This is the only game that I have nostalgia goggles for that are so big they eclipse my whole god damn head. Replaying it now after not touching it for a few years there are so many weird little quirks that only make sense as an adult who understands the troubled development it went through. I think the fact it's so rough around the edges in so many ways while still feeling polished and pushing Pokemon so far forward as a franchise just hits on something magical to me that I don't really know how to explain.

Shortform review here, but the tl;dr is that I can't say I had the same level of enjoyment playing this for the first time that fellow new players and returning veterans had. Not to beat a dead horse, but Ada's VA and/or her voice direction sullied much of my enjoyment of her character by making a badass double agent spy seem like a lackadaisical bystander. Gameplay was alright but I felt like the ammunition/healing constraints were a little tight for my liking in an experience packed this tightly with action. I loved revisiting the moments that are familiar to the main RE4 and watching Ada connect the plot dots to get her to where Leon was and needed to be.

Probably a good purchase if you're a fan of RE4 and an excellent value for the price point, especially if you are a Resident Evil

Since jumping into Starfield on its Gamepass release date, I’ve become even more of a disgusting gremlin than I already was. No longer cognizant of the passage of time, I have let my already unhealthy sleep schedule become positively obliterated. My baby son’s life passed by in the blink of an eye. I spend my days bathed in the sickly light of my television, creeping to the kitchen periodically to get a tasty treat. The only evidence of my wife’s survival is a missing Diet Coke or two from the fridge.

Starfield is not ’No Man’s Skyrim’. It’s actually more like a better version of The Outer Worlds. I have gripes with it that keep it from a top score, like a pretty weak opening, the lack of interior ship customization, repetition of outposts, and the fact that you can’t have a fleet of ships captained by your ai companions… okay, they didn’t necessarily promise that last one but having only one ship out at a time seems like a missed opportunity. While you can’t circumnavigate every planet on foot, many have multiple biomes and topographical features, with plenty of secrets and activities to discover. I ran into a crazy amount of weird side quests just because I took the time to explore and root around on land and in space.

I can only speak to my expectations and experience with the game, but I think this is the most actual roleplaying a Bethesda game has allowed since Morrowind through its skills, quests, and traits. Many of the quests allow multiple routes for completion, with different avenues of play and endings. The central followers all being goodie-two-shoes is another qualm I have, but I usually play the good guy anyway. The main quest isn’t excruciatingly annoying this time around (Have you seen Shaun, my baby… Shaun he’s just a baby, a brand new baby little baby child!), with an ending and New Game+ that serves and a direct answer to me restarting Skyrim 1,000 times over the years.

But I love exploring strange new worlds, constructing spaceships, getting into dogfights, and expanding my crew. In many ways this is a dream come true game for me, far surpassing No Man’s Sky with its inclusion of compelling side quests and narratives, even if I can’t seamlessly fly from a planet to space. Another gripe. But for my worries going into this game and relative displeasure with Bethesda over the past couple years, I was pleasantly surprised to find they had loosened up on me as a player. I’m stoked for The Elder Scrolls VI, because I think they’ll almost certainly resolve some of my complaints just by toning down the physical scale a bit. Not saying it won’t be big, but I don’t think it’ll have 1,000 planets and therefore will probably have less repeated content; I’m glad they tried it here even if I don’t feel it’s right for Elder Scrolls or Fallout.

I have spent too much time away from the game now… the Starfield is speaking to me. I give myself to it. Goodbye.

As a kid, I often would falsely believe that anything and everything was possible in a given game. That maybe, if I approached something differently, the story would play out differently. Later in life, while playing games from companies like Telltale, I believed this again. Ultimately, I learned that a lot of my "choices" in games did not really matter and would always lead to the same conclusion. I had believed all games to be this way, even those that focused a lot on roleplaying or player choice. I was proven wrong by Baldur's Gate 3.

CRPGs are not my usual genre of choice. Sure, I love Disco Elysium to absolute death, but that game feels more like a piece of interactive art than a more traditional CRPG. Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't really on my radar until I saw the stellar reviews. Seeing how it was getting Tears of the Kingdom type scores, I knew I had to check this game out.

