Ace Attorney is not the kind of visual novel a lot of people see themselves playing; trust me, I didn't anticipate it either. But something about the colorful characters and

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(For humour's sake I'm keeping the original review but obviously I want to expand upon it because this series means a lot to me)

Something about the colorful characters and hijinks really draws me in. It has a lot of charm as a series and really has some standout moments for a visual novel. It has its lows, and when it does, they're pretty low, but it creates a story that wraps itself in a neat bow which not a lot of visual novel series can do. Some of the ways one has to get to the conclusions of the case are stupid, like, I know the answer but put the case together in the wrong order. But I think this game is worth a look if you're into visual novels. Very charming and quirky and I really enjoy the mechanics introduced in Rise From the Ashes, wish they came back in the 3DS games more prominently.

FE4 is A Very Different Fire Emblem game. You pretty much have to learn to play in a different style than what you're used to. This doesn't hamper it from being one of the strongest entries based on its pretty good story, mostly the first generation, and the replayability it has with the second generation. The payoff of seeing what the children of the future do makes for a really good gameplay experience. It, alongside Thracia, commonly get thrown in a bin labeled "obscure games only weirdos play" but a lot of the series wouldn't be where it is without FE4. Skills, child units, battle conversations and lovers are all owed to it. Awakening's revival of the series is arguably most influenced from FE4. A lot of the same themes are present here. Once we get that remake, people will acknowledge it. Trust. It's real. Please be real

We're at a point where people are finishing their full playthroughs for Lies of P and leaving proper reviews instead of just giving it 1 star calling it trash because they can't get past the first few bosses.

Lies of P is so close to being a perfect game yet so far, there are many flaws with this game that have stopped this from being a 5/5 for me so I'm just gonna get them out of the way

-Rolling and jumping isn't the best
-90% of enemies are complete damage sponges
-Unrewarding guard breaks
-Weight system is heavily flawed
-Half of the bosses have awful move sets and don't feel like they belong at all (other half are amazing)
-Voice acting could be better

I'm not really gonna develop on these flaws, if you've played the game for long enough you will understand exactly what I'm talking about.
The combat does feel a tad bit stiff sometimes but lets be real... we are playing as a puppet.

Luckily the positive outweigh the flaws by miles, there's too many to list but here's a few of my personal favourite features from the game.

-Amazing story that will honestly suck you in and make the journey interesting enough to disregard the flaws
-Atmosphere that is better than most souls games imo. Often found myself stopping to just observe my surroundings
-Customisation of weapons, clothing, body modifications, etc. This is perfect, the team honestly nailed this part of the game.
-Side characters, some better than others but you end up caring about them more than you had expected.
-Boss design, again some better than others but the good ones are gooooood.

A few extra comments:
One thing I cant overlook is how you're really pushed to make use of consumables and throwables in this game rather than just have it stack up in your inventory, I really did enjoy this and often went to visit merchants to stock up before bosses.
The parry window is very small which can be good depending on who you ask, personally I didn't mind it as it felt really rewarding guarding them super fast hits.

So yeah, Lies of P is amazing. If you've been put off by some fromsoft dick rider do ignore them and give it a shot, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Played on Xbox gamepass.
37 hours total, explored everything.

