Red Cog's Game Completion Log: 2023

Showing posts with label 2023. Show all posts

Sunday, December 31, 2023

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:

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.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

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.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

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.

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Sunday, December 17, 2023

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.

Friday, December 15, 2023

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.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Olija

Genre: Action Platforming
Time Played: ~5 Hours
Too Short/Long: It was fine, I wouldn't have minded a bigger game that explored the mechanics a bit more.
Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased, it was pretty fun.
Why I played: I had started it awhile ago and only just decided to pick it up to finish it, not exactly sure what got me started but maybe because it invoked Another World to me.
Recommend to others: Yeah, it's worth playing.

Olija is a pretty cool game that despite being more action oriented I think has some pretty obvious inspiration from Another World, though only Prince of Persia is cited as a source of inspiration, though I can see that too.

It's pretty solid, the main mechanic is you have a harpoon you can throw and then teleport to if it sticks into stuff/enemies. It just doesn't stick into plain walls and the ground. Later you get a sword that sticks into the ground you can teleport to, and while they do a small handful of puzzles with these, I would have loved to have seen that explored further. They could have done some pretty cool stuff with it, like an auto scrolling sequence, or some more involved platforming challenges. That said, it's pretty tight as is and maybe going into all kinds of other stuff would have been dragging it out. I had fun with it.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden

Genre: RPG
Time Played: 15 Hours
Too Short/Long: Feels just about right.
Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased, I really like these games.
Why I played: I liked the previous two Voice of Cards games.
Recommend to others: I would, if you liked the others. I'd suggest starting with the first.

I don't know if Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden is my favorite of the series. I think I liked the first overall, the most, but I very much enjoy each of these games. I know I had some complaints with the second as far as progression and character builds went and this went in the complete opposite direction.

The last one I know I complained a bit about how much you were forced to grind. This one doesn't put you in that spot as much and grinding is more rewarding anyway because that's how you potentially get new/improved skills. The characters were a little less each their own in combat, but it had the most customization.

Story-wise, it may have been the weakest just because the characters are so stubbornly set in their way and at least for me, rarely actually did what I wanted them to. There were definitely things I saw coming and was like "come on" when it couldn't be avoided. That said, playing it was less of a chore than the last, you're naturally incentivized to do combat, so even if it wasn't actually less - it felt like less, or at least more like the appropriate ratio of story/combat.

It was nice getting three of these games in a relatively short period of time and I do hope to see more Voice of Cards games in the future, but it would be nice if they did something more drastically different in the future, rather than another asset flip.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Sable

Genre: Adventure
Time Played: ~ 10 Hours
Too Short/Long: Technically you can end the game pretty early on I believe, but it also feels too long to do the majority of the content. I guess it's supposed to be a game where you just waste time doing stuff, but still.
Pleased/Disappointed: Very disappointed, for a game that looks as cool as it does, it just doesn't live up to any expectation.
Why I played: I had been meaning to check out Sable for awhile, but saw some comments in reviews that dissuaded me from checking it out in a hurry. I notice it was on PS Plus for the month and though I'd give it a shot.
Recommend to others: Not at all. Unless your favorite part of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom was the climbing... and even then, maybe not.

Sable is an absolute mess hiding behind an artsy performance of a game. Did I say performance? Perfect segue into how TERRIBLY this game performed. I played it on PS5 and this has to be the longest I've ever endured such a glitchy bug riddled mess of a game that hitched and lagged and stuttered anytime you even looked at your bike. So they must be fast, right? Psssh. The bike in the image above is literally the best of all parts in game, almost max stats in all categories, and it's a slog. It is clunky to control, flips around and goes crazy if you touch literally anything, but even on the open sands where it's perfectly stable jets by at a blazing... uhhh... 20mph at my best guess. It's barely twice as fast as on foot running speed. These parts are literally called "Speedster". Riding the hoverbike is not fun at all and it's basically the main, or second main thing. I feel like it takes a serious effort to make riding a hoverbike in a dune covered desert unfun.

The jank would be forgivable if the game was fun. It's not. It's not just that there isn't necessarily a single clear objective, or any kind of real action, but just everything, even the best of puzzles, just feel like going through the motions. I understand the intent, it's about the journey, not the destination, the story writes it out for you, you're on a mission to experience different things to decide on your true calling. This would be awesome, if the different things were fun to do. The game is clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild, in the way it approaches traversing the world and many other elements.(It came out before Tears of the Kingdom) but even the things that are directly inspired are not as fun. Curling up into a throwaway glowing sphere of an asset makes for the least cool gliding possible... and it always feels very slow. Climbing, also doesn't give you the benefit of offering a "fast climb" or leap, or anything, at the increased cost of stamina or anything like that.

When not in motion, Sable is capable of being a beautiful game to look at. More then once did I just enjoy the landscape and backdrop. But not to listen to. It's sound design sucks almost as bad as it's performance. There is very little music and a lot of sound effects are either poorly mixed or just plain annoying.

This is one of the worst games I have seen to the end.

