SilverWind847
2023
What a rad game.
It’s basically Bayonetta meets a rhythm game meets a good cartoon. There are lots of ways for something like this to go wrong, but it works out super well in the end.
The presentation is phenomenal as the game is vibrant and full of life. Every inch of this game has something to express, whether that’s the characters, environments, music, or combat. It’s ridiculous just how much is packed into this game.
The platforming and level design are really good too. It reminded me of a great Ratchet and Clank game, which is my bar for 3D action platformers like this.
When it comes to combat, I’ll be honest. I really suck at it. But it’s so creative that I was never really frustrated by it. If anything, I just wanted to get better at it. And that’s a sign of a very good combat system.
RIP Tango Gameworks.
It’s basically Bayonetta meets a rhythm game meets a good cartoon. There are lots of ways for something like this to go wrong, but it works out super well in the end.
The presentation is phenomenal as the game is vibrant and full of life. Every inch of this game has something to express, whether that’s the characters, environments, music, or combat. It’s ridiculous just how much is packed into this game.
The platforming and level design are really good too. It reminded me of a great Ratchet and Clank game, which is my bar for 3D action platformers like this.
When it comes to combat, I’ll be honest. I really suck at it. But it’s so creative that I was never really frustrated by it. If anything, I just wanted to get better at it. And that’s a sign of a very good combat system.
RIP Tango Gameworks.
2022
This review contains spoilers
What can I say about a game this popular that hasn’t been said before? I guess I can, now having completed it, say that it met the astronomical expectations that I had for it based on other people’s reviews and experiences. It really might be the greatest game of all time and it certainly is an instant classic.
For me, this was my first proper Souls game and I didn’t know what to expect. I used a guide a bit (shoutout to FightinCowboy) to get a head start on things so that I wouldn’t be super overwhelmed by the sheer scale of things. But after those first few hours, I was on my own. And honestly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some people make these games out to be. In fact, I would say this is far easier than the other Fromsoft game I played, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. And that stems from so many things such as the generous player notes or the powerful summons that can be used in most boss battles or the sheer variety of builds that can make the game easier to play. It never felt like I was truly stuck on something or that the way ahead was impossible. In fact, the more boss battles I won, the more confident I felt for the next one. Miyazaki builds in confidence for the player in so many ways. He, I believe, wants you to succeed, no matter how intimidating the challenge may be.
And, for the record, I did beat the toughest boss in the game, Malenia, in under 20 attempts (which I consider to be pretty decent).
One aspect that I most appreciate about Elden Ring is that it lets you go from the onset. The world is mine to experience and do with what I will. There are very few limits and hurdles so long as the creativity is there too. And what this creates is one of the most unique and engaging open worlds that I’ve ever experienced, met only by the masterpiece BoTW which no doubt had a large and powerful influence on Elden Ring. There are so many bespoke experiences littered throughout the game which creates an experience that truly never gets dull. There’s always something out in the world that’s new and bold to get into and having that feeling last for so long is a magic trick and triumph of game design.
What surprised me about Elden Ring the most is the characters I met during my journey. Sure, I expected to explore a vast, dark, and mysterious world and beat tough monsters cause that seems like the typical Souls experience (even if ER’s world is far bigger from the typical Dark Souls setting), but I couldn’t anticipate the quality behind the character writing. Just as the world is filled with cool bosses, it’s also littered with equally cool and intriguing people. And so many of them, like Roderika or Rya or my favorite Iron Fist Alexander, are just flat out awesome characters with real growth and interesting story arcs. It’s an amazing and wonderful feat that makes this world feel all the more full.
Elden Ring didn’t just hook me. It consumed me. I beat the game, as vast it is, in under a week. That includes doing many of the characters’ quests, unlocking different endings, and beating nearly all of the major optional bosses. Even now, I want to play more of it. And I now understand the painful and long wait that everyone is experiencing with the upcoming DLC. But I’m so glad that I’ll be experiencing the DLC with fresh eyes alongside everyone. I truly can’t wait.
