SwitSwat
BACKER
2021
Bravely Default II, much like its predecessors, is a game that's not afraid to wear its influences on its shoulders. It's quite clear that the age old "4 Heroes of Light" trope along with the collection of crystals to save the world is a plotline that's all too familiar and trite. It would be quite easy to dismiss this game as nothing more than a "by-the-numbers" RPG, but it's anything but, I believe. Granted, as of writing this review, I have not played the previous two entries, but after finishing this game, I am quite excited to delve into them soon enough. While the set-up and story overall isn't anything new or extraordinary, its the game's presentation that won me over.
I'll be honest, when I first booted this up, it was kind of a slowburn. The chibi-like character models felt off, the open world felt a bit empty and plain, and the set-up was all too familiar, as I've mentioned. Once jobs started getting introduced, I actually felt intimdated because this actually the first JRPG I've played with a job system, so I wasn't sure how confusing it would get. But more on that later. In the meantime, the more I played, the more I found myself drawn to the world and the characters. I came to love the chibi aesthetic and the sometimes over-the-top European accents and character quirks. Elvis in particular became the ideal buddy in my mind. A nice fellow I wish I could share a drink with. It's hard to explain what exactly made a lot of things in this game click for me, but they eventually did sooner rather than later and I'm glad they did.
As I mentioned the game features a job system which threw me off at first, but the more jobs I acquired, the more options were available to experiment with. See, I realize now that games like this rely more on your set-up strategy rather than just leveling up. It's easy enough to just cheese your way through most bosses wigth the right skills and job classes equipped. Of course, a lot of people may prefer the challenge of actually beating bosses without the use of cheap tactics, but the option is there. I for one found it really fun to exploit weaknesses and use them to my advantage. It feels like breaking the game, in a good way. It kind of scratched an itch I never realized I had. See, classics like Final Fantasy III and V seemed intimidating due to their job system, but I'm excited to try them out properly after enjoying my time with this. I've heard the battle system was changed somewhat from the previous two games, so I'll expand on that later on once I finish them, but I really enjoyed it and unlike most RPGs, I actually didn't feel bothered when I had to grind.
As I said in the beginning, the presentation is what won me over, and while I do think the majority of the enjoyment here lies within its gameplay and versatile job system, I feel like the direction they went with the clichéd story employed enough twists and intense moments to make it interesting. And this was also thanks to the vibrant cast of heroes and side characters alike, most of which I really liked. On that note, I really loved how sidequests were handled. Sure, you've got your generic fetch quests and "defeat x amount of monsters" quests. But sprinkled throughout are more in depth quests that add cutscenes and plot for the purposes of character development, which made hunting for sidequests feel all the more fun and worthwhile. Some of these led to some legitmately heartfelt moments that made me love the characters that much more.
Looking at this game with a more critical lens makes me aware that it isn't breaking any ground or accomplishing anything extraordinary, but with the amount of charm it has and how much fun I had with the boss fights, I can't help but admitting it's become one of my favorite JRPGs I've played. I'll be sure to update this review with some comparisons once I beat the first 2 games, but personally, this was a great introduction to the series and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
I'll be honest, when I first booted this up, it was kind of a slowburn. The chibi-like character models felt off, the open world felt a bit empty and plain, and the set-up was all too familiar, as I've mentioned. Once jobs started getting introduced, I actually felt intimdated because this actually the first JRPG I've played with a job system, so I wasn't sure how confusing it would get. But more on that later. In the meantime, the more I played, the more I found myself drawn to the world and the characters. I came to love the chibi aesthetic and the sometimes over-the-top European accents and character quirks. Elvis in particular became the ideal buddy in my mind. A nice fellow I wish I could share a drink with. It's hard to explain what exactly made a lot of things in this game click for me, but they eventually did sooner rather than later and I'm glad they did.
As I mentioned the game features a job system which threw me off at first, but the more jobs I acquired, the more options were available to experiment with. See, I realize now that games like this rely more on your set-up strategy rather than just leveling up. It's easy enough to just cheese your way through most bosses wigth the right skills and job classes equipped. Of course, a lot of people may prefer the challenge of actually beating bosses without the use of cheap tactics, but the option is there. I for one found it really fun to exploit weaknesses and use them to my advantage. It feels like breaking the game, in a good way. It kind of scratched an itch I never realized I had. See, classics like Final Fantasy III and V seemed intimidating due to their job system, but I'm excited to try them out properly after enjoying my time with this. I've heard the battle system was changed somewhat from the previous two games, so I'll expand on that later on once I finish them, but I really enjoyed it and unlike most RPGs, I actually didn't feel bothered when I had to grind.
As I said in the beginning, the presentation is what won me over, and while I do think the majority of the enjoyment here lies within its gameplay and versatile job system, I feel like the direction they went with the clichéd story employed enough twists and intense moments to make it interesting. And this was also thanks to the vibrant cast of heroes and side characters alike, most of which I really liked. On that note, I really loved how sidequests were handled. Sure, you've got your generic fetch quests and "defeat x amount of monsters" quests. But sprinkled throughout are more in depth quests that add cutscenes and plot for the purposes of character development, which made hunting for sidequests feel all the more fun and worthwhile. Some of these led to some legitmately heartfelt moments that made me love the characters that much more.
Looking at this game with a more critical lens makes me aware that it isn't breaking any ground or accomplishing anything extraordinary, but with the amount of charm it has and how much fun I had with the boss fights, I can't help but admitting it's become one of my favorite JRPGs I've played. I'll be sure to update this review with some comparisons once I beat the first 2 games, but personally, this was a great introduction to the series and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
1998
BFM is a game that obviously had a lot of heart put into it, but is ultimately let down by its own ambitions. Knowing this game's status as a cult classic and one of the more underrated games under Square's belt, I had always been looking forward to finally giving it a try. Well, upon finally getting through it, it's a shame that my thoughts end up being pretty negative for the most part. But to start, I'll address the positives.
