about a decade ago i'd have happily called this one of my all-time favourites. but i havent played it since definitive edition came out and my perspectives have changed a lot on stuff. it's one of those games i'd really love to give a go-over as the person i am now but ALSO it's like a 60+ hour jrpg when there's so much other stuff i also wanna do with my life than replay something i played like 3 times already. if i DO replay it i'll probably find something to hook onto and write about, but i don't think that's too likely

it's a really funny situation where i kinda do like the game and i've played it a lot but i don't actually like a lot of its systems (this does go for harvest moon as well). i'd love to discuss the parts i dont like as much in more detail but i've tried to draft it up multiple times and i just end up sounding like way more of a hater than i'd like to. i guess thats part of the trouble with how i write reviews, i do like 2 or 3 paragraphs where i just hone in on something particular i wanna talk about but it can mean the narrative of my writing doesnt end up reflecting how i actually feel about the game. i do value keeping them concise more than anything tho so 🤷‍♀️

i have one that's like 90% written but i dont really have any drive to finish the last 10% since it's been a month or two since my replay which means i've now forgotten everything about the game. sorry dark souls 3 believers :')

these next three games are all just so personal to me in a way that i dont really know how to convey in a """formal""" (lol) written piece. crystal is probably my *actual* favourite game at least as far as sentimentality goes, and it's personal in such a way that im not even gonna try and write down here. im planning on doing a go-over of my fave list soon (read: i have been trying for months) so you can look forward to that

if they don't mind the s/o vee's review comes at it at a slightly different angle but still conveys a lot of how this game makes me feel

see pokemon crystal. i could probably try to write up something about its themes and also how presentationally it's pretty much just a perfect videogame imo (and how those two things are linked). but idk i don't like talking about themes that much in stories that present themselves like this. i think it's much better when it's experienced and interpreted on a personal level rather than having some internet person describe it to you lol. i think any review i'd say the word "themes" in id probably about a game where those themes are spoken a lot more directly (not that eb is particularly unclear about its own lol) and just have cool gameplay that links in with them really well

i'll probably replay it again one day and i'll probably cry at magicant again and maybe then i'll be able to turn my thoughts into something coherent and that feels good and substantial enough to post. but maybe not!

see pokemon crystal. when i tried to draft something up for this i opened by talking about how it's secretly the most immersive video game ever. which is tongue in cheek but ALSO one time i tabbed out trying to switch between windows because i really thought the videogame interface was just my computer. just a silly little anecdote

like, it's *such* a well-made and satisfying turn-based tactics game as well as being a rougelikelitething that actually has full respect for your time, but i tried writing a review a couple times and just didn't end up having much to say? these sorts of games aren't easy for me to review because it rides purely off its mechanics and i don't really like breaking down games like that. especially since this game is relatively simple on that front. i struggled a lot to write my necrodancer review for the same reason and only pushed through because i was that determined to, and even then looking back on it it's really just one paragraph under the guise of three

sadly i didn't really connect with this one nearly as much as most other people seem to. i'd really love to be able to discuss why but i had trouble understanding and organising my thoughts even when i was fresh off the replay and now it's been over a year so i don't really remember anything lol. (also tbh i feel like putting myself out there as 'that person who doesn't like m3 all that much' would make me feel weird abt posting that theoretical review anyway, but hey i guess it's out there now :') )

i was incredibly normal about this game as a teen and i do still like it well enough but i also think it sucks in a really fascinating way where so much content has been piled on top of a framework that was never built to sustain it that it kind of just collapses under its own weight. and you can see that through how exploration is nonexistent beyond hardmode (there's literally no room for it) and it veers sharply towards combat, bosskilling and drop farming as opposed to the imo much more interesting spelunking before then. HOWEVER there's absolutely nothing more for me to say on that front lol, i don't plan on ever playing the game again for any specific receipts so there you go there's the review

armored core 1 for the ps1 is so cool in ways that none of the other games in the series are, but i feel like the only way im really capable of doing that is listing off the cool bits like a checklist and just being like "its so fuckin COOOOLL dude!!!". i dont think im really capable of digging into *why* it's cool rather than just telling you that it is lol. plus i feel like seeing how it actually all works in motion is part of what makes it cool and being clued in on all that might take away from it a bit? idk if you read to the end of this play this one, armored core is a really cool series and i think this one's my fave