Very out the blue binge but it’s simply just comforting while being minimal in everything it does

Garoad’s vision for the soundtrack carries this game so far in its limited 10 hour runtime but that’s perfect sonde Jill’s small talk with every character that steps in the bar is so fucking fun man.

Time to mix drinks and change lives.

"Remember me, and your true self as well, also that which you must become. The one who will lead us to Paradise with blood stained hands!"

I'm not a really big fan of survival horror games, or horror games in general, because I get scared easily, so I feel like I never get to fully enjoy these games and their qualities, mostly because I end up looking for guides and walkthroughs online.
Before the Silent Hill games that I played for the first time last summer, I had only played RE 2 and 3 remakes, and those were both games that i didn't like very much. Luckily,  that wasn't the case for the Silent Hill games, because I loved them. After finishing Silent Hill 2 in one day and loving it, I decided to play Silent Hill 3, which quickly became my favorite in the series, even more after playing Silent Hill 1. After one year, while watching my friend play sh2, I decided to replay sh3, and my opinion on it hasn't changed.
I think that Silent Hill 3 is the best game in the original trilogy for a different number of reasons, from the gameplay to the even more absurd horror elements and the incredible story and characters.

First of all i wanted to talk about how good all the different "levels" in this game were, they were all perfectly crafted and scary but fun to go trough, my favorite one was the hilltop center, mostly bc i really liked the change to the otherworld and also i feel like they are the most scary ones with the church, that is one of the best parts in the game with the recalls to silent hill one, the shopping mall and the subway were also good but in this replay i found them really fast to go through and didn't think much of them other than the fact that the mall is a perfect preview of what the game is going to be, then bookhaven hospital is in my opinion the least fun one because you already go through it already in sh2 so its a bit repetitive in its normal form; overall i think that every place visited is good in its own way and doesn't fail at making you feel scared thanks to the perfect sound design but also to its little eastereggs like the cutscene in the subway that always freaks me out.

The gameplay is also better than in sh2, thats because theres more types of weapons that make the gameplay more fun and engaging, also i love the ng plus weapons like the infinite flamethrower, the infinte submachinegun and my favorite one which is the beam saber. Also the costumes add to the game a lot of replayability thanks to all the different shirts and outfits that Heather can wear, even though in my opinion her original outfit is the best one bc its more iconic and particular.

I loved the cult story and how it managed to deliver an interesting and particular narrative, even though it can be considered more "common" than the one in Silent Hill 2.

My favorite characters were Heather, Douglas, and Vincent. The best one is Heather, who has probably become my favorite female character, she acts like a real person during the game by showing a wide range of emotions but also by her interactions with the world around her, and I love how she has her own unique personality, i also really liked Douglas because i think hes a really intricate charachter and i love how the game makes you hate him at the start but then not only he becomes a very important part in the plot, but he also becomes an important person to Heather, then theres Vincent which I really liked because of its contrast with claudia about their beliefs and their different view on the same religion.

The themes of the game are very delicate but at the same time very important to talk about, like unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and womanhood in general. I would love to talk more precisely about each one of them, but I think that since they are a big part of the game, I would end up spoiling something.

I can say that Silent Hill 3 is, at least in my opinion, the peak of horror gaming, and even if I don't play a lot of horror games myself, I don't think that there will ever be a game that surpasses the feeling of anxiety, terror, and also sadness that Silent Hill 3 gave me. This game is a must-play for everyone, even for the people who, like me, aren't really big fans of the horror genre.


PS:
Even though the review is finished, I wanted to share 2 of my favorite quotes from the game:
"Is every person here a mental case?"
"Monsters? They looked like monsters to you?"

Beautiful things don't ask for attention

Beautiful and charming are not two words associated with a game from a small developer. These two words are more often directed at giant games with big budgets that are designed to replicate real-world conditions, from textures to the quality of lighting. That when dynamic weather effects appear or the change of day makes the lighting effects look realistic at various angles, this is the kind of reaction and praise that the audiences will give. However, it is not uncommon to encounter situations where indie games, with all their creative abilities, actually appear stunning in this aspect. Not taking the same approach as most AAA games, but offering something unique, beautiful and strong at the same time. And Gris is the definitive example of this made by Nomada Studio.

Like most games with an "art" approach like this, GRIS is a game that from the start of playing clearly has a strong metaphorical meaning. That the real story is not what you see on the screen, but the metaphorical meaning that flows from every action, consequence and storyline that flows. Everything is conveyed implicitly, without really clear dialogue. Above the surface, you play as a nameless female character who at the beginning is seen trying to restore the colorless world around her, which is also represented by a giant statue of a nameless woman. In the midst of the confusion that occurred, he fell from the giant's hands. A situation that makes him, like it or not, have to keep moving to find a definite solution. The woman finally found a special point that allowed her to move in four different directions to collect a point of light that symbolized the stars in the sky.