As I said, a lot of love clearly went into crafting this game. The game's art direction is brimming with childlike whimsy and Saturday morning cartoon vibes. The voice acting is surprinsingly solid for the time; often times even hilarious, but authentically so. And I briefly stated in the beginning that it had ambitions. These include things like a day and night cycle (including specific days of the week), healing foods that can spoil if kept too long, a system of copying enemy abilities to overcome certain obstacles, etc. These things are cool and all in theory, as they make the game feel unique in its own right. But while variety is the spice of life, it's things like this that make the game much more cumbersome than they ought to be.
I played this game shortly after having completed my first playthrough of Threads of Fate (also made by Square) and I couldn't help but draw comparisons to it. Threads of Fate was by no means an amazing game imo, but it had enough charm and decent combat to keep me entertained. BFM certainly shares that whimsical charm with Threads of Fate, but many things it tries to accomplish, I just feel Threads did better. The combat for one just feels really stiff and uninteresting here. I decided to try avoiding engaging in combat relatively early on with the regular enemies and I ended up getting a nasty surprise later on as the bosses just became way too difficult due to being underleveled. Funny enough, I didn't think level mattered much in this game until then because it's got such a weird leveling convention (Mind, Body, Lum, etc). I didn't really know what any of these meant when looking at my stats.
As I also mentioned prior, you do have the ability to copy enemy abilities, which is required to navigate certain areas. This really is a pain, though, because you need to charge up your sword in order to throw it at an enemy and extract their ability. It sounds simple in theory, but the fact that you can only face one way while charging up is incredibly annoying because often times the enemy will be moving around and you can't properly line up your shot and end up taking damage from them in the process. It seems like a minor nitpick, but this was a problem I had early on and it was foreshadowing what was truly to come. All I can say is: My oh my, does this game have some really sadistic design choices. But first, a bit of sidetracking.
Again, bringing up the possibility of your items spoiling, this is quite silly, because there's really no point in buying almost anything other than cheese in this game, which is the only item that actually improves its healing properties the more time you keep it in storage. On the subject of time, the day and night cycle that was implemented means that certain events relating to the story can only be completed at specific times and in rare cases, even a specific day. It forces you to either go rest at an inn for however long or just let Musashi sleep on the floor until its the right time to get up. For such a cartoony game, they sure added quite a handful of real life inconveniances to its logic. Now, moving on from my side rant, what is it that makes me say this game is sadistic?
The main issue here is its difficulty due to questionable "dungeon" design and dodgy controls. It started off fine. I was even enjoying my time with the game for the first couple of chapters (though still not necessarily thinking it was a particularly great game). The real problems began when they started adding more platforming. The controls feel janky enough as is, and now you're forced to perform some often tricky jumps with a less than ideal camera angle and sometimes unresponsive controls. It made a lot of areas feel grating, but at the very least the bosses at the end of each chapter were interesting and often enjoyable. I did mention earlier that I seemed to hit a severe difficulty spike in the later stages of the game with the bosses, but granted, they would have been way easier if I had taken the time to engage in combat more to level up. But then again, if the devs wanted me to grind, then they should have made the combat more engaging.
If I had to make one more nitpick, it's that the game lacked level variety. With some of the backtracking you have to do, this can get quite annoying, especially when dealing with the overhead view which can get nauseating after going around in circles trying to figure out where to go. BFM is a cute game that deserved better gameplay, and while the story wasn't anything to write home about, I still enjoyed its personality and charm despite often finding myself completely defeated by its challenge and jank.
As I said, a lot of love clearly went into crafting this game. The game's art direction is brimming with childlike whimsy and Saturday morning cartoon vibes. The voice acting is surprinsingly solid for the time; often times even hilarious, but authentically so. And I briefly stated in the beginning that it had ambitions. These include things like a day and night cycle (including specific days of the week), healing foods that can spoil if kept too long, a system of copying enemy abilities to overcome certain obstacles, etc. These things are cool and all in theory, as they make the game feel unique in its own right. But while variety is the spice of life, it's things like this that make the game much more cumbersome than they ought to be.
I played this game shortly after having completed my first playthrough of Threads of Fate (also made by Square) and I couldn't help but draw comparisons to it. Threads of Fate was by no means an amazing game imo, but it had enough charm and decent combat to keep me entertained. BFM certainly shares that whimsical charm with Threads of Fate, but many things it tries to accomplish, I just feel Threads did better. The combat for one just feels really stiff and uninteresting here. I decided to try avoiding engaging in combat relatively early on with the regular enemies and I ended up getting a nasty surprise later on as the bosses just became way too difficult due to being underleveled. Funny enough, I didn't think level mattered much in this game until then because it's got such a weird leveling convention (Mind, Body, Lum, etc). I didn't really know what any of these meant when looking at my stats.
As I also mentioned prior, you do have the ability to copy enemy abilities, which is required to navigate certain areas. This really is a pain, though, because you need to charge up your sword in order to throw it at an enemy and extract their ability. It sounds simple in theory, but the fact that you can only face one way while charging up is incredibly annoying because often times the enemy will be moving around and you can't properly line up your shot and end up taking damage from them in the process. It seems like a minor nitpick, but this was a problem I had early on and it was foreshadowing what was truly to come. All I can say is: My oh my, does this game have some really sadistic design choices. But first, a bit of sidetracking.
Again, bringing up the possibility of your items spoiling, this is quite silly, because there's really no point in buying almost anything other than cheese in this game, which is the only item that actually improves its healing properties the more time you keep it in storage. On the subject of time, the day and night cycle that was implemented means that certain events relating to the story can only be completed at specific times and in rare cases, even a specific day. It forces you to either go rest at an inn for however long or just let Musashi sleep on the floor until its the right time to get up. For such a cartoony game, they sure added quite a handful of real life inconveniances to its logic. Now, moving on from my side rant, what is it that makes me say this game is sadistic?
