SunnyFranklin
50 reviews liked by SunnyFranklin
Hi-Fi Rush
2023
Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most exciting releases from a major studio in the last decade, not because of it being shadow-dropped on its reveal, but because it's so FUN. people say being "like a PS2 game" as an insult but this game's got the identity, creativity, and style of the best of that era with modern polish and some of the most gorgeously animated visuals in any video game. it's refreshing, it's the kind of game that you don't really see outside of the indie space anymore - something bold, confident, and unique. it doesn't feel like it was made to be consumed, it feels like it was made to be played and loved. Hi-Fi Rush radiates joy and it makes me do the same. very few video games go this hard, more should.
‘We fucking give up’ - sincerely, the zombies
This is like the 3rd time this game has been "soft launched" and instead of listening to feedback and improving the game they straight up release the exact same terrible game.
The game is a mix of being a rip off of other garbage mobile games like gardenscapes including being full of microtransactions with really shitty watered down pvz gameplay.
The current state of this series is so disappointing
The game is a mix of being a rip off of other garbage mobile games like gardenscapes including being full of microtransactions with really shitty watered down pvz gameplay.
The current state of this series is so disappointing
Complete, and utter, shit.
This game fucking sucks.
Okay. So we all know Danganronpa was never exactly the most well written series. It's always been a bit trashy, and hey, if ya want an over-the-top schlocky murder mystery game, the games are right up that alley. Like the goal or not, they had one and set out to achieve it. This game seems to only have one goal: waste the player's time.
You are Komaru Naegi, an annoying twerp with an arc more predictable than a parabola. Alongside her is Toko Fukawa, a character from the first game, hell bent on rivaling Komaru in that aspect. Presumably soon after the events of the first game, a bunch of Monokumas come to kill Komaru, but is saved by Byakuya Togami. He gets kidnapped, however, so it's up to our vexatious duo to save him, stop the Warriors of Hope, and get out of the Monokuma-ridden city.
The barebones idea of the plot isn't horrible. No, the real problem is what's contained in between the bread. The original series benefitted from having a colorful cast of characters who all interacted with each other, which led to a lot of lines that were funny or at least amusing. Granted, even in the original games, not everything stuck the landing, but the humor in this game makes the original series look like Monty Python in comparison. Most of the interactions are between Komaru & Toko, AKA "I'm so normal ooooooo" and "I'm so horny and bitchy ooooooo". They try to do character development but not only does it have less subtlety than American politics, but it's also beyond shallow and predictable. And then we have a generic power-hungry resistance leader, the most pointless character in the series with Kurakuma... and the Warriors of Hope.
Their gimmick of "Oh we're kids abused by adults who now want revenge" isn't... the worst idea in the world. But when the writing is this bad it fails spectacularly. I'll be honest: I like fucked up, tasteless, edgelord humor. But the thing is that fucked up, tasteless edgelord humor... is still humor. And a child having a PTSD attack because they were raped, beaten, or broken to the limit as a child isn't funny, it's just... awkward and gross. I can't tell if this game is trying to make a serious commentary of how bad adults can be or if they were genuinely trying to be funny, but they utterly fail on all possible fronts. Add in a (weirdly not as slapped in as expected) Nagito Komaeda, and you got just... an unfunny, predictable, tasteless, chiche, and yet still oftentimes fucking boring plot. This might be the worst written game I have ever played, and the last game I've beaten was fucking DmC: Devil May Cry.
At the VERY least, it isn't the worst looking or sounding game I've ever played. For a Playstation Vita game, it actually looks quite good. The game runs at full or near full resolution (surprisingly rare for the Vita) and a mostly steady 30 FPS. I do admit they translated the Danganronpa art style quite smoothly to 3D... for the most part. It also sounds good, though that's partially because most of the tracks are remixed or even ripped directly from the previous games.
Yep. I'm out of good things to say now. Back to negativity!