Beautiful is the first reaction you might have when you see what Nomada Studio has achieved with Gris. The visual approach is made in such a way that you feel like you are playing a painting that now moves interactively with the actions you take with the existing keyboard or controller. The details offered are not aimed, for example, at capturing the main character's body anatomy as realistically as possible, but rather at trying to capture an atmosphere that suits the world he is facing. What you will find is a character with a face full of details, attractive color design, fantastic motion animation, but only moves with legs and arms which are simply drawn as straight lines. Something that really suits her abstract world.

With an implicit story approach like this, the only way for you to understand what the developer wants to convey via Gris is simply to "feel". Through empathy and sympathy, trying to understand what kind of struggle the main character has to go through to fix so many things can end up being a symbol of a problem faced in the real world. However, considering that this style of storytelling will not require specific clarification to justify or blame, you are given the freedom to make your own interpretation. Well as for me myself, Gris seems to be aiming at a portrait of a woman who is experiencing complicated problems and has a messy body image who is struggling, in the midst of her sadness and anger, to rediscover her self-confidence and self-love. The positive emotions presented by this nameless main female character.

Appreciations of course has to be mention for the sound and music in Gris which really captures the emotional side without dialogue that he wants to inject, while building the right atmosphere to build the playing mood. The approach and quality must be given a thumbs up because there are several moments that strangely, with the help of music, managed to make us tense, sad, and even get goosebumps with the hair on the back of our necks standing up when faced with certain scenes. For a game with no dialogue and only offering motion and facial animations as expressions, this is an achievement worth talking about.

At the start, Gris feels like a walking simulator game, where you just have to run and jump over various obstacles. However, as the story progresses, there will be more challenges that require a little of your brain power. Slowly but surely, the girl will gain new powers that will help her overcome various obstacles at once, accessing deeper, higher or further places. At the start, she can turn her dress into a heavy and hard block. Changing this dress means she can't be hit by strong winds for example. You can also use it as a crack floor destroyer or just a weight to make the building structure unbalanced or slightly stressed. The girl will then be strengthened with the ability to float, swim and sing. Levitation can be used to access higher ground and singing can make specific nearby plants bloom and reveal new puzzle solutions or platforms to jump onto.

Of course beautifulness does not make Gris run away with its flaws. In terms of gameplay, there are several areas where exploration can be done freely, this game does not have landmarks or maps that are really clear about the locations that you have actually explored before. Unlike other similar puzzle platformer titles like Inside or Little Nightmares, Gris doesn't have a game over system and because of this the decision to create a boss fight that has a scary design with such sweet animation and visuals ends up having no consequences and actually eliminates the sensation of threat that exists. Even for sequences where you are faced with a clear threat, there is a some kind of like safe zone with automatic animation cuts that make the girl automatically dodge. There's nothing that feels urgent, there's no sensation that you want to protect this girl out of concern, which ultimately makes it lose its meaning.

But after reflecting it a little bit, i think that is what made Gris stands out from others. Gris is a platformer game that can be called "relaxing", where despite the challenges, it is still a game that has a purpose and that is to make you enjoy the world and its atmosphere well. The presentation is amazing in terms of visuals and audio, making it a charming indie platformer game that is ready to amaze the audiences from the very first sight. It can lead to an emotional and powerful playing experience, even though you end up not clearly understanding what the definitive story and the message are actually trying to offer. Everything is covered in level design that is beautiful and remains challenging at the same time.

I've been wanting to replay persona 3 for a while now ever since I beat FES in 2021.

This franchise means a fuckton to me and no review will ever do justice to the life altering lessons I've been taught. Here's me trying to do that anyway.

Back in 2021 I was constantly breaking down and hating who I was, I was never myself always put on a mask and thus never learned anything, then Persona 3 and 4 came in and kinda just made me want to express who I truly was. Man I've come so far now playing through this made me realize the stuff that I picked up on subconsciously back then this game gave me courage to be myself because there's only one life that I have and I better spend it being myself and not some random person I don't even know.

Now let's talk about the game itself, it's a great version of Persona 3 in my opinion, it modernizes a lot while staying true to the original spirit of the game and my god does this game look so fucking good, I'm not one to gush over graphics but this game for some reason looks like the best thing I've ever seen they've really outdone themselves on the style more then Persona 5.

Overall this game gives a fresh new look and feel to Persona 3 and makes it more accessible to more people which I think is a great thing!

I hope atlus will give us Persona 6 next I think they're ready to tackle it now that they've revisited one of the roots of the series.

I recommend this game if you;
Already like Persona
Want to get into Persona
Want a good yet unique RPG

Octopath Traveler II is an overall improvement of the first game in every single possible way. The OST, the artstyle, the battle-system, the gameplay, the characters, the UI, it's all great. I will always hold this game close to my heart because of how much of an enjoyable experience it was. I was reluctant to replay Octopath Traveler I before this game, but I'm honestly glad I did because now I can see the great parts of both games, but also some potential flaws.

