tortwah
2022
shes cute i guess, the plot was better than swsh but honestly swsh was more fun to play? idk
2021
One of the best isometric/ top down zelda games I've played. Really really good, really really cute. Will def be one of my fave games of the year, I literally did 2 playthroughs back to back it was that good, w 100% achievos on steam
Knocked off half a star bc the enemy repetition did get a bit old, wish there had been more variety. But otherwise an insanely good game + story
Knocked off half a star bc the enemy repetition did get a bit old, wish there had been more variety. But otherwise an insanely good game + story
This review contains spoilers
A lot more enjoyable than ZDT, thats for sure. Worth the playthrough for the story and characters alone, even with its flaws. Here are some general notes I kept thinking abt while playing.
The Good:
- This game is insanely gay??? Like I was NOT expecting it at all but there were multiple queer characters + a ton of positive talk about the queer community. I predicted Pewter being a villain tho the second I found the BL in his cabinets, gays as villains trope be like 🥴. But he didn't turn out to be a bad person, just someone who was manipulated. So I can forgive it. Same with Renju I suppose, to some extent. (Also the second I saw Pewter's bulge I was like no ma'am that man is NOT straight) Oh yeah and Mama is mother, I just love her sm <3
- Uchikoshi is really good at writing complex characters with deep character relationships. Date is an incredibly fun protagonist, even if his dialogue becomes a bit tedious and annoying at times. I genuinely love this horny middle aged man, 10/10 yes I would date Date. I similarly fell in love with Date and Mizuki's found-family relationship, Date and Aiba's begrudging partnership (love how they don't even realize how much they need each other and care for each other... oof), and weirdly enough Uta and his mother's relationship as well. It was the central plot of one path I suppose, but it still felt so inconsequential yet so impactful. I think this game really does a good job at showing the importance of familial love, whether through found family or biological family. As Mizuki says, a family is someone you are entirely ordinary with. The people you rely on without even realizing. If there's one takeaway from this game I would keep with me, it would be that.
- Uchikoshi is also incredibly skilled at writing these sorts of stories that are complex, intertwined slowburns that come together by the end. I think the twist for this game worked really well bc it kept the suspicion on literally every single character until the final reveal. And thankfully it didn't feel too contrived, which is always my biggest concern when it comes to this writing style. In general I think that his story was really compelling, and I appreciated that the villain had simple motives... to start, at least.
The Bad:
- The terribly awkward animations made this game feel so stilted to play, it reminded me quite a bit of how bad ZTD's animations were. It felt like watching dolls in a dollhouse. I suppose you could say it adds to the vibe, but I think it takes away from the tense atmosphere. Again tho, didn't take as much away as it did in ZTD so there is some improvement I suppose.
- The graphics, while not bad per se, felt like upscaled 3DS visuals. Which honestly I wouldn't be surprised if this game was originally being built for that system. But I genuinely hated the effects given to objects in somniums. It looked bad, and not purposefully bad. I think I get what they were going for, it just doesn't work imo and kinda breaks the atmosphere again. I think by FAR the most effective somniums were Date's tutorial somnium, Date's final somnium where you play as Mizuki, and Hitomi's mountain somnium. The greyscale/ color gimmick in those first two worked beautifully and was visually interesting, and the void of dark and empty spaces that made Hitomi's was insanely effective as well. Meanwhile Iris' shovelforge somniums... both of them... I never want to see them again. The bright colored blocks mixed with the weird wavy texture given to everything in somnium made for a visually appalling experience. Esp with the audio clutter in that second shovelforge somnium. I just don't understand that choice. Even in saito's/boss' somnium, I don't understand why they chose to go for garishly bright colors and textures that took me out of any sort of tense atmosphere, and was just wholly visually unappealing.
- The action sequences were terrible. I dreaded every time one would pop up. They were so insanely slow bc of the weird loading screens where aiba would think of a plan or w/e, and then executing said plan was similarly painfully slow. The qte's felt pointless. They just felt so forced. I genuinely think this game would have been better without these sequences at all. Thankfully there were only a handful, but still...
