kaishek
This review contains spoilers
More than the sum of its parts, as the story can get too hokey for its own good and the normal combat encounters can be a little dry.
It's overall a fantastic experience with no obvious dip I can point to and say "boy not looking forward to playing this in future runs."
Things I especially liked:
First person worked well for the experience they were going for here. It's been said by now but RE8 is really a nonstop haunted house ride, it feels like your in a minecart going just a little too fast for comfort past a litany of scary sights and flashy lights.
Exploration is addictive and rewarding, it was like a microcosm of a modern Fallout game with even more of the fat trimmed away.
Story was bonkers and had me laughing out loud, and some of that was even on purpose.
Looked great, sounded great, ran without a hitch.
Things I disliked:
Weapon upgrades were a bit linear. As in, weapons you picked up as alternative versions of existing weapons you have were always better.
Moreau's area might have been the only one I would call "undercooked", especially in between Dimitrescu's Castle and Stronghold. Beneviento House is short but quality.
Not enough tension in item management. Maybe it didn't jive with the forward momentum Capcom was going for here, but there was hardly a time when I needed to care about inventory space (or ammo for that matter, playing on normal).
Ethan shouted for his daughter like 500 times and it felt like a bad American primetime action show.
It's overall a fantastic experience with no obvious dip I can point to and say "boy not looking forward to playing this in future runs."
Things I especially liked:
First person worked well for the experience they were going for here. It's been said by now but RE8 is really a nonstop haunted house ride, it feels like your in a minecart going just a little too fast for comfort past a litany of scary sights and flashy lights.
Exploration is addictive and rewarding, it was like a microcosm of a modern Fallout game with even more of the fat trimmed away.
Story was bonkers and had me laughing out loud, and some of that was even on purpose.
Looked great, sounded great, ran without a hitch.
Things I disliked:
Weapon upgrades were a bit linear. As in, weapons you picked up as alternative versions of existing weapons you have were always better.
Moreau's area might have been the only one I would call "undercooked", especially in between Dimitrescu's Castle and Stronghold. Beneviento House is short but quality.
Not enough tension in item management. Maybe it didn't jive with the forward momentum Capcom was going for here, but there was hardly a time when I needed to care about inventory space (or ammo for that matter, playing on normal).
Ethan shouted for his daughter like 500 times and it felt like a bad American primetime action show.
This review contains spoilers
I wanted to go back to FE3H after dropping it in late 2019, but this DLC stood in my way tempting me with its extra characters, classes, lore, and explorable areas. I mention this because it shaded my experience a bit. I was not in it to savor every challenge and squeeze the last bit of FE3H content like some people, but to unlock all the goodies I could before playing the "real game" again.
That being said, I turned down the difficulty from Hard to Normal after the second battle. Having to redo some of these hour long missions didn't sound like fun.
Things I liked:
All of the Ashen Wolves are really cool. Constance might be my favorite character in the whole game, and I absolutely do not regret playing this DLC first largely because I am really looking forward to recruiting/romancing them in future playthroughs.
The story isn't amazing but it does add a little depth (hehe) to the class and privilege structure of the monastery.
Some things I liked less:
It's a staple of end game tactics games. Waves of enemies as a substitute for difficult enemies or interesting puzzles. Thankfully, this is really only the case for maybe a third of the missions.
Deep-seated factional or blood rivalries (every Ashen Wolf seems to have some proper cause to seek revenge on the upper world) seem to be put aside rather easily. Maybe they'll come up more again in the main campaign but I doubt it.
Why is Yuri all over my girl Byleth out of nowhere. Slow your roll Casanova.
That being said, I turned down the difficulty from Hard to Normal after the second battle. Having to redo some of these hour long missions didn't sound like fun.
Things I liked:
All of the Ashen Wolves are really cool. Constance might be my favorite character in the whole game, and I absolutely do not regret playing this DLC first largely because I am really looking forward to recruiting/romancing them in future playthroughs.
The story isn't amazing but it does add a little depth (hehe) to the class and privilege structure of the monastery.
Some things I liked less:
It's a staple of end game tactics games. Waves of enemies as a substitute for difficult enemies or interesting puzzles. Thankfully, this is really only the case for maybe a third of the missions.
Deep-seated factional or blood rivalries (every Ashen Wolf seems to have some proper cause to seek revenge on the upper world) seem to be put aside rather easily. Maybe they'll come up more again in the main campaign but I doubt it.
Why is Yuri all over my girl Byleth out of nowhere. Slow your roll Casanova.
2021
kindve an ongoing review because this is multiplayer only, but yo this game is fun as hell.
Things I liked:
Easy to pick up, but enough depth to intrigue.
Costumes are colorful and fun and definitely needed because everyone is ugly as hell.
Any chance of winning beyond the earliest ranks is predicated on close teamwork and this will only become more true as people figure out the game.
To that end, glad to see the first limited time mode is one where you can only throw balled teammates.