Imagine, if you will, Resident Evil 4. Now imagine if Resident Evil 4 was mixed with... Portal? Now imagine if you took out all the challenging and interesting puzzles from Portal, and removed all the fun combat mechanics from Resident Evil 4. Congratulations, you have created a recipe for absolute low-end mediocrity. Komaru has a bullhorn gun that can house 8 different kinds of "truth bullets". (kinda weird they call it that when truth bullets were abstract concepts instead of real things in the other games but whatever.) She can use these for combat, as well as solving Monoku-man puzzles scattered through the game. The combat is just fucking boring. Aim for the eye, kill. that's it. There are knockback bullets and a machinegun fire, but at the end of the day the game severely lacks in combat variety even despite the numerous enemies. None of them require any fun strategy to fight. Same with bosses, do the thing, attack their weak point, get massive damage, and they die. Even the final boss was piss easy and uninteresting. You can also swap to an invincible but time-limited Genocide Jack as a last resort move, and she's somewhat fun to control, but too limited in usability to save the game. As for the puzzles, they're tolerable. I can actually have some fun figuring out a good strategy. Sometimes the AI breaks but most of the time it's fine.
I think that if they leaned more into the puzzle aspect, maybe change the game from an action shooter to a more stealth-based game with heavy shooter elements, (something like a mix between Resident Evil 4 and Manhunt) and made the Monokumas more sparse but more deadly, I feel like that would be a more tonally consistent gameplay style. Instead of bad combat, make the goal avoiding confrontation and utilize your gun with numerous powers to break past them. It wouldn't fix the game but it'd salvage the good idea with the bullhorn gun with numerous puzzle-solving capibilities.
I feel like I should mention how Chapter 3 is one of the worst... things I've ever experienced in a video game. When you need to mention to the player that they are not actually witnessing child porn, you have fucked up. It's gross and uncomfortable. Also provides the one minigame in the game not tied to the main gameplay and quite frankly, once I experienced it, I had to go outside, take a breather, and let sink in the fact that numerous artists, programmers, and a director got together to make a minigame so gross I'll just say look it up on your own time.
This game is bad. One of the worst I've played. Every cutscene until the last provides next to nothing of note to the Danganronpa lore. The gameplay provides nothing interesting. The story is beyond abysmal without ever reaching the point of funny bad. There isn't a single likable character. Chapter 3. This game was a waste of time. To anyone interested in playing, just look up the final cutscenes online. Believe me, I'm saving you so much pain. Outside of that last cutscene, and some impressive graphics, this game provides nothing positive. Nothing.
2.4/10. If you do decide to play this game, play it on PS4 or PC for a higher resolution, though the PS Vita version still isn't bad. Also, reconsider that decision.
Okay. So we all know Danganronpa was never exactly the most well written series. It's always been a bit trashy, and hey, if ya want an over-the-top schlocky murder mystery game, the games are right up that alley. Like the goal or not, they had one and set out to achieve it. This game seems to only have one goal: waste the player's time.
You are Komaru Naegi, an annoying twerp with an arc more predictable than a parabola. Alongside her is Toko Fukawa, a character from the first game, hell bent on rivaling Komaru in that aspect. Presumably soon after the events of the first game, a bunch of Monokumas come to kill Komaru, but is saved by Byakuya Togami. He gets kidnapped, however, so it's up to our vexatious duo to save him, stop the Warriors of Hope, and get out of the Monokuma-ridden city.
The barebones idea of the plot isn't horrible. No, the real problem is what's contained in between the bread. The original series benefitted from having a colorful cast of characters who all interacted with each other, which led to a lot of lines that were funny or at least amusing. Granted, even in the original games, not everything stuck the landing, but the humor in this game makes the original series look like Monty Python in comparison. Most of the interactions are between Komaru & Toko, AKA "I'm so normal ooooooo" and "I'm so horny and bitchy ooooooo". They try to do character development but not only does it have less subtlety than American politics, but it's also beyond shallow and predictable. And then we have a generic power-hungry resistance leader, the most pointless character in the series with Kurakuma... and the Warriors of Hope.
