Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir

• Genre: Action RPG
• Time Played: 55 Hours
• Too Short/Long: A little long, it can get a little repetitive and monotonous.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased, it's one of my favorites.
• Why I played: After playing Unicorn Overlord I wanted some more Vanillaware flavored games. I tried playing a Vanillaware inspired game, but it just made me want to play Odin Sphere. So I played Odin Sphere.
• Recommend to others: Odin Sphere is probably a game I would recommend to everyone. It's just a great game, and even if it has some flaws, I think it's worth everyone trying it.

Earlier this year I had revised my favorite game list to include some stuff I had played in recent times, and Odin Sphere got bumped just off the list, scoring only 19 of the required 20 points or more. I reevaluated Odin Sphere now, with it fresh in my mind and bumped it back up to 33 points which coincidently places it alongside some very similar games.

When Leifthrasir came out, I played a little bit(apparently around 15 hours according to my old save) but didn't finish it because it felt all too fresh in my head. I supposed it was less than a decade after the original version's launch. But now, 17 years later, I got to the point where I only remembered certain aspects(and maybe the first dozen hours). The game can be a little long and feel a bit grindy at moments, like you're just kind of doing combat over and over again, but, that is also kind of the point. While I would still classify this as an "action rpg" the emphasis is on the action.

A Short Hike

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~2 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Maybe a little short, but fine for what it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It's cute. I had more fun than I expected.
• Why I played: I had received the recommendation a few times, and I technically had it, and I needed a little palette cleanser game.
• Recommend to others: I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but if you have it via a bundle, like I do, or don't mind dishing out a few bucks for a game that's only a couple hours of running around, sure.

A Short Hike is pretty much exactly what I wanted to play right now. A brief game where I can run around and do stuff and not over analyze, or really overthink anything at all. Just have some fun for a little awhile. It reminds me a lot of Lil' Gator Game and considering this game out before that, I can only assume Gator game was inspired by this. I neglected this for some time though, despite some recommendations, until my latest one, just because the forced perspective thing made it seem like it wouldn't be as fun.

It was fine, the game is still very charming and a fun little no-stakes hike up a mountain with a couple little mini-games and fetch quests along the way. 

Unicorn Overlord

• Genre: Strategy
• Time Played: 103 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I found the game to be very addicting for a long time, but there is a point at the highest escalation of power where it just starts to feel repetitive and they could have maybe trimmed it up to be a bit tighter. Of course I didn't have to do absolutely everything and spend hours upon hours optimizing my units, but I still think the sweet spot would have been about 25% shorter.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm really pleased with this one. I found the game to be very addicting. Not sure it tops my favorites like Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels, but it's a very fun game.
• Why I played: I was looking forward to it, and generally have enjoyed all Vanillaware titles, so I'll pretty much get all their games on release unless it looks like it's entirely not up my alley.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it. There is a demo, so I would probably make sure people try that first to make sure the gameplay is something you like.

I usually try to avoid playing one extremely long game right after another but here we are. I really liked Unicorn Overlord, and while I was very addicted to the gameplay loop for awhile, it started to wear out it's welcome toward the end and I just wanted to wrap it up. Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly recommend it. Just maybe you don't need to 100% it. Especially maybe not after playing an even longer game.

One thing I really like about this game, besides going into your big RTS/Tactical Strategy battles, you actually get to run around the world map and interact with things. You pick up stuff, you find your new quests by exploring, you even run into enemies you can do quick little battles with, and every little thing you do is worth something. This is what makes it so addicting, you're always getting something. When you do the bigger battles and progress, you're awarded with a lot of points to sink into upgrading your armies and often new characters.

A lot of the characters are great too. Sure with 60+ characters in your army, not everyone is the most interesting, and they don't all get the most time to shine, but I think with that many, there are at least a handful everyone is going to like. You can play entirely with the original characters, but if you're more worried about unit optimization, you can also recruit basic units of the vast majority of characters. Only a handful are wholly unique, mechanically.