I struggle to call Binding Blade a bad game, but I can’t really call it an amazing one either. I have both a lot to say about this game alongside absolutely nothing unique to remark on it. Maybe. I’ll do it anyway though.
Compared to the other FE reviews I don’t have much of a personal history with this one aside from knowing Roy as “the guy from smash” and trying the game on an emulator once. I dropped it after Bors died in less than one minute of gameplay because I was like “oh wow oh gee oh golly oh gosh this game really is as hard as they say!”
That’s not a hyperbole btw.
Anyway I gave the game a second chance after finishing FE7, this time with the Project Ember patch (which was a mistake) (don’t do that). Dropped it at Chapter 12 because I kept dying to the overpowered enemy units before eventually learning that PE copy pastes minibosses across the maps compared to the original. Oops! Started playing Genealogy of the Holy War instead and Binding Blade remained in the back of my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about that desire to finish it. Yeah ik the game kinda sucks but at the same time I want that satisfaction of saying I finished it alongside the fact I kept gatekeeping my FE pfps to exclusively games I finished/currently playing to completion (weird mind rabbit hole ignore it). So after I finished Genealogy I hopped on Engage while letting Binding Blade, this time the vanilla version starting up in the back burner. Yes I am clinically obsessed with Fire Emblem. How could you tell?
I finished this game before Engage too lmao. Ok let’s talk about the game now. Binding Blade is rough. This game barely functions correctly but that sort of gives it appeal. Maps are ok/mediocre/annoying, player units are ass, hit rates are less accurate than the Percy Jackson movie adaptations, the story is just ok blah blah blah. But also like, this game loops back into being entertaining because of it’s faults. Why out of all of these games, it’s FE6 that takes swordmasters, a class of dubious quality in basically any other FIre Emblem game, and transforms them into crit spamming dodge tanking Gods among men. Rutger is already a pretty good boss killer at base but the second you get him promoted his crit rate is increased by a guaranteed 30% which makes him nigh unstoppable for most of the game.
I’ll just use this to branch discussing player units into it’s own little paragraph here. FE6 player units are laughable. Like, hilarious. It’s not that this game doesn’t have good units but the bad units are just… really, REALLY bad. Both of the fighters you get early on are bad, the two unpromoted archers are bad, Gwendolyn (sadly) and her armor knight besties are bad, and don’t let me get started on Sophia. At the same time though…. that actually kinda adds to the density of this game, albeit unintentionally on the developers’ part. Because it’s entirely possible to make these trashy units viable if you try hard enough. Sophia, despite being one of the worst units in the entire franchise, CAN become actually adequate if you train her up and get stat blessed enough, which is insane. Same deal with Gwendolyn (see: Mekkah FE6 HM Ironman). Like, bad units in Fire Emblem games are fun because I like seeing how players can push them to their limits. This game is probably one of the best examples. I don’t have much to remark on the good units in comparison, but I do recommend Milady, Perceval, Rutger, Lilina (normal mode) etc.
Like for example Lilina is considered an ok-ish unit to many, but in my normal mode playthrough she became so incredibly stat blessed and dodge tanky that she was decimating most of the enemy spawns late game, to the point where I used her so much she hit the level cap after promotion. I’m sure other fans have had similar experiences, which adds to the discussion in a good way imo.
One major point of contention I have with this game is the ending system. To my knowledge this is one of the very few if not the only Fire Emblem games to have a secret hidden ending route with several chapters, and unlocking them here…. is not fun. At all. PLEASE use a guide when doing this. I’ve never seen an ending system that feels so counterintuitive to what the design philosophy of the series is. Requiring the player to keep so many specific units alive in a game where you can lose these units forever is bad design especially if they are required to see the ACTUAL ENDING OF THE GAME. On top of that, the gaiden chapters you unlock after fulfilling the requirements for each one aren’t good either. They’re long and boring. Despite having their own unique gimmicks they are probably the most uninteresting chapters in the game. To make matters worse, simply completing all these gaidens STILL isn’t enough, because if you break a single one of these (very limited usage) legendary weapons obtained from these chapters, that’s it. No true ending for you. Try again. Awful.
If you know about these requirements and use a guide beforehand, it’s manageable, but still really annoying. And that’s sorta just what this game is in general. Annoying. Enemy spam? check. Large maps? check. Same turn reinforcements? right here. Actually I’ve already said enough about the maps for now let’s talk about ambush spawns (same turn reinforcements). This is an awful mechanic. Adds nothing to the game. You could remove them and nothing of value would be lost. There’s no fun strategy or fun engagement to the concept of ambush spawns, simply having random enemies appear out of nowhere and immediately move the same turn is something completely out of the player’s control unless you know about them beforehand. It’s possible to mitigate many ambush spawns if you have prior knowledge (use a guide for chapter 21 I am begging you), but for the average player they don’t see any of this shit coming, It just happens. Thracia 776 also has many ambush spawns but that’s in a game where your player units are actually pretty durable and enemies are really weak so it somewhat balances out.
Difficulty. Chances are if you are involved in FE6 discussion online you’ve probably heard how this is one of the hardest games in the series. Uh… not really? Ok well the game certainly isn’t easy but it’s not necessarily impossible either. I think the game is moreso difficult at certain points, like chapters 7, 14, 21, 22 etc. A majority of the chapters post 7 are honestly pretty tame, annoying at worst. Chapter 24 can be kinda tough, but it’s also the best chapter in the game probably and it actually uses ambush spawns in a clever way for ONCE. I’ve also seen people call this game a “budget Thracia” or whatever, and I really have to ask: what? Thracia 776 is a hard game, sure, but that game is difficult for different reasons. Pardon if I’m incorrect on this because I haven’t played that game past chapter 2 currently, but Thracia is a hard game that gives you multiple tools to deal with it’s nonsense, which gives the game a sandboxy, creative appeal. You can’t really do that in Binding Blade. The game is hard because the enemy units are very strong while the player units aren’t. Even the most durable units can only withstand so much, they aren’t invincible. You really just have to hope for the best. Once again, there’s appeal to how imbalanced FE6 is, but the difficulty comparison to Thracia 776 is nonsensical.
That’s mainly what I wanted to talk about with this game. I know it was mostly negative but I still think the game is alright, but easily my least favorite in the series so far. It’s worth playing at least once to see the beautiful mess that was IS having their first go at a Fire Emblem game without Kaga, but the other GBA games are much better. I still like the game for it’s positives (graphics, music, character designs, the actually good maps), but I’m probably done with this game unless I play the “Plus” hack which actually looks pretty enjoyable. Also don’t be like Mister Magical Mage and play this game 776 times despite saying you hate it. I know what you are.