The story for this game is great. Unlike OT1 where I only actively liked three of the stories, there really wasn't a story I disliked, despite how cliche some of them are. Standouts for me are definitely Partitio, Castii, and Temenos. I also enjoyed the addition of side stories between two of the characters but they really didn't do much for me and just felt like an addition to have the bare-minimum of interconnectedness between the stories. I did enjoy the overarching plot of the story, but I refused to fight the final boss because of my experience with the final boss of OT1, and decided to just watch it on YouTube. Great stories and was a big improvement from OT1.

Gameplay wise, this game is great. You got the addition of Day and Night Path Actions, with different quests being present during the night, and others present during the day. Also have Latent Power, which probably makes Castii broken as an Apothecary. I also enjoy the little additions they put into some of the classes, like how Hikari can learn different skills from dueling different NPCs, and how Agnea can have different bonuses depending on the NPC that she has Allured. I'll also include exploration in the gameplay section because that's another big thing for me. I love that there's a Western and Eastern continent, and the different towns, like OT1, just make the game that much more enjoyable for me. There's also definitely more lore that I haven't gotten into, which seems pretty great for the people who like lore. I also enjoy the little addition of being able to ride a boat in the water on certain maps, it just makes exploration that much better. Also, I can't forget the big overworld map, and how you can essentially buy a ship, and you're able to explore many previously unexplorable islands. Some things I will take away from the gameplay is the encounter rate, I despise random encounters, especially the encounter rate without having the reduced counter rate skill equipped. Also, I dislike grinding, but thanks to getting two lucky Bewildering Grace procs, I didn't have that much of an issue with it. However, that's a minor incovenience, as the game as a whole is great, and clearly outclasses its predecessor in terms of gameplay.

Music & the artstyle slaps so hard in this game. They really gave me the nostalgia factor for OT1 even though I had just completed that game, and the different tracks are great. The artstyle is gorgeous and I just loved seeing each little sub-section in this artstyle, I was just amazed by nearly everything in this game.

Overall, Octopath Traveler II is a great game that improves all of the problems that Octopath Traveler I had (with a few exceptions of course). If you're thinking of giving this game a chance, then please do, it's a great experience.

I know I'm still in the middle of another marathon (Kirby) but I've decided to also go through every Zelda game I own and can emulate because I've been in a big Zelda mood lately. Not only that, some other Backloggd members have also decided to join this marathon as well. Namely QuentTheSlayer, Ptcremisi,Steinco,Phantasm and a couple others. The four I mentioned plan on playing pretty much every game like I am, while the others plan on picking and choosing games they want to play. Either way, be sure to check out their accounts because they plan on putting out reviews for all the games too!

Anyways, The Legend of Zelda. I first played this game years ago on my brother's 3DS XL. He randomly bought this off the eShop and when he wasn't using his 3DS, I decided to actually try the first Zelda game out. I don't think I got far, and I didn't love it but it was neat finally trying this game out. Fast forward to 2020, I was trying to beat some games I started but never finished. Since I still had NSO, and I knew this game was on it, I decided to finally beat it once and for all. I did, and yeah I didn't like it all too much. I think I had to use save states, and definitely had to use a guide for most of it and that hampered my experience a lot. Coming back to it today tho, I say I still don't really like it all too much but it has its merits.

I guess I'll first go into the story of this game. Most future Zelda games also go by this same story structure as well, so get used to what I'm about to say. You play as Link, a young boy from the kingdom of Hyrule. You must rescue the princess of Hyrule, Zelda, from the big bad of this series, Ganon. You must collect the pieces of Triforce, which are used to stop Ganon, and they are split into 8 shards and are all found at the end of dungeons. The three pieces are the Triforce of Courage, Wisdom and Power. The specific pieces don't really come into play until later games, because that's if. That's the entire story of the first Zelda game. It's incredibly simple but it works, and these story details are the backbone of the entire Zelda series.

When you first start the actual game, the first thing you see on the first screen you're on, is an empty cave. You meet an old man, and he utters the now famous dialogue "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!". He hands you a sword and with that, you're free to explore the world of Hyrule. Exploring Hyrule can be pretty fun and frustrating on your first playthrough. On one hand, you'll be exploring everywhere trying to find each dungeon and trying to find any secrets you can. That can be very fun for people that just love to explore with almost zero direction, this is a game from 1986 so the best direction you'd get back then were vague hints or using an issue of Nintendo Power for help. This is 2024 tho, and you've been able to just look up a guide online for a while now, so that's what most players will do. And honestly, that's what I did and it's the best way to get through the overworld portions at least. See, this game's overworld relies on you finding random secrets you would only find by randomly guessing their locations or by using a guide. This game loves random bombable walls or random bushes you can burn, and while this only affects actually dungeons near the end, this is used for required items and also several rupee locations (that you WILL need) and so I think this is an unfun part of the overworld. If there was any indication the walls or bushes had secrets, it would be fine, but there isn't unless you find some very vague dialogue in game. That, plus just bombing a wall or burning a bush isn't really puzzle-like, which I would prefer in my Zelda overworlds. This is something future Zelda games improved on, but here, you might as well just use a guide to get most of the overworld stuff done first and then move onto the dungeons (that's what I did). I can see why some other people might find it more fun to constantly replay this game and actually memorize all the secrets, however I just don't think that's good game design and so I decided to do the whole overworld with a guide.