I do think the game was maybe trying to do too much. There are just some elements that seem like they're not fully realized, and that's why maybe the game could have been overall a bit shorter, even at full completion. If it has a bit more focus, and more gimmicks to the big battles and less "filler" battles, it would have felt a bit tighter. You also get a bunch of unlocks at the end that you don't really have anything to do with except play the static challenge levels that are easier than the final level, and the final level. Not that I would play this kind of post game - but I think it could have benefited from some kind of procedurally generated post-game battle maps or something. Or restored maps with increased difficulty for the post-game. Even if it's just levels up enemies with boosted stats. For people who like that stuff. I don't. But a lot of other strategy games in this style do something like that. Here I am saying the game needed to trim down, suggesting a thing it should add, that I don't even want, so what do I know.

That said, I really enjoyed the game. I know some people criticize the writing/story, but I think a lot of the writing is just fine. Maybe the overall story isn't going to win awards for originality, but a game like this, I'm more interested in how the characters interact with each other, and it provides plenty there. Also, it's mechanically sound and as a pretty unique system that is extremely satisfying.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

• Genre: Action RPG
• Time Played: 125 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It definitely feels longer than it should be if you really wanna do everything. That said, it does seem like you can wrap the game up in about 40 hours, but the vast difference between a more completionist playthrough and mostly main story its far greater than I feel it should be.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Infinitely pleased. I have my criticisms, as I do with all games, but I haven't played a game that had me grinning ear to ear as much as this... probably since Remake came out.
• Why I played: Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game, along with Remake.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would recommend it to any Final Fantasy VII fan. Maybe don't try to squeeze every bit out of it, unless you're into that.

--Disc 1-- Remember

While playing this, there were various times I reminisced on the old days. 25+ years ago, when Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time were the undisputed best games of all time. Well, to say it was "undisputed" wouldn't be fair. People disputed alright. But in a time when a much smaller percentage of people used the internet and video games as a hobby were a bit more niche, any time there was a poll of something along the lines of best game of all time, it ultimately ended up with FF7 or Ocarina of Time. Best character? Link or Cloud.

Astlibra Revision

• Genre: Action Platforming RPG
• Time Played: 65 Hours
• Too Short/Long: The core game feels just right, but it's probably a little too long with it's Postscript in mind. Don't get me wrong, I WANTED to keep playing, but it has you redo areas, when you were likely already redoing areas over. It's not something I generally dig and usually feel could be integrated into the core game a bit better. Still, the revisit of old content is quick and abridged.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely please, I think I've got a new favorite out of this one.
• Why I played: I'd been following it for awhile and even remember seeing stuff about the original version and it's always interested me.
• Recommend to others: This is a definitely recommend from me. In fact, I am about to shoot over the link to a few people I was talking about it with in person. 

Astlibra starts out as a game filled with jank, cobbled together stock assets, intermingled with art from several different artists of very different backgrounds, obvious Game Maker-esque tilesets, royalty free music, questionable animation, writing that is hit or miss at times and probably needed another pass through an editor, and game systems slapped one on top of another.

And it never stops being that. But it owns that, and is maybe one of the best games I've played in recent years. Astlibra is fun to play, fun to experience, has great characters, and overall a great story with pretty good writing, even if it misses the mark from time to time. It's convoluted as hell but it's a time-traveling story and what time-traveling story isn't? I think there are clearly some spots where time stuff just happened to work out, because it was written as so, but overall it works.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode INTERmission

• Genre: Action RPG
• Time Played: 9 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I wouldn't have minded it be a bit longer. 3 Chapters would have been good.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased, I liked it more than I thought I would.
• Why I played: I wanted to get it out of the way before Rebirth came out, and I am glad I did.
• Recommend to others: Definitely. It's not a standalone product and it's technically a DLC, but... it is a stand alone little prologue for Yuffie with some other bonuses. You definitely have to play Remake first.

This is the reason I get so frustrated... infuriated even, when I see how many people cry out for what is just basically a 1:1 "Remake" of Final Fantasy 7 with better graphics instead of the Remake we are getting. The Remake we are getting which, is better viewed as series "reboot" or "sequel" really, rather than a "remake". I always say that "Remake" for FF7 is not a description, but a subtitle. I don't get why people are so against this when so many other series have gotten a kind of "reboot" to a similar degree with almost universal praise. "Fans" can be the absolute worst people.

If you want a 1:1 remake, there are plenty of high-res mods for the PC version.

