I blazed through Ixion in two days and well.. I like the idea of it a lot more then anything else. There’s a correct way to do things and if you weren’t aware of that from the start you kinda get fucked. A lot of the game is really unclear and I really could have used a lot more leniency in the systems, I also technically never saw the ending screen. As near the end I got soft-locked by the workers no longer doing anything, so I spend nearly 10 minutes just seeing a counter be stuck with the final enemy getting closer and closer to ending it for me.
I watched the ending on youtube.. I’m glad I didn’t spend another hour or so to redo the mission and once again keep yelling at the fucking workers to do the thing I told them to do already.
I do wish it had something of a newgame+ mode, as that would have been decently interesting, and means you can bring a lot of later tech and quality of life updates into the early game from the start, but alas.
I do remember some games being kind and cool and having multiple ways to unscrew yourself, but those are definitely rare. And I love those systems so much more then “guess I’ll start a new save game and make sure it’s not fucked from the start”
So I was looking for something AAA and brainless to play over a week off, and though I got 30 hours of it (and didn’t pay much) I was still disappointed by Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. Is the swinging good? Sure. Is the size and scope of the city impressive? Very. Is everything else about it the most sanded-off videogame-ass experience possible? YEP!
XP and meaningless upgrades, collectibles and random “activities,” constant radio/phone blathering by characters saying nothing, bland button mashing combat with annoying rocket launcher enemies, map unlock towers, inane puzzles that are just annoying filler, and just the most awful forced stealth sections.
I had fun but I didn’t really feel anything, and this is exactly the kind of game that makes me so sad about the nature of the game industry. So many talented people putting their blood, sweat, and tears into a game management decreed must be just the blandest product possible. This could have been something interesting, but instead it was just Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Finished trails in the sky 3 and i have Opinions on it
The first two games were this awesome well crafted story that slowly unfolded while you delved deeper and deeper into understanding both party characters and the land and its people, to an incredible degree
The third is a dungeon crawler in a misterious world that is cut off from everything
So it does not have the amazing worldbuilding of the first two. Well, is the dungeon crawling good? YES! It really is mechanically solid, tho by the end your party is so fucking powerful the only way the game can throw challenges at you is with some bullshits
However, there is a funny thing in this game that is at odds with both these sides
It does have memorable (and lenghty) cutscenes delving deeper into characters stories. It just so happens that they are “memory fragments” you find as a side activity. It is the meat of the game’s story, it is completely optional, and some of them can take hours. In a dungeon crawling game. And not a single one of them is relevant to the main plot or even acknowledged by the characters, aside from the first that serves as a tutorial to how they work
It is such a bizarre game as a whole, but i did like it
I just beat Tokyo Jungle, and just in time for Mina the Hollower to drop.
Fun arcade score attack type shaped game but the story missions on top of it were fun and had an amusing storyline. It’s just a shame that the ending is so disconnected from the other Acts.
I get the appeal for this game. it’s satisfying to get a run the goes well. I don’t have the patience to unlock everything but i had fun with it for a time, and i’m good to move on.
Very much worth your time, for a taste or a full course.
AND Mina the Hollower beaten. There’s a reason the “beat the game” achievement is called “Hollow Victory”. Hachi machi.
Had a really good time with it. It reminded me of Super Mario Odyssey in how every screen hides a collectible or two in a clever way. I need to replay it with a different weapon though, i used only the whip, basically. That said, the whip is REALLY good. Can you blame me?
It’s such a fun game though, i’m glad i backed it on Kickstarter. Absolute masterclass in making a retro-style game… again.
Ranked it as the 50th best game of all time, to my knowledge. immediately above Hollow Knight and below Monster Hunter wilds.
It’s interesting to see the origins of this series. The game is very old but i understand it started a lot of the stuff i saw in it and took for granted forever. The bosses were disappointing, the dungeon design felt random, the secrets were not telegraphed well (or at all, in may cases).
It’s a game i enjoyed and think is fine enough but i’m too much of a futuristic space age gamer to enjoy it as i would’ve if i played it in 1986, 3 years before i was born.
Ranked it as the 468th best game of all time, to my knowledge. it’s immediately above Mega Man and immediately below Pokemon Red.
I recently completed Sword and Fairy: Together Forever (aka Sword and Fairy 7). I had fun with it. It’s a simple action rpg and easy to get into. The scenery is quite nice, the music is very good, and the main party characters manage to be wholesome and endearing without being too bland. Most of the reviews I looked up for it mentioned “translation jank” as something to criticize… it’s there, but I don’t remember it breaking the story or leaving me confused. It’s English subtitles only, no English voice acting, and that may be a dealbreaker for some.
I enjoyed the story overall and was happy with the ending. My biggest criticism would probably be that the final boss was really easy, but I did unlock a secret ability that I’m pretty sure let me just cheese it. (The Leaf Fairies are your friends. )
Would definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a modern RPG and you’re feeling burnt out by the typical knights and dragons or Finals and Fantasys.
