timrtabor123
This falls for the trap so many low and mid-budget fighting games fall into of focusing on a core gameplay system as a determinant to everything else. The presentation is so bland here (though slightly improved by the voice-over update) and the character animations feel a tad soulless. The fighter lines in arcade mode are just lines ripped straight from the show scripts. This also has fewer gameplay features than a small indie game by the same devs (Slap City) of all things. A very disappointing game overall even If I find the core gameplay to arguably be better than several installments of Super Smash Bros. or other higher-budget attempts at the platform fighter genre.
2022
This review contains spoilers
--
Contextual information for review:
All unique stories were played including the stories that lead to the dark ending and perfect ending. Edo Japan's run was normal rather than all stealth or all kills. The optional retro game gauntlet fights in the distant future were not finished. All last story character dungeons were finished sans Pogo's One might say this was a "99% run".
--
Live A Live is probably the best RPG i've played since Pokemon's Generation 2 remakes in the late 2000s. For those that don't follow the news and advertisement cycle of games, ane have merely found this review while skimming Backlog Live A Live is an SRPG with an anthology narrative structure created by Chrono Trigger creator Takashi Tokita . Simply put you are effectively playing several short stories in game form. Each with a different setting and "hook". One moment you will be running from a monster as a chibi robot and in another you will be fighting martial arts masters in a homage to Street Fighter 2. This gimmick is probably the lynchpin that makes the whole thing come together as Live A Live is very much a game that is better than the sum of its parts. I say this because while I love the presentational hooks of the genre-shifting every few hours it was definitely a case of quantity over quality. The difficulty balance is frankly pretty bad as its possible to clear a majority of the game without engaging with much of the game''s systems. The crowbar/ door key to avoid Behemoth mechanic in the future chapter?I had plenty of spare charges by the end of the chapter and was never in danger of running out. I also made short work of the wild west due to it basically being a short looting session and then a puzzle where most of the solutions are obvious (which is a shame since it had the most style of all the solo chapters). Basically, the only chapter I felt had a satisfying use of the battle system was prehistory as the solo lizard boy boss fights basically forces you to think about the amount of movement you spent and how to use Pogo's status moves. The rest was either a resource and level check (Odio's second phase) or a cakewalk (everything else). If you value strategy in your role-playing game's its sufficient to say Live A Live might not be to your taste. For me personally, though the excellent writing, graphical work, and atmospheric soundtrack really made up for the mindless gameplay.
Contextual information for review:
All unique stories were played including the stories that lead to the dark ending and perfect ending. Edo Japan's run was normal rather than all stealth or all kills. The optional retro game gauntlet fights in the distant future were not finished. All last story character dungeons were finished sans Pogo's One might say this was a "99% run".
--
Live A Live is probably the best RPG i've played since Pokemon's Generation 2 remakes in the late 2000s. For those that don't follow the news and advertisement cycle of games, ane have merely found this review while skimming Backlog Live A Live is an SRPG with an anthology narrative structure created by Chrono Trigger creator Takashi Tokita . Simply put you are effectively playing several short stories in game form. Each with a different setting and "hook". One moment you will be running from a monster as a chibi robot and in another you will be fighting martial arts masters in a homage to Street Fighter 2. This gimmick is probably the lynchpin that makes the whole thing come together as Live A Live is very much a game that is better than the sum of its parts. I say this because while I love the presentational hooks of the genre-shifting every few hours it was definitely a case of quantity over quality. The difficulty balance is frankly pretty bad as its possible to clear a majority of the game without engaging with much of the game''s systems. The crowbar/ door key to avoid Behemoth mechanic in the future chapter?I had plenty of spare charges by the end of the chapter and was never in danger of running out. I also made short work of the wild west due to it basically being a short looting session and then a puzzle where most of the solutions are obvious (which is a shame since it had the most style of all the solo chapters). Basically, the only chapter I felt had a satisfying use of the battle system was prehistory as the solo lizard boy boss fights basically forces you to think about the amount of movement you spent and how to use Pogo's status moves. The rest was either a resource and level check (Odio's second phase) or a cakewalk (everything else). If you value strategy in your role-playing game's its sufficient to say Live A Live might not be to your taste. For me personally, though the excellent writing, graphical work, and atmospheric soundtrack really made up for the mindless gameplay.