What immediately strikes you in Baldur's Gate 3 is the game's ability to immediately suck you into its world. The opening is an intense and intriguing one, introducing you to some of the characters and what conflict afflicts this world. Right from the get go, your choices affect everything about how this story will play out. This isn't just about the small details either. We're talking about major plot points and elements that will determine every bit of your adventure. The amount of detail and different paths that you can encounter is staggering, maybe even overwhelming at times. But it all culminates into a very satisfying narrative that you shape throughout your entire experience.

The characters are also a major highlight of the game, in particular your party members. All of the major players have interesting storylines. Not only that, but they are just incredibly interesting to learn more about, as well as see their arcs unfold as the story goes along. They're not all perfect, but you will absolutely have your favorites that you want to follow until the end, or of course romance.

The combat is incredibly intricate. Its probably pretty standard for those of you that are more used to CRPGS, but I found it to be a system that's easy to learn but difficult to master. You absolutely have to strategize and plan out your moves if you want to hope to survive encounters. The game provides a pretty good difficulty incline (at least on Balanced difficulty). I never felt like the game ever had any difficulty spikes, nor did it ever feel too easy.

Customization is also insane. First of all, you could spend hours on the character creator alone. Its so detailed and deep that you can easily get lost in it. Second is the class customization. There are a ton of classes in BG3, and each have three separate subclasses once you get to a certain level. You can also reclass and respec at any point (granted you have the NPC that allows you to do so at your camp), so the game encourages you to experiment and try out new things with your character(s). This allows you to really strategize for combat and roleplay to the best of your ability.

Now is the game perfect? No, but no game is. But here are a few things that I did feel like could have been done better. For starters, the game does still have a fair amount of glitches, especially the farther you go into the campaign. The game's story is pretty solid throughout, but there is a decline in the narrative in Act 3, particularly during the falling action after the final boss.

Other than these few complaints though, I really don't have anything negative to say about BG3. This game simply blew me away. I feel weird having beat it. Even though it took me 90+ hours, I already feel ready to start a new playthrough as a different character both in class and personality. This isn't just one of the best games of the year. This is one of, if not the best CRPGs ever created. As the creators said in a recent advertisement for the game: even if you think this game isn't for you, give it a shot. You may be surprised by how much you'll enjoy it.

This is by far one of the best Yakuza games and one of my favorites in this series. I consider Yakuza 5 to be the embodiment of everything that makes the Yakuza series great. There are so many twists and turns that kept me engaged through out the whole thing. I was completely hooked from beginning to end and I loved it.

This game has 5 cities to explore, the most in any Yakuza game, and they’re all packed with hilarious or emotional sub stories. Combat and graphics are also greatly improved on from the previous games.

It's a less refined and focused experience than Yakuza 0, which is my absolute favorite in this series, but does a lot of unique things from a series standpoint that has not been replicated since. And no matter what people say, Saejima's story was very interesting and fun to go through and I enjoyed that they included Haruka as a playable character. While I can see that some may be turned off by Haruka's story, being that it is rhythm game oriented, I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that, for what it was, they did a great job.

Overall, If you're a Yakuza fan, you will be doing yourself a disservice by not playing this amazing game, because it reminded me again why the Yakuza franchise is one of my absolute favorites.

On a sidenote, after Yakuza 5 I'm even more disappointed that the series switched to boring turn-based combat.

I love this game but I hate this game, I hate this game but I love this game. This game is quite a specimen, it's unfinished, it's padded out and almost all of these things were out of the developers' control, yet despite all that they managed to REALLY polish what did ended up being finished, performance, gameplay, FOX Engine's insane identical look and performance among 7th and 8th gen platforms. I assume they also focused on ending and beginning first and hence we could have a conclusion at all, who knows. Regardless this game felt like a lot of nothing to me at first as I'm not a big fan of non-city open world settings but everything I saw and heard over the years helped, it also helped to play Peace Walker first this time. There is so much in this game that is beautiful, that is powerful, this game despite all its flaws is one of those that proves games are art in my honest opinion. "You're all diamonds" and Quiet are a few things of note I'll say without spoilers as how powerful this game was to me.

