SugoiBoi
The game is honestly quite good if it can manage to shut up for more than 5 seconds.
Probably the most heartwarming game I'll ever play in my lifetime.
Tie feels like it really focuses on a completely different direction from what the first game and even Ray did which makes the whole experience feel entirely unique and makes it definitely worth giving a shot for everyone who enjoyed any of the other entries. The game's journey is definitely the highlight of the entire thing as you go through your adventures with the rest of the cast but this in turn sets up the destination and it's twist to be a crazy ride. Insanely beautiful dungeon designs, really varied and memorable OST, very lovable cast and main character, and just a rollercoaster of a ride all throughout.
Tie feels like it really focuses on a completely different direction from what the first game and even Ray did which makes the whole experience feel entirely unique and makes it definitely worth giving a shot for everyone who enjoyed any of the other entries. The game's journey is definitely the highlight of the entire thing as you go through your adventures with the rest of the cast but this in turn sets up the destination and it's twist to be a crazy ride. Insanely beautiful dungeon designs, really varied and memorable OST, very lovable cast and main character, and just a rollercoaster of a ride all throughout.
Actually pretty insane how many times this game blew my mind the entire playthrough
2017
Underneath all the jank is definitely one of the best games I've played. It's very easy for me to overlook all the flaws and obvious lack of time/budget when they absolutely nail the parts that they needed to. Immaculate OST, pretty fun combat, godlike art and cutscene direction, and a lot of good fanservice. If the game looked at all interesting to you, then you're definitely who this game is for and you should really give it a shot.
2018
Despite my initial cautiousness about the game after finding out it was given to Marvelous while SHIFT was doing Code Vein, I still had quite the positive impressions with it when I started out. But as I kept on playing, it felt like every step forward the game took it also took a slightly bigger step back. This might be the only time I'll do this style of review coz I can't really think of any other way to do it better but here goes:
+ Graphics look great and so do the overall aesthetic of the game.
- Action cutscenes are quite underwhelming with their choreography and they look really stiff compared to how god tier they were in previous games.
+ Melee combat faithfully keeps all the quirks of the old games that made it really unique and the 2 new weapons are really fun to play, I even mained Heavy Moon.
- Ranged combat was absolutely butchered. No Blood Bullets or similar system, Railguns are super boring especially as a replacement for Blast Guns, and limiting custom bullet ladout is a HUGE hit to guns fun factor overall. Only Sniper felt somewhat okay to use and I just stuck to this after intially playing with the other types.
+ Burst Arts are quite nice especially as a way to balance Blood Arts and being able to equip 3 (Attack, Jump, Step) really lets you have a personal loadout to your tastes.
- 90% of them are locked behind mastering other Arts and it just feels like a chore rather than something very natural like Blood Arts did in 2 trying to unlock and try them all. Some Arts also entirely alter the style too much that it just feels better to not equip them at all like I did with Step Arts for Charge Spear. Also BA Effects feel so lame and often feels like visual clutter more than anything.
+ New Aragami are quite fun especially the Ashborne. The game is really on the easier side overall which I don't mind but there's some crazy stuff in there to not make it like a total cakewalk.
- Mission lineup is very bland. Feels like you fight the old gen Aragami about 1-3 times the whole game and the new ones every 2 missions which can get quite boring but they weren't able to port over a lot of the old gen Aragami in general making for a very limited Aragami lineup as well.
+ New maps are pretty good especially some of the later ones which look absolutely gorgeous.
- The OST feels very unmemorable with it being mostly orchestral tracks with a lot of references to GE1-2 main themes like No Way Back.
+ The overall story is quite okay but I really really liked the very end of the main story. Characters are also pretty okay overall.
- The game is only about 25-30 hours long but it still felt like a slog to me and it feels like it never really hits any good and really memorable high points like GE1 did with the Burst arc and pretty much all of GE2 especially the Rage Burst arc. A lot of stuff also feel really unresolved or just closed out very early before anything could really happen.