Their gimmick of "Oh we're kids abused by adults who now want revenge" isn't... the worst idea in the world. But when the writing is this bad it fails spectacularly. I'll be honest: I like fucked up, tasteless, edgelord humor. But the thing is that fucked up, tasteless edgelord humor... is still humor. And a child having a PTSD attack because they were raped, beaten, or broken to the limit as a child isn't funny, it's just... awkward and gross. I can't tell if this game is trying to make a serious commentary of how bad adults can be or if they were genuinely trying to be funny, but they utterly fail on all possible fronts. Add in a (weirdly not as slapped in as expected) Nagito Komaeda, and you got just... an unfunny, predictable, tasteless, chiche, and yet still oftentimes fucking boring plot. This might be the worst written game I have ever played, and the last game I've beaten was fucking DmC: Devil May Cry.
At the VERY least, it isn't the worst looking or sounding game I've ever played. For a Playstation Vita game, it actually looks quite good. The game runs at full or near full resolution (surprisingly rare for the Vita) and a mostly steady 30 FPS. I do admit they translated the Danganronpa art style quite smoothly to 3D... for the most part. It also sounds good, though that's partially because most of the tracks are remixed or even ripped directly from the previous games.
Yep. I'm out of good things to say now. Back to negativity!
Imagine, if you will, Resident Evil 4. Now imagine if Resident Evil 4 was mixed with... Portal? Now imagine if you took out all the challenging and interesting puzzles from Portal, and removed all the fun combat mechanics from Resident Evil 4. Congratulations, you have created a recipe for absolute low-end mediocrity. Komaru has a bullhorn gun that can house 8 different kinds of "truth bullets". (kinda weird they call it that when truth bullets were abstract concepts instead of real things in the other games but whatever.) She can use these for combat, as well as solving Monoku-man puzzles scattered through the game. The combat is just fucking boring. Aim for the eye, kill. that's it. There are knockback bullets and a machinegun fire, but at the end of the day the game severely lacks in combat variety even despite the numerous enemies. None of them require any fun strategy to fight. Same with bosses, do the thing, attack their weak point, get massive damage, and they die. Even the final boss was piss easy and uninteresting. You can also swap to an invincible but time-limited Genocide Jack as a last resort move, and she's somewhat fun to control, but too limited in usability to save the game. As for the puzzles, they're tolerable. I can actually have some fun figuring out a good strategy. Sometimes the AI breaks but most of the time it's fine.
I think that if they leaned more into the puzzle aspect, maybe change the game from an action shooter to a more stealth-based game with heavy shooter elements, (something like a mix between Resident Evil 4 and Manhunt) and made the Monokumas more sparse but more deadly, I feel like that would be a more tonally consistent gameplay style. Instead of bad combat, make the goal avoiding confrontation and utilize your gun with numerous powers to break past them. It wouldn't fix the game but it'd salvage the good idea with the bullhorn gun with numerous puzzle-solving capibilities.
I feel like I should mention how Chapter 3 is one of the worst... things I've ever experienced in a video game. When you need to mention to the player that they are not actually witnessing child porn, you have fucked up. It's gross and uncomfortable. Also provides the one minigame in the game not tied to the main gameplay and quite frankly, once I experienced it, I had to go outside, take a breather, and let sink in the fact that numerous artists, programmers, and a director got together to make a minigame so gross I'll just say look it up on your own time.
This game is bad. One of the worst I've played. Every cutscene until the last provides next to nothing of note to the Danganronpa lore. The gameplay provides nothing interesting. The story is beyond abysmal without ever reaching the point of funny bad. There isn't a single likable character. Chapter 3. This game was a waste of time. To anyone interested in playing, just look up the final cutscenes online. Believe me, I'm saving you so much pain. Outside of that last cutscene, and some impressive graphics, this game provides nothing positive. Nothing.
2.4/10. If you do decide to play this game, play it on PS4 or PC for a higher resolution, though the PS Vita version still isn't bad. Also, reconsider that decision.
Extremely boring, monotonous, and an overall waste of time.
As a huge fan of the Mario RPG series of games, I was elated to find out a new title was coming to the 3DS. However, after playing the game, I couldn't help but feel frustrated by the lack of direction and thought put into the puzzles, bored with the lackluster plot, and tired of exploring the very cookie-cutter world.
I highly suggest you avoid this game. While there is competence in that there is technically a game here, there is nothing of worth for your time. It's the worst kind of game, not one that is good or so bad that it is interesting to play or fun to mess around in.