- Listen. I know that Uchikoshi has always written anime vn's. 999 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I genuinely love VLR with my whole heart, even with its flaws. But over the years he just keep cranking that dial more and more, and elements of this game almost feel like a parody of anime tropes at this point. Like it can't be real. A lot of the characters and dialogue are just incessantly annoying. Almost every character suffers from this, but mainly Iris, Mizuki, and Uta (albeit he is a NEET so like I get why) as well as Date himself to a lesser extent. It just becomes grating honestly. I feel like this story could be told so much better, these characters so much more compelling, if they had just toned back on the anime tropes. I'm not even talking abt the crazy zany elements, the comedy, or the meta-humor. I love those elements. Just stop the incessant dialogue and voice acting please.
- Speaking of. If I have to watch that dance or listen to that song that goes with it one more time in my life I will implode. The way they used it like 5 or 6 times I stg 😭 I was dying
- This game is incessantly horny, as I've previously said. That's not entirely a bad thing, but it is painfully het at times. And also flat out inappropriate at times as well. Yeah yeah Date's a perv I KNOW, I GET IT. Still...
Some cool things that happened to me during this playthrough:
1) My very first path was the one where we see the video of Boss killing So, so the entire fucking game I was insanely suspicious of her and that really threw me off the tracks of finding the actual murderer in any other path lol. At first I thought this represented a weakness of branching CYOA-esque stories, but looking back its actually kinda rad that I had this really unique experience. I kept thinking abt how things would tie back to her, and even tho she wasn't the villain, that was such a fun angle to be looking at the story from.
2) Idk if this is how you're supposed to figure this out, but at the end of Iris' route where she dies to the tumor after psyncing, she had her eye stabbed due to the machine. I immediately figured out that it was bc of the psync machine, and that made me realize that the murderer (whoever it was) wasn't actually fascinated with the eyeballs but rather was just placing all his victims in this machine. Didn't know abt the body swapping yet, but was an insanely chilling moment to finally figure out such a large part of the mystery in a moment where I wasn't even sure if we were supposed to be thinking abt that. This, imo, is why Uchikoshi's writing is so effective. It makes the reader feel like they are actually putting together the pieces of the story themselves, and that they can figure things out early.
The Good:
- This game is insanely gay??? Like I was NOT expecting it at all but there were multiple queer characters + a ton of positive talk about the queer community. I predicted Pewter being a villain tho the second I found the BL in his cabinets, gays as villains trope be like 🥴. But he didn't turn out to be a bad person, just someone who was manipulated. So I can forgive it. Same with Renju I suppose, to some extent. (Also the second I saw Pewter's bulge I was like no ma'am that man is NOT straight) Oh yeah and Mama is mother, I just love her sm <3
- Uchikoshi is really good at writing complex characters with deep character relationships. Date is an incredibly fun protagonist, even if his dialogue becomes a bit tedious and annoying at times. I genuinely love this horny middle aged man, 10/10 yes I would date Date. I similarly fell in love with Date and Mizuki's found-family relationship, Date and Aiba's begrudging partnership (love how they don't even realize how much they need each other and care for each other... oof), and weirdly enough Uta and his mother's relationship as well. It was the central plot of one path I suppose, but it still felt so inconsequential yet so impactful. I think this game really does a good job at showing the importance of familial love, whether through found family or biological family. As Mizuki says, a family is someone you are entirely ordinary with. The people you rely on without even realizing. If there's one takeaway from this game I would keep with me, it would be that.
- Uchikoshi is also incredibly skilled at writing these sorts of stories that are complex, intertwined slowburns that come together by the end. I think the twist for this game worked really well bc it kept the suspicion on literally every single character until the final reveal. And thankfully it didn't feel too contrived, which is always my biggest concern when it comes to this writing style. In general I think that his story was really compelling, and I appreciated that the villain had simple motives... to start, at least.
