Verniy
23 Reviews liked by Verniy
Is the bar so low on gaming that a game still full of bugs and a shallow open world is somehow considered fixed and a great comeback?
Hanamaru now has access to her upgraded ability! Her Laptop can cause a huge explosion!
You know, the biggest reason this one feel weaker is because it is inconsequential. Everything is given to you, while the first one made you work your ass on dumb annoying jobs and showed you how pathetic that is, that helped with the pace of the game and you felt some kinda of uh accomplishment when you got it.
Here, after removing the requirement and making the bosses easily accessible you wonder why you should care about them, not only it is easy to fight them, there is a lot of them and just a few are iconic and are going to be remembered.
Also, they really toned down the difficulty, you know? Almost all of the ranking battles you can win making a LOT of mistakes, i even checked more than once if i was on the lowest difficulty. I feel like they tried too much to improve on what most people complained about the first one, like the empty and clunky open world and dumb annoying side jobs but i felt like they just removed a lot of personality with it and while i do think the nes like minigames are super cute, there is no incentive to play them since you dont really need it, you know? What you gonna do with the money? Buy tshirts you dont see? Well, you see them when you complete the revenge missions if you get the no jacket but even then you are already finishing the game so whatever.
But, while trying to improve on what the first one, they got some things right, the ost here is way better i love this song. The combat feels way better and it is way cooler. And BEST of all, they added a super cute cat minigame, it was all i was hyped for, taking care of that fat ass cat jeane. Okay, i made her lose weight, yay i won.......
But yes, while i feel like the gameplay is way better here, i cared way less about characters and all, so in the end, it was a slightly worse game for me.
Here, after removing the requirement and making the bosses easily accessible you wonder why you should care about them, not only it is easy to fight them, there is a lot of them and just a few are iconic and are going to be remembered.
Also, they really toned down the difficulty, you know? Almost all of the ranking battles you can win making a LOT of mistakes, i even checked more than once if i was on the lowest difficulty. I feel like they tried too much to improve on what most people complained about the first one, like the empty and clunky open world and dumb annoying side jobs but i felt like they just removed a lot of personality with it and while i do think the nes like minigames are super cute, there is no incentive to play them since you dont really need it, you know? What you gonna do with the money? Buy tshirts you dont see? Well, you see them when you complete the revenge missions if you get the no jacket but even then you are already finishing the game so whatever.
But, while trying to improve on what the first one, they got some things right, the ost here is way better i love this song. The combat feels way better and it is way cooler. And BEST of all, they added a super cute cat minigame, it was all i was hyped for, taking care of that fat ass cat jeane. Okay, i made her lose weight, yay i won.......
But yes, while i feel like the gameplay is way better here, i cared way less about characters and all, so in the end, it was a slightly worse game for me.
The best and worst thing about this game is working. You spend a lot of time on this game driving the same roads, doing tedious jobs and is wondering all the time "is it worth it?"
Then you get like omg its just like real life and you start to realize that no its not worth it, but it needs to be done, after all, you need to pay that rent or enter that ranked match (in travis case). Yes, this game showed again how working is hell, and you get the full experience, riding in a super ugly open world with questionable physics and when you arrive in the job you do something dumb like grabbing coconuts while the npc says omg you need to be hardworking it will get better but it never does.
Then you get like omg its just like real life and you start to realize that no its not worth it, but it needs to be done, after all, you need to pay that rent or enter that ranked match (in travis case). Yes, this game showed again how working is hell, and you get the full experience, riding in a super ugly open world with questionable physics and when you arrive in the job you do something dumb like grabbing coconuts while the npc says omg you need to be hardworking it will get better but it never does.
Super charming game that does a lot of things right for me.
The timed combat is something i had not played yet and i had lots of fun testing my reflexes, the most fun i had with it was at the start of the game when virgo was alone and if you made mistakes you were basically dead. After some hours, you know, the game got too easy for my liking, you know? Having a party really dumbed down a lot the difficulty of this game, making combat way less fun. Specially after you mastered crafting, which is something i didnt have much fun, while it was cool to have a lot of weapons with advantages and disadvantages, there was a point in the game virgo was so strong that it didnt matter much what you pick actually. Please note i played this game on normal which the game said it was the correct one and what it said it was balanced for.