As a huge fan of the Mario RPG series of games, I was elated to find out a new title was coming to the 3DS. However, after playing the game, I couldn't help but feel frustrated by the lack of direction and thought put into the puzzles, bored with the lackluster plot, and tired of exploring the very cookie-cutter world.
I highly suggest you avoid this game. While there is competence in that there is technically a game here, there is nothing of worth for your time. It's the worst kind of game, not one that is good or so bad that it is interesting to play or fun to mess around in.
This review contains spoilers
Story
The general outline of the story is great, easily the most invested I've been in a Xenoblade game.
However the execution is super messy.
The game just does a pisspoor job at explaining anything
How can Noah and Mio exist? N and M are Moebius and being Moebius obviously takes you out of the cycle.
What's the deal with those Annihilation Events? It seemed like a major plot point until it was randomly dropped halfway through the game and nobody talked about it anymore.
What's up with Noah's "super special and unique" Lucky Seven/Sword of Origin and how does it relate to N's Sword of the End?
etc etc etc
Then around chapter 6 you are given an info dump/explanation regarding Aionios/Origin which somehow ends up leaving you with more questions than answers
How are Melia and Nia (as well as Shulk, Rex and Riku with DLC) just present in Aionios? How did they get there? When did they get there? Are they separate entities?
How was origin even built? It's so much more "technologically advanced" than anything present in the first 2 games and supposedly only a few decades have passed.
How was it even meant to function if the worlds themselves collide destroying everything? Can it also magically generate the planet out of thin air?
etc etc etc
The game is also super unclear about what the intended end result of origin was/is meant to be (Were they even planning on only making 1 earth or keeping the worlds separated entities coexisting in the same universe?) or what would happen to Aionios and the people from the city who were born there (this is only answered in the final cutscene where it is revealed that the lost numbers essentially fought to erase themselves but only Monica and Ghondor were aware of that (what?)).
What makes all of this even more annoying is that Nia supposedly knows everything yet the party (for plot convenience) doesn't ask her anything.
While the ending scene itself is beautiful, still not knowing what actually happpened to the worlds/world in the end left me feeling pretty unsatisfied.
All in all it feels like there is an entire game's worth of plot just kinda missing and the DLC they released barely answers anything but yet again leaves you asking more questions.
Another issue is the dialogue.
In usual Xenoblade fashion the party characters love constantly repeating the thing that was just said to them, gets a little annoying at times.
The pre/post battle cutscene dialogue that happens when the party fights a big bad guy just downright sucks, especially the one liners (noah has maybe 1 good one) and now its 6 characters saying some cheesy nonsense about the power of friendship or whatever and it just drags on and on while never adding anything.
Some of the party members also could've used some development, aside from the obvious Noah and Mio, Taion is the only other character with actual plot and a side story that both further develops the world and his character while the other characters don't really have a lot going on.
Eunie is used to set up the whole cycle plot and nothing beyond that.
Lanz has the whole guilt over Joran plotline which is alright but really overstays its welcome when they play the same Joran dying cutscene 20 times throughout the game.
Sena has confidence issues (?) which feel completely arbitrary and surface level especially when she later compares herself to Shania who actually has some depth to her character. (Side Story: Sena is barely even about Sena)
Beyond that the overall group dynamic is quite well done and i would consider it a big upgrade over the previous entries even just for the fact that no character is immensely annoying this time around.
Visuals
The game is obviously visually amazing but what makes it even more impressive is that its running on what's essentially 2 ram sticks from 2009 superglued to a piece of cardboard. Only minor complaint I'd have is that the face shadows can look a little rough at times, especially when its snapped to the middle of the face creating this harsh contrast between the lit/unlit side.
Music
Its a Xeno game.
Gameplay
Loads of improvements across the board, load times, map design, menu design, navigation etc etc. Game just simply feels so much better to play and monolith's growth as a studio with each entry is quite noticeable.
However it wouldn't be a Xenoblade game without a bunch of silly mistakes!
The game has an overleveling issue, even if you don't eat any food that gives an XP bonus and never use the rest XP, you're going to be noticeably overleveled just from doing the hero quests. Not sure why they chose not to include the "expert mode" function from DE or make downleveling available from the start.