2006
*play-time discrepancy may occur due to the emulator fast forward option being used a bit towards the late game, particularly in chapters 7 + 8. Any mechanics or features that may not function as a quirk of the VBA-M 2.1.3 RALibretro emulator core won't be covered.
Mother 3 is what happens when you take a rock-solid foundation for a JRPG and built on it in basically every way. Any thematic ground covered by the first two games storylines is doubled down on here, story is gut-wrenching, music slaps, graphics are expressive as hell and unlike many JRPGs the difficulty curve is fairly well managed to make for an engaging battle system throughout the experience. If this is the compromised vision I can't help but wonder what we might've gotten had development gone without a hitch given the apparently dropped plot points with one of the party members. I've carefully avoided spoilers in this review here since this is a game best played blind. A potato can run this game in 2022 and Nintendo's higher-ups have known about the Tomato fan translation for years and have done nothing to stop it. The only people that I can't really recommend this game to our people of Romani descent due to the very iffy presentations of a certain group of characters in the game.
Mother 3 is what happens when you take a rock-solid foundation for a JRPG and built on it in basically every way. Any thematic ground covered by the first two games storylines is doubled down on here, story is gut-wrenching, music slaps, graphics are expressive as hell and unlike many JRPGs the difficulty curve is fairly well managed to make for an engaging battle system throughout the experience. If this is the compromised vision I can't help but wonder what we might've gotten had development gone without a hitch given the apparently dropped plot points with one of the party members. I've carefully avoided spoilers in this review here since this is a game best played blind. A potato can run this game in 2022 and Nintendo's higher-ups have known about the Tomato fan translation for years and have done nothing to stop it. The only people that I can't really recommend this game to our people of Romani descent due to the very iffy presentations of a certain group of characters in the game.
1994
Note: played on Nintendo Switch Online.
Cold take but Earthbound might be one of the best JRPGs ever made. There isn't really a dull moment and every setpiece felt deliberate and handcrafted. NPC dialogue actually makes you care about the townsfolk you are trying to protect. Porky is a suprisingingly complex villian being a victim of child abuse. The music and sound design don't miss a beat. Out of all the JRPGs that try to have an anti-nihilism/anti-misanthropic worldview stance this is the only one to really earn the emotional moments that are centered around paying off these things.
Cold take but Earthbound might be one of the best JRPGs ever made. There isn't really a dull moment and every setpiece felt deliberate and handcrafted. NPC dialogue actually makes you care about the townsfolk you are trying to protect. Porky is a suprisingingly complex villian being a victim of child abuse. The music and sound design don't miss a beat. Out of all the JRPGs that try to have an anti-nihilism/anti-misanthropic worldview stance this is the only one to really earn the emotional moments that are centered around paying off these things.
This review contains spoilers
Note: Ignore the platform label here this was played on Nintendo Switch Online.
I really wanted to like this more. I respect the choice to have the player discover the eight melodies largely on their own tuition/exploration skills and the writing is probably the best of the NES/Famicom generation with many clever setups and punchlines for the comedy (there is an excellent bit in the second town I won't spoil) and the use of gameplay to give characterization with Giegue/Gyiyg/Giygas's boss fight is great. In an era of 1-D characters I can appreciate that Llloyd and Teddy are at least 2-D and seem to be foils to one another to an extent but ultimately if you go in expecting SNES AAA JRPG level writing you are going to be disappointed. Itoi was definitely still testing the waters here and his more complex thoughts on the pacifist (perhaps brain over brawn would be a better description), anti-capitalist themes would really fully sit with the game design until later entries. The heavy use of level grinding as a gate on progression,for example, both implicitly (poor combat design basically requiring X amount of levels) and explitly (the level cap on fighting one of the enemies that has one of the melodies and apparently the sing command for the final boss going off some Wikis) when gaining levels is exclusively tied to combat contradicts these ideas as you are rewarded with a progression via mass bloodshed and or brute-forcing battles by just buying the best equipment at the local department store. Said grinding also tends to kill gameplay pacing and actually remove thought as by the time your damage per turn is high enough to win your are likely to just physically attack things to death as non-healing and stat buff PSI is rarley worth it over simply tapping A frivolously. I can count the number of battles I had to actively think about in my entire playthrough on one hand. In fact, I can activley list them all here to prove my point:
1) The sleeping Dragon in Magicant's Crystal Cavern (use PSI Sheild beta and then spam your physical attacks)
2) Cerbreum encounters in Mount Itoi
3) Grey Bears on Mount Itoi's Plateau (use PSI Freeze beta or gamma + physical attack)
4) Using stall tactics (PSI Shield Beta + PSI Lifeup Gamma + Sing) on Gigue during final boss "fight".