i'm at the last few chapters of my current replay, and i'm not too sure i'm going to finish it so i'll just log it now.

the binding blade is an oddity. it's the first fire emblem after the departure of series head shouzou kaga as well as the 2nd version of what would eventually become fe6 and both facts seem very apparent. the map design is either bland and empty, cluttered and awful, or an odd mix of both and the only map in this game i can actually say i had fun playing was chapter 17 on the sacae route. between the engine for the gba titles not being as refined as in 7 or 8 and the entire game just being seize chapters playing the game is entirely an act in tedium and time wasting. i know the sacae route is worse than ilia but i really did want to give it a shot if only because not a single map in the game is appealing to me and i at least wanted something new to keep me occupied.
something especially frustrating/silly about binding blades maps has more to do with blazing blade, which on one hand realizes that the sacae maps in 6 weren't that good and avoided redoing them at all costs just for one of the worst ones to rear its ugly head again in engage but also brings back some of the least interesting maps with either minor/no iteration, and in the case of the laus chapter iteration that makes it even less fun to play. no idea how that happened.

well if the actual gameplay part is unsalvageable, at least a good narrative can make something at least somewhat worthwhile. too bad binding blade decides to just give us neither!
the story is mostly just the broad strokes of interesting ideas that had a lot of potential, but the execution makes it all so painfully boring. in a game with some of the absolute best side characters and even main characters, there is absolutely zero excuse for the main story to be taken over almost entirely by roy and fucking merlinus, neither of whom are very interesting and compelling within the main narrative of the binding blade.
characters like elffin and guinivere and lilina are either good and interesting or at least have the potential to be, but outside of a few chapters around their introduction lines that could've gone to them just go to merlinus unless the devs actively thought "it would be weird if merlinus knew/said this so let's have one of the other guys do it" and it is so deeply frustrating. despite the story starting out as roy retaliating against potential bern invasion to lycia, it quickly becomes much more about roys army assisting etruria on the western isles and ultimately the story that takes up the most of the games chapters is the etrurian army vs bern army, which makes the fact that elffin and guinivere don't get much very frustrating. i would've loved a fire emblem game focused on these two if only because i enjoy their characters and a refresher/mage lord duo is a really cool concept, and more fire emblem games focused on both sides of a warring continent is something i'd love done well more often. i'd hate to see games like genealogy or thracia skipped in terms of remakes, but i hope that when/if we get around to binding blade that they can take what's here and iron out the issues because between a theoretical main cast of roy/elffin/guinivere (with more of a grasp on writing) and the entire conflict with zephiel could be really good, but part of me doesn't think they'll do an echoes style overhaul for a story that was held back for reasons other than hardware.