2023
Baldur’s Gate 3 took me a while to get into. I tried time and time again to see the magic behind this game that everyone who’s played it had experienced. And yet, I couldn’t. Really, I nearly gave up on it. But I decided to give it one last whirl and I’m so glad that I did because it’s one of the definitive RPG experiences ever made.
In every area, Baldur’s Gate 3 goes as far as possible as you can imagine. Character and class creation? There are several races which grant unique dialogue and options throughout the story. And that’s ditto for the classes themselves. Combat? Honestly, I can’t even properly get into this one because I’m still wrapping my mind around all the different ways to get through a fight. Exploration? There are zones upon zones in Baldur’s Gate 3, some of which I only discovered because of YouTube recommendations.
But, for me, the star attribute of this game is the dialogue. The sheer amount of options amazes me. Just when I think there can’t possibly be an option for what I’ve done, there is. It’s absolutely unreal.
And what’s equally impressive is the voice acting game, an aspect of video games that I feel gets long neglected by the video game press. But in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s perfect. I legitimately have no notes. Every single character is played perfectly. Every single line is delivered as it should be. This game has a ton of characters too. It really shouldn’t be possible. And I’ve fallen for so many of them. Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, Lae’zel, Gale, Jaheira, Wyll, and Halsin make up maybe the best cast in any RPG I’ve played. They’re all such rich characters whom I cared so deeply about. And I hadn’t realized the depth of my feelings about those characters til the adventure and we inevitably had to part ways (except for me and Shadowheart cause I romanced her lol). Seeing them again in the epilogue filled me with joy and excitement to see where they had gone and what they done in the time since.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is overwhelming. There’s no way around that. That may intimidate some from experiencing it. It did for me on more than a few occasions. But you should. It’s a game that sincerely wants you to experience its world and live in it. It will try to make every moment worthwhile. And that’s priceless.
In every area, Baldur’s Gate 3 goes as far as possible as you can imagine. Character and class creation? There are several races which grant unique dialogue and options throughout the story. And that’s ditto for the classes themselves. Combat? Honestly, I can’t even properly get into this one because I’m still wrapping my mind around all the different ways to get through a fight. Exploration? There are zones upon zones in Baldur’s Gate 3, some of which I only discovered because of YouTube recommendations.
But, for me, the star attribute of this game is the dialogue. The sheer amount of options amazes me. Just when I think there can’t possibly be an option for what I’ve done, there is. It’s absolutely unreal.
And what’s equally impressive is the voice acting game, an aspect of video games that I feel gets long neglected by the video game press. But in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s perfect. I legitimately have no notes. Every single character is played perfectly. Every single line is delivered as it should be. This game has a ton of characters too. It really shouldn’t be possible. And I’ve fallen for so many of them. Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, Lae’zel, Gale, Jaheira, Wyll, and Halsin make up maybe the best cast in any RPG I’ve played. They’re all such rich characters whom I cared so deeply about. And I hadn’t realized the depth of my feelings about those characters til the adventure and we inevitably had to part ways (except for me and Shadowheart cause I romanced her lol). Seeing them again in the epilogue filled me with joy and excitement to see where they had gone and what they done in the time since.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is overwhelming. There’s no way around that. That may intimidate some from experiencing it. It did for me on more than a few occasions. But you should. It’s a game that sincerely wants you to experience its world and live in it. It will try to make every moment worthwhile. And that’s priceless.
1998
This review contains spoilers
Metal Gear Solid isn’t just ahead of the curve for its time period, it might be the curve that other games, then and now, should measure up to. The fact that this has full, great voice acting, engaging and intense boss fights, dynamic and creative use of physical hardware, a recap feature, and sophisticated (for its time) AI astounds me. There are games today that have higher budgets and better technology at their disposal and still lack some of these features. And that’s what make Metal Gear Solid a standout title in any era.
