PunnyPeace
2020
Music that gets white people turnt
Klonoa 1 + 2 are two of my favorite games but I can't quiiite eagerly recommend this combo because Klonoa 1's remake uses the inferior Wii remake as a base which screws with the natural direction of the game (as in the direction of scenes, not cardinal directions). Still, definitely pick this one up if you have no other way to play or simply want the convenience.
2021
A very casual oriented gacha which is perfect for me since every gacha I've played is GO HARD GRIND HARD GRAAA. I really like the writing in this game, the characters all feel very human and fun. Story's simple but fun enough, gets pretty interesting in the later parts.
Gameplay's fine, you can have some real fun moments and it can be fun to turn on auto and see big numbers go. Music is solid but it feels like the devs AND fans forgot to upload the OST to YouTube. Graphics are very nice pixel art and the Dragalia Lost guy is still great at making art.
Honestly I go back to this game because of the writing. It appeals in ways I really, really like and I love the small stakes character interactions between the cast. Literally every playable/gachable character is likeable, and also usable so you won't be (that much of a) liability picking favorites as long as you go for a theme. Objectively this ranks simply "good" but this game just makes me really happy.
Gameplay's fine, you can have some real fun moments and it can be fun to turn on auto and see big numbers go. Music is solid but it feels like the devs AND fans forgot to upload the OST to YouTube. Graphics are very nice pixel art and the Dragalia Lost guy is still great at making art.
Honestly I go back to this game because of the writing. It appeals in ways I really, really like and I love the small stakes character interactions between the cast. Literally every playable/gachable character is likeable, and also usable so you won't be (that much of a) liability picking favorites as long as you go for a theme. Objectively this ranks simply "good" but this game just makes me really happy.
This review contains spoilers
Not to be stereotypical, but…
sigh Where do I begin?
Let’s start from the previous game in the series. Danganronpa 1 is a game of high tension and low payoff. The oppressive atmosphere of the school combined with the music is masterful, but outside of the first case’s twist I failed to really connect with the game. There’s all these characters but all but one or two are meaningful; there’s the themes of hope and despair and nothing interesting is done with them; and worst of all, I started figuring out the formula.
Focus on relevant characters for the case so the audience is forced to care about them. Kill them off or make them the murderer and THEN kill them off. Sprinkle in some half-baked themes of hope and despair and leave it to fester in the summer heat. End off with a truly aggrivating (for me) finale that made a 4/10 drop to a 3/10. What’s left is Danganronpa 1.
I won’t deny the game does a lot well, but it never becomes exceptional anywhere. It never even becomes exceptionally bad outside of a few characters I truly hated, three out of the four sticking around in the finale. Its mediocrity and lost potential made me want to tear my hair out along with so many pet peeve tropes I felt like I was going insane.
Danganronpa 2 is in many ways a better game than the first but in many ways a far worse game than the first. It’s such a fascinatingly mixed bag I never knew how to feel about it at any given time even in its peaks and its below sea level faults.
To start, let’s go over the positives.
The atmosphere, while weaker, still gives off an aura of complete surrealness which is shared with the first game but twisted to become an odd mix of cheer and sadness. This ties into the game’s climax of hope AND despair rather than hope vs. despair, which I appreciate, but I still miss the oppression and tension of walking the halls in the first game like I could die at any time. In this game, I felt on guard in the sense that things could change at any time and throw me for a loop. The final case’s atmosphere is masterful with its glitchy aesthetics and ramping the surrealness to 11 and reusing Hope’s Peak Academy in a good way.
Music good as usual, Masafumi Takada is a genius, but I can’t help but feel the soundtrack is weaker in general. There’s catchy tunes as usual but this doesn’t feel iconic in the same way DR1’s soundtrack does.
The characters that ARE good are better here than the first game. Low standards but I’ll take what I can get. I appreciate Hiyoko’s presence a lot as a constant pot-stirrer and source of antagonism that the cast really needs in it at all times that was taken too soon. Peko and Fuyuhiko are absolutely masterful in Case 2’s epilogue and execution and are the source of my favorite thing in the series so far in general even if Fuyuhiko loses his depth midway through Case 3. Gundham for being such a tryhard is genuinely funny, a rarity in this game, and Case 4 he becomes genuinely cool and his execution is the second best in the series and game. Hajime is mostly bland but Case 6 escalates him into being a genuinely compelling and fascinating character. But far and away the best character is…
Nagito Komaeda. The sexyman himself. Gosh, what an amazing character. As soon as Case 1, he CHURNS that pot with his insanity and personal philosophy landing him in the middle of being a proactive dueteragonist and a horrifying antagonist. He takes on the roles of Kyoko and Byakuya from the first game and goes buckwild with them in so many more interesting ways than either character did in the first game. His philosophy of hope is so genuinely fascinating it’s tragic he didn’t make it until the end to bash his despaired hope against Junko’s despaired…despair. (Man, I hate that word now.)
I can never predict what this character is going to do. He’s as true of a chaotic neutral as any character can get, and it’s always SO fun to experience every single scene with him in it. He’s the best qualities of this series distilled into one character and everything he’s done is magnificent. I’d watch DR3 just to see him throw a monkey wrench into the plot as he goes while simultaneously hardcarrying the plot but, uh, nobody should watch DR3.
Nagito as a plot device carries the plot forward in a massive improvement from how awfully Cases 1-3 to 1-5 were paced from a combination of bad plot decisions like overreliance on Alter Ego and Kyoko constantly screwing off and refusing to elaborate. The plot in general is also more compelling in its endgame than the first game which lends to how DR2 first and foremost seeks to be a step above DR1.