Besides that, all the game atmosphere was cute, i liked all character designs mostly and while i think the music was a bit repetitive it was still fun in the end.
Last but not least, this game is super gay, so grab it if you want to see gay zodiacs dating.
The timed combat is something i had not played yet and i had lots of fun testing my reflexes, the most fun i had with it was at the start of the game when virgo was alone and if you made mistakes you were basically dead. After some hours, you know, the game got too easy for my liking, you know? Having a party really dumbed down a lot the difficulty of this game, making combat way less fun. Specially after you mastered crafting, which is something i didnt have much fun, while it was cool to have a lot of weapons with advantages and disadvantages, there was a point in the game virgo was so strong that it didnt matter much what you pick actually. Please note i played this game on normal which the game said it was the correct one and what it said it was balanced for.
Besides that, all the game atmosphere was cute, i liked all character designs mostly and while i think the music was a bit repetitive it was still fun in the end.
Last but not least, this game is super gay, so grab it if you want to see gay zodiacs dating.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
2019
This review contains spoilers
Ys IX wants to die. It is a wild game of tug-of-war between celebrating and despairing the conservative realities the series has found itself trapped in (ie legacy and tradition). Here, the player's efforts to supress a revolt against colonial oppressors is revealed to be a fairly explicit critique of itself and the games industry writ large; a stagnant place obsessed with iteration and product and "progress", where new games aren't games but IP--intellectual property--and gamers delight in sales and Metacritic scores.
Using its rigid, episodic structure and (in normal mode) combat that can be solved without a thought in the brain, the game acts much as the prison that the narrative centers around, lulling the player into a sort of dull comfort with the lack of freedom afforded. It can be maddening watching the wheels spin; by the end you hardly want to leave. The NPCs littering the city are so charming after all, the cast so nice, the battles like a warm bath.
So when the villain is revealed to be, on some level, the very history of Ys, which is responsible for the prison that contains you, a well of complex emotions is born. Adol fights Adol, but he can never win or lose because Ys cannot die as long as money is to be made. It is like the cast: a hommonculi to be born and reborn for eternity until its use runs dry.
And what the game asks at the end, and doesn't really have an answer for is as simple and complex as a question can get: is that such a bad thing? Part of it says no, that these memories are valuable, that they have connected people and helped others, that the comfort expected from the series provides what so many games strive for--a respite from the world. But another part the game is there, and it cries "yes."
Ys is getting another game soon. It couldn't not. 10 is looking a lot like 8 and 9 while also bringing in trends from other games. It looks good. I'm looking forward to it.
more thoughts here
Using its rigid, episodic structure and (in normal mode) combat that can be solved without a thought in the brain, the game acts much as the prison that the narrative centers around, lulling the player into a sort of dull comfort with the lack of freedom afforded. It can be maddening watching the wheels spin; by the end you hardly want to leave. The NPCs littering the city are so charming after all, the cast so nice, the battles like a warm bath.
So when the villain is revealed to be, on some level, the very history of Ys, which is responsible for the prison that contains you, a well of complex emotions is born. Adol fights Adol, but he can never win or lose because Ys cannot die as long as money is to be made. It is like the cast: a hommonculi to be born and reborn for eternity until its use runs dry.
And what the game asks at the end, and doesn't really have an answer for is as simple and complex as a question can get: is that such a bad thing? Part of it says no, that these memories are valuable, that they have connected people and helped others, that the comfort expected from the series provides what so many games strive for--a respite from the world. But another part the game is there, and it cries "yes."
Ys is getting another game soon. It couldn't not. 10 is looking a lot like 8 and 9 while also bringing in trends from other games. It looks good. I'm looking forward to it.
more thoughts here
This review contains spoilers
Another great JRPG ! The premise of this game is that you wash up on a deserted island, and as the game goes by, you rescue more & more castaways that were part of your ship.
The main hub, the Castaway Village, becomes more & more lively as you progress in the adventure. It was such a good idea.
The game has that "We are in the same shit together, so we gotta help each other if we want to make it out of here alive" dynamic, and it made me really engaged in the story from the get go.
