The Hanging Edge

The name shared by both the first area and its accompanying background music in FFXIII immediately transmit the sense of tension and exhilaration that both of them contain. As you gain control of Lightning, the area around you is chaotic, crawling with enemies, rife with conflict. The slightly panicked piano pops into your ears, compelling you to start to move forward. Yet then it is also a sweeping strings section that bursts in as well, conveying the scale of everything happening around you. It makes you want to soak in the stunning environment, the excitement of your surroundings. But there is only one way forward, and the only option left is to run.

It wouldn't be true to say that XIII is defined by freneticism necessarily, but it is such a striking element that it bears mentioning nonetheless. That first level sets a tone that doesn't let up for quite some time, one that deserves immense credit for how committed they were to it. The paths only have one way to go because it's the only way the characters CAN go. They are hunted by what feels like the entire world around them, while pitted against the ticking time bomb they've been stuck with, and still not even able to keep from fighting with each other. Needless to say, the design directly serves the story by adding that tension for them to spin great character moments out of. This is a group of people struggling against circumstance, compelled to keep moving forward when they don't really have a direction. Splitting the party up works great for this, as it allows for Lightning/Hope and Sazh/Vanille to play off of each other and simultaneously get strong character development. These sections work so well because of how focused they are, but the resolution is equally as satisfying too.

The thrilling nature of the story plays very well into the design of the combat system as well, contributing to the consistent sense of energy that the game has. The original ATB system was inspired by Formula One races, yet this system is the first time that dream feels fully realized. The segmented ATB bar gives that sense of actual speed, making it rewarding to act as quickly as possible. It also rewards attentiveness, as even with just auto-attack the timing of your actions is important. Strategy is more important than ever as well, due to Paradigms allowing for mid-battle adaptability. The stagger bar is a great mini-time limit that incentivizes all of these things. It all works quite excellently, and while it takes some time to fully unfurl it is easily one of the best battle systems in the franchise. If anything, I wish it could have been taking advantage of even more. The menus could be even snappier, the time between switching paradigms even faster, and even enemies with more emphasis placed on countering player inattentiveness.

I mentioned before that the fast-paced style of the game isn't the only one it has, and the marked shift it undergoes later is interesting in a lot of ways. There's an inherent satisfaction in stepping into a vast open area after hours of being essentially trapped, a really well done contrast that shows just how foreign Pulse is compared to Cocoon. However, it also feels disappointingly compromised in a lot of ways. A side mission based structure is a fun idea, but it mostly functions as a way to still lead you from point A to B rather than giving a real sense of exploration. Having a lot of enemies that are meant to be avoided is a neat idea for an area consumed by nature, but it also feels at odds with how enjoyable the freedom of the combat is. It also just feels unnecessarily trial-and-error heavy, which just feels like wasting time. Of course the dungeons at the end of this area are quite strong, but it still feels like it missed on the potential at hand and just went back to what works.

This is just one chapter though ultimately, so it's hard to say it ruins the game. One aspect that it does show that I found to be much more detrimental, however, is that the story starts to crack pretty hard around this point. The story thrives off character moments for most of its run time, but it feels somewhat aimless once it moves past that. Of course, this isn't to say it's bad or anything. Oerba is a particularly impactful moment, letting a long lost town just completely speak for itself for the most part is an excellent contrast to the excess of Cocoon. Outside of this though, the story fails to entirely deliver on the promise it makes. We know that Cocoon has elements of a police state, that people like Cid resist it, and that its citizens support its crimes, yet it never feels like we get solid resolutions to these aspects of the world. I don't think answering all of these necessarily makes for a great story, however I don't think pinning them all on the influence of a Fal'cie does either. The main villain has plans that are greater than we know, but that also makes it hard to get attached to the main characters fight against him. The idea that defying fate is the only reason you need to fight is a good theme, yet I don't think that means it couldn't have been more as a whole.

Even if it falls short of being my favorite in such a stacked franchise, I want to reiterate that I think XIII still resonates quite well all around. It's hard to not be impressed by how bold this game is when it pays off in so many ways. I heard most of my life about what a disaster it is, and now it feels like that just speaks to what a tough time it was for JRPGs to get a fair shake. Rather than a fundamentally broken mess, it's a game that could have tapped into its potential even more. Yet what is there is still quite special in its own way, and for that I hope it manages to get more recognition some day.

SMT2 is atypical from most JRPGs in more ways than you would expect. Eschewing a traditional adventure with towns along the way is nothing necessarily new, but the way SMT2 focuses on such a sprawling but interconnected region feels pretty forward thinking. There's obvious inspiration from Western RPGs, but it also evokes Dark Souls or FF12 with its commitment to an immersive world.

There's no doubt that the world itself is incredibly interesting and creative in a lot of ways, much more so than SMT1. From the unique flavor text to the striking aesthetics of each area, Kaneko's creativity really bleeds through constantly. It makes for probably the best aspect of the exploration.