The Bad:
- The terribly awkward animations made this game feel so stilted to play, it reminded me quite a bit of how bad ZTD's animations were. It felt like watching dolls in a dollhouse. I suppose you could say it adds to the vibe, but I think it takes away from the tense atmosphere. Again tho, didn't take as much away as it did in ZTD so there is some improvement I suppose.
- The graphics, while not bad per se, felt like upscaled 3DS visuals. Which honestly I wouldn't be surprised if this game was originally being built for that system. But I genuinely hated the effects given to objects in somniums. It looked bad, and not purposefully bad. I think I get what they were going for, it just doesn't work imo and kinda breaks the atmosphere again. I think by FAR the most effective somniums were Date's tutorial somnium, Date's final somnium where you play as Mizuki, and Hitomi's mountain somnium. The greyscale/ color gimmick in those first two worked beautifully and was visually interesting, and the void of dark and empty spaces that made Hitomi's was insanely effective as well. Meanwhile Iris' shovelforge somniums... both of them... I never want to see them again. The bright colored blocks mixed with the weird wavy texture given to everything in somnium made for a visually appalling experience. Esp with the audio clutter in that second shovelforge somnium. I just don't understand that choice. Even in saito's/boss' somnium, I don't understand why they chose to go for garishly bright colors and textures that took me out of any sort of tense atmosphere, and was just wholly visually unappealing.
- The action sequences were terrible. I dreaded every time one would pop up. They were so insanely slow bc of the weird loading screens where aiba would think of a plan or w/e, and then executing said plan was similarly painfully slow. The qte's felt pointless. They just felt so forced. I genuinely think this game would have been better without these sequences at all. Thankfully there were only a handful, but still...
- Listen. I know that Uchikoshi has always written anime vn's. 999 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I genuinely love VLR with my whole heart, even with its flaws. But over the years he just keep cranking that dial more and more, and elements of this game almost feel like a parody of anime tropes at this point. Like it can't be real. A lot of the characters and dialogue are just incessantly annoying. Almost every character suffers from this, but mainly Iris, Mizuki, and Uta (albeit he is a NEET so like I get why) as well as Date himself to a lesser extent. It just becomes grating honestly. I feel like this story could be told so much better, these characters so much more compelling, if they had just toned back on the anime tropes. I'm not even talking abt the crazy zany elements, the comedy, or the meta-humor. I love those elements. Just stop the incessant dialogue and voice acting please.
- Speaking of. If I have to watch that dance or listen to that song that goes with it one more time in my life I will implode. The way they used it like 5 or 6 times I stg 😭 I was dying
- This game is incessantly horny, as I've previously said. That's not entirely a bad thing, but it is painfully het at times. And also flat out inappropriate at times as well. Yeah yeah Date's a perv I KNOW, I GET IT. Still...
Some cool things that happened to me during this playthrough:
1) My very first path was the one where we see the video of Boss killing So, so the entire fucking game I was insanely suspicious of her and that really threw me off the tracks of finding the actual murderer in any other path lol. At first I thought this represented a weakness of branching CYOA-esque stories, but looking back its actually kinda rad that I had this really unique experience. I kept thinking abt how things would tie back to her, and even tho she wasn't the villain, that was such a fun angle to be looking at the story from.
2) Idk if this is how you're supposed to figure this out, but at the end of Iris' route where she dies to the tumor after psyncing, she had her eye stabbed due to the machine. I immediately figured out that it was bc of the psync machine, and that made me realize that the murderer (whoever it was) wasn't actually fascinated with the eyeballs but rather was just placing all his victims in this machine. Didn't know abt the body swapping yet, but was an insanely chilling moment to finally figure out such a large part of the mystery in a moment where I wasn't even sure if we were supposed to be thinking abt that. This, imo, is why Uchikoshi's writing is so effective. It makes the reader feel like they are actually putting together the pieces of the story themselves, and that they can figure things out early.
This review contains spoilers
Shes a cute game. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the puzzles, the exploration. Don't really care for how tanky the bosses were but thats a re staple so can't complain too much. The areas after the first big castle, sans the factory at the end as well, also felt a bit rushed/ small which was a little disappointing. But overall a really fun, good game.