The dungeons themselves, while not great, are definitely the best part of this game. They are way less cryptic than the overworld, and thus are more fun. They can get pretty brutal near the end of the game, and also more confusing (they start to rely on bombable walls too) so I had to use a guide for the last couple as well. But in general, despite the simplicity, the dungeons are pretty fun. The bosses at the end of each dungeon are pretty easy but with this type of game, I'm fine with that since the bulk of the game is exploration. Something I didn't like, and I'm mentioning it here because it happens mostly in dungeons, is the fact you start with 3 health when you die. No matter how many heart containers you have, you'll always just start the game with 3 health and it's my biggest issue in the game because it's tedious having to get more health to have a fighting chance (since it's so easy to get hit in this game). Luckily, there are a couple fairy fountains that restore your health fully throughout the world, and there are caves that give you potions (believe me you will need these) so they make that whole health system a bit more tolerable. Going back to "since it's so easy to get hit in this game" whenever you get hid, there enemy pushes you back a bunch and because the invincibility frames are relatively short, it's not hard to get comboed by enemies and die. Now this didn't happen too much in my playthrough, but it can still be annoying. Outside of getting hit tho, Link plays well otherwise.

Inside the dungeons, and also outside in caves, you can collect different items that aid you in your adventure. You have some iconic items like the boomerang, bombs, a bow and arrows and ofc the iconic Rupees. You also have heart containers in this game, that you will want to find in all the caves and after each dungeon boss. There aren't heart pieces in this game, only containers, so each of them is super valuable. I won't get into all the main dungeon items, just know they're all pretty solid, but I will get into the clock. Sometimes when you kill an enemy, it drops a clock. When you pick up the clock, it stops every enemy in place if they're on the same screen you collected it on. This can be SO helpful in later encounters if you somehow are able to get one, it's very random tho so you better hope you get lucky. I also will say, one time during my playthrough, I killed three of these boomerang enemies and got three fairies at once from them. Idk how lucky that is but it seemed pretty insane.

The music in this game is simply iconic. The Title Theme(yes I shared the Famicom version, it's the best version) is probably my favorite song in the game and is the main theme of the entire franchise which makes sense since it's amazing. The overworld also uses a version of these theme and it's also very good. Picking up items and finding secrets also play jingles and they've been in pretty much every Zelda game since this one as well. If this game does anything super well, it's the sound design. There's a reason so much of it was reused for future titles lol.

While I don't care for the first Legend of Zelda all too much, due to the exploration secrets not being great and the 3 heart after death thing, I can't deny it's an iconic game and was very important in the grand scheme of things for the Zelda series. I don't love playing it, but I can certainly appreciate it for what it is.

Now that Zelda 1 is done, Zelda 2 is next. I actually have never played that one, and I haven't heard great things, so I'm worried I won't like it much but I guess we'll see. Look forward to that next.

Also, when I get to the 3D Zelda titles, I'll try to sprinkle in some smaller games in between but more importantly, I'll try to mix some Kirby games in between. Basically, I'll be doing a mix of Kirby and Zelda eventually. Just letting you know now since you'll eventually notice, I'm sure.

Why do I try so hard to finish games that I don't enjoy? How many times do I need to restart a game before I realize that I just don't want to play it? There's no fault of my own, the game just isn't fun, and I see zero reason to continue it.

Everything about Sword & Shield is painstakingly dull and empty, not to mention unnecessarily slow. My problems with Sun & Moon are now amplified by an indescribable amount, as its now even more prominent just how many times you are stopped dead in your tracks for quite honestly nothing. Combined with the once again slow moving dialogue boxes and animations, all this to say I give up.

I have tried multiple times to finish Pokemon Shield, not one of those attempts made it past the 4th gym. Maybe I didn't like my starter choice? Maybe I'm just not a fan of my team composition? Maybe it's everything, and nothing I do will get me to have fun playing through the Galar region. I just wish I could realize these things sooner.

wheatie's just gonna have to live with the fact that she's been able to finish every mainline Pokemon game besides gen 8. And that's what really hurts out of this whole ordeal.

Thank you to @duhnuhnuh_duhnuhnuh for the game code.

