I think it's messed up that my party members start bitching and moaning every time a Devil offers me sex in exchange for a part of my soul and I say "Yes". Mind your own business.

Anyway, it's a great game plagued by a ton of issues, most of which come from staying true to D&D (wack leveling curve, poorly implemented rest system, underwhelming roleplaying options for anything outside of combat, nonsensical checks and rolls that slow the game down, etc.) but the sheer ambition and attention to detail coupled with killer performances, decent writing and a banger of a soundtrack make the issues relatively easy to ignore.

The remake of Super Mario RPG is an easy recommendation for everyone who likes a good traditional RPG. It has a charming artstyle, silly moments, entertaining soundtrack and a simple, straightforward storyline.

The combat is pretty easy, but that's not really a complaint for me, since it's obviously designed for a younger audience. A higher difficulty setting would've been neat, but who actually plays a Mario game to be challenged? First and foremost games are supposed to be fun and this game certainly hits the mark.

Also as this is my first review of 2024, Happy New Year!

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Last year, I dusted off and finally played Yakuza 0 to completion after it’s been sitting in my Steam library for ages. Although I still can’t quite say that I adore this series like so many people do, it did a great job piquing my interest to check out more. I really liked the characters I got introduced to, Majima now’s an all-timer for me, so I wanted to find out what happened to these guys next. This meant picking up Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of the original Yakuza on the PlayStation 2, but with RGG changing it to fit their current vision of the franchise which Yakuza 0 represented. Since they deemed this the definitive way to experience the original Yakuza to chronologically follow the rest of Kiryu’s story, I figured it was worth a shot. Who knows? Yakuza 0 may have been developed when RGG had already mastered their craft because of years worth of experience, but maybe the whiplash of jumping straight into a game echoing their awkward youth wouldn’t be so bad because of how they remade it to align closer to the quality they’ve proven nowadays. See, this was my cautious optimism when I approached Kiwami being fully aware of whatever imperfections it’ll have, especially when directly compared to Yakuza 0. Now, having just beaten Kiwami though? To put it bluntly; if this were my first exposure to Yakuza/Like A Dragon, playing no other game beforehand... I honestly would have written off the series and never bothered with this franchise ever again.

Kiwami suffers from being too faithful towards the original PS2 version while clumsily pulling in newer additions introduced from Yakuza 0, resulting in a game that’s disjointed in design. What RGG did when remaking the original Yakuza was just porting it into the same game engine as Yakuza 0. It carries much of the same gameplay, like switching between four different fighting styles, most of the mini-games, and even sprinkling in new bits of story content to make the game feel consistent with what the other one established. These mainly come into the form of the Majima Everywhere system and the Nishiki flashback scenes that are awkwardly slotted into the end of each chapter. The main story itself, from what I learn digging around, is kept faithfully intact from how it was originally presented except with certain characters feeling recontextualized with the new characterization written for them back in Yakuza 0. When I put it this way, it looks like there’s no real problem, right? Seems like RGG did a good job with this remake by making the gameplay more fun and adding emotional complexity to a story that sounded like it desperately needed it. Except… I wished it was that simple. I can’t comment on the original Yakuza as a game to drive home some judgment over if Kiwami has succeeded it, I’ve never played it, but I can comment on the story preserved here. I don’t think this is controversial to say by any means, but the story of the first Yakuza isn’t very good. It’s not… ’bad’? More so just too simple, sidetracks its own plot at the expense of important drama, and even with what’s been newly added to reframe the story as a tragedy for the characters it’s often just very contrived. Like, Nishiki is a fantastic character thanks to Yakuza 0, but most of his characterization here is relegated to flashback cutscenes showing his dramatic descent into villainy while in the main story he still has three scenes that don’t give him the proper presence as a personal antagonist. Nishiki being the final boss is tear-jerking in how peak it is now for the way it builds upon our experience getting to know him in 0 to Kiwami, but he still deserves more than that compared to the other big baddie who steals away story focus from him by having the worst boss fight in a game that already had stinkers and overall just sucks. You wanna know the easiest fix for these problems? Just rewrite it. I think RGG being too unwilling in changing the core story and sprinkling in bits of new story content over it isn't an effective compromise. I don't believe anybody holds the first Yakuza's story in high regard, so there's no shame in writing an entire new draft that keeps immovable beats intact for future entries to acknowledge.