Crossplay right out the gate. 60 FPS mode on the Switch as an option. Pretty good netcode even across platforms. Love to see a multiplayer game that isnt broken on release.
Things I dislike:
The faces are almost all uniformly hideous youtube poop monstrosities.
Maps are a mixed bag. Some of them just are not fun to navigate.
Not a "dislike" so much as something I'm keeping my eye on. I'm curious what the actual skill ceiling of this game is and what "high level" play looks like. Is it gonna be like For Honor on console, where everything was a boring parryfest? That game still had pretty long legs even with those problems tho
Things I liked:
Easy to pick up, but enough depth to intrigue.
Costumes are colorful and fun and definitely needed because everyone is ugly as hell.
Any chance of winning beyond the earliest ranks is predicated on close teamwork and this will only become more true as people figure out the game.
To that end, glad to see the first limited time mode is one where you can only throw balled teammates.
Crossplay right out the gate. 60 FPS mode on the Switch as an option. Pretty good netcode even across platforms. Love to see a multiplayer game that isnt broken on release.
Things I dislike:
The faces are almost all uniformly hideous youtube poop monstrosities.
Maps are a mixed bag. Some of them just are not fun to navigate.
Not a "dislike" so much as something I'm keeping my eye on. I'm curious what the actual skill ceiling of this game is and what "high level" play looks like. Is it gonna be like For Honor on console, where everything was a boring parryfest? That game still had pretty long legs even with those problems tho
2021
This review contains spoilers
Olija might be the bane of some, exhausted by indie trends of minimalism. Minimal graphics, minimal dialogue, minimal soundtrack, minimal runtime.
All of that would be fine if Olija wrapped up with a sense of purpose. Why did I do what I just did. The story gives no obvious clues, given the recent (reasonable) obsession with Soulsian atmosphere over exposition. There is no high score to chase or repeated playthroughs to run through.
Does a game need a point? Well, yea, ideally.
Things I liked:
That soundtrack is really good when it is used. It's not married to any kind of retro aesthetic so is free to strum and brood to its hearts content.
The pixel graphics might make some roll their eyes at first but it really pops and lends a perked eyebrow or two when certain scenes push it to its limits.
Bosses and minibosses were designed well enough that I could not usually just mash the attack button. The last one in particular was pretty fun!
Things I did not like as much perhaps:
Your crew's purpose, the little settlement you build on the island, is undercooked.
So Olija wants to be some kind of dark fantasy colonial tale, but without so much as poking a finger at the mountain of lived human experience regarding colonialism. Faraday is just some enlightened mayor who wants to move his people somewhere else. The land is already inhabited, as it usually is, but by....undead savages? Evil blob shamans? And then Easterners show up.
In trying to be extra dark Olija actually paints a more positive, humane and sanitized depiction of colonialist enterprises. Takes a lot of the bite out of the whole thing! I'm supposed to find the skeletons or zombies or whatever to be super twisted but instead I think, "well, better than enslaving everyone over some gold or conducting ethnic cleansing over generations of bitter warfare."
I leave open the possibility I missed some subtext, but that is always the danger with refusing to spell out a single letter of your plot.
All of that would be fine if Olija wrapped up with a sense of purpose. Why did I do what I just did. The story gives no obvious clues, given the recent (reasonable) obsession with Soulsian atmosphere over exposition. There is no high score to chase or repeated playthroughs to run through.
Does a game need a point? Well, yea, ideally.
Things I liked:
That soundtrack is really good when it is used. It's not married to any kind of retro aesthetic so is free to strum and brood to its hearts content.
The pixel graphics might make some roll their eyes at first but it really pops and lends a perked eyebrow or two when certain scenes push it to its limits.
Bosses and minibosses were designed well enough that I could not usually just mash the attack button. The last one in particular was pretty fun!
Things I did not like as much perhaps:
Your crew's purpose, the little settlement you build on the island, is undercooked.
So Olija wants to be some kind of dark fantasy colonial tale, but without so much as poking a finger at the mountain of lived human experience regarding colonialism. Faraday is just some enlightened mayor who wants to move his people somewhere else. The land is already inhabited, as it usually is, but by....undead savages? Evil blob shamans? And then Easterners show up.
In trying to be extra dark Olija actually paints a more positive, humane and sanitized depiction of colonialist enterprises. Takes a lot of the bite out of the whole thing! I'm supposed to find the skeletons or zombies or whatever to be super twisted but instead I think, "well, better than enslaving everyone over some gold or conducting ethnic cleansing over generations of bitter warfare."
I leave open the possibility I missed some subtext, but that is always the danger with refusing to spell out a single letter of your plot.
2016
This game changed my life when I first played it in 2017. Going through them all again has given me better insights on their strengths and weaknesses, so I'll just rundown a few things I've solidified or changed my opinion on.
Things I like:
The visual density. The sheer weight of the architecture. It's stunning. It's the first thing that pops into my mind when I think "Dark Souls" now.
