The Legend of Zelda: Better than Breath of the Wild

This game is everything that I ever wanted Breath of the Wild to be. Most issue's I had with its' predecessor was remedied in this game. Incredibly boring story? Gone. Boring Shika Slate abilities? Bye bye. Uninspired Divine Beasts for dungeons? See you later. While the last thing isn't completely remedied in this game, I think that TotK's dungeons are the closest we'll get to dungeon's in an open world Zelda title. Unfortunately unrealistic to expect the master crafted dungeons of the older 3D Zelda title's AND have open world. That being said, the dungeon's in this game are fairly good, especially the Wind Temple. The story in this game isn't anything to write home about, but makes BotW's story look like fanfiction. The abilities, specifically ultrahand and fuse, carry this game in terms of enjoyment. I never got bored of building wacky contraptions or sticking some random item on my weapons. I still wish Breath of the Wild wasn't so bad and that this game is just what we got originally, but I am glad we got it in the end.

"Hey, let's take everything that makes a Zelda game great and just get rid of that stuff, yeah?"

I hate this game. I hate that this game even exists. It is a stain on the great 3D Zelda's of old. This game is fine and fun to play, but it shouldn't be called a Zelda game. If it was just called Breath of the Wild and it wasn't tied to Zelda, then yeah this game would probably be like a 3.5 or 4 stars. Let's go through the checklist of great Zelda elements this game decided to get rid of: Interesting and fun bosses, challenging and thematic dungeons, enjoyable and versatile arsenal of items, worthwhile and deep side quests, and a story you can get invested in. This game has none of those things. As soon as you meet Impa in Kakiriko village, the story is over until you kill Calamity Ganon or find some meaningless memory fragments. Oh yeah, let's also take one of the more dynamic villains in the series, Ganondorf, and just make him a big mindless robot/stink cloud. What happened to the extremely human feeling Ganondorf of Wind Waker? The mustache twirling villain of Ocarina? Heck, even the last minute appearance of Ganondorf in Twilight Princess is better. I get the main draw of this game is the open world, but it doesn't feel very alive. All you do is find Shrines, which are why this is a 0.5 and not a 0/5. At least they did ONE thing right. However, the "Divine Beasts" replacing dungeons is just ridiculous. They feel completely uninspired and each contain a Calamity Ganon Blight to fight....yay? Finally, the Shika slate abilities are mostly boring. What's better than one bomb? ANOTHER BOMB BUT SQUARE!!!! The time stop ability is fun but loses its' novelty almost instantly. Link constantly swims under the ice blocks I make and break them with his fat head. Magnesisis just sad, because it could have been so much more....luckily a better game will fix that.

Divinity Original Sin 3: Preview Edition

Jokes aside, this game is fantastic. This was my first true experience with Dungeon's and Dragon's, and I would say it left a pretty good impression. The customization and opportunities in this game are insane. Want to be an overpowered wizard and cast insane spells? Want to be a big scary man whose main attack is throwing random garbage at people? Want to be Brittany Spears that roasts people to death? All of these and more are possible in this game. BG3 probably has one of the most in depth and customizable character creation's I have ever seen. When people say they spend hours making their character, it's possible they're not joking. The world and character's in this game are pretty fascinating. Most of the companion's (sorry Gale) are extremely compelling with their own unique backstories and quirks. The main story is mostly fine, and falls apart a little towards the end, but it's serviceable enough. There is TON'S of side content to do in this game and a lot of it is fantastic. Most of my favorite side content happens in Act 3, and you really have to look for it as it can be easily missed. The only thing I can criticize this game for is something that is out of the developers hands; the 5e rulebook. I believe that Larian nailed combat and character building in their previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2. I think this could be the GOTY easily if you combined these two games into one. I definitely would give BG3 a try, even if turn based rpg's aren't your thing.

This is still and probably will always be my favorite game ever created. Majora's Mask isn't just the perfect Zelda game, I would argue it is a perfect game generally. I could gush about this game forever, so I'll just cover the reason's I love this game so much in basic form. This game has one of the most unique, terrifying, and interesting world's I have ever played in. From the bustling streets of Clock Town to the swamp's of the Deku Palace to the graveyard that is Ikana Canyon. This game nails atmosphere so perfectly. The moon will fall on Termina in 3 days and kill everybody, and the characters you find in this game all seem to have a different reaction to it. The denial of the mayor and lead worker, to the despair and fear of the master swordsman, cowering in a corner crying to himself because he realizes he's about to die. The theme's of each area in this game are also fantastic, and best experience yourself. Above all Majora's Mask has the best side content in any of the Zelda titles. Each temple is a masterfully crafted, with the Stone Tower Temple being the greatest achievement the dungeon team has ever created. Please give this game a go, even if the three day mechanic scares you. You may just find that you love it as much as I do.

The Darks Souls of Dark Souls games.

To be honest I don't have a lot to say about this game that hasn't been said already. The first half of this game is simply incredible. The way you navigate places from Firelink is really interesting, and finding the shortcuts back is pretty fun. The bosses up until Ornstein and Smough are mostly pretty good to decent. My gripe is what most people have an issue with, the second half of the game. Barring how obviously bad the Demon Ruins, or whatever the place is called, the game just feels like it takes a bit of a nosedive in terms of quality. Most of the second half bosses are pretty forgettable to me, besides the final boss just because he has a cool soundtrack.

That being said, the DLC slaps. Absolutely loved most everything about the DLC.

"See look, he'll attack any second now......anyyyyy second now....."

That sentence summarizes my feelings about the bosses of Elden Ring. How do we combat people getting increasingly better at these types of games to keep it hard? Make the late game bosses one shot you if you don't have a truckload invested in vigor, and keep the player guessing on when they'll eventually swing at you.
Ok, I feel better now. That last bit is pretty much my only issue with the game. Fromsoft nailed the open world experience of this game. The Lands Between feel incredibly satisfying to explore, with at least something waiting for you around every corner. While the late game bosses do give me some grief, the total roster of the bosses is mostly really good. This game also feels like you can build your character a million different ways compared to the other Fromsoft titles. If you've never been a fan of the Dark Souls games, I would at least give this one a chance. It's just different enough that you may enjoy it.