To sidestep into the gameplay… this is where you can also feel RGG botching things by drag-and-dropping Yakuza 0 elements onto the original’s foundation with no regard if anything will mesh together well. They locked arguably the most important fighting style, especially for the latter half of the game when enemies get super aggressive with dodging, thrashing, and swarming, behind a repetitive grind-based gimmick that wears out its welcome quick. The enemy encounters feel like a victim of a lack of play testing because many are bloated with durability, health-bars, and a regeneration buff that made most of your brawling experience relying on Rush to quick-dash around them to deliver steady combos. The progression for improving your different fighting styles by relying on EXP instead of money like how it worked in 0 is also very flawed. The side content doesn’t give you nearly enough to level up certain styles, so you don’t feel like you’re progressing enough in combat to beat the repetition of it. I also gotta have a serious talk with whoever thought that designing an enemy who constantly spam dodges while stun-locking you with bullets made for fun combat. It was miserable. And I did not have fun. My experience with Kiwami shakily skews towards negative the more I let this simmer, but it did a good enough job of keeping me interesting in Kiryu and his friends following the events of this game. He hasn't quite been defined enough for me to connect with, other than thinking he's genuinely humble and raw as hell. We'll have to see how Kiwami 2 cooks with that. Hoping things really go uphill from here, if this is the lowest the series could go.

First review of 2024 baby! What a first game to start the year. I first played this back in 2019 and absolutely loved it. I beat all of the chapters, both A and B sides but never did any of the C sides nor did I get all the strawberries. This playthrough I did tho and man it felt good. Before I get into that let me talk about why this game is so great.

Why don't I just get right into the story first. When I first played, I remember being blown away by the story and absolutely loving it. While I do still think it's good, there was something bothering me throughout and it may just be a me thing. Theo, he's not a bad character but why all the mentions of selfies and his social media 😭. I hate to say it but it was really taking me out of the story at points. It was definitely the biggest issue I had when replaying this. Otherwise though, the Madeline side of the story is really good. I like how anyone that plays this game can at least relate to her need to overcome her personal demons and I think the fact they made it so she accepts them for what they are instead of just trying to bury them completely, I like that execution way more. They portrayed anxiety and depression super well and I think that's the game's strongest aspect when it come's to story.

The soundtrack is pretty solid, tho I remember loving it back then which I wouldn't say I love it now. Don't get me wrong, it's good and there are some standout tracks in certain chapters but I didn't like it as much as I did in 2019 I think. Maybe it was because I was more focused on playing the game and didn't pay attention to the music too much this time around? I also maybe wasn't a fan of the voices they gave the characters. Idk some of the time I found it kinda annoying which is a shame.

As for some of the biggest positives, the game is amazing visually. The pixel art is pretty much perfect the whole way through and the backgrounds in some of these chapters are breathtaking. Golden Ridge I think was the standout especially, it was gorgeous.

Now we come to my favorite part of the game, the gameplay. This is easily one of the most fun 2D platformers I've ever played. It's just so polished and the level design is so good. One of my favorite things was just finding all the secrets, there's a ton of them whether it's hidden strawberries or crystal hearts or B side tapes or even that one hidden indie game screen I somehow found by doing the wavedash (that was insane) they're all really fun to find. I also really love just how many different techniques you can perform. A lot of them aren't explained until late late game or not even at all and they can really break the game sometimes, it's awesome. Celeste is also extremely difficult I'm sure you know. Indeed, some of the later levels in the base game can get super duper hard. The B sides and C sides especially, some of those were nuts. As I said, I did everything in the base game...everything except for the golden strawberries. I got the one in chapter 1 A side but that was it. They just don't feel too worth it since it's not new content...just surviving an entire chapter without dying which isn't too fun imo. As for the hardest part of the base game, that hands down has to go to Chapter 7 Side C. Jesus Christ that last fucking screen took me 3 hours in-game time and exactly 1152 deaths. None of the other chapters came close to that many deaths and you know what, I'm so glad I did it. I'll never do it again mind you, but I told myself that if I did it...I'd bump this game to a 9. So for now that's what I'll do tho I may bump it down to an 8.5 who knows.

I do have some issues that are more a me thing but this game is super fun and definitely a top tier indie in my book.

Oh and as for farewell...yes I'll be doing that next and yes I am very scared. I got up to the point where you're required to wavedash back in 2019 and then quit. I've heard it's extremely brutal in the 2nd half so I'm nervous but I will persevere boys. Wish me luck!

All the way back in 2017 on Christmas, I got an SNES classic. I already owned an actual SNES before that, but I figured since they were big that year and it had a buncha game I did not own, a classic would be a fun gift to ask for Christmas. One of the games on there was Mega man X. Before this, I had only played both Mega man 1 and 2 that same year but didn't really enjoy them. So, while I did play a bit of the first stage in X, I didn't really give it much of a chance and quit. Fast forward to 2021, and I decide to actually go back and beat the game. I do so and enjoy it but thought it was just good overall but not great. However, last year I decided to do a classic Mega man marathon which then turned into a Mega man X marathon. I of course wanted to replay X1 before going into the other games, and what do ya know, I ended up loving it. I figured since I played it two years in a row, why not make it a tradition and go for a third year. So, I indeed did fit in one more game this year, and luckily it ended off with a bang.

