An absolutely wonderful little game. Deconstructeam have become some of my favourite game devs, with their focus on unconventional narrative experiences with a heavy queer and left leaning focus. From their small game jam projects to full releases like this, I always get something out of it and walk away with a lot to think about

Honestly, my main hangup (and I recognize this absolutely might be own my feelings of insecurity and invisibilty in queer spaces) is that it feels a bit alienating towards transmasc people, like another review mentioned. The game explicitly mentions that witches can only be women and non binary, and there's a plotline about a trans woman being a witch that I thought was sweet but also recognize that it's not my place to judge since I know some negative reviews weren't happy with it - but the game skirts around the idea of transmasc people existing, while it's awkwardly sitting in my mind and it just felt a bit cruddy. I guess in a way it can't mention them? I could go into the way "women and non binary only" spaces exist in real life, and usually serve as a way to alienate certain groups, but that may be reading too deep into things. Either way, there were only a few scenes where I felt this got in the way of enjoyment and am mostly able to push it aside

The writing here is so fun and powerful. Some might say it's cheesy but for me, it really works. Although it will often give you small glimpses and vignettes into its world, rather than super in depth looks, but I kinda love that because it feels like poetry

I think it's worth noting that the second half of the game is more of a political campaign sim, where you allocate people to tasks and try to influence others, which I did not expect. It isn't bad or anything, but I do think I preferred the first half of the game. Simply talking to witches, creating cards and reading fortunes were strong enough mechanics by themselves that they would have worked for the full game thanks to the high quality/intriguing enough writing

I've tried Super Monkey Ball games many times but Banana Rumble, the latest release from Yakuza/Like A Dragon dev RGG Studio, is the first game in this series that (1) I completed and (2) I fully clicked with.

The secret sauce here is that I think Banana Rumble, for the first time I've really seen, offers a gentle difficulty curve from the first level in its campaign to its last. As a result, by the time I got to the BS-y Monkey Ball levels in Worlds 6/7/8, I was equipped to handle them. The Sonic-style spin dash is great too because it is a bit unwieldy (what isn't a bit unwieldy in this series) but if you know how to use it, you can actually skip through whole chunks of levels with a little bit of effort and/or trial-and-error. Level design is good across the board, and there's a buttload of content to get into if you go looking for it.

So yeah, for sure a highlight of 2024 for me and one of the biggest surprises for me in some time. Will it appeal to everyone? Definitely not -- Super Monkey Ball is in part defined by a measure of finnicky jank some won't want to put up with. That said, I think there are plenty of folks who are going to pick this up and go "OH! I get what this series is about now!"

A Dragon Age game that adds open world locations and flashy combat but loses a lot of sauce in the process.

Dragon Age: Origins is archaic and shows its age a lot even for a game made in '09, but it drips with heart and offers a globetrotting story that sticks with you long after the credits roll. Dragon Age II, meanwhile, is a clearly-rushed action-RPG that reuses locations and can be beaten in 15 hours, but its economical design means you get rip-roaring pacing and a more personal story. A more personal story that, honestly, may even endear me to Dragon Age II over Origins.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a good game but it has a lot of problems, such that I struggle deciding where to begin. On the macro plot scale, Inquisition has Doom Eternal's problem of throwing a lot of lore at you too hard and fast. If you aren't a huge Dragon Age franchise fan or a careful reader of codecs, you're going to regularly have no idea what anyone is talking about. Origins and II -- say what you want about the latter -- give a great tale that is easy to follow and connect to while giving you further nuggets to dig into should you be so inclined.

Then you have the smaller, more personal stuff. Your character moments, your small stories, so on. You can find some of this stuff if you try, but you have to work harder to find it and you'll find less of it than in previous Dragon Age games. Bloody Baron this is not.

Which connects to another point I wanted to make. Inquisition is the newest Dragon Age game and is only one console generation old, but because it is a "new" game that preceded The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cyberpunk 2077, the newer Like A Dragons, it is very obvious that Inquisition does not stack up to its successors. I somehow feel this game's age more than Origins and II.

The gameplay doesn't help either. If Dragon Age II is a proto-Final Fantasy XVI, Inquisition is a proto-Pokemon Legends: Arceus. You wander around open worlds, do stuff, complete quests, and ultimately build up enough doing stuff points to unlock the next major story quest. One of my biggest pet peeves in video games (outside of maybe knockback in old-school 2D action games) is when it feels like a game is giving you busy work to pad itself out. Inquisition doesn't do it in an Arceus or Mario Odyssey sense where you just have to do a little and can engage with the game's systems as much or as little as you care to pretty much. No, Dragon Age: Inquisition is a 20-25 hour game with about 8 hours of substantial critical path stuff.

And as far as non-critical stuff goes, the quests are fine, the exploration is fine. But not once did I have an "ooh, what's that?!" moment in 20 hours.

