by frobos
Showing 1-10 of 47 items
Completed on January 6th (True Ending) What a great game. I was hooked for the final hours, unlocking the last few bits of the maps getting all the spells and finding the secret items to get the true ending. Movement feels so tactile in Harmony of Dissonance. Having both dashed on L-R shoulder buttons allows you to react super quickly to bosses and enemy attacks. The combat was also very satisfying, especially with the many combination of sub-weapons and spells that were varied and powerful. The game however was a bit too easy. Once you get access to spells, most bosses can be powered through by hammering them with long range attacks. It was also easy to stack up recovery items at the shop in the latter half of the game. The story was simple but enjoyable. It did feel overly similar to the one in Circle of the Moon however, with a vampire slayer and a jealous friend. The dialogue and cutscenes were short and few and far between however, allowing the gameplay to take the spotlight. The second GBA game is a big improvement over Circle of the Moon. I am now looking forward to playing Aria of Sorrow and finally be able to move on the the DS games which have been dormant in my collection for many years. 9/10
Completed on January 9th (True Ending) Seeing the universal praise for this game, I came into Aria of Sorrow with pretty high expectations. The series also seemed to be on a upwards trajectory on the GBA with each game being better than the last. After completing the game in a surprisingly short amoung of time (less than five hours), I come away from the game satisfied, but not overly impressed. It'a a very solid Castlevania entry, but in my opinion it's not quite as good as Harmony of Dissonance. I liked the flexibility that the demon equipping system offered, but wasn't a big fan of the random factor for acquiring new souls (it was the element that I disliked the most in Circle of the Moon also). For example, there was an area that I didn't know I could reach because I was missing an optional soul that didn't drop for me when I fought the enemies that would have dropped it. I was disappointed not to see a "second castle" twist like with the previous games. There were a lot of empty rooms and I kept thinking that they would be used interestingly in the upcoming second castle, but that never happened, they were just empty rooms. The removal of max health and mana items also meant that there were less interesting treasures to find throughout the castle. They were replaced by potions that were already easily available at the shop. The plot was very interesting, combining new and classic elements of the Castlevania timeline. The dialogue, however, were pretty bad. I'm very interested to see where they go with the direct sequel. Having finally finished all three GBA games, I can finally move on to the DS games, which I have owned for at least 10 years. 8/10
Completed Final Fantasy II on January 13th Well, it's done. I'm not sure if I dislike Final Fantasy II more than Final Fantasy XV, but it's certainly at the bottom of the list. The game deserves credit for bringing new elements to the franchise, but it's a painful game to go back to today. The story is a nice progression from the original, adding more depths to character, a named cast and more custom events. The password system is also a great idea, but ends up being a bit underutilized. The progression system is ... something else. It's an interesting concept, having stats that increase depending on the context. However, in practice it encourages player behavior that is not super fun. You are rewarded for entering easy fights and hitting your characters or spending all your mana in one fight. I particularily hated the progression of spells, requiring you to cast them hundreds of time before they level up. I just stayed with physical attacks most of the game since that was what I had put my time in. The dungeons are stangely laid out. They have tons of "trap" rooms that are completely empty but have enemy ambush you on the way out. Since I played the PS1 version of the game, I used the "Memo" save system every chance I got in dungeons to make sure that I wouldn't lose progress. I had to force myself to finish this game, even taking breaks with other games. I'm glad to finally have played Final Fantasy II, but one time will be more than enough I think. 6/10
Completed on January 20th (Let's Go Difficulty) My history with this game is that at the time of its release, I thought it was a bad PS1 port of Duke Nukem: Zero Hour on the N64, which I liked a lot. And so I slept on this game, not knowing that it was a totally different game, directly inspired by Tomb Raider. The original Tomb Raider game is another gem that I thought was bad during the 90s but that I can fully appreciate now. The 3D movement and gamplay in those games is a bit slower, more methodical than with something like Mario 64. Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun with Duke Nukem: Time to Kill. Even thought the frame rate is pretty low, it's never frustrating to fight enemies or explore the levels. There are some frustrating platforming parts, but you can easily make them trivial by making sure that you always have a jetpack on hand (one of the coolest gadgets of the game). The arsenal of weapons is large, diverse and almost all useful. The projectiles are hard to use because of the low framerate and long throw animation, but everything else feels like a blast to use in the right context. I had fun uncovering secrets in the levels and finding my way through well balanced levels in terms of size and amount of enemies. The bosses were a fun diversion for the few times that they appeared. The cringe macho humor has obviously not aged well, but everything else in this game stood the test of time. 8/10
Completed on January 21st I had pretty much zero knowledge of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai going in. I bought this game a while ago on the PS2 and never gave it much tought. I had only seen footage of the infamous PS3 follow-up and didn't bother looking up info about up the original. Turns out that it's a pretty solid little action game. The game plays like the other character actions games of the time, but the movement of the characters is especially reminiscent of Devil May Cry. The combat mechanics were simple but satisfying. The two characters felt very different to control but equally as useful, so you were encouraged to switch it out from time to time. I liked killing enemies in one blow with the big guy and and storming the enemies with a million hits with the other one. The story was simple and moved along at a nice pace. It was interesting to get "town" locations in an action game, to talk to NPCs and shop for items and weapons. I'm a little curious about the PS3 game now, we'll see if I end up exploring where the series went. 7/10
