It's kinda hard for me to fully articulate my thoughts on a game that essentially existed for a solid 8 years while I've rushed through the story content in only two months. There are feelings I've not been able to quite feel due to my lack of history, and important context I can't help but lament missing.

So I speak here not as an old veteran, or even as someone with at least some history with the franchise like I had with FFXIV, but as someone who was sapped into this game this very year for a silly reason and couldn't help but forge through to the end.

Okay, so, game's good. I don't think I have much of interest to say concerning the gameplay, it's fairly engaging hack n' slash that does its job at worst, and uses fairly inventive tricks to heighten the story moments at its best (especially impressive for a mobile game).
What I signed up for, and I was really interested in however, was the story. I have an...acquiantance shall we say (wink) who had started this game around last year and praised it a very decent amount. I held strong for a while, but in the end I just needed to know what the deal was. What was she seeing, feeling, that I was missing out on. And I...understand now. Honkai's story is a heartfelt, beautiful ode to a lot of the themes that person and I hold dear in our chests, it's a deeply emotional plot that generally always kept me wanting to see more of the world and setting. It goes beyond the game and into the multimedia too. The numerous mangas, the two VNs, the numerous animations, the silly chibis, everything works together wonderfully to create what is one of the most comprehensive and insanely "full" experiences I've had with any story.

And here comes the part where I'm gonna be a stinky poo poo and complain about gacha again. Yes it's a gacha, yes I hate those, and yes I hate that this game is one too. In fact, if all my praise thus far is to the highest degree, I think the medium of the game still halts it from becoming a true and tried favorite in my heart. It's an unfortunate moral shield I still hold, but I cannot in good conscience praise this game again and again without the very large asterisk of: this game is still of the genre that aims to suck out your money with edulcorated gambling.

However. I praised this game first because what I saw, what I played and what I felt throughout my whole experience, from the writing to the characters truly did take their roots in me. Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, Elysia, and all the others who've had numerous arcs across multiple media and chapters were written genuinely and with a sincerity that affected me to my deepest core. So I want to emphasize that while I abhor this game's medium, it's something I can't really fully blame the writers, animators, designers and developers on. (Who am I blaming then? Capitalism.)

In short (lol); Honkai Impact 3rd is a beautifully written game with some stumbles here and there, especially in the first half of the game where it's clear the general outline of the plot was not quite as well defined. The gameplay is as fun as it should be and the multiple strong emotional moments have had their effects on me, to the point I'm a slightly different person for having experienced all of what Honkai had to offer. I just have to lament that this isn't a game one can ethically consume. And this will apply to any gacha I play in the future, which I guess makes me slightly part of the problem too, even despite my f2p status.

But I can blame capitalism all day (and I DO), in the end it's these complicated and mixed feelings that make up the bulk of my thoughts. I love this game, i love the world it developed around it, and I love the stories it made me go through.
But more than any of that, I love the insight it gave me into the passion of the person I hold dearest in this whole world.

Thanks Alise, may we keep fighting for all that is beautiful in the world, together.

As a sequel, Ar Tonelico 2 is one of the most impressive upgrades i've seen in the genre. The story is much more involved, the characters generally better rounded, the gameplay reworked into something even more engaging and the general themes by which the first game shone are very much still present, and only flourish further with the added stakes and conflicts.

But if I had to pinpoint one aspect in which this entry shines the brightest, it would be in its use of previously set up concepts, gameplay and lore ones alike, to greater effect than its predecessors. The cosmospheres especially play a lot with one's expectations from 1 and a lot of the player's preconceived notions are taken advantage of in clever ways.
However, you are actually locked from progress in other cosmospheres than the reyvateil whose story split you choose, something that mildly upsets my completionist side, but absolutely works better within the context of the game.

So what I say can't fully apply to Cloche or Luca's cosmospheres, because I ended up doing and (extremely painfully, thanks to a terrible grind) finishing Jakuri's cosmosphere, which had some of the most beautiful, sincere and heartfelt character writing i've seen across these two games. Holy shit I love her so fucking much.