The main issue here is its difficulty due to questionable "dungeon" design and dodgy controls. It started off fine. I was even enjoying my time with the game for the first couple of chapters (though still not necessarily thinking it was a particularly great game). The real problems began when they started adding more platforming. The controls feel janky enough as is, and now you're forced to perform some often tricky jumps with a less than ideal camera angle and sometimes unresponsive controls. It made a lot of areas feel grating, but at the very least the bosses at the end of each chapter were interesting and often enjoyable. I did mention earlier that I seemed to hit a severe difficulty spike in the later stages of the game with the bosses, but granted, they would have been way easier if I had taken the time to engage in combat more to level up. But then again, if the devs wanted me to grind, then they should have made the combat more engaging.
If I had to make one more nitpick, it's that the game lacked level variety. With some of the backtracking you have to do, this can get quite annoying, especially when dealing with the overhead view which can get nauseating after going around in circles trying to figure out where to go. BFM is a cute game that deserved better gameplay, and while the story wasn't anything to write home about, I still enjoyed its personality and charm despite often finding myself completely defeated by its challenge and jank.
1988
I distinctly remember playing this game quite a bit when I was a kid. Whether I ever finished it or not back then remains a mystery, because the final stage with the H.R. Giger looking alien looked so familiar, but the actual ending wasn't ringing a bell. If I did in fact finish this back then, then it only stands to reason I've gotten worse at video games, because there is no way in hell that I would have finished this right now without the blessed Konami Code.
Funny enough, I did not realize that the 30 lives cheat remains in effect even after selecting continue. I just assumed you went back to the regular 3 lives upon losing the initial 30. So there I was, reloading save states like an idiot and cursing this game under my breath. Some of the enemy spawns in this game with the graphical pop-in and relentless hordes are just near impossible to avoid at times. I guess that's NES era difficulty for ya. That said, this game would have rated much lower for me if I didn't learn the truth about said Konami Code, which essentially gives you 120 lives to complete its 8 eclectic stages, which I feel is plenty unless you are actively just trying to brute force the game and rush it.
It's a pretty decent game, with the core run-and-gun gameplay being satisfying enough, though it's nothing particularly special. It makes me curious to try the co-op (again?), though. I can't really remember if I ever played co-op with my dad or something, but regardless, it seems to make for a chaotic and fun time with a friend.
Funny enough, I did not realize that the 30 lives cheat remains in effect even after selecting continue. I just assumed you went back to the regular 3 lives upon losing the initial 30. So there I was, reloading save states like an idiot and cursing this game under my breath. Some of the enemy spawns in this game with the graphical pop-in and relentless hordes are just near impossible to avoid at times. I guess that's NES era difficulty for ya. That said, this game would have rated much lower for me if I didn't learn the truth about said Konami Code, which essentially gives you 120 lives to complete its 8 eclectic stages, which I feel is plenty unless you are actively just trying to brute force the game and rush it.
It's a pretty decent game, with the core run-and-gun gameplay being satisfying enough, though it's nothing particularly special. It makes me curious to try the co-op (again?), though. I can't really remember if I ever played co-op with my dad or something, but regardless, it seems to make for a chaotic and fun time with a friend.
I've played plenty of Metroid games prior to this. I never beat any of them prior to this one, though. Why? I'll blame it on my short attention span when I was younger. With the release of Metroid Dread looming over the horizon, I figured I should probably delve back into the series. I decided on diving back with this one, seeing as it's a remake of the original Metroid, which I have played. I'll admit, though, the original Metroid is not particularly great. Environments were very samey and the lack of a map system made it extremely confusing and often irritating to navigate. This remake basically fixes every issue I ever had with that game and creates something truly special.
Honestly, I'm hesitant to even continue calling this a simple remake. It's more like a beautiful re-imagining. Everything about this game is consistently wonderful, from the pretty sprite-work, to the fast and tight movement, and the fun exploration. Also, the "stealth" section near the end? Just epic. It's short length also works to its benefit, as even just a day after beating it, I already felt inclined to give it another go.
I feel kind of bummed that I didn't dedicate myself to this series much as a kid. Super Metroid felt grand, but the amount of one-way doors and my lack of inexperience with Metroidvanias left me quite stumped at times. Metroid Prime felt fresh with its gorgeous 3D environments, but its slow movement made backtracking and finding my way through its complex maps tedious. As it stands, this game has once again reinvigorated my hype for this franchise and I'm eager to go back and give those games and the rest of the series another go. Here's to hoping that Metroid Dread is worth the wait.
Honestly, I'm hesitant to even continue calling this a simple remake. It's more like a beautiful re-imagining. Everything about this game is consistently wonderful, from the pretty sprite-work, to the fast and tight movement, and the fun exploration. Also, the "stealth" section near the end? Just epic. It's short length also works to its benefit, as even just a day after beating it, I already felt inclined to give it another go.
I feel kind of bummed that I didn't dedicate myself to this series much as a kid. Super Metroid felt grand, but the amount of one-way doors and my lack of inexperience with Metroidvanias left me quite stumped at times. Metroid Prime felt fresh with its gorgeous 3D environments, but its slow movement made backtracking and finding my way through its complex maps tedious. As it stands, this game has once again reinvigorated my hype for this franchise and I'm eager to go back and give those games and the rest of the series another go. Here's to hoping that Metroid Dread is worth the wait.
1995
It's my understanding that the first game in this series is very rough around the edges, and you can tell just from looking at it. I've seen gameplay of the other PS1 games, and the difference is night and day. Still, as my first proper exposure to Ace Combat (outside of a brief stint with Assault Horizon on subpar hardware years ago), it's surprisingly competent.
While it's graphically very plain, I'm not one to complain much about that, especially since the gameplay still holds up fairly well, even considering the lack of analog support. And despite its short length, Air Combat certainly turned me onto the series and I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the games, which I have no doubt will be generally much better.
By the way, did anyone really play test the final mission here? Absolute bollocks.