The premise, which is clearly inspired by action films, is shockingly simple. Terrorists have staged an uprising at a nuclear waste disposal facility and have taken hostages. They’re also threatening to use a nuclear weapon if their demands aren’t met. So, Solid Snake, the main character and renowned super soldier, has to infiltrate the facility alone, save the hostages, and determine whether or not the terrorists have the capability to launch a nuclear strike. And that’s it. It’s something you could brainstorm and write on a notepad in five minutes. But as the game progresses, the plot not only becomes more complicated with thrilling twists and turns, it reveals a deep consideration of its topics, themes, and plot structure that aren’t characteristic of the genre its borrowing from. What naturally arises from that thoughtfulness is soul, a willingness to be sincere and speak from the heart rather than shy away. It’s what separates B-list action plots from the “this is so good that I’m gonna be thinking about it long after I’m done” stories.
Now, before I forget, I want to quickly highlight the outstanding contributions from the voice cast. It’s ridiculously good for its era and does so much work for these characters. Particularly, the characters who only appear in Codec conversations, such as Mei Ling and Dr. Naomi, have a limited number of facial expressions and so the voice actors really have to be top notch for the player to care. And I did. I cared so much about these characters despite only being able to see them through these calls. Of course, the voice actors behind the bad guys are equally impressive as well. They all get a signature moment, often before they die, to deliver what would be another game’s standout scene. Each of these monologues blew me away and I was saddened that Snake had to kill these people because they seemed to be such rich and complex characters. What these voice actors have done is an achievement and shows the power behind their craft.
As for the actual cast of characters, it’s a gold mine of great characters. Solid Snake comes out of this single entry as one of the most complex action characters that I’ve seen. He’s someone, in the beginning, who keeps telling himself that he can’t truly be a good person anymore. But then you see him meet and interact with characters such as Meryl and Otacon and slowly Snake’s humanity shines through. The rest of the cast is like this as well, each revealing a depth of humanity that goes beyond their current station. It’s what makes it so easy to fall in love with these characters. They’ve got so much there to love.
Gameplay-wise, Metal Gear Solid is much more of a mixed bag. For instance, the various weapons Snake acquires never felt truly powerful in my hand because of the clunky and poorly aged controls. Stealth never quite worked as well as it could have either. Throughout the game, I repeatedly ran into an issue where I would go for stealth takedowns only to fail and alert the guards. Also, I found a few bosses to be a little frustrating since the window to punish them was narrower than it should be. But these issues, while bothersome, arise from its time period. Needless to say, it’s really hard to make something new and innovative with very few examples to look towards. I’m the type of person who is willing to forgive issues if they arise from ambition and so these problems don’t significantly affect how I feel about MGS 1.
Fortunately, the gameplay’s good aspects outweighs the bad by a huge margin. For one, the boss battles are some of the engaging and intense experiences I’ve had this year. The long-range duel with Sniper Wolf, the battle against the war machine Metal Gear Rex, the brawl with Liquid Snake, and the absolutely surreal fight against Psycho-Mantis elicited so much joy that I may play this again solely so that I can reexperience these bespoke sequences. And then, there’s some of my favorite material in the entire game…the moments where Kojima plays with non-diegetic elements to either mess with the player or further engage them. Most of these moments come from Psycho-Mantis, a character that can mess with the screen, read save data, and even alter the music that would normally play. But it’s not just limited to him. One of my favorite moments in my playthrough is when Dr. Naomi told me to rest my controller on my arm so that she could send nanomachines to relieve some of my pain. So, what happened next? The controller vibrated on my arm for a bit to simulate the nanomachines working in Snake’s body. That’s so awesome! And again, this is a game from 1998 pulling off all of these cool, ingenious ideas and set pieces.
Kojima’s storytelling chops are on full display here and it’s a marvel to behold. Metal Gear Solid deals with heavy topics such as nuclear warfare, nuclear proliferation, genetic modification, revenge, and trauma. And it handles all of these topics with tremendous care and grace. I also can’t get over how smart choosing these topics are when it comes to communicating the game’s most crucial theme, that being resisting the fate that’s been handed to you. Kojima shows that not everything is set in stone just because it’s the status quo by having Snake destroy Metal Gear Rex, a machine that symbolizes the next step in nuclear warfare. It’s possible to reverse things and change the future, as the game points out at the end with the number of nuclear armaments decreasing by more than 30,000 by 1998. He also illustrates that people aren’t just their birthright and heritage by showing Snake transform from a lonely, hardened mercenary to someone who’s compassionate, loving, and capable of saving someone.
