scottyscotty
2023
Too much repetition, too obtuse at times, the story doesn't fully work for me, but also one of the most unique, interesting games in years.
I'd only recommend it to puzzle enjoyers, because so much of the game is puzzles and they get really difficult, but I feel like the story stuff could appeal to a whole huge chunk of people who wouldn't necessarily play puzzle games like this ordinarily. Unfortunately, I'm not fully part of that huge chunk of people who the story might appeal to, the tone is a little too anime and/or YA for my taste, though there are still cool things in it. And the way it's told/structured is pretty cool.
I am a puzzle game fan though, and this game has a lot of puzzles. Actually too many, I think, it's a little overlong. And if you want to figure out all the secrets, there is a LOT of repetition. But there is also a LOT of content behind those secrets, and the secrets are satisfying to figure out, so the repetition feels both tedious and worth it.
Overall, really neat!
I'd only recommend it to puzzle enjoyers, because so much of the game is puzzles and they get really difficult, but I feel like the story stuff could appeal to a whole huge chunk of people who wouldn't necessarily play puzzle games like this ordinarily. Unfortunately, I'm not fully part of that huge chunk of people who the story might appeal to, the tone is a little too anime and/or YA for my taste, though there are still cool things in it. And the way it's told/structured is pretty cool.
I am a puzzle game fan though, and this game has a lot of puzzles. Actually too many, I think, it's a little overlong. And if you want to figure out all the secrets, there is a LOT of repetition. But there is also a LOT of content behind those secrets, and the secrets are satisfying to figure out, so the repetition feels both tedious and worth it.
Overall, really neat!
1995
I emulated the original Saturn version. It definitely has a great vibe, and the soundtrack, especially the first episode, is really cool.
It's pretty difficult I thought, I was planning to not use save states, and I made it to episode 5 without them (meaning I got a few game overs and had to beat the first few levels several times), but eventually gave up on that (just used them to get unlimited continues though, didn't save state mid-level). There are multiple buttons to shoot, and it definitely feels like it was designed to require the player to kind of drum on two fire buttons so they can shoot down incoming attacks faster and not die, at parts particularly in level 5
Cool game, after a little break I'm planning to continue onto 2 and then Saga
It's pretty difficult I thought, I was planning to not use save states, and I made it to episode 5 without them (meaning I got a few game overs and had to beat the first few levels several times), but eventually gave up on that (just used them to get unlimited continues though, didn't save state mid-level). There are multiple buttons to shoot, and it definitely feels like it was designed to require the player to kind of drum on two fire buttons so they can shoot down incoming attacks faster and not die, at parts particularly in level 5
Cool game, after a little break I'm planning to continue onto 2 and then Saga
2023
I loved my time with Pikmin 4, and also I think it's my least favorite in the series. While each game has introduced something new, it also feels like some of the rough edges that give Pikmin its character are sanded down a little more with each successive title. Game 2 loses the timer, game 3 loses basically all difficulty (outside of challenges), and then game 4 simplifies a lot of the controls/strategy and adds on extraneous systems that don't add much.
Admittedly my views may be nostalgia clouded, but Pikmin 1 is my favorite of the bunch. It's also in many ways the least forgiving. The main thing that differentiates this game from future installments is the hard timer. It's not an impossibly difficult challenge, but it definitely expects you to focus on the goals, and if you spend too much time experimenting without making in game progress, you'll get a game over with no recourse but to restart the game from the beginning. This is also the shortest game in the series, which to me works in its favor, it feels focused, doesn't overstay its welcome, and leaves me wanting more. It also makes it easy to replay, and try to improve your time (I must have played this game through 4 or 5 times when I was a kid)
Pikmin 2 shifts the focus to gathering treasure (real-life earth objects, a Duracell battery, a Dannon yogurt wrapper, great way to add character), and gives you two captains to switch between, giving you more tools to try and manage your time as efficiently as possible. These are the best new things to me, the others I like more in theory than in practice. The caves are a good idea and are interesting for a time, but after a while they start to feel repetitive and dragged out. It's also exciting to get new pikmin types, but the purple pikmin in particular feel somewhat overpowered, for non-boss enemies the best strategy is basically always to get behind the enemy and have the purple pikmin do their stomp on them. That said, boss enemies can be fairly difficult in this one, I would say Pikmin 2 has the most difficult battles of the series. Overall, this is my third favorite in the series, mainly due to the game feeling a little repetitive, a little overlong by the end.