However the exploration itself often ends up as a tedious and extremely frustrating task. I mentioned Dark Souls as an example of an immersive world that SMT2 reminds me of, but Dark Souls both commits to making you move from place to place on foot and has interesting gameplay. SMT2's gameplay is, well, terrible. It's pretty much brainless levels of easy for most of the game but with a ridiculous amount of encounters. I sort of knew this would be the case going in, but even if I was able to get past the combat itself the overall design feels made to waste time to insane degrees. Most of the games runtime is made up of fetch quests which drag you around every corner of the map. I understand wanting you to explore the map, but so much of the game being inane backtracking for little gameplay or story reward gets extremely frustrating.

Unfortunately, this detracts a lot from the story a lot of the time for me as well. This is by far the aspect of the game I've seen praised the most, and I think there is good reason for this. Not only does it have a much more interesting setting than SMT1, it also has a much more interesting alignment system that feels less wishy-washy about what it's trying to say. But the structure hurts it greatly still, as the story is only interesting until it suddenly isn't again. For every long expository dialogue scene there's another 10 hours of wandering around doing random tasks afterwards with little story impact. Aleph is a cool idea for a protagonist, with a really neat twist, but it's also undermined by the fact that there's little to no interactions that build up to the twist or follow up on it. For every interesting plot point I know it will be followed by "Find the 8 Idols of shitfuck to unlock the gate" I got the Law ending and it was interesting and neat but also felt detached from the rest of the game as well, mostly functioning off a cool aesthetic. I think the story had a big chance to make up for the rest of the game for me but I came away from it with little attachment.

I might be giving SMT2 a more positive score than how it actually felt to play but I can see the appeal to such a unique game. There's a really striking creative voice behind a lot of it that even SMT1 didn't really have. I just wish it could have all come together for me to be able to see it as a masterpiece at all.

I don't normally like commenting on this kind of thing but there's a fascinating consensus that I've noticed when it comes to opinions on this game. It's slow, tedious, repetitive and looks like crap. But that's not what you really play it for, right?

Well, in a lot of ways it really is what you play it for. I think one of the most interesting parts of FSR to me is how it utilizes those long stretches of walking. I found myself thinking of every step, watching Sumio creep closer and closer to another inane goal. My eyes fixated on the surroundings, taking in the quickly familiar fuzzy landscapes of Lospass Island. I wasn't paying attention out of any sense of danger or obstacles popping up, and it wasn't even because I expected some great payoff at the end. It was because I had fallen under its spell. Sumio walked, and so did I.

Of course part of what makes it so great is how it bathes in the atmosphere of the island at every moment. I've seen it compared to a horror movie before, with the sense of eerie claustrophobia that comes from running through the same environment over and over again. But it's also something that becomes intimate, just part of the routine after a while. None of it is reinforced better than through Sumio's odd interactions with each character. He's given a nonsense task, he completes it because, well, of course he does. It's who he is, and who we become.

It's hard to properly explain why I love FSR's writing, but the character interactions make for both absurd and heartwarming moments. Suda51's tonal balance here is absolutely immaculate. The endings to each chapter shift from ridiculous punchlines to fantastic punctuations of a huge story moment, sometimes both at once. Also some of the rare metacommentary that is actually funny. Thank you Suda.

I've seen people also talk about how this game becomes slowly more hostile to Sumio over time. It's true, more and more as time goes on he is called a "pawn". But even at his most derided, it feels like there's a genuine appreciation for him by the end. Lospass Island really embodies a feeling of "paradise" that I haven't seen before. I left it not with feelings of discomfort, but a vague sense of warmth. The one thing about paradise is that it can't last forever, and eventually Sumio and the player have to go. But you can always take back souvenirs.

I don't really know what I'm talking about anymore but I love this game. KILL THE PAST

This makes me feel very vindicated as a long time 3D World fan. Bursting with so many unique ideas, both in terms of gameplay and style, that show how few games can really come close to Mario at it's best in terms of creativity. I don't think every idea here reaches it's fullest potential but I appreciate how none of them really overstay their welcome. A lot of these levels definitely place more emphasis on these unique experiences and exploration as a whole over pure platforming, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I guess my main knock is that I expected a more complete package, not even necessarily longer just more to it. These mini-challenge levels with badges are fine in their own right but they feel like a concession to both pad the level count and give more straightforward platforming areas, yet come off a bit half-baked. I was also pretty surprised at how short the endgame was but it is done very well for what it is. I'm sure there will be either DLC or a sequel to this eventually which is fine. At worst, it's a really big step in the right direction for 2D Mario and the most exciting entry in quite some time.

A game where I definitely feel compelled to gloss over some of the flaws because I really appreciate what it's trying to do.

The combat isn't necessarily bad, but it is definitely mediocre at best. Even playing the harder PSX version of the game it just felt more like going through the motions than anything requiring a ton of thought or strategy. Spam fusion spells, maybe keep a healer going and hope to burn things down as fast as you can. It's a shame that when there is difficulty it comes off as more frustrating than anything, with an overreliance on status inflictions from a lot of the later bosses.