Upon playing Remake I thought it was just the beginning of a masterpiece and playing Intermission only reinforced that. There are just so many nice little touches that even though I know there is a big giant behind it, I can't help but feel it's carefully crafted for/by dedicated fans.

Don't get me wrong, I kind of agree they delve a little too much into some of the more nonsensical aspects of the FF7 world in Remake and answering that by creating even more nonsensical aspects might not be the best decision, but I am here to see it through because as a complaint, that's pretty minor when considering other modern rpgs and the game is near perfection in every other aspect.

Obviously I have a level of bias as FF7 has always been my favorite game(/series), but I can't begin to express the sheer joy I experience when playing this.

Yuffie is better than ever. Originally, in FF7 she was a bit secondary - being a technically optional character, and maybe a bit annoying at times, but I absolutely loved her here, she is absolutely adorable, and very fun to play. It never felt like a real deviation from who she's always meant to be, just a more fully realized version of the character.

I loved it, and while it's status as a kind of bonus story DLC may technically make it optional to play before Rebirth. Just like acquiring Yuffie(and Vincent) in the original FF7, I don't consider it optional content.

Bat Boy

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: ~4-5 Hours?
• Too Short/Long: Feels about right to me.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I think I expected maybe a little more out of this one.
• Why I played: Looked like it took a good amount of inspiration from Mega Man games and Shovel Knight, both which I love.
• Recommend to others: Mmmaybe if you're a dedicated fan of the particular genre and really think the theming is groovy.

Bat Boy clearly take a lot of inspiration from Shovel Knight and maybe some from it's inspirations, but I definitely think Shovel Knight in particular laid the building blocks of Bat Boy's foundation. That's certainly not a bad thing as Shovel Knight is an amazing game, but I think Bat Boy leaves a little to be desired. The polish isn't quite Shovel Knight's level and it's otherwise a little uninspired as a whole.

It's certainly not a bad game, but it's just not all that special. I am kind of reminded of  Gravity Circuit, which I described as serviceable. Which this is. It's a game to play if you wanna play the kind of game it is, but I'm not gonna go out of my way to recommend it. It was fun enough and I'm glad I got to play it.

Tekken 8

• Genre: Fighting
• Time Played: ~5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: About right for a fighting game story mode, I wouldn't have minded a bit more, but I can still play through each characters little side story mode.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased.
• Why I played: Because I like fighting games, and even though Tekken hasn't always been my favorite I heard a lot of positive reception on this one, so I might have grabbed it a bit sooner than I normally would have.
• Recommend to others: Yeah, this is probably the best Tekken yet.

I haven't always loved the Tekken series. Even though I've always loved fighting games. I played a little Tekken 3 when the neighborhood kids wanted to, but just to appease them so we can also play some Bloody Roar and Ehrgeiz afterward. The first one I actually owned was Tekken 5 because it had a huge cast compared to any previous, and it added a beat em up mode where you ran around as Devil Jin. From there, I think I have gotten each Tekken, but it's never been one of my favorites.

That doesn't really change with this. When it comes time to play some fighting games my go to will always be Guilty Gear, then King of Fighters, then probably something that gets bonus points for having a real tag-team with 4 or even 6 players(shoutout DBFighterZ), whatever is the newest fighting game at the time, some weirdo random obscure fighting game... then maybe Tekken.

8-Colors Star Guardians

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: ~5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Fine for what it is, but I wouldn't have minded a bit more content.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pretty pleased, it was a cute game.
• Why I played: 2023 was the year of Kamen Rider for me. So far it's looking like 2024 is starting off as the year of Rangers/Sentai.
• Recommend to others: Sure, it's not an expensive game, and it's cute. If you like Power Rangers or tokusatsu stuff in general, it's worth playing through.

Star Guardians is a cute little game that I believe was originally a game jam game? "Chapter 1" I believe is the game jam content more or less and "Chapter 2" which is heavily expanded upon refers to the prior at a tutorial. I believe that's appropriate. The bulk of the content is in "Chapter 2" but there are also arcade modes and other challenges to mess with once you unlock everything. 