Pikmin 3 has you gathering fruit for food, and has a timer again for how long you can survive that will increase as you gather more fruit. Interesting idea, but it's so easy to gather more fruit that the timer might as well not exist. The fruit itself is also much less exciting/interesting when compared to the treasure from 2, or even the spaceship parts from 1. That said, I love the big new thing added here: this game gives you a third captain to swap between, and lets you give them simple commands (destinations to walk to) via the game pad. This really opens up the efficiency management opportunities of the game, it keeps you juggling tasks and swapping between captains, it's very engaging. Also caves are gone here, which I think ultimately makes the game feel more focused. Even though I like caves in some ways, after playing 2 and 4, I think I've come to the opinion that these games are stronger without them. In the end, I think if 3 were a little more difficult, it could be my favorite in the series. The challenge mode is cool and gives some good difficulty, but since it's divorced from the main campaign, it's a little less compelling.
And then there is Pikmin 4. This game removes the time limit again and brings back caves. It feels like the most content-rich of the games, giving you more levels, more variety, more pikmin types, etc. The big new thing here is your dog Oatchi. Oatchi is a great little guy, but to me he oversimplifies things. He serves as a replacement for multiple captains, you can split up like before, but ultimately I didn't want to most of the time because you can generally work more effectively together. All your Pikmin can ride on his back, making it so you're effectively controlling one entity, rather than leading a little army. This makes evading enemies simpler (don't have to worry about stragglers getting eaten when everyone is amassed together), makes attacking enemies simpler (you can charge into enemies as Oatchi, stunning them for a second, and causing all your pikmin to jump off his back onto the enemy to attack, killing most enemies before they have a chance to retaliate), and makes exploring simpler (IE: you can just swim across water with pikmin riding Oatchi, rather than requiring you to split up your blue pikmin. You still split up at times, but it's less of an issue with Oatchi). When you do split up, there is less you can do to command your separate teams than in 3, there is less focus on multitasking in that way. The "dandori challenges" are a highlight though, and do effectively have you focus on multitasking and time management. But, I prefer Pikmin 1 where the time management aspect is more seamlessly integrated into all parts of the game, as opposed to being discrete mini challenges. Beyond that, the updated controls work, but feel like they offer less control and frustrated me more than improved the experience. I did not like the cursor constantly snapping to enemies, or that the game stops me from throwing more than the minimum required number of pikmin to carry something (I want to throw extra! They carry it faster), these should be options rather than the only control scheme. I also wish switching from controlling Oatchi to my main guy was an instantaneous button press like before, rather than holding a button then selecting an option, it feels tedious. The upgrade systems felt unnecessary, felt like something there because that's something that modern games have. The night time tower defense is a fine diversion, but is not as fun as the main game and ultimately feels unnecessary as well to me.
Anyway, as I opened, overall I still loved my time with Pikmin 4, and the soul and appeal of Pikmin is still strong, but I can't help but feel that they're oversimplifying the series little by little
Admittedly my views may be nostalgia clouded, but Pikmin 1 is my favorite of the bunch. It's also in many ways the least forgiving. The main thing that differentiates this game from future installments is the hard timer. It's not an impossibly difficult challenge, but it definitely expects you to focus on the goals, and if you spend too much time experimenting without making in game progress, you'll get a game over with no recourse but to restart the game from the beginning. This is also the shortest game in the series, which to me works in its favor, it feels focused, doesn't overstay its welcome, and leaves me wanting more. It also makes it easy to replay, and try to improve your time (I must have played this game through 4 or 5 times when I was a kid)
Pikmin 2 shifts the focus to gathering treasure (real-life earth objects, a Duracell battery, a Dannon yogurt wrapper, great way to add character), and gives you two captains to switch between, giving you more tools to try and manage your time as efficiently as possible. These are the best new things to me, the others I like more in theory than in practice. The caves are a good idea and are interesting for a time, but after a while they start to feel repetitive and dragged out. It's also exciting to get new pikmin types, but the purple pikmin in particular feel somewhat overpowered, for non-boss enemies the best strategy is basically always to get behind the enemy and have the purple pikmin do their stomp on them. That said, boss enemies can be fairly difficult in this one, I would say Pikmin 2 has the most difficult battles of the series. Overall, this is my third favorite in the series, mainly due to the game feeling a little repetitive, a little overlong by the end.
