This is gonna be a long post but I want to talk about the more unique aspects of this game that aren't the game mechanics like the emotion system it has, how unique and impressive the AI is and so on that I've already seen people talk about. Most people into "strange" PS1-era video games have heard of this one before. It is a bit of an infamous title due to still being the only video game ever to win the Seiun Sci-fi award and at the time it was just made by a bunch of random staff that somehow made a mecha-focused game leagues above any of its competitors such as Front Mission, SRW, Sakura Wars and so on. It is also sometimes mentioned in relation to Muv-Luv and 13 Sentinels. The former has basically the same alternate-history concept and the way it handles a certain SF trope is very similar but otherwise they are quite different. With the latter, it is probably the primary influence (alongside Please Save My Earth and Megazone 23) which is pretty hilarious as one of the most common complaints with 13S is that it "doesn't do anything original" despite the fact that 90% of the people who say that don't even know what those three series are.
The influence of GPM on 13S isn't a simple plot point or anything like that though and much deeper than you would expect. Take 13S and remove the mystery files and imagine if every story in the story section was totally randomized. Not only that, but imagine the gameplay of 13S except it's not piss easy and it's incredibly complicated. But enough about other games, GPM has had a pretty legendary status as a long untranslated game. I have played through the game four times including the tutorial playthrough and it has been nearly a year.

First off, similar to 13S and Persona 3 the game is split into two sections being the social sections and the battle system. A good 90% of the game takes place in the school section while the rest of it is "SRPG" stuff. This may not sound like anything special but, if you ever wanted the social sections to tie into the battles in those previously mentioned games this is what you are looking for. Pretty much everything you do in the social sections matter, and each playthrough will be a different experience. The games social-link equivalent does not give you simple stat boosts or anything like that, almost every single classmate you have gives you entire game mechanics. Ranging from being able to see into peoples hearts and seeing who likes who to being able to use the Shining Finger from G Gundam, to being able to increase your social status and forcing your classmates to listen to you. Not only that, but there is perma-death. This isn't some FE style perma-death though. When a classmate dies, they hold an entire funeral for him and the way all the other characters act changes. Every single death matters. If you liked the aspect of not being able to control your classmates in Persona 3's battle section well, this is like that but a million times more complicated. The more someone likes you, the more likelier they are to help you during battle. This isn't all however, there are as many negative aspects as there are positive aspects to it. So if you are thinking of trying to be best friends with literally everyone, I learned the hard way that this is not a viable strategy. Most of the cast has beef with each other so you have to experience and choose who you want to get close to. For example, Katou is very useful and charming but getting close to her makes Kariya hate you because he feels jealous of your character. Kariya is disabled and on a wheelchair who needs help a lot of the time. Helping him up the stairs and stuff would normally make others sympathize with you more and see you as a helpful person, but if he hates you you lose this ability. On the other hand, getting close to a psychopath like Akane puts a rift between you and the rest of the cast. Moreover, the game is filled with beginners traps. If you get close to Mai Shibamura, the "main heroine" of the game you lose access to pretty much everyone else as they all hate her. The tradeoff is that Mai is easily the best character in the game and simply better than everyone else, despite this fact though if you get close to her it also locks you into one of the few scripted battles that a beginner has next to no chance of winning. There's something like this with every single character which is what makes it stand out so much to me. You have next to no control over how the world develops in the game, and you have to manually learn who likes who and vice versa by talking to them.