While it's graphically very plain, I'm not one to complain much about that, especially since the gameplay still holds up fairly well, even considering the lack of analog support. And despite its short length, Air Combat certainly turned me onto the series and I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the games, which I have no doubt will be generally much better.
By the way, did anyone really play test the final mission here? Absolute bollocks.
I vaguely remember watching Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders on VHS a lot as a young kid. At the end of the film, there was a commercial for this game, and somehow, they managed to capture my young mind's attention. I NEEDED this game!
Well, somewhere along the lines I managed to acquire it. All I remember is that I couldn't get past the first level. I thought that coming back to it as an adult meant that this game would be a breeze to get through... I was wrong. And no, I'm not saying that this game is hard, per se, but there are some factors that make it difficult to get through.
Gameplay-wise, there's not much to it. There are 4 levels in which you have to solve a mystery for each. You play as Shaggy and collect items which can either be clues or trap pieces to catch the villain... and that's it. It's basically one big game of Go Fetch! You have a "fright" meter which drops when Shaggy gets scared, which happens when touching enemies or dangerous obstacles. You can pick up Scooby Snacks to regain courage and fill the meter again, but you have unlimited lives, so there's no big repercussion for failing besides starting again from a previous area. There's some very basic puzzles to solve on occasion, but they don't add anything to the already simplistic and boring gameplay.
What makes the whole ordeal more infuriating are the controls. With the fixed camera angles, you're constantly struggling to orientate yourself after it switches. You could be moving up by pressing up, but then then you'll switch to a new camera angle and be facing downward... but because you're still pressing up, Shaggy will start running in the opposite direction and return to where you came from. It's honestly something that you should just experience for yourself to better understand it... or don't. Just don't bother.
It wouldn't be that big of a deal if it weren't for the ending sections of levels, in which you have to lure the monster into a trap by getting chased into it. It's very easy for them to catch up and have you lose all your "health" and start over simply because you're struggling to maneuver.
The game may only be about 2 hours long, but its mechanics (especially the movement) left me disoriented at times and really unmotivated to get through this slog. I didn't even mention the story, but it really isn't important. The whole thing feels like a simple cash grab. While you can say that about a multitude of kids games, I read that the developers actually worked closely with Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. to stay faithful to the source material. I guess they just forgot to make it fun. It's honestly quite disheartening that I ever had just an ounce of nostalgia for this mess.
Well, somewhere along the lines I managed to acquire it. All I remember is that I couldn't get past the first level. I thought that coming back to it as an adult meant that this game would be a breeze to get through... I was wrong. And no, I'm not saying that this game is hard, per se, but there are some factors that make it difficult to get through.
Gameplay-wise, there's not much to it. There are 4 levels in which you have to solve a mystery for each. You play as Shaggy and collect items which can either be clues or trap pieces to catch the villain... and that's it. It's basically one big game of Go Fetch! You have a "fright" meter which drops when Shaggy gets scared, which happens when touching enemies or dangerous obstacles. You can pick up Scooby Snacks to regain courage and fill the meter again, but you have unlimited lives, so there's no big repercussion for failing besides starting again from a previous area. There's some very basic puzzles to solve on occasion, but they don't add anything to the already simplistic and boring gameplay.
What makes the whole ordeal more infuriating are the controls. With the fixed camera angles, you're constantly struggling to orientate yourself after it switches. You could be moving up by pressing up, but then then you'll switch to a new camera angle and be facing downward... but because you're still pressing up, Shaggy will start running in the opposite direction and return to where you came from. It's honestly something that you should just experience for yourself to better understand it... or don't. Just don't bother.
It wouldn't be that big of a deal if it weren't for the ending sections of levels, in which you have to lure the monster into a trap by getting chased into it. It's very easy for them to catch up and have you lose all your "health" and start over simply because you're struggling to maneuver.
The game may only be about 2 hours long, but its mechanics (especially the movement) left me disoriented at times and really unmotivated to get through this slog. I didn't even mention the story, but it really isn't important. The whole thing feels like a simple cash grab. While you can say that about a multitude of kids games, I read that the developers actually worked closely with Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. to stay faithful to the source material. I guess they just forgot to make it fun. It's honestly quite disheartening that I ever had just an ounce of nostalgia for this mess.
1991
Let me get this out of the way first... breathes in... - THEY ADDED AN ACTUAL WEAPON SELECT SCREEN! I don't know why that excited me so much, but it did. No more dumb initials on the lower half of the screen. A full screen menu with actual weapon names this time. Anyway, moving on...
I'm happy to report that MM3 was not just simply a case of series fatigue, but rather just a case of subpar level design. MM4 doesn't feature as much innovation, but that's okay, because the level design here is pretty darn good - maybe even surpassing MM2's for me. I like how the second half was divided into two castle stages. Sure, it's still a test of endurance, but unlike MM3, I really liked the bosses in these castle stages for the most part.
This game features the addition of the upgraded Mega Buster, which allows you to charge up a more powerful shot. This was pretty helpful for taking down a handful of bosses more quickly if you happen to run out of energy on another weapon. But there's actually one thing I wish they had kept from MM3... free movement with Rush Jet is no longer a thing. Terrible. Disgusting. If I was a spiteful person, I'd take away an entire star just for that. But I digress, this is a great game. Definitely has similar replay value to 2, but overall this is the better game, I feel.
I'm happy to report that MM3 was not just simply a case of series fatigue, but rather just a case of subpar level design. MM4 doesn't feature as much innovation, but that's okay, because the level design here is pretty darn good - maybe even surpassing MM2's for me. I like how the second half was divided into two castle stages. Sure, it's still a test of endurance, but unlike MM3, I really liked the bosses in these castle stages for the most part.
This game features the addition of the upgraded Mega Buster, which allows you to charge up a more powerful shot. This was pretty helpful for taking down a handful of bosses more quickly if you happen to run out of energy on another weapon. But there's actually one thing I wish they had kept from MM3... free movement with Rush Jet is no longer a thing. Terrible. Disgusting. If I was a spiteful person, I'd take away an entire star just for that. But I digress, this is a great game. Definitely has similar replay value to 2, but overall this is the better game, I feel.
