Full disclosure: I played co-op and skipped 95% of the cutscenes. My review is strictly from a gameplay point of view. This game has some very satisfying movement options and gun-play. It suffers from being an open world game and having lots of extremely repetitive missions and visuals. You very frequently are walking through similar looking hallways, or doing the exact same objective. Open world really ended up meaning that you were going to do extremely repetitive actions such as clearing out FOBs, fighting absurdly tanky mini-bosses, running out of ammo since all the enemies are miles away from you and you need to cross and open field to rearm yourself. What initially started as a surprisingly good time quickly just become average, and then, towards the very end, a chore. Not the worst, not good. Average. Honestly the only reason its a 6 and not a 5 is because I watched no cutscenes, and was playing with a good friend. Decent co-op experience.

I don't regret playing this game, but it wasn't really good either. While I almost certainly am dumb as shit for not realizing this, I managed to make it to the final stage and final boss before actually understanding that this was a puzzle shooter. I had simply been shooting everything, assuming that the RNG gods decided whether or not I lived or died. Maybe there is some tutorial out there but from my initial session of hitting new game, to reaching the final boss, I never once actually knew how the puzzle segment of the game worked. Not holding your hand is fine is some cases but kind of baffling in this one. If you can almost beat the final boss (I literally doubled KO'D with the boss and had to reset) before understanding truly how the mechanics of the game worked, something has gone awry. I can't stress enough how frustrated I was thinking it was the games fault for me constantly getting, what I was initially dubbing as "impossible" runs, because spamming shots worked around 70% of the time. The biggest frustration with this game is definitively the run back to bosses. While in most schmups you get to learn all the patterns of enemies and master the game to the point of doing it in your sleep, in this game with its puzzle aspects, you are actually have to do light puzzle solving EVERY TIME you die to a boss. The boss run isn't something to be memorized but something to be solved. Couple this with annoying environmental enemies that damage you, as well as accidentally dying by boxing yourself in, it really left a bad taste in my mouth. Upon mulling it over I'd definitely say the game was more fun than not, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, not even enjoyers of puzzle and schump games.

This game had all the makings to be my favourite Ace Attorney game. No psychic shenanigans. The music being the best the series has ever produced (in the four games I've played thus far). Some absolute bangers are finding them straight into a spotify playlist ASAP. This game also has my favourite supporting character in an Ace Attorney game, a Mr. Herlock Sholmes. He is fucking hilarious and grew on me far more than I initially expected. By the end of the third case I was convinced that this would top Trials and Tribulations as my favourite game in the series. However it loses a lot of enjoyment in one place in particular; very slow pacing.

Thankfully once each case gets going my grievances tend to fade away, but there are some parts in the investigation periods particularly where I just wanted things to hurry along. Also during trials some of the solutions would be glaringly obvious but you had to spend 3 minutes to let the in game characters to come to very obvious conclusions. However when this game gets good, the case is in its final stretches, the music is blaring, objections reigning out from each side, the game really scratches that Ace Attorney itch.

Gameplay wise this game also felt a lot more engaging, being able to interact and spin around pieces of evidence to discover clues that actively would be used to turn trials around, most notably an ENTIRE FUCKIN' BUS being evidence in which you can explore. My only real grievance with the mechanic would be that you don't get an indicator to show you've examined a particular area when dealing with evidence. This means that at times during trials I would miss a clue thinking I'd already pressed on that particular prompt. There is also the deductions of Herlock Sholmes which conceptually interested me but often went on longer than I wanted them too. The jury system also was a surprising addition but one that added to the gameplay. Summation soundtrack SLAPPING also helped.

Overall I really liked the game. The music is really freaking good. If you can tolerate some pacing issues here and this game is well worth playing.

The fourth Ys game I've completed and easily the most...bland. I played it, I had an OK time. The narrative I fully admit to skimming through to get to the gameplay. Coming off Origins I got a bit a whiplash at the writing. While I know I could just refuse to heal, the fact that you can stock up on 40 health potions trivialized every single boss fight in the game. Where origin the first run through felt like I actually had to learn boss patterns, in this game I simply had to time a dodge and spam moves, drink a potion if I goofed, rinse repeat. I imagine a year from now I'll struggle to remember anything about this game.

Visually and musically an absolute vibe. The tone is fairly bleak but was also shockingly funny. The gameplay is point and click adventure with some light turn based combat. Thankfully you aren't pixel hunting as by default everything you can interact with is highlighted. As for the combat, I really wish there was something more too it. It is so undemanding that I wonder why it was even added.

I would say that the visuals and soundtrack are what I'll remember this game for, rather than any particular parts of the narrative. Chex2Cash is going into a playlist ASAP.

As someone who was very disappointed by Cold Steel IV this game managed to rekindle a lot of my love for this franchise. I went into it with extremely low expectations and ended up playing over 10 hours a day (on my days off). My enjoyment stemmed in part due to having taken the first real break from the game (having caught up a few days before cold steel IV), and also because of the different structure the game.

Mechanically this game continues the cold steel tradition of adding a new mechanic with united fronts being thrown into the mix. However the real enjoyment of this game for me came from the Reverie corridor and more specifically daydreams. By exploring the corridor you unlock orbs that will let you see flashbacks for members of your party (like the doors in sky 3rd). It was nice actually getting to sit in shoes of characters that normally the game wouldn't focus all its attention on, letting you see side stories from Sky, Crossbell and of course Cold Steel.

Structurally the game is unique compared to other trails games. It allow you to play as three separate parties where you get locked out of them and are forced to play the other parties until they are all caught up, before moving onto the next act. It works in some ways and falls flat in others. Some stories are significantly more interesting than others, leaving (for me) Rean's act to be a slog. C's route was the easy highlight for me.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this game and at the time of finishing it (July 2023) its my GOTY. If you like modern trails games you should love this.

There are a few things I dislike about this game, chief among them are the insanely high encounter rate and most of Nortune (especially the fucking sewers). However once you get Thames this game is incredibly smooth sailing.

Gameplay is not the most stimulating considering every time I fought monsters for a bit I'd proceed to open my menu, check progress on deathblows, close menu, over and over and over (might have just been a me issue). Also inputting the same combo over and over to grind up deathblows, having to watch the animation tends to get a little stale. Had it not been for the incredibly interesting world/lore and an engaging story I don't think I would have been able to get through this game.

Overall I'd highly recommend this game with an emulator to make some of the encounter rates more bearable. When this game gets going, it gets going. Easy recommend (with emulator).

Ahhh trails. The definition of a game I needed EXACTLY when I needed it. Moving cities, going to university, not having a single close friend nearby. Feeling isolated and extremely lonely and finding this game on sale for dirt cheap on GOG I decided to give it a whirl. During that period of time the cast of Sky 1-3 became a fill in for a lot of the loneliness I was going through to such a degree that whenever I replay the game the title screen is enough to reduce me to tears. Thanks trails for helping me get through one of the worst periods of my life.