I can't praise this game's music enough, it's among the best video game OSTs i've ever heard. I wish the soundtrack was fully orchestrated!
The combat was really satisfying because of how fast & dynamic it was, and the Boss fights were tough but really rewarding.
But honestly, the flash and parry mechanics were too powerful because you can reset the invulnerability frames indefinitely.
The setting & music gave such a great atmosphere to the game, I can't recommand it enough.
I had a really exhausting job during the time I was playing this game, and I can't tell you how relaxing & comforting it felt listening to "Drifting Village" or "Home from Home" after a long day of work. The hub themes are really cozy.
It would have been nice if there was a day/night cycle. I recall a very few moments in the main story where the game automatically sets the time to Dawn or Twilight, and that gave such a chill vibe to the Island.
But unfortunately, it's daytime 99% of the time.
PS: If you want the true Ending, do most raids & side quests when those are available. Don't worry, there are only a few of those. The game doesn't have a lot of side content.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in November 2021]
Playtime: 70 hours
100% Completion
The main hub, the Castaway Village, becomes more & more lively as you progress in the adventure. It was such a good idea.
The game has that "We are in the same shit together, so we gotta help each other if we want to make it out of here alive" dynamic, and it made me really engaged in the story from the get go.
I can't praise this game's music enough, it's among the best video game OSTs i've ever heard. I wish the soundtrack was fully orchestrated!
The combat was really satisfying because of how fast & dynamic it was, and the Boss fights were tough but really rewarding.
But honestly, the flash and parry mechanics were too powerful because you can reset the invulnerability frames indefinitely.
The setting & music gave such a great atmosphere to the game, I can't recommand it enough.
I had a really exhausting job during the time I was playing this game, and I can't tell you how relaxing & comforting it felt listening to "Drifting Village" or "Home from Home" after a long day of work. The hub themes are really cozy.
It would have been nice if there was a day/night cycle. I recall a very few moments in the main story where the game automatically sets the time to Dawn or Twilight, and that gave such a chill vibe to the Island.
But unfortunately, it's daytime 99% of the time.
PS: If you want the true Ending, do most raids & side quests when those are available. Don't worry, there are only a few of those. The game doesn't have a lot of side content.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in November 2021]
Playtime: 70 hours
100% Completion
A Musou with tower defense elements set in the DQ universe. Fun story, lots of different characters to mess around with and quite some endgame content to dive into. It goes for fairly cheap nowadays, give it a try if you enjoyed Hyrule Warriors/ Fire Emblem Warriors!
Hi-Fi Rush
2023
This game is so much fun OMG
Only thing i did not like is how they not punish my dumb ass properly for missing the beats it would be so funny if they made you miss your attacks everytime you missed the beat
Only thing i did not like is how they not punish my dumb ass properly for missing the beats it would be so funny if they made you miss your attacks everytime you missed the beat
Awful dungeons that not only are repetitive, but they always forces you to take longest path.
Boring and simplistic combat where you'll probably set it to auto or just press one button all the time.
The only saving grace when navigating through the mazes and awful combat was the music. Some of them are so good.
Well, I would not say this is a good game. It has good characters, touches some themes well, others not so much. But would you say dragging yourself through 20~30 hours of an annoying experience is okay? I'd not unless it had excellent characters and an excellent story. That's not the case here.
Boring and simplistic combat where you'll probably set it to auto or just press one button all the time.
The only saving grace when navigating through the mazes and awful combat was the music. Some of them are so good.
Well, I would not say this is a good game. It has good characters, touches some themes well, others not so much. But would you say dragging yourself through 20~30 hours of an annoying experience is okay? I'd not unless it had excellent characters and an excellent story. That's not the case here.
God of War Ragnarök
2022
I remember when i played the first one, I thought it could be a great game. There were faults, sure, but it could be better. Unfortunately, most of them are not entirely fixed. For starters, enemy variety got a little better, but just a little. The combat is the same, with just a few gimmicks (most of them very small and sometimes annoying) so you'll basically play the same game as before. That may be good, right? Yeah, if you enjoyed the first game and thought it was flawless, which I did not.