The contact system is something I do enjoy quite a bit though, it works particularly well with how charming all of the cast is even if it gets a bit repetitive as the game goes on. It's a fun way to incentivize not having to fight some battles but still getting something out of them. I do think it could have been more clear early on though that this is how you should be using it, mainly to recover SP if you need to.

All that being said, the story is definitely where this game gets the most praise and for good reason. I really enjoy how much emphasis there is on the dangers of rumors and misinformation, while the plot starts out slow I think it was worth it so we can see how these elements really start to snowball over the course of the game. I particularly like how it not only showed the lies told to others but also the lies that people tell to themselves, either to deny a trait they have or to forget the past. The way the central characters exemplify this and tie it all back to the central mystery is really satisfying as well.

The ending does feel a bit rushed though, they don't really do a great job of making the actual supernatural mechanics super clear or interesting. I definitely think this is something they did a lot better in the later games, at least in terms of making this stuff more accessible/palatable. I haven't played Eternal Punishment yet though either.

In general, Innocent Sin still feels a bit like a series figuring out what it wants to be in many ways, crossing a lot of older SMT type stuff with more new and unique elements. Yet it still stands on its own as well with such a strong cast and story, and it's easy to see how it really sticks with people who play it.

One of the absolute best and most underrated games I've ever played. The gameplay is so insanely unique that I don't think there is really anything like it. Every puzzle completely uses the mechanics to their fullest and puts the player in the best situation to comfortably find the solution, and it never feels poorly designed or frustrating. Everything is very well thought out and fully intuitive which makes it a very rewarding experience.
The story is also immensely well executed. It's basically hard to say anything about this game without spoiling but it somehow piles mystery on top of mystery and manages to give everything a satisfying answer and has a straight up perfect conclusion. The writing is very clever and funny while also packing emotional weight when it needs to. Shu Takumi's writing style shines as much as it did with the Ace Attorney games and the amount of personality he puts in is unparalleled by most games.
The art style and animation are super unique and creative as well, every character has so many little details and quirks that give them a ton of personality. The music, just as in Ace Attorney, is extremely good as well. Something about Masakazu Sugimori's style is just very charming and always evokes DS nostalgia for me.

I cannot recommend this game enough, as I said it is hard to say much without spoiling but it is an immensely gratifying gaming experience that there is really nothing like still. It's also extremely accessible and can be enjoyed by probably anyone, especially people who love the Ace Attorney series.

I'm not asking anymore play it NOW

"A Rebirth Of Tactical RPGs"

I can't confess to having played Ogre Battle, the series which Unicorn Overlord has been compared to the most, however I've played enough Fire Emblem to appreciate the goals it set out for. This phrase, which was all over the marketing, touts it as a "rebirth", which implies that it will lean the most on being a throwback. If anything however, it's the fusion of old and new here that makes Unicorn Overlord work so well.

If we never get a Genealogy of the Holy War remake, I can at least relish in the fact that we got another game where a blue hair prince on a horse is fighting battles on maps that are 1:1 to the world map. Vanillaware considered this game their biggest undertaking yet, and it shows in how impressive the scale of it is. Each battle is elevated both by the sense of immersion that fighting on chunks of the overworld brings, and it's also a satisfying 60 hours or so of seeing more and more territory reclaimed. It also extends even further than Genealogy by letting you actually spend time in the world you are fighting through. The town rebuilding may not be the most mechanically satisfying, but it is also integrated well enough into just normal exploration that its never a nuisance. Alongside the other overworld sidequests, it helps to add enough texture to the world to make reclaiming it feel rewarding.

Of course it takes plenty of elements to make a great strategy game, and the great mechanical base that Unicorn Overlord has makes it worthwhile in it's own right. The unit system is an excellent way of forcing frequent optimization, paying careful attention to which pieces to mix and match. On top of this, the sheer variety of classes that keeps being introduced until the end keeps this process going strong. For even more depth, the Tactics system is a fantastic turn on the automated battles that most SRPGs have. A FF12 gambit system-styled form of programming provides a lot of room to further fine tune every aspect of the combat. In a lot of ways, this works well with the enemy design to elevate the somewhat basic map design, however the maps are still probably the biggest flaw. There are some interesting wrenches thrown in here or there, like a fog of war chapter or ones with strict time limits, but it feels too afraid to commit fully. A common sentiment I have seen is that this game is too easy, which is true, but Vanillaware's goal being accessibility is fine enough. Yet I still wish they were more willing to make players feel uncomfortable, which I think Fire Emblem succeeds at while also being fairly accessible. It's never easy to demand more content, especially in a game like this, but I wish they went further with what they DO have.