Overview:
A very pleasant experience that is certainly worth your time. My experience can be fairly well summed up by the three B's: Breathtaking, Buggy, and Boring. The game is jaw-droppingly BEAUTIFUL at times, and some of the quests and environments are incredibly well-made. However, there seems to be a little bit of an issue of 'style over substance' here. The game is pretty BORING for a regrettably large portion of the experience and basic gameplay with incredibly mundane quests (most of the time) did not lend itself to anything particularly unique. The unique nature of the game comes in with obviously, the artstyle, and the beautifully crafted world and environments within the open world that just bring you to your knees. I found myself sitting and looking over jaw-dropping vistas in basically every major area, as each area had their own unique, enticing vibes that just made you want to stare. I did have to kinda look past all the texture and lighting glitches that were happening in my FOV at basically all times to enjoy these views, but it's not as big a deal as it may seem. The game is BUGGY as heeellll though... I encountered constant, and I do mean constant, audio, visual, or gameplay bugs. Just be prepared to be torn out of your immersion every other minute, because I know I was. The game would be significantly better without the bugs, but is still certainly playable even with the missing frames, constant lighting issues, annoying camera, and countless other frustrating bugs that I encountered throughout my playthrough. Still definitely a good game that I can personally recommend overall. More details on my time with the game below----

Sights and Sounds
-The artstyle is incredibly beautiful and unique (very screenshot-able)
- Looks good up close (as long as the camera isn't clipping through the entire structure you are in) and is breathtaking far away
-Camera issues and TONS of graphical pop-in took me out of my immersion quite frequently
-Sounds were usually very weighty and satisfying
-But there was a pretty consistent trend of audio bugs like where music suddenly cuts in or out, chimes banging together loudly, or random loud sounds that are very clearly unintentional for the given moment
-Specifically my engine sound on my bike actually hurt my ears
-Very beautiful and fitting score, though

Gameplay
- Movement on the bike is super unpredictable and feels pretty goddamn terrible, honestly
- Movement on foot is much better, and you have a lot more control when NOT climbing (diff story)
- The BOTW influence was very apparent, and having played it just earlier this year, was a nice refresher
- Still much less fleshed out and the gameplay was much more boring overall
- Introduction of new mechanics and the whole 'gliding ceremony' thing felt a little bit tonally conflicting but important to the continuation of the mechanical improvement overall
- ALMOST all quests are laced with tedium and are painfully predictable
- A bunch of fetch quests or quests where you go solve an annoying, basic puzzle for a reward you didn't really care about
- My time with the game was shorter than most, but I still thought the borderline-hour-long intro in the introductory area was way too long. Let me go explore the world please
- Speaking of exploring the world, that was by far the best part
- Exploring caves, ruins, and ships weren't particularly fun nor did they yield enticing results
- But just finding the new, incredibly distinct areas within the world was soooo cool
- All the different areas were super unique and breathtaking in their own ways
-Specific moments like climbing the bones, going to the lightning plateau, and leaving the Ewer were what made the game as special as it ended up being
-Dialogue with other characters was repetitive, but still usually quite interesting because of each character's own, special characteristics and personalities


Narrative/Story/Goal
-Despite the annoying length, the intro was a good way to set up the overall narrative and goal
-Concept of collecting a bunch of different masks was very enticing and interesting at first, but became much less interesting when I learned HOW you go about collecting the majority of the masks (boring)
-The characters all felt very real, very similar to BOTW in that way
-A sentimental story overall with leudo-narrative dissonant elements, but a mainly conjoined story + gameplay
-Rare unique quests were hidden among a sea of boring, monotonous, and repetitive ones
- These unique quests do make the game worth it, however.
-In general, the open nature of it all overwhelmed me a little bit, and kind of pushed me to want to just get the story over with, which I do regret a little bit now, looking back
- Most quests being boring also turned me away from doing as many quests as I could've

Performance
- Good at best
- Mid-High range PC (3060 ti) struggled to run 1440p at 144 hz on high settings, ended up capping at 60
- LOTS of frame stutters/drops throughout but worst in the open world
- A BUNCH of pop-in
- Nothing game-breaking, but the camera, gameplay, visual, and audio glitches highly degraded the experience
- I would've been less critical overall if the game was less buggy
- The bugs were constantly taking me out of my immersion, alerting me to the problems of the game that would've been negligible if I was fully immersed

My first Donkey Kong Country game was Returns for the Wii. I got it for Christmas the year it came out (that or it was 2011 I forget) and I remember being so excited to play it. While nowadays, I'm not the biggest Returns fan personally, I can't deny it started my love for the DKC series. Once I got into Super Nintendo games with Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island, I decided I wanted to play the very first Donkey Kong Country game since at that point I still only played Returns. I bought it at my local flea market I believe and really enjoyed it. I mentioned how Yoshi's Island always reminds me of the weekend, since I would play that a lot during that time, and the same applies here too. While I think the sequel does everything this game does but better, I still think the original is a really fun time.

