Shenobi
2006
This game is oozing style in all the good ways. I'm not a fan of waggle controls and drawing as such, so my wife tore into this game and never let go in my place. I should probably play the remaster at some point.
1997
Felt like a weaker Zelda-esque game with solid graphics for its time. The opening FMV is awesome, if nothing else. Overall, it kinda made me imagine what would happen if you combined Soul Blazer for the SNES with A Link to the Past...which sounds like a good thing, but ultimately wasn't a great thing for me.
2001
I like some of the characters. The sphere grid system is fun and innovative. I don't really get everyone's love for this game -- I feel like the biggest thing it brought to the table was essentially creating the blueprint for the nearly straight-line walkathon that was FFXIII. Still, it's leagues better than that, if nothing else.
2021
My favorite game, but probably the worst version I've played. It's not bad by any means, but despite some nice QoL adjustments, there are some things about it that I find lacking or annoying.
Regarding QoL adjustments -- I love only needing one arrow to use a bow. I also appreciate that the Trap Door monsters in the Sealed Cave have enough of a delay on them now that you can respond to their targeting.
Strangely, the design for the same areas as usual ended up a little weird at times, with the areas that should normally scroll from off-screen not doing so until you reached them in larger rooms. This might not sound like a big deal, but it's really awkward in smaller rooms with hidden secrets. The house in Mist is a good example of this, with the room above the front room not actually visible because of a secret off to the right via an entrance through the fireplace. The end result is that you have to move far enough north to see something that should be visible without any effort, while a blank area is the point of fixation in the room. It's extra strange because the map doesn't display this well either in some scenarios, as if they were trying to eliminate the scrolling aspect of the map and cut borders of the map a little too short.
The inconsistency with hidden walls is also weird, as FF3 had highlighted areas whenever you walked into a hidden passage to show your pathing. Unlike the vanilla version of FF4 that obscures passages completely or gives them a slight dark-blue tint (depending on your version), this one elects to display the paths in tile form when you're on them inside buildings and other structures that aren't considered dungeons, while paths in the towns themselves or dungeons are completely clear and indiscernible while traversing them. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just another weird inconsistency that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Finally, I am inclined to agree with people that aren't fond of the pixel art -- this version didn't really feel like an improvement to me, other than glossing up of cutscenes, which wasn't pixel art as much as just use of modern effects and design to elicit something you couldn't get from a regular 16-bit experience at the time.
The game is still grand, I had a fun time in spite of these little things that nagged at me, but I'd rather play any other version again. And I will.
Regarding QoL adjustments -- I love only needing one arrow to use a bow. I also appreciate that the Trap Door monsters in the Sealed Cave have enough of a delay on them now that you can respond to their targeting.
Strangely, the design for the same areas as usual ended up a little weird at times, with the areas that should normally scroll from off-screen not doing so until you reached them in larger rooms. This might not sound like a big deal, but it's really awkward in smaller rooms with hidden secrets. The house in Mist is a good example of this, with the room above the front room not actually visible because of a secret off to the right via an entrance through the fireplace. The end result is that you have to move far enough north to see something that should be visible without any effort, while a blank area is the point of fixation in the room. It's extra strange because the map doesn't display this well either in some scenarios, as if they were trying to eliminate the scrolling aspect of the map and cut borders of the map a little too short.
The inconsistency with hidden walls is also weird, as FF3 had highlighted areas whenever you walked into a hidden passage to show your pathing. Unlike the vanilla version of FF4 that obscures passages completely or gives them a slight dark-blue tint (depending on your version), this one elects to display the paths in tile form when you're on them inside buildings and other structures that aren't considered dungeons, while paths in the towns themselves or dungeons are completely clear and indiscernible while traversing them. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just another weird inconsistency that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Finally, I am inclined to agree with people that aren't fond of the pixel art -- this version didn't really feel like an improvement to me, other than glossing up of cutscenes, which wasn't pixel art as much as just use of modern effects and design to elicit something you couldn't get from a regular 16-bit experience at the time.
The game is still grand, I had a fun time in spite of these little things that nagged at me, but I'd rather play any other version again. And I will.
2021
About 11 hours in, game is fun enough, but I'm just not getting as invested as I was with some other Tales games. I'll definitely come back to this, but not in a real rush because I'm just having an okay time.