2016
Story: D1 > D2
Gameplay: D2 > D1
Level Design: D2 > D1
Played as Corvo since I'm painfully gay for that old man, and I didn't wanna deprive him of seeing his goth boyfriend. His abilities still felt really fun and fresh bc of the unique level designs, and I'm glad I chose him. I did a pacifist run, but not a stealth run bc fuck that. This game is already hard enough as is, and full stealth seems a lot less doable in this game compared to the last. Loved the drop and slide knockouts, kinda broken lol.
Overall this game was a lot more fun and dynamic than D1, but I much preferred the story in D1. I also think even though the level design was better in D2, I preferred the slightly shorter levels of D1 just bc the levels in this game got looooooong. Overall though I'd rate it about the same as D1, albeit for opposite reasons haha. Really fun time
Gameplay: D2 > D1
Level Design: D2 > D1
Played as Corvo since I'm painfully gay for that old man, and I didn't wanna deprive him of seeing his goth boyfriend. His abilities still felt really fun and fresh bc of the unique level designs, and I'm glad I chose him. I did a pacifist run, but not a stealth run bc fuck that. This game is already hard enough as is, and full stealth seems a lot less doable in this game compared to the last. Loved the drop and slide knockouts, kinda broken lol.
Overall this game was a lot more fun and dynamic than D1, but I much preferred the story in D1. I also think even though the level design was better in D2, I preferred the slightly shorter levels of D1 just bc the levels in this game got looooooong. Overall though I'd rate it about the same as D1, albeit for opposite reasons haha. Really fun time
2021
Wow. Really fucking cool game. Honestly the most fun card game I've ever played, and it worked in every iteration. I want full versions of each ngl. So fun.
Still playing Kaycee's mod bc I can't get enough, but I did finish the story mode so I feel like even without the bonus content, this game is worthy of the 5 star review and feels like a complete game.
Still playing Kaycee's mod bc I can't get enough, but I did finish the story mode so I feel like even without the bonus content, this game is worthy of the 5 star review and feels like a complete game.
2020
This review contains spoilers
Wow what a downgrade from RE2 Remake. The areas were so linear and generally rather uninteresting, the combat was underwhelming, and the dodging mechanic is horrible imo. Maybe my brain is too wired to dodge like its a dark souls game but it felt so insanely inconsistent and bad.
This game did look really good though I'll admit. For the most part. Some of the areas got kinda drab and boring. I also really enjoyed the nemesis chases (besides that first scripted one) because they actually felt terrifying and difficult unlike tyrant from RE2 remake.
The only other positive of this game for me honestly is Carlos, who might be the most attractive man in any video game ever. I never wanted to stop looking at him, if I could have gotten a mod to replace Jill w Carlos I would have, and my rating might have honestly gotten up. So I will say I enjoyed his sections but I am also entirely biased and just really liked staring at his ass lmao.
Also maybe this is just bc I didn't enjoy the gameplay but it felt like there was absolutely ZERO replay value, like it doesn't feel worth it at all to try in a harder difficulty. Thats super disappointing tbh.
This game did look really good though I'll admit. For the most part. Some of the areas got kinda drab and boring. I also really enjoyed the nemesis chases (besides that first scripted one) because they actually felt terrifying and difficult unlike tyrant from RE2 remake.
The only other positive of this game for me honestly is Carlos, who might be the most attractive man in any video game ever. I never wanted to stop looking at him, if I could have gotten a mod to replace Jill w Carlos I would have, and my rating might have honestly gotten up. So I will say I enjoyed his sections but I am also entirely biased and just really liked staring at his ass lmao.
Also maybe this is just bc I didn't enjoy the gameplay but it felt like there was absolutely ZERO replay value, like it doesn't feel worth it at all to try in a harder difficulty. Thats super disappointing tbh.
2019
So... this game is really good. Like really good. Like I'm kinda obsessed. Its just so fun to play. I've never felt the need or desire to do a challenge run in a game mode before and yet here I am doing an S+ Leon A run just for funsies bc I don't wanna be done with this game.