I forgot to post here but I beat Mina the Hollower the other day. I have a lot of mixed feelings on that game, I feel like it has some strong ideas but it comes across as a bit confused as to what kind of experience it ultimately wants to be. I guess my perspective is a bit different from most others who seem to really love what this game is doing, but it just didn’t come together for me.
The story is… fine. I feel like it ends up getting mostly shunted to the end of the game as the open world structure doesn’t really allow for things to progress naturally.
That’s Castlevania Symphony of the Night down! I ended up spending longer on this game than I needed to hunting for secrets, I did have to look up a few things because some collectibles in this game are obtuse to get to. And also of course I only learned how the gravity boots actually worked for like the last 2 hours of the game.
Definitely a classic and it’s amazing how well it holds up overall, but it does not quite hold up to more recent games like Hollow Knight, especially the bosses, most of which can easily be cheesed in one way or another.
I don’t know that I have the tools necessary to properly articulate my perspective* on this, but Symphony of the Night is a perfect game. I’m not saying that it’s the best game, or without flaw, or that any other game inspired by it hasn’t “done it” better, but Symphony of the Night is a perfect game.
*the “person” expressing the opinions found in this post is an “elder millennial” who originally played this game in the mid-late 1990s, a largely internet-free time during their formative development in which the illusion of “organic discovery” regularly combined with what one recognizes now as the youthfully naive perspective that one’s own novel experience is the universal experience (e.g. “Look at this cool thing that I found - isn’t it magic?”), ultimately leading to a powerful sense of self-authorship regarding one’s interests and preferences that cannot be replicated under current personal/societal parameters. See also: nostalgia.
The story is a real mess. i think it might be awful, even, due to how confused it is and how badly it’s relayed.
But the gameplay is nice, the game looks fantastic, the soundtrack is absolutely iconic… and i did cry in a few spots, especially at the very end.
The gameplay is a bit too easy for me now, since i’m more seasoned a game r than when i first played it, in the 00s… And yet i did get a game over against the semifinal boss, so it’s not that bad.
I dunno, maybe this is a game that could have been in the same caliber as Chrono Trigger had there been time to tighten the narrative. It’s on ly really bad closer to the end, when you get the infodumps.
I did enjoy it a lot though. I had good fun with it. Ranked it 271 / 591, in tier 13 of 25.
EDIT: Bonus game beaten: Unfair Flips.
it’s exactly what it says on the tin and i feel silly for having imagined a better version of the game in my head.
I have hit credits (and then some) on Death Stranding (Director’s Cut). Lots of feelings about this game. There is a lot about this game I like, and a lot about it I don’t. Wish it didn’t have so much multiplayer junk littering the map, but also love the social connections. The world Kojima created starts out as this fascinating bizarre puzzle to untangle, but it really falls apart by the end. But the game’s triumphs and stinky parts come from that typical Kojima excess. The characters are barely characters, just vessels for cool sci-fi concepts and philosophizing, but they are very cool sci-fi concepts. I was really annoyed by the ending from Edge Knot City onwards. Just hours and hours of combat (the part of the game I like the least) and again typical hour long Kojima cutscenes, but overall I enjoyed my experience. Definitely the kind of game that doesn’t need a sequel.
I might go back to trying to complete the road network. Depends on what my mind-goblins say.
Up next is Control, because apparently I am stuck in the year 2019.
I beat Dragon Quest Builders. It was a disappointing game. you can’t build enough types of furniture that themselves don’t do enough in the game which you can’t place easily in your too-small base. The boss fights were trivial at best and annoying at worse. The way it worked, with each chapter starting you from 0 and building up to being able to do more and more was good. The character writing was mostly charming, but relied too much on insulting the player character. Each chapter did feel very distinct from the others in a good way.
I think this was a game for younger players that i assumed would appeal to me. i had fun but it had too many issues for me to really recommend it. Dunno if i’ll get the sequel.
It’s a tower defense game where the enemy is a dynamic fluid. Pretty cool, pretty fun, has the sauce but is maybe half as long as it needed to be. It’s just not going deep enough in the story mode. There are extra maps but those are all postgame. i feel it it had more maps where you have fewer techs, it’d be fun.
Also, the story is not good. it’s a shame cause there’s flakes of something good in there but not enough to be interesting.
I finally beat the original Shovel Knight (Shovel of Hope) campaign.
I originally played it some years ago on Wii U but I got skill checked pretty hard by a later stage and fell off. It’s nice to come back and see that I’ve improved my skills quite a bit, though I feel kinda bad for playing it on PC this time around as opposed to on Wii U. Also tag teaming it with my partner also helped.
Anyway, good game! I mayyyy check out the follow up campaigns as well, at some point.
It’s a very good hidden gem. a two-player puzzle adventure game with search-action elements.
You play as Ruby, a armless cyborg and/or Majesty, a bat. The goal is to press buttons to move blocks and go forward in mini dungeons.
The game looks great, sounds even better, has an interesting setting and is a bit buggy. I have to admit it is a bit buggy. But it’s worth playing through.
I don’t want to spoil too much, just trust me on this one, try it out.
Ranked 168 out of 596, in tier 10 of 25. Recommended ++
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