the binding blade is a game that ultimately has a lot of potential, but falls short of reaching most of it. the cast is stellar once you get past 80% of the early game characters, but it makes such little use of it that you'd be forgiven for thinking it had one of the weaker groups. gameplay isn't much better either, with it hands down having my least favorite maps in the series to the point where i'd take cindered shadows or celica's route in echoes over them any day. i mostly just went back to this one because elffin is in it and he's my favorite character in the franchise and as of now he isn't really recognized as important enough to get any content outside of his game, and i can't really say i feel like i used my time well. i know a lot of people like this one, but in pretty much every aspect you'll find that other games in the series do it much better.

OK. This is epic.

As a fan of the roguelike genre, this one was a pleasant surprise to come across (thanks HoodlumCallum) and is just as pleasant to experience. Not that it matters much but for the record I chose to port this hack onto my 3DS as a custom install Virtual Console inject, rather than playing it on an emulator. But without further ado... Emerald Rogue. This hack is excellent, let's get that out of the way right now. Not only is it excellent but it's genuinely a top-tier Pokemon hack; with how it blends the original gameplay systems and quirks of Pokemon with roguelike elements so seamlessly is honestly surprising. I wasn't expecting a bad hack by any means, but the quality is far above and beyond what I had envisioned prior to playing. The way the format is streamlined helps a lot too with the game being an easy pick-up and play on the go, you're easily able to hop in and do a couple routes and then come back to your current run later on. Experiencing routes in bigger bursts of playtime is of course a ton of fun, but it's good to have the option of taking breaks mid-run at all as it doesn't gatekeep the gameplay to just the toughest-of-tough players and makes the genre very accessible. Not every hack has to be accessible, but when you're making dramatic changes to core systems like this I feel it's a very appreciated touch. I may also have a bit of bias as the 3DS has limited charge, heh...

Adding to the accessibility is the sheer amount of options given to you when going into new runs. Modifying the quantity of items you'll find, whether or not all your Pokemon gain EXP., the chance of encountering powerful legendary Pokemon, how strong enemy teams are and their competence in using said teams, a number of challenge 'curse' options... and this is just out of the box! When you complete a run for the first time, you gain access to a ton of extra goodies to mess around with: The Pokedex expanding from the first three generations to the first EIGHT, with options to also play by pre-set regional Pokedexes instead if you prefer. The variety of boss trainers also expands to encompass those beyond the Hoenn games, throwing iconic Kanto and Johto bosses to the mix. But if you don't like these guys or just want a different roster to come up against, you can also toggle which regional bosses appear too! You can also enable Megas and/or Z-Moves at this point too, adding to teambuilding options for you and the AI opponents. There's so much potential variety here, and that's without going into side-quest content and the ever-expanding hub world that comes with it... this game is just jam-packed with content and variance on such a simple premise, it's NUTS and I absolute love it. Just about the only thing can't be changed is the permadeath mechanic, but for the format this game is presented in? The permadeath is perfect. Genuinely, one of the best additions this hack could've made. I'm a Fire Emblem fan so I'm no stranger to loving some good permadeath implementation and this game does it in such an excellent and natural way that encourages variety in team-building, especially pushing you to use Pokemon you might not have wanted to or considered before simply because it's all you can get your hands on. It adds a lot of sentiment to the temporary teams too, I've certainly had moments of screaming "NO" when losing a Pokemon I got attached to...