People give themselves narratives that are limiting. They say things such as “I’m not smart” or “I’m not creative.” Often, they may even say worse things about themselves. But Metal Gear Solid says to you and me that, just like Snake and Dr. Naomi, we can grow and change. We can fight back against the situations we’re dealing with and we can grow into healthier and happier versions of ourselves. And that’s such a beautiful message, isn’t it?
The premise, which is clearly inspired by action films, is shockingly simple. Terrorists have staged an uprising at a nuclear waste disposal facility and have taken hostages. They’re also threatening to use a nuclear weapon if their demands aren’t met. So, Solid Snake, the main character and renowned super soldier, has to infiltrate the facility alone, save the hostages, and determine whether or not the terrorists have the capability to launch a nuclear strike. And that’s it. It’s something you could brainstorm and write on a notepad in five minutes. But as the game progresses, the plot not only becomes more complicated with thrilling twists and turns, it reveals a deep consideration of its topics, themes, and plot structure that aren’t characteristic of the genre its borrowing from. What naturally arises from that thoughtfulness is soul, a willingness to be sincere and speak from the heart rather than shy away. It’s what separates B-list action plots from the “this is so good that I’m gonna be thinking about it long after I’m done” stories.
Now, before I forget, I want to quickly highlight the outstanding contributions from the voice cast. It’s ridiculously good for its era and does so much work for these characters. Particularly, the characters who only appear in Codec conversations, such as Mei Ling and Dr. Naomi, have a limited number of facial expressions and so the voice actors really have to be top notch for the player to care. And I did. I cared so much about these characters despite only being able to see them through these calls. Of course, the voice actors behind the bad guys are equally impressive as well. They all get a signature moment, often before they die, to deliver what would be another game’s standout scene. Each of these monologues blew me away and I was saddened that Snake had to kill these people because they seemed to be such rich and complex characters. What these voice actors have done is an achievement and shows the power behind their craft.
As for the actual cast of characters, it’s a gold mine of great characters. Solid Snake comes out of this single entry as one of the most complex action characters that I’ve seen. He’s someone, in the beginning, who keeps telling himself that he can’t truly be a good person anymore. But then you see him meet and interact with characters such as Meryl and Otacon and slowly Snake’s humanity shines through. The rest of the cast is like this as well, each revealing a depth of humanity that goes beyond their current station. It’s what makes it so easy to fall in love with these characters. They’ve got so much there to love.
Gameplay-wise, Metal Gear Solid is much more of a mixed bag. For instance, the various weapons Snake acquires never felt truly powerful in my hand because of the clunky and poorly aged controls. Stealth never quite worked as well as it could have either. Throughout the game, I repeatedly ran into an issue where I would go for stealth takedowns only to fail and alert the guards. Also, I found a few bosses to be a little frustrating since the window to punish them was narrower than it should be. But these issues, while bothersome, arise from its time period. Needless to say, it’s really hard to make something new and innovative with very few examples to look towards. I’m the type of person who is willing to forgive issues if they arise from ambition and so these problems don’t significantly affect how I feel about MGS 1.
Fortunately, the gameplay’s good aspects outweighs the bad by a huge margin. For one, the boss battles are some of the engaging and intense experiences I’ve had this year. The long-range duel with Sniper Wolf, the battle against the war machine Metal Gear Rex, the brawl with Liquid Snake, and the absolutely surreal fight against Psycho-Mantis elicited so much joy that I may play this again solely so that I can reexperience these bespoke sequences. And then, there’s some of my favorite material in the entire game…the moments where Kojima plays with non-diegetic elements to either mess with the player or further engage them. Most of these moments come from Psycho-Mantis, a character that can mess with the screen, read save data, and even alter the music that would normally play. But it’s not just limited to him. One of my favorite moments in my playthrough is when Dr. Naomi told me to rest my controller on my arm so that she could send nanomachines to relieve some of my pain. So, what happened next? The controller vibrated on my arm for a bit to simulate the nanomachines working in Snake’s body. That’s so awesome! And again, this is a game from 1998 pulling off all of these cool, ingenious ideas and set pieces.
