2024 In Review
here we go
10 Games
holy shit
1
stand-in for the Heavensward post-game.
the dragonsong war patches were very good! estinien is awesome.
the warriors of darkness were very cool in concept but underwhelming in execution. the implications are pretty intriguing though and i look forward to how it plays into future expansions! the last patch was also decent!
i'm aware stormblood is less well recieved in terms of story but as far as i know the dungeons only get better, so, looking forward to that!
the dragonsong war patches were very good! estinien is awesome.
the warriors of darkness were very cool in concept but underwhelming in execution. the implications are pretty intriguing though and i look forward to how it plays into future expansions! the last patch was also decent!
i'm aware stormblood is less well recieved in terms of story but as far as i know the dungeons only get better, so, looking forward to that!
2
im sick at the time of completing this so to quickly get my thoughts across:
a very likeable, jam-packed 20-something-hour rpg. they werent lying about its great pacing. the story didnt blow my mind or anything, but its got clever stuff nonetheless and there are several surprises. tugged at my emotions a number of times as well, despite being fairly straightforward. what i found quite satisfying is how they use time travel to show the effects of your actions as well as the evolution of the world itself, and im sure the existentialism that comes with that was quite captivating for younger players. the combat has some interesting ideas but i got pretty bored with it at some point. good bosses though. also that bad ending goes hard and of course Mitsuda's a musical master. goddamn does this game look beautiful as well.
play it if you haven't! it's iconic for a reason and has a lot of heart.
a very likeable, jam-packed 20-something-hour rpg. they werent lying about its great pacing. the story didnt blow my mind or anything, but its got clever stuff nonetheless and there are several surprises. tugged at my emotions a number of times as well, despite being fairly straightforward. what i found quite satisfying is how they use time travel to show the effects of your actions as well as the evolution of the world itself, and im sure the existentialism that comes with that was quite captivating for younger players. the combat has some interesting ideas but i got pretty bored with it at some point. good bosses though. also that bad ending goes hard and of course Mitsuda's a musical master. goddamn does this game look beautiful as well.
play it if you haven't! it's iconic for a reason and has a lot of heart.
3
for the base msq.
it was good! plenty more engaging than ARR, better paced and with some fairly compelling themes. the dungeons and bosses were also good fun. other than some little diversions here and there, i enjoyed it! really liked the new music too.
with it being the year of the dragon and all, I thought i'd be finishing Yakuza 1 first but funnily enough, this works still lol
it was good! plenty more engaging than ARR, better paced and with some fairly compelling themes. the dungeons and bosses were also good fun. other than some little diversions here and there, i enjoyed it! really liked the new music too.
with it being the year of the dragon and all, I thought i'd be finishing Yakuza 1 first but funnily enough, this works still lol
4
a survivors-like game far ahead of its contemporaries. after failing that last stage, i just had to try again and see it through to the end. it's been a while since a game has had me so invested like that.
bangin soundtrack, bangin storytelling, bangin aesthetic, and a bangin final boss. not long either! i reached an ending after about 6 hours of gameplay. play it!
bangin soundtrack, bangin storytelling, bangin aesthetic, and a bangin final boss. not long either! i reached an ending after about 6 hours of gameplay. play it!
5
pretty good. would be godlike if the camera was better. biggest compliment i can offer is that it made me want to revisit the first game to see if i would enjoy it more. I'll write more after another playthrough where i go for all the ex moves idk im still very conflicted on this series. i want to love it though.
6
putting this here because ive been playing quite a bit on fightcade.
i wish i liked this game more. it looks and sounds really good but i feel a little crazy whenever someone talks about how great it supposedly feels. i don't think a fighting game has ever given me this much grief with its inputs before, i swear my supers come out like 30% of the time.
i wish i liked this game more. it looks and sounds really good but i feel a little crazy whenever someone talks about how great it supposedly feels. i don't think a fighting game has ever given me this much grief with its inputs before, i swear my supers come out like 30% of the time.
7
finished ARR and its post game. much longer than it needs to be and quite dry for a worryingly large portion of it. takes a long while for the combat to come into its own, and for bosses to pose an actual threat, but once it did i was having a fun enough time.
lots of fluff, lots of time spent doing tedious stuff. when there are actual stakes, it's fairly engaging. however, this is limited to the middle where the empire actually starts doing stuff, and the tail end of this 300+ quest campaign where a bunch of threads finally converge. even if the expansions after this are good, it's still an extremely hard sell given the sheer time commitment for what is practically an entire rpg's worth of mid, with few narrative highlights that barely salvage it. at least the dungeons and raids and all of that are fun though, i enjoy that stuff :)
lots of fluff, lots of time spent doing tedious stuff. when there are actual stakes, it's fairly engaging. however, this is limited to the middle where the empire actually starts doing stuff, and the tail end of this 300+ quest campaign where a bunch of threads finally converge. even if the expansions after this are good, it's still an extremely hard sell given the sheer time commitment for what is practically an entire rpg's worth of mid, with few narrative highlights that barely salvage it. at least the dungeons and raids and all of that are fun though, i enjoy that stuff :)
8
played through the collection on DS.
there's quite a bit to like, a decent base for something better, but there's this undercooked feeling to its systems and level design, of which i feel several reviews already cover pretty well. the difficulty bordered on obnoxious too many times for this to be an easy recommendation, but Zero isn't without things worth praising. i like the art style and character designs, the bleak setting, and the story was more compelling than anything in X. even though they don't really do much in the story, i liked the npcs around the base too. the translation is a little awkward, but there's this feeling of earnestness to it as well.
there's a HARD mode????
there's quite a bit to like, a decent base for something better, but there's this undercooked feeling to its systems and level design, of which i feel several reviews already cover pretty well. the difficulty bordered on obnoxious too many times for this to be an easy recommendation, but Zero isn't without things worth praising. i like the art style and character designs, the bleak setting, and the story was more compelling than anything in X. even though they don't really do much in the story, i liked the npcs around the base too. the translation is a little awkward, but there's this feeling of earnestness to it as well.
there's a HARD mode????
9
yeah wasnt crazy about this one either. had worse level design than the first Zero somehow. it can get indefensibly bad. at some point i just really wanted it to end.
you know, i saw that this game gets fun once you memorize the levels so you can blast through them, looking like some kind of TAS playthrough, and my initial thought was
"that's dumb as hell"
but then my next thought was
"but my favourite 2D platformer is Dustforce, a speedrunning game where you have to play a level over and over until you master it, which includes some kind of memorisation too.... why does that pass but not Mega Man Zero?"
to this, i say
(it's late i'll write something another time)
you know, i saw that this game gets fun once you memorize the levels so you can blast through them, looking like some kind of TAS playthrough, and my initial thought was
"that's dumb as hell"
but then my next thought was
"but my favourite 2D platformer is Dustforce, a speedrunning game where you have to play a level over and over until you master it, which includes some kind of memorisation too.... why does that pass but not Mega Man Zero?"
to this, i say
(it's late i'll write something another time)
10
nubbish
6 months ago