It's pretty much just a turn-based battle game where every battle has a gimmick or trick to it. You don't really level up, but you do gain new skills to use in battle and expand your team. There is some cute/funny dialog between the Guardians between battles and even special dialogs for when/if you lose that will hint or outright tell you how to win. It might be worth losing each one once just because some of them go off into a tangent and since the writing is entertaining enough, might as well get what you can.

I wouldn't have minded a bit more too it overall. I liked the team, I like the archetypical and parody writing. Nothing deep, but fun. There are a few stand out segments that are kind of their own thing, and I wouldn't have minded more of that to extend the game, and maybe they could have expanded on some of the other chance interactions, but it was fun for what it was.

Firewatch

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: A little on the shorter end. I wouldn't have minded them filling in some of the gaps in the map and giving you a few more reasons to explore.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty neutral. It's been recommended to me many times. It didn't meet expectations, but I didn't really disappoint me either.
• Why I played: Like I said, it was recommended to me a bunch. I definitely remember it trending a bit and seeing various articles about it. I wrote it off initially but decided to play it on a friends recommendation. This year I plan to play at least a handful of games specifically recommended to me.
• Recommend to others: Not really. It's fine. I wouldn't recommend against it, if you're interested, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

Firewatch is a game where you play as a man who is coping. It's mostly what some people call a "walking simulator". I don't really love the term because it implies there is very little to do other than to press forward, so I put it under the blanket of "PC Adventure" games, which are generally just narratives with interactions, maybe some dialog choices, maybe some puzzles, and that's what this has. You interact with the environment, you make a lot of dialog choices, and there are even some "puzzles" in the form of, what to do/where to go next.

It's fine. It's not particularly engaging, they could have offered me more reasons to explore around. I almost always learned that trying to stray off the beaten path was not worth it. There were maybe one or two easter eggs in "environmental" story telling off the beaten path, but really it wasn't worth just doing exactly what the game told me at all times. The characters aren't particularly likable. I understand they're supposed to maybe be flawed and human, but, both the main two characters partake in unreasonable emotional whiplash which really detracts from liking them or their relationship.

It does a good job at building intrigue and I felt like any moment "oh this game could turn around and make me love it" but it just kinda never followed through for me. I kept waiting and waiting for it to do the thing and it just kinda ended. I though it was going somewhere bigger, but it wasn't, it's exactly what it looks like and nothing more.

Sea of Stars

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: 40 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just about right, maybe drags in certain sections.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased. It was better than I expected and I was pretty excited for it.
• Why I played: I love the related material and the biggest inspiration; The Messenger, and Chrono Trigger respectively.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would, and especially to anyone who enjoyed the above mentioned games. Or to anyone who likes other throwback rpgs, like Chained Echoes.

Sea of Stars was pretty great. There is a lot I could talk about, but also a lot that I feel like is spoiler territory. It's kind of one of those games that is always revealing new stuff. The combat is fun, it's like a mix of Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG(especially remake). There are timed button presses when you do pretty much anything, and you can swap character in and out, though I don't recall the original Super Mario RPG did that, so maybe I should liken it to Final Fantasy X in that regard, even if it's far from the only RPG with that mechanic, it's one of the more popular.

The Chrono Trigger inspiration for combat comes in the form of the combo abilities and how combat is initiated and characters are placed etc. The Chrono Trigger inspiration doesn't stop there because it's really in so much of the game.

Game Completion List 2023

I guess the content of this list will be much smaller than the past couple years since I did individual blog posts for each one - if you are interested in what I thought for each game, you can just go to it's post directly.

In order of completion:

1. Haiku, the Robot
2. Biomotor Unitron
   
3. Breath of Fire 2
   
4. Neon Drive
   
5. They Always Run
   
6. Smelter
   
7. Metrico+
   
8. The Adventures of Nayu
   
9. Fur Squadron
   
10. Witch Explorer
    
11. Chained Echoes
    
12. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
    
13. Lil Gator Game
    
14. 198X
15. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
    
16. The Stanley Parable
    
17. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
    
18. Subsurface Circular
    
19. Final Fantasy XVI
20. Okami
21. Void Stranger
    
22. Gravity Circuit
23. Off
24. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
25. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3
26. Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger iX
27. Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2
28. Blaster Master Zero 2
29. Mighty Gunvolt Burst
30. Mega Man 11
31. Mighty No. 9
32. Super Alloy Ranger
33. Blasphemous 2
34. Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
35. Inmost
36. Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe
37. Stray
38. Salt and Sacrifice
39. Star Ocean: The Second Story R
40. Super Mario RPG
41. OneShot
42. Cocoon
43. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy Reunion
44. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
45. Rabi-Ribi
46. Laika: Aged Through Blood
47. Sable
48. Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
49. Olija
50. Sol Cresta
51. The Takeover
52. Witch Spring R
53. Slay the Princess
54. OPUS: The Day We Found Earth
55. The World Next Door
56. Divination
57. Quarantine Circular

Wowie kabowie, 57 games in one year. I didn't even have a set goal for this year, but I do think having this blog pushed me to strive to finish more than ever before. Not that many people actually read it, and despite me sharing it out to people, it really is only for my own purposes, to collect my thoughts and practice discipline when it comes to seeing the games I play through.

Does this mean I finished every game I played this year and I only played the above games? Not at all. I without doubt played hundreds of games this year. Some more than others. Some only for moments, a round of something here or there, some for quite a bit, some I just didn't finish(yet), like Valkyrie Profile, The Legend of Dragoon, Cyberpunk 2077 and Nioh 2. Some I don't even put here because I'm not even sure they qualify as "completed". Usually a credit roll is enough to qualify a game but there are exceptions. 

Fighting games for instance. If it has a singular story mode where you alternate characters while a narrative plays between battles, sure, I'd put it here, but does running through a single characters 8 match arcade mode count as completing the game? I don't think so. But sometimes they only have a basic arcade mode, so when do you count it completed, beating arcade with every character? I'll likely not ever do that... again. I think I did it with the original Soul Calibur and that might have been it. 

Also some multiplayer only games, or trial/challenge based or music games don't even have any way of performing a credit roll except accessing it from a menu. When do I possibly account for those on this blog?

Considering how many older games I invested my time into this year, it was definitely a year of nostalgia, where I indulged in many of my more formative interests. Whether those were remakes, replays of games I have already finished, or yet to be completed games I fell off of or played only sporadically. Some of my non-game interests support this too. Back in January I got back into Kamen Rider by finally watching a newer with Zero-One. Loved it. Been watching random Kamen Rider stuff non-stop since. I watched Shin Kamen Rider 3 times. Movie of the year for me hands down and that's saying something because Godzilla: Minus One was excellent, and that's also just another nostalgic interest we have here.

To wrap it up, what is my Game of the Year? Once again, I have a hard time picking. I will say that I'm going to review my favorite games of all time list and see if Final Fantasy XVI, Void Stranger, and Witch Spring R deserve a spot. Okami and Super Mario RPG are already on there. Star Ocean 2 might be, but I think 3 is still my favorite, even though this version of 2 was amazing.

It's kind of odd, but I think the games I would most recommend others play, are just the classics Okami, and Super Mario RPG. The remake of Super Mario RPG is nice, but play it either way if you never have.

I can't really decide between the three new ones so... Final Fantasy XVI was the best AAA action rpg I played. Witch Spring R was the best turned based indie rpg I played. Void Stranger was the best weirdo puzzle game with amazing pixel art I played.

Spoiler for 2024: I mentioned some games I was currently playing/didn't finish(yet) to give myself some accountability. Maybe if I feel guilty since it's written out for the world to see, I will finish them. That said, Sea of Stars is likely my first completed game for 2024. Let's see how this goes!

Bonus: Some of those "Year in Gaming" stats provided by the platforms, even though I am super mad at Nintendo for cutting out December entirely.

Quarantine Circular

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Fine for what it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I liked it, maybe not as much as the previous one.
• Why I played: I liked Subsurface Circular and wanted to check this out before playing Tron: Identity
• Recommend to others: I would play Subsurface over this. If you liked that, it's pretty much the same thing.

I liked Subsurface Circular because it seemed like I was doing more investigating, but Quarantine Circular seems more determined to tell a specific story that has a couple places where you can make decisions that will affect the outcome. I'm not saying it's bad, but it was less engaging. Also some of the dialog options felt like they really didn't fit. There is a little roughness where maybe I didn't unlock a previous statement but still got the next one so I was maybe missing context? Overall I liked it, it just seemed more straightforward and a little less inspired then the previous. I still really enjoy Mike Bithell's writing though.