Another thing I HAVE to mention desperately is the focus on Cloche and Luca's relationship throughout the game. The first game had been fairly lackluster in terms of inter-party dynamics, but the second remedies that by giving every character a foil, which further gives way to exploration of other types of dynamic, like fraternal or paternal love. And amongst these differing dynamics, the one Cloche and Luca share, which develop over the course of the whole game, is legitimately so emotional and made me cry multiple separate times. The game is genuinely great at letting the girls breathe and write themselves, instead of relying too heavily on the male protagonist, who this time around is often on the side as a supportive, yet helpful entity. Croix also feels more flawed and sympathetic than the A Little Too Shonen Lyner.

Overall the game follows suit to Ar Tonelico 1 in the way it delves into our mutual understanding and relationships between people, and it does so with a genuinely exciting plot, incredibly likeable characters, and a very loving message about the need to live our lives together, with the people we love and understand. Also Holy Fucking Shit Jakuri Deserves The World.

I had such a great time going through this game, and it was made even better by playing it with a close, genuine friend. It only strengthened my appreciation for the themes at play.

Thanks Radd, sorry for the fan club grind, that really sucked lmao.

Ar Tonelico is kinda good. It's pretty neat. It's like really nice.
It's a genuinely incredible artistic and musical direction put into a fairly fun gameplay system, with somewhat annoying dungeon design and borderline nonexistent difficulty.
The plot itself is nice and conveys its general themes of understanding and harmony between people fairly well, but the highlight of the writing comes in the form of both main girls' cosmospheres, and the general handling of the struggles, development and relationship with the main protagonist.
One fairly pervasive issue with the game is its insistence on making you backtrack through previously visited areas fairly often, especially in Phase 2 and a little 3, but it's more of a light blemish than an all-encompassing problem to me.

All in all, I'm glad to have played it, it's a lovely little game that might not break any new ground but I know I'll cherish it in some small part of me.

Alright, let's do this one more time.
Treasures of Aht Urhgan is pretty neat!

I held no real expectations that it would rival Promathia, and I was right, but I don't think it really needed to anyway? It was a nice little story with interesting concepts, dang cool lore, very neat locales and a net boost in production value and presentation.

The cutscenes feel more vibrant, with genuine good comedy finally being conveyed by the presentation, as well as the writing (NEED TANK? SEND TELL), and I also really liked the ost being used specifically for comedic purposes.

Character-wise, I don't think the cast is as stacked as Promathia's but Aphmau and Luzaf were genuinely very well written, especially as dual foils to one another. On top of that, the overall larger stake divine battle between Alexander and Odin englobing the expansion's plot was like SUPER cool, even if the resolution was (by design) open-ended (one day i'll deal with those epilogues bweh).

Something else of note is that I've finished the Windurst questline (the non-S.O.B portion at any rate) in preparation for the next expansion, and it was pretty cool honestly! I'll definitely do the other two before WoG, which will also wait a while cause i'm thinking of taking a break from the game.

But overall, good expansion, I liked it!

Continuing my chronicles through FFXI after the base game and the first expansion, Rise of the Zilart, this time we have the second expansion, and true ending to the game's original storyline, Chains of Promathia.

It's fucking amazing bro.

The scale of the conflict, the writing, the characters, everything lives, breathes and shits the best of the best of what Final Fantasy can offer through its most poignant narratives, this isn't just a good FF or a good mmo story, it's one of the best FFs period and has an inherent quality to it that wouldn't be out of place in that one other Final Fantasy MMO (you know the one).

The very stakes have been gradually ascending since the base game and it all comes to a head with the plot this time around, between potential omnicide by wyrms to reincarnated demiurges, this expansion is packed full with batshit crazy developments and twists left and right, as well as really interesting revelations concerning the very lore of the setting, it's Vana'diel at its most endangered yet fascinating form.

The cast is also at its most interesting here. I liked the tag-along characters in Zilart, but the relative shortness of the storyline meant not a lot of attention was given to the likes of Zeid, Lion and Aldo. This time however that problem is largely averted, with a nuanced cast of fairly fleshed out characters, who all have their time to shine and develop overtime. The standouts being Tenzen and Prishe of course.