Level design is more competent across the board than I even remembered. The swamps, Lothric Castle, the Archives, from beginning to end it is incredibly consistent. Nothing feels like a throwaway.
If place can be a character then DS3 does amazingly with character. There is lots of focus on recycled characters like the blacksmith, the firekeeper, the onion knight, etc. But FROM is very good at giving their ruined kingdoms rivers of pathos. Try traversing the Untended Graves and not getting chills you heartless bastards.
Bad things:
Build variety goes a bit in the trash when, as one of my friends has put it, "if you cant dodge you're screwed." With the exception of a few DS2 bosses, generally if you had poor reaction times you could still squeak through the other games in the series using magic, poise, or abusing parries (like Bloodborne). DS3 leans all the way into brutal challenge. It's exhausting to play this game sometimes. I'm glad they decided to make a true action game with Sekiro rather than taking DS3 to its logical extremes, past the Ringed City dlc which is borderline masochistic.
Things I like:
The visual density. The sheer weight of the architecture. It's stunning. It's the first thing that pops into my mind when I think "Dark Souls" now.
Level design is more competent across the board than I even remembered. The swamps, Lothric Castle, the Archives, from beginning to end it is incredibly consistent. Nothing feels like a throwaway.
If place can be a character then DS3 does amazingly with character. There is lots of focus on recycled characters like the blacksmith, the firekeeper, the onion knight, etc. But FROM is very good at giving their ruined kingdoms rivers of pathos. Try traversing the Untended Graves and not getting chills you heartless bastards.
Bad things:
Build variety goes a bit in the trash when, as one of my friends has put it, "if you cant dodge you're screwed." With the exception of a few DS2 bosses, generally if you had poor reaction times you could still squeak through the other games in the series using magic, poise, or abusing parries (like Bloodborne). DS3 leans all the way into brutal challenge. It's exhausting to play this game sometimes. I'm glad they decided to make a true action game with Sekiro rather than taking DS3 to its logical extremes, past the Ringed City dlc which is borderline masochistic.
2020
Man this game is good. It was a masterpiece before, now it's a far more convenient to play masterpiece.
Playing DeS last after the others, and now coming back to it again with this remaster, it's striking how much FROM got right on their first real go. The level design is taut, the action is satisfying, but there are enough weird mechanics to confound and add to the reputation these games have earned over the years. If anything, the next two games feel like the overambitious first attempts.
Extra things I liked:
I can finally make a purdy character. Goes along with how gorgeous the rest of the game looks. For every aesthetic choice Bluepoint made that I couldn't jive with, there was another three that I thought were very well done. I don't feel like the atmosphere takes a hit either, which I was slightly concerned about from pre-release footage.
Photo mode is fun as hell and functions as a crude pause button too.
I swinga da big sword, I make-a the enemies fly. And when I hit a rock snake the controller does a haptic thing to make it feel like rocks are crumbling in my hand.
Things I liked less:
The OST overall is too...orchestral. Too bombastic and not eerie. It loses some of its identity.
Weapon upgrading is more convoluted and farming the resources to fully upgrade a weapon can go from a reasonable timesink to [insert legends of the hidden temple meme]. Fuck greystone farming.
I 100% understand why Bluepoint was gunshy about making too many changes. But I wish they had either overhauled world tendency or made it more legible. In addition, if this game had another 20 weapons that would also be cool.
Facial animations are not good enough to justify the move away from the FROM-style static faces.
Playing DeS last after the others, and now coming back to it again with this remaster, it's striking how much FROM got right on their first real go. The level design is taut, the action is satisfying, but there are enough weird mechanics to confound and add to the reputation these games have earned over the years. If anything, the next two games feel like the overambitious first attempts.
Extra things I liked:
I can finally make a purdy character. Goes along with how gorgeous the rest of the game looks. For every aesthetic choice Bluepoint made that I couldn't jive with, there was another three that I thought were very well done. I don't feel like the atmosphere takes a hit either, which I was slightly concerned about from pre-release footage.
Photo mode is fun as hell and functions as a crude pause button too.
I swinga da big sword, I make-a the enemies fly. And when I hit a rock snake the controller does a haptic thing to make it feel like rocks are crumbling in my hand.
Things I liked less:
The OST overall is too...orchestral. Too bombastic and not eerie. It loses some of its identity.
Weapon upgrading is more convoluted and farming the resources to fully upgrade a weapon can go from a reasonable timesink to [insert legends of the hidden temple meme]. Fuck greystone farming.
I 100% understand why Bluepoint was gunshy about making too many changes. But I wish they had either overhauled world tendency or made it more legible. In addition, if this game had another 20 weapons that would also be cool.
Facial animations are not good enough to justify the move away from the FROM-style static faces.
Meandering. Combat is fine but encounters are boring and meant to fill the dead air from exploration. Didn't care much for whatever else was going on.
Throw metroidvanias, souls, skill trees, and epic cthulu in a stew and you get Sundered...a perfectly ok game that I couldn't gel with.