I honestly have a lot of gripes with the game but it's definitely pretty okay but I'd really recommend people just play Resurrection or better yet, skip to Rage Burst if they really want a taste of what the franchise is really all about. Overall, it really was quite disappointing for me even though I wanted to love the game so much. It really feels like them trying to start over and soft-reboot the franchise while feeling like GE1 again just really doesn't work. I might add my thoughts on the rest of the postgame and the DLC story after I finish them but I kinda doubt it'd turn my opinion on it around much.
+ Graphics look great and so do the overall aesthetic of the game.
- Action cutscenes are quite underwhelming with their choreography and they look really stiff compared to how god tier they were in previous games.
+ Melee combat faithfully keeps all the quirks of the old games that made it really unique and the 2 new weapons are really fun to play, I even mained Heavy Moon.
- Ranged combat was absolutely butchered. No Blood Bullets or similar system, Railguns are super boring especially as a replacement for Blast Guns, and limiting custom bullet ladout is a HUGE hit to guns fun factor overall. Only Sniper felt somewhat okay to use and I just stuck to this after intially playing with the other types.
+ Burst Arts are quite nice especially as a way to balance Blood Arts and being able to equip 3 (Attack, Jump, Step) really lets you have a personal loadout to your tastes.
- 90% of them are locked behind mastering other Arts and it just feels like a chore rather than something very natural like Blood Arts did in 2 trying to unlock and try them all. Some Arts also entirely alter the style too much that it just feels better to not equip them at all like I did with Step Arts for Charge Spear. Also BA Effects feel so lame and often feels like visual clutter more than anything.
+ New Aragami are quite fun especially the Ashborne. The game is really on the easier side overall which I don't mind but there's some crazy stuff in there to not make it like a total cakewalk.
- Mission lineup is very bland. Feels like you fight the old gen Aragami about 1-3 times the whole game and the new ones every 2 missions which can get quite boring but they weren't able to port over a lot of the old gen Aragami in general making for a very limited Aragami lineup as well.
+ New maps are pretty good especially some of the later ones which look absolutely gorgeous.
- The OST feels very unmemorable with it being mostly orchestral tracks with a lot of references to GE1-2 main themes like No Way Back.
+ The overall story is quite okay but I really really liked the very end of the main story. Characters are also pretty okay overall.
- The game is only about 25-30 hours long but it still felt like a slog to me and it feels like it never really hits any good and really memorable high points like GE1 did with the Burst arc and pretty much all of GE2 especially the Rage Burst arc. A lot of stuff also feel really unresolved or just closed out very early before anything could really happen.
I honestly have a lot of gripes with the game but it's definitely pretty okay but I'd really recommend people just play Resurrection or better yet, skip to Rage Burst if they really want a taste of what the franchise is really all about. Overall, it really was quite disappointing for me even though I wanted to love the game so much. It really feels like them trying to start over and soft-reboot the franchise while feeling like GE1 again just really doesn't work. I might add my thoughts on the rest of the postgame and the DLC story after I finish them but I kinda doubt it'd turn my opinion on it around much.
I honestly went into the game expecting maybe minor changes at most from Resurrection while still following the general formula of the first game but I was more than surprised to come out with definitely one of my fave action games ever.
God Eater 2: Rage Burst is honestly one of the most perfect sequels ever with how much improvements it delivers in every aspect from the first game. The main story is a lot more dramatic, convincing, and thrilling this time around as well as the main cast who appear quite one-sided at first but develop into very interesting and lovable characters as you learn about their backgrounds and progress the story and they even made me genuinely like a character who I hated from the beginning. The side cast in the game is quite huge too with a couple of new characters and a lot of returning ones from the first game which gave me a huge sense of nostalgia despite starting the game only a week after finishing Resurrection. Despite the huge list of characters though, they do an excellent job of letting the player interact, learn about, and grow with each and every one of the side cast through Character Episodes which require a bit of grinding sometimes but are honestly some of the highlights of Rage Burst. Some of these include a womanizer who tries to convince you of the importance of women's legs, a very clumsy but eager bazooka-wielder, and even the branch's pet capybara who does nothing but sleep and eat all day and it's easy to get attached to everyone with how fleshed out they all are.