Gameplay-wise, I made the decision to lock myself at level 80 for the whole expansion (I was overleved for like 4/5ths of it so it was a good call) and thus my experience shouldn't have been that different. However I acknowledge there's a lot more intricacy to the dungeon design this time around, not always for the better, but I can conceive this would have been really riveting content at release and I respect that!
Also the last thing I did right after beating the final boss was get my super kewl sword skill so I take that as a personal reward for my actions kyehehe...

Special mention goes to the music, which while not adding THAT many new tracks, is pretty much a straight upgrade in most ways from Zilart (except for the final boss music bweh) and how could I not talk about the absolutely magnificent ending song, Distant Worlds.

That shit made me cry dawg. Uncool.

All in all, Chains of Promathia is where FFXI truly grew the beard for me. It's a lot of cool concepts executed really well and while I'm not expecting the next few story arcs to equal, let alone surpass it, it still gives me great expectations from the kind of writing quality I might be getting in the future.

I'm fully won over now. I'll see this FFXI journey to the very end!

Continuing my ineffable quest through Vana'diel, this time with the first major expansion Rise of the Zilart.

It's good! Story-wise, XI finally is starting to unveil its deeper lore to pretty impressive effect, as well as try to branch out more in terms of cutscene composition. It's still pretty basic, as final fantasy plots go, but basic is good.

Gameplay-wise, the quests this time around are still quite fetchy, but i've found them way WAY less annoying this time around, and I guess caring more about the plot helps too. But I was happy to see there was no "mission 4" fiasco this time around, I can only handle Castle Oztroja so many times before fucking evaporating haha...
I've also started getting more accustomed to the combat and skillchains and such. It still feels like my trusts are doing the bulk of the work (and they are) but sometimes i do big numbers and it feels nice :D

But yeah, Zilart was a nice surprise overall. I wasn't expecting anything in particular, and I got a few neat things and I liked it! Very excited for Chains of Promathia now, definitely one of my most anticipated expansions in this game, we'll see how it treats me.

Giving this game, or at the very least its base campaign, any ranking today feels a bit weird I'm gonna be real.
It's clear this experience extends much further and I do intend to discover where it might lead.
But I still do want to put a small recounting of my feelings about this game up until this point so that I may contrast the quality of it later down the road.

It took me a few months to really get into this game, and I don't blame anyone for immediately shafting it in the opening hours. The controls are clunky, the mechanics are poorly explained, the exploration can be gruelingly slow and a lot of QoL features made specifically to cater to novices are very badly tutorialized, which sucks.
A lot of the early game will be spent navigating from wiki page to reddit questions about the most basic bullshit to your more veteran friend's dms, if you're lucky enough to have such a friend (thanks Alise).
However, and this is where I can't really justify myself, once you're past the stage of second guessing every mouse click, and once you begin understanding the patterns under which the game operates, it's...good?

It's still slow, there are still a lot of things kept from the player for no discernable reason and some of the dungeon design would make the CIA's torture teams blush in embarrassment, but I definitely took enjoyment in the general experience.

The world of Vana'diel is bleak, shrouded in a lot of mysteries and secrets, some of which the main plot does address. Exploring, seeing the sights, discovering more and more of the towns and regions of the world felt like my exploration was being rewarded in kind. It felt good to walk for hours and to finally discover a bustling town of miners embroiled in thinly veiled racial tensions.

And while the plot itself is, quite frankly, a tad basic for what you'd expect from an FF game in the 2000s, there were some genuinely great scenes and set pieces, and the main villain was really poignant? It definitely did struck a chord with me at the very least.

All of this is a rough and general summary of my experience with FFXI's base campaign, and I don't doubt some of my feelings about it will change with the later content. I think XI's a game with a flawed, but fairly decent foundation with an unfortunately alienating new player experience. However, if you do have the patience to surmount those harsh early hours of the game, and a few other stumbles along the way, this game might be worth a shot.