Divination

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~1 Hour
• Too Short/Long: Definitely too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Disappointed by it's length, sure, it's neat, but too short to be much.
• Why I played: I just thought it looked cool. It was also really cheap, and on sale. I knew it was short, but still.
• Recommend to others: Not really. I wanted to look into the creators other works and that's when I came across this. It looks cool, but that's about it.

Divination is a game where you... divine the future. You have 100% accuracy, so whatever you divine comes true. I feel like this is a neat concept and with the flowchart option it allows you to use on replays of the timeline, they really could have explored some cool stuff beyond eventually coming up with the "correct" set. It has some cool story twists and connections for it's short form, but it feels like an unrealized idea that maybe they started work on and didn't really know where to go with it. I really like the 1 hour it has to offer, but it's just not enough for this type of game and there is otherwise so much potential with it's idea. Also it looks really cool and has pretty good music fitting it's atmosphere.

The World Next Door

• Genre: Puzzle Action
• Time Played: 5-10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I feel like the main story is actually too short. There is a lot more they could have explored, a lot more gimmicks they could have experimented with in the general gameplay, and more of the dialog they could have let you seen in your playthrough. There are a lot of choices and dialog that's exclusive to your playthrough, but otherwise no reason to replay and no manual saving. In fact the last autosave is pretty much just before credit roll. So if I wanted to see anything in the story, I'd have to fully replay.
• Pleased/Disappointed: A little disappointed based on the above, but otherwise I like the game and will try to play it in the future for the multiplayer.
• Why I played: Honestly, it's just that I kept seeing the cover image on the Switch shop and thought it looked cool.
• Recommend to others: Maybe? I think the puzzle mechanics are cool, and while I have yet to try multiplayer(because I wanted to unlock everything for it first), I think it could potentially be pretty fun, if it is, then sure, but I probably wouldn't recommend it for the single player experience alone.

The World Next Door is a puzzle game where you run around a field with your character, trying to match 3 or larger of various tiles in order to shoot spells off toward your opponent(s). I think it's pretty interesting and unique, and I am looking forward to trying the multiplayer, but the story was kind of lacking. Not that it wasn't interesting or the writing was bad, because I think the writing was decent enough, the way they present emojis with your dialog options is neat, and the various characters and relationships are neat. But it's just not really explored all that much. The story is kind over before you know it, leaving many things answered only in the vaguest sense. I just felt like there could have been more all around, but it was otherwise a cute game.

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 2-3 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Kinda drags for what it is, I feel like this could have been wrapped up in an hour, maybe 2 tops for 100%
• Pleased/Disappointed: I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, but I'm not ecstatic about it.
• Why I played: I really just played this one because I was interested in the others. Some of the newer Opus games come very recommended and this one can often be obtained very cheap. I felt like I needed to play this before moving on, regardless of whether they are related story wise.
• Recommend to others: Not really, the writing is cute, and it has it's moments, but it's not very engaging or "fun to play".

This is just a little pc style "adventure game" where you click around to find things to read, that give you clues on where to find stars through a telescope. There are literally thousands of clickable stars, but most of the important ones are just slightly bigger than others. There is even a mechanic that let's you see more hidden stars that are behind others that are too close/bright or other various celestial phenomena. I feel like they missed an opportunity to experiment with that further and make it more of a puzzle game, rather than just a random search, waiting until I get the automatic finding the thing I'm looking for mechanic. I know it's more about telling it's little story, but it was just so close to being a little bit more of an intriguing game.

I still overall enjoyed it, like, I don't regret playing it, and knowing this is the least interesting of the OPUS works, I am still pretty interesting in eventually checking out the other ones.