Sayaka died too early in Case 1? Here’s Nagito to fulfill those same Case 1 tropes but way better. Genocide Jack is an awful character who made the trial go nowhere? Peko forces the trial to a close to cover up her being a good character. Case 3…is equally as unforgivably bad in the context of each game. Case 4 has the killer do it for the sake of self destruction. Case 5 tried to bring everybody down at once but 2 used the mole plot from 1 in a more compelling way. Case 6 takes hope vs. despair and makes it hope plus despair.
There’s a lot of small echoes and improvements from character arcs to gameplay to general plot feel that are too long and too tiny for me to talk about in depth. I do, however, admire the game for this and very much despise it at the same time.
Now to talk about the bad.
The cast is still bad. So many filler characters who are either braindead, annoying, horny, or a combination of the above. There are so many chances to develop these characters outside the FTE system that my mind is boggled how many characters stay extremely flat. I can rag on Mikan for being human waste, Kazuichi and Sonia for being useless AND SURVIVING, Machiru being so annoyingly misandrist with no nuance I popped off when she died, and my gosh the most disappointing one in general has to be Akane. Both times Nekomaru dies she’s being handed character development on a silver platter. What does she do? She throws the platter away along with any brain cells she has left. She, for me, embodies the worst of Danganronpa writing: stupid, the source of endless horny jokes, of little to no help to anyone, and worst of all just aggresively mediocre. Not even the kind of mediocre you can brush past either, like a plan Hershey’s chocolate bar, but the kind that just wears you down.
In the book “A Swim in the Pond in the Rain,” Saunders explains that characterization is a process of “increasing specification.” A character should be specified further and further as the story goes on. A character should not respond the same ways to situations all the time. And a character should be a person.
To use my own metaphor, imagine one of those adult coloring books where you get to draw in predisposed areas dictated by numbered areas. Now imagine each character, black and white, with lots of numbers scattered across them. Characterization should be like coloring in these characters to create a vivid and bright picture at the end, but that’s not the sense I get from these characters. What I get are two colors filled in for most of them…and nothing else. Everyone is dull, lifeless, and hollow just like they act in this game. They aren’t characters, they’re charactiures without any nuance besides only about two or three in this crowd. The only characters I feel truly are vivid in color are Hajime Hinata only by the climax of the last case, and Nagito Komaeda who I already sang my praises of.
As for the cases themselves…meh. Meh meh meh meh meh. I can say I liked a case but that feels relative since every case but the last one is filled with so much cotton fluff every good or great part has a bunch of bad or eh to get there. Even in the overall strongest cases, 5 and 6, are undermined by Danganronpa being the way it is.
Case 5 sets up its atmosphere and problems masterfully. The music switching out at the final parts as everyone is so deeply saddened is masterful. But it’s still undercut by feeble attempts at humor at the end which completely ruined the mood for me, already not helping my friends are idiots and kept making “Chiaki doesn’t like Tetris” jokes. So even in this Case full of great things, I came out apathetic especially because the surviving cast is so genuinely nothing.
Case 6 is really cool in general and would be a case I confidently would say is great if it weren’t for my severe, burning hatred to Junko Enoshima. The worst case of Villain Sue I’ve ever seen alongside becoming even more irritating than her first appearance. If I went on about her, it would devolve into swearing and keyboard smashing. It’s like alternating bites of my favorite food and rotten meat during this whole case. What it does is very cool but because this is Danganronpa they had to add the awful, horribly written, narratively flawless, tone destroying villain in there.
Right there is one of the three fatal flaws I believe Danganronpa has: tonal inconsistency. It’s good to change tone but Danganronpa is so genuine schitzophrenic in its tone I can’t get a handle on anything I’m supposed to be feeling. Often in the last case where the main cast is slowly having a breakdown, you get horrible jokes wedged in that make me feel really confused on what the approach is supposed to be here. What am I supposed to be feeling here? I do not know so I come out frustrated and apathetic, the two emotions a consumer should never feel at the same time towards a product.
The second fatal flaw is that it provides you with amazing ideas you could do so many cool things with then proceeds to execute them in the worst ways imaginable. So many cool things could have been done in Case 4 because of the really good set up but, no, have days straight of doing nothing but starve. Even Case 2’s brilliant execution is led up to by the worst bait and switch anybody could have thought of with that stupid mask. I see these problems and I want so strongly to just FIX them because it feels so easy to do but there isn’t being anything done here. It feels so lazy on the game’s part that it always shoots to whatever will make the biggest shock in the moment with no foresight or nuance at all.
The final fatal flaw is the FTE system. As much as I wish I could say the last fatal flaw is Hangman’s Gambit because that minigame is genuinely awful, the FTE system is so reductive to the game I just hate its inclusion. In theory, you’re investing time into characters to learn more about them outside the main story where they’re already interesting. In actuality, you’re investing time into characters to MAKE them interesting and even then you’re banking on winning that chance that you succeed in getting a character with good FTEs like Nagito. This shoving of even fundamental character details you could easily splash into the main plot (worst example is still Sayaka from 1) but just don’t for the sake of removing padding but this actually creates SO MUCH MORE PADDING for the people who want to learn more about these characters, especially since you need to trigger so many conversations with a single character to max them out which needs presents which is a whole other ordeal of immense padding. The system creates the ability for the developers to not care about giving characters depth since you can shove it into side content like Kazuichi’s entire character arc. Not helping DR characters drop like flies so having so many conversations is incredibly bad because you could invest in characters who keep dying and learn nothing about nobody and waste potential hours.