However, the more you play through the game the more you acquire this "knowledge" which leads you to be able to control the world more. This in turn is a requirement for the true ending in game. Once you fullfill the true ending requirements and "learn about the truth of the world", you start being referred to as a god and all your classmates start being afraid of you. This is another very unique aspect of the game, counting things like scripted bad endings there are around a dozen endings in the game. There are six normal endings depending on how you perform as a soldier, however besides the true ending most of the endings are the same besides the boosters they give for your next playthrough. The true ending though, is anything but simple. Pretty much the entire dialogue in the game changes once you fulfill the requirements for it. The requirements for it are harsh as well, you have to kill over 300 Genjuu (the beta/kaiju/alien equivalent of the game) and make sure no one among the 23 characters in the cast (yes, including your teachers) dies.
Oh yeah, the story. If you dislike long stretches of plot infodumps that RPGs tend to have, this is your game. Possibly the epitome of show don't tell. There is an overarching story but it takes a background to the point of the game, which is that the way you connect the strange happenings of the game is the "real story". Essentially, your experience while playing it matters more than the explanation to things. That isn't to say they don't explain anything but without spoiling much this game is unpredictable to say the least. Even with game mechanics, I've never seen any other mecha SRPG have war-time tax on simple items in the store. You have to pay fucking tax in this game. Simply put, this isn't a game that revolves around twists. The amount of stuff you can do is virtually limitless, if you want to become the commander of your platoon you can do it. If you think the battle system is bad, you can take a job that doesn't involve piloting such as being an engineer and sit out and skip all of the battles. Hell, if you want you can NEET it out too, not working at all and being lazy is an option as well. Planning an assassination against government officials, working for the black market, learning the origin behind the robots you pilot, "siding with the aliens", getting real close to the cat that suspiciously has god-tier stats, cursing your classmates and setting them up to die, working out like crazy and punching aliens while wearing your piloting suit and so on. All this stuff I mentioned isn't even half of it, I recommend not looking up many guides as learning that every single action has a consequence is one of the things I liked about the game. Oh yeah, there is an "Illusion" meter in the game that is basically a schizophrenia stat. You should absolutely grind that to see some wild shit.
So in the end how does all of this come together? Well, barely. The music is very underwhelming. The visuals of the games besides the battles are in the negatives. A lot of the character scenarios feel unfinished, and it doesn't help that for some reason all the social link equivalents are in randomized order for the most part. I would say the game is complete as it is but, if you go into it expecting a set beginning and an end you will be disappointed. A lot of stuff was cut as well, going into minor spoiler territory here there are 5+1(the tutorial chara) playable characters. Originally, every single character was meant to be playable. You can still play as every character through a cheat code but all of their scenarios are unfinished and insanely glitchy. Moreover, all the ED cutscenes have a bunch of CGs that you don't see in game: all content that was cut and reproduced as an audio drama. Said audio drama is largely unavailable, I had to physically buy most of the discs and uploaded what I have on YT but I'm still missing the last two.
There's a ton of stuff about the game that I haven't mentioned due to spoilers. Some crucial game mechanics, the meta element that the entire game revolves around, etc. One final note is that if you're the type that lacks reading comprehension and whines about Muv-Luv and similar games being fascist then steer clear of this game because it makes ML nationalism seem like a joke.
Gunparade March lived up to the hype for me and I still think about it every day but, I feel like a lot of people won't really like it much. It really is a lightning in a bottle tier game. I'm hoping LOOP8 will be good but it isn't looking that great and the other sequels are not great. Still, if you like any of the aforementioned games or if anything I said about it sounds interesting it is absolutely worth checking out in the case that it gets translated. Just know that whatever the game seems like to you, it's probably nothing like that in reality.

Hey there! I’ll be honest, I don’t have a great deal of interest in talking about Elden Ring in any formal capacity. If someone wants to pay me to do it, I might, but no-one likely does. :/

Anyway, instead of a write-up, I’m just gonna list my 10 favorite proper nouns in the game.

-

10. Vulgar Militiamen (keepsies on this one for my future hardcore punk band)
9. Shabriri Grape
8. Ancient Death Rancor
7. Morgott, The Omen King
6. Flame, Fall Upon Them (the choice to make spell names full sentences is always sick, regardless of property)
5. Fingercreeper
4. Land Squirt
3. Albinauric Bloodclot (I would ride around on Torrent just mouthing “albinauric bloodclot” a lot)
2. [Bastard’s Stars](https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Bastard's+Stars)
and finally, 1. Godskin Stitcher

Alright, bye!!

some films that came to mind while playing this: spring, summer, fall, winter... and spring (temple of isolation and cycles), little shop of horrors (elder god audrey 2 creation myth), flight of the navigator (quarantine, unidentified floating object), vivarium (suburban alienation)...

there's more, of course, and i'm not suggesting that any of these were necessarily intentional references; rather, it's more likely these are things i'm inferring because the game, short and small as it is, is littered with these little archetypal bits of things both mythical and mundane. i think it's a mistake to take fatum betula as a simple mess of dream logic. it has things to say, and it's up to you to do the experimenting required to discover what these things are. in the end, whichever ending(s) you get, you'll most likely come away with something to think about for a while. the kind of person you want to be, perhaps.

So I finally completed this today (April 16th 2023). Feels like the end of an era. And I'm oddly emotional about it.

To give some background - I'm a casual learner of Japanese. I've been teaching myself it for a long time now. Happy Salvage is the first ever game that I've played from beginning to end solely in Japanese. I read and (tried to!) understand every sentence I came across. I took hundreds of pages of notes and never rushed ahead. I read random NPC dialogue, did side-activities whenever they were available, and generally played it as I would any normal game. It is a bit difficult to attribute a numerical value though, as my experience with HS was much more 'edutainment' than as a standard video game. I went through it all at a snail's pace and got stuck often, because my Japanese is far from fluent. But I would say, all in all, I enjoyed my time with it. There's no way I could've reached the end credits if I hadn't.