Alas. I have some problems here. Some of the regional Pokedex options seem a little borked in what they give the AI trainers, which I especially noticed with the Galar regional option; there are 400 Pokemon in that Pokedex but a lot of encounters were samey, both with wilds and trainers. There were two consecutive boss battles with Dhelmise in the enemy party for example... I suppose this is inevitable when you have a lot of game to fill and only so many logical places things can go. But also I can walk around in grass and find Magikarp so I don't know what to expect anymore. On a similar note I also wish we could individually toggle generations of Pokemon we want to have appear; as it is, you can select a limit for what gens appear... if that makes sense. To give an example: You can make it so Gen.1 through Gen.5 Pokemon will appear, but you wouldn't be able to add only Gen.8 Pokemon to that mix and would have to make EVERY Pokemon from Gen.1 to Gen.8 available all at once. It's a simple change, I'm sure, and one that would add even more variety to this already very spicy trail-mix of a video game. I'd absolutely adore this as a feature and hope it gets added at some point!

I do have one other flaw, and it's most likely just me being slightly nitpicky. Slight spoilers but after the champion battle, the game isn't over and you instead get a final route to complete along with a true final boss fight at the end. Now, this sounds awesome, and admittedly I liked it a lot on my second run... but on my first? It felt like a slap to the face. Maybe I'm the stupid one as I decided to sell a lot of items before the "final" battle to buy more shit for my team, only to lose a Pokemon and be left unable to replace them with one last team member since I sold all my Pokeballs at the prior rest stop. With no way to buy more because the randomly genned route only put rest stops after all the encounters... I still managed the true final boss perfectly well with only five team members, but hopefully some of you kind of get what I mean. The addition of a true final boss is exciting and fun; on my subsequent run I loved it a lot! But for that first time you're lead into believing that there's no more game after the champion fight, except yes there is. Maybe I'm just salty I sold all my "useless junk", I don't know. Maybe this isn't a problem with the game but a problem with me. Who knows... but it's my review and so I'm pointing it out anyways.

On the whole, this game is brilliant. It's excellent. Top-notch Pokemon ROM hacking. I've only completed two runs thus far (my initial run and one with the updated Pokemon roster) but attempted many more, which I feel gives me enough playtime to justify making a review now. In spite of this though I'm absolutely going to keep playing for a lot longer, this game has me by my nonexistent balls and won't let go. A very high recommendation if you love Pokemon, roguelikes, or both! It's a great slice of something different that can be accessed by everyone thanks to the options you can mess around with. Top-three ROM hack for me.

Spoiler-Free

This game provides a really good framework for future games, but for this game it doesn't live up to the concept. The story is a pretty generic "nihilism bad" anime plot you've seen like 600 times, except now it's inside a highschool murder game. The actual murder game part is really fun, the investigations can offer some really fun logic puzzles and cases to solve. Though almost as often as they do. they also don't. Cases 2, 3, and 6 actually have some pretty interesting setups and details to notice, nothing too hard but still rewarding. Cases 4 and 5 however drag to a halt just to explain basic information that was already pointed out to you (I played on MEAN difficulty, I dread to know what the lower difficulties do..) they don't allow the player to even consider what the solution could be, without having Byakuya or Kyoko just tell you what the clues mean. All the cases do this to an extent but it's the most egregious in 4 and 5. The trial gameplay is the highlight of the game, there's so many mechanics introduced to keep the player actively participating in the gameplay. Things as simple as using the silencer shot to gain more time, or even the fact you have to aim and time your shots to point out contradictions. They give a tactile element to the gameplay that feels really satisfying. There's also different small minigames that will occur during the trials that mix up the gameplay nicely, these being the hangman's gambit, where you have to shoot letters to spell out a word leading to a revelation on the case. And bullet time battle, a rhythm minigame that's simple, but gains more complex elements over time, such as reloading and having to load the right bullet before your statement. They all end with a final explanation of the murder, where you lay out the order of events with all the presented evidence you've acquired. Overall it's a really fun loop with lots of room for expansion, sadly however the story and characters don't quite live up the gameplay. As I said before, the story is painfully generic, and stops at nothing to dully explain every plot point in the most blunt way possible. The characters don't fair much better, as most are fairly one dimensional tropes with little beyond a small twist on the standard formula. Only a few really stood out as interesting, mainly is case 2 which is easily the highlight of the game. You do get to talk to the characters in your free time which helps a bit with the flatness of the cast (it also helps that doing so gives you gameplay benefits during the trial segments) Byakuya was me and my GF's favorite character, but almost all of his best depth comes from talking to him outside of the story. If you've played Persona 4 or 5 you'll know this problem well, as it's similar to the lack of spotlight that the main party gets in those games outside of their personal Social Links. I don't have much else to say excluding spoilers so I'll end it here, overall it's a fun game for sure, but the story left me really disappointed. Hopefully the sequels build on the concept because it's a really interesting one...