Overall, DR2 averages out to a 5/10. This is definitely an improvement over the first game but it desperately needed more time in the oven, especially Case 3. This game is amazing when it wants to be, awful when it really shouldn’t be, and just mediocre when I don’t want it to be. I’ll probably have “more” fond memories of DR1 because blind early game is uncomparable, but DR2 definitely shines brighter. I really hope V3 will be what I seek out of this series when I get to it. If nothing else, there’s Your Turn to Die, I suppose.
sigh Where do I begin?
Let’s start from the previous game in the series. Danganronpa 1 is a game of high tension and low payoff. The oppressive atmosphere of the school combined with the music is masterful, but outside of the first case’s twist I failed to really connect with the game. There’s all these characters but all but one or two are meaningful; there’s the themes of hope and despair and nothing interesting is done with them; and worst of all, I started figuring out the formula.
Focus on relevant characters for the case so the audience is forced to care about them. Kill them off or make them the murderer and THEN kill them off. Sprinkle in some half-baked themes of hope and despair and leave it to fester in the summer heat. End off with a truly aggrivating (for me) finale that made a 4/10 drop to a 3/10. What’s left is Danganronpa 1.
I won’t deny the game does a lot well, but it never becomes exceptional anywhere. It never even becomes exceptionally bad outside of a few characters I truly hated, three out of the four sticking around in the finale. Its mediocrity and lost potential made me want to tear my hair out along with so many pet peeve tropes I felt like I was going insane.
Danganronpa 2 is in many ways a better game than the first but in many ways a far worse game than the first. It’s such a fascinatingly mixed bag I never knew how to feel about it at any given time even in its peaks and its below sea level faults.
To start, let’s go over the positives.
The atmosphere, while weaker, still gives off an aura of complete surrealness which is shared with the first game but twisted to become an odd mix of cheer and sadness. This ties into the game’s climax of hope AND despair rather than hope vs. despair, which I appreciate, but I still miss the oppression and tension of walking the halls in the first game like I could die at any time. In this game, I felt on guard in the sense that things could change at any time and throw me for a loop. The final case’s atmosphere is masterful with its glitchy aesthetics and ramping the surrealness to 11 and reusing Hope’s Peak Academy in a good way.
Music good as usual, Masafumi Takada is a genius, but I can’t help but feel the soundtrack is weaker in general. There’s catchy tunes as usual but this doesn’t feel iconic in the same way DR1’s soundtrack does.
The characters that ARE good are better here than the first game. Low standards but I’ll take what I can get. I appreciate Hiyoko’s presence a lot as a constant pot-stirrer and source of antagonism that the cast really needs in it at all times that was taken too soon. Peko and Fuyuhiko are absolutely masterful in Case 2’s epilogue and execution and are the source of my favorite thing in the series so far in general even if Fuyuhiko loses his depth midway through Case 3. Gundham for being such a tryhard is genuinely funny, a rarity in this game, and Case 4 he becomes genuinely cool and his execution is the second best in the series and game. Hajime is mostly bland but Case 6 escalates him into being a genuinely compelling and fascinating character. But far and away the best character is…
Nagito Komaeda. The sexyman himself. Gosh, what an amazing character. As soon as Case 1, he CHURNS that pot with his insanity and personal philosophy landing him in the middle of being a proactive dueteragonist and a horrifying antagonist. He takes on the roles of Kyoko and Byakuya from the first game and goes buckwild with them in so many more interesting ways than either character did in the first game. His philosophy of hope is so genuinely fascinating it’s tragic he didn’t make it until the end to bash his despaired hope against Junko’s despaired…despair. (Man, I hate that word now.)
I can never predict what this character is going to do. He’s as true of a chaotic neutral as any character can get, and it’s always SO fun to experience every single scene with him in it. He’s the best qualities of this series distilled into one character and everything he’s done is magnificent. I’d watch DR3 just to see him throw a monkey wrench into the plot as he goes while simultaneously hardcarrying the plot but, uh, nobody should watch DR3.
Nagito as a plot device carries the plot forward in a massive improvement from how awfully Cases 1-3 to 1-5 were paced from a combination of bad plot decisions like overreliance on Alter Ego and Kyoko constantly screwing off and refusing to elaborate. The plot in general is also more compelling in its endgame than the first game which lends to how DR2 first and foremost seeks to be a step above DR1.
Sayaka died too early in Case 1? Here’s Nagito to fulfill those same Case 1 tropes but way better. Genocide Jack is an awful character who made the trial go nowhere? Peko forces the trial to a close to cover up her being a good character. Case 3…is equally as unforgivably bad in the context of each game. Case 4 has the killer do it for the sake of self destruction. Case 5 tried to bring everybody down at once but 2 used the mole plot from 1 in a more compelling way. Case 6 takes hope vs. despair and makes it hope plus despair.
There’s a lot of small echoes and improvements from character arcs to gameplay to general plot feel that are too long and too tiny for me to talk about in depth. I do, however, admire the game for this and very much despise it at the same time.
Now to talk about the bad.
The cast is still bad. So many filler characters who are either braindead, annoying, horny, or a combination of the above. There are so many chances to develop these characters outside the FTE system that my mind is boggled how many characters stay extremely flat. I can rag on Mikan for being human waste, Kazuichi and Sonia for being useless AND SURVIVING, Machiru being so annoyingly misandrist with no nuance I popped off when she died, and my gosh the most disappointing one in general has to be Akane. Both times Nekomaru dies she’s being handed character development on a silver platter. What does she do? She throws the platter away along with any brain cells she has left. She, for me, embodies the worst of Danganronpa writing: stupid, the source of endless horny jokes, of little to no help to anyone, and worst of all just aggresively mediocre. Not even the kind of mediocre you can brush past either, like a plan Hershey’s chocolate bar, but the kind that just wears you down.