I'm pleasantly surprised with this one. Unlike Episode I, there's not much in the way of cheap death traps and annoying level gimmicks. Sonic also no longer feels like such a brick with the terrible momentum physics of the previous episode, making for a more fast-paced experience, as it should be. Visually, it's also a nice step-up, with the character models no longer looking like cheap, low-res PNG files.
New to this episode is the addition of Tails, which allows for co-op. Not like anyone would play this with me to try it out. But mainly, the addition of Tails adds new gameplay mechanics where you can use Tails to fly you up to otherwise inaccessible ledges and platforms or roll up and become a super-powered roly-poly duo to break through obstacles and peed through levels. Admittedly, this kind of slows the pacing at times, especially in a few levels where you have to do it multiple times, but I don't mind much. Takes me back to my 'Sonic Heroes' days...
While I'm not counting it as part of my rating, I figured it's worth bringing up the bonus "Metal Episode." 4 acts where you play as Metal Sonic which is supposed to tie the story of Sonic CD with Sonic 4 (not that there is much of a story). It's basically a rehash of Episode I's fucky level design, especially with Act I having those terrible death traps. The other acts are okay, but really not up to par with Episode II's level design, which isn't great in and of itself, but it's fun enough to qualify it as a decent game in my eyes.
The soundtrack is still balls, though.
New to this episode is the addition of Tails, which allows for co-op. Not like anyone would play this with me to try it out. But mainly, the addition of Tails adds new gameplay mechanics where you can use Tails to fly you up to otherwise inaccessible ledges and platforms or roll up and become a super-powered roly-poly duo to break through obstacles and peed through levels. Admittedly, this kind of slows the pacing at times, especially in a few levels where you have to do it multiple times, but I don't mind much. Takes me back to my 'Sonic Heroes' days...
While I'm not counting it as part of my rating, I figured it's worth bringing up the bonus "Metal Episode." 4 acts where you play as Metal Sonic which is supposed to tie the story of Sonic CD with Sonic 4 (not that there is much of a story). It's basically a rehash of Episode I's fucky level design, especially with Act I having those terrible death traps. The other acts are okay, but really not up to par with Episode II's level design, which isn't great in and of itself, but it's fun enough to qualify it as a decent game in my eyes.
The soundtrack is still balls, though.
2023
When it comes to this series, XV should have taught me to remain... cautiously optimistic, at best. As I directed my metaphorical gaze towards Square Enix, I proudly proclaimed, "You cannot... will not, get me to buy the deluxe edition! Not again Satan!" And I didn't. Though, part of me still wishes I had. See, it's been nearly 7 years since we got XV, and I have learned. Unlike that game, XVI had all the surefire signs that it would deliver, and all these factors lead back to one, uh, thing: Yoshi P.
The lead up to this game's release had me so hyped that I actually tried getting back into XIV, and I ended up getting hooked. I already knew, but this just further cemented it: Kino was upon us. Sure, in hindsight, perhaps my expectations were still too high (I guess I didn't learn enough). But, does it really matter? CBUIII still gave us the gift of a complete and quality product. XVI is stylish, it's dark, and most importantly, it's fun.
There's a question that likes to get thrown around a lot during discussions of this game: is XVI a real Final Fantasy game? Personally, the series has always been about experimentation. Besides some usual trademark staples like chocobos and moogles, there's not really a concrete foundation for what makes a FF game. As far as I'm concerned, this series is a great sandbox for SE to play around with new ideas and bring something new and interesting to the table - hoping that of course, it lands.
Devil May Cry-lite combat mechanics? Sure, why not. Gore? Knock yourself out. Scenes that would make your parents blush? Might as well.
Yeah, XVI is for sure a very radical departure from what most have come to expect from the series, and it's a very divisive title as a result. But again, I'm usually one to embrace change, and it's something that I have come to expect in a series that's been going strong for nearly 40 years. This game may feel like a AAA western action "blockbuster" more than a "proper" JRPG, but I could care less when the game is this good.
Cons? I can list quite a few, actually:
- Low difficulty
- Combat mechanics aren't as deep as they could have been
- Lots of MMO-ish side quests
- Padding and weak pacing later on
- Terrible loot
- Dungeons? What dungeons?
All of these complaints amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. The fact of the matter is, in the 48 or so hours it took me to get through my first playthrough, there were many moments of joy, of awe, and of pain that I would gladly experience all over again for the first time if I could. I'm so glad this game exists, and I'm thankful to Yoshi P for making it happen. Mainline Final Fantasy is so back.
Oh, and the Eikon battles were pretty badass, yeah.
The lead up to this game's release had me so hyped that I actually tried getting back into XIV, and I ended up getting hooked. I already knew, but this just further cemented it: Kino was upon us. Sure, in hindsight, perhaps my expectations were still too high (I guess I didn't learn enough). But, does it really matter? CBUIII still gave us the gift of a complete and quality product. XVI is stylish, it's dark, and most importantly, it's fun.
There's a question that likes to get thrown around a lot during discussions of this game: is XVI a real Final Fantasy game? Personally, the series has always been about experimentation. Besides some usual trademark staples like chocobos and moogles, there's not really a concrete foundation for what makes a FF game. As far as I'm concerned, this series is a great sandbox for SE to play around with new ideas and bring something new and interesting to the table - hoping that of course, it lands.
Devil May Cry-lite combat mechanics? Sure, why not. Gore? Knock yourself out. Scenes that would make your parents blush? Might as well.
Yeah, XVI is for sure a very radical departure from what most have come to expect from the series, and it's a very divisive title as a result. But again, I'm usually one to embrace change, and it's something that I have come to expect in a series that's been going strong for nearly 40 years. This game may feel like a AAA western action "blockbuster" more than a "proper" JRPG, but I could care less when the game is this good.