Speaking of a common sentiment, the majority of criticism has focused on the games story. It's fair for people to call it "generic" but it's also somewhat misguided to me. While I also rolled my eyes at first seeing the Tolkien-esque setting and the deposed prince premise, I don't think this is entirely an issue. While many of the elements of the world are trope-y, the countless smaller stories within them give them a unique flavor, particularly for the individual characters. In taking influence from Fire Emblem, Vanillaware must have wisely noted how invested people are in the characters in these games. Thus the rapport system serves as a valuable way to add more story where needed while also never being intrusive on the core experience. I would say it even surpasses FE supports in a way with how much it lets you pick and choose with what you want to do, and the sheer scope of interactions you can have is impressive.

Yet simultaneously that scope is what leads into my actual issues with the story. It's impressive to have 5 distinct regions with their own cultures and histories, yet we don't get nearly enough insight as we should. Being generic isn't an issue, there's genuinely interesting ideas being hinted at in each region yet it's hard to really get invested in them. Even though the game is 60 hours, if you split that up into 5 it doesn't leave much room for each area to shine as much as it could. Part of that is because so much of it is core gameplay, yet I would trade maybe a couple filler missions for some more narrative depth. Simultaneously this would make up for the main story with Alain being not that great, but it makes it come off a little worse instead. It feels like he lacks agency a lot of the time and has to take a backseat to these situations which would be fine if they had gotten more depth. There are some choices in the game, but they feel like pretty obvious ones most of the time. I respect the width it guns for, but its easy to see why it ended up unsatisfying.

Of course it's worth putting all of this in perspective too. This game took just under a decade to develop and Vanillaware ran out of money. 13 Sentinels also had a long and arduous development concurrently, with most of the focus being on the story. This isn't to say that Unicorn Overlord is made better by knowing this, but it would be also unfair to say the ambitions were misplaced ultimately.

up there with my favorite games of all time. p3 really feels so confident in what it wants to do and comfortable as a game. the way the interactive experience ties into the story and themes is a real sight to behold. while it takes a while to truly show why its special, the willingness to fully combine every ingredient of the game together is extremely commendable. the story does pace itself fairly slowly for a while, but gives lots of time for the great social links to breathe and to emphasize the isolation that each sees member faces. this makes the emotional payoff from october and onwards truly feel special and culminates in the extremely impactful december stretch. the catharsis from that point onwards feels so earned and perfect. its also hard to explain why without spoilers, but the way the game embodies the memento mori concept is insanely special

the gameplay is amazing as well. as mentioned before, the way the narrative and gameplay tie together is quite special and this relates directly to the battle system with how you go from being quite isolated at the beginning to a well oiled team by the end. not having ai control has a lot of detractors but if you actually buy into the mechanics and use the tactics system it becomes incredibly satisfying and fun, and really gives a sense of growth in a ludonarrative sense. i wont really defend tartarus a ton, its alright but definitely pretty repetitive. but if there was anything in this 80 hour game i was okay with them not really emphasizing it was that. even then, the way the music and visuals evolve and the last climb are pretty damn great.

the ending (to "the journey") is pretty much just peak and represents the boldness that makes this game special. truly feels like a perfect jrpg in how much it rewards you for the effort you put into it, while also never just directly catering to player demand. and im not sure we'll see a persona like that ever again

they should really use the japanese box art pic for this lol

I don't really have that much interesting to say about this one to be honest so I'll just dump my thoughts lol. It's not really surprising to me that the gameplay wasn't as interesting to me as it was in Thracia though it's perfectly fine still. I probably enjoyed all of the unit variety the most, though it was a real shame that there weren't that many early units that were fun to build up over time. A lot of my army ended up being the endgame pre-promotes they hand you which is fine but not super interesting. I actually think this game is a bit more difficult than people give it credit for but I think the way it does gamefeel makes it not really matter. Handing you OP pre-promotes is a good example of this effect, since it doesn't really feel earned at all, and also the way they start shoving good weapons and items on you towards the end. I guess it doesn't help that 2 of the 3 lords aren't good units either.

I also thought this game was fine story-wise but pretty dumb. Like the gameplay, there was nothing I particularly hated but nothing I was a big fan of either. Hate to make another comparison but going from the Jugdral games to this felt like a pretty noticeable step down. Like a large portion of the story being dedicated to this generic magical essence just gets really old fast, and they add some really funny story diversions to try and stretch out such generic ideas. At least 40% of the cutscenes in this game have to be the one note villains talking about the magical essence and how they will harvest more of it and it's just like... goddamn I get it lol. The best part of the story is probably just Hector. Hector is awesome.

Anyways the more I write this the more I think I might not have liked this game so much but it was fine overall I guess. I spent my playthrough thinking "Yup, this is a Fire Emblem game alright. It sure does those Fire Emblem things that are neat" and that's the most praise I can give it for now.

Thracia 776 is a game notorious for it's difficulty and punishing nature, yet it ended up being one of the most rewarding games I've played. The way it simulates the fatigue and stress of war is something really impressive that I haven't seen many strategy games or games in general recreate.

