-lites.
This is the kind of game that is best played if you have 30 minutes here or 30 minutes there to put in a run, rather than playing it straight all the way through. It's quite fun in short bursts, but rather grindy when played in longer sessions.
I do wish that there was more variety in terms of the map - both the physical map and the types and waves of enemies that spawn. As it is, you play each character on the same map and the enemy waves are the same each time, which creates a feeling of repetitiveness. I also wish there was some sort of meta-progression. While each character you win with typically unlocks a new weapon, that wasn't enough to make it feel like I was growing with each run as is common in rouge-lites.
This is the kind of game that is best played if you have 30 minutes here or 30 minutes there to put in a run, rather than playing it straight all the way through. It's quite fun in short bursts, but rather grindy when played in longer sessions.
This goes down as my favorite of the Yakuza series so far. They took everything that made Yakuza: Like a Dragon so much fun, and then fine tuned it to make it even better here. The addition of movement during the turn based combat sequences really adds a lot to the game, as does the ability to slot in skills from other jobs to customize each character.
This game also does a great job of avoiding having you fall into the trap of just treating each combat encounter identically in several ways. First, by splitting the game up into a Japan and a Hawaii half, you have two different parties who control differently to play with. Secondly, by having each job provide permanent bonuses for being upgraded (both by having skills unlocked or just direct HP, MP, etc bufs), you're encouraged to cycle characters through multiple jobs. Finally, they also do the standard thing of having different enemies be weak and strong against different moves which forces you to change things up.
Dondoko Island and Sujimon league were both great minigames (although the actual act of recruiting Sujimon left a little something to be desired). Having never played Animal Crossing, I was surprised how into Dondoko Island I got - I basically did not leave the island once I arrived in Chapter 6 until I had gotten it to 5 stars. I do wish it was more customizable as a resort than as, well, Kamurocho, but it makes sense how RGG was able to reuse assets to save development time when building the game.
The writing here is top notch, and I loved the Hawaii portion of the game - it captured Waikiki perfectly IMO. The new protagonist characters were all great additions, as was Yamai. However, the main villains in the story didn't hold up as well as other Yakuza villains in the past, and that led to the main plot falling a little bit short for me.
This game also does a great job of avoiding having you fall into the trap of just treating each combat encounter identically in several ways. First, by splitting the game up into a Japan and a Hawaii half, you have two different parties who control differently to play with. Secondly, by having each job provide permanent bonuses for being upgraded (both by having skills unlocked or just direct HP, MP, etc bufs), you're encouraged to cycle characters through multiple jobs. Finally, they also do the standard thing of having different enemies be weak and strong against different moves which forces you to change things up.
Dondoko Island and Sujimon league were both great minigames (although the actual act of recruiting Sujimon left a little something to be desired). Having never played Animal Crossing, I was surprised how into Dondoko Island I got - I basically did not leave the island once I arrived in Chapter 6 until I had gotten it to 5 stars. I do wish it was more customizable as a resort than as, well, Kamurocho, but it makes sense how RGG was able to reuse assets to save development time when building the game.
The writing here is top notch, and I loved the Hawaii portion of the game - it captured Waikiki perfectly IMO. The new protagonist characters were all great additions, as was Yamai. However, the main villains in the story didn't hold up as well as other Yakuza villains in the past, and that led to the main plot falling a little bit short for me.
2023
This is a technical marvel - I'm not really sure how they pulled off the mechanic of placing photos over top of the 3D world so well, but it works exactly as you would expect, and leads to some fun puzzles. It's not overlong, and doesn't overstay its welcome.
There were a few puzzles that I found to be a bit finicky, and I very much did not like that the last level had a timer on it (something which should be verbotten in puzzle games like this - you're meant to spend time thinking about solutions, not be racing a clock).
But, overall, enjoyable and worth playing.
There were a few puzzles that I found to be a bit finicky, and I very much did not like that the last level had a timer on it (something which should be verbotten in puzzle games like this - you're meant to spend time thinking about solutions, not be racing a clock).
But, overall, enjoyable and worth playing.
This was the most fun DLC of the group so far. It's mostly standard fare - new characters, new weapons, a new map. But, the thing that makes it stand out are the new random events on the map that ask you to get to different spots on that map within a specified period of time. That really helps add to the minute-to-minute goals of gameplay, and works really well.
2023
This took a bit to get its teeth into me, but once I (somewhat ironically) got past the point where I needed to be actively fishing, it really grew on me. Once money came from crab pots and nets, and I was able to focus on the mood of the different areas of the game and on doing the various quests I found it got a bit more fun. The standard video game loop of upgrading the ship in order to be more powerful and be able to accomplish things that you couldn't previously have done was very well done here and quite satisfying.
I did find the "find me this fish" "now find me this fish" style of quests to be a bit repetitive and less fun, but there wasn't really much padding here. The game got in and got out, did what it wanted to do, and did it well.