The overall combat system also gets a big improvement through the addition of several very interesting features. The addition of Blood Arts add a lot of depth and versatility to the once limited-feeling arsenal that make it feel very fresh and different from the first game in terms of melee combat. And on the other hand, we also got Blood Bullets which heavily encourages making use of all 4 diverse gun types and also incentivizes everyone to make their own bullets through the Bullet Editor, which admittedly I did not care for at all in Resurrection but soon found myself spending hours just messing around with creating a handful of funny and devastating bullets. And even after all these still comes one of the most fun power up systems I've ever seen in an action game, the Blood Rage mechanic. I honestly don't wanna get into detail about it since the excitement of activating Blood Rage in a battle is one of the most addicting stuff that will never stop feeling like the best thing ever even after your hundredth use and every player just has to experience it for themselves.
For every action game, I'll say the combat is just as good as the enemies to unleash all these on and Rage Burst is home of some of the best Aragami in the franchise. They've added a lot of really well-designed and fun to fight Aragami as well as some of the most difficult ones ever and it really just shows the improvements in their game design as the series progressed. Some of the ones worth mentioning are the Marduk, Chrome Gawain, and especially the Mukuro Kyuubi which are definitely the fights to look out for as they really showcase how good the Aragamis in Rage Burst are. Paired with some really nice new maps and especially an absolutely godlike soundtrack, it's very easy to just find yourself stuck on the very fun and rewarding combat loop which, funnily enough for an MH clone, actually has almost negative grinding for materials. The upgrade tree for weapons is very small which initially weirded me out but upon realizing how they pretty much did away with the MH stigma of "endless material grinding for upgrades" I found it very fun with the zero hassle it gives and just really lets players focus on progressing the story first and foremost.
Overall, Rage Burst is honestly just nothing short of being the perfect follow up to the first game and really solidified this franchise into being one of my all-time favorites. Took me 69 hours to finish the whole thing because it's chunkier than the first game even with all 3 arcs combined. I'd say skipping directly to Rage Burst is fine or maybe watch the anime as a substitute for the first game if you want some more context (it's a god tier adapt too). Looking forward to coming back to this after 3 and doing the endgame.
God Eater 2: Rage Burst is honestly one of the most perfect sequels ever with how much improvements it delivers in every aspect from the first game. The main story is a lot more dramatic, convincing, and thrilling this time around as well as the main cast who appear quite one-sided at first but develop into very interesting and lovable characters as you learn about their backgrounds and progress the story and they even made me genuinely like a character who I hated from the beginning. The side cast in the game is quite huge too with a couple of new characters and a lot of returning ones from the first game which gave me a huge sense of nostalgia despite starting the game only a week after finishing Resurrection. Despite the huge list of characters though, they do an excellent job of letting the player interact, learn about, and grow with each and every one of the side cast through Character Episodes which require a bit of grinding sometimes but are honestly some of the highlights of Rage Burst. Some of these include a womanizer who tries to convince you of the importance of women's legs, a very clumsy but eager bazooka-wielder, and even the branch's pet capybara who does nothing but sleep and eat all day and it's easy to get attached to everyone with how fleshed out they all are.
The overall combat system also gets a big improvement through the addition of several very interesting features. The addition of Blood Arts add a lot of depth and versatility to the once limited-feeling arsenal that make it feel very fresh and different from the first game in terms of melee combat. And on the other hand, we also got Blood Bullets which heavily encourages making use of all 4 diverse gun types and also incentivizes everyone to make their own bullets through the Bullet Editor, which admittedly I did not care for at all in Resurrection but soon found myself spending hours just messing around with creating a handful of funny and devastating bullets. And even after all these still comes one of the most fun power up systems I've ever seen in an action game, the Blood Rage mechanic. I honestly don't wanna get into detail about it since the excitement of activating Blood Rage in a battle is one of the most addicting stuff that will never stop feeling like the best thing ever even after your hundredth use and every player just has to experience it for themselves.