I prefer Leon's A + B routes but I'm also super biased towards Leon bc hes my favorite twink ugh something about RE is that they really make good men.
But yeah. I have nothing new or insightful to say abt this game. It real good.
I prefer Leon's A + B routes but I'm also super biased towards Leon bc hes my favorite twink ugh something about RE is that they really make good men.
But yeah. I have nothing new or insightful to say abt this game. It real good.
2017
stunning, dark, horrifying. really amazing storytelling experience.
2016
I will never do perfection again, honestly for the money grind alone. It just isn't worth the time and I got so burnt out. That being said tho every other requirement for perfection was so fun to complete, and I finally feel like I did everything this game has to offer. And I didn't even technically do everything! I still need to do the late-game community upgrades, and I never got around to decorating the interior of my house either since the catalogue is kinda pricy and I was on a budget. And I also didn't beat the arcade games bc fuck that, they are so unfun and hard for me at least lol. So maybe I'll go back and completely finish this file one day, or work on some of those other small goals. But for now, I miss when stardew was a simple and fun lil life sim. So I'm gonna take a break and see how I feel abt maybe doing an expanded playthrough.....
2021
shes cute but idk. the actual dungeon gameplay left much to be desired, it felt basic and just kinda mediocre. crafting felt wholly unnecessary. i appreciate the creativity this took in stepping away from traditional romance novel gameplay but idk. it didn't really feel like a real game outside of those elements
This is objectively not a bad game, but I simply cannot give it a good review. It had the potential to be fun, and I think if you abuse the more op character roles it certainly could be fun but.... wow. My least favorite game experience of the year and I typically love this style of game.
Needlessly difficult but not in the fun dark souls way, more in the "everything you do, from the movement to the combat, feels like shit" way lol. Story is entirely meh. World is a chore to travel through. Portcrystals were a super cool concept that utterly fail bc you have to use them as the only fucking fast travel points outside of the two citites - like who thought that was a good idea??? If they were like bonus fast travel spots then it would be rad, but alas. Enemies were a chore to fight, esp as a physical dps (rogue--> assassin) and the fights themselves weren't even engaging. You kinda have to grind in this type of game but yeesh is it a tedious task.
Now, if anyone is actually reading this review (lol) then you're prob thinking my poor experience w this game is entirely my fault for picking those classes but... why the fuck are those classes built to be so bad???? im sure they could be good at the post-game level but i dont see how anyone could see theyre good for earlygame let alone midgame. And how is someone going into this game blind supposed to realize this. At every level of the game my pawns would do more than i could. Even after i switched to sorcerer late game out of frustration, my pawns 10 levels lower than me did more damage than i could with a 7/9 vocation level bc I didn't have all the necessary core skills from that class + mage.
I just dont get this game!!!! What was the point!!!! its so insanely "of its time" and not in a good way im sorry. also visually, this game is cute enough. but the armor choices for men were beyond abysmal, they were all nasty uggo drab sacks and I hated it. Why are you forced to be ugly for 95% of your experience playing this game if you choose to play as a man. And locking all the good clothing to fem models and giving only fem models fanservice-y clothing was an insane choice.
Also don't really get the romance aspect to this game, it felt so shoehorned in at the end lol. I DID end up getting gay married, so tyvm for that at least i guess that's iconic for a game this old. But still lowkey a weird feature to include that felt like the game ticking off a box of things it had to do.
Idk. I should probably rate this game lower bc of how scathing my feelings towards it are. By far my least fave game of the year thus far. I get the love to an extent, i see the potential and the class system is rad, but some of yall are just delusional and desperate i stg lol.
Needlessly difficult but not in the fun dark souls way, more in the "everything you do, from the movement to the combat, feels like shit" way lol. Story is entirely meh. World is a chore to travel through. Portcrystals were a super cool concept that utterly fail bc you have to use them as the only fucking fast travel points outside of the two citites - like who thought that was a good idea??? If they were like bonus fast travel spots then it would be rad, but alas. Enemies were a chore to fight, esp as a physical dps (rogue--> assassin) and the fights themselves weren't even engaging. You kinda have to grind in this type of game but yeesh is it a tedious task.