I did find the "find me this fish" "now find me this fish" style of quests to be a bit repetitive and less fun, but there wasn't really much padding here. The game got in and got out, did what it wanted to do, and did it well.
2022
The core loop of this game was fun, and the extra mechanics that continued to be added on as the game progressed prevented things from getting too stale. However, it did eventually feel like the game was trying to be a bit too many things - puzzle sequences, boss fights, branch management, farming, and even rhythm and asteroids-like minigames all pop up at some point or another.
I do think that this game would sorely benefit from some quality-of-life improvements. Specifically, a button to automatically harvest "all-but-2" of each species of fish in your farm to send to either of your branches would take a way a lot of the daily repetitiveness on display. Similarly, a way to permanently hire someone to manage your farm (similar to how you have someone manage your branch) would be tremendous.
Overall it was fun, but it did drag on a bit long. A tighter version with better quality of life features would probably add an extra star.
I do think that this game would sorely benefit from some quality-of-life improvements. Specifically, a button to automatically harvest "all-but-2" of each species of fish in your farm to send to either of your branches would take a way a lot of the daily repetitiveness on display. Similarly, a way to permanently hire someone to manage your farm (similar to how you have someone manage your branch) would be tremendous.
Overall it was fun, but it did drag on a bit long. A tighter version with better quality of life features would probably add an extra star.
Most of what comes before the final chapter was so-so, but that last chapter really did a great job of tying this game into the larger Like a Dragon storyline.
I liked that this was a fair bit shorter than previous games, and I very much enjoyed the new agent fighting style. Akame stands out as a new character in the series. However, I could do without so many of the stroll and patrol mini-quests.
I liked that this was a fair bit shorter than previous games, and I very much enjoyed the new agent fighting style. Akame stands out as a new character in the series. However, I could do without so many of the stroll and patrol mini-quests.
Insomniac has taken the formula from the first two games and honed it down to near perfection here. Despite increasing the map size, this actually feels much less Ubisoft open-world-checklist than the first Spider-Man game did. Traversal continues to be tremendous fun, and the addition of the ability to fly makes moving around the larger map fun all unto itself. Despite how impressive the fast travel system is, I rarely wanted to use it. (And, I must say, having the map zoom in to an arbitrary location in the city - no matter how far from where you are it is - and morph into the actual playable city is incredibly impressive).
The combat is similar from the previous entries, and switching between Miles and Peter and using their different abilities kept things fresh and prevented the minute-to-minute action from getting stale. The best way I can think of to describe the combat is that it is techincal, but you get into a flow state with it, moving between your different targets and abilities. In fact, typically when I felt like I was falling out of that flow state is when I would then find myself losing the fight. In general the difficulty was right on point as well, with only the Unidentified Target missions feeling like they were a bit too tricky.
The story was decent, and I appreciate the way that it integrated several ongoing plot lines for other villains through the game (similar to how the first two games did it).
Boss fights did feel a bit same-y, all of them basically taking two phases to get through, and I didn't have as much fun fighting the final type of enemies the game introduces -- but aside from that, I really enjoyed this game.
The combat is similar from the previous entries, and switching between Miles and Peter and using their different abilities kept things fresh and prevented the minute-to-minute action from getting stale. The best way I can think of to describe the combat is that it is techincal, but you get into a flow state with it, moving between your different targets and abilities. In fact, typically when I felt like I was falling out of that flow state is when I would then find myself losing the fight. In general the difficulty was right on point as well, with only the Unidentified Target missions feeling like they were a bit too tricky.
The story was decent, and I appreciate the way that it integrated several ongoing plot lines for other villains through the game (similar to how the first two games did it).
Boss fights did feel a bit same-y, all of them basically taking two phases to get through, and I didn't have as much fun fighting the final type of enemies the game introduces -- but aside from that, I really enjoyed this game.
2023
A fun and stylish puzzle game that doesn't overstay its welcome. The puzzles start out fairly straight-forward, but by the end they got a bit too convoluted for my tastes.
2023
I'd never played a Pikmin game before, but I enjoyed Tinykin last year, so I was keen to try this one out. It was a very fun chill game, while I enjoyed the occasional Dandori challenge I found just gathering things in the overworld to be relaxing and fun.
I completed the extra two levels, but wound up bailing out when I got to Olimar's challenge because that was much more focused on the Dandori style challenge of doing things as optimally as possible. While I can see the fun in that, it ran counter to the more relaxed way I was enjoying the game.
My understanding is that the Olimar story is more like how the first 3 Pikmin games were, so I'm not totally inclined to go pick those up at the moment.
I completed the extra two levels, but wound up bailing out when I got to Olimar's challenge because that was much more focused on the Dandori style challenge of doing things as optimally as possible. While I can see the fun in that, it ran counter to the more relaxed way I was enjoying the game.
My understanding is that the Olimar story is more like how the first 3 Pikmin games were, so I'm not totally inclined to go pick those up at the moment.