Game number 600 rated on Backloggd! My favorite franchise of all time absolutely killed it with their newest entry. Final Fantasy XVI has the epic characters and stories you expect from Final Fantasy, in a Game of Thrones world, with Devil May Cry like gameplay in battles. The story is bigger and darker than ever before. The characters are more developed than ever before. It was such an expierience that I will never forget.

I won’t get into the story at all to avoid spoilers but that is definitely the star of the show. The characters are unforgettable and loveable. The big three of Clive, Joshua, and Jill are some of my favorite in the entire series. Throw in amazing side characters like Dion, Gav, Mid, and many more, an elite villian like Ultima, and the series best iteration of Cid and you have an amazing cast of characters.

The Eikons (aka summons) steal a big spot light in the show and without question are the best iterations in the series. There are less Eikons than a lot of the other Final Fantasy’s but the quality is undeniable.

The gameplay goes a full 180 from the turn based gameplay Final Fantasy is known for and takes an action/Devil May Cry approach. It can get repetitive but if you use different Eikon abilities it will stay fresh enough. I always had fun battling. Especially in the boss fights. This was honestly my favorite boss fights in any game ever, not just of Final Fantasy but ever.

The only negative I will say is there are too many optional side quests with not enough substance. But some of the side quest are very good that expand the world and lore as well as building up characters and thier relationships.

I almost cried several times and the end game is amazing but will punch you in the face. The ending is ambiguous which I love. I could keep talking about the story, characters, world, and ending for hours but I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.

This game is an absolute must play. Generationally good imo, As you can tell by my placement on my top 100 list here:

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-100-video-game-of-all-time/

And my new Final Fantasy ranking here:

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-final-fantasy-ranking/

Also look out for some new lists. Now that I finished XVI I will be ranking my favorite series by different categories like best music, best story, and so on.

After spending some time reflecting on this game, I can't help but remember its flaws overshadowing its strengths. FFXVI has some of the most incredible moments in the series but it also has some of the slowest parts the series has to offer. The gameplay, which heavily focuses on action and individual combat doesn't align well with the games storyline. While the story itself embodies the essence of a fantasy tale it lacks a sense of collective overcoming adversity due, to how Clive, the character handles everything on his own, embodying the individualistic mindset.

Without spoiling I must say that the resolution to the struggles faced by the oppressed characters was quite disappointing and unrealistic. It felt rather simplistic and doesn't reflect reality.

The game does explore themes and topics that could evoke emotions and have a profound impact. However it falls short in conveying these ideas leaving them feeling somewhat flat. It saddens me because I can see the potential for greatness in the story.

Another drawback of the game is how it leaves many questions unanswered and presents many questionable scenes without proper context. One significant example is Barnabas character; while his motivations or details about his mother are not addressed in the storyline they are explained in the Active Time Lore, though not at a time when players would prefer to read more.
The way the ATL was implemented in this game didn't quite meet my expectations. There were moments when I had questions or mysteries that weren't adequately explored and I wanted to read the ATL to learn more but it mostly provided me nothing. It felt the ATL was necessary to piece together what has happened in the story which didnt fit in with the kind of story FFXVI was trying to tell. It felt like the ATL didn't seamlessly fit into this story driven game unlike games such, as Elden Ring where lore is explained through item descriptions but still maintains a sense of exploration and combat in From Software games. In my opinion the implementation of the ATL fell short.

FFXV was what I hoped for in a dark, modern Final fantasy for the most part. The story was executed well on some parts, although there were moments where I felt certain plot points could have had an impact. Clive facing his shadow still gives me some goosebumps thinking about it but it couldve went even further. I also wished that it delved deeper into the concepts explored by its characters. However it does touch upon their struggles to some extent. There is "some" payoff for their dilemmas so I can't fault the game entirely in that regard.

The pacing was solid in the half of the game. Things got a bit strange once the second half kicked in. As for gameplay, it was incredibly enjoyable to play; I didn't get bored fighting the enemies. However, the repetitive game design of how the side quests were handled made the action gameplay didnt mesh with the rpg elements.