In the book “A Swim in the Pond in the Rain,” Saunders explains that characterization is a process of “increasing specification.” A character should be specified further and further as the story goes on. A character should not respond the same ways to situations all the time. And a character should be a person.
To use my own metaphor, imagine one of those adult coloring books where you get to draw in predisposed areas dictated by numbered areas. Now imagine each character, black and white, with lots of numbers scattered across them. Characterization should be like coloring in these characters to create a vivid and bright picture at the end, but that’s not the sense I get from these characters. What I get are two colors filled in for most of them…and nothing else. Everyone is dull, lifeless, and hollow just like they act in this game. They aren’t characters, they’re charactiures without any nuance besides only about two or three in this crowd. The only characters I feel truly are vivid in color are Hajime Hinata only by the climax of the last case, and Nagito Komaeda who I already sang my praises of.
As for the cases themselves…meh. Meh meh meh meh meh. I can say I liked a case but that feels relative since every case but the last one is filled with so much cotton fluff every good or great part has a bunch of bad or eh to get there. Even in the overall strongest cases, 5 and 6, are undermined by Danganronpa being the way it is.
Case 5 sets up its atmosphere and problems masterfully. The music switching out at the final parts as everyone is so deeply saddened is masterful. But it’s still undercut by feeble attempts at humor at the end which completely ruined the mood for me, already not helping my friends are idiots and kept making “Chiaki doesn’t like Tetris” jokes. So even in this Case full of great things, I came out apathetic especially because the surviving cast is so genuinely nothing.
Case 6 is really cool in general and would be a case I confidently would say is great if it weren’t for my severe, burning hatred to Junko Enoshima. The worst case of Villain Sue I’ve ever seen alongside becoming even more irritating than her first appearance. If I went on about her, it would devolve into swearing and keyboard smashing. It’s like alternating bites of my favorite food and rotten meat during this whole case. What it does is very cool but because this is Danganronpa they had to add the awful, horribly written, narratively flawless, tone destroying villain in there.
Right there is one of the three fatal flaws I believe Danganronpa has: tonal inconsistency. It’s good to change tone but Danganronpa is so genuine schitzophrenic in its tone I can’t get a handle on anything I’m supposed to be feeling. Often in the last case where the main cast is slowly having a breakdown, you get horrible jokes wedged in that make me feel really confused on what the approach is supposed to be here. What am I supposed to be feeling here? I do not know so I come out frustrated and apathetic, the two emotions a consumer should never feel at the same time towards a product.
The second fatal flaw is that it provides you with amazing ideas you could do so many cool things with then proceeds to execute them in the worst ways imaginable. So many cool things could have been done in Case 4 because of the really good set up but, no, have days straight of doing nothing but starve. Even Case 2’s brilliant execution is led up to by the worst bait and switch anybody could have thought of with that stupid mask. I see these problems and I want so strongly to just FIX them because it feels so easy to do but there isn’t being anything done here. It feels so lazy on the game’s part that it always shoots to whatever will make the biggest shock in the moment with no foresight or nuance at all.
The final fatal flaw is the FTE system. As much as I wish I could say the last fatal flaw is Hangman’s Gambit because that minigame is genuinely awful, the FTE system is so reductive to the game I just hate its inclusion. In theory, you’re investing time into characters to learn more about them outside the main story where they’re already interesting. In actuality, you’re investing time into characters to MAKE them interesting and even then you’re banking on winning that chance that you succeed in getting a character with good FTEs like Nagito. This shoving of even fundamental character details you could easily splash into the main plot (worst example is still Sayaka from 1) but just don’t for the sake of removing padding but this actually creates SO MUCH MORE PADDING for the people who want to learn more about these characters, especially since you need to trigger so many conversations with a single character to max them out which needs presents which is a whole other ordeal of immense padding. The system creates the ability for the developers to not care about giving characters depth since you can shove it into side content like Kazuichi’s entire character arc. Not helping DR characters drop like flies so having so many conversations is incredibly bad because you could invest in characters who keep dying and learn nothing about nobody and waste potential hours.
Overall, DR2 averages out to a 5/10. This is definitely an improvement over the first game but it desperately needed more time in the oven, especially Case 3. This game is amazing when it wants to be, awful when it really shouldn’t be, and just mediocre when I don’t want it to be. I’ll probably have “more” fond memories of DR1 because blind early game is uncomparable, but DR2 definitely shines brighter. I really hope V3 will be what I seek out of this series when I get to it. If nothing else, there’s Your Turn to Die, I suppose.
2016
This is Ultrakill for people who wear thigh highs.
Take 999, make it like 15 hours longer, give Clover a lobotomy, make the player hate dice, and instead of the climactic twist making things cooler in retrospect it makes it a whole lot dumber. What you’re left with is Virtue’s Last Reward. By no means a bad game, but one I’m very confused by. I still recommend it but be prepared for the twist to do the sickest flip you’ve ever seen then tumble down the stairs.
2017
On a replay I finally get this game.
This is definitely a remake of the original Blaster Master. Very faithful level design philosphy, enemy behavior, and even your controls are extremely similar to the NES original. Where the game differs and really shines is in the tools you get to play with this go around.