For every action game, I'll say the combat is just as good as the enemies to unleash all these on and Rage Burst is home of some of the best Aragami in the franchise. They've added a lot of really well-designed and fun to fight Aragami as well as some of the most difficult ones ever and it really just shows the improvements in their game design as the series progressed. Some of the ones worth mentioning are the Marduk, Chrome Gawain, and especially the Mukuro Kyuubi which are definitely the fights to look out for as they really showcase how good the Aragamis in Rage Burst are. Paired with some really nice new maps and especially an absolutely godlike soundtrack, it's very easy to just find yourself stuck on the very fun and rewarding combat loop which, funnily enough for an MH clone, actually has almost negative grinding for materials. The upgrade tree for weapons is very small which initially weirded me out but upon realizing how they pretty much did away with the MH stigma of "endless material grinding for upgrades" I found it very fun with the zero hassle it gives and just really lets players focus on progressing the story first and foremost.
Overall, Rage Burst is honestly just nothing short of being the perfect follow up to the first game and really solidified this franchise into being one of my all-time favorites. Took me 69 hours to finish the whole thing because it's chunkier than the first game even with all 3 arcs combined. I'd say skipping directly to Rage Burst is fine or maybe watch the anime as a substitute for the first game if you want some more context (it's a god tier adapt too). Looking forward to coming back to this after 3 and doing the endgame.
I didn't expect too much from what's essentially a Gen2-3 MonHun clone but what's there is honestly really interesting stuff. Less weapon choices and overall complexity to their controls but they make up for it with all the really fun and interesting micromanagement during combat and broad loadout customizability players are given through Gun types with the extremely convoluted but cool Bullet crafting system, different types of Shields, Skill Install, and Predator Styles which is definitely the best addition to Resurrection among others. It definitely took a while and a really good youtube guide for me to get a proper feel for things and get into the main groove of the game but before I knew it, I was pretty much stuck on the really fast and entertaining gameplay loop.
The story is quite simple, humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction for a while now because of constantly evolving monsters called Aragami and God Eaters exist primarily to hunt them, but what's interesting is seeing how the main cast lives in the said world. Like how Soma finds it hard to forge camaraderie when he's had dozens of old teammates die in the field, or Alisa dealing with her PTSD, and Kota having a family who he set out on this path to secure a good life for. The first and main arc is nothing deep or new, but it definitely does a good job of setting up the world and making it a believable one and ends on a really good note on top of all the character developments for the main cast. What really made me like GE1 a lot is the section that follows right after, the Burst arc. It introduces a really great character and has the best story in the game despite being a really short section. It mainly focuses on this one character that felt like he got left out of the game in the first part and does some super good stuff with him and then ends with the best boss fight in the game. Sadly the final arc, Resurrection, drops the ball so hard that I just wanna pretend it doesn't exist or risk liking the game less. It's about as short as Burst but the mission lineup is about 90% multi-hunt quests which are a huge pain to deal with and the story felt really unnecessary but neither good nor bad. At the very least, the action cutscenes really peak in this section and the final boss is pretty fun but I really would not recommend playing this section personally.
Monsters are quite varied for me. Some of the earlier ones are alright (Kongou, Gboro-Gboro) except for Chi-You which is definitely my most hated type out of all. Most of the bigger and harder ones though get pretty fun once you finally get the rhythm of how to fight them properly and my favorite types would probably be Vajras, Borg Camlanns, and Quadrigas (literally gigantic biological tanks). The deusphages are alright, kind of the equivalent of Elder Dragons where they're bigger and crazier monsters but a lot of them definitely have sick designs, Venus fight really owned me but it's definitely my favorite and you can definitely see the improvement with the monsters as you go which I really appreciate.