So why play through all of Happy Salvage I hear you ask? This super obscure PS1 visual novel that, I assume anyway, most likely flopped in its homeland. After all, there are many other Japanese games that are far more sought after when it comes to being translated so that Western audiences can enjoy them. Well... it all just fell into place to be honest. I happened upon Happy Salvage in some random Youtube video that I was watching; the theme being about PS1 games that never made it overseas. A brief clip of HS was shown and it immediately stood out to me. The tropical locations, the bright visuals and the underwater exploration definitely appealed to me, and so on a whim I downloaded it (through nefarious means >:D). Upon booting it up for the first time, I quickly realised that Happy Salvage was a good match for my intermediate level of Japanese. It wasn't too verbose, the prose was hardly elaborate, and the story generally moved along at a good pace. I also noticed that all the dialogue and narration in the game had subtitles provided - there are no voice-only cutscenes if memory serves - which was perfect for me because my reading skills far exceed my listening skills. And also, if you think about it, isn't it generally a better idea to play a Japanese game that's likely never to be translated than one that is? I dunno - makes sense to me!

Anyway, to give a brief synopsis/description of what Happy Salvage is. It's about 65% visual novel, 35% underwater action/adventure game I would say. You play as Wataru Nanami, a university drop-out who inherits a salvaging company when his dad and uncle go missing. They've racked up a debt and it's up to Wataru and his cousin Marina to pay it off. You do this by diving underwater with a partner and using various tools to scour the ocean floor for valuable items which you can then sell off. There's a lot more to the story though, with Wataru and his gang investigating an ancient culture that has several ruins underwater ripe for exploration, while also making friends and developing bonds, all of whom have their own emotional baggage.

Of course, this premise mostly serves as an excuse to set Wataru up with a harem of adoring ladies, all eight of which have an invisible meter of sorts that you build up affection with as you progress.

They are...

Marina - Wataru's cousin and the main heroine of the game. She's generally a good lass, though quick to anger. It is weird that the vanilla girl in this game happens to be the main character's cousin. I'm not sure how romantic their relationship can get because I didn't pursue it, but... yeah. Ignorance is bliss.
Looly - The very chirpy and enthusiastic granddaughter of a former monarch of one of the game's islands. She's royalty of sorts, and gets to go on diving expeditions despite only being 10 years old because she's rich and, well, because this is some anime shit. Not nearly as precocious or annoying as you would assume. Being just a kid, she's not as involved in the story as some of the other cast members, which suits me fine, because I'd rather the game not have any of that loli nonsense at all. Again, I don't know how her route is resolved by the end, and I'd rather keep it that way!
Elissa - A tomboy and mechanical prodigy who constructs most of Wataru's toolkit and salvaging equipment along with her grumpy grandfather. Blighted by some generic brittle bone condition, she has a fragile disposition and seems the most tragic of the cast. I really liked Elissa by the end to be honest.
Miranda - The classic tsundere. A rival salvager to begin with, she's hostile towards Wataru and anyone else wanting to help her. Wouldn't you know it though, she has a heart of gold and an ailing little brother to keep alive, and joins Wataru's team after realising the true power of friendship and all that bollocks. A predictable arc, but she's another likeable presence.
Ranai (or is it Lanai?) - A spirited tribeswoman who can communicate with animals and for some reason has a gigantic belt substituting as a bikini top. She's a bit demented and I'm not sure how much of that is intentional.
Alma - A doll/cyborg constructed centuries prior that had broken down on an abandoned mobile island before being discovered by Wataru's crew and fixed by Elissa. Yes, it is as absurd as it sounds. She doesn't engage in any diving. As you would guess, Alma becomes less detached and more sentient/human-like as the story progresses, though it's done in a subtle and gradual manner. Her backstory and flashback scenes can be genuinely moving, despite how silly her character may seem on paper.
Panache - A missionary and the daughter of the priest on the game's hub island. Like Alma, she doesn't do the whole diving thing for some reason. Very quiet and soft-spoken, literally so. Her voice recordings are very low in the mix for some reason and it's hard to make out what she's saying at times. You have to go through a specific set of tasks to 'unlock' her route, so I'm thinking she might be a bonus character or something of that ilk. She's a cool lass either way.
Roshidy - A marine archaeologist and university professor, who happened to be Wataru's teacher before he dropped out. She catches wind of his antics and reunites with him, wanting to get in on the salvaging action for her own research. Mostly an elegant and classy lady, she gets a bit hands-on once drinking is involved. She also dresses very inappropriately when it comes to diving underwater. Not that I'm complaining. Needless to say, Roshidy's intro scene set off about five different kinks in me and she's probably the best thing about Happy Salvage. Before Sadayo Kawakami, there was Professor Roshidy. You better believe this was the dame I hooked up with by the end credits.

During the course of the story, you make choices which effect who you end up with, and other systems are in place too, like how often you take someone salvaging with you and if you treat them well. Take care not to hit your partner with your speargun during a dive, because they'll remember it! And while there definitely are some creepy elements and cultural idiosyncrasies that just won't sit right with a general Western audience, I would say that one of the strongest facets of Happy Salvage is its cast. They're (mostly) a super endearing, positive, proactive bunch of do-gooders, and the game as a whole is elevated by their good will and camaraderie with each other. Yes, there are anime tropes by the dozen, but nobody here is particularly irritating, or irrational, or downright stupid. Happy Salvage has a great central cast and it was a pleasure to spend time in their company (mostly).