Slay the Princess

• Genre: Visual Novel
• Time Played: 3.6 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's fine for what it is, I personally would have thought it would have been fine to make you go through/find all possible routes before completing the game.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased enough, it was fun, and I had Alice play on the TV so I could watch her do a full playthrough too.
• Why I played: It just kept coming up in various peoples "end of the year" posts and such. I saw Slay the Princess from no less than 5 different sources in the past few days and I'm not sure if it was fomo or genuine interest, but it was enough to make me buy it. Plus I knew if I didn't like it, at least Alice would.
• Recommend to others: I would, if it seems like it's something that would interest you. Which is a pretty wishy-washy recommendation, but it's hard to recommend a visual novel as a must play. Especially one that's kinda weird, kinda violent, and just specifically what it is. It's not for everyone, but some people may really enjoy it.

I don't really have much to say about Slay the Princess that can't be summed up by a previous category. I guess to expand on the Too Short/Long, I could say, me personally, playing games the way I do - I wouldn't have minded an option to see more of the routes/options/dialog in a single playthrough. It does have multiple endings which provides incentive to play through multiple times, and from what I can see, you can do stuff differently enough to (almost, because some stuff you will see multiple times even in one playthough) not see the same situation twice. At least within two playthroughs, three might be pushing it. That said there is a good amount of content and variation for your choices.

Some visual novels border on "kinetic novels" which are really just digital comics, rather than a game, but this offers so many dialog choices and branching paths, it's definitely more of a choose your own adventure and makes it feel more like a "game" than many visual novels do. Which I do appreciate. I think some of the dialog and story was meant to be thought provoking in a way that makes it seem a little try hard, but if you can appreciate it on the surface level, I think that's fine, and maybe better.

Witch Spring R

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: 42 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I only played so much because I think I did pretty much everything you can do. There is a bit of back and forth grind that it simplifies, but it could have been made a little easier with more shortcuts or more/better mounts and expanded the story a little bit, to be a bit longer.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased, pleasantly surprised, I think it's another for the top favorite games list.
• Why I played: I loved Witch Spring 3: Re:Fine. At time of writing, a tabletop roleplaying character I am currently playing is largely based off the character from WS3.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would. The problem is it's PC only right now and the devs don't seem to have any plans for a console port. So if you're amenable to PC games, don't wait. They seem to be working on other stuff for console. It feels like it should be a Switch game though.

Witch Spring R is a remake of the first, a mobile game that wasn't a micro transaction heavy service game but just a cheap little rpg for a few bucks. The improvement is DRASTIC. I've played a few remakes this year and this one is the biggest leap by far. This is everything built from the ground up, all new graphics, music, content, art, content/story that was in the 2nd game mixed in, etc. A fully new game. I didn't play the original, because at the time it wasn't localized, but I have previously watched some videos and stuff like that. I just found out all Witch Spring games are now localized and have to wrestle with if I want to figure out how to play them since my phone runs a version of Android that is too new for them, or just hope and hold out for more remakes/ports.

It's gameplay style is another reason I think it would be great on Switch. It's very easy to pick up and play and as you progress you get the ability to quick battle weaker enemies to farm them for materials, since you have to make/upgrade most of your equipment/items yourself. You can play it so easily in short bursts that it very much supports grab and go, or sit down play and being able to suspend games and walk away easily, is something the Switch seems to handle a bit better than other modern consoles, even though other consoles could do that as well, PC just seems like the worst choice... but it's the largest audience, I get that too.

The Takeover

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: ~3 Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: It's about right for your standard beat 'em up that doesn't have character progression, so it doesn't wear out it's welcome.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased overall. Just disappointed about some parts.
• Why I played: I had heard/looked at this one a few times and Alice just happened to mention liking some of the Beat 'em ups we have played recently while this was on sale 85% off.
• Recommend to others: Sure, if you want a very classic beat 'em up with more modern styling.

The Takeover isn't anything too special, but it's alright. It's a very solid take on the very classic beat 'em ups. There isn't any progression and it's just 7 stages with a couple bonus stages mixed in. Very much Final Fight, a little Streets of Rage. There aren't many fancy combos, but it does a lot while keeping it simple. Standard kick/punches that can be modified by pressing up or down to launch or ground the enemy. Grabs with throws or repeated punches. Dash attacks, jump attacks. "Rage" which is a meter for temporary invincibility and a super that attacks everything on screen. There is also the special that you can use any time but eats health.