Throw metroidvanias, souls, skill trees, and epic cthulu in a stew and you get Sundered...a perfectly ok game that I couldn't gel with.
2021
This review contains spoilers
Anime nonsense wins this round I guess. Even I have my limits.
I played ScarNex for about 20 hours on the Kasane route. I did not finish it. I will not be finishing the Yuito route either.
As an action game, Scarlet Nexus is a success. The combat is not the absolute best in the industry but it is satisfying, flashy, and fun. It layers complexity without overwhelming and is responsive to the buttons your pressing (after trying out Dark Alliance trust me this is something even big devs can whiff on).
As an rpg, it is a pretty big failure. Part of that is presentation I think. A game like DMC or Bayonetta is not trying to fool you into thinking it's more than a series of action setpieces. Scarlet Nexus wants you to care about so much though. But there's nothing to explore, no shops to enter, no sidequest worth the time it takes to read it. It's trying to thread the needle that a game like FF7 Remake does, but it ends up more like FF13. Hallways of fights punctuated by stilted dialogue and nonsense cutscenes.
Things I liked:
The OST is wonderful and I'll be listening to it for a while.
Cyberpunk aesthetic has kinda worn out its welcome, at least most of its more rote forms, but I still liked this games look. The cities in particular are well realized, just a shame they're just set dressing.
No noticeable fan service in character design or behavior, and considering the setup this could have easily gone the other way. Good shit.
The combat IS good. It's very fun. Throwing random trash at enemies never gets old, and neither does "press L2 to awesome".
Things I didn't like:
A lot of the game is presented the way it is to justify the split narrative. So many problems that would be resolved by the characters simply...talking to each other. They literally can chat at any time, as they do multiple times, they are brain linked, they have each other on cyber-discord or whatever. Just SEND A TEXT.
The world is big and has a lot of political intrigue but feels tiny. It's just you and your handful of anime friends. So alot hinges on how you like those friends and well...
On Kasane's side it's mostly a bunch of unlikeable asocial dorks. Kasane herself shouldn't be within 1,000 miles of a leadership position but gets one thrusted on her anyway for reasons. Shiden is aggressive in his disdain for anything but his epic power level. Asahi is "lazy" but also a "genius", fun. Kagero is also lazy but also rude too. What a fun crew.
But that's ok, you'll get to do Bonding episodes with the other protagonist's team members too. Even though you're supposedly fighting them for a large portion of the game...it's just kinda waved off. Makes the stakes feel a little small no matter how much they try to play them up.
The terrible dialogue is performed admirably by the VAs but man is it hokey. Battle fight mcwar battle fighting. For a few chapters, main character Yuito's catchphrase is "I will not be killed!!". Because Kasane is trying to kill him, you see. Don't worry, they eventually make up when Kasane realizes she should probably just talk to him and tell him what's going on.
You don't get to call yourself Brainpunk. The merging of technology and humanity, the near-mysticism of the digital age and its perverse consequences are all pretty key themes of cyberpunk. Scarlet Nexus is just a techno-flavored melodrama.
I played ScarNex for about 20 hours on the Kasane route. I did not finish it. I will not be finishing the Yuito route either.
As an action game, Scarlet Nexus is a success. The combat is not the absolute best in the industry but it is satisfying, flashy, and fun. It layers complexity without overwhelming and is responsive to the buttons your pressing (after trying out Dark Alliance trust me this is something even big devs can whiff on).
As an rpg, it is a pretty big failure. Part of that is presentation I think. A game like DMC or Bayonetta is not trying to fool you into thinking it's more than a series of action setpieces. Scarlet Nexus wants you to care about so much though. But there's nothing to explore, no shops to enter, no sidequest worth the time it takes to read it. It's trying to thread the needle that a game like FF7 Remake does, but it ends up more like FF13. Hallways of fights punctuated by stilted dialogue and nonsense cutscenes.
Things I liked:
The OST is wonderful and I'll be listening to it for a while.
Cyberpunk aesthetic has kinda worn out its welcome, at least most of its more rote forms, but I still liked this games look. The cities in particular are well realized, just a shame they're just set dressing.
No noticeable fan service in character design or behavior, and considering the setup this could have easily gone the other way. Good shit.
The combat IS good. It's very fun. Throwing random trash at enemies never gets old, and neither does "press L2 to awesome".
Things I didn't like:
A lot of the game is presented the way it is to justify the split narrative. So many problems that would be resolved by the characters simply...talking to each other. They literally can chat at any time, as they do multiple times, they are brain linked, they have each other on cyber-discord or whatever. Just SEND A TEXT.
The world is big and has a lot of political intrigue but feels tiny. It's just you and your handful of anime friends. So alot hinges on how you like those friends and well...
On Kasane's side it's mostly a bunch of unlikeable asocial dorks. Kasane herself shouldn't be within 1,000 miles of a leadership position but gets one thrusted on her anyway for reasons. Shiden is aggressive in his disdain for anything but his epic power level. Asahi is "lazy" but also a "genius", fun. Kagero is also lazy but also rude too. What a fun crew.