The general gameplay of Donkey Kong Country is you run, jump and roll. Those are basics of course, as each level has other aspects that change gameplay up like barrel cannons you can shoot out of or ropes you can jump on but the general gameplay is pretty simple. The controls are basically perfect, rolling feels super good to perform, and if you know the layout of the levels it's very easy to just speedrun through levels since both Donkey and Diddy are relatively fast. Speaking about the characters, Diddy Kong's first appearance was in this game, and he honestly upstages Donkey Kong. If you get a DK barrel, you can get the other Kong along and they basically act as a 2nd hit. You can switch freely and this is helpful since they each have different attributes to them. Donkey Kong is slower but heavier so he can kill certain enemies that Diddy can't. Diddy just feels better to play as he's faster than Donkey and also has a smaller hitbox. Both are valuable, but Donkey is more situational and is mostly just used for one enemy type (and even then, Diddy can defeat them by rolling into them) so Diddy Kong is my much-preferred Kong to use.

As for collectables in the levels, you have bananas of course. The main plot involves King K Rool stealing DK's banana hoard and he must go after him and his baddies to obtain them back. I think the reasoning behind there being so many littered throughout the levels is he just dropped them or something but either way, they act as coins and getting 100 earns you a life. You can collect letters that spell out KONG and they also give you a life. You can also collect these animal buddy tokens, and getting three of a specific buddy lets you collect these stars, and every 100 you collect ALSO gives you a life. Besides all this, you can also find secret bonus rooms. These all contain all the aformentioned items, or just lives straight up, but these can be a pain to find. I wouldn't have an issue normally since these are optional bonus rooms so it makes sense they'd be really hidden, but getting every single one is how you get 101% in the game, so if you're a completionist you must find them all. The real issue then is, a good chunk of them are just kinda bullshit. You'll have some that are very easy to spot and are self-explanatory. But then you have ones that are completely hidden and sometimes even require blind jumps into pits. I know they wanted you to buy a guide or a Nintendo Power back then to find these locations, but I don't find random pit bonuses or random breakable wall bonuses fun ever. I used a guide for like 80% of these cuz I only ever 100%ed this game once before, so I forgot most of these. The sequel can be like this too, but it generally handled bonus room locations a lot better. Alongside all the collectables and bonus rooms, you also have animal buddies. These are fun as they change up the gameplay slightly. Rambi can kill usually unkillable (unless you have a barrel) enemies by running into them. Expresso can jump a bit higher and float over large gaps. Enguarde swims faster in water and has an attack you can perform. Winky...well Winky just jumps really high, tho he can also jump on usually harmful enemies too and he's honestly underrated. These guys appear enough where they don't just feel like one-off gimmicks or anything.

The levels themselves are generally well designed. They're simpler than the sequels, and I feel like there's generally more bullshit due to enemies suddenly appearing on screen randomly, but there's a nice flow to the levels. Visually, I think it just looks alright. The characters themselves looks good, I just think some of the backgrounds don't look great compared to others, and definitely compared to 2's backgrounds. I think it also doesn't help that the level themes aren't too interesting in this game. You have jungles and mines and factories and Mayan temples and some of these are more unique than others, but they don't exactly lead to very vibrant colors. When it hits, it hits. The one jungle level with the sunset is really nice and I like the ice caves. The factories are kind of cool near the end too, but overall, I think the level settings can be a bit bland here. Not like Returns tho, since that is very formulaic with its level themes but compared to 2, 1 is not as good in that regard.

The bosses in this game are kind of a joke. All of them, besides King K Rool, are incredibly easy and just feel like a slightly tougher regular enemy. They could've easily had no bosses and it would've been fine so I guess it's not like they detract from the game too much, however 2 did bosses way better.

This may be my hottest take though. I don't love the OST. A big reason for that is most of the OST was in Returns, and so I had always felt there was an identity crisis with this game which is not the game's fault and is more a me thing because I played Returns first. Even outside of that, some of the songs I just never really got into...but objectively the OST is quite solid. There are still bangers like Aquatic Ambience and Gang-Plank Galleon of course. Also a shoutout to Fear Factory, that one's nice too. Even though I don't love the OST, it's still good overall, I just much prefer 2's tbh.

I've kind of been complaining about things here or there despite praising the gameplay. Something else I'll praise about this game tho is its Rare charm. Animations are very charming between characters. Donkey and Diddy both get terrified when you're at the edge of a cliff. They do a charming celebration whenever you defeat a boss or complete a bonus room. Diddy Kong throws his hat down and stomps on it when he loses a bonus room. The dialogue between the other characters like Cranky or Funky or Candy are very charming too. There's a fake-out Kremlin credits that happens when you get halfway into King K Rool's fight, and the actual credits have humorous cutscenes between characters. Not only is this game charming as hell, but it also created all these well-known characters too. We wouldn't have Diddy Kong or Cranky Kong or Funky Kong if it wasn't for this game. We wouldn't have my man K Rool either, he's such a memorable villain. The Kremlins themselves are very memorable and cartoony. I think besides the actual gameplay, the best thing DKC1 does is the worldbuilding and charm. Before this, we just had DK and DK Jr. It's all thanks to Rare, that we have as many memorable characters as we do now.