Kojima’s storytelling chops are on full display here and it’s a marvel to behold. Metal Gear Solid deals with heavy topics such as nuclear warfare, nuclear proliferation, genetic modification, revenge, and trauma. And it handles all of these topics with tremendous care and grace. I also can’t get over how smart choosing these topics are when it comes to communicating the game’s most crucial theme, that being resisting the fate that’s been handed to you. Kojima shows that not everything is set in stone just because it’s the status quo by having Snake destroy Metal Gear Rex, a machine that symbolizes the next step in nuclear warfare. It’s possible to reverse things and change the future, as the game points out at the end with the number of nuclear armaments decreasing by more than 30,000 by 1998. He also illustrates that people aren’t just their birthright and heritage by showing Snake transform from a lonely, hardened mercenary to someone who’s compassionate, loving, and capable of saving someone.
People give themselves narratives that are limiting. They say things such as “I’m not smart” or “I’m not creative.” Often, they may even say worse things about themselves. But Metal Gear Solid says to you and me that, just like Snake and Dr. Naomi, we can grow and change. We can fight back against the situations we’re dealing with and we can grow into healthier and happier versions of ourselves. And that’s such a beautiful message, isn’t it?
2023
This review contains spoilers
Set in the Edo period, Fate Samurai Remnant or FSR follows Iori Miyamoto, a samurai for hire, who ends up getting dragged into the Waxing Moon Ritual, an offshoot of the Holy Grail War. The premise is simple: 7 Masters and their servants fight to the death til one group remains to claim the prize, a wish granting vessel.
As a fan of Fate, I didn’t know what to expect from a spin-off that has such a similar premise to the original, but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot and the story feel original, organic, and well thought out.
It helps that the Waxing Moon Ritual is technically different than the HGW depicted in FSN, namely as it has many masterless or “Rogue” Servants. These heroes make the conflict more interesting as they’re essentially free actors who can choose what side they’re playing for, if they choose at all. Some of these Servants are fan favorite characters who’ve appeared in other entries and they’re a welcome sight here, especially since they’re all more than a simple cameo appearance.
Since FSR doesn’t have the story structure as FSN, all of the masters play a significant role in the plot right from the outset. They’re all fleshed out, three dimensional characters with their own grand ambitions. And so it’s easy to imagine pretty much any of the Masters winning the competition and so the war feels all that more intense. Every alliance forged or ripped apart can alter the trajectory of the conflict and I love that feeling.
With that said, FSR isn’t always a super intense, exhausting affair. There are plenty of light moments, thanks to Iori’s Servant, Saber. They provide the game with a much needed lighthearted and cheerful boost of energy. I love seeing Saber’s reactions to new foods and new sights. And, even during serious moments,
their banter with Iori is always playful and fun.
Most of my issues with FSR lie with the gameplay. There are several issues to discuss so let’s start with some of the simpler topics.
The navigation and exploration in FSR is super dull and monotonous. While there are plentiful areas to run around in, they all feel the same. There aren’t any puzzles or gimmicks to differentiate the areas and because the setting is in a relatively peaceful Edo, there also aren’t cool, mystical spaces to explore either. So most of the game is spent going from a large, boring map to…another large boring map.
Going through these areas feels even worse though because of the enemy encounter rate. It often disrupts the story’s flow to throw me into another fight against the same enemies that I’ve been fighting for the past hour or two. It gets to a point where fighting feels like a chore and not a reprieve and that’s a big issue, one that’s magnified immensely in a NG+ run.
You may think that this is an issue solely reserved for regular fights, but that’s very sadly not the case. Even boss fights against Servants get dull after some time because I’m fighting the same Servants over and over again and nothing changes. No new attacks. No new quirks. Nothing. The fights are basically rinse and repeat and that’s terrible cause fighting Servants is so exciting at the start and so blah by the end.
