TheGrimmestSmirk
2011
Comparing vanilla terraria to vanilla minecraft, there is no comparison, terraria blows minecraft out of the water like 7 times over, in content and over all fun.
2020
Very, very interesting story. Certainly not my favorite though, whether it be social link or character interaction-wise, certainly a great entry into the persona franchise, but I dunno, nothing hit exceptionally well unlike the other two social sim games.
Visuals are average, minus the actually drawn art, due to this being a vita port, admittedly somethings are quite charming that the game does, like when answering exam questions if you get the highest result on the last day the game states "You answer question after question, your pen is on fire!" Or something to that effect, and the animation that normally plays, is played sped up at like twice the speed.
I guess though, it being remarkably average for a persona game is a plus as there aren't many social links that were boring, and still having some quite amazing side stories in specific social links.
Shoji's done it again but I didn't have any doubt anyways, sound track is definitely playlist worthy
Visuals are average, minus the actually drawn art, due to this being a vita port, admittedly somethings are quite charming that the game does, like when answering exam questions if you get the highest result on the last day the game states "You answer question after question, your pen is on fire!" Or something to that effect, and the animation that normally plays, is played sped up at like twice the speed.
I guess though, it being remarkably average for a persona game is a plus as there aren't many social links that were boring, and still having some quite amazing side stories in specific social links.
Shoji's done it again but I didn't have any doubt anyways, sound track is definitely playlist worthy
This review contains spoilers
I reserved a special place in my heart for xbc1, the story was phenomenal, the characters were all fun (I loved dunban), and the combat was nice, not too complex or hard to understand but it had some depth. Satorl march night is still one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard in a game.
And this game, is even better. The cast of characters having their own chemistry amongst their initial groups of three, soon forming into one unit, uncertainty at these people who were at first enemies, eventually being on the run they find the ability to work together albeit slowly.
Difficult battle after difficult battle would wear them down but they'd stand together, they'd bond in the free time they had growing closer together. Eventually beginning to understand beings that could live for more then 10 years. Slowly growing closer and closer.
Chapter 5 had me in a chokehold before it even came down to it's conclusion, I was 100% convinced that Sena and Lanz were gonna die, and it honestly almost pushed me to tears, but I refrained, and then the prison scene happened, and then the execution scene happened. I was just crying, I was so unbelievably sad, honestly more shocked then anything though.
The rest that came after was alright, it was definitely still good, but not as good as what came before it, xenoblade 3 with just one chapter alone defined why having an interactive experience with a game makes games art. You can build relationships with characters in movies, in books, hell you can even have some interactivity with say, table top games and choose your own adventures, but the sheer amount of freedom given by games, within the confines of it's engine. Can lead to such beautiful and telling moments like this.
I will never forget xenoblade 3, I will never forget how it made me feel. Another game has made me sadder, but it is still just as unforgettable.
And this game, is even better. The cast of characters having their own chemistry amongst their initial groups of three, soon forming into one unit, uncertainty at these people who were at first enemies, eventually being on the run they find the ability to work together albeit slowly.
Difficult battle after difficult battle would wear them down but they'd stand together, they'd bond in the free time they had growing closer together. Eventually beginning to understand beings that could live for more then 10 years. Slowly growing closer and closer.
Chapter 5 had me in a chokehold before it even came down to it's conclusion, I was 100% convinced that Sena and Lanz were gonna die, and it honestly almost pushed me to tears, but I refrained, and then the prison scene happened, and then the execution scene happened. I was just crying, I was so unbelievably sad, honestly more shocked then anything though.
The rest that came after was alright, it was definitely still good, but not as good as what came before it, xenoblade 3 with just one chapter alone defined why having an interactive experience with a game makes games art. You can build relationships with characters in movies, in books, hell you can even have some interactivity with say, table top games and choose your own adventures, but the sheer amount of freedom given by games, within the confines of it's engine. Can lead to such beautiful and telling moments like this.
I will never forget xenoblade 3, I will never forget how it made me feel. Another game has made me sadder, but it is still just as unforgettable.
In my opinion, easily the weakest Ys game, and especially even more so in this engine as I thought Origins was more fun. So much grinding, kind of tedious to play. This never felt like just a fun game, there was just always something lacking. I think a lot of other people enjoy the difficulty of it, but it never felt like fun difficulty, it felt like unnecessary tedium. The one saving grace was that this game actually had more then two difficulty options so I could at least get through it.
2024
This review contains spoilers
Comparing the endings between portable, fes and reload, I'd say it's quite easy to choose which one is best. I still cry hearing memories of you, never have had a game leave such a lasting impression, and I don't think I'll ever see another game top it.
2017
Still need to knuckle down and finish Hover, but it's a good game through and through.
From tone of the game, which falls some where in-between weirdly mid 2000s and more average and modern 2017 with it's humour, character interactions and designs, and the overall gameplay.