Somehow the currencies in the game are completely useless, Gold 100% Useless, Gemstones largely useless and throughout the game are constantly invalidated by a higher tier being introduced. Even if you're diligent with gathering/slaying, gemstones will never be the thing you lack to craft a gem, they might as well not exist (this applies to ether as well).
The only currency that matters are Nopon Coins.
Also I think the game would've been fine without the addition of stuff like trailing missions.
Combat
Don't like the class system, while it does offer you complete control over party composition it results in the party members not having any gameplay identity that sets them apart from one another beyond minor, honestly insignificant base stat differences. The characters do have affinities for classes but that only impacts how quickly they learn the class and has its own issue of being horribly balanced across the roster (Noah has awful affinities overall, Taion has godlike affinities in pretty much everything and Lanz somehow has the best overall support affinity (?)).
Combat as well simply feels so much smoother, even just for the fact that there is no more snail movement like in 2 and the newly added dash ability. The AI controlled party members also feel more reliable and the ability to take control of any character at any point is a neat touch albeit not all that useful.
Their approach to melding the combat of xc1 and xc2 is also done quite well despite the Keves characters kinda getting the short end of the stick.
Xenoblade 3's "flagship" combat mechanic, the Ouroboros forms, while cool visually, end up being somewhat invalidated by chain attacks due to the fact that the chain gauge will fill up before you reach lvl 3.
Speaking of which...
Chain attacks simply ruin the game.
No idea how the developers thought the damage was fine, especially when you unlock the Ouroboros orders (for which you don't even have to be in the Ouroboros form) you will simply kill anything from any hp% without much effort or party optimization as soon as your chain gauge is full. Like why do Hero orders not take up a charge of the chain attack?
This essentially invalidates the whole Enraged mechanic all the bosses have because it does nothing while you're in a chain attack (therefore also invalidating burst as a status).
Chain attacks also feature pretty lengthy animations for the Ouroboros orders, which at first are pretty cool to watch but after watching them play a hundred times they definitely lose their luster and you start wishing for a skip option.
The music doesn't help chain attacks either, the chain attack theme itself is fine but unfortunately it cuts off any music that was playing, including boss music, which is just really annoying (this doesn't apply to the final boss for whatever reason, meaning the functionality is already there and giving you the option to outright disable it or just disable it for all boss themes wouldn't have required much effort).
Speaking of annoying...
I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier!
Post battle dialogue on the level of the previous games just wasn't in the budget i guess.
TLDR Xenoblade Moment
Nail all the big aspects but fuck up a bunch of silly things that end up preventing the game from achieving greatness.
The general outline of the story is great, easily the most invested I've been in a Xenoblade game.
However the execution is super messy.
The game just does a pisspoor job at explaining anything
How can Noah and Mio exist? N and M are Moebius and being Moebius obviously takes you out of the cycle.
What's the deal with those Annihilation Events? It seemed like a major plot point until it was randomly dropped halfway through the game and nobody talked about it anymore.
What's up with Noah's "super special and unique" Lucky Seven/Sword of Origin and how does it relate to N's Sword of the End?
etc etc etc
Then around chapter 6 you are given an info dump/explanation regarding Aionios/Origin which somehow ends up leaving you with more questions than answers
How are Melia and Nia (as well as Shulk, Rex and Riku with DLC) just present in Aionios? How did they get there? When did they get there? Are they separate entities?
How was origin even built? It's so much more "technologically advanced" than anything present in the first 2 games and supposedly only a few decades have passed.
How was it even meant to function if the worlds themselves collide destroying everything? Can it also magically generate the planet out of thin air?
etc etc etc
The game is also super unclear about what the intended end result of origin was/is meant to be (Were they even planning on only making 1 earth or keeping the worlds separated entities coexisting in the same universe?) or what would happen to Aionios and the people from the city who were born there (this is only answered in the final cutscene where it is revealed that the lost numbers essentially fought to erase themselves but only Monica and Ghondor were aware of that (what?)).
What makes all of this even more annoying is that Nia supposedly knows everything yet the party (for plot convenience) doesn't ask her anything.