I'm sure you've heard criticism about the side quests being lackluster. Not all of them were bad. Some side quests actually built upon themes like breaking free from fate or discrimination, confronting ones shadow and forging paths for people to live and die on their terms. They weren't all incredible but not every single one was terrible either; it was sadly bogged down to repetitive game design.

I genuinely appreciate the attention, to detail in the world and lore. The bosses were truly a spectacle to behold and Clive proved to be a protagonist seamlessly joining the ranks of the main characters, in the Final Fantasy series. I just want to clarify that I'm not criticizing or being negative, towards the game. As a fan of the Final Fantasy series I simply want to understand what the developers intended for us to grasp with FFXVI. My aim is to provide constructive criticism and feedback. Overall, I do believe FFXVI is a good game. I've mostly enjoyed my time with it. Although it has many flaws, my experience with the game was more or less positive, especially compared to other flawed games.

Armored Core VI: Possible Game of the Year

I've written a few times about my introduction to From Software and how despite playing Dark Souls way back in 2011, the company's trademark difficulty and cryptic narratives didn't grasp me until Elden Ring in 2022. I, like a lot of people in the zeitgeist know Fromsoft as the "Souls" guys, but therein lies a deeper origin, one that involves Armored Core.

I never was a Playstation kid, we had a way to play PS1 games on our Emac growing up, but it wasn't until Final Fantasy 7 Remake that I used my hard earned adult money to buy my first Playstation, a PS4. As a result I missed out on a lot of pivotal games and moments in the history of 3D gaming. One of these titles was the seminal cult classic mech franchise: Armored Core. Coincidentally outside of being really into Zoids as a wee lad and taking part in the Transformers media wave in the late 00's, I wasn't really into Mechs or Mech related media until I got into Code Geass in 2019. I knew that Japanese gaming, anime, and film loved the mecha genre but wasn't cognizant about the when's, where's, and why's. There were two names that stuck out through time and the aforementioned Armored Core was one of them, the other Zone of the Enders. Through conversation with my friends over time I learned about the importance of these two and how they diferred. Kojima's ZoE was balls to the wall action that utilized speed to create immersion, whereas Armored Core was the nerdy stat reliant customization game for those who were into the minutiae of mech creation. I decided that with the announcement of Armored Core VI, off the heels of From's insane post Dark Souls 2 run, that I should embark into the legendary mecha franchises. Earlier this year I sat down and hooked up my Xbox 360 to finally play ZoE and it was... alright, so I then set my eyes on Armored Core VI.

I watched quite literally one gameplay trailer before the game dropped and decided it would be something I was into, it was the one featuring the smelter demon, wait wrong game. It was the one featuring the Cleaner Robot with the furnace on top of it, acting like a Blowhole. The richly detailed factory landscape coupled with crisply quick movement was an immediate sell for me, and thus I anxiously waited for the release of Fires of Rubicon. What I got on release was the exact kind of game I'd wanted, Fromsoft's punishing combat with a richly customizable path through completion. I had a grand time comparing my progress with friends and family and how we approached each fight. While some of my buddies went with the grounded tank approach, others went with a speedy in and out build. I waxed poetic about the glory of the double Songbird (mounted Howitzer-esque cannons) and its ability to stagger bosses with ease. This approach to gameplay, where everybody has their own build that works for them is awesome and I heavily commend From for making a game that is so uniquely accessible in its player agency, because I'm all about player agency. The fights are hard, and the bosses are extremely punishing in places, but there are so many avenues for you the player to bypass them.

I struggled with one of the games first real bosses for anywhere from five to six hours (Balteus for the experienced,) because I wasn't respecting the multiple avenues of approach to defeat him. I was getting greedy, thinking I could brute force my way through the encounter like it was Dark Souls, but no I had to strip apart my oonga boonga playstyle and approach it with a Bloodborne attitude, dancing with the boss to learn and react to its every move. Once I got the patterns down on Balteus, I felt like I understood the game much better. You can create a build that allows you to take more hits, but ultimately you'll have to respect what the encounters do to you, and the limitations that ammunition and only having three repair kits has in store. With my double songbird, double gatling gun build with a heavier mech body, I created a mech that hit like a bruiser. I dealt heavy stagger damage with the cannons, and could melt damage during said stagger state with the barrage of gatling rounds. Creating a strategy that worked without the assistance of looking online through my own determination was greatly rewarding. I more or less used this with some slight variations all the way to the end game and again would like to shout out the devs for allowing this to work.

