This is a simple list to keep track of all the games I've played this year and to give my short thoughts on them all. Spoilers will be unmarked
Showing 1-10 of 28 items
January.8 So bad its good kind of co-op fun. Beginning half if pretty meh but it gets a little more out there as the game goes on. Really weird design choices that seem to be focused on getting a more american audience that just falls flat. Like why did they change jill's appearance so drastically?
January.9 I went into this very excited to finally replay Gen 4. This has long been a generation that I have not liked Gen 3 being my fav made this feel like an immediate downgrade especially because of how slow the battle engine. I was ready for a new console to have this sped up and maybe I would have liked it more. Unfortunately like most of the recent remakes like ORAS it is missing features present in third games of a generation Platinum in this case. Team Galactic is such a non-factor outside of platinum they kind of just get brushed aside and their 'dungeon' is super short and not really hard at all. The battle engine is also still really slow!! Like what the hell why is everything so slow to attack even the menus move strange. The movement on the map is also really strange with it feeling like a 2d map with 3d movement leading to me constantly bumping into narrow walls and constantly having my vision blocked by trees/houses/etc. Overall this has only solidified my dislike for Gen 4 and also my disappointment in recent pokemon remakes.
January.23 Really great game and glad that I finally got around to playing it since TTYD is one of my all time favorite games. You can see the frameworks of TTYD everywhere with how some of the partners act and feel as well as the chapter lay out and overall game mechanics. The really back tracking heavy side quests were apparently something they felt necessary to bring to the sequel. The most obvious weakness I saw in this game was that the story and characters were not as strong as in TTYD. Partners especially had less personality and also just less usefulness inside battle. My main issues with the battle mechanics was the badge system is very limiting in this game with it capping out at 30 with some of the better badges being 6 spaces each, but oh well it gets fixed in TTYD.
January.28 Really fantastic game in what I thought was the final of the trilogy. Strongest of the Dark Pictures anthology for sure, I felt the choices were a lot more dynamic and much harder to make this time around. Me and my co-op partner were separated for a much greater portion than other games also making the experiences really different. The twist near the end with the vampires actually being another alien race was super interesting and I did not see it coming at all. And then they hit you with the fake ending and eclipse sequence which was also great.
February.10 Historically my least liked game in the franchise although on replay was a lot funnier than I remember. Had a decent amount of those moments where you realize a kids game is making jokes that go way over the heads of its intended audience. Fun to play while streaming w friends.
February.12 Loved this game felt great to have a fresh entry in the series after so long. There are a lot of things I would still change about the game and it is pretty rough around the edges but I enjoyed it a lot. I wish battling didn't take as much of a back seat in this game as it did with most of them being really easy/gimmicky. New pokemon forms are really hit and miss with Kleavor/Zorua/Braviary/Electrode being the only ones I attached too while overqwil is actively bad. Best game in the gen 4 region.
February.13 Has a strong message at the end of the true ending about creating your own happiness without having to rely on someone else that I really try to adhere to my own life. Lots can happen and I strongly believe at the end of the day you need to make yourself happy (not that others can't help obv). As someone who grew up on the internet a lot of this really hits its hard to find yourself and create an identity the world is really fast paced and sometimes feels like life is hitting you all at once. The internet poisoned and always online aspects this game portrays like toxic parasocial relationships streamers have w their audience and vice versa are uncomfortably accurate to present time (Drama surrounding a vtuber only days old as I write this could have been taken line for line from the game). Reminded me a lot of Serial Experiment Lain with one of the overall themes warning about to much internet exposure, this shows in some of my favorite endings, There are no Angels, Internet Overdose, and Welcome to my Religion. Overall the experience is worth it if you know what you're getting into.
February.18 Replay of Hollow Knight after my 5 or so years. Still solidly one of my favorite games love how it feels to play and the atmosphere and design of world is top notch. Finally got 100% completion on this new save I tried to do it years ago but hit the wall on the final trial in the colosseum but this time around honestly didn't have that much trouble on it. This was my first time seeing all the new content and I really liked the fast travel mechanic they added and the grimm troupe dlc was extremely good. Nightmare Grimm was a hard but fun fight and after beating him fighting Radiance again didn't even feel that hard.
March.23 Date I finished my platinum trophy for this game and what a damn ride. Playing this was experiencing the 'souls' universe in a whole new light. It was so damn cool to just go adventure and find things all over the map with all the secrets, npcs, and dungeons. A lot of people complained about how many things were reused and yeah it does tire a bit at some point but I still had the urge to look through every nook and cranny I could find. Some absolute amazing bosses are in this game and I had a lot more fun with alternate playstyles than I usually do sticking to just strength. Dex and bleed is much more fun in this game than previously for me and sorcery/faith both have crazy cool spells. Some of the most interesting npc and questlines in souls game are here and it made me delve into the story more personally than I usually do in these games. I think the online aspects got kind of mucked here invasions being basically removed unless you are looking for it is pretty lame and how the areas are sanctioned off for co op makes it seem like it would be a huge pain to play with another person. That said some of the best messages I've ever seen and probably the first time that they have actually helped me so often. Fantastic game
March.27 INTERmission dlc Yuffie is cute