Combat, in of itself, is nothing special to write about either. While Iori gets five different attack styles to use, the last one, Void stance, makes all of the other ones feel useless. It’s what I used for most of the game when I got it and almost all of NG+. Needless to say, having one combat style trump the others makes for a monotonous experience. Couple that with the typical enemy designs in musou games and what you end up with is yawn inducing combat. I will commend the devs in making several different characters playable, however; for the majority of the game, Iori and Saber are the playable characters.
And that’s the major bulk of gameplay. While there are side quests and small mini games, this game’s core revolves around moving from place to place while getting into fights and that experience gets old after a while.
It may sound like I really dislike this game, but I don’t. While it’s got several big flaws, I still found myself captivated by the narrative and that’s why I would love to see the game adapted as an anime. It would strip away all of those repetitive gameplay sections and focus on the good remaining: an awesome, colorful cast and an engaging plot.
Fate Samurai Remnant is a good game, but may make for an even better anime.
As a fan of Fate, I didn’t know what to expect from a spin-off that has such a similar premise to the original, but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot and the story feel original, organic, and well thought out.
It helps that the Waxing Moon Ritual is technically different than the HGW depicted in FSN, namely as it has many masterless or “Rogue” Servants. These heroes make the conflict more interesting as they’re essentially free actors who can choose what side they’re playing for, if they choose at all. Some of these Servants are fan favorite characters who’ve appeared in other entries and they’re a welcome sight here, especially since they’re all more than a simple cameo appearance.
Since FSR doesn’t have the story structure as FSN, all of the masters play a significant role in the plot right from the outset. They’re all fleshed out, three dimensional characters with their own grand ambitions. And so it’s easy to imagine pretty much any of the Masters winning the competition and so the war feels all that more intense. Every alliance forged or ripped apart can alter the trajectory of the conflict and I love that feeling.
With that said, FSR isn’t always a super intense, exhausting affair. There are plenty of light moments, thanks to Iori’s Servant, Saber. They provide the game with a much needed lighthearted and cheerful boost of energy. I love seeing Saber’s reactions to new foods and new sights. And, even during serious moments,
their banter with Iori is always playful and fun.
Most of my issues with FSR lie with the gameplay. There are several issues to discuss so let’s start with some of the simpler topics.
The navigation and exploration in FSR is super dull and monotonous. While there are plentiful areas to run around in, they all feel the same. There aren’t any puzzles or gimmicks to differentiate the areas and because the setting is in a relatively peaceful Edo, there also aren’t cool, mystical spaces to explore either. So most of the game is spent going from a large, boring map to…another large boring map.
Going through these areas feels even worse though because of the enemy encounter rate. It often disrupts the story’s flow to throw me into another fight against the same enemies that I’ve been fighting for the past hour or two. It gets to a point where fighting feels like a chore and not a reprieve and that’s a big issue, one that’s magnified immensely in a NG+ run.
You may think that this is an issue solely reserved for regular fights, but that’s very sadly not the case. Even boss fights against Servants get dull after some time because I’m fighting the same Servants over and over again and nothing changes. No new attacks. No new quirks. Nothing. The fights are basically rinse and repeat and that’s terrible cause fighting Servants is so exciting at the start and so blah by the end.
Combat, in of itself, is nothing special to write about either. While Iori gets five different attack styles to use, the last one, Void stance, makes all of the other ones feel useless. It’s what I used for most of the game when I got it and almost all of NG+. Needless to say, having one combat style trump the others makes for a monotonous experience. Couple that with the typical enemy designs in musou games and what you end up with is yawn inducing combat. I will commend the devs in making several different characters playable, however; for the majority of the game, Iori and Saber are the playable characters.
And that’s the major bulk of gameplay. While there are side quests and small mini games, this game’s core revolves around moving from place to place while getting into fights and that experience gets old after a while.
It may sound like I really dislike this game, but I don’t. While it’s got several big flaws, I still found myself captivated by the narrative and that’s why I would love to see the game adapted as an anime. It would strip away all of those repetitive gameplay sections and focus on the good remaining: an awesome, colorful cast and an engaging plot.
Fate Samurai Remnant is a good game, but may make for an even better anime.