The story is, there... Mostly cause I can hardly remember it, a much better and stronger point toward the game is-
Gameplay, both the gameplay loop and objectives, one of the few games alongside Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, that I would play just to play, movement feels strange at first, but once you get used to it, it's nice and expressive, with plenty of ways to move around such massive maps, level design seems clever and intentional due to the players ability to manoeuvre around the map and is incredibly satisfying, coupled with the fact that it has collectibles (I love collectathon games) all over the place, plenty of side objectives.
Honestly if this game had support for modding and a more alive community to mod for it, this game would probably be an easy 5/5 for me. I normally would deduct points for having a mid/bad story, but honestly, I never was forced to follow it, so really I had the freedom to just explore the world, learn the game, familiarise myself with the world and just skate around.
From tone of the game, which falls some where in-between weirdly mid 2000s and more average and modern 2017 with it's humour, character interactions and designs, and the overall gameplay.
The story is, there... Mostly cause I can hardly remember it, a much better and stronger point toward the game is-
Gameplay, both the gameplay loop and objectives, one of the few games alongside Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, that I would play just to play, movement feels strange at first, but once you get used to it, it's nice and expressive, with plenty of ways to move around such massive maps, level design seems clever and intentional due to the players ability to manoeuvre around the map and is incredibly satisfying, coupled with the fact that it has collectibles (I love collectathon games) all over the place, plenty of side objectives.
Honestly if this game had support for modding and a more alive community to mod for it, this game would probably be an easy 5/5 for me. I normally would deduct points for having a mid/bad story, but honestly, I never was forced to follow it, so really I had the freedom to just explore the world, learn the game, familiarise myself with the world and just skate around.
2009
Ys Seven, the first three party member game iirc. Honestly it's quite good for having been an entirely new concept, and it's nice to see that the devs are willing to experiment. The story was good, I'd say about average for a Ys game, the gameplay was also, about average. Honestly probably not the best starting point if you have the option to choose between the games, my personal recommendation being Ys 8, unless you're looking for one of the other combat systems. Small side note, that throughout the whole game I didn't particularly have to grind or spend more time in an area then the story required me to, bar the final area, got caught on a road-block at the second to last boss and had to grind a bit to catch up. But besides that, it's quite a solid game.
2015
I played as a gunslinger, lunar lancer and neon ninja, could switch whenever I wanted with like 10 extra jumps flying across the map going from tower to tower. This game is really really good, I recommend playing it, I would rate it higher if I actually played it more.
2013
Honestly quite fun, I think I'm part of the minority that prefer Ys 1 to Ys 2, but I prefered this game a lot more, felt like it was a little more meaty of a game as there isn't really any down time to grind or anything. It's mostly progression and how it's achieved in this game that matters to me compared to 2. Either way feel free to listen to everyone else on how they feel about the game as I'm probably part of the minority.
2013
Never played it above drizzle lmao, still better then ror2 tho imo
2014
This game needs a remake on pc, either or port or whatever, such a genuinely fun game brought down to being unplayable because the vita is so god damn obsolete. Maybe one day I'll finish this game
Didn't go for 100% mostly cause I couldn't be assed, but it's a good game, a really solid experience. I have a soft spot for the 3 man party games, probably because Ys 8 was my first Ys game, but even so I think it's just an excellent game.
Simplistic anime styled visuals, I quite enjoyed the in party chemistry and how for the most part besides the final party member everyone had a decent amount of time to feel like they get even some small amount of development, I also quite enjoyed the story.
Little extra after review stuff: I wish there was a whole genre of games dedicated to "zone-based" exploration. Open world games are a snore, but these games I find to be quite fun.
Simplistic anime styled visuals, I quite enjoyed the in party chemistry and how for the most part besides the final party member everyone had a decent amount of time to feel like they get even some small amount of development, I also quite enjoyed the story.
Little extra after review stuff: I wish there was a whole genre of games dedicated to "zone-based" exploration. Open world games are a snore, but these games I find to be quite fun.
2014
This review contains spoilers
Still need to finish the road to gehenna and finish the achievements, but probably one of the best puzzle games I've ever played. Though during collecting stars having to put in the most esoteric unthinkably strange sequence of actions to get the stars in the first area really put a dampener on me actually working for the rest of them.
This review contains spoilers
Ys 8 is an interesting game. With this review covering my personal experience with it, which inclines me to say to take it with a grain of salt and not as your guiding light as to how to feel about this game should you play it.
- Gameplay:
Starting off I'll cover the gameplay, as it's probably the strongest point about this game, I played it on normal, and didn't have any trouble playing through it, I think I covered all of the content the main game had to offer, and can say that it's quite good. There wasn't any need to grind bar for materials for upgrades later in the game, and it was all around pretty good, solid and fast paced combat, with some skill expression, at the very least it was as if I had the option to route combos and practice things like perfect guard or perfect dodge, I'd say that it has the potential to have a higher skill ceiling but isn't a necessary part of playing the game.
That being said, the Raids? Uh, wave based defence section's? I can't recall the name off the top of my head. But they're a bigger part of the game then I'd liked, feeling like they take way too long, the scoring system for them is odd, and they all around aren't that interesting. Quite frankly if the game didn't have them at all I'd feel a bit more positively about it, but maybe others might enjoy that part of the game.