But that's ok, you'll get to do Bonding episodes with the other protagonist's team members too. Even though you're supposedly fighting them for a large portion of the game...it's just kinda waved off. Makes the stakes feel a little small no matter how much they try to play them up.
The terrible dialogue is performed admirably by the VAs but man is it hokey. Battle fight mcwar battle fighting. For a few chapters, main character Yuito's catchphrase is "I will not be killed!!". Because Kasane is trying to kill him, you see. Don't worry, they eventually make up when Kasane realizes she should probably just talk to him and tell him what's going on.
You don't get to call yourself Brainpunk. The merging of technology and humanity, the near-mysticism of the digital age and its perverse consequences are all pretty key themes of cyberpunk. Scarlet Nexus is just a techno-flavored melodrama.
2021
I had never played the original FF, so the pixel remaster was my first go around. It was mostly a delight, and the charm and love oozing from this remaster was a big part of that.
Things I disliked:
The font is terrible and while it can easily be modded, come on S-E what gives with this amateur shit. Everything else is so polished that this stands out even more.
As a game, FF has...failings. The encounter rate is sky high, the backtracking in a few spots is a real trial of patience and would have been worse if I did not resort to a guide for a few items.
Class balance is bonkers. Fighters are the best class in the game, their defense can hardly be touched even by many bosses. They also possess the highest attack for 80% of the game. If you run a party without them, there's your hard mode.
Things I liked:
The remastered OST goes hard. It is absolutely enchanting.
The pixel remaster part doesn't disappoint and is a huge treat after terrible mobile ports and mixed DS remakes were the only thing on offer for the last 20 years.
Battle speed up and quick save are life savers. I am normally pretty wary about "quality of life" changes for changes sake, but here it is the difference between me finishing the game or putting it down and never getting back to it. The friction FF1 provides is not particularly engaging to struggle through 20-30 min of lost time.
Very excited for the next 5 remasters.
Things I disliked:
The font is terrible and while it can easily be modded, come on S-E what gives with this amateur shit. Everything else is so polished that this stands out even more.
As a game, FF has...failings. The encounter rate is sky high, the backtracking in a few spots is a real trial of patience and would have been worse if I did not resort to a guide for a few items.
Class balance is bonkers. Fighters are the best class in the game, their defense can hardly be touched even by many bosses. They also possess the highest attack for 80% of the game. If you run a party without them, there's your hard mode.
Things I liked:
The remastered OST goes hard. It is absolutely enchanting.
The pixel remaster part doesn't disappoint and is a huge treat after terrible mobile ports and mixed DS remakes were the only thing on offer for the last 20 years.
Battle speed up and quick save are life savers. I am normally pretty wary about "quality of life" changes for changes sake, but here it is the difference between me finishing the game or putting it down and never getting back to it. The friction FF1 provides is not particularly engaging to struggle through 20-30 min of lost time.
Very excited for the next 5 remasters.
2021
This review contains spoilers
A wonderful dating sim/hack n'slash. A few disclaimers: I'm a straight white guy and as such I did the most boring path, probably, dating the dagger Valeria. I also had serious eyes for korean popstar Seven and edgar allen Rowan.
The meat of the game, like Hades, is the extra dialogues and social links you unlock (dates) after your dungeoneering.
The dialogue is animated; there is a strong effort to establish character traits at the beginning with an overdose of whatever the niche is (valeria is a badass artist, isaac is a suave businessman, sunder is a flirty heartthrob, etc), doling out depth as you go on dates. It's an addictive loop, you want to hack through a few dungeon levels not really to see the next floor or boss but to see if you can get your partners to open up to you.
Extra things:
I am not built for polyamory, in real life or in game life apparently. I had a stressful time juggling my loyalty to Valeria while also dutifully going on dates with the other awesome characters the game introduces. Seven was a sweetheart with a lot of baggage that I helped carry, but I could never...give my heart to him, virtually. There is the option of making things platonic, which I did with a few characters simply to see how their plotlines would progress, and I appreciated it.
In the end I appreciate the approach "your polyamorous and/or playing the field openly" vs "you're a cheating love fiend but it's ok tee hee because this is a fictional story".
Eric is a good character. His is a particular brand of stalking and abusive verbal behavior that is well known to people who have dated. Many men will even identify it in themselves. He represents the unsettling presence underneath romantic independence; the thought that there are people like this out there, who cant take no for an answer, who make you wonder if it would be better to just close yourself off to others and stay locked in your room. The game talks about this directly. It is a game about dating, romance, finding yourself, not just flirting with hot jpegs.