Pikmin 3 has you gathering fruit for food, and has a timer again for how long you can survive that will increase as you gather more fruit. Interesting idea, but it's so easy to gather more fruit that the timer might as well not exist. The fruit itself is also much less exciting/interesting when compared to the treasure from 2, or even the spaceship parts from 1. That said, I love the big new thing added here: this game gives you a third captain to swap between, and lets you give them simple commands (destinations to walk to) via the game pad. This really opens up the efficiency management opportunities of the game, it keeps you juggling tasks and swapping between captains, it's very engaging. Also caves are gone here, which I think ultimately makes the game feel more focused. Even though I like caves in some ways, after playing 2 and 4, I think I've come to the opinion that these games are stronger without them. In the end, I think if 3 were a little more difficult, it could be my favorite in the series. The challenge mode is cool and gives some good difficulty, but since it's divorced from the main campaign, it's a little less compelling.
And then there is Pikmin 4. This game removes the time limit again and brings back caves. It feels like the most content-rich of the games, giving you more levels, more variety, more pikmin types, etc. The big new thing here is your dog Oatchi. Oatchi is a great little guy, but to me he oversimplifies things. He serves as a replacement for multiple captains, you can split up like before, but ultimately I didn't want to most of the time because you can generally work more effectively together. All your Pikmin can ride on his back, making it so you're effectively controlling one entity, rather than leading a little army. This makes evading enemies simpler (don't have to worry about stragglers getting eaten when everyone is amassed together), makes attacking enemies simpler (you can charge into enemies as Oatchi, stunning them for a second, and causing all your pikmin to jump off his back onto the enemy to attack, killing most enemies before they have a chance to retaliate), and makes exploring simpler (IE: you can just swim across water with pikmin riding Oatchi, rather than requiring you to split up your blue pikmin. You still split up at times, but it's less of an issue with Oatchi). When you do split up, there is less you can do to command your separate teams than in 3, there is less focus on multitasking in that way. The "dandori challenges" are a highlight though, and do effectively have you focus on multitasking and time management. But, I prefer Pikmin 1 where the time management aspect is more seamlessly integrated into all parts of the game, as opposed to being discrete mini challenges. Beyond that, the updated controls work, but feel like they offer less control and frustrated me more than improved the experience. I did not like the cursor constantly snapping to enemies, or that the game stops me from throwing more than the minimum required number of pikmin to carry something (I want to throw extra! They carry it faster), these should be options rather than the only control scheme. I also wish switching from controlling Oatchi to my main guy was an instantaneous button press like before, rather than holding a button then selecting an option, it feels tedious. The upgrade systems felt unnecessary, felt like something there because that's something that modern games have. The night time tower defense is a fine diversion, but is not as fun as the main game and ultimately feels unnecessary as well to me.
Anyway, as I opened, overall I still loved my time with Pikmin 4, and the soul and appeal of Pikmin is still strong, but I can't help but feel that they're oversimplifying the series little by little
This game is really neat! The story is compelling and fun, the art style is unique, and the puzzles are interesting. I know this is a visual novel and with that comes a somewhat slower pace than other things, but sometimes I became impatient watching the character animations, I just wanted to be able to move around. But it's not a major problem by any means, and the cartoony animations give the game a lot of its charm so I'm not sure I would change that aspect even if I could. Anyway, it's a fun time, glad to have finally gotten around to playing it
The action is so tight in this game. There is a really neat focus on customizing your build to give you the tools for a particular fight. Some skill checks are involved, but a lot of your progress is blocked more because you're not using the right build. Some builds are more multipurpose and stronger than others, but there are so many interesting weapons and all feel like they could be viable in some build or another. Really interesting, fun game.
2022
Remarkable game, one of the smoothest, coolest action games I've ever played.
Really just a hair's breadth away from 5 stars for me, mostly left it at 4.5 because of the final boss. It's not that the final boss is bad, but in a sense the difficulty on that particular fight was a little too high in my opinion. It's definitely doable, with your age charm if you get in young enough, you can have a bunch of chances, it's just kind of frustrating, not so fun to keep dying and reviving, dying and reviving, and only be able to beat him this way. I know you can "get good" and beat him in fewer tries, but it's a little overly difficult to do so, to the point where it would lose the fun for me.