If I'm gonna be really upfront, the number one reason I love this game is it's OST. It's the difference between giving the game a 7 or 8, it's that damn good. Every single song is a banger, which I can't say for any of the other X games personally. Some of my absolute favorite songs are Sting Chameleon's stage theme, Boomer Kuwanger's stage theme, Spark Mandrill's stage theme, the opening stage theme, the password screen and more. It's all just so masterful, can never get enough of it.

Another reason this one is my favorite is probably the level design. Besides X4 which has some of the best level design in the series too, none of the other X game's I played were as solid in that department, I think. The addition of levels changing based on the player defeating certain Mavericks was very awesome..and the backtracking in this game is way more manageable compared to future games (I'm looking at you X3). Also, I initially did like this more than any classic game and while I still do, a big reason for that is having a dash just makes the X series way more fun I think. This is the one that introduced that mechanic obviously, so I definitely have to praise it for that.

I gotta say as well, the X series on the SNES specifically looks amazing visually. It may have some of my favorite pixel art in any game, it's so visually appealing.

I was originally gonna give this a 10 because I do love this game a lot...but going through it again I did forget how bleh those Sigma stages can be. Apparently in my last playthrough I had no problem with them but this time around, I did notice how shitty they could be. Definitely the worst part of the game and a downgrade from the regular levels but at least the final fight is good.

This was fun to replay as it always is. Maybe the next time I replay it, I'll feel like bumping it up to a 10? Who knows, either way..I'm posting this on New Year's Eve and won't have another review out until after the New Year so I want to wish all my followers and anyone who sees this a very happy New Year. I also want to thank everyone that supported me this year. My account grew an absolutely insane amount these past couple months specifically... and I still just can't believe it! Thank you all so much, I love you guys! I hope everyone that sees this has an amazing 2024, keep on gaming gamers and decrease that backlog!

Time to mix drinks and change lives.

VA-11 Hall-A was the final game I beat in 2023 and what a great sendoff it was. Huge thanks to @wheatie again for providing me with a copy of this game as a christmas gift - please consider showing her some support!

As a visual novel, VA-11 was quite different from the ones I played before, since I never got around to actually playing a normal slice-of-life VN. Considering I've (nearly) only played murder mysteries in this format, it was a nice change of pace to read a visual novel with a welcoming and cozy atmosphere for once. The cyberpunk aesthetic and soundtrack are a perfect match for the direction of VA-11 and quickly help to immerse you in the setting. I might just talk about the soundtrack a little more while I'm at it. The game allows you to pick 12 different songs from a diverse collection so you can set your own soundtrack. There's an integrated music player so you can listen to your favorite songs on shuffle and repeat or even skip some if you're not feeling them at the moment. Thankfully you can always switch out the jukebox songs each in-game day, so if you happen to really dislike a song, you can just swap it out for something else. So yeah, there's that. However, a good visual novel shouldn't need to rely on the soundtrack alone to be enjoyable, it also needs unique and entertaining characters. VA-11 has quite the quirky cast; seeing the talking Shiba with sunglasses for the first time certainly got a good chuckle out of me. His name being Rad Shiba didn't help.

The actual gameplay itself is really simple and nothing noteworthy. You click some ingredients on the right side of the screen and drag them together to mix a drink. While this mixing mechanic is just a plot device most of the time, sometimes you'd also get different dialogue from the customers, depending on the amount of alcohol they had. Somehow I only realized this when I already was nearing the end of the game, but I don't think it makes a huge difference, just a different topic every now and then.

That wraps pretty much everything up I wanted to say about this game already. It's a solid experience and I'd strongly advise anyone who likes cyberpunk settings or a good visual novel to try VA-11 out. Just please listen to my advice from earlier and don't rush it - take breaks if you're feeling bored. Grab a snack and just enjoy what lies ahead.

Thanks for reading. See you in 2024!

With this being a sequel that released only one year after the first one, it makes sense it's basically just more of the same. That's not a bad thing because Jumping Flash! was fun, however the wow factor the first one had with it being one of the first 3D platformers goes away here, especially since Mario 64 came out two months after this and was something completely different. That's not to say everything in the game is the exact same.

There's now a jump meter that let's the player know how high they are into their jump and makes triple jumps easier to perform. There's now voice acting in the levels itself whenever you collect items. It's alright, it kinda makes the levels less atmospheric compared to the first one but it's cheesy fun. The cutscenes are also more abundant and definitely more entertaining so that was cool.