There is really a lot to say about Eric, because he represents a much bigger point of friction than any of the actual enemies or dungeons do. Kitfox did a great job integrating this very real archetype (you know, vs sexy vampires) into their fantasy world. His constant passive aggressive texting is stress inducing, his condescension aggravating. I refused to enter his store for most of my playthrough and only begrudgingly would meet with him when someone was with me (there is a moment near the end of the game where your cousin, Jesse, tries to get you to call him. I made him do it instead.) My only real gripe is how quickly it all wraps up. I wanted more dates, more escapades.
There is a teaser of sorts for a return to Verona Beach in the fall season. With Eric's (kinda rushed) redemption, I wonder what that will look like.
The meat of the game, like Hades, is the extra dialogues and social links you unlock (dates) after your dungeoneering.
The dialogue is animated; there is a strong effort to establish character traits at the beginning with an overdose of whatever the niche is (valeria is a badass artist, isaac is a suave businessman, sunder is a flirty heartthrob, etc), doling out depth as you go on dates. It's an addictive loop, you want to hack through a few dungeon levels not really to see the next floor or boss but to see if you can get your partners to open up to you.
Extra things:
I am not built for polyamory, in real life or in game life apparently. I had a stressful time juggling my loyalty to Valeria while also dutifully going on dates with the other awesome characters the game introduces. Seven was a sweetheart with a lot of baggage that I helped carry, but I could never...give my heart to him, virtually. There is the option of making things platonic, which I did with a few characters simply to see how their plotlines would progress, and I appreciated it.
In the end I appreciate the approach "your polyamorous and/or playing the field openly" vs "you're a cheating love fiend but it's ok tee hee because this is a fictional story".
Eric is a good character. His is a particular brand of stalking and abusive verbal behavior that is well known to people who have dated. Many men will even identify it in themselves. He represents the unsettling presence underneath romantic independence; the thought that there are people like this out there, who cant take no for an answer, who make you wonder if it would be better to just close yourself off to others and stay locked in your room. The game talks about this directly. It is a game about dating, romance, finding yourself, not just flirting with hot jpegs.
There is really a lot to say about Eric, because he represents a much bigger point of friction than any of the actual enemies or dungeons do. Kitfox did a great job integrating this very real archetype (you know, vs sexy vampires) into their fantasy world. His constant passive aggressive texting is stress inducing, his condescension aggravating. I refused to enter his store for most of my playthrough and only begrudgingly would meet with him when someone was with me (there is a moment near the end of the game where your cousin, Jesse, tries to get you to call him. I made him do it instead.) My only real gripe is how quickly it all wraps up. I wanted more dates, more escapades.
There is a teaser of sorts for a return to Verona Beach in the fall season. With Eric's (kinda rushed) redemption, I wonder what that will look like.
2021
This review contains spoilers
A short and sweet drive through the intersection of Hyper Light Drifter, Metroid, and Zelda. It never hits the highs of this trio but for a game made by 2 people it is highly impressive.
In Death's Door you'll mostly be fighting things. Puzzles and exploration exist as breathers in between fights. Thankfully, combat is snappy and rarely feels like a chore. Even though I did not find it overly punishing, since you have minimal health and no healing items during special encounters it is mandatory that you grapple with enemy movesets. There is little brute forcing, even with a fully upgraded highest damage weapon.
Expanding on this, the bosses in this game are pretty well done. I'd say of a higher quality than most zelda-likes or sidescrolling Souls-likes. They made me think of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze bosses if anything.
Graffixx. How was this made by 2 people? It looks tremendous, and it really has its own signature graphical style. It's a short game stuffed with a lot of pretty things to look at, like the polished floors of the Urn Witch's Castle or the shadows cast by the Overgrown Forest. Your crows little animations are adorable when idle and smooth when poking things with your sword. Personality out the wazzoo, no pixels required.
The tracks are nice too. Very heavy on the piano, but I'm ok with that. It's a short game and has one guy doing all of the sound work so it's heavy on motifs but it also makes it quite memorable.
The narrative did little for me. It seems hardly there at first and then ramps up towards a world shattering conclusion but...I don't know this world really. I don't know if I should feel attached to it. There's some light nods towards themes about man's futile struggle against death but not really anything interesting. If you try to live too long past whatever your due date is, you slowly become more demonic. Seems convenient for the game's setup but it's not very interesting, and here I think less might have been more. Still, it's not overbearing, just bland.
In Death's Door you'll mostly be fighting things. Puzzles and exploration exist as breathers in between fights. Thankfully, combat is snappy and rarely feels like a chore. Even though I did not find it overly punishing, since you have minimal health and no healing items during special encounters it is mandatory that you grapple with enemy movesets. There is little brute forcing, even with a fully upgraded highest damage weapon.
Expanding on this, the bosses in this game are pretty well done. I'd say of a higher quality than most zelda-likes or sidescrolling Souls-likes. They made me think of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze bosses if anything.
Graffixx. How was this made by 2 people? It looks tremendous, and it really has its own signature graphical style. It's a short game stuffed with a lot of pretty things to look at, like the polished floors of the Urn Witch's Castle or the shadows cast by the Overgrown Forest. Your crows little animations are adorable when idle and smooth when poking things with your sword. Personality out the wazzoo, no pixels required.