The underwater exploration and salvaging is the meat of the game in terms of pure gameplay. It's... serviceable at best. Losing oxygen because you came into contact with a deadly fish is a regular annoyance, but the further you progress, the more oxygen you can hold in a canister, and hostile sea life becomes less of a problem. And thankfully, all in all you don't have to spend too much time doing the whole salvaging thing. It's especially helpful to pay attention to a video walkthrough like I did for some of these sections, as there can be puzzles involved, or not-so-clearly defined objectives to partake in in order to move the story forward.

And so my time with Happy Salvage has ended. It was a lot of time. Maybe too much. But I put my knowledge of the Japanese language to use, and it got me through the game while understanding most of what was going on. And along the way I learnt a lot more too. So it feels like an accomplishment to reach the end credits. I'm a little relieved, but also saddened that it's over. The same way a lot of people are sad when a Persona game ends. It was a long trip with a lot of friendly faces, and now that it's over, it feels like there's a hole where it used to be. Barring some stressful salvaging sections, Happy Salvage is textbook 'comf'. It's breezy, good-natured and a perfect summer game. While I understand why it wasn't localised in the West due to some problematic story elements, I feel it's a shame it will never reach a Western audience. The probability of a fan translation seems low, since the game doesn't appear to be on many people's radars. But I can confidently say, as someone who played the translations of Iru!, Dr. Slump and Aconcagua, that Happy Salvage is a much better game than any of those.

If you're reading this review and you feel enticed to maybe check out Happy Salvage because of it, I sincerely hope that one day you'll get that opportunity, without a language barrier standing in the way of you doing so. It's a hidden gem that deserves a wider audience than the one it got.

Ringing in the new year with completing my first foray into the denpa genre at a friend’s recommendation. Best read very late at night.

A sickly orange twilight is our backdrop to an acute, albeit harshly dated, portrayal of mental fragility and staggering acts of sudden violence. It’s no secret sayooshi is a hard to read title, I required frequent day long breaks in order to get to the core of the presented narrative, but it’s not something I regret at all. What lies beneath a veneer of sadistic fantasy is a story ripe for engaging critical analysis.

Outside of intentionally repetitive script which proved quite effective for both emphasis and flow, the rawness of the prose often stopped me in my tracks. Living in the protagonist’s head for the period of my playtime had me thinking of both his and others’ dialogue long after closing the game; the writing is gripping, the reader hanging off of every word as scenes end, leaving them with some final mysterious phrase which would only be elaborated on in another route.

The artwork is infectious in style, with the sharply pointed noses and almost melting eyes growing on me instantly. Paired with the warm reddish overlay layers and hauntingly stark 3DCG pre-rendered backgrounds, sayooshi establishes an iconic, instantly memorable presentation which is respected and referenced to this day. I especially enjoy the very much alive cult following and fanartist community this title keeps well after 20 years, a testament to its impact.

Upon first thinking the soundtrack merely did its job as background noise, before I knew it I was listening to the tracks outside of the game. Simple synth notes and drum samples make up evocative musical themes for every cast member, along with their use often adding to horrific juxtapositions in mood. My favourite tracks ended up being the smoky “Feignant” and the meandering, dreamlike “Inmobilite et Tourbillon”; the sound of an attempt to return to normalcy.

I don’t feel comfortable giving a rating, but I encourage those able to stomach more extreme scenes and seeking an entirely unique psychological horror experience to dive in.

じゃ、さよなら…

After sucking Alpha 2's dick for a long time, I've to appreciate this more nowadays. Especially since this is Street Fighter's last hurrah to its Hyper Fighting roots that isn't the billionth Super Turbo rerelease.

Its probably the most juggle heavy SF and its the first fighting game to have "styles". A-ism is the most balanced while V-ism(too good) & X-ism(eh) aren't but thankfully got better in updates which nobody played. But I appreciate the crazy options

In general, I see this as the final evolution to THE 90s style of capcom fighter which I classify as fast as fuck with insane combos ala Marvel series, Darkstalkers and SF before 3.

So long, fast SF. I will miss you dearly.

Fire Shark at its surface seems like a typical shmup from the late 80s. You got your WW2-esque military presentation that was common at the time, intensified with a kicking soundtrack and nice visuals to wrap around its straightforward core gameplay of piloting a biplane that goes down in one hit, but with the ability to collect various powerups and speed boosts to even the odds against the enemy forces.

If you're playing either the localized or home console Mega Drive release, then that is what you mostly get, a fun little shmup with a decent variety of enemies and stages with just a dash of jank that was to be expected of hardware limitations at the time.

What makes Fire Shark special however is its original Japanese arcade release from March 1987, named with the more energetic title 'Same! Same! Same!' which translates to 'Shark! Shark! Shark!'.

(Moving forward as well, I'll refer to the game as Same x3 to differentiate it from the Mega Drive and localized release Fire Shark).