Anyway, I really loved this one, the atmosphere rules, the combat is so satisfying, the level design is neat. That museum level is so cool.
Really just a hair's breadth away from 5 stars for me, mostly left it at 4.5 because of the final boss. It's not that the final boss is bad, but in a sense the difficulty on that particular fight was a little too high in my opinion. It's definitely doable, with your age charm if you get in young enough, you can have a bunch of chances, it's just kind of frustrating, not so fun to keep dying and reviving, dying and reviving, and only be able to beat him this way. I know you can "get good" and beat him in fewer tries, but it's a little overly difficult to do so, to the point where it would lose the fun for me.
Anyway, I really loved this one, the atmosphere rules, the combat is so satisfying, the level design is neat. That museum level is so cool.
Within the opening minutes of this game, as the simple synthesized electronic soundtrack played and the 2D portraits posed on my screen, I felt nostalgia wash over me. THIS is the Ace Attorney series I love. It's not the strongest entry in the series, but the twisty mysteries and quirky characters are all present. To me the series lost something in the transition to 3D, the models felt more lifeless than the comic-like 2D portraits, the more orchestra-centric soundtrack was good but had less character than the simpler electronic versions of those songs. Great Ace Attorney in particular felt more wordy than ever, with every element excruciatingly over explained, in this already very wordy series. Investigations too feels long in the tooth by the end, but I enjoyed my time with it, and I loved returning to an earlier stylistic era of the series. I'm looking forward to playing the fan translation of Investigations 2.
Phoenix Wright > Trials and Tribulations > Justice For All > Apollo Justice > Investigations 1 > Spirit of Justice > Dual Destinies > GAA2 > GAA1 > Layton x Phoenix Wright
Phoenix Wright > Trials and Tribulations > Justice For All > Apollo Justice > Investigations 1 > Spirit of Justice > Dual Destinies > GAA2 > GAA1 > Layton x Phoenix Wright
1994
This is a neat thing to play! Definitely very dated and clunky, and some parts are just a little too opaque without a guide (I used it very sparingly), but it's easy to see that the people who talk up the influence this had on the Souls series weren't just blowing smoke.
2017
The story and the plan the villains have is like, really really far-fetched and impractical, but that's okay. Some incredible moments happen in this game, the sort of main story "date" you have in particular is truly well done, in the upper echelon of "cinematic" video game cut scenes, which maybe isn't saying too much. Ryuji was a really great villain, the cutscenes around the last fight with him rules, the fight was a bit of a joke with weapons/heat actions but that's okay because the fighting in these games is just serviceable to me anyway, not really the main reason I play them. Anyway I'm excited to play Infinite Wealth in 5 years when I catch up to it
2016
Cool game. 0 > 7 > kiwami > judgement
2014
The philosophy and writing stuff in this game feels pretentious at best and just dumb at worst. The puzzles are decent but not great. The "true" ending sequence is nice (I would consider the tower the true ending). Exploring the mostly empty maps for little stars is tedious and bad. Overall, I'd say this game is just okay and a little overrated.
This is a game I bought relatively close to release and played and played, getting stuck again and again. I have put this game down after getting stuck and restarted from the beginning at least 3 separate times over the years. And at last, I've finally completed the entire thing. Great game.
2024
So much of this game is basically the same as the first one, one of the most similar sequels separated by 10 years ever made. But I love the first game, so that's okay. There's not really anything like these two games. The most interesting thing about them to me is that they seem to be part old-school dungeon crawlers where you explore the dungeon while managing your party's resources/health and making decisions about how far you want to go before turning back, but here the dungeon is a big open world. I love the atmosphere of this game, and of course the combat system. I agree with the common criticismthat better enemy variety would be a huge improvement, but the combat is strong enough that I still always had fun just tearing through the enemies they gave me. And it's a shame the graphical performance isn't better. But the other common criticisms are virtually all incorrect, the story is neat and also minimal because this game isn't mainly about story, it's about exploration and combat. The obtuse systems are fun and interesting. The fast travel system makes the game more deliberately paced, and makes journeys more considered and rewarding. Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't for everyone, but I had a wonderful experience playing it.
