Ohgoditsabear
2022
Turns out, I like this more than I remember, but less than I hoped. An odd feeling!
Played the double-JP hack w/ the WOTL script, on my Anbernic RG353P. And mostly on fast-forward. So I just blew through this! And it was nice to reexperience the last two thirds of this game, as this is one I frequently restart, but rarely get deep into.
This time, I dug deep. I did it all - but once I hit that wide open final chapter, where I could've done the deep dungeon or this, or that, I decided to just blast through the ending. Done. Over.
And again - it was better than I remembered, but not as good as I hoped it would be? Does that make sense?
This time, I dug deep. I did it all - but once I hit that wide open final chapter, where I could've done the deep dungeon or this, or that, I decided to just blast through the ending. Done. Over.
And again - it was better than I remembered, but not as good as I hoped it would be? Does that make sense?
1997
Played on the RG353P, mostly at 2x/3x speed. It's alright! But these super-early PS1 games really do still harken to the old school narrative style - you know, vague good vs. evil + god-machine or innocent-minded force + less than 10 words per paragraph box. The effect is an impressionistic story with some really nice spritework. And I loved the combat system - but not enough to suffer it's grinding problems. With speed hacks & grinding spots, I became god. Fitting!
This review contains spoilers
Hello, I'm ugly-crying at the end, as these sexless anime friends will never meet again - but gosh, I hope they get to meet again.
A game that proves, wholly and absolutely, that if you can figure out an evocative style and use the graphical mechanics of the hardward to lift up that style - that beats raw horsepower every time. This game looks better than anything I played on the PS5 this year.
And a story! a good story! A story I haven't exactly heard before, but knew the rhythm, which is a sweet spot for anime narratives. Enough to make it unique, but without breaking the whole format, in some post-modern nothing-matters fuck-and-kill-god way. No, it's earnest.
A game that proves, wholly and absolutely, that if you can figure out an evocative style and use the graphical mechanics of the hardward to lift up that style - that beats raw horsepower every time. This game looks better than anything I played on the PS5 this year.
And a story! a good story! A story I haven't exactly heard before, but knew the rhythm, which is a sweet spot for anime narratives. Enough to make it unique, but without breaking the whole format, in some post-modern nothing-matters fuck-and-kill-god way. No, it's earnest.
Another repellant, dogwhistle & dipshit campaign that plays wonderfully. Like a flute carved from a stinky tree. Everyone should be very ashamed, but I hope they were paid well.
Then, the star - the multiplayer! Just kidding, there's fewer maps than ever before, and some are absolutely miserable to play. A great map should be playable forever, and a good map should be playable for a long while, and a decent map should be playable for, like, a month. At least three of these are bad maps, which lose their luster immediately.
The mechanics & gunplay & flow of leveling are wonderful, though - the best of the series, excepting MW2019.
But the real star is WARZONE, the free-to-play mode battle royale! Just kidding, it sorta sucks too. You're going to get rocked by streamer tryhards, everytime.
Ok ok, no, the REAL STAR here is the Tarkov-like, DMZ, where you drop as a 3-man, and there's some persistence & quests & leveling, and extracting! Which is fun! But it's underbaked. This is honestly the star.
But I want the MP to be good - that's why I'm OK with spending the big bucks. I played a stupid amount of this game, despite my moral disdain for it's whole fucking thing - the tone, the story, the setting, the culture, the meta-culture, all of it dogshit and awful and the fuel of school shooters and MAGA bootlickers.
But boy, it was kinda nice to realize, "I'm very good at this game," and shoot for a hundred hours or two. Now, I'm done.
Then, the star - the multiplayer! Just kidding, there's fewer maps than ever before, and some are absolutely miserable to play. A great map should be playable forever, and a good map should be playable for a long while, and a decent map should be playable for, like, a month. At least three of these are bad maps, which lose their luster immediately.
The mechanics & gunplay & flow of leveling are wonderful, though - the best of the series, excepting MW2019.
But the real star is WARZONE, the free-to-play mode battle royale! Just kidding, it sorta sucks too. You're going to get rocked by streamer tryhards, everytime.
Ok ok, no, the REAL STAR here is the Tarkov-like, DMZ, where you drop as a 3-man, and there's some persistence & quests & leveling, and extracting! Which is fun! But it's underbaked. This is honestly the star.
But I want the MP to be good - that's why I'm OK with spending the big bucks. I played a stupid amount of this game, despite my moral disdain for it's whole fucking thing - the tone, the story, the setting, the culture, the meta-culture, all of it dogshit and awful and the fuel of school shooters and MAGA bootlickers.
But boy, it was kinda nice to realize, "I'm very good at this game," and shoot for a hundred hours or two. Now, I'm done.
2023
It's fine! I skipped the cinematics my first run, then watched em for a second run with another character. Fine! I missed nothing!