I may have some issues with this game, and I think 2 fixes them all pretty much, but this is still a classic for a reason and is staple Super Nintendo game. I was honestly thinking about dropping this to a 7, even up until writing most of this review, but it wasn't until the paragraph before this did, I really ponder and think about how many staple characters this game created and just how charming this game is in general. It's very important to entire DK series as a whole and is a very fun platformer at that! However, as I've said several times in this review, 2 is better in every way and I'm going to be replaying that soon so stay tuned for that review!

A different approach to Lego Star Wars that we've grown used to, still having the charm in its voiceless characters with some poorly done animations thrown in for extra charm and having a more explorable set of hubs than Dexter's Diner or Mos Eisley Cantina which is a fresh touch and really cool to explore the Venator and the Providence.
The extra abilities for characters are really cool and add onto the gameplay, making full use out of a lot of things seen in the show and in the films that weren't used for previous games, though basic blaster characters are still pretty weak despite the buffs. The levels are pretty faithful recreations of the original episodes, now that I've gone and watched the series, though they have so many tactical, base-destroying levels which hamper the experience and feel very generic, until you play the Zillo beast level, but even that's pretty generic.
100%ing would be such a nightmare because of all of the ground battles you'd have to complete on both sides, as well as the space battles inbetween the capital ships, which I will complete one day but I'm not looking forward to it.

No matter how hard you try to break us, the future is ours to shape! Always!

The premise of Xenoblade Chronicles is simple, yet effective. Atop the colossal Bionis, the three childhood friends Shulk, Reyn and Fiora are living their best lives, until one day a particularly evil robot shows up to disturb the local peace. With the help of the legendary sword Monado, Shulk embarks on a journey across the Bionis to track down the unknown assailant and get his revenge. Not only is the Monado arguably one of the coolest weapons in fiction, it's also especially useful in combat against the machines and allows the wielder to see into the future. The theme of fate is ever-present, as Shulk has to deal with visions involving the people close to him dying several times, and only he can change the future to prevent these events from playing out, while also pursuing his own goals. I'll not take away any more from the story, since I found it to be pretty intriguing and well written until the end, despite having quite a few tropes here and there and also some predictability to it. Even with the sheer amount of downright meme-worthy lines or shonen shenanigans, the core narrative is still surprisingly solid and doesn't fall flat in terms of twists either. Yes, Dunban being "over there" is actually important to the plot. The setting of the two titans is incredibly unique and memorable, but also just straight up cool at the same time, the area progression is really satisfying here. As for the main cast, they all have their reasons to join Shulk in his fight against the Mechons and their voice acting is superb. It's a shame Adam Howden never got any major roles besides Shulk, since he especially nailed those screams and emotional moments. But honestly, the rest of the cast is just as good and I like how many unknown voice actors are featured here (and their British accents).

While the main storyline is not as long as I expected it to be, Xenoblade is still jam-packed with side content, rocketing up the overall possible playtime by a significant amount. Most of the side quests are just fetch quests or "kill x amounts of these monsters", but there are also several skill trees or other cool rewards locked behind others. It never crossed my thoughts until I beat the story, how much Xenoblade rewards interacting with the world on the side, as there's even a whole chart accessible through the main menu where you can see the relations between every single named NPC and the locale they belong to. There's an entire trading mechanic I didn't even pay attention to in my playthrough, but it's cool to know it's there, I think little things like this or the info you can read up on the named NPCs on the chart improve the already impressive worldbuilding by a lot again. Now, one of my biggest regrets is not interacting with the Colony 6 side-story at all, there were many side quests related to it and I couldn't complete any of them because I somehow didn't do the initial one. Honestly, it's a shame it took me so long to properly appreciate those aspects, so I'll definitely focus on them on my eventual New Game+ playthrough.