Every weapon (except the stupid wide beam) has a lot of ways to use them effectively and well, it's pretty neat how versatile each tool can be for different situations. Weapons I used way more on the replay were the Mortar and Dash, but all the weapons are pretty fun honestly. Even the on foot weapons are all useful due to variable enemy weaknesses so you're never at a true disadvantage unless you're TURBO boned.
I also really like the small optional bits of story and dialogue you can have between Jason and Eve. It's really nice and cute, and it helps solidify their relationship to make the end of the game pay off better.
Still can't believe his last name is Frudnick though.
This is definitely a remake of the original Blaster Master. Very faithful level design philosphy, enemy behavior, and even your controls are extremely similar to the NES original. Where the game differs and really shines is in the tools you get to play with this go around.
Every weapon (except the stupid wide beam) has a lot of ways to use them effectively and well, it's pretty neat how versatile each tool can be for different situations. Weapons I used way more on the replay were the Mortar and Dash, but all the weapons are pretty fun honestly. Even the on foot weapons are all useful due to variable enemy weaknesses so you're never at a true disadvantage unless you're TURBO boned.
I also really like the small optional bits of story and dialogue you can have between Jason and Eve. It's really nice and cute, and it helps solidify their relationship to make the end of the game pay off better.
Still can't believe his last name is Frudnick though.
2021
wouldn't it be cool if you could date the dragon after you won hahah wouldn't that be really funny hahahahaha
The only game where telling someone “I’m not Santa” is the best part of the game. Awesome ride all the way through with only one or two puzzles that annoyed me and the characters’ tendency to word vomit about inane things breaking some immersion. Still, I highly recommend it as Spike Chunsoft’s better pilot to a mystery thriller.
This is my favorite video game. I love this game to death and pretty much everything about it. This game has issues like any game does, but my personal bias steamroller paves over those minor complaints in favor of everything else this game does.
Let's talk about the gameplay first. This game is a dungeon crawler and like most does not pull punches. You can tip the scales in your favor, break the system, or simply keep getting lucky but you will have to adapt to the punishment the game deals out but thankfully not too quickly. The game is pretty fair with its difficulty curve with only a few things being blatantly "unfair" (looking at you, final dungeon Porygon-Z Discharge and extra dungeon Earth Power Nidoqueen). But the unfairness and adapting to it is also part of the charm to me: You're an explorer braving the unknown, even being prepared as possible sometimes isn't enough and you'll get the rug swept from under you.
This game also operates under standard Pokemon rules being slightly adjusted for the top-down perspective (namely weather effects lasting constantly although this is a Gen 4 Moment, some moves having wider and farther range, and some moves being changed to have different uses). You'll be playing as a Pokemon as selected by the Personality Quiz at the start. There's not really any bad options aside from maybe Phanpy so feel free to adapt to your new form...or savescum until you get Riolu, Pikachu, or Skitty and break the game over your knee.
This game's presentation is immaculate. It captures the vibe of Pokemon perfectly while making its own unique aesthetic where you really feel like this is a world lived in by Pokemon rather than people. There's different Pokemon using their natural abilities to offer services such as a Pelliper Delivery Service, a Kangaskhan Storage, and a police force comprised of all Magnemites/Magnetons/Magnezones; some fun gags like a Wurmple and Swellow team being called "Team Tasty;" and vibe that feels very rustic and almost primitive compared to the sprawling towns of the mainline games.
The music is also top notch with no bad tracks, some of them bringing me to tears sometimes through sheer force of nostalgia. Some highlights include "Welcome to the Pokemon World" when you take the personality quiz, "On the Beach at Dusk" when you're on the beach...at dusk, and the final dungeon theme "Temporal Tower." I put this soundtrack on all the time as background noise.
As for the story? Immaculate. This game has a fantastic story with amazing characters and witty dialogue and it's just a blast all the way through. Even the more mundane sections are deliberate and intentional with you slowly settled into the setting and the next story event breaking the usual trends. I wish I could gush about the story without spoiling anything but I will say one of the characters in particular was genuinely my idol as a kid. His heroism and ceaseless drive to create a better tomorrow really inspired me, and I hold one of his lines dear to my heart to this day:
"The important thing is not how long you live... It's what you accomplish with your life. While I live, I want to shine. I want to prove that I exist. If I could do something really important... That would definitely carry on into the future."
Not the full quote because that has spoilers, but I feel like this philosophy shaped my own outlook on life. It doesn't matter if I live to 40 or 100, as long as I do something with myself I can feel satisfied. And that "something" can be as small as making a lasting impact on others that will carry to the future; even if I'm forgotten, my touch on them won't and, in essence, I continue to live on.
Nostalgia bias definitely plays a part in how much I enjoy this game. This was one of my first games beaten, one of my first games beaten multiple times, and has always been my favorite game. I try to play through this game once per year or so because it really is that enjoyable to come back to time and time again. Even if you didn't grow up with this game, give this one a chance. I sincerely hope you can come to appreciate it similarly as I do. Perhaps it too will carry on into your future.
Let's talk about the gameplay first. This game is a dungeon crawler and like most does not pull punches. You can tip the scales in your favor, break the system, or simply keep getting lucky but you will have to adapt to the punishment the game deals out but thankfully not too quickly. The game is pretty fair with its difficulty curve with only a few things being blatantly "unfair" (looking at you, final dungeon Porygon-Z Discharge and extra dungeon Earth Power Nidoqueen). But the unfairness and adapting to it is also part of the charm to me: You're an explorer braving the unknown, even being prepared as possible sometimes isn't enough and you'll get the rug swept from under you.