"Unfair" is probably one of the most common gripes people can have with a game, yet Thracia cultivates a sense of unfairness that works excellently for what it's trying to make the player feel. It wants to put the player in Leif's shoes, and share the burden that he faces as a 15 year old trying to command an army against a vastly more powerful foe. To that end there are multiple maps where Leif has to straight up escape, to run away from the enemy instead of taking it on. There are multiple bosses that are nearly impossible to take on, and have to be left for later which leads to some great payoffs. This isn't some petty sense of unfairness for the sake of making the player mad, it's meant to convey the feeling of struggling against immense odds and squeezing out a victory. Leif's mistakes are the player's mistakes, and can result in substantial consequences, but his victories are also the player's victories and they feel equally as satisfying.

Not only is this game rewarding in that broader sense, the gameplay is also perfectly attuned to what it's trying to do. Not only do a lot of the unique mechanics give this game an interesting sense of realism, they offer a lot of freedom to the player to tackle the challenge. Infinitely trading between units, rescue chains, the abundance of utility units like flyers and stave users, and the sheer amount of different useful items that can be gathered by playing smart make for an experience where success feels well earned. Even with that sense of unfairness I mentioned, the game still gives the player the tools to succeed and makes using them a satisfying experience. It's okay to warpskip! I don't think the challenge is always perfectly balanced in this (ambush spawns still suck in this game and in general) but the way it lays all of its mechanics on the table makes it playing it a stressful but gratifying experience.

I played New Mystery of the Emblem before Thracia and Thracia feels like a much more fully realized version of the same ideas. They both have large unit pools, yet Thracia makes almost every unit feel like they have value, and shifts the balance a lot to make typically weaker units like support classes feel like the most useful units in the game that require a lot of protection. This stands in contrast to New Mystery having a bloated cast that feels incredibly disposable outside of the small group of good units that you can snowball. The fatigue mechanic isn't great in Thracia, but it adds another layer of thought that I think balances out having such a large cast quite well. While New Mystery feels like you are constantly working around its mechanics and punishes you for seeking out side objectives, Thracia expects you to use its mechanics to the fullest and rewards you for going out of your way.

For the sake of a more positive comparison, it's worth pointing out how well this game works in tandem with Genealogy of the Holy War as well. Leif's ragtag bunch of whoever he picks up along the way contrasts well with the army of walking nukes that Seliph ends up with, both narratively and in terms of gameplay. The biggest gripe I would have with Thracia is that its narrative isn't quite as interesting as Genealogy yet the connections present are still a lot of fun to see (it's worth playing 24x for the conversation at the end by the way). It's debatable whether it would have been made better or worse by not trying to squeeze itself in the middle of Genealogy's plot, but what is there is well done regardless.

One of the series' biggest strengths is how well the narrative and characters fuse together with the gameplay to create individual stories in each battle and each decision by the player. Despite it's uniqueness among FE games, Thracia 776 embodies this strength incredibly well, particularly through using the perspective of Leif. It took me a long time, and it wasn't always so fun, but that liberation war was one worth fighting.

I won't be the first in line to praise the Batman Arkham series as the pinnacle of the medium or anything, but there's something to be said about how they do seem to hone in on some specific ideas. I can feel a genuine respect for Batman as a character, attention paid to how his gadgets work, interesting scenarios with his enemies and at least very competent combat.

I say all this to say that Spider-Man doesn't really have this feeling at all. I don't mean to say that it's the worst game ever, but it also feels like Insomniac lacked any spark of creativity or even the will to at least make something thrilling and fun. Not every part is bad, but the sheer amount of parts of this game that feel mediocre reflect the worst aspects of AAA development.

I haven't played one of these big budget Sony games in a while, so I was immediately taken aback by the frustrating handholding and lack of trust in the player to do anything on their own. Once I pushed past all of the obnoxious tutorializing, I did make a genuine effort to dig into the gameplay, yet I still find it pretty unrewarding. Spider-Man's combat is just plain uninteresting most of the time. His basic 4 hit combo feeling gross on it's own is one thing, so it's clear the gadgets are the emphasis, right? It seems like Insomniac thought that this was their way to add depth, but it also fails. The gadgets are all very similar to each other, some felt like they should only be used on a whim like the drone or tripwire ones which still end up being used identically to the other ones. More enemy varieties that need different gadgets to be taken down would help, but this won't mesh with the progression system (I'll get back to this). The funniest part is how missions will just tell you to use a certain gadget to fulfill a condition as if just bothering to dust off the drones for once is some kind of challenge run lmao.

Even past all of this, some of it just doesn't function very well. The dodge system isn't broken, but it also isn't polished at all. Enemy wind-ups are made fairly obvious, but the weird timing particularly on melee attacks makes just spamming dodge the ideal option. Melee enemies will often change speeds between their wind-up and attack, which can be pretty confusing and defeats the point of Spidey's agility and senses.

This emphasis on breadth of mechanics rather than depth of mechanics rears its head even more in other ways. The aforementioned progression reeks of AAA broad-appeal approach. "We can't design enemies around gadgets, because players may not care to get those gadgets. But we also want people who do want them to get them, so put activities that give you crafting points everywhere. But we also still want everyone to be able to just run into them so make it really easy to just naturally get the materials to get upgrades."