been a week, wrote a bunch of shit and wasn’t happy with it. had to sit on this one for a bit. danganronpa is a love it or hate it kinda game but i’m still on the fence. whatever ideas that were presented (which i almost got interested in) are handled with the elegance of an elephant in a china shop. bordering on straight up offensive with chihiro’s gender identity or just laughably boring with “hope and despair.” there is a textbook, childlike understanding of the potential of these words. doesn’t help that they’re said about what i’d believe to be over a hundred times. hope and despair here is like some weird tongue twister whose words become jumbled and meaningless just after a few verses. i’ve gone on record many, many times to say that this isn’t for me. danganronpa’s story isn’t for me and there’s no other way for me to elaborate. stereotyping, lack of connection with its player, lackluster character writing. idk, maybe i was just spoiled by playing better games in the genre. didn’t care for any of the characters. don’t blame anyone for being a fan, though. game’s just not in my taste at all and i kinda figured it wouldn’t be even before i started playing. i’m sorry to have such loaded claims without much backing but that’s just how i feel. genuinely had to force myself to finish the game. constantly checking my phone every few minutes during play sessions i think is a clear indicator of my disinterest.

looping it back, before i had said danganronpa’s story wasn’t for me. the presentation and shit like that is what i truly liked. gonna try and highlight what i liked most about it as best i can.

school. a common-ground to tread on for games geared towards teenage audiences. i think the distorted presentation of school here is pretty unique compared to its contemporaries with even a bit of subtext to pick up on about the school system itself. in the walls of hope’s peak academy, a sterilized yet chaotic viewpoint is placed upon rooms we’ve familiarized ourselves with before. further sinking in the despair anxiety felt towards this alienated “academy” enveloped since our questionable arrival. wandering the dark and gloomy gradient covered hallways does almost hit me with a similar feel to a horror game. murder, confusion, and betrayal hang in the air while anticipation builds up with each step towards the next room. what awaits us beyond the next door, the next trial? masafumi takada understood this and his compositions accurately reflect the school’s atmosphere wonderfully. unironically the visuals and music do a much better job at emotionally investing me than anything else. i found this to be comparable to killer7, as far fetched as it may sound. in the final chapter you’re tasked with exploring every classroom and walking down every hallway in a completely abandoned school with a tragic political past that i won’t spoil. both k7 and dr1 give this very raw, unhinged outlook on school. something hits different with these emptied hallways and classrooms, your thoughts being the only thing that echo throughout.
now enter the wacky, exaggerated 2D character art. juxtaposed against the sharp modeled environments, it fits very well. i don’t particularly like the artstyle of the character art but i cant deny its place in the game and how well it works. aesthetically, everything is put together super tightly where it feels comfy and looks cool at the same time. the sprites popping up like cardboard standees, crisp UI elements getting shattered and battered during trials; arguably the most recognizable aspect of the series.

there is a whole lot more i had written about previously, but as mentioned before, i wasn’t content. i found myself lazily listing each part of the game one by one and saying shit along the lines of either i liked it or i didnt like it. lame. i do feel like i want to clarify my thoughts on more parts of the game but frankly im lazy as fuck and not the best at being completely constructive. im noticeably very bad at concluding these sort of things lol. as a whole, i don’t really care for about 90% of this package and thats about it. i dont like dividing stuff into chapters cuz i like looking at shit together as one experience rather than these smaller ones that make up a whole. danganronpa is one of the most influential games in the current state of the genre, or something. when the credits rolled an immense dissatisfaction came over me to a surprising degree. did not give a shit at all. to everyone who genuinely likes this game, i give you my respect. really wanted to enjoy this but it just was not happening. admittedly fell asleep a few times while playing. also no, i will not be playing dr2. at least not for a very, very long time.