Cons? I can list quite a few, actually:
- Low difficulty
- Combat mechanics aren't as deep as they could have been
- Lots of MMO-ish side quests
- Padding and weak pacing later on
- Terrible loot
- Dungeons? What dungeons?
All of these complaints amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. The fact of the matter is, in the 48 or so hours it took me to get through my first playthrough, there were many moments of joy, of awe, and of pain that I would gladly experience all over again for the first time if I could. I'm so glad this game exists, and I'm thankful to Yoshi P for making it happen. Mainline Final Fantasy is so back.
Oh, and the Eikon battles were pretty badass, yeah.
1987
If you do enough research, you'll actually find no shortage of praise for this game from various corners of the internet. A lot of this praise seems to be directed at its hardcore nature and inclusion of atypical mechanics for its era. Even Hideki Kamiya cited Super Hydlide as an inspiration during the production of Scalebound. Yeah, Scalebound. Makes you wonder, huh...
Look, credit where credit is due. The game was for sure ahead of its time with its gameplay. A 24-hour day/night cycle, a weight system that accounts for everything you carry (including money), and the survival-lite mechanics in the form of having to eat and rest after a certain amount of time has passed. On paper, these sound like cool ideas, and they would certainly come to be used more effectively in future RPGs, but they only serve as a major nuisance here. They contribute to this game being jank incarnate, and between your character not even having a fluid walking cycle, and the main environment fluctuating between a vomit green and piss yellow color scheme, it's not a very pleasant game to even look at, much less actually play.
But to explain more in-depth what makes this game suck, I'll cover those so-called "far-thinking" mechanics a bit more in-depth.
24-Hour Day/Night Cycle - What could possibly be wrong with this? Well, apart from dawn turning the environment into the aforementioned piss yellow gradient, staying up for too late will eventually exhaust your character, which makes you weak to the point of not even being able to kill the easiest of enemies, so you're forced to sleep at an inn. Make sure you don't head towards a dungeon before catching some much-needed ZZZ's.
Weight - As I said before, everything you hold in this game holds weight. Realism my ass. How does a dagger weigh twice as much as a club??? Leveling up allows you to carry more weight, but the early game is especially brutal as a result. Holding too much weight slows you down significantly, and increasing the speed isn't really an option because it also makes the in-game time speed up, which means you'll probably need to head back to an inn before you even get a chance to kill a handful of monsters. But hey! There's a bank where you can deposit all that heavy money in! That's cool, I guess...
Hunger - This is probably the dumbest mechanic, and this is totally bias, because I'd often forget to buy food rations and it screwed me over quite a handful of times. I'll be in the middle of a dungeon when I suddenly notice my health draining. Well, shit. Gotta backtrack to a town with an inn. Except I made sure to learn the "move" spell early on which lets you teleport to an inn. But even this wasn't an option a couple of times, because I'd either run out of herbs to refill my magic or I'd get magic sealed... by an enemy? The game doesn't even tell you this, but that's what I imagine happened to me a couple of times that I couldn't use magic for seemingly no reason. If so... seriously? No status effect message or indicator for that?
I got a little sidetracked there, but there really are a lot of issues I have with this game, many of which lead to other problems. So many in fact, that I don't even feel like bringing anymore up. This may seem like a half-assed review, but that's okay. Half-assed games deserve half-assed reviews. Well, it's more of a mini rant than anything.
Despite all that, I still think it's worth a playthrough out of curiosity alone. I would have never gotten through it without a guide and without putting on albums in the background while I grinded and suffered through its horrendous dungeons and cryptic progression. But at that point, it really did become a sort of cathartic journey. It's an awful game, but an interesting experience, nonetheless.
Look, credit where credit is due. The game was for sure ahead of its time with its gameplay. A 24-hour day/night cycle, a weight system that accounts for everything you carry (including money), and the survival-lite mechanics in the form of having to eat and rest after a certain amount of time has passed. On paper, these sound like cool ideas, and they would certainly come to be used more effectively in future RPGs, but they only serve as a major nuisance here. They contribute to this game being jank incarnate, and between your character not even having a fluid walking cycle, and the main environment fluctuating between a vomit green and piss yellow color scheme, it's not a very pleasant game to even look at, much less actually play.
But to explain more in-depth what makes this game suck, I'll cover those so-called "far-thinking" mechanics a bit more in-depth.
24-Hour Day/Night Cycle - What could possibly be wrong with this? Well, apart from dawn turning the environment into the aforementioned piss yellow gradient, staying up for too late will eventually exhaust your character, which makes you weak to the point of not even being able to kill the easiest of enemies, so you're forced to sleep at an inn. Make sure you don't head towards a dungeon before catching some much-needed ZZZ's.
Weight - As I said before, everything you hold in this game holds weight. Realism my ass. How does a dagger weigh twice as much as a club??? Leveling up allows you to carry more weight, but the early game is especially brutal as a result. Holding too much weight slows you down significantly, and increasing the speed isn't really an option because it also makes the in-game time speed up, which means you'll probably need to head back to an inn before you even get a chance to kill a handful of monsters. But hey! There's a bank where you can deposit all that heavy money in! That's cool, I guess...
Hunger - This is probably the dumbest mechanic, and this is totally bias, because I'd often forget to buy food rations and it screwed me over quite a handful of times. I'll be in the middle of a dungeon when I suddenly notice my health draining. Well, shit. Gotta backtrack to a town with an inn. Except I made sure to learn the "move" spell early on which lets you teleport to an inn. But even this wasn't an option a couple of times, because I'd either run out of herbs to refill my magic or I'd get magic sealed... by an enemy? The game doesn't even tell you this, but that's what I imagine happened to me a couple of times that I couldn't use magic for seemingly no reason. If so... seriously? No status effect message or indicator for that?
I got a little sidetracked there, but there really are a lot of issues I have with this game, many of which lead to other problems. So many in fact, that I don't even feel like bringing anymore up. This may seem like a half-assed review, but that's okay. Half-assed games deserve half-assed reviews. Well, it's more of a mini rant than anything.