2023
Still unsure how the game works. I guess it's like weirder Diablo in how the world is rolled? Anyways, it's tight and plays nice, but feels like it's missing some important THING. Also the world stories are more interesting than the main plot.
2023
Wore its welcome out by the end, mostly due to the slowness of the general experience and also the general experience. Like, even after finishing it, and enjoying the story, I felt like I was missing something by not having a party. And as a result, I was moved, but not as much as if I actually hung out with and used other characters. It's weird.
Still, Square achieved the cinematic aspect in full, at last. Good. Now, move onto mechanics, guys.
Still, Square achieved the cinematic aspect in full, at last. Good. Now, move onto mechanics, guys.
2023
A vibes game about getting scared of a thing that'll get ya (which only costs you a few dozen seconds of gametime)
Can one beat Final Fantasy XIV? Yes. It took me 18 months, but I did it. It's done. I loved it. It was a fulfilment of a long-time games wish - to create a living world that players love, and feel as if it is real.
Obviously, it's not real. Eorzea doesn't exist. Yet, it exists? In our hearts? Because we want it to? Because we love the story and characters and the writing? And we love our little guy we play as?
We love this? It is what Final Fantasy always felt like - but again, it is real this time, both in the actuality of playing it and in our Hearts.
Basically - DO YOU WANT TO LIVE INSIDE OF A SERIES OF FANTASY NOVELS? ????
Obviously, it's not real. Eorzea doesn't exist. Yet, it exists? In our hearts? Because we want it to? Because we love the story and characters and the writing? And we love our little guy we play as?
We love this? It is what Final Fantasy always felt like - but again, it is real this time, both in the actuality of playing it and in our Hearts.
Basically - DO YOU WANT TO LIVE INSIDE OF A SERIES OF FANTASY NOVELS? ????
Picked this back up after a Diablo stretch, on my Steam Deck, and I'm glad I did! The game really opens up after the first act, and your character has lots of room to grow. Granted, I played with the REDUX mod, which made it a better time that I remembered.
Turns out, just like Call of Duty, there's nothing quite like Borderlands - and that's for the worse. There's no "for better" there. It's worse. Gearbox sucks ass as a company, and the writing is bad! Their whole tone is bad!
That being said - and again, goddammit - some of the exchanges and D&D bits during gameplay did get me a-chucklin'. If BL2's tone is drinking acid, and BL3 is eating glass, this is like eating a omelet with a really great cheese blended in, but also a bunch of egg shells.
I will go back at some point! I heard the endgame is bad. Oh well! I will anyways!
Turns out, just like Call of Duty, there's nothing quite like Borderlands - and that's for the worse. There's no "for better" there. It's worse. Gearbox sucks ass as a company, and the writing is bad! Their whole tone is bad!
That being said - and again, goddammit - some of the exchanges and D&D bits during gameplay did get me a-chucklin'. If BL2's tone is drinking acid, and BL3 is eating glass, this is like eating a omelet with a really great cheese blended in, but also a bunch of egg shells.
I will go back at some point! I heard the endgame is bad. Oh well! I will anyways!
2021
A shockingly good little game, which is barely a game, but is anything a game? Anyways, Dwarf strats are key to my victories over the landed gentry.
2023
Finally beat it, after over 15 years. It's good! The original difficulty is stupid, though, and knocking it down a notch is just respecting your own time. Got dicey at some points, but after Strata 3, I was rolling it. Not gonna do the post-game, but hey, glad to finally check this one off.
2023
This was less fun. They took a bunch of lessons from EO1, and they were wrong. I fully did not like this when it came out, but with the smoother difficulty (and a turbo button), I was able to grind it out and make it through the base game. But wow, the Strata 3 really hurts! It's a brick wall! And the early game is perhaps the most vicious of the series.
Worthless quests, adding monsters to gathering spots, removing any XP from FOEs - just dumb choices that make it more masochistic. But I did it, and it's done. BYE
Worthless quests, adding monsters to gathering spots, removing any XP from FOEs - just dumb choices that make it more masochistic. But I did it, and it's done. BYE
2021
I put a lot of time into this, mostly uh (at work), which is great as a turn-based sort of game - play a battle, answer email, roll the truck, answer email. But it is too much of a grind in some ways, and also not snappy enough in others? The RNG of some parts really bothered me, and it's also structured oddly. Not badly! but oddly, in a way that I never felt a deeper pull.
Then again, it played like dirt on the Steam Deck at launch, and now it plays great! And of course, they're patching & updating it. So for now - go to bed. I'll come back again, I'm sure.
Then again, it played like dirt on the Steam Deck at launch, and now it plays great! And of course, they're patching & updating it. So for now - go to bed. I'll come back again, I'm sure.