While the ending scene itself is beautiful, still not knowing what actually happpened to the worlds/world in the end left me feeling pretty unsatisfied.
All in all it feels like there is an entire game's worth of plot just kinda missing and the DLC they released barely answers anything but yet again leaves you asking more questions.
Another issue is the dialogue.
In usual Xenoblade fashion the party characters love constantly repeating the thing that was just said to them, gets a little annoying at times.
The pre/post battle cutscene dialogue that happens when the party fights a big bad guy just downright sucks, especially the one liners (noah has maybe 1 good one) and now its 6 characters saying some cheesy nonsense about the power of friendship or whatever and it just drags on and on while never adding anything.
Some of the party members also could've used some development, aside from the obvious Noah and Mio, Taion is the only other character with actual plot and a side story that both further develops the world and his character while the other characters don't really have a lot going on.
Eunie is used to set up the whole cycle plot and nothing beyond that.
Lanz has the whole guilt over Joran plotline which is alright but really overstays its welcome when they play the same Joran dying cutscene 20 times throughout the game.
Sena has confidence issues (?) which feel completely arbitrary and surface level especially when she later compares herself to Shania who actually has some depth to her character. (Side Story: Sena is barely even about Sena)
Beyond that the overall group dynamic is quite well done and i would consider it a big upgrade over the previous entries even just for the fact that no character is immensely annoying this time around.
Visuals
The game is obviously visually amazing but what makes it even more impressive is that its running on what's essentially 2 ram sticks from 2009 superglued to a piece of cardboard. Only minor complaint I'd have is that the face shadows can look a little rough at times, especially when its snapped to the middle of the face creating this harsh contrast between the lit/unlit side.
Music
Its a Xeno game.
Gameplay
Loads of improvements across the board, load times, map design, menu design, navigation etc etc. Game just simply feels so much better to play and monolith's growth as a studio with each entry is quite noticeable.
However it wouldn't be a Xenoblade game without a bunch of silly mistakes!
The game has an overleveling issue, even if you don't eat any food that gives an XP bonus and never use the rest XP, you're going to be noticeably overleveled just from doing the hero quests. Not sure why they chose not to include the "expert mode" function from DE or make downleveling available from the start.
Somehow the currencies in the game are completely useless, Gold 100% Useless, Gemstones largely useless and throughout the game are constantly invalidated by a higher tier being introduced. Even if you're diligent with gathering/slaying, gemstones will never be the thing you lack to craft a gem, they might as well not exist (this applies to ether as well).
The only currency that matters are Nopon Coins.
Also I think the game would've been fine without the addition of stuff like trailing missions.
Combat
Don't like the class system, while it does offer you complete control over party composition it results in the party members not having any gameplay identity that sets them apart from one another beyond minor, honestly insignificant base stat differences. The characters do have affinities for classes but that only impacts how quickly they learn the class and has its own issue of being horribly balanced across the roster (Noah has awful affinities overall, Taion has godlike affinities in pretty much everything and Lanz somehow has the best overall support affinity (?)).
Combat as well simply feels so much smoother, even just for the fact that there is no more snail movement like in 2 and the newly added dash ability. The AI controlled party members also feel more reliable and the ability to take control of any character at any point is a neat touch albeit not all that useful.
Their approach to melding the combat of xc1 and xc2 is also done quite well despite the Keves characters kinda getting the short end of the stick.
Xenoblade 3's "flagship" combat mechanic, the Ouroboros forms, while cool visually, end up being somewhat invalidated by chain attacks due to the fact that the chain gauge will fill up before you reach lvl 3.
Speaking of which...
Chain attacks simply ruin the game.
No idea how the developers thought the damage was fine, especially when you unlock the Ouroboros orders (for which you don't even have to be in the Ouroboros form) you will simply kill anything from any hp% without much effort or party optimization as soon as your chain gauge is full. Like why do Hero orders not take up a charge of the chain attack?
This essentially invalidates the whole Enraged mechanic all the bosses have because it does nothing while you're in a chain attack (therefore also invalidating burst as a status).
Chain attacks also feature pretty lengthy animations for the Ouroboros orders, which at first are pretty cool to watch but after watching them play a hundred times they definitely lose their luster and you start wishing for a skip option.