four times in a 15-hour game. That is kinda ridiculous even for the time given Final Fantasy has much more complex gameplay and even had some replayability with class compositions despite similar technical hardware limitations at the time.
Sound design and music is good and captures the tone well (Pollyanna is a bop) but I can't say much on that front as music theroy isn't really my forte.
Graphics are charming for the time I dig the peanuts/90s nicktoon look here that'd be the series standard going forward. Everything the game directed towards me to with visuals was usually easy to pick up on.
Overall, if you are someone like me that is looking to understand how the medium's storytelling language developed overtime you might find somthing here to at least appreaciate on a scholary level but I advise casual folks wanting to get a taste of 8-bit RPGs to look elsewhere.
I really wanted to like this more. I respect the choice to have the player discover the eight melodies largely on their own tuition/exploration skills and the writing is probably the best of the NES/Famicom generation with many clever setups and punchlines for the comedy (there is an excellent bit in the second town I won't spoil) and the use of gameplay to give characterization with Giegue/Gyiyg/Giygas's boss fight is great. In an era of 1-D characters I can appreciate that Llloyd and Teddy are at least 2-D and seem to be foils to one another to an extent but ultimately if you go in expecting SNES AAA JRPG level writing you are going to be disappointed. Itoi was definitely still testing the waters here and his more complex thoughts on the pacifist (perhaps brain over brawn would be a better description), anti-capitalist themes would really fully sit with the game design until later entries. The heavy use of level grinding as a gate on progression,for example, both implicitly (poor combat design basically requiring X amount of levels) and explitly (the level cap on fighting one of the enemies that has one of the melodies and apparently the sing command for the final boss going off some Wikis) when gaining levels is exclusively tied to combat contradicts these ideas as you are rewarded with a progression via mass bloodshed and or brute-forcing battles by just buying the best equipment at the local department store. Said grinding also tends to kill gameplay pacing and actually remove thought as by the time your damage per turn is high enough to win your are likely to just physically attack things to death as non-healing and stat buff PSI is rarley worth it over simply tapping A frivolously. I can count the number of battles I had to actively think about in my entire playthrough on one hand. In fact, I can activley list them all here to prove my point:
1) The sleeping Dragon in Magicant's Crystal Cavern (use PSI Sheild beta and then spam your physical attacks)
2) Cerbreum encounters in Mount Itoi
3) Grey Bears on Mount Itoi's Plateau (use PSI Freeze beta or gamma + physical attack)
4) Using stall tactics (PSI Shield Beta + PSI Lifeup Gamma + Sing) on Gigue during final boss "fight".
four times in a 15-hour game. That is kinda ridiculous even for the time given Final Fantasy has much more complex gameplay and even had some replayability with class compositions despite similar technical hardware limitations at the time.
Sound design and music is good and captures the tone well (Pollyanna is a bop) but I can't say much on that front as music theroy isn't really my forte.
Graphics are charming for the time I dig the peanuts/90s nicktoon look here that'd be the series standard going forward. Everything the game directed towards me to with visuals was usually easy to pick up on.
Overall, if you are someone like me that is looking to understand how the medium's storytelling language developed overtime you might find somthing here to at least appreaciate on a scholary level but I advise casual folks wanting to get a taste of 8-bit RPGs to look elsewhere.
2007
(Review originally posted on ggapp.io)
A master class in platforming level design. A must-play for anyone wanting to go down the list of "video game enthusiast canon". The gravity system is fun and even elevates the game's replayability by inadvertently encouraging speedrunning and even the often-maligned motion controls give the game-feel a sorta natural rhythm that just feels smooth. Even the recycled content (Seaside galaxy and such) is generally changed enough to be fun and not noticeable.