Despite all that, I still think it's worth a playthrough out of curiosity alone. I would have never gotten through it without a guide and without putting on albums in the background while I grinded and suffered through its horrendous dungeons and cryptic progression. But at that point, it really did become a sort of cathartic journey. It's an awful game, but an interesting experience, nonetheless.
I'm so done listening to the popular opinion when it comes to established franchises. It's not about being a contrarian, but it just so happens that there have been multiple instances of me finding enjoyment in games that others seem to dislike to varying degrees. Let's see, there's: Final Fantasy XIII and Type-0, Mega Man 1, Tales of Zestiria, Need for Speed (2015), Corpse Party: Blood Drive, etc. Add this to the list of games I think don't deserve the hate.
"Play Dawn of Ys instead." I mean, I will, eventually. I wanna get through the entire Ys series eventually, but I already had a SNES emulator ready to go so I played this one first. Despite the general negativity surrounding this game, I went in with no expectations and I came out pleasantly surprised, and frankly a bit saddened to know not many people like it as much as I do. Ys I + II provided the framework. Two very solid games that mainly suffer from some obtuse map design and the occasional bullshit boss (if you know, you know). But Mask of the Sun does away with most of the annoyances I endured in those games and provides a more straightforward adventure with what I think is a slightly more competent plot. The bosses are for sure a lot weaker here, though.
Of course, I can't pretend that the game isn't somewhat janky with its gameplay. For one, you can only move in four directions, which took some getting used to after having been accustomed to the fluidity of Ys I + II. The hitboxes are kinda messed up too, but I barely noticed it save for a couple of specific enemy encounters. Bumping into enemies still felt good and the typical grind-fest that is known of these early Ys games was therapeutic here. And yes, the final dungeon is still a somewhat confusing/tedious maze but, give me this over Ys II's Solomon Shrine any day.
I think Mask of the Sun is an unfortunate case of being undermined by its more well-known and popular sister game. It's a really short game (like most of the early Ys games), and I believe that alone is a fair excuse to check it out, because I really do think it's nowhere near as bad as people say. It's a hidden gem among the vast Super Famicom JRPG library and makes for a fairly compact palette cleanser in-between much longer JRPGs.
"Play Dawn of Ys instead." I mean, I will, eventually. I wanna get through the entire Ys series eventually, but I already had a SNES emulator ready to go so I played this one first. Despite the general negativity surrounding this game, I went in with no expectations and I came out pleasantly surprised, and frankly a bit saddened to know not many people like it as much as I do. Ys I + II provided the framework. Two very solid games that mainly suffer from some obtuse map design and the occasional bullshit boss (if you know, you know). But Mask of the Sun does away with most of the annoyances I endured in those games and provides a more straightforward adventure with what I think is a slightly more competent plot. The bosses are for sure a lot weaker here, though.
Of course, I can't pretend that the game isn't somewhat janky with its gameplay. For one, you can only move in four directions, which took some getting used to after having been accustomed to the fluidity of Ys I + II. The hitboxes are kinda messed up too, but I barely noticed it save for a couple of specific enemy encounters. Bumping into enemies still felt good and the typical grind-fest that is known of these early Ys games was therapeutic here. And yes, the final dungeon is still a somewhat confusing/tedious maze but, give me this over Ys II's Solomon Shrine any day.
I think Mask of the Sun is an unfortunate case of being undermined by its more well-known and popular sister game. It's a really short game (like most of the early Ys games), and I believe that alone is a fair excuse to check it out, because I really do think it's nowhere near as bad as people say. It's a hidden gem among the vast Super Famicom JRPG library and makes for a fairly compact palette cleanser in-between much longer JRPGs.
1993
Fans really be out here hating on MM1 for being too difficult but put MMX up on a high pedestal.
???
I don't know, most likely another "git gud" moment at my expense, but a lot of things in this game just rub me the wrong way. Some background, though: I first played this when I was younger (maybe 14?) and I remember enjoying it for a bit and then losing interest. The only other MM I had played at that point was MM1. Anyway, I couldn't remember exactly what it was that made me stop playing, but I figured that revisiting it anew would help me gain some appreciation for it. Nah, I was wrong.
For one, I do not particularly like the new upgrade system, which as far as I'm aware, seems to be a staple of the X series, which makes me somewhat hesitant to jump into the others. This game wants you to find every single upgrade, because without them, it's just way too difficult. The Maverick stages become a lot more manageable with these upgrades, which gives you a false sense of relief, because once the Sigma stages start, I just wanted to break my monitor.
You have to fight like 3 or 4 bosses in these Sigma stages, often with some annoying enemies in between with horrendous respawns. Dying here before reaching the next boss gate means you'll have to start from before the previous boss. Even with save states, some bosses took quite a few attempts and thinking about beating this game without them just gave me a migraine. Sigma Stage 1 with all upgrades felt like I was playing with 0 upgrades. It's that bad.
The Maverick stages themselves also left a lot to be desired. This is something that I just can't describe. The levels just weren't that good, personally. Though, having certain stages change based on the order you tackle them is a really cool concept. For example, going through Flame Mammoth's stage after I already beat Chill Penguin meant that the lava in the stage was completely frozen, which made it easier to traverse. It's something that definitely gives it some extra replay value, but it's not enough for me.
It's a shame I feel this way, because the core gameplay is actually quite competent. Wall jumping is a great mechanic, and the dash ability is fun to spam. I kinda wish this game kept the slide mechanic I got so used to with MM3-6. But new series, new changes. I get it. The point is, movement feels great here. Something must be said about the soundtrack as well. Absolute banger. It's probably one of my favorite soundtracks of the 16-bit era. The level selection screen music in particular has no right being as good as it is.
But at the end of the day, I just didn't have all that much fun with this one, and it kind of bums me out that I don't see in it what many others do. Maybe in another few years I can revisit this game and it will suddenly click with me, but even if that doesn't happen, at least there's plenty more MM games to check out.