Lastly is exploration, probably my favourite part of the gameplay, I have a fondness for games that restrict exploration to smaller "zones", with some collectibles scattered throughout these zones that yield materials that you can collect and use toward things like upgrades or trading for items and a percentage which represents how much you've cleared the "fog of war" in each area. I personally adore this system of exploration and it makes the game damn near perfect in my eyes, coupled with the combat itself.
- Graphics and sound design:
Honestly I just feel like it's important to mention but I don't have a lot to say about it for this game, it's not groundbreakingly innovative, nor is it dead ugly. It's a vita game or port of a vita game if you're not playing it on the vita, it communicates it's visuals well, the sound design is clean not particularly offensive or annoying, with a varied soundtrack that doesn't overstay it's welcome. I frequently listen to video game music in my down time and none of the music has made it on that, which would be how I'd rate the sound track for most games. Quite frankly it's about average.
- Story:
The last thing I'll talk about as it's the only other thing I'd want to mention on here. In my honest opinion, second to the weakest part of this game, at least in the later half. Initially the game focuses on a ship wreck type of story pacing, finding survivors of the wreck, exploring the island and gathering supplies where they're able to, and slowly uncover the mystery that seemed to be surrounding the island. Now if it stopped there I'd probably bump it up to a 4 and a half rather then a 4, but it doesn't stay consistent to that theme, maybe it would have a been a struggle to make a whole game about that? Maybe not? But what I do know is that the entire mystery with Dana and Adol sharing memories with her, it was quite boring, any time I lost control of Adol in favour of playing as Dana I was just uninterested. I'd have to ask other people about their opinions to see where I stand, but suffice to say this definitely brought the game down for me, coupled with the raids is what makes it lose what would have been an easy 5* from me.
- Closing comments:
Thank you for reading all this way, honestly despite my issues with the game, this is probably my second favourite entry into the Ys series, it having made it to X Nordics by the time of writing this, and me not having play neither X or IX. At the very least I'm eager to see what else Falcom have planned for the Ys series.
- Gameplay:
Starting off I'll cover the gameplay, as it's probably the strongest point about this game, I played it on normal, and didn't have any trouble playing through it, I think I covered all of the content the main game had to offer, and can say that it's quite good. There wasn't any need to grind bar for materials for upgrades later in the game, and it was all around pretty good, solid and fast paced combat, with some skill expression, at the very least it was as if I had the option to route combos and practice things like perfect guard or perfect dodge, I'd say that it has the potential to have a higher skill ceiling but isn't a necessary part of playing the game.
That being said, the Raids? Uh, wave based defence section's? I can't recall the name off the top of my head. But they're a bigger part of the game then I'd liked, feeling like they take way too long, the scoring system for them is odd, and they all around aren't that interesting. Quite frankly if the game didn't have them at all I'd feel a bit more positively about it, but maybe others might enjoy that part of the game.
Lastly is exploration, probably my favourite part of the gameplay, I have a fondness for games that restrict exploration to smaller "zones", with some collectibles scattered throughout these zones that yield materials that you can collect and use toward things like upgrades or trading for items and a percentage which represents how much you've cleared the "fog of war" in each area. I personally adore this system of exploration and it makes the game damn near perfect in my eyes, coupled with the combat itself.
- Graphics and sound design:
Honestly I just feel like it's important to mention but I don't have a lot to say about it for this game, it's not groundbreakingly innovative, nor is it dead ugly. It's a vita game or port of a vita game if you're not playing it on the vita, it communicates it's visuals well, the sound design is clean not particularly offensive or annoying, with a varied soundtrack that doesn't overstay it's welcome. I frequently listen to video game music in my down time and none of the music has made it on that, which would be how I'd rate the sound track for most games. Quite frankly it's about average.
- Story:
The last thing I'll talk about as it's the only other thing I'd want to mention on here. In my honest opinion, second to the weakest part of this game, at least in the later half. Initially the game focuses on a ship wreck type of story pacing, finding survivors of the wreck, exploring the island and gathering supplies where they're able to, and slowly uncover the mystery that seemed to be surrounding the island. Now if it stopped there I'd probably bump it up to a 4 and a half rather then a 4, but it doesn't stay consistent to that theme, maybe it would have a been a struggle to make a whole game about that? Maybe not? But what I do know is that the entire mystery with Dana and Adol sharing memories with her, it was quite boring, any time I lost control of Adol in favour of playing as Dana I was just uninterested. I'd have to ask other people about their opinions to see where I stand, but suffice to say this definitely brought the game down for me, coupled with the raids is what makes it lose what would have been an easy 5* from me.
- Closing comments:
Thank you for reading all this way, honestly despite my issues with the game, this is probably my second favourite entry into the Ys series, it having made it to X Nordics by the time of writing this, and me not having play neither X or IX. At the very least I'm eager to see what else Falcom have planned for the Ys series.
2019
Quite good, music's good, gameplay is fun, characters are really good, especially the vergil dlc, though the story is quite sleepy, at least in my opinion.