Oh yeah, and the RPG combat part is pretty dull. Hold down R2 and use the same spells/powers over and over again. More diversity here than in II, technically, but for some reason Inquisition felt super boring by comparison.

It's not all bad. There are some good moments. The game ends strong and makes me excited for The Veilguard (which looks really good!), and as I come to the end of this trilogy I do now consider myself a bit of a fan. Gonna read some lore on a Wiki. Gonna watch a Netflix animated series. Maybe gonna do some DLC or a replay some day. Dragon Age is a series that takes the ingredients of a Western RPG and makes a fun, fruity, tropical cocktail that goes down easy. Varric for life!

not surprised to find most life is strange games hovering around a 3.5, considering these is THE anti-gamer series. in the midst of gamergate, we received this divisive masterpiece which brazenly spat in the face of the boys demanding prettier, subservient girl characters and a removal of anything deemed "woke". it's the video game equivalent of a scrappy girl wearing steel-toed boots with gay flags on em and it's awesome. i guarantee you that at least two writers at DONTNOD are d.e.b.s. fans. and now, in year of our Lord 2024, in the midst of a second gamergate, we're receiving another max caulfield entry. you can bet your ass i'm beyond excited for whatever millenial-lesbian-teen-movie-sob-story "woke" shit and beautiful jank await us in double exposure. oh, and by the way - chloe is an amazing character and it really speaks to how bad the cancel-centric liberal gen z brainrot is that most people can't appreciate her just because she's flawed.

(hey! people that follow me! i'm putting together a blog called "consider it broken" where i'll be posting the majority of my reviews from now on, rather than backloggd. you can expect way swankier and substantiver games coverage there, including expanded versions of previous reviews. the gaming section is almost ready to be launched, so stay posted! it would mean a lot if y'all checked it out.)

Pretty good little post-game expansion, gives you an extra 5ish hours of main story content (maybe a bit less) and a bunch more if you do side stuff. Took me maybe 4 or 5 hours to get through.

More Dragon Age: Origins with some required reading lore baked in. In fact, it is such required reading that I feel somewhat awkward about it being DLC (a la Asura's Wrath having its true ending on sale for $7.99 but to a lesser severity). Still, good story and I'm playing it 15 years later so hard to get too mad.

My other complaint is that the experience was exceedingly buggy for me. IDK if that's the result of Series X enhancements or if the 360 version was always like this. Lots of graphical bugs and I got an infinite loading screen once.

But yeah, a decent post-game and more of the same. Not too much to complain about!

Edit: Y'all are saying this was $40 at launch? Oof.

Okay, so on paper, I can't argue with the idea that Origins has more than Dragon Age II. It is a proper RPG with an expansive globetrotting adventure and a ton of content and a ton of player agency. I get why the first game is so beloved.

Dragon Age II, meanwhile, is a small story that takes place in a single city and is about your player character going from rags to riches and using their influence to change the fate of said city. It trades in MMO combat for a proto-Final Fantasy XVI button masher and you can get through this whole thing in, I don't know, 15 hours?

Dragon Age II was made in two years or so, and you can definitely feel it. There are relatively few areas compared to Origins and you can see economical design in spades, from cutscene animation to semi-frequently reused areas. It must also be said that the "your choice doesn't matter here" is really visible in DAII.

But for these faults (and the fact that it's pretty buggy like its predecessor), I think a part of me preferred Dragon Age II. DAII has no boring stretches, no frustrating areas, no unnecessarily long winded NPCs, and a managable scope. It's a game that goes down easy.

Also, as a mage in DA:O, by the time I got to the end of the game I was using the same two or three spells to wipe enemies over and over again. As a two-handed swordsman in II, my arsenal was constantly evolving. So yeah, call me goofy, but I actually liked the button mashy combat here more than that of Origins. The action was kinetic, fun, and straightforward, even if it lacks the flourishes of recent Final Fantasy games.

But the biggest thing for me was the story. While there were some confusing beats (it could be the amount of lore thrown at you at all times), the progression of the protagonist from a refugee to a nobleman champion is extremely compelling, as was the focus on elf/Templar conflict over another archdemon.

Once again, really good game. Can't wait to see what Inquisition has in store!

A very rare example where I started off Origins being very unsure about it and then progressively enjoyed it more and more until I pretty much loved it by the end.

It was a tough hang at first. Origins doesn't look great even by 2009 standards, and if you're not expecting MMO-style combat it can all feel a little awkward at first. But the combat grew on me (I played elf mage) as I went along and got more powers, and I clicked with the gameplay overall once I realized Bioware was going for a heavily streamlined Baldur's Gate-style RPG. And to that, they did an excellent job.

The writing was also top notch -- as good as the best Mass Effect stuff -- and despite there not being a ton of environments or what have you Bioware made it feel like you were going on a grand adventure to unite the nations and combat a larger, frightening threat. Although I think the final combat encounters were somewhat annoying, the narrative in the back third is thrilling.

So glad I played this. Going to play the Awakening DLC next, then DA2, then Inquisition!