TheBestestJoe
Its a cookbook
I enjoyed the atmosphere and the unique ideas this game brings to the table. The game definitely feels a bit awkward in a lot of places. In particular the game seems extremely generous with potions and retry bread, the latter of which I rarely used. This feels like band-aid solution to deal with the somewhat tedious level design.
Getting 100% map completion is also a pain as it requires use of the warp magic in a lot of places. Sometimes I had to intentionally jump into pits to map out bits of the ground. The game seems to have a fetish for pitfall traps, especially in a certain area of the game where you cant see the floor.
The postgame Dela Mode might be my favorite part of the game since it feels more carefully designed than the base game while also being challenging in ways the base game isn't.
Getting 100% map completion is also a pain as it requires use of the warp magic in a lot of places. Sometimes I had to intentionally jump into pits to map out bits of the ground. The game seems to have a fetish for pitfall traps, especially in a certain area of the game where you cant see the floor.
The postgame Dela Mode might be my favorite part of the game since it feels more carefully designed than the base game while also being challenging in ways the base game isn't.
2021
While it is a refreshing take on what a new 3d Mario adventure might look like, I think Bowser's Fury feels awkward in places. A lot of the islands levels that you can seemlessly travel to however you often need to leave and come back for some objectives. Fury Bowser was interesting at first, but he became an annoyance later on, often showing up at inconvenient times to prevent you from being able to complete an objective. I also don't think the 3D world control style and powerup system works too well for a more sandbox type of mario game. Your movement options don't feel as flexible as something like Super Mario Odyssey which feels uncomfortable at times for this game. This is likely a result of being a bonus mode for 3D World as opposed to being a standalone game. Overall its an interesting package, and I don't regret buying 3D World again just for this.
Racing games peaked here
This shit didn't work half the time but i remember liking it
2009
The gimmick was super fun to mess around wtih but the game has like no content.
1998
The only thing that can really be called peak.
2014
Not funny
2005
While jank in places, Xanadu next is just a satisfying gameplay with some fun and introcate world design, good atmosphere, and surprsingly decent bosses.
2016
Mid game with stiff combat and a bland story that has its charm at times but vastly overstays its welcome. The music slaps tho.
2009
Decent entry in the ys series and the first to use the party system. Definitely a rough first outing in that regard. Normal combat still flows well, but the boss fights can range from piss easy to infuriating due to high amounts of health or poorly-designed patterns.
The game's pacing is weird as you basically have to go around the world twice to go to a second dungeon in each area. This makes the second half feel somewhat redundant. I would have wished they used the extra time to develop the party more if they were going to do this, but it feels like they missed an opportunity there.
The game's pacing is weird as you basically have to go around the world twice to go to a second dungeon in each area. This makes the second half feel somewhat redundant. I would have wished they used the extra time to develop the party more if they were going to do this, but it feels like they missed an opportunity there.
2019
Not quite as good as Ys VIII in my opinion. The combat is about the same as 8 but feels a lot easier and more spammy. The monstrum abilities really make exploration a lot of fun this time. You have a large open city which perfectly complement these abilities too. The map is somehow worse than before since sub areas arent really marked in a way I'd like. I liked the story a bit more than Ys VIII since it does a good job deveeloping the main cast. Visually, the game definitely looks rough. The colorful lush environments of 8 are replaced with more drab grey environments. The game is pushing some very large maps for a falcom game, but the engine cannot keep up as the game struggles to run in these areas. Overall its a good game that tries to do some unique things for the series but doesn't always stick the landing.
This review contains spoilers
When compared to its predessor, Ys Seven, this game is a marked improvement in numerous ways. Combat is more fluid than before with better boss design than seven. Exploration is more fun and encouraged with more unique landmarks and a map completion system. As a standalone game, I quite liked this entry and believe the combat to be better than Ys VIII due to the fixed camera and more encouragement to learn enemy patterns.
I recently, however, watched my friend play through one of the original versions of Ys IV for the pc engine. What became apparent was how much the story in the game was altered for the worse. The story was okay on its own merits but ends abruptly. The original Ys IV heavily expands on the lore of previous games while delivering a narrative with fun characters and villains. Celceta seems to do away with most of this in favor of telling an amnesia plotline that fails to majorly build on Adol as a character as is hinted at the beginning of the game. The characters feel watered down, especially one of the main villains who no longer is a villain in Celceta. The game being twice as long as the original does not help matters as it feels like less happens despite the game being longer.
Overall, i think Celceta is a fun game, but knowing what the story was like original really puts a damper on my appreciation of it.
I recently, however, watched my friend play through one of the original versions of Ys IV for the pc engine. What became apparent was how much the story in the game was altered for the worse. The story was okay on its own merits but ends abruptly. The original Ys IV heavily expands on the lore of previous games while delivering a narrative with fun characters and villains. Celceta seems to do away with most of this in favor of telling an amnesia plotline that fails to majorly build on Adol as a character as is hinted at the beginning of the game. The characters feel watered down, especially one of the main villains who no longer is a villain in Celceta. The game being twice as long as the original does not help matters as it feels like less happens despite the game being longer.
Overall, i think Celceta is a fun game, but knowing what the story was like original really puts a damper on my appreciation of it.
2006
Easily in my top two Ys games. The game has an amazing flow where it incentivies killing enemies to keep your stat and exp multipliers up to the point where grinding is legitimately fun. The story is really good and somehow not intrusive on the gameplay. The boss design is easily the best in the series with patterns that are easy to learn while still keeping the challenge.
There are three character routes and the game can feel a but repetitive if you decide to play them back to back. The levels are mostly the same but your moveset is different. Hugo in particular had my favorite storyline but my least favorite combat style.
You should play the game but maybe play something else between routes if you decide to play them all.
There are three character routes and the game can feel a but repetitive if you decide to play them back to back. The levels are mostly the same but your moveset is different. Hugo in particular had my favorite storyline but my least favorite combat style.
You should play the game but maybe play something else between routes if you decide to play them all.
Ys VIII ties a very fun to explore island with a surprisingly gripping story that goes a bit off the rails towards the end. Combat is fast and fluid but suffers from having the player controlled camera with a subpar lock on system as opposed to fixed camera angles like previous games. The game does a very good job at tying your game progression to the story as finding all the castaways fits perfectly with the exploration. The castaways aren't just for the story as they can grant you access to items or other services as well as the ability to eliminate roadblocks in the world. The bonus dungeon you play during certain sections of the game is easily the best in the game and incorporates puzzles in a way that I wish were present in other parts of the game.