I wish I could consider this game complete because it's very special to me. My journeys through Tamriel throughout the early days of COVID is where I can pinpoint the cause of my infatuation with RPGs. The world doesn't just feel large, it's genuinely fucking huge, my world map is almost filled out at nearly 200 hours, but there remains hours of exploration worth of unreached corners, and a plethora of incomplete questlines. The Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, random city quests, the Arena, there are so many fun, interesting quests with often simple storylines, but distinct identities that make them uniquely "Oblivion" quests. It's hard to explain why they work so well, with so many reused environments and repetitive objectives, but the exploration that takes place during and between pursuing quest objectives is where the player's primary source of agency stems from. This game is not a good RPG in the pen-and-paper sense, builds are pretty homogeneous, as all skills can be maxed out and specialization is a choice, not a framework that players structure their character around. Where it excels is in adventure, atmosphere, combat, and creativity. All objectives may or may not be pursued for completion of the game, and if a questline is uninteresting to the player, they won't lose much by deciding to focus on something else. Open-world fans can find something they love in this game and focus on it, not compelled to fulfill the gargantuan task of completing everything unless their heart desires it. The voice of Bethesda's writers and developers shines through the charm of the NPCs, the uniqueness and depth of cities, and the mood established through the tranquil OST and sound effects numbing the sense of "epic adventure", a symbol of a bygone era of being a traveling adventurer, enjoying the journey. Unfortunately, the innate need for modding represented by the multitude of bugs and graphical shortcomings, supplemented by visual and gameplay overhauls (including one with Arthas' Lich King armor and Frostmourne) has caused my save to break. I'll have to retire this game, but I'll always be thankful for the joy and appreciation brought to my life while pretending to be a Breton saving Tamriel from the jaws of Oblivion.

I haven't played the bowser map yet, but based on playing the others, this is a really nice Mario Party game. The mini-games are not the highest quality, but there are plenty of fun ones, and the boards help make up for it (though some are too linear and lacking in unique mechanics). Easily prefer 5-7, but this game has its own value as one to play from time to time and mix up the rotation. Some of the gamecube mario party games have a problem with their mini-games where it boils down to button mashing, button inputs, or luck, rather than unique, trainable, gameplay mechanics. Despite being clunky, the dimension added by motion controls help alleviate monotony. That's why this isn't higher than a 6. Shame Mario Party 9 was so bad, because this was a great beta test to eventually make a really fun Wii Mario Party game. The worst part of the game is the declined quality. In many ways, the graphics somehow look worse than 6 and 7, and it was clearly rushed by Nintendo to have a flagship party game for their new console. The best part is probably the presentation, love the entire vibe of the game from the board theming, to the character roster, and the carnival setting.

For GCN/Wii MPs, 6 > 7 > 5 > 8 > 4 > 9

Just finished Route A, so far I fucking love this game. Besides the enthralling story, and charming elements of insanity, the music is top tier, and the art style helps make up for the lack of detail in the world and graphics. Game runs smooth on emulation, and it elevates the combat to be much more engaging. Despite the simplicity of combos, the system of switching between weapons, dodging, and hitting rewarding parries makes for a pretty fun, mindless gameplay loop. The side missions are pretty dog though.

The story. Fucked up ending, almost made me tear up some, but I know it's only just getting started. Found myself extremely attached to Mikhail and Zero despite their fucked up relationship. I know there is more to Zero's mission so I am excited to learn about how fucked up this game can get. Gonna play through the sister prologues and other routes, come back with a final review. Would love to learn more about Four, and I heard Two's was pretty fucked.

Amazing what Rockstar North did with such a short development time. Game is fuckin box office, with maybe the most impressive cast of its time, while being ahead of its time in many other areas, too. The gameplay loop of drive, shoot, talk, cash, is simple, but the mission design has the player tackle some unique challenges, such as doing a bike jump onto the roof of a biker hideout, or rushing to deliver your dying redneck friend to the hospital. Sure, the RC missions don’t work well, but the success of other experiments, like the Assets (which is basically what GTA online is now), Stunts (though buggy), Rampages, even the little mini games like the Taxi and Firefighter stuff is great. If it weren’t for the monotony of finding out which of the 100 hidden packages are missing, or the bugginess of stunt jumps, the game would be a joy to 100%. But it’s not worth it, just play the game and complete the missions, explore as you see fit, but don’t force yourself to spend the hours and hours it can take to finish 100% if it’s not fun anymore. There really is a plethora of content, but I found myself spending so much time in between driving through the city, fighting the police with tanks, and speeding over ramps, that getting the completion percentage to go up wasn’t my main goal. I ended up at about 94% when I completed the last mission, and I’m sure one day I’ll come back to finish the last few bits. Besides the main story, the side missions are actually really excellent, and take the player through places on the map with the option to explore them and find collectibles or secrets, and the emphasis is on making your own fun. The police are very easy to lose, even on high ratings, adding to the arcade-like experience different from later entries. The missions are all hilarious and while the game doesn’t take itself seriously, the characters have so much personality, which fits in the context of a city full of diverse lunatics. Tommy, a self-described “psychotic drug dealer”, is made to seem perfectly normal by comparison. Also, fuck Lance.

3.0 is a vast improvement over the base game. Areas and exploration carried this expansion, as well as the world building and theming just being dope overall. Some of the characters were difficult to get into, as their arcs were too short-lived to develop any real attachment or empathy. The mid game is the most engaging due to having the highest quality environments and character arcs. Towards the end it started to falter and uninterest me. The music is great, found myself listening to it during study sessions while I’ve been progressing through this story. Dungeons are good, with the Aery being a highlight because of the environments and bosses. Aether currents were good in my opinion, as they encourage exploration and force the player to appreciate areas and notice details as they are questing through areas. Ascian plot still fails to interest me much, and the Thordan god-king plot was an unsatisfying resolution to an expansion with a wealth of interesting lore delivered well through cutscenes and dialogue. Looking forward to post-3.0 content to see how the loose ends are tied, and lore expanded upon.