Arcades were putting pressure on developers to create games that would keep the credits coming, which of course translates to designing games with nearly unfair difficulty balance and other kinds of bullshit. This resulted in Same x3's developer Toaplan ditching their intended balanced difficulty and having the arcade release start at a later loop which meant everything is amplified and harder by default.

Now it's easy to dismiss this game as well of just being another game during an era where games were designed with high difficulty to compensate for their usually short runtime. But Same x3 just somehow manages to strike a balance between complete bullshit and genuine challenge and ends up creating a strangely compelling game.

To start things off, Same x3's original arcade release uses a checkpoint system, whereupon death you're reset into an earlier part of the stage and with all your powerups and speed boosts stripped out, similar to other shmups like Gradius and R-Type. This of course makes recovery a challenge, and a large potential of chain deaths can immediately end runs. Even if you use a credit to continue, you're still faced with the same dilemma of being put into a bad checkpoint where it's just frustrating to climb back up from.

If that wasn't scary enough, powerups and speed boosts are all deliberately programmed to move randomly, inviting you to potential scenarios where you can collide head-on with a stray bullet.

The game even limits the amount of bullets that can come out from your ship, whether you're using autofire or tapping like a maniac. What this means is if you go over the maximum shot limit, you'll create gaps between your curtain of bullets that will create blind spots that enemies can potentially slip through and survive long enough to hit a surprise bullet at you point blank.

Then you also have large hitboxes, where it feels like your entire plane's sprite is vulnerable to any sort of projectile, on top of that, your bombs don't even give you the luxury of invincibility periods, on top of having a delay before they explode.

Enemy bullets are also notoriously fast despite their low density. If that wasn't evil enough, enemies as well can fire at you even before or after they appear from the screen. Expect to get sniped by a tank that just left the screen a few frames ago.

All this with 10 stages to boot, which can easily take upwards of 40 minutes in total for just a single loop clear. Finally, if you die, you don't even die immediately, as your plane goes up in flames first as you flail around and at least try to shoot down the same enemy that shot you down first, which while it gives you an opportunity for one last revenge hit, also rubs in your own mistake.

Despite all of this sounding like a recipe for just pure frustration, there's still a lot of the core gameplay mechanics that make Same x3 shine and still have a completely routable game that can be finished under a single life.

Bombs may not give invincibility, but they are powerful and will clear everything on the screen and some even above it. This encourages deliberate and strategic bombing in advance for certain parts of the stages to minimize risk for the player. Balancing this part however is that bombs in stock create a large multiplier for the player's score, and more score means more lives which means further chances of clearing the game. The player is then given a choice whether to stockpile bombs and take the risk for more lives later or spend their bombs and try to wing it towards the next stage.

You also have a few powerups to pick and choose from. The one you want to avoid is the awful green powerup that gives you a green linear shot (which is also completely common and stays onscreen the longest). The ones you want to stick to is the default blue wide spread shot and the red flamethrower shot that fires a consistent linear line and more power-upped versions provide side options that widely moves left and right (which is the only rapid-fire shot in the game you can hold without the tapping rapidly or using autofire). The latter two have their specific uses, and players who optimize their routes may try to deliberately switch between the two depending on the stage and part of the stage.

Despite the sheer brutality of the game, each stage is designed in a distinct and varied manner, with enemies having unique formations and patterns either on the ground or in the air, which creates interesting and memorable parts that not only complements the game's charm but helps in memorizing routes and strategies better due to how well defined they are. Stages also take place in different environments which are appreciated in giving personality even more throughout its large 10-stage set.

The game gets more thrilling and enjoyable as you get further with full powerups, as one mistake can mean a large setback in not only retreating to an earlier part of a stage but also recovering from your powerful state. This then extends to the satisfaction of completing the game even with continues, as the checkpoint system still provides a genuine point of difficulty that you can't credit feed yourself out from.

Going back to the game's presentation, it really looks good for a game of its time, where despite its typical military aesthetics, the background and enemy designs look good with an attractive color palette that manages to pop, alongside some nice animated effects for surfaces such as water. There are even cute little sprites of people whenever you land at hangers at the end of the stage. All of this is coupled with some of Toaplan's catchiest tunes.

Overall it does feel like a testament to the developer's core design that despite its deliberate frustrating difficulty, it still manages to put out one hell of a shmup that's unique with its own kind of challenge.

I can't easily recommend Same x3 to everyone, as it is a real test of patience and dedication, but to those who seek a humbling and interesting experience, it's worth at least a bit of your time just so you can experience the crazy allure of it all yourself.