Now, if anyone is actually reading this review (lol) then you're prob thinking my poor experience w this game is entirely my fault for picking those classes but... why the fuck are those classes built to be so bad???? im sure they could be good at the post-game level but i dont see how anyone could see theyre good for earlygame let alone midgame. And how is someone going into this game blind supposed to realize this. At every level of the game my pawns would do more than i could. Even after i switched to sorcerer late game out of frustration, my pawns 10 levels lower than me did more damage than i could with a 7/9 vocation level bc I didn't have all the necessary core skills from that class + mage.
I just dont get this game!!!! What was the point!!!! its so insanely "of its time" and not in a good way im sorry. also visually, this game is cute enough. but the armor choices for men were beyond abysmal, they were all nasty uggo drab sacks and I hated it. Why are you forced to be ugly for 95% of your experience playing this game if you choose to play as a man. And locking all the good clothing to fem models and giving only fem models fanservice-y clothing was an insane choice.
Also don't really get the romance aspect to this game, it felt so shoehorned in at the end lol. I DID end up getting gay married, so tyvm for that at least i guess that's iconic for a game this old. But still lowkey a weird feature to include that felt like the game ticking off a box of things it had to do.
Idk. I should probably rate this game lower bc of how scathing my feelings towards it are. By far my least fave game of the year thus far. I get the love to an extent, i see the potential and the class system is rad, but some of yall are just delusional and desperate i stg lol.
2022
wow. stunningly beautiful. such an engaging and interesting story, such perfect pacing, and amazing character development. gameplay wasn't really the focus but the gameplay that was present was fun puzzle-y point and click standards, and i think it was utilized well. this kind of game truly transcends the genre and is pure interactive art and storytelling. would absolutely recommend.
(knocked off half a star for the "combat" gameplay which felt ehh kinda unnecessary but not bad. thats honestly my only complaint tho)
(knocked off half a star for the "combat" gameplay which felt ehh kinda unnecessary but not bad. thats honestly my only complaint tho)
2017
Its kinda funny, my thoughts on this game are similar to my thoughts on the dishonored games (1+2) .....
1 is superior in every way besides gameplay
2 is superior in gameplay alone
The story of this game was def more grounded, which isnt bad but isnt as interesting to me at least. I loved how insane the first game was, and that things didn't make perfect sense, it felt so trippy and fun. Whereas this game's story was uninspired and dragged on (esp the beginning and the ending which were waaaaay dragged out)
But like overall this game was more fun to play for sure, I loved the areas and the gameplay itself was super fun. I do wish it was a bit more gorey and visceral horror like the first but the change wasn't bad per se.
Would recommend even tho it lost some of its artistic flare of the first imo
1 is superior in every way besides gameplay
2 is superior in gameplay alone
The story of this game was def more grounded, which isnt bad but isnt as interesting to me at least. I loved how insane the first game was, and that things didn't make perfect sense, it felt so trippy and fun. Whereas this game's story was uninspired and dragged on (esp the beginning and the ending which were waaaaay dragged out)
But like overall this game was more fun to play for sure, I loved the areas and the gameplay itself was super fun. I do wish it was a bit more gorey and visceral horror like the first but the change wasn't bad per se.
Would recommend even tho it lost some of its artistic flare of the first imo
i get why this game was revolutionary, but this game doesn''t hold up the best and has a lot of flaws imo. Particularly, the boss fights were terrible, the areas feel pretty linear and esp after the first main house fall off quite hard, and this is one of the only re games i feel has practically zero replayability. Also the illusion of choice with zoe and mia was bad imo, since that choice does have one singular consequence but the game is entirely unchanged otherwise.
Haven't played the dlc yet so once I get to that we'll see if my opinions get more positive of this game lol
Haven't played the dlc yet so once I get to that we'll see if my opinions get more positive of this game lol