Now this game, while being much the same as 2018, comes with its own sets of problems. Who doesn't enjoy being taught how to play by your party all the time? That happens a lot. Who doesn't love a story without focus with a lot of chapters looking like glorified side quests? Well, that happened.
In the end, while 2018 was far from a perfect game, it still is better than this one, more enjoyable, the story had focus and was less annoying to play. At least, I didn't feel like I wanted it to end as soon as possible 10 hours in.
Now this game, while being much the same as 2018, comes with its own sets of problems. Who doesn't enjoy being taught how to play by your party all the time? That happens a lot. Who doesn't love a story without focus with a lot of chapters looking like glorified side quests? Well, that happened.
In the end, while 2018 was far from a perfect game, it still is better than this one, more enjoyable, the story had focus and was less annoying to play. At least, I didn't feel like I wanted it to end as soon as possible 10 hours in.
After playing this, i wonder what makes a game good for me?
In the first hours, i was pretty sure i was gonna dislike it. The combat was boring and repetitive, the side quests sucked, the pace was too slow and i wasn't really liking it.
Sometimes, hours later that changed. I was more enthralled by its characters and the world building, listening to the soundtrack a lot, wanting to know more about the story and really really liking the characters. (Emil is such a sweet baby and Kaine is so so cool).
After finishing all endings, i was really thinking, was it really worth it? I guess i complained a lot about playing the same game over and over again while really disliking the combat and thinking all the time about changing to auto battle just to get the remaining endings.
But in the end, i think i would do it again, despite its shortcomings, this is a really good game and truly something special for me. I disliked a lot of it, not gonna lie. But the moments i liked, i liked it very much.
In the first hours, i was pretty sure i was gonna dislike it. The combat was boring and repetitive, the side quests sucked, the pace was too slow and i wasn't really liking it.
Sometimes, hours later that changed. I was more enthralled by its characters and the world building, listening to the soundtrack a lot, wanting to know more about the story and really really liking the characters. (Emil is such a sweet baby and Kaine is so so cool).
After finishing all endings, i was really thinking, was it really worth it? I guess i complained a lot about playing the same game over and over again while really disliking the combat and thinking all the time about changing to auto battle just to get the remaining endings.
But in the end, i think i would do it again, despite its shortcomings, this is a really good game and truly something special for me. I disliked a lot of it, not gonna lie. But the moments i liked, i liked it very much.
I feel like i have fallen in love with Erika. Her witty retorts, the big amount of references, great knowledge of pop culture, sarcasm and self deprecating jokes. She's too much. I love her. And since i love her, i also love this game, most of the game is very interesting and the character growth is immense (Erika, Chidori and well, Suou to an extent). The music is very enjoyable and the art continues to be great as always.
But beware, the epilogue of this game will not get you hooked like the first one.
But beware, the epilogue of this game will not get you hooked like the first one.
Stray
2022
It's cute, you can listen to the cat meowning as many times as you want. There are good visuals and the cat is so cute and lovely. But i still think this could be a great game and so much better.
I think the biggest flaw in this boils down to the fact you don't really feel like a cat and everything feels scripted. The jumps are just press x to jump which removes most of the fun (remember: you're a cat), you have scripted places to sleep and so on.
The most fun i had was just exploring in the slums and vibing finding hidden places and things to do which was the most catlike thing you could do in the game.
After that i feel like the game lost its own purpose with a very bland cyberpunk story and some questionable mechanics which were quickly discarded.
I still think it's a good game and there's a lot of worth in it's gorgeous visuals and watching the cute cat animations (which its obvious they put a lot of focus on). But i still feel like it could have been a better game if it was more focused on being a cat sim.
I think the biggest flaw in this boils down to the fact you don't really feel like a cat and everything feels scripted. The jumps are just press x to jump which removes most of the fun (remember: you're a cat), you have scripted places to sleep and so on.
The most fun i had was just exploring in the slums and vibing finding hidden places and things to do which was the most catlike thing you could do in the game.
After that i feel like the game lost its own purpose with a very bland cyberpunk story and some questionable mechanics which were quickly discarded.
I still think it's a good game and there's a lot of worth in it's gorgeous visuals and watching the cute cat animations (which its obvious they put a lot of focus on). But i still feel like it could have been a better game if it was more focused on being a cat sim.