ELDIN RING SUCKS.
What's up guys bateater here. And I'd like to give you my thoughts on this piece of shit game from a piece of shit game developer and before anyone asks, no, this is not a joke review, this is not coming out on april 1st i am %100 sincere when I say without any sarcasm that eldon ring can suck my dick. And now I know what all any of you are thinking I know what you're all thinking how much of this game have you played? Well I'm gonna be completely honest with you and this is an objective fact I have played precisely zero minutes and zero seconds of this bullshit game and I still know it's bullshit. And you know why? Well the answer is very simple and I know alot of people are going to say that I need to play the game before I judge it but I don't quite frankly I disagree. And if you disagree with me then get the hell off my review. Now here's the reason why I can safely say that I hate this game even though I've never played it. Because the community that From Software has cultivated is so toxic and vile that I automatically hate any game made by them. When I did my retrospective of Dark Souls way back when I have gotten not on nothing but pure hatred and that is the overwhelming majority of what I have gotten everyone in is and their mother says that I just need to get good well frankly I don't give a shit. Everypony who thinks that I who even if I make even a sementic mistake in my review they will tear me to shreds. Not PHYSICALLY of course. They will tear me to shreds verbally and act like they're objectively justified so I instead of just saying I'm not going to even play the game and I'm not even going to pass judgment no that. I'm going to pass judgment I'm going to get involved I'm going to actually place judgment on this damn game simply because it's fan base doesn't deserve to win here. They just don't what they want is for me to just not talk about the game. So. Because they think that it they think that by doing that they'll be able to censor any negative opinions so no I'm gonna give my opinion I'm gonna give my negative opinion whether you like it or not and actually specifically because you don't like it. My opinion is that Elden Ring is a piece of shit game from a developer that cultivates a piece of shit fan base so no I don't care if you think my opinion is invalid. I don't care if you think I've played enough of the game I don't care if you think I need to play the game I don't need to play it I already know what my opinion is. And if you got a problem with that then I defy you to change my mind so with that being said, I am Batear and I will see you guys next time. Peace.

Uh oh, I think I finally “get” Monster Hunter. After starting multiple entries and bouncing off of each, I’ve returned to MH4U and the bug has finally bitten me. It’s the ultimate “flow state” rpg, getting into the loop of going on rogueish runs for monsters and materials and returning to your samurai western jrpg town filled with supercool npcs, PLUS the option to find random weirdos online that are level 737 compared to your level 3 who will kill Rathalos while you watch, OK I GET IT ITS GREAT.

Eons of memes and bantz about many portrayals of, and commentaries on, gods and religion in Japanese pop media all threaten to frame Quintet's debut as a schmaltzy creation myth. The last thing I expected was a translation of Japan's cosmogony into a commentary on the monomyth, hiding its version of the pre-Imperial hero god Okuninushi (or Onamushi) behind a Judeo-Christian façade. But that's the level of creativity and innovation that the studio's founding staff and contractors strived for. Set aside the simple yet subversive premise and you'll still have one of the most fun and clever hybrids in console software history. ActRaiser's influence never traveled as far as it ought to, largely materialized in series like Dark Cloud, yet it's more than earned its cult classic reputation. Not that I'd call this the Velvet Underground & Nico of xRPGs, but it's a valid comparison. Few if any video games marketed for a wide audience tackled such a broad, charged set of themes and sensations in such a formative period for the medium, no matter the imperfections.

As unwieldy as it sounds, this fusion of two strongly contrasting genres—side-scrolling action platforming and the primordial god simulator—likely couldn't have been bettered in 1990. Bullfrog's seminal Populous had only arrived on Japanese PCs in March, and I've found no evidence of PC-98 developers working with Peter Molyneux's blueprint. We know, however, that the founding members of Quintet, having left Nihon Falcom during the development of Ys III, had finished 70% of what became ActRaiser before having second thoughts. Whether or not they'd seen or played a certain PC-based god game is yet unknown. (Ironically, their former employer's own Lord Monarch shows Yoshio Kiya's own infatuation with Western imports like Populous, though that game's an early real-time strategy wargame.) The group's growth and frustrations while working on Ys and related PC xRPGs might have pushed them to do something risky for a console audience they hadn't yet catered to. Why not bring the essence of a complex Japanese PC simulation title to a workmanlike action platformer a la Dragon Buster or Castlevania?

The waxing and waning divine works its wonders amidst spirits and sovereigns. It takes on forms both distinct and recondite, like shadow to light. Beyond the waking minds of souls freed into a bourgeoning world lives the idyllic hero, desirable yet unknowable, a paragon which leads through belief up until that faith is no longer needed or traditional. Such tales of good versus evil, or many shades past, endure across time, often as aspirations, warnings, and the subject matter of popular art and entertainment. It's this fascination with mythology, and what it means to people and their worldviews, which anyone playing ActRaiser (among other games letting you "play god") must engage with.

Now the goal was to evoke that feeling of playing god, a paradox given the player's inability to shape the game outside those possibilities which developers set for them. They compromised with a dual-avatar story, where both a chiseled holy warrior and boon cherubic messenger shape separate but linked sections of the world. Main writer and planner Tomoyoshi Miyazaki wisely chose to represent this god's duality of presence. In the sky castle, we are without form, and the angel merely a presenter for this abstract interface set among the clouds. But it's not long before the player descends, their guiding light inseparable from the extra-textual, animating a statuesque warrior into action, all to smite and vanquish the dark. On the flipside, the winged child soon becomes our vessel with which to reinvent this realm we've conquered, swapping out fantastic inhabitants for mundane, moldable men and women. Both characters exemplify the almighty in ways we can bond to, but never deny questions about the powers, limits, and mysteries behind what's sublime and what's imagined. To "play god" is also to probe one's identity and ability in context.