2024
Alright let's get some Balatro thoughts down, since I doubt I'll return to it. I put in 20-30 hours and completed up through orange stake, but not gold. Didn't mess with the challenges much but they seemed fun. For me, this is a really well-designed, fun and addictive rogue-like/lite/who cares (I know there are people who care about the like/lite distinction, but I sure don't, sorry). Like most rogue-likes (all that I've played), there's never really a satisfying ending, I just play and play more and more runs, and everything in the game slowly becomes more and more routine and less novel. Eventually the fun wears away and so I just unceremoniously end my session one day and never pick it back up. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with some games working like this, but it does make it so by the time I'm through with it my opinion has soured a little since I've played it until I'm burnt out and not enjoying it anymore. I end up quitting rogue-likes sooner than I used to do that I can avoid that feeling, I wasn't truly burnt out on Balatro, but I was starting to see the signs, IE: I didn't want to play out my run if I didn't get the upgrades I wanted right away, I preferred to just restart.
Anyway, if you're on this website reading this, you probably already know what Balatro is and why people like it, so I'll just say, yeah they're right, it's a well designed game. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Anyway, if you're on this website reading this, you probably already know what Balatro is and why people like it, so I'll just say, yeah they're right, it's a well designed game. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
2024
This review contains spoilers
Really cool atmosphere in this game! The initial 5-10 hours to roll credits is very fun and well designed, that's where this game earns it's 4 star rating from me. All the items are neat, the puzzles are pretty simple at this stage, but they're fun, and it's cool and exciting to see the world.
After the initial victory, you move on to the Easter egg hunt. This is more tedious, but it's still compelling and hides some of the most fun secrets in the game (I really liked the little snake and break-out sections, very cute). The puzzles in this section are still mostly pretty easy to do, they're just difficult to find, which makes it really tedious to go through and backtrack. This is maybe like a 2-3 star experience.
The rabbit search phase of the game is where I stopped. I found maybe 6 during the Easter egg hunt, during which I quite thoroughly scoured near ever corner of the map. I know the likely location of a few more, but this is where things get too obtuse and too hidden for me personally. I love puzzle games, but the puzzles to solve these rabbits are not the kind I'm that into, they require thorough observation and consideration of basically every detail of the map and often require you to think far, far outside the box. I think that's really neat! But, for me, it's not fun. Looking up some solutions has me thinking "oh that's really interesting, I never would have thought to try that in a million years", but I don't really care about actually doing the solution anymore at that point. These puzzles are the kind of things that feel designed for a community to work together to solve, which is really cool, I'm glad this kind of thing exists.
Overall a really neat game and intelligently designed where the first phase is solvable by most people with metroidvania experience, and the next phases let you drop out wherever you wish while still feeling like you had a full experience with the game. Great experience. I wouldn't really compare it to Outer Wilds like some people have been, I think the Fez comparisons are a lot more accurate.
After the initial victory, you move on to the Easter egg hunt. This is more tedious, but it's still compelling and hides some of the most fun secrets in the game (I really liked the little snake and break-out sections, very cute). The puzzles in this section are still mostly pretty easy to do, they're just difficult to find, which makes it really tedious to go through and backtrack. This is maybe like a 2-3 star experience.
The rabbit search phase of the game is where I stopped. I found maybe 6 during the Easter egg hunt, during which I quite thoroughly scoured near ever corner of the map. I know the likely location of a few more, but this is where things get too obtuse and too hidden for me personally. I love puzzle games, but the puzzles to solve these rabbits are not the kind I'm that into, they require thorough observation and consideration of basically every detail of the map and often require you to think far, far outside the box. I think that's really neat! But, for me, it's not fun. Looking up some solutions has me thinking "oh that's really interesting, I never would have thought to try that in a million years", but I don't really care about actually doing the solution anymore at that point. These puzzles are the kind of things that feel designed for a community to work together to solve, which is really cool, I'm glad this kind of thing exists.
Overall a really neat game and intelligently designed where the first phase is solvable by most people with metroidvania experience, and the next phases let you drop out wherever you wish while still feeling like you had a full experience with the game. Great experience. I wouldn't really compare it to Outer Wilds like some people have been, I think the Fez comparisons are a lot more accurate.