The tracks are nice too. Very heavy on the piano, but I'm ok with that. It's a short game and has one guy doing all of the sound work so it's heavy on motifs but it also makes it quite memorable.
The narrative did little for me. It seems hardly there at first and then ramps up towards a world shattering conclusion but...I don't know this world really. I don't know if I should feel attached to it. There's some light nods towards themes about man's futile struggle against death but not really anything interesting. If you try to live too long past whatever your due date is, you slowly become more demonic. Seems convenient for the game's setup but it's not very interesting, and here I think less might have been more. Still, it's not overbearing, just bland.
2019
Quick thoughts
I hate the phrase "better than it deserved to be." So much love and care went into this game, even beyond the usual polish you'd expect from 1st party nintendo title. LM3 is dense with puzzles, exploration, and interesting combat encounters, cute animations and personalizations. It's not better than it deserves to be, it is as good as it can be.
They took "sucking up ghosts can get old" to heart with the last two entries and really did a number on the stage variety too. I would get frustrated at the few moments of backtracking (that damn polterkitty) because it meant a delay in me seeing what the next floor was about to be.
That last boss is absolute bullshit though. 2nd to last boss was much more interesting and fair, but it's nintendo so the boss has to be Someone We Recognize I guess.
I hate the phrase "better than it deserved to be." So much love and care went into this game, even beyond the usual polish you'd expect from 1st party nintendo title. LM3 is dense with puzzles, exploration, and interesting combat encounters, cute animations and personalizations. It's not better than it deserves to be, it is as good as it can be.
They took "sucking up ghosts can get old" to heart with the last two entries and really did a number on the stage variety too. I would get frustrated at the few moments of backtracking (that damn polterkitty) because it meant a delay in me seeing what the next floor was about to be.
That last boss is absolute bullshit though. 2nd to last boss was much more interesting and fair, but it's nintendo so the boss has to be Someone We Recognize I guess.
Connect the dots, sheeple.
This game was a blast of an hour and a half. I had my spiral notebook out, taking proper notes. That is what the dev recommends and it really helped set the tone and prevent severe brain stumping moments.
Except the last bit of the puzzle, which I think is especially designed to have you searching a bit more. By then you are (hopefully) invested and willing to do some trial and error.
The give of the corkboard when I pin another scrap of newspaper to it. The tactile feeling of the yarn as I extend it from one pin to another. This is true archivecore. Give me more, game devs.
This game was a blast of an hour and a half. I had my spiral notebook out, taking proper notes. That is what the dev recommends and it really helped set the tone and prevent severe brain stumping moments.
Except the last bit of the puzzle, which I think is especially designed to have you searching a bit more. By then you are (hopefully) invested and willing to do some trial and error.
The give of the corkboard when I pin another scrap of newspaper to it. The tactile feeling of the yarn as I extend it from one pin to another. This is true archivecore. Give me more, game devs.
2020
This review contains spoilers
This game sells a particular fantasy. Don't you just wanna burn it all down sometimes?
I think it delivers on this. Like one of my other favorite metroidvanias, Gato Roboto, it's in and out in a couple of play sessions. Power ups are satisfying, exploration has just enough twists to hide that it is fairly linear, and it was cool not equipping or crafting a single thing.
Things I didn't like:
-There is no map. This is only a problem maybe once in the game, but the feeling that you MIGHT get lost is everpresent. Is this a good feeling to have for a game like this? If this were La-Mulana, getting deeply lost in a chasm of puzzles and passages is the selling point. For a 4 hour gore fest, not so much.
-The controls I go back and forth on. You're controlling a toothy blob; the issues of traversal arent the usual "can i jump here" or "can i climb this" but "how do i move this. For a different set of skills and problems, Carrion does a pretty good job, it just gets a bit mushy in chaotic combat situations.
I think it delivers on this. Like one of my other favorite metroidvanias, Gato Roboto, it's in and out in a couple of play sessions. Power ups are satisfying, exploration has just enough twists to hide that it is fairly linear, and it was cool not equipping or crafting a single thing.
Things I didn't like:
-There is no map. This is only a problem maybe once in the game, but the feeling that you MIGHT get lost is everpresent. Is this a good feeling to have for a game like this? If this were La-Mulana, getting deeply lost in a chasm of puzzles and passages is the selling point. For a 4 hour gore fest, not so much.
-The controls I go back and forth on. You're controlling a toothy blob; the issues of traversal arent the usual "can i jump here" or "can i climb this" but "how do i move this. For a different set of skills and problems, Carrion does a pretty good job, it just gets a bit mushy in chaotic combat situations.
This review contains spoilers
How catastrophically stupid of S-E to chase the GAAS train with Avengers when they have studios this capable. GOTG is a wonderful, cartoony slice of comic action, absolutely the kind of games that should be coming out of the MCU partnership.