A few conflicts of interest there huh?

Getting a bit all over the place here but the point is that these activities are simultaneously unrewarding while also hurting other parts of the game. There's 30 different varieties of open world check box things to do, yet they rarely feel unique from one another. Either chase a thing or fight some guys or both, usually in the same arena every time for the same rewards. The backpacks are the closest to providing some real value, which is probably why I got all of them while also Petering out after my 5th fight with convicts or demons or sable or whatever. Credit where credit is due, the swinging makes these more fun than they should be. It was probably the area of the game with the most focus, and while it probably isn't the best Spider-Man traversal it does make taking detours something that feels quite natural and enjoyable. I also appreciate how many of the combat encounters are just naturally in the open world even though they don't make for the best arenas.

The mostly decent plot is decent but can't escape from the AAA "overload of things" in a few ways. I appreciate a lot of aspects of it, Martin Li is an interesting character and Peter's relationship with Doc Ock works quite well. Obviously the May scene at the end is great. Yet the AAA rushjob yet again permeates throughout with how choppy the pacing is. So much time is spent on Mister Negative and the demons, but it leads to a weak twist and weak conclusion as he ends up getting backseated for Doc Ock. Otto forming the Sinister 6 feels like something that happens on a whim more than anything, with like one scene before this happens. It feels like Insomniac figured we already know these characters are villains and didn't bother to explore the setup as much as they should. It ends up feeling pretty disjointed. I don't think it helps that the spectacle itself is a lot weaker than I expected. Getting back to gameplay here but the same spam web shots then press square loop for every boss feels like it undermines their uniqueness, and the flat boring arenas don't help either.

Much has been made of this game's worship of the NYPD. I don't really have anything interesting to add, but I will say that it was more eye-rolling to me than a dealbreaker. It's bad but at the same time it's nothing out of the ordinary for comics. However the odiously liberal worldview does make Spider-Man a lot less likable in that regard too. He feels less like a "neighborhood" hero than ever, just like another Batman type who flies around beating up criminals except with epic funny quips about how they should try getting real jobs. Like everything you do in this game is dealing with some sort of criminal attack and not the fun everyday stuff that comes with a more grounded hero like Spider-Man. JJJ and Silver Sable are also examples of why this portrayal is so annoying. JJJ is supposed to be some sort of right-wing crank podcast host, and Sable runs an authoritarian militia, but the game kinda operates that these people are only bad once they start hating on Spider-Man and what they do is pretty much okay otherwise. It's a shame because I really think Yuri Lowenthal's performance would've fit a more fun and grounded Spider-Man a lot more but he's constantly forced to just tell criminals that they should love jail and hate drugs. I'm not saying he hasn't been portrayed like that plenty of times but I still feel like this game chose the wrong direction.

I've written a more rambling negative review than I intended for a game I described to people as the "textbook definition of mid" but I've also expunged all of my thoughts about why this game makes me kinda sad now. I quite like Spider-Man and yet this just completely lacked his appeal for me for the most part. I really question if Insomniac ever will understand that, and even if they did, would the suits even let it happen?

The Arkham games are alright I guess.

Xenogears is one of the most ambitious games I've ever played. Considering it started out as a proposal for FF7, it's inevitable to compare the two at least somewhat. The largest difference is the lofty thematic aspirations Xenogears holds. Over the game there's biblical allusions, criticisms of Religious institutions, and different Freudian and Jungian psychological concepts. The story is lengthy and sprawling, leading to the notoriously gameplay-light/narration-heavy second disc. It's commendable on it's own that Xenogears sought to go beyond even the most thought provoking games in the genre. (SPOILER WARNING)

The story is not the only aspect that sought to be different, as the gameplay also takes a unique approach from many other RPGs. I really enjoyed the points based combat system and deathblow mechanic. I wouldn't say it was foolproof or never obtuse, as learning new deathblows is horribly explained and it can be pretty vague as to which are the most effective. But overall, the system adds a lot of different decision making to ATB and gives the player more control over battles than ever. All this only applies to about 40% of the gameplay though... because surprise! There's another battle system altogether! The mech combat is, for at least the majority of the game, pretty decent. Fuel management is another strategy element to keep battles from being mindless, whether it means boosting or charging. While the melee combat stays solid throughout however, the gears combat begins to completely fall apart as the game goes on. At it's core it relies primarily on using money for upgrades, which is fine for most of the game. But towards the end when almost all the battles are gear ones, the cracks burst open as almost all the upgrades and bosses shift to tedious fuel draining and management. This is especially apparent on the final bosses, which are an interesting concept but end up being a lot of cautious play and lots of waiting especially if you didn't grind for more fuel upgrades. The final dungeon also has fairly boring design that seems to want to waste players time further with majority of the level being pointless dead ends. Overall I would say most of the dungeons are fairly rewarding to explore though.