Though we're ostensibly the alpha and omega, mortality still matters to us, as The Master incarnates on this Earth in a limited extension of being. Nothing in this game holds back from trying to kill you, whether it's insta-death pits and lava or just an odd thing flying from the side of the screen. ActRaiser plays nice, though, particularly in its NA and EU versions with reduced difficulty and added extra lives. Most levels have smartly-placed checkpoints, letting you learn each segment without running out of time that easily. There's only a few collectible power-ups, either for score or health and 1-ups, but finding those breakables and wisely rationing magic use for the tougher fights is critical. Even if you can't ever Game Over for obvious reasons, starting the action stages from scratch can feel crushing, the good kind that encourages skill and concentration. The "fail state" in sim mode comes from your angel losing all their health to enemy attacks or collisions, at which point you can't fire any arrows. Overworld nasties will take advantage of this temporary vulnerability, snatching up residents, destroying homes, and even razing all your hard work with earthquakes (damn those skulls!). All these challenges and setbacks mirror those of the families we're fostering, or even the monsters one slaughters for that juicy high score. It's a piece of humble pie to counterbalance these grand themes.

All this came to mind as I flew from one region to another, enjoying the safe game loop that ActRaiser makes the most of. On their own, neither the action or sim sequences rank with the best in those genres, even at the time. The Master's stiff controls and lack of mobility options (my kingdom for a Mega Man-ish slide!) often don't match the severity of enemy attacks and zone control later on. I'd be hard-pressed to call the town management engaging just on its own, with very few means to affect what villagers build and very straightforward terraforming puzzles. If one really wanted a top-notch, side-scrolling action game for SNES, let alone other systems and arcade boards, then there's no shortage of options. SimCity might not exactly classify as a god game now, but it fit the earliest definitions back when most started playing it on PCs or, of course, Nintendo's enhanced port. It's the mutual interactions between these modes, simple to understand and swap between, which creates that vaunted positive loop of advancement. The game's main coder and director, Masaya Hashimoto, had figured out with Ys that you could mix even a decent graphic adventure and Hydlide-like action RPG to create something special. No wonder it works here!

The salad of once contradictory, now inter-weaving ideas continues with ActRaiser's locales and cultural tropes. Fillmore's mysterious, metamorphic forest of foes gives way to a city-state in the making, with one of the shrine worshipers playing oracle and then martyr for The Master's cause. Way later on comes Marahna, a Southeast Asia-like region whose darkest jungles and ornate temple of evil clashes against the hardy, pragmatic people you guide to self-sufficiency. Enemy and boss designs range across typical European and Asian fantasy faire, from dwarfs and lycanthropes to serpents and tengu, with big bads like the centaur knight and ice dragon playing to regional theme. These entities would seem banal and rehashed from competing games, but regain some staying power when framed via this conflict between them and amorphous monotheism which you embody. One can sense the sensory and conceptual distance between this god and its subjects, either those it subjugates or the civilizations it cultivates. No one prays to you from the comfort of their own homes; all must congregate in shrines to communicate with the great beyond, something they can imagine but never fathom. Only by your actions does the world change, reflecting values of nurture over nature and other Abrahamic virtues. Any dialogue between this universe's denizens necessarily involves upheaval.

In this way, the final level, a boss rush much like any other from the era, becomes more than just content reuse. It's the cataclysm of God vs. gods, a refutation of polytheism. But it's just as likely a nod to the religious lore Miyazaki would have been most familiar with, the Kojiki and its narrative of Japan's beginnings. Following in the wake of Susanoo, that hero of chaos, Okuninushi emerged from exile in the underworld to defeat his evil brothers who had forced him there. In its manual, ActRaiser draws a direct parallel, with The Master having fallen in battle to Tanzra (or Satan in the JP version) and his cunning siblings. Only after a period of recovery does our god return to the world, long forgotten but ready to reassert a moral order of society and positivity. The Master and Onamuchi both face trials, personages, and climactic battles to unite their lands and usher their peoples from prehistory into history. As such, the dynamic between The Master and Tanzra, already Manichean and inextricable by definition, is also a less than didactic allegory for the national myth Miyazaki & co. (and players) were familiar with.