An improvement over its first entry in pretty much every way that matters, Nirvana Initative uses the original's concepts and takes them way further, with more interesting somnia, deeper twists, very emotional dynamics and the sort of Uchikoshi-isms I'd expect from an Infinity or ZE title.

I went into this game scared that AI's mainstream appeal would keep Uchikoshi from being his usual weirdo freak self when it comes to using conventional narrative tropes to fuck you over, but I'll be damned. This game sure fucked me over big time.

My thirst for another Infinity game is not quite quenched, but I'm at least glad he can be just as wacky with his ideas, and I'm excited to see what he pulls next.

I might have been less stringent on the rating if the lategame missions hadn't been an absolute pain in the chode to get through.
It's a classic, and I don't regret playing it, but man it's obvious this was not the game they originally planned lmao.

Some highlights include the Black Knight fights and the general aesthetic mixing RE-style horror with cool action flick stuff, but it's nigh impossible to get past the glaring issues with level design, most boss fights and even the mechanics themselves.

Would only recommend if you're really ready to endure some jank.

I fucking love this game.

I feel lucky to have found an easy way to acquire it now, but I've been curious about X for years now. And surprise, it's amazing.

There's just so much to love that I can't quite sum up here, or i'll be writing pages for a fucking backloggd review lmao, i'll try to be brief.

The open world is amazing, the different biomes feel distinct yet fitting in the larger landscape of the setting, and exploring its every corner feels both rewarding and just super fun, ESPECIALLY when you unlock your giant robot and THEN when your giant robot FLIES. The biggest "holy shit" i've had was discovering the flight mechanics has next to no limits and I just had this huge, insane world completely within my reach. The world is big and dangerous and menacing, but it's also inviting, and fully discovering everything is made incredibly fun like nothing else.

Other aspects of the gameplay are also great. Now i can't pretend i understand the whole combat system, especially with the mechs, but it FEELS cool, and really, that's all that matters.

Just like 1 and 2, the game features a lot of sidequests, sometimes chains that unwrap throughout the story, and a lot of them give really neat development to the side cast and the setting at large, which makes them more like an addon to the main story rather than something i'd call "optional" content. It's genuinely great.

As for the main story, while I understand people felt underwhelmed since the actual plot itself is not that deep until like the last 5 hours of the game maybe, I've found the strong thematic and emotional core of the main characters' struggles to carry each chapter really nicely. Also, and this might be a hot take but..

...this game is clearly meant to have a sequel lol.

As for what we have on our hands standalone, I still appreciate it on its own merits, but there is next to no doubt in my mind an X2 would vindicate most of the criticism levied against X story-wise.

All in all, my one regret is not having had enough time to truly sink my teeth into every sidequest, affinity mission and other shenanigans because of pesky irl reasons. Maybe I will eventually come back to those, who knows. But for the meanwhile, Xenoblade Chronicles X has been an absolute blast and I cannot praise it highly enough.

Aside from the pretty persistent performance issues and a few annoyances (holy shit fuck fishing), this game is such a perfect little microcosm of what I want from a Zelda game.

It's chockful of wacky characters, engaging puzzles, really fun exploration and a surprisingly sweet yet melancholic storyline.

You can realistically do most of everything in around 10 hours, so the full price is absolutely not justified, but this was gifted to me anyways soooooo...

Idk what else to say, the game is fun reggie.gif

Impeccable story-telling, a really tight structure and pretty fun gameplay make up a truly excellent craft.

So why can't I care more about it.

The game is, on paper, not only flawless but a lot of things that personally appeal to me, through some themes, the writing and the structure of the scenarios. Yet, I can't help but feel hollow anyway, and not the kind of hollow that comes from an outstandingly good experience.

After such a theoretically great game, I just feel...meh. It was aight.

There was nothing else for me to really hold on, nothing to brainrot over, nothing to personally care for.

It's like a very good painting. It's beautiful and expertly crafted, but after I go home from the museum, I'm gonna just think about something else.