Overall, if you wanna check out some MonHun clones or maybe just more of SHIFTs games in general then it's definitely worth giving a shot. It's jank but it has a lot more going for it than just the combat (which I still enjoyed anyway) to still make it an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed going through. Though again, I would honestly recommend dropping it after Burst arc unless you wanna see some super cool action cutscenes in Resurrection.
The story is quite simple, humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction for a while now because of constantly evolving monsters called Aragami and God Eaters exist primarily to hunt them, but what's interesting is seeing how the main cast lives in the said world. Like how Soma finds it hard to forge camaraderie when he's had dozens of old teammates die in the field, or Alisa dealing with her PTSD, and Kota having a family who he set out on this path to secure a good life for. The first and main arc is nothing deep or new, but it definitely does a good job of setting up the world and making it a believable one and ends on a really good note on top of all the character developments for the main cast. What really made me like GE1 a lot is the section that follows right after, the Burst arc. It introduces a really great character and has the best story in the game despite being a really short section. It mainly focuses on this one character that felt like he got left out of the game in the first part and does some super good stuff with him and then ends with the best boss fight in the game. Sadly the final arc, Resurrection, drops the ball so hard that I just wanna pretend it doesn't exist or risk liking the game less. It's about as short as Burst but the mission lineup is about 90% multi-hunt quests which are a huge pain to deal with and the story felt really unnecessary but neither good nor bad. At the very least, the action cutscenes really peak in this section and the final boss is pretty fun but I really would not recommend playing this section personally.
Monsters are quite varied for me. Some of the earlier ones are alright (Kongou, Gboro-Gboro) except for Chi-You which is definitely my most hated type out of all. Most of the bigger and harder ones though get pretty fun once you finally get the rhythm of how to fight them properly and my favorite types would probably be Vajras, Borg Camlanns, and Quadrigas (literally gigantic biological tanks). The deusphages are alright, kind of the equivalent of Elder Dragons where they're bigger and crazier monsters but a lot of them definitely have sick designs, Venus fight really owned me but it's definitely my favorite and you can definitely see the improvement with the monsters as you go which I really appreciate.
Overall, if you wanna check out some MonHun clones or maybe just more of SHIFTs games in general then it's definitely worth giving a shot. It's jank but it has a lot more going for it than just the combat (which I still enjoyed anyway) to still make it an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed going through. Though again, I would honestly recommend dropping it after Burst arc unless you wanna see some super cool action cutscenes in Resurrection.
2003
Kindly super awful balancing which is made worse if you've played Extreme. Still looks nice at least but kind of no reason to play it over previous entries honestly.
1999
Defs my fave in the franchise just for the absolutely godlike aesthetics overall.
Probably the best entry in the franchise. Really well-balanced and looked super great too.
2021
Easily has one of the best, well-balanced, and actually challenging combat systems I've seen in a Furyu-produced title. Very solid instrumental OST by Tsukasa Masuko paired with really epic vocal tracks by the people at Kamitsubaki Studio. All of these topped off with an emotionally-moving cast of characters and a story that really kept me going despite the game's length and slightly questionable gameplay-related pacing issues.
A game that went pretty much the exact opposite of everything I expected from it but still ended up being a great time for me overall. Definitely check it out if you're interested. Ryotaro best.
A game that went pretty much the exact opposite of everything I expected from it but still ended up being a great time for me overall. Definitely check it out if you're interested. Ryotaro best.
2021
All it took was Yasunori Ichinose directing another MH game to make easily one of the best games in the franchise.
Never did I expect how hard they would work to make both classic(Gen1-4) and new MH(Gen5) meet halfway with all the changes they did. The return of Village and Hub separation, classic Talisman and Decoration system, a combat system that gets very close to how GU felt, a buddy system that's back to classic's albeit not as complex, very well-thought out adjustments for monsters in terms of HP and damage, and a ton of other small stuff that just pile up to collectively make the experience an extremely enjoyable and memorable one.