The music doesn't help chain attacks either, the chain attack theme itself is fine but unfortunately it cuts off any music that was playing, including boss music, which is just really annoying (this doesn't apply to the final boss for whatever reason, meaning the functionality is already there and giving you the option to outright disable it or just disable it for all boss themes wouldn't have required much effort).
Speaking of annoying...
I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier! I'm the girl with the gall! Hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier!
Post battle dialogue on the level of the previous games just wasn't in the budget i guess.
TLDR Xenoblade Moment
Nail all the big aspects but fuck up a bunch of silly things that end up preventing the game from achieving greatness.
Hogwarts Legacy
2023
People got all worked up about this mid game?
Hogwarts Legacy
2023
An often mediocre open world game mechanics-wise, Hogwarts Legacy draws a lot from the magic that is the license it is build upon. If it weren't for that, I would spend a lot of time criticising the tons of unnecessary collectibles across the world, the dozens of shallow fetch quests and errands, and the unsatisfying combat mechanics and lack of enemy variety.
However, the game does one thing incredibly well, and that is building upon the fantasy that many of us growing up with the Harry Potter universe have always had: Walking around the Hogwarts halls and the alleys of Hogsmeade without boundries, wielding wands and casting spells, enthralls those that have been waiting for such a game for decades. The graphics produce stunning vistas at times even though they are not revolutionary or particularly 'next gen', with especially character animations lacking, but the famous wizarding school and its surroundings are really well realised overall.
Hogwarts Legacy thankfully cuts itself loose from the plot of the Harry Potter books, being set a good century before them and telling an original story with fresh characters. While it starts intriguing, the pacing of the plot does take a big dip in the middle of the game, but ultimately culminates in a bombastic couple of final hours when it ties together its lose ends, with the side quest lines you get with certain fellow students of yours also wrapping up nicely. While at the beginning of the game you do catch a glimpse of an ordinary Hogwarts student's life, those activities are quickly set aside to focus completely on the world-changing events of the main story, which might be disappointing for those looking for more of a 'student simulator' aspect in the game.
Overall, if I try and look at the game objectively, I see a just-above average open world game in Hogwarts Legacy, with aspects that countless others have done better. However, for many people, me included, it will be the Hogwarts game they always wanted, as even with its problems clearly visible, it still does a solid job in transporting the player into the wizarding world, and letting us write our own chapter in its history. And that alone is something to be excited about.
If you can, do get a used copy of this game, to make sure that no money goes into JK Rowling's hate-fueled campaigns against trans people in the UK and worldwide.
However, the game does one thing incredibly well, and that is building upon the fantasy that many of us growing up with the Harry Potter universe have always had: Walking around the Hogwarts halls and the alleys of Hogsmeade without boundries, wielding wands and casting spells, enthralls those that have been waiting for such a game for decades. The graphics produce stunning vistas at times even though they are not revolutionary or particularly 'next gen', with especially character animations lacking, but the famous wizarding school and its surroundings are really well realised overall.
Hogwarts Legacy thankfully cuts itself loose from the plot of the Harry Potter books, being set a good century before them and telling an original story with fresh characters. While it starts intriguing, the pacing of the plot does take a big dip in the middle of the game, but ultimately culminates in a bombastic couple of final hours when it ties together its lose ends, with the side quest lines you get with certain fellow students of yours also wrapping up nicely. While at the beginning of the game you do catch a glimpse of an ordinary Hogwarts student's life, those activities are quickly set aside to focus completely on the world-changing events of the main story, which might be disappointing for those looking for more of a 'student simulator' aspect in the game.
Overall, if I try and look at the game objectively, I see a just-above average open world game in Hogwarts Legacy, with aspects that countless others have done better. However, for many people, me included, it will be the Hogwarts game they always wanted, as even with its problems clearly visible, it still does a solid job in transporting the player into the wizarding world, and letting us write our own chapter in its history. And that alone is something to be excited about.
If you can, do get a used copy of this game, to make sure that no money goes into JK Rowling's hate-fueled campaigns against trans people in the UK and worldwide.