This game also operates under standard Pokemon rules being slightly adjusted for the top-down perspective (namely weather effects lasting constantly although this is a Gen 4 Moment, some moves having wider and farther range, and some moves being changed to have different uses). You'll be playing as a Pokemon as selected by the Personality Quiz at the start. There's not really any bad options aside from maybe Phanpy so feel free to adapt to your new form...or savescum until you get Riolu, Pikachu, or Skitty and break the game over your knee.
This game's presentation is immaculate. It captures the vibe of Pokemon perfectly while making its own unique aesthetic where you really feel like this is a world lived in by Pokemon rather than people. There's different Pokemon using their natural abilities to offer services such as a Pelliper Delivery Service, a Kangaskhan Storage, and a police force comprised of all Magnemites/Magnetons/Magnezones; some fun gags like a Wurmple and Swellow team being called "Team Tasty;" and vibe that feels very rustic and almost primitive compared to the sprawling towns of the mainline games.
The music is also top notch with no bad tracks, some of them bringing me to tears sometimes through sheer force of nostalgia. Some highlights include "Welcome to the Pokemon World" when you take the personality quiz, "On the Beach at Dusk" when you're on the beach...at dusk, and the final dungeon theme "Temporal Tower." I put this soundtrack on all the time as background noise.
As for the story? Immaculate. This game has a fantastic story with amazing characters and witty dialogue and it's just a blast all the way through. Even the more mundane sections are deliberate and intentional with you slowly settled into the setting and the next story event breaking the usual trends. I wish I could gush about the story without spoiling anything but I will say one of the characters in particular was genuinely my idol as a kid. His heroism and ceaseless drive to create a better tomorrow really inspired me, and I hold one of his lines dear to my heart to this day:
"The important thing is not how long you live... It's what you accomplish with your life. While I live, I want to shine. I want to prove that I exist. If I could do something really important... That would definitely carry on into the future."
Not the full quote because that has spoilers, but I feel like this philosophy shaped my own outlook on life. It doesn't matter if I live to 40 or 100, as long as I do something with myself I can feel satisfied. And that "something" can be as small as making a lasting impact on others that will carry to the future; even if I'm forgotten, my touch on them won't and, in essence, I continue to live on.
Nostalgia bias definitely plays a part in how much I enjoy this game. This was one of my first games beaten, one of my first games beaten multiple times, and has always been my favorite game. I try to play through this game once per year or so because it really is that enjoyable to come back to time and time again. Even if you didn't grow up with this game, give this one a chance. I sincerely hope you can come to appreciate it similarly as I do. Perhaps it too will carry on into your future.
I really do not know how I should rate this game. I know I loved it and the experience felt outstanding. As a long time Kirby fan, this game nearly moved me to tears just from how happy I felt playing it. At the same time, I'm not sure exactly HOW much the game's issues hamper my overall enjoyment of it.
Let's go over the many positives first.
The graphics are beautiful. Even on handheld mode, I kept being blown away and sucked into every single environment presented from the level of sheer polish in every single thing. Every object has a surprising amount of detail, the characters have never looked better, and every single move from yours to the bosses' are all really enjoyable to watch. This combined with the solid-as-usual soundtrack creates a really joyous atmosphere that really adds to the joyous romp Kirby goes through. Even lategame with my sense of wonder being traded for feelings of tenseness, I never once thought a locale was ugly or without visual flare.
The level design is something that feels very "Kirby" which I'm very glad for despite the change from 2D to 3D. The main levels feel like expansive playgrounds with fun platforming challenges and secrets galore, and the optional challenges are great tests of skill that put Abilities (and the lack thereof) to the test.
Abilities in this game are really fun. While I do wish there was a more expansive moveset for more powers (Sword and Hammer having so many moves definitely shows they could give more Abilities more moves), the upgrade system putting spins on your familiar powers is a really good idea. Even though I didn't use Cutter much, the last upgrade is probably the smartest way to make a simple ability get even stronger out of every one of the powerups. There's a lot of smart and fun powerups for abilities, my favorites being Time Crash, Deep Sleep, Dragon Fire, Frosty/Blizzard Ice, Toy Hammer and the final Hammer, and the Knight Swords. (Ranger is a very good new ability too, I do wish it shook it up a bit more though).
Mouthful Modes are all fun too which is surprising. It takes the Robobot approach to temporary upgrades which I really like while making each Mouthful Mode feel really unique. There's some I wish were different like Stairs and Lift, but I really don't mind them. No Mouthful is really bad like some Animal Friends can get (mostly Kine).
The boss fights are so cool. The Dodge mechanic and the transition to 3D makes boss fights both easier and harder; easier to pin down and evade, harder because there can be more stuff on the screen for you to deal with so spacial awareness is necessary. The new 3D also makes going in with no abilities the preferred way to take on some bosses for me (in particular Claworine and the final boss). Some fights are BRUTAL but the expansive ways to play make any approach viable (so long as you're using a strong enough ability or know when to yoink Stars).
Now that I've got my positives out of my way, let's get my negatives out in the open.
THE MISSION SYSTEM. I have a lot of fun with Forgotten Land's missions. I really do. But the idea of hiding missions as ????? the first time you play a level (and only unveiling one mission if you miss every mission) is absurd. It led me to play the game in a worse way of running into everything, poring my eyes over objectives with zero idea what I'm looking for, and generally made me have less fun just because I don't want to needlessly replay a stage. I get that they want to encourage replayability but this is not the correct approach at all. Thankfully the missions never get as bad as Dream Land 3 or need backtracking like Crystal Shards, but running around aimlessly with no idea what I'm doing is not the approach. The Hidden Waddle Dees do this system but correctly since you know about where something you missed is from each Waddle Dee being in order. I have no idea what I could be missing with a hidden mission, even less so with a vague mission marker being revealed after I finished the stage like "Find the hidden passage."