I like beat 'em ups, but one thing I never loved is the universal special that eats health. I would be fine if it was just a specific characters special move, but I just rarely ever feel like the special that eats health is worth it so I almost never use it, so it feels like a wasted thing. Other than that, my only real complaint about this game is the Bonus Stages - which are super cool, do not even come up in multiplayer. It just entirely skips them. I can easily see how they could be modified for multiplayer, and even if they couldn't. Just let only one person play them. It's fine. Skipping them altogether seems like the worst way to handle it - especially since they are so cool. I feel like some people who maybe only take the chance to play these kinds of games multiplayer may not even be aware of these stages.

That said, I wouldn't have minded more bonus stages like that. I know some people don't like multiple genres within one game. I saw a review that was like "I don't want driving in my fighting game. If I wanted driving, I would play a driving game." but screw them. I like that kind of stuff, a lot.

Oh there is one thing that does kind of set this one apart that I did like. You always have a gun on you, and while you start off stages with no ammo, you can find it pretty easily and whip out a gun by holding the right trigger to fire it any time. There are also some guns and other standard beat 'em up temporary pick-up items, but always having the side-arm was kind of cool.

Sol Cresta

• Genre: Shoot 'em up
• Time Played: ~4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: The levels are pretty long compared to your standard shmup and there are 8, and the "Dramatic" mode, which is essentially the actual story mode, makes things play out a little longer. It's a solid length for a shmup, but you can probably knock a full playthrough out in less than a couple hours.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty pleased. Wasn't sure at first, but once I dug into it I appreciated it more.
• Why I played: Like fighting games and metroidvanias I get most shmups I come across worth any salt. Sol Cresta specifically though, was developed by Platinum and co-directed by Hideki Kamiya, awarding it quite a few bonus points.
• Recommend to others: Definitely would recommend it if you like shoot 'em ups at all. If you don't like shmups, it's not going to change your mind and it's not the most accessible for newcomers.

When I first tried Sol Cresta, I had no idea what was going on. It just seemed like a chaotic mess that did little to stand apart from any other shoot 'em up. When I recently tried picking it up again, I still had no idea what I was doing.

It took a bit getting used to, and I had to re-read it's in-game manual like three times, but it eventually clicked. There are only two buttons, shoot and split/dock. But those two buttons go a long way. Shoot can be pressed rapidly or held for a charge shot. Split/Dock allows you to rearrange your three ship squad into various configurations in two different ways. The first is simply the order of the ships, which will form from top to bottom(wish I had this information before playing), and your primary fire will be from your front ship, and your secondary fire from your last ship. Your middle ship determines which "charge shot" you use by holding the shoot button. A drill, laser, or homing missles. Pretty standard stuff for shmups, after grasping out it works, I appreciate the execution. Each type of shot affects different types of obstacles. For example, red shields only come down with lasers. Drills break up rocks.

The other way to use the split/dock is to do "formations" which your ships temporarily do not reform into a big ship, but hold a specific formation which your two extra ships will be able to block shots with AND you'll fire some kind of super shot which has the effect of all three kinds of shots you can do. The pattern/style of the super shot is determined by your formation. There is also an "ultimate formation" you can only form after collecting each formation chip in a level.

One more thing split/dock does. With a timer in which to use it, it also technically slows down time. The game gets VERY tough in it's later stages and I imagine a more flawless execution than I preformed is extremely dependent on strategically slowing time and at the same time reforming into ideal forms with a grace I am not capable with my limited time in the game.

I did finish the game, but it's not easy, and as is the case with many shmups simply "finishing" isn't the end goal, it's do better, do perfect, etc. Sol Cresta seems to offer a lot to unlock/replayability, and in my playthrough I was a bit distracted by trying to pay attention to the story which I have to actually read as action is happening on screen because it only has Japanese voice overs. I would probably fare better in arcade mode, but those last areas are still a huge spike in difficulty compared to the earlier areas. There is just so much constantly going on. It's bullet/enemy hell, with level obstacles/objects, with triggers dependent on your formation. It's a lot to manage at once and can be overwhelming.

I do appreciate the call-backs and the fact that it expanded upon what were some pretty simple old games, and that it tried to mimic various styles of shmups over the years, using standard sprite work, pre-rendered graphics, low res textures, and a whole lot of aliasing. You can tell the people making it had a passion for shmups as a whole.