Fights in Armored Core VI were unique in the fact that they were so wildly different in terms of mechanics but generally the same degree of difficulty that prevented anything from being a cakewalk. From the first main boss to the ultimate encounter, I felt greatly engaged to study boss patterns and timings in my immediate introduction to each fight. Whether it was AC on AC action in which you were in a duel with an enemy that could heal and mimic your own actions like expansion and shoulder firing, set piece bosses in which you had to utilize a specific item to succeed, or just a good old fashion Fromsoft rumble in the jungle against a larger menacing foe, nothing came easy and battles could only be won through hard work. Outside of the one I mentioned above, I don't want to give anything away as to remain spoiler-free, but the boss at the end of chapter four was really dang cool and reminiscient of some of the fun I had in Dark Souls 3. Fittingly enough, the last boss of the game also felt like a callback to some of From's most glorious moments. Outside of bosses, the world fights were the exact right amount of difficulty. You are plopped into a world with a finite amount of ammo and often tasked to take out jobbers and tougher enemies alike, but rarely did I feel like it was unfair. Armored Core VI is checkpointed well enough that should you be stressing your limits on resource, you'll be reimbursed for your efforts upon completion of an area. There were occasionally moments where I felt like the standard zone enemies werew winning against me simply because of a war of attrition, particularly in a "protect the objective" battle near the end of the game, but everything felt manageable as I reassessed my strategies and approached with a new state of mind.

The real unsung hero of this game was the environmental design and oh man was it absolutely incredible. From the moment you step foot on Rubicon, Fromsoft wasted no time in demonstrating the innate talent of their art teams and their ability to craft unforgettable and jawdropping vistas every chance they could. Numerous moments throughout my playthrough did I exclaim "this is really f* cool" to the friends I was streaming it to, stopping to stare at the great expanse of the delapidated world at large. Fromsoft have been the kings of ambience for quite some time now, with each title that I've enjoyed since DS1 in 2011 having that "Fromsoft Moment" where the landscape appears after entering an area and speaks volumes about the world and story at large without saying a single word. As chapter four wraps up and chapter five is introduced, there is a moment in which this happens that had my jaw near the floor, a significant factor in my remembrance of this game. Science Fiction often lives and dies upon the world it exists in, where effectively translating the nuances of the diverse locations is imperative to helping the titles stick out amongst the plethora of others within the genre. You remember the diverse locations of Star Wars, of Mass Effect, of Cowboy Bebop because of the way they are communicated to the audience. Armored Core VI with its Fromsoft DNA follows suit in offering enriching and memorable moments throughout the entire twenty hour runtime via optimal enemy placement, gorgeous vistas, and intricate cityscapes.

While Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is surely not for everybody, it checked the fast paced and difficult action game box for me in the absolute best way possible. Engaging fights, a rewarding customization system, and incredible environmental design all are elements that make this one of the best new games I've played in recent memory, and a hallmark of the mecha genre. I strongly recommend Armored Core VI to anyone who is a fan of Fromsoft, science fiction, and/or action games that require intense focus from the player.

Where do I begin...

By far the best ARPG/RPG game I have played. Whether it be the fun combat system or the intriguing characters/story that keep you playing. It is a story and a game that is worth seeing through to the end.

Not to mention the fun side content, in depth leveling system and funny endings it is well worth the 100% completion.

A story that makes you think is a story worth experiencing.