A master class in platforming level design. A must-play for anyone wanting to go down the list of "video game enthusiast canon". The gravity system is fun and even elevates the game's replayability by inadvertently encouraging speedrunning and even the often-maligned motion controls give the game-feel a sorta natural rhythm that just feels smooth. Even the recycled content (Seaside galaxy and such) is generally changed enough to be fun and not noticeable.
2012
(Review originally posted on ggapp.io)
Played on:
Nintendo 3DS (launch model)
Controls are not accommodating to my hand disability at all and that annoys me greatly. The presentation looks great but that creative decision Is astoundingly horrible and drags the whole game down. Unacceptable for one of gaming's lead auteurs.
Played on:
Nintendo 3DS (launch model)
Controls are not accommodating to my hand disability at all and that annoys me greatly. The presentation looks great but that creative decision Is astoundingly horrible and drags the whole game down. Unacceptable for one of gaming's lead auteurs.
(originally posted on ggapp.io)
Played on:
Playstation 2 (USA original release)
PS3 (2.5 HD Remix/ Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix)
I have immense amounts of nostalgia for this game and could probably never give a 100% objective review. The Disney worlds are indeed shit narrative filler but holy shit that combat has aged like a fine wine and the Roxas subplot is genuinely tragic and centering the tutorial around it was a bold artistic choice I respect. It's worth mentioning if you are looking to play this in 2021 I highly recommend opting for the newer release on PS3/PS4/Epic Game Store as that contains significantly more post-game/second runthrough content and better balanced game overall.
Played on:
Playstation 2 (USA original release)
PS3 (2.5 HD Remix/ Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix)
I have immense amounts of nostalgia for this game and could probably never give a 100% objective review. The Disney worlds are indeed shit narrative filler but holy shit that combat has aged like a fine wine and the Roxas subplot is genuinely tragic and centering the tutorial around it was a bold artistic choice I respect. It's worth mentioning if you are looking to play this in 2021 I highly recommend opting for the newer release on PS3/PS4/Epic Game Store as that contains significantly more post-game/second runthrough content and better balanced game overall.
2021
(Review originally posted on ggapp.io)
Played On: Nintendo Switch
New Pokemon Snap has been a title I've wanted ever since I played the Wii Virtual Console re-release of the Nintendo 64 game in elementary school. Sadly, I feel that the attempts to modernize the game to meet current commercial standards have robbed the game of a lot of the original's charm. The core mechanics of going through what effectively amounts to an on-rails shooter centered on environmental puzzles and experimentation is satisfying but the choice to gate progress around repetitive replays of the level to grind up course experience is such a baffling decision. It takes what should be fun, snappy arcade gameplay centered on environmental interactions and reduces it to JRPG style grinding where you take 100s of pictures of Pidgeot. I quit playing because of that and regret my purchase.
Played On: Nintendo Switch
New Pokemon Snap has been a title I've wanted ever since I played the Wii Virtual Console re-release of the Nintendo 64 game in elementary school. Sadly, I feel that the attempts to modernize the game to meet current commercial standards have robbed the game of a lot of the original's charm. The core mechanics of going through what effectively amounts to an on-rails shooter centered on environmental puzzles and experimentation is satisfying but the choice to gate progress around repetitive replays of the level to grind up course experience is such a baffling decision. It takes what should be fun, snappy arcade gameplay centered on environmental interactions and reduces it to JRPG style grinding where you take 100s of pictures of Pidgeot. I quit playing because of that and regret my purchase.
(review originally posted on GGapp.io)
WarioWare: Get It Together!