I do think it's worth mentioning the combat had some annoying balancing in general though. There are the typical broken JRPG characters (Citan for melee, Elly in gears) but that isn't really a big deal since a lot of games have those. Having two combat systems complicates things though, sometimes characters will be really good on foot but have bad gears, and vice versa. This isn't bad on paper but it combines with the fact that you never really have enough money to upgrade every single members gears without grinding to make party composition a bit of a nonfactor. With how much the second half loves to throw you into very hard gear battles you get kind of limited to the few party members that are good and worth investing in and every time another member is mandatory it felt like I was just trying to toss them out as soon as possible. With a part based system, it should have been a priority to improve the options available and give characters different strengths and weaknesses so it doesn't feel so lopsided. I think a big problem that lead to this as well is the fact that you never really pick up just standard new equipment while in dungeons, which is what a lot of JRPGs do to balance out the game economy more. Generally I found the combat enjoyable for a lot of the game but it's the perfect example of a JRPG really struggling to figure out how to balance the endgame.

As I said before, it's commendable itself that the story seeks to tackle so many ideas. But ultimately this ended up being the most disappointing part of the game for me. As I also mentioned, the second disc is notoriously a lot shorter than the first, contains way more narration and cutscenes, and significantly cuts down the gameplay. Most often people attribute this to a lack of time or budget, but in actuality creator Tetsuya Takahashi admitted it was lack of experience and what I would assume is also poor management considering it was his first game. The point I'm getting to here is that the second disc being that way is a lot less excusable to me considering how much the story tries to do. There are many plotlines picked up that never really go anywhere or have satisfying conclusions, and I think the game would have been better off cutting half of these characters out and focusing on the main story. Rico never gets thoroughly explored and we just get a single scene about him being the actual HEIR to one of the big nations in the game, then he is basically nonexistent for the rest of the story. Maria has a few good scenes but mainly doesn't matter for most of the game. Chu-chu is a shitty joke character who isn't funny a single time and slightly kills the vibe of every single serious scene. All of these characters really could have just been out of the game, but at least they have the excuse of being new party members. Less forgivable is the amount of other plotlines. The original Fei and Elly are never really fully explored. Solaris is obviously explored but we never really learn anything about the Emperor, Citan, or get more insight into the social control. The problem with all of these is that they are all baked into the main plot, not side content. This definitely takes a toll on the pacing and the amount of ideas that can be explored at once, and by the end its really felt in how poorly fleshed out Krelian is. He really seems like he's trying to be as evil as possible throughout the game, he seems to not really hold people in any regard. This was fine and in line with his motivations, but then they try to redeem him for some reason and say he actually loved everyone. I think he needed the whole game to actually show any of this, but because the game plays ambiguous a lot we don't really get a lot and it comes off as a pretty shallow payoff emotionally. This also leads to the stronger story aspects. The most psychological parts involving Fei's alter ego are really enjoyable and I thought Grahf being the most visible villain throughout the game and the backstory of Lacan was very well told and satisfying. I thought the theme of having people and a home to return to was one of the more robust as well, and loved how Emeralda's character tied in. Ramsus and some of the other side characters also had nice endings.

Overall, I wouldn't say the story was all bad, but it was definitely disappointing. I can't fail to mention that Xenogears was intended to be a 6 part story, so maybe there could have been more fleshing out, but ultimately I have to judge it for what it is. Xenogears was not a masterpiece, but it was definitely a very original and unique work. Even if I didn't love it overall, there was definitely some interesting flashes. I'm glad that Takahashi didn't call it quits and used it to springboard to keep creating as I think it paid off with Xenoblade Chronicles being a significant improvement over a lot of what Xenogears does.

One of the most charming indie games out there, Hollow Knight serves as an example of a game's influences not getting in the way of it's vision. While the games mechanics are sometimes similar to Dark Souls and Metroidvanias, I never felt that the game was overly copying them. The exploration is satisfying and takes you through well designed, creative environments. The platforming areas are a bit of a disappointment however as they slow down progress a lot for challenges that are sometimes unfairly difficult. The bosses are challenging but fair and allow you to make the most of your combat skills and traversal mechanics. Art direction and music is amazing as well, with a super distinct style that is rare to see when so many indie games copy off each other. Every enemy design, boss, area is just gorgeous and has music to match it perfectly. The story is sort of minimal but the world building is fantastic, combined with the attention to detail (Dead bugs lying around, ruined buildings, mutated enemies) you can get a real sense of what happened in an area which increases the immersion a lot. Hollow Knight is easily one of the best indie games in the past decade.

In 2017, Breath of the Wild showed us the new form of Zelda, one that drew from all games while pushing forward it its own direction with a vast and understated world. The universal systems like temperature, durability, and weather all served as limbs to the greater body of the land of Hyrule, a place that sought to embody player freedom while also centering the gameplay around their adaptability to any situation.