I think I do like the first one a bit more because the OST also wasn't as good in this one and it's just not as impactful since it's basically more of the same besides some additions. Either way though, just like the first one it's a fun time!

Also, this may be the last game I play this year. Probably not as I'd like to fit one more game in, but if this is it, it ended on a good note at least

Another Platinum for the books.

I had a lot more fun with this game than its predecessor. The new stances, especially when maxed out, makes for super fun combat and the lightsaber bosses are pretty awesome (Rayvis is the best fight). Platforming is pretty fluid this time around (also happy you start with a double jump this time around), and it expands upon the predecessor's foundation to make traversing and puzzles very engaging (I actually loved about 90% of the puzzles this time around, a huge step up from the last game which inundated the playtime with mediocre puzzles). The side content is mostly good too, the bounties and legendary creatures function as optional boss fights so they're pretty fun, albeit mostly reskins of enemies in the main story. Building up Greeze's bar adds a layer of bringing life to the world that is endearing. The gambling mini-game was a bit too RNG for my enjoyment. The extended garden also adds more charm into customizing to your preference. I'm not super into Star Wars' stories, but this had me more invested in the cast than the last game.

The post-game collectible hunting was a bit grating on me, it was fun at first but it ended up becoming super repetitive and almost had me burnt out. There is also a difficulty spike after the Vader fight (spoiler I guess, but it's Star Wars. Who doesn't expect Vader or Luke at this point?) where the game sends mobs of enemies at you that show the weakpoints in the combat (admittedly I didn't have my force abilities up much so it might improve on NG+). Personally I think the "souls" inspiration on the combat should be replaced with a proper action game system (still holding out on my dream game of PlatinumGames' The Force Unleashed 3). That said I do enjoy parrying and countering during the saber duels, at its best it's almost a baby's Sekiro.

I enjoyed this game and great deal and definitely want to do a NG+ to take on the bosses again, even if my enjoyment comes with strings attached. Despite my gripes, it's still a fun combat system and I had a good time.

8/10

I know this is a little late now but Merry Christmas everyone! I would've put this review out on Christmas but I was busy and also timed my playthrough of this game a bit wrong. Either way, hope everyone had a great holiday! I definitely did and it also ended with a bang since I played Rez.

I kinda don't have a lot to say about this one at all. The main takeaway is this game is an absolute treat visually. That's the main appeal of the game and I'm telling you, it's insane. You really just need to play it and witness it yourself cuz it's amazing and the biggest reason I'm rating it so high.

The OST is very good. I wouldn't listen to it outside of the game personally, but alongside the gameplay it's perfect and very much fits the game I think.

The actual gameplay is pretty simple actually. It's an on rails shooter that has a single powerup you can use when you obtain them and you level up and down depending on if you get hit or not. It's extremely straight-forward so it may be lacking to some people who would want a more complex game mechanically but for an audio-visual delight of a game like this, it's perfectly fine.

The game is also only like two hours long but tbh I think that's an absolute perfect length for a game like this, otherwise the wow factor might wear off if it was longer.

Like I said before, you really need to play the game yourself to see just how damn impressive the visuals are because...man they're absolutely insane. Another Dreamcast banger, this console's on fire so far!

8.5/10

I started Chrono Trigger a couple days ago but decided I'd also play a short game here and there on the side as to mix things up. The first ones of these I decided to play was Jumping Flash and I gotta say, it was a really nice time.

This is one of if not the first 3D platformer to come out (I dont think its actually the first) and the way it goes about being an early 3D platformer works wonders. The game is a first-person 3D platformer which is already kinda unique. Whenever you double jump tho, the camera changes to look directly below you and for a game like this where you're mostly jumping on floating platforms and your jumps are crazy high, it really does work well.

The game's also pretty atmospheric with its early 3D goodness. It has a sort of liminal space feel in certain levels and its really neat. The OST is also surprisingly good. I can't remember a single song on the top of my head rn but the whole game had some groovy tunes.

The bosses for the most part are decent. They would have been better with a strafe as without it, you're mostly just messily jumping on their heads but for the most part they're passable. The doom-like levels also weren't my favorite because again, no strafe. They felt awkward without one unlike the regular levels.

The game also has several different sets of extra remixed stages but I didn't play them. They just seem to be harder and you move faster and have 5 jumps instead of 3 but other than that, from what I've seen the actual level layouts are the same.

Yeah this was a fun time man, definitely a lot better than you'd expect for such an early 3D platformer! Also is it bad to say I think I unironically liked this more than Mario Wonder? Lol