Quintet uses these devices, both subtle and obvious, to motivate your journey as expected, and to pull the proverbial rug out from underneath. Imagine doing all this hard work, slicing and jumping through obstacle courses, then sparing villagers from demonic intervention as you pave new roads and fields for them, only to become invisible, beyond recognition. Onamuchi himself acquiesced to this fate, ceding the earthly kami's rulership of Japan to Amaterasu's heavenly lineage. The concept of divinity you brought to these societies was once pivotal to their survival and eventual growth, a uniting force transcending the chaos surrounding them. But in a stable, almost arcadian state of affairs, this godly example now has each and every human finding faith in themselves and others, not in The Master and its herald. ActRaiser ends with a striking inversion of the game's most iconic cinematic tool, the constant Mode 7 zooming in on each action stage you visit. Finally, after the bittersweet revelation that no one visits any shrines anymore—that your own creation has moved on from you, emotionally and ritualistically—the game zooms out, the continents shrinking into nothing as this reality ceases to consider you, or vice versa.

I was genuinely agape when this happened. The game had shown some forward-thinking use of video games' formal elements, mainly to emphasize the uncanny gulf between the clean user interface and what diegetic actions/consequences the buttons led to. But this moment went well beyond those little touches, demonstrating how Miyazaki, Hashimoto, and others at Quintet sought a novel style of storytelling, moving on from the face-value imitation of manga and anime in previous works. For all its issues and missed opportunities, ActRaiser nails these once one-of-a-kind twists that shake you up, simultaneously indulging in new audiovisual potential while using it to the medium's advantage. These surprises aren't as common as I'd hope for throughout the game, but when they happen, oh do they succeed! Moments like Teddy's bad luck in Bloodpool, the archetypal albatross appearing both in Kasandora and Marahna, and the implied Sigurd-Gudrun couple reincarnated by the world tree in Northwall all stick out here. Everything of this sort is still all too simple compared to ye olde Disco Elysium of today, yet effective as a kind of heightened fairytale in-between the melee and management.

The word I'm looking for is alchemy, the transmutation of ordinary elements into a greater whole. It describes the very compound term ActRaiser, a portmanteau I'd expect to see in a game jam ditty. What distinguished this amalgalm of systems from others around the turn of the '90s was this focus on story, not just another player-fellating genre hybrid for its own sake. It's because this adventure makes a micro-critique of our indulgence in power fantasies, and their relation to founding myths, that the individually unpolished bits you interact with remain fun and worthwhile. Perhaps the harvesting and trading of offerings between the cities is a fetch quest underneath, but it rarely feels that meaningless. I just want to gift the Kasadoran a far-off tropical remedy for their troubles, or clothe the citizens of icy Northwall in wool from Aitos. And yes, the final platforming gauntlet might as well be a greatest hits of the adventure's most irritating design quirks, but damn does it push all your skills and patience to the limit. This potion Quintet's concocted leaves a mysterious aftertaste.

Debut software on vintage PCs & consoles could often vary wildly in robustness. Every developer getting something to market on Day 1 has to learn a newly enhanced architecture as quick as is feasible, a feat many can't achieve. ActRaiser stands toe to toe with ritzier, more sophisticated SNES classics that were still on the drawing board in 1990. Koji Yokota and Ayano Koshiro of Telenet & Falcom heritage, among a host of talented artists, go ham with color schemes that the PC-88 and Famicom could merely have dreamed of, enriching the greebles and decorative patterns of dungeons and biomes. Tasteful use of parallax scrolling, alpha-blending transparencies, and other visual effects works in tandem with clean yet florid art direction, bearing the hallmarks of paperback book covers and Dungeons & Dragons. Ayano's brother took up the mantle of music and sound design, a daunting role considering the SNES' new sample-based sound chip. I'm more a fan of Yuzo Koshiro's orchestral work within the confines of FM synthesis, another tall order for musicians and programmers of the day. But this remains one of the system's most memorable and defining soundtracks, with melodious militant marches and more pensive ambiance in abundance. Figuring out how to cram so many instruments, pitch and volume bends, etc. must have been an ordeal for him. My ears tell me it was worth it.

It's a shame, then, that the Koshiro siblings only helped Quintet again for this game's long-debated sequel. The rest of the company continued to evolve, recruiting new talent to develop more ambitious xRPGs dealing with stories and personalities both grandiose and relatable. Hashimoto and Miyazaki's startup had firmly diverged from their old employers' conservative milieu, and future triumphs like Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, Brightis, and Planet Laika are testament to Quintet's longevity. Us players, having embodied the holiest in both mortal and supernatural ways, can only look back on the studio's works and progeny, subject to critical reverence and dismantlement alike. Somewhere, out in the cosmos, The Master could be liberating new planets, or perhaps dooming them to the curse of civilization we're all too familiar with. That builder's spirit, a lathe of heaven…it's rarely if ever about reaching the end, but savoring the stops along the way, those flips in perspective. ActRaiser toys with players and the perspectives offered to them, engrossing us in the champion's cause while suggesting that this isn't the best of all possible worlds—just the one we must cherish.

Suffice to say, I'm not looking forward to all the gratuitous changes I'm spotting in ActRaiser Renaissance. The most I can gather is that its deviations can't harm the original ex post facto. Until next time, I'll just be listening to Fillmore's FM-synth beta version in the green room.