???
I don't know, most likely another "git gud" moment at my expense, but a lot of things in this game just rub me the wrong way. Some background, though: I first played this when I was younger (maybe 14?) and I remember enjoying it for a bit and then losing interest. The only other MM I had played at that point was MM1. Anyway, I couldn't remember exactly what it was that made me stop playing, but I figured that revisiting it anew would help me gain some appreciation for it. Nah, I was wrong.
For one, I do not particularly like the new upgrade system, which as far as I'm aware, seems to be a staple of the X series, which makes me somewhat hesitant to jump into the others. This game wants you to find every single upgrade, because without them, it's just way too difficult. The Maverick stages become a lot more manageable with these upgrades, which gives you a false sense of relief, because once the Sigma stages start, I just wanted to break my monitor.
You have to fight like 3 or 4 bosses in these Sigma stages, often with some annoying enemies in between with horrendous respawns. Dying here before reaching the next boss gate means you'll have to start from before the previous boss. Even with save states, some bosses took quite a few attempts and thinking about beating this game without them just gave me a migraine. Sigma Stage 1 with all upgrades felt like I was playing with 0 upgrades. It's that bad.
The Maverick stages themselves also left a lot to be desired. This is something that I just can't describe. The levels just weren't that good, personally. Though, having certain stages change based on the order you tackle them is a really cool concept. For example, going through Flame Mammoth's stage after I already beat Chill Penguin meant that the lava in the stage was completely frozen, which made it easier to traverse. It's something that definitely gives it some extra replay value, but it's not enough for me.
It's a shame I feel this way, because the core gameplay is actually quite competent. Wall jumping is a great mechanic, and the dash ability is fun to spam. I kinda wish this game kept the slide mechanic I got so used to with MM3-6. But new series, new changes. I get it. The point is, movement feels great here. Something must be said about the soundtrack as well. Absolute banger. It's probably one of my favorite soundtracks of the 16-bit era. The level selection screen music in particular has no right being as good as it is.
But at the end of the day, I just didn't have all that much fun with this one, and it kind of bums me out that I don't see in it what many others do. Maybe in another few years I can revisit this game and it will suddenly click with me, but even if that doesn't happen, at least there's plenty more MM games to check out.
Stage 1 music didn't have to go so hard, though. But seriously, I was really excited to finally get to the Windows games, and perhaps my expectations were a bit too high, because while I do really enjoy this game, a prettier coat of paint isn't gonna gaslight me into preferring this over something like LLS (my beloved). Plus, while I am not letting this issue affect my rating, I'd like to mention the headache this game brought on to me:
So, it was my first run, and I got about halfway through Stage 3, when suddenly, my left arrow key stopped working. Granted, this seems to be a common issue with a lot of Touhou games and I have experienced it a few times in the older games as well, but I could usually fix it relatively quickly. This time, nothing I did worked. I restarted the game, my PC, updated my drivers, cleaned the socket for the key, and still no dice. This is a problem that also persisted outside of the game, though. I was starting to think the switch died or something, but every once in a while, it would decide to work again for a bit, and then die again. After not touching it for a few hours, I came back. and everything was working normally. I got to the final boss aaaaaand... the key stopped working again.
I was able to brute force my way to victory with the harder to use num pad, but I guess my point is: If it turns out that I need to replace my keyboard, it'd be kind of funny to say it was because of Touhou.
So, it was my first run, and I got about halfway through Stage 3, when suddenly, my left arrow key stopped working. Granted, this seems to be a common issue with a lot of Touhou games and I have experienced it a few times in the older games as well, but I could usually fix it relatively quickly. This time, nothing I did worked. I restarted the game, my PC, updated my drivers, cleaned the socket for the key, and still no dice. This is a problem that also persisted outside of the game, though. I was starting to think the switch died or something, but every once in a while, it would decide to work again for a bit, and then die again. After not touching it for a few hours, I came back. and everything was working normally. I got to the final boss aaaaaand... the key stopped working again.
I was able to brute force my way to victory with the harder to use num pad, but I guess my point is: If it turns out that I need to replace my keyboard, it'd be kind of funny to say it was because of Touhou.
1987
I understand where a lot of people stand with this game. It shows its age, yes. As the first game in the series, it was bound to be a bit rough around the edges. The thing is, that doesn't really matter to me. At the time of writing this, this is the only Mega Man title I have finished without save states, and as such, is the one I am most familiar with.
I played this a ton when I was a kid. I also died alot. Was it masochism that drove me forward? I can't say for sure, but I put in a great amount of effort and hours into beating it. This was on the Wii, mind you. Beating this game without save states is still my greatest personal achievement in gaming. I have no doubt that Mega Man 2 is an objectively better game, among others. But I have a soft spot for this one thanks to nostalgia. I probably wouldn't willfully subject myself to another legit playthrough just because it's so tough. But it was a fun challenge while it lasted.
I played this a ton when I was a kid. I also died alot. Was it masochism that drove me forward? I can't say for sure, but I put in a great amount of effort and hours into beating it. This was on the Wii, mind you. Beating this game without save states is still my greatest personal achievement in gaming. I have no doubt that Mega Man 2 is an objectively better game, among others. But I have a soft spot for this one thanks to nostalgia. I probably wouldn't willfully subject myself to another legit playthrough just because it's so tough. But it was a fun challenge while it lasted.
It's literally just pinball with heavy fanservice. I can't even recommend it to fans of the series, because there's barely any content to dig into. The story is pretty much non-existent and completely nonsensical, with the same basic set-up being rehashed several times so that you can play through it with each of the 5 girls.
The gameplay itself is fine for a few minutes at a time, I suppose. It's just pinball. The game's gimmicks don't really make it anymore interesting and there are much better pinball games out there. Skip it.
The gameplay itself is fine for a few minutes at a time, I suppose. It's just pinball. The game's gimmicks don't really make it anymore interesting and there are much better pinball games out there. Skip it.