For anyone on the fence, consider GOTG as Uncharted except the cover shooting bits are swapped with much more freeform flashy combat (that is a bit of a mix of ME: Andromeda, Avengers, and Tales of Arise).
Some things I disliked:
If I never hear the word flark again, it'll be too soon.
Sometimes the emotional up and downbeats are predictable to the point of fatigue. It is also hard to place how long the Guardians have been together; are they a grizzled squad or greenhorns in friendship. It still feels like they hate each other at the beginning, it's a bit strange.
Speaking of hating me, most of the game my crew will whine and moan if I do the videogame thing and go off the beaten path to look for the big shiny collectibles. That shit got annoying real fast. Rocket is also truly insufferable for a large portion of the game, surprisingly, and I wanted to shoot him out the airlock.
This might be a bit unfair, but it would be interesting to see someone with a motivation or tragic backstory that doesn't revolve around a dead loved one. That is EVERYone in this game, except maybe the communist mewtwo dog Cosmo.
I had a few bugs on the PC version. The most consistent one would cut out dialogue or mute characters during exploration, like the proximity-based audio was thoroughly glitched. So I missed out on bits and pieces of a lot of banter. Other than that, technical performance was pretty solid.
Things I liked:
This game is wonderfully economical. It will throw beautiful vistas, skyboxes, and new worlds to explore but is not afraid to hide some "backtracking" in clever ways. Exploration is also rewarded with fun outfits that you can actually see in most of the games cutscenes. I loved collecting fucking ponchos in Jedi Fallen Order so im just a sucker for collectible cosmetics like this.
The shooting is fun man. I never felt like the game was "unfair" or "bullet spongey" on hard, and the ramp up in battle complexity is paced perfectly with the doling out of new abilities. Very satisfying, but not very complex, which you probably don't want for a breezy adventure game like this.
People reflexively dunked on the Guardians designs when the game was first unveiled at E3 but tbh theyre good. Gamora is better, Drax is better, Rocket and Groot are basically the same. Peter Quill looks dorky...but he is, he's a fucking dork.
Is the story of this game a takedown of fanatical religious fundamentalism? I dunno, but I could interpret it that way if I wanted to. It's unflinchingly humanist; loss is inevitable, but it is what brings us together. Anything trying to tell us otherwise is a scam and pulls us apart; NovaCorps from those who it should protect, Cosmo from his litter, Drax from his new family, etc. Very solid emotional core for a AAA superhero game about leonardo dicaprio pointing at all the 80s songs.
For anyone on the fence, consider GOTG as Uncharted except the cover shooting bits are swapped with much more freeform flashy combat (that is a bit of a mix of ME: Andromeda, Avengers, and Tales of Arise).
Some things I disliked:
If I never hear the word flark again, it'll be too soon.
Sometimes the emotional up and downbeats are predictable to the point of fatigue. It is also hard to place how long the Guardians have been together; are they a grizzled squad or greenhorns in friendship. It still feels like they hate each other at the beginning, it's a bit strange.
Speaking of hating me, most of the game my crew will whine and moan if I do the videogame thing and go off the beaten path to look for the big shiny collectibles. That shit got annoying real fast. Rocket is also truly insufferable for a large portion of the game, surprisingly, and I wanted to shoot him out the airlock.
This might be a bit unfair, but it would be interesting to see someone with a motivation or tragic backstory that doesn't revolve around a dead loved one. That is EVERYone in this game, except maybe the communist mewtwo dog Cosmo.
I had a few bugs on the PC version. The most consistent one would cut out dialogue or mute characters during exploration, like the proximity-based audio was thoroughly glitched. So I missed out on bits and pieces of a lot of banter. Other than that, technical performance was pretty solid.
Things I liked:
This game is wonderfully economical. It will throw beautiful vistas, skyboxes, and new worlds to explore but is not afraid to hide some "backtracking" in clever ways. Exploration is also rewarded with fun outfits that you can actually see in most of the games cutscenes. I loved collecting fucking ponchos in Jedi Fallen Order so im just a sucker for collectible cosmetics like this.
The shooting is fun man. I never felt like the game was "unfair" or "bullet spongey" on hard, and the ramp up in battle complexity is paced perfectly with the doling out of new abilities. Very satisfying, but not very complex, which you probably don't want for a breezy adventure game like this.
People reflexively dunked on the Guardians designs when the game was first unveiled at E3 but tbh theyre good. Gamora is better, Drax is better, Rocket and Groot are basically the same. Peter Quill looks dorky...but he is, he's a fucking dork.
Is the story of this game a takedown of fanatical religious fundamentalism? I dunno, but I could interpret it that way if I wanted to. It's unflinchingly humanist; loss is inevitable, but it is what brings us together. Anything trying to tell us otherwise is a scam and pulls us apart; NovaCorps from those who it should protect, Cosmo from his litter, Drax from his new family, etc. Very solid emotional core for a AAA superhero game about leonardo dicaprio pointing at all the 80s songs.