Six years since then, it's hard to call a return to this world unwelcome, though just saying that may undersell the vast changes it has undergone. If Breath of the Wild was quiet and minimalist, Tears of the Kingdom is downright maximalist. Hyrule is more packed than ever with content across the board, and the design of this game feels meant to embody the past, present, and future of the series.

The map itself is the most early and apparent example of this. Having a multilayered overworld is something that it feels like Eiji Aonuma has always tried to accomplish, such as with the dark world in A Link to the Past and the sky islands in Skyward Sword, but it feels gratifying to see that vision finally fully fleshed out. This idea was almost made for a duology that emphasizes freedom so much, and the transition between sky, land, and depths is made as seamless as can be. Once the mindset is instilled, thinking about the world on multiple layers becomes as natural as anything and makes for even more satisfying exploration. An even more welcome addition are the surface caves, which felt like a noticeable absence in BOTW. In such an expansive game, having these more confined areas feels like a refreshing change of pace that also adds more depth to each location. The wells are an excellent way of doing this, guaranteeing that each one you see is an opportunity to find something. BOTW did well in rewarding the player for exploration, but exploration was often the reward itself. In TOTK there's often a much more direct incentive to look around some crumbled ruins, which adds just another level of realism to the world. While clearly less claustrophobic, the sky islands serve a similar purpose, giving smaller and more focused areas to explore and interesting means of traversal. The Skyview towers are a clever way to repurpose the towers from BOTW, turning them into a launching pad that can be used to get a view of the entire world. I think this also makes them a bit of a weakness for me, as sometimes they ingrain a bit of a point A to point B mindset that feels less natural than BOTW's exploration, but the multidimensional design does a good amount to alleviate this.

The most visible element of TOTK have been the Zonai devidces. It should be needless to say by now how crazy people have gone with building contraptions with these but they are ridiculously impressive either way. Using the tools around you to your advantage is a key part of every Zelda game, and these are no exception with just how much they enrich traversal, puzzle solving, and combat. It feels truly inspiring to see the developers take so much influence from the popular clips of people messing with the physics in the previous game and expand upon it. They are also the most prevalent mechanics in every shrine as well, but serve an even great purpose outside of them. Looking at a list of shrines beforehand, it would be disheartening to see how many are "Rauru's Blessing". But that would sell short how many of these involve traversal themselves as the challenge. If integrating puzzles more into the world was the goal, it was definitely a good one that I think was executed well with these.

The crown jewels of new additions to me though are the new material properties, weapon traits, and the fuse system. I'm sure one of the first things that the development team noted when thinking about a sequel was the amount of material bloat in Breath of the Wild, as well as the limited amount of interesting weapon usage towards the endgame. They address these issues so directly that it's almost like they said it outright. Materials now almost always have a guaranteed use, whether it be as weapon augments or elemental properties, in addition to still being used for armor upgrades. Bows are no longer just another kind of weapon, but a new tool for Link to use. Removing elemental arrows ensures that the scope of what a player can do is expanded for any given scenario given they can find the right materials, playing more into the theme of adaptability again. It even includes a nice compromise in the form of throwing materials. The new properties that weapons have also ensure way more versatility in the combat. It allows the player to use weapons that may have become unviable fast in BOTW by giving them traits that play up, such as fusion strength with Gerudo weapons or extra damage when wet with Zora weapons. I know the combat isn't going to be particularly deep, so I appreciate the investment of the resource management that was the strong point of it in the first place. The fuse system as a whole feels like it improves greatly upon an issue that BOTW had. Instead of it being a loss of resources every time you clear out an enemy area, it is almost always a trade or better at least in the form of the monster parts you get. This adds even more driving incentives to the game as a whole.

One of the things I appreciate the most in many good sequels is that they improve an idea from the predecessor while doing it in a way that fits that game. The main story in TOTK does just that. While I have to admit that I liked the Sheikah aesthetic a bit more, I was not enamored enough to think that it didn't get a little stale at times in BOTW. The dungeons in TOTK are striking visually and have a great sense of scale, with much more creative region-specific mechanics and bosses. They are similarly not as challenging and lengthy as older Zelda dungeons, but they fit the approach of realism that the game embodies quite well as they feel much more grounded in the world around them. The dragon tears fit this approach well too, with some of the annoying randomness removed from BOTW's memories in favor of taking advantage of the world's verticality.

It's hard to even get into all the interesting aspects of this game, which speaks to the sheer breadth of content that it has even on it's own. I couldn't help but feel that sense of warmth emanating from it as I slowly returned to locations I had first visited 6 years priors and witness how they changed. Despite how it easy it would be to play it safe and address the small complaints that were had of its critically acclaimed predecessor, while keeping all the warm and fuzzy stuff in, it feels like this series just keeps pushing forward. I have a hard time seeing what direction it'll go from here, but I remember that I had that feeling before TOTK, and before BOTW as well. If Breath of the Wild was about breaking the traditional conventions of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom only pushes it to the next level. It's a fantastic sequel, and it embodies the ethos of the series as a whole while continuing to blaze a trail ahead.