I wasn't really fond of the transition to 3D / pseudo-3D that games were taking on because I was a stubborn dork back in the day. That being said, I did enjoy Lament of Innocence, even if it felt a little dull and plodding at times. I was quite fine with the camera style and combat -- though samey -- was engaging enough to not become downright boring.
1988
I love mini golf. I did not love this, even as a kid.
1982
100% giving this a 0.5 because of my fear of spiders and the Atari 2600 finding ways to terrify me even with basic games like this. It was the worst kind of fun. Probably realistically a 2.0 / 5.0, though.
1994
Imagine Tetris, only bad and not really Tetris. That's Tetris 2. Glad I could help you inform your decision.
Insanely and unfairly difficult. Tenaciously dumb kid me got there, though. A fun idea as far as vertical-scrolling shmup-ish type games go, but ultimately not worth the hassle.
2002
This game needs a remake a la RE1 with actual co-op available. It screams for it.
2009
Definitely better with co-op, as Sheeva can be a mixed bag at times as an AI partner. Boulder-punching memes aside, the game's pretty alright and at times, even somewhat fun. It's not going to win any awards by me, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to pick it up on discount for the PS4 years later.
2011
Played on Steam. Got some good futures. Didn't get them all. It's fun. Japanese soundtrack is light years better than the American soundtrack. Worth it if you want a deviation from some people's expectations of Sonic games being "hold right to win".
It's a bad game. It's a convoluted and bad game. It's still better than some of the chaff out there. Not even near the worst game ever made.
Some of the power-up ideas in this game are brilliant and the Ikaruga-esque combat style of element-swapping to absorb damage and gain back MP is fun and makes for some excellent boss designs.
The arrow puzzles are a little off-putting, though -- not because they're particularly bad (other than one section late in the game that's mandatory), but because they kinda detract from the action-centric feel of the game. I appreciate trying to find a way to incorporate Deedlit's archery skills, but maybe have the bows do more with their arrows based on the bow type (a few bows fire more arrows or use homing arrows as examples). Players should be encouraged to use the bow, but aside from the mandatory puzzles or optional ones, there's no real need to use the bow.
The game's a little on the short side and enemies are a mixed bag, ranging from complete pushovers to absolutely obnoxious depending on their placement in rooms (looking at you, Mummy Masters alongside those flying gargoyles with both of you immune to opposite elements). For the most part though, enemies are just a very poor-paying XP obstacle on your way to bosses.
I won't speak on the boss design, other than to say that the difficulty range is all over the place, but I still approve of them for the most part. There's some really fun ideas at play in there and I would liked to have seen a bit more gameplay length to maybe offer a few more creative boss ideas on top of what was already there. Some moves are shared between bosses, but that didn't really bother me.
Overall, the game is fun but very short -- I clocked about 7.5 hours with nearly all rooms explored. Definitely worth checking out at least once but if Metroidvanias aren't your thing, consider waiting for a sale -- it's a solid one, but it's not a must-buy for your average gamer who just wants to check out a random given game.
The arrow puzzles are a little off-putting, though -- not because they're particularly bad (other than one section late in the game that's mandatory), but because they kinda detract from the action-centric feel of the game. I appreciate trying to find a way to incorporate Deedlit's archery skills, but maybe have the bows do more with their arrows based on the bow type (a few bows fire more arrows or use homing arrows as examples). Players should be encouraged to use the bow, but aside from the mandatory puzzles or optional ones, there's no real need to use the bow.
The game's a little on the short side and enemies are a mixed bag, ranging from complete pushovers to absolutely obnoxious depending on their placement in rooms (looking at you, Mummy Masters alongside those flying gargoyles with both of you immune to opposite elements). For the most part though, enemies are just a very poor-paying XP obstacle on your way to bosses.
I won't speak on the boss design, other than to say that the difficulty range is all over the place, but I still approve of them for the most part. There's some really fun ideas at play in there and I would liked to have seen a bit more gameplay length to maybe offer a few more creative boss ideas on top of what was already there. Some moves are shared between bosses, but that didn't really bother me.
Overall, the game is fun but very short -- I clocked about 7.5 hours with nearly all rooms explored. Definitely worth checking out at least once but if Metroidvanias aren't your thing, consider waiting for a sale -- it's a solid one, but it's not a must-buy for your average gamer who just wants to check out a random given game.