Aside from that thorn in my side, I wanna nitpick the music. The compositions are great and I like a lot of the stages. However, the way the samples are used feel...weird? I have a hard time describing it but hearing the exact same noise for a trumpet or violin just with a different pitch takes me out of the song because I know it's just being played on a keyboard without any change between notes. The synths and guitars can also be very twangy? Is that the word? Whatever I can apply to the sound of NYEEEEEOOOOMMMMM that kicks in during some songs. They're trying too hard.
Overall, I love this game but the mission system keeps bugging me like a bad itch. If the system were better and the abilities were all about the same level of enjoyable, this game would be my favorite Kirby. As is, I really want to see how the games after this will improve this formula.
Let's go over the many positives first.
The graphics are beautiful. Even on handheld mode, I kept being blown away and sucked into every single environment presented from the level of sheer polish in every single thing. Every object has a surprising amount of detail, the characters have never looked better, and every single move from yours to the bosses' are all really enjoyable to watch. This combined with the solid-as-usual soundtrack creates a really joyous atmosphere that really adds to the joyous romp Kirby goes through. Even lategame with my sense of wonder being traded for feelings of tenseness, I never once thought a locale was ugly or without visual flare.
The level design is something that feels very "Kirby" which I'm very glad for despite the change from 2D to 3D. The main levels feel like expansive playgrounds with fun platforming challenges and secrets galore, and the optional challenges are great tests of skill that put Abilities (and the lack thereof) to the test.
Abilities in this game are really fun. While I do wish there was a more expansive moveset for more powers (Sword and Hammer having so many moves definitely shows they could give more Abilities more moves), the upgrade system putting spins on your familiar powers is a really good idea. Even though I didn't use Cutter much, the last upgrade is probably the smartest way to make a simple ability get even stronger out of every one of the powerups. There's a lot of smart and fun powerups for abilities, my favorites being Time Crash, Deep Sleep, Dragon Fire, Frosty/Blizzard Ice, Toy Hammer and the final Hammer, and the Knight Swords. (Ranger is a very good new ability too, I do wish it shook it up a bit more though).
Mouthful Modes are all fun too which is surprising. It takes the Robobot approach to temporary upgrades which I really like while making each Mouthful Mode feel really unique. There's some I wish were different like Stairs and Lift, but I really don't mind them. No Mouthful is really bad like some Animal Friends can get (mostly Kine).
The boss fights are so cool. The Dodge mechanic and the transition to 3D makes boss fights both easier and harder; easier to pin down and evade, harder because there can be more stuff on the screen for you to deal with so spacial awareness is necessary. The new 3D also makes going in with no abilities the preferred way to take on some bosses for me (in particular Claworine and the final boss). Some fights are BRUTAL but the expansive ways to play make any approach viable (so long as you're using a strong enough ability or know when to yoink Stars).
Now that I've got my positives out of my way, let's get my negatives out in the open.
THE MISSION SYSTEM. I have a lot of fun with Forgotten Land's missions. I really do. But the idea of hiding missions as ????? the first time you play a level (and only unveiling one mission if you miss every mission) is absurd. It led me to play the game in a worse way of running into everything, poring my eyes over objectives with zero idea what I'm looking for, and generally made me have less fun just because I don't want to needlessly replay a stage. I get that they want to encourage replayability but this is not the correct approach at all. Thankfully the missions never get as bad as Dream Land 3 or need backtracking like Crystal Shards, but running around aimlessly with no idea what I'm doing is not the approach. The Hidden Waddle Dees do this system but correctly since you know about where something you missed is from each Waddle Dee being in order. I have no idea what I could be missing with a hidden mission, even less so with a vague mission marker being revealed after I finished the stage like "Find the hidden passage."
Aside from that thorn in my side, I wanna nitpick the music. The compositions are great and I like a lot of the stages. However, the way the samples are used feel...weird? I have a hard time describing it but hearing the exact same noise for a trumpet or violin just with a different pitch takes me out of the song because I know it's just being played on a keyboard without any change between notes. The synths and guitars can also be very twangy? Is that the word? Whatever I can apply to the sound of NYEEEEEOOOOMMMMM that kicks in during some songs. They're trying too hard.
Overall, I love this game but the mission system keeps bugging me like a bad itch. If the system were better and the abilities were all about the same level of enjoyable, this game would be my favorite Kirby. As is, I really want to see how the games after this will improve this formula.
Now this is what the entire first game was building up to. I cannot understate how important the first game setting this up is.
The first game has a lot of things I don't like about it: cases having odd pacing, things happening then being swept under the rug, the real lack of any cases I 100% like aside from one or two, and nothing being particularly interesting in the game that isn't vague references to what I'd be facing in the sequel.
The sequel instantly improves not only with a better first case but with a fun second case which acts as (mostly) filler that's better than the original case it stemmed from. Even in the weaker cases the twists are fun, the trials are enjoyable, and I don't feel too wanting going through the game (aside from the first half of Case 2 being way less interesting than the last half).
The last half of Case 3 is where this game truly kicks into full gear. The already wonderful character interactions of Great Ace Attorney finally are backed up with a very intriguing plot and mystery that really makes everything worth investing in. There wasn't a single mystery, arc, or question I wasn't hungry to seek the next answer to. Every single thing from the last half of Case 3 onward is masterful and dare I say flawless - at least for an Ace Attorney experience.