Played on:
Nintendo Switch
“WarioWare: Get It Together!” is centered on a group of wacky friends attempting to get out of a buggy video game that has gone full “Tron” and trapped them inside its world. In order to achieve this, they must partake in a series of fast-paced minute-long mini-game referred to as “microgames”. The big difference between this entry and past installments is the use of a group of on-screen avatars with distinct movesets to complete the challenges presented. This shift in how you operate each minigame based on your character adds a layer of depth to what has effectively been a formula only really changed by input method since the series debut in 2003....at least in theory. The use of cheap in-game currency to buy continues effectively breaks the game's story mode difficulty in half. No punishment for doing poorly means you never feel the need to learn how each character operates. A questionable design decision for a game with an arcadey structure where learning the intricacies of the gameplay loop largely is the appeal. This isn't necessarily a problem in itself theoretically, the game likely intended story mode to train players for the weekly microgame challenge gauntlets that are part of the online component of the game but I think it makes the game's appeal largely an "in the moment" affair. Outside of story mode and online multiplayer there is technically a set of bonus objectives in the form of an achievement and treasure system tied into the game's money system. These seem grindy and too repetitive to evoke the strong points of past games 100% runs. the only other substantial mode If you are picking this game up down the line (perhaps even in a post Switch world where online servers have gone down) all you would be left with is a easy single player and a ok multiplayer component on a system with a glut of ok to amazing games that are arguably better targeted to any party game niche you may need.
Casual group? Jackbox Game packs are far less likely to be dissorienting to them due to the controls being largely regulated to smart devices.
Hardcore group? The likes of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby Star Allies, Splatoon 2 , and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (plus a metric ton of multiplayer indie games I am no doubt forgetting) is likely to offer a much more comprehensive and customizable multiplayer experience to the needs of your group.
Despite this lack of content what is there on a gameplay and presentation level is fun and competently put together. The Warioware crew is full of charming characters that have vibrant personalities on display in the game's cutscenes and the absurdist visual gags that are the basis of the microgames present are charming on a first time playthrough.
Overall, "WarioWare Get It Together" is a fun game filled with charm but lacking in substance. If you are going into the series as a newcomer with the expectation of it being a fun afternoon with a loved one you will find that here but be mindful that the impermant online component is likely to be where the majority of the content is.
Score:
3/5 (6/10)
WarioWare: Get It Together!
Played on:
Nintendo Switch
“WarioWare: Get It Together!” is centered on a group of wacky friends attempting to get out of a buggy video game that has gone full “Tron” and trapped them inside its world. In order to achieve this, they must partake in a series of fast-paced minute-long mini-game referred to as “microgames”. The big difference between this entry and past installments is the use of a group of on-screen avatars with distinct movesets to complete the challenges presented. This shift in how you operate each minigame based on your character adds a layer of depth to what has effectively been a formula only really changed by input method since the series debut in 2003....at least in theory. The use of cheap in-game currency to buy continues effectively breaks the game's story mode difficulty in half. No punishment for doing poorly means you never feel the need to learn how each character operates. A questionable design decision for a game with an arcadey structure where learning the intricacies of the gameplay loop largely is the appeal. This isn't necessarily a problem in itself theoretically, the game likely intended story mode to train players for the weekly microgame challenge gauntlets that are part of the online component of the game but I think it makes the game's appeal largely an "in the moment" affair. Outside of story mode and online multiplayer there is technically a set of bonus objectives in the form of an achievement and treasure system tied into the game's money system. These seem grindy and too repetitive to evoke the strong points of past games 100% runs. the only other substantial mode If you are picking this game up down the line (perhaps even in a post Switch world where online servers have gone down) all you would be left with is a easy single player and a ok multiplayer component on a system with a glut of ok to amazing games that are arguably better targeted to any party game niche you may need.
Casual group? Jackbox Game packs are far less likely to be dissorienting to them due to the controls being largely regulated to smart devices.
Hardcore group? The likes of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby Star Allies, Splatoon 2 , and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (plus a metric ton of multiplayer indie games I am no doubt forgetting) is likely to offer a much more comprehensive and customizable multiplayer experience to the needs of your group.
Despite this lack of content what is there on a gameplay and presentation level is fun and competently put together. The Warioware crew is full of charming characters that have vibrant personalities on display in the game's cutscenes and the absurdist visual gags that are the basis of the microgames present are charming on a first time playthrough.
Overall, "WarioWare Get It Together" is a fun game filled with charm but lacking in substance. If you are going into the series as a newcomer with the expectation of it being a fun afternoon with a loved one you will find that here but be mindful that the impermant online component is likely to be where the majority of the content is.
Score:
3/5 (6/10)