Ah what the hell I’ve come around completely. I still really don’t like certain bits (Mei ling scenes, marriage story) but god I love the art direction and cutscenes so damn much. It’s also just fucking fun. The story is so much better to me now that my expectations no longer rest solely on the mammoth shoulders of MGS2. I really picked up what MGS4 put down in the end. As ridiculous as the plot beats are, when you grow to accept them for what they are you find a game just as if not more poetically poignant than anything else in the metal gear series. I no longer feel cheated. I’m very happy that MGS4 is what it ended up being. Less sexual harassment wouldn’t have hurt though. Why is Johnny a thing man…

I... didn't expect to like this game as much as I did.
A couple of years ago I had a phase, where I wanted to know everything about its lore, even though I had never played it and actually dreaded ever doing so. The whole discourse about Soulslikes and how hard they are, really turned me of gameplay-wise. But all the video essay explaining the lore, discussing its themes, analyzing it's endings as well as the general aesthetic and gothic, victorian vibes and the eldritch horror always occupied a space in the back of my head.

Having now actually played and finished it as well as the DLC I just gotta say, this is probably one of my favourites.
I spend the first three hours trying to get to the Cleric Beast (fuck those werewolves, I still think they are way to hard for a newcomer and would encourage every newbie to cheese the shit out of them) and even de-installed the game angrily only to come back the next day. This time I reached the Cleric Beast and was even able to kill it after a couple of tries. From that point on, I really enjoyed Bloodborne.

Maybe it's because it's my first Soulsgame, but I think the tense difficulty paired with the very precise combat that discourages button mashing makes this a great horror experience. Whenever you walk down a path you haven't walked before you're really tense, cause there might be (a) new (combination of) enemies that is gonna fuck you up.
The esoteric story-telling and general atmosphere only enhanced this horror feeling.
I don't think I really need to add anything to the whole discussion around how this game puts Lovecraftian horror perfectly into a video game: Insight, knowledge beyond human comprehension, uncaring Gods/ Old Ones, dreams and nightmares as surreal yet powerful places that can actually manifest things in reality - you know the deal. There is maybe an aspect that isn't mentioned as much though: It kinda took the racism out of Lovecraft. The evil cults aren't black people doing some "voodoo" magic (I'm no expert but voodoo is apparently a amalgamation of various African religious influences, in which the enslaved came together) to summon Cthulhu or "mad Arabs" that translated ancient texts and thus put evil magic into the world. No, this game takes place in Fantasy London, and the evil cult is actually a complex mixture of the (christian) church and a seemingly European medieval university. This time it's the colonizers fault and yet they blame the "outsiders", the hunters that are hired from different lands to kill the beasts that are increasingly plaguing the city, in exchange for which they can also benefit from the blood healing Yharnam is famous for. I'm not gonna pretend that Bloodborne is a anti-colonial master piece, it's much to dedicated to it's narrative about ancient unknowable horrors for that, but I appreciate that it does clean that up a bit.

Lastly, while playing this I wondered why I like the gameplay so much, it really reminded me of design philosophy left behind in the era of the PS2. Design philosophies and gameplay I've dearly missed.
No open world, but instead a rather linear experience with interlaced, convoluted pathways that will always be worth exploring. Be it for new items, interesting bits of lore/ environmental storytelling or just a shortcut so you don't have to do a harrowing passage again.
The combat design is also really good. Everything reacts to your hits, you can counter bosses or other enemies if you're dexterous enough. The parry system as well as the dodging is super precise making anything you pull of general delight. I would still advocate for an easy mode/ accessibility options (people with not as much free time, stressfull jobs as well as disabled people might still enjoy this game for one reason or another). Only being able to play this when you're able to highly concentrate could be a bit frustrating if you wanted to play a little after a hard day at work for example.

Still, I enjoyed as a gameplay continuation - and maybe that's a bit of a hot take - of the original Kingdom Hearts.

...I mean that. Many people say the original Kingdom Hearts is a bit antiquated, but it actually shares a lot of qualities with this game. It's level structure is rather linear, but you can find convoluted pathways and secrets in every major area and you can also parry enemies to your advantage. The last thing is not necessarily needed to beat Kingdom Hearts, but it makes the combat so much more fun. (both games also share an atrocious camera, but I don't think that's something that is willingly designed that way).

Bloodborne's story is not as unhinged though. Yeah, I might check out some more Fromsoft games