Amidst the fierce battle cries of "Now it's Reyn Time!", "Electric Gutbuster!" and "Star-searing flames of ABSOLUTION!", I actually ended up liking the combat very much and was surprised by how unique it was. By the end it devolved into chain attack spam for me, but before that point, I think the MMO-style approach is really fitting and fun overall, while the cheesy battle lines of the cast add a whole layer of entertainment as well. Here, good preparation is half the battle already, as you will need to decide which skills your AI-controlled party members should use and how to efficiently combine those with the tactics of the rest of the team for optimal results. I said the combat is "MMO-style", because skills are locked behind cooldowns and your active character is using auto-attacks in the downtime to fill the special bar, like in the case of Shulk it's used for the Monado Arts. His signature sword not only specializes in slicing through machinery, but can also buff him or his party in various other ways, like shielding them or granting everyone the ability to hit the Mechons. Each of those abilities uses different amounts of the special gauge, so it's up to you to decide what's the best approach for certain combat situations. It would be pretty unwise to keep throwing out Arts which use your full gauge, as enemies and especially bosses can counter those by attacking with so-called Vision Attacks. Those come in three forms, Red, White and Purple. By casting the Impulse Art on a party member, they can dodge a red attack, which is pretty straightforward. Things get interesting for the white attacks, as they require you to have a properly leveled Shield Art to even block the move - so if an enemy uses "Attack VII", you need the skill level of your Shield Art atleast at 7, anything below will not block. The use of haptic feedback is also really underappreciated from what I've seen, every time you hit with a chance attack you get vibration on hit and everytime you break an enemy's vision attack the controller emulates this "breaking" effect with a stronger rumble. There's also a pulse while seeing the animations for vision attacks playing out, resembling a heartbeat, and that's pretty cool if you ask me.

Teambuilding is a central mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles, and also one that is handled in an interesting way. First of all, you get access to most of the cast fairly early into the story already, so you can experiment with different teams through many different areas and see who has your favorite playstyle, who you want to main and who you don't actually like at all. This availability of being able to build around your team without even getting to the meat of the main story yet is such a nice change of pace, since I know so many games where you get party members so late, that they're basically unusable, as you have probably already have a good team composition at that point. Looking at you, Fire Emblem. But Xenoblade doesn't have this issue and it's just really nice, so I hope the other two games in the trilogy adapt this approach as well. As for their actual involvement in gameplay, each teammate has an unique role and playstyle, so you can basically play any possible combination of party members together and it will work somehow. Another neat feature is the ability to choose any character besides Shulk as the leader, allowing you to control them in the overworld and battle, it's very handy for certain encounters (or if you're just a big fan of the character). Like personally I played Melia on Mount Valka so I could have an easier time reaching the airborne enemies and it ended up being a really pleasant change of pace! There is also a whole layer of customization here besides the current party setup, since you can tweak individual characters to your liking by equipping them with gems, certain armor pieces or adjusting the skill trees. I really like how skill trees are handled here, like you still can normally unlock character-specific skills of individual branches through EXP, but you're also able to make use of the skills of other characters if you raise the friendship between them accordingly. This is not a metaphorical statement, raising the affinity between two teammates comes with a nice amount of extras - you unlock new heart-to-heart events across the world, the possibility of extending chain attacks is higher and as mentioned before, you gain access to a bunch of the opposite character's skills. Very nice!

As for the soundtrack, the Definitive Edition features an (almost) entirely revamped OST with new arranged tracks. I've only heard a few of the original tracks in Smash before, so I won't compare the new arrangements to the original compositions. With that out of the way, I'm a big fan of the musical score for DE and especially the more emotional songs here really hit me at times. Hearing Engage the Enemy for the very first time in-game with the corresponding cutscene is an ethereal feeling and gave me shivers in combination with Adam Howden's performance there. Gaur Plain is also one of my favorites, even if that one's a basic pick - maybe because it's just a memorable, good song. My final nomination goes out to Mechanical Rhythm for just being a pretty sick standard battle theme, which could easily pass as a boss theme elsewhere.

Considering I'm planning to do a NG+ one day to catch up on the content I missed, it's needless to say that Xenoblade Chronicles left quite the impression on me, even after finishing the game. Now onto Future Connected and I'm looking forward to playing Xenoblade 2 in a while too. Here's hoping that the rest of the trilogy will be just as fun!

Gotta go fast!

After Sonic Adventure has served as my personal gateway into the series and Sonic Adventure 2 gave me an even better experience, I can proudly call myself a fan of the series now. A fan who only played 3D Sonic. That being said, Sonic Origins opened up a whole new dimension to me: 2D Sonic!

Here's a quick rundown of the zones: Green Hill was surprisingly the least engaging zone for me, but I can appreciate it for how iconic it is and being a good introduction with a timeless theme. I didn't have an issue with Marble Zone's methodical approach for the most part, although some of the random pop-up spikes felt a little cheap. Spring Yard is fine, but gets repetitive after a while. Now, Labyrinth Zone seems to be pretty universally hated, but I didn't find myself having much of an issue with it and thought it was rather refreshing after going through Spring Yard, the underwater sections were cool. Star Light Zone had cool catapults and Scrap Brain was... rather hard compared to the rest of the game - but that makes sense, it's the last level for a reason! The final fight itself though was a bit underwhelming and the ending was cheap.

But in the end, I enjoyed my time with the Blue Blur's debut game, even if most of the level design goes against the whole "gotta go fast" motif, which apparently is a dealbreaker for many. And while 2D Sonic is fun, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't miss the homing attack from Adventure at first.