This review contains spoilers
The stand out thing for me in this game was just how much there was to do, and how self-guided it all was. By having so many different and varied activities, and not having much of a linear path through the game, it really let me pick it up and figure out something potentially different to do each time I played. And that really helped prevent things from getting stale - there was never really a moment where I felt stuck doing something that I didn't want to be doing, since game sessions usually started with me having a particular objective in mind and then wandering through the world doing various other things on the way to accomplishing (or not accomplishing) that goal. Maybe I'd start out wanting to get some shrines done, but then I'd run across Addison and help him out, and then go Korok hunting, and by the end of the night I haven't even made it to the shrine I was heading toward to start with.
I had an inexplicable amount of fun lighting up the depths - and one of the real highlights of this over Breath of the Wild was the ability to use shrines and light roots to find each other. Each time I would find one, I would put a star marker on the map where it's twin should be - and that helped me get all of the shrines, which is something I didn't do in Breath of the Wild. Since the shrines are the real highlight of these games, I was very happy to have gotten them all.
I'm still a hoarder in video games, and the weapon durability mechanics played to my worst instincts there again. Every time I got a decent weapon, I basically refused to use it - either stashing it at my house or just heavily increasing my weapon slots so that I could avoid using it.
I also sequence-broke the game by exploring thunderhead isle and getting the fifth sage before the game wants to lead you to her. That meant that I never actually got the quest to clear the thunderstorm up there, and only found out about it listening to a podcast later. The game did account for the sequence break possibility (there was some dialog "oh, you already found her" or some such thing) - it would have been nice for it to still give me a marker for how to clear the thunderstorm.
I also had a bit of a frustration with the final boss fight - I had loaded up on healing items, and had a few -- but not a lot -- of gloom healing food items. Of course, since you're fighting gloom enemies for about the last half hour of the game, that turned out to be a disaster - but once you are in Gannondorf's chamber (even before the fight starts) you can't fast travel out in order to change up your supplies. That meant I needed to reload an earlier save and redo a decent chunk of the endgame - which was a bit frustrating.
That being said, the final fight sequence was incredible - specifically the sequence where Dragon Gannondorf and Dragon Zelda are facing off in the sky, that was one of the most memorable end game sequences I think I've ever experienced.
I'm marking this as mastered even though I didn't fully 100% it - I found all the lightroots, did all the shrines, and got enough Bubbul gems to fully satiate Koltin (and then some) - but didn't find every cave. (Koltin says there are 64 left). I also came nowhere near finding all the Kork seeds.
All in all, an incredible game - it is incredibly rare for me to play a game this long and not start to get a bit bored with it, and I never did with this one. I don't think I've ever put 189 hours into an open world before, but I can see how I did with this one. For most of the summer I basically couldn't wait until I could put in a few hours on the Switch to keep playing.
I had an inexplicable amount of fun lighting up the depths - and one of the real highlights of this over Breath of the Wild was the ability to use shrines and light roots to find each other. Each time I would find one, I would put a star marker on the map where it's twin should be - and that helped me get all of the shrines, which is something I didn't do in Breath of the Wild. Since the shrines are the real highlight of these games, I was very happy to have gotten them all.
I'm still a hoarder in video games, and the weapon durability mechanics played to my worst instincts there again. Every time I got a decent weapon, I basically refused to use it - either stashing it at my house or just heavily increasing my weapon slots so that I could avoid using it.
I also sequence-broke the game by exploring thunderhead isle and getting the fifth sage before the game wants to lead you to her. That meant that I never actually got the quest to clear the thunderstorm up there, and only found out about it listening to a podcast later. The game did account for the sequence break possibility (there was some dialog "oh, you already found her" or some such thing) - it would have been nice for it to still give me a marker for how to clear the thunderstorm.
I also had a bit of a frustration with the final boss fight - I had loaded up on healing items, and had a few -- but not a lot -- of gloom healing food items. Of course, since you're fighting gloom enemies for about the last half hour of the game, that turned out to be a disaster - but once you are in Gannondorf's chamber (even before the fight starts) you can't fast travel out in order to change up your supplies. That meant I needed to reload an earlier save and redo a decent chunk of the endgame - which was a bit frustrating.
That being said, the final fight sequence was incredible - specifically the sequence where Dragon Gannondorf and Dragon Zelda are facing off in the sky, that was one of the most memorable end game sequences I think I've ever experienced.
I'm marking this as mastered even though I didn't fully 100% it - I found all the lightroots, did all the shrines, and got enough Bubbul gems to fully satiate Koltin (and then some) - but didn't find every cave. (Koltin says there are 64 left). I also came nowhere near finding all the Kork seeds.
All in all, an incredible game - it is incredibly rare for me to play a game this long and not start to get a bit bored with it, and I never did with this one. I don't think I've ever put 189 hours into an open world before, but I can see how I did with this one. For most of the summer I basically couldn't wait until I could put in a few hours on the Switch to keep playing.
2023
Nice art style, but the gameplay was Inside-like but not as engaging.