Completed on January 24th Extermination is survival horror game that feels like a cross between Resident Evil and Winback. There is a heavy focus on the "special ops" theme but still incorporates horror and sci-fi element throughout. The gameplay was mostly good. Your character moves fast and can mantle objects and climb at some places. This means that you have more freedom in exploring the environments (that include verticality) than in survival horror games with tank controls. The shooting was okay, but I didn't like the unreliability of the auto-aim, especially at shorter ranges. The survival aspects were kind of a letdown. You use a battery to power the save machines, but there is usually an infinite recharge right next to the save point. Same for the ammo, there are plenty of ammo distribution machines all over the compound. The story is a typical b-movie horror plot. The dialogue and voice acting however, were super bad. I would say that it falls under the "so bad it's good", but the rest of the game (mainly the written notes found everywhere) takes itself too seriously to be considered "bad-fun". A fun game for 2001 that hasn't aged particularily well. 6/10
Completed on January 29th (All Cups, 150cc) This is the game that I have played the most in the series, but I never took the time to actually win every cups in any power category. After many nights of trying and improving, I finally did it, and at 150cc! I am amazed that the SNES can run such a complex racing game with that level of performance. I always had a hard time playing pre-3D era racing games, it always felt like the vehicle was driving itself and I was just there to course correct to avoid obstacles. Super Mario Kart and F-Zero are for me the first two "real" racing games. You are 100% in control of your cart. The controls take a while to get used to, but have a ton of depth. You can play the game as a regular racing game, slowing down before turns and gaining speed in long stretches, or you can hop and drift around like a maniac to stay at full speed for the whole time. And to win the Special Cup at 150cc, I had to learn to drift in order to win. The first track of the cup is especially rough, you don't stand a chance if you play it safe. But, slowly but surely, you learn the mechanics and soon enough you are ZIPPING through the course and passing opponents left and right. It feels to good to have conquered the hardest challenge of this game. 9/10
Completed on February 6th (Practice Difficulty, True Ending) Oh boy, this is action platforming perfection! Ghouls n' Ghosts on the Genesis is exactly what I like in classic games. There is variety in the levels, enemies and bosses. With the world map showing up between each stages, you really feel like you are embarked on a grand adventure to save the girl. The controls are absoluetely perfect and the game didn't have any slowdowns that I noticed. Arthur responds perfectly to your inputs and depending on the weapon can PELT the enemy with projectiles. The is very well balanced, and I never felt cheated out of a life by the game. The checkpoint system is very generous and the infinite continues make me feel like I could probably take on this game on the "Professional" difficulty without too much trouble. This was a new experience for me, having never played this entry in the franchise. I have only completed the 3D Maximo games other than that. I think I'll try the SNES game to see if I have as much success. 9/10
Completed on February 11th (Normal Difficulty, 2 lives per continue, True Ending) I was pumped to have beaten Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but the game was so good that it also left me wanting more. I decided to boot Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts to see if I would be able to make it farther then when I played the game (miserably) as a kid. Turns out that I was able to beat the game, both loops! Admittedly, I didn't do it on my first run, not even on my second. It took me two tries and almost all my continues to defeat the true final boss, but I finally did and it felt like an amazing accomplishment. I think the reputation of this game is super undeserved. People call the controls "stiff", but once you master the double jump mechanic you discover that you actually have a lot of control over your jumps - you just have to think strategically about your moves. Same goes for the difficulty. People call this game "frustrating", but there are just a couple of areas where randomness plays a role, everything else is always the same (and thus can be learned). The bosses are super easy also. I had trouble with the last stage on the second loop because the game forces you to beat the game with the magic weapon, which objectively sucks (shoots slowly and has short range). This was though, especially the bosses of level 7. Although, with enough practice, I mastered the level, then the first boss and finally the second boss. The true final boss was a pushover like the other bosses. Again, I had a great time going through the experience of mastering an old game and improving my play on every run. I'll try to find another challenge ... Contra 3 maybe? 9/10
Completed on February 12th For some reason, I wasn't looking forward to playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor each night. Even though the game has a lot of good elements, it didn't gel together for me. I also think that I am getting tired of cookie-cutter AAA character action games. The main story was fairly entertaining, but the plot and events felts like something I had seen a million times before. Some elements weren't enough fleshed out and the motivation of most characters seemed paper thin at most. The combat was good when engaging enemies one-on-one, but felt frustrating when fighting against enemies. The AI wasn't tuned to wait their turn to attack you, so you were almost always taking hits while fighting one of the enemies, being stuck into an animation that you can't cancel. I think what bored me the most what that exploration didn't reward you with anything significant. The health and force upgrades were barely noticeable and the cosmetics were hit and miss. The game was also FULL of jank and bugs. The characters always spent a couple of seconds in T-pose in the ship before going into space. At some point, my secondary weapon just stopped functionning when I pressed triange. Another time, I lost performance mode and got into sub-30 FPS territory until I unlocked the next cutscene which sent me back to 60 FPS afterwards. The game isn't without its charms, but it's definitely an uneven experience that made me realise that I'm not enjoying AAA games as I once was. 7/10