I'm very very happy that they did away with World's realism aspect and went back to classic MH's playful and comical feel, aesthetics, and humor. Weapon designs are once again back to their expressive and unique designs save for the returning World-introduced monster's weapons. Armors are sadly lacking in count but what we do have are designs that definitely feel like classic MH design-wise but given the graphical upgrade of Gen5 MH.
The maps are back to classic's style of wide open spaces that highlight the fight between you and the monster and it is so god tier how they recreated some of the Gen3 maps so perfectly. These, on top of the new ones that are extremely well crafted, are all very fun to navigate, explore, and fight in which is definitely the type of maps MH should have. Paired with absolutely mesmerizing battle themes and remixed tracks, make for hunts that feel extremely immersing, satisfying, and fun.
Returning monsters in the game were treated very well with moveset updates to make them feel fresh. The new ones are all very cool thematically, being inspired by Japanese youkai, and are very fun fights. But the standouts would definitely be the flagships which are honestly some of the most memorable in the franchise ever and definitely land a spot on my favorites of all time for sure.
I honestly cannot overstate how much they grinded this game for it to be as god tier as it ended up being. After my utter disappointment with World, I already resigned myself to the fact that classic MH was gone but was hoping the next installment would be somewhat at least enjoyable in more aspects. But after having finished the game, I can confidently say that they went way above and beyond that and made me feel like I was back to classic again, and reminding me why this is one of my favorite franchises ever.
Never did I expect how hard they would work to make both classic(Gen1-4) and new MH(Gen5) meet halfway with all the changes they did. The return of Village and Hub separation, classic Talisman and Decoration system, a combat system that gets very close to how GU felt, a buddy system that's back to classic's albeit not as complex, very well-thought out adjustments for monsters in terms of HP and damage, and a ton of other small stuff that just pile up to collectively make the experience an extremely enjoyable and memorable one.
I'm very very happy that they did away with World's realism aspect and went back to classic MH's playful and comical feel, aesthetics, and humor. Weapon designs are once again back to their expressive and unique designs save for the returning World-introduced monster's weapons. Armors are sadly lacking in count but what we do have are designs that definitely feel like classic MH design-wise but given the graphical upgrade of Gen5 MH.
The maps are back to classic's style of wide open spaces that highlight the fight between you and the monster and it is so god tier how they recreated some of the Gen3 maps so perfectly. These, on top of the new ones that are extremely well crafted, are all very fun to navigate, explore, and fight in which is definitely the type of maps MH should have. Paired with absolutely mesmerizing battle themes and remixed tracks, make for hunts that feel extremely immersing, satisfying, and fun.
Returning monsters in the game were treated very well with moveset updates to make them feel fresh. The new ones are all very cool thematically, being inspired by Japanese youkai, and are very fun fights. But the standouts would definitely be the flagships which are honestly some of the most memorable in the franchise ever and definitely land a spot on my favorites of all time for sure.
I honestly cannot overstate how much they grinded this game for it to be as god tier as it ended up being. After my utter disappointment with World, I already resigned myself to the fact that classic MH was gone but was hoping the next installment would be somewhat at least enjoyable in more aspects. But after having finished the game, I can confidently say that they went way above and beyond that and made me feel like I was back to classic again, and reminding me why this is one of my favorite franchises ever.
I've never seen a game so confused on what message it wants to tell anyone who's playing it or for who this game was even meant for in the first place.
Ena is my wife.
2018
God tier characters and story, really cool albeit somewhat repetitive visuals on the stages, great OST, and an overall wonderful presentation that just oozes with soul. Sadly the whole thing is topped off with fairly boring gameplay which honestly did ramp up for me sometime midway through the game so I still ended up having a pretty enjoyable time in that aspect. Definitely worth picking up if you're perfectly fine with jank in your games and want a crazy emotional rollercoaster of a ride.
Also Nanana best.
Also Nanana best.