However, I do still have some gripes. Susato's presence in Case 1 really amounts to nothing if this is the last game in the "series" since I assumed Susato would at least do SOMETHING other than act as the typical assistant. I like her a lot but I do wish she was better utilized. Case 1 and Case 2 being 6/10s not tied into the greater plot of Cases 3-5 outside of small details makes them feel almost unnecessary as well.
I also didn't really like how the finale of Case 5 isn't really Ryunosuke's victory as much as it is Sholmes coming in for the save at the last minute. It's not like in Apollo Justice where Phoenix's involvement in the last case has a lot of personal stakes and he's perfectly justified in sharing the spotlight; Sholmes is just there to support you otherwise since his investment in the case is about as much or less than Ryunosuke's. It made the impact of the climactic finale feel a bit...limp.
That being said, everything else is astounding. The way you figure out the cases in and out of the court, the music, the references to Sherlock Holmes canon in playful yet respectful ways, so much about this game is top notch. I do wish the first bites of the course were better and the last bite didn't leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth though.
The first game has a lot of things I don't like about it: cases having odd pacing, things happening then being swept under the rug, the real lack of any cases I 100% like aside from one or two, and nothing being particularly interesting in the game that isn't vague references to what I'd be facing in the sequel.
The sequel instantly improves not only with a better first case but with a fun second case which acts as (mostly) filler that's better than the original case it stemmed from. Even in the weaker cases the twists are fun, the trials are enjoyable, and I don't feel too wanting going through the game (aside from the first half of Case 2 being way less interesting than the last half).
The last half of Case 3 is where this game truly kicks into full gear. The already wonderful character interactions of Great Ace Attorney finally are backed up with a very intriguing plot and mystery that really makes everything worth investing in. There wasn't a single mystery, arc, or question I wasn't hungry to seek the next answer to. Every single thing from the last half of Case 3 onward is masterful and dare I say flawless - at least for an Ace Attorney experience.
However, I do still have some gripes. Susato's presence in Case 1 really amounts to nothing if this is the last game in the "series" since I assumed Susato would at least do SOMETHING other than act as the typical assistant. I like her a lot but I do wish she was better utilized. Case 1 and Case 2 being 6/10s not tied into the greater plot of Cases 3-5 outside of small details makes them feel almost unnecessary as well.
I also didn't really like how the finale of Case 5 isn't really Ryunosuke's victory as much as it is Sholmes coming in for the save at the last minute. It's not like in Apollo Justice where Phoenix's involvement in the last case has a lot of personal stakes and he's perfectly justified in sharing the spotlight; Sholmes is just there to support you otherwise since his investment in the case is about as much or less than Ryunosuke's. It made the impact of the climactic finale feel a bit...limp.
That being said, everything else is astounding. The way you figure out the cases in and out of the court, the music, the references to Sherlock Holmes canon in playful yet respectful ways, so much about this game is top notch. I do wish the first bites of the course were better and the last bite didn't leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth though.
2016
This game rocks so hard but you can be super screwed over very easily in this game, especially if you're doing alt routes or Rat route. Be patient with this game and learn it, because once you do it'll blow your pants off.
Oops! All sequel set-up!
I had a good time with this game but this game has a major pacing issue. Incomprehensibly weird pacing with most cases taking too long, some taking too short, the placements of the cases being in an odd order in comparison to the "feel" of the case (meaning a "Case 1", "Case 2", etc.) and none of them really "feeling" like the place they're in aside from Case 3, and sections either lasting too long or too short.
The cases themselves aren't too interesting either aside from Case 3 which is very cool, especially with the context Case 5 casts upon it. The character interactions carry the cases, especially any time Sholmes is on screen who is the most singularly entertaining character in the series.
The new gameplay mechanics are very fun at least. The Judiciary Examinations are a really fun way to break up the pacing of cases and gives a different way to problem solve, while Course Correction is the single smartest inclusion in the entire series from a gameplay perspective that the series' shift to 3D perfectly compliments.
Perfectly fine game but please don't ONLY play this game. This game is a very very good prologue to the second game which blows this game out of the water so hard it might be fighting at the top with Trials and Tribulations as my favorite in the series.
I had a good time with this game but this game has a major pacing issue. Incomprehensibly weird pacing with most cases taking too long, some taking too short, the placements of the cases being in an odd order in comparison to the "feel" of the case (meaning a "Case 1", "Case 2", etc.) and none of them really "feeling" like the place they're in aside from Case 3, and sections either lasting too long or too short.
The cases themselves aren't too interesting either aside from Case 3 which is very cool, especially with the context Case 5 casts upon it. The character interactions carry the cases, especially any time Sholmes is on screen who is the most singularly entertaining character in the series.
The new gameplay mechanics are very fun at least. The Judiciary Examinations are a really fun way to break up the pacing of cases and gives a different way to problem solve, while Course Correction is the single smartest inclusion in the entire series from a gameplay perspective that the series' shift to 3D perfectly compliments.
Perfectly fine game but please don't ONLY play this game. This game is a very very good prologue to the second game which blows this game out of the water so hard it might be fighting at the top with Trials and Tribulations as my favorite in the series.
2006
Blue Dragon is a perfectly okay RPG. The game’s highlight is how nice it can look with a combo of Akira Toriyama’s art style behind some really unique landscapes, areas, and enemy designs. The combat is a standard Job JRPG, and I genuinely cannot say much about it. The story is also nothing I can’t really comment on because it’s so by the books.
I guess the main character has a habit of calling people bastards if you’re into that.
I guess the main character has a habit of calling people bastards if you’re into that.