Monday, December 11, 2023

Laika: Aged Through Blood

Genre: Exploratory Action Platformer (Metroidvania)
Time Played: 30 Hours
Too Short/Long: A little too long, just because of the kind of game play it is, you end up redoing a lot of the areas over and over, and it's a bit more arduous than just passing through in a more standard metroidvania, and things never really get easier, you can never tank more hits to make early areas a breeze. In fact, they scale up with your progression.
Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased. I loved this game.
Why I played: Mean coyote lady rides a motorcycle through a desert wasteland. This game was practically made for me specifically.
Recommend to others: I definitely would... IF you like games like Trials. I am pretty sure there are others that have that kind of gameplay, I am just not thinking of them at the moment. But it's basically QWOP for motorcycles. You have to keep them balanced or else you fall over and die. But yeah, if 20+ hours of Motorcycle QWOP platforming gunfighting sounds like a good time to you, I definitely recommend it.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a game that makes you go "Hell Yeah" when you launch your motorcycle off a ramp into a pit surrounded by enemies, pick off the first couple mid-air, then pull off a backflip to deflect incoming fire and reload, mid-air sideswipe to deflect a shot coming in from behind right back into the enemy, and fire off one more shot to clear your landing. At it's best it can be an exhilarating rush that puts you in the center of some of the best choreographed gunplay on a motorcycle.

At it's worst, it can be a bit frustrating because the controls are not always cooperative and you have to redo this entire section over and over. Or redo this entire boss fight which has several sequences that there is no way to hurry along. Or you have to return to this one area for the sixth time because of a side-quest. There aren't a ton of side-quests, so it feels important to do them, especially some more than others. But the rewards are minimal, just some materials you may already have a ton of or easier ways to farm. The currency, which is literally the blood of your enemies, could be a little easier to come by. I never "lost" any money past the first area of the game, and still had trouble affording everything I wanted by the end of the game. I had to play a lot of blackjack.

Overall the complaints are minor though. I had a hell of a time with Laika. The general gameplay is awesome, the music was amazing, and though each were very brief, the little animated scenes were a nice touch. The writing could have been a little better. It's pretty story heavy for the type of game. Some of the choices made and the subject matter in which they relate that to with the main story seems a little sloppy/clumsy, maybe in poor taste? But it's not terrible. It's just kind of "we get it" after they say something so many times. Kinda feels like they're trying to make a statement or prove something. That said, the game also made me cry several times, so the writing did well enough, but the atmosphere helps and they nailed that.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Rabi-Ribi

Genre: Exploratory Action Platformer (Metroidvania)
Time Played: 17 Hours
Too Short/Long: Too long. It should have ended at the "fake out ending" which is definitely not the real ending because nothing is resolved, it literally tells you there is more to play, and you don't get any of the "post game" content until after the second, "true ending".
Pleased/Disappointed: Kinda disappointed.
Why I played: I thought the sprite art was cute and this gets a lot of praise from people who like metroidvanias, and it sits at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam with over 9000 reviews.
Recommend to others: Not really. There is better of... everything this is trying to do. Even, very specifically what it's trying to do/be; there are better kawaii shmup metroidvanias.

Rabi-Ribi didn't impress me much. A lot of people really like it, but I just found it to be kind of a mess. The controls are messy, the maps are messy, the enemies are just kind of chaotic and go at you, the dialog/writing is... poor at best. It tries to employ a kind of coy titillation that I feel it's not even appropriate to say is only for "teenage boys" but rather, a certain kind of person who just really likes when things are surrounded with obvious innuendo but it's okay because there isn't any REAL sexual content? I dunno exactly how to put it, but it's the kind of stuff that makes the Neptunia games look like a form of high art. It just an excuse to have several girls run around calling each other "master" and do dumb anime trope stuff.

And there are games that do it better, at that. If that's what you're into it. It would be more forgivable if the game was genuinely good outside of that, but like I said, it's a mess. It's the kind of game you say "This was clearly made by one person" (derogatory), not "I can't believe this was made by one person!" (non-derogatory). That said I'm not even sure it's made "by one person" it just feels like it. It feels like someone's little pet project they worked on to practice game design. Everything is just so sloppy, and having fully played through it now, I just can't believe how much praise this game gets. I know my tastes are not always the same as the greater voice - I don't think Hollow Knight is that great, but I wouldn't call it a bad game and can definitely see why people are taken with it. This I just don't get.

I do REALLY like the sprite work, and if I am being completely honest it wasn't a completely terrible game. It was just messy, sloppy, and felt amateur in many ways and my expectations were higher. It also was unnecessarily long and has you go through quite a few grueling gauntlets. Which I may not have minding as much if the game was more polished, had tighter controls, and more direction with how it's enemies deal damage and how you avoid damage. You get a moment in each boss battle where it reminds you where your hitbox is, like a bullet-hell shmup where you only have a little diamond hitbox. But many of those you can press a button to always see your hitbox, or there is a clever indicator in it's design like the blue window on a red ship design, or a necklace's pendant on a character sprite. But none of that in this. That wouldn't have been enough though. It needed a lot.

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Genre: Action Platforming
Time Played: ~5-10 Hours
Too Short/Long: It's a nice quick romp with some replayability.
Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pleased with it.
Why I played: I like Castlevania games, but I guess more importantly I thought Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was amazing. I also wanted to finally get around to playing Curse of the Moon 2, and thought it was finally time to finish this.
Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it to anyone who like old-old school Castlevania. Not exploratory-action-platformers.

Curse of the Moon succeeds at what it's trying to do as an ode to classic Castlevania. It's strongest inspiration coming from Castlevania 3. It's a good game and can be knocked out in around an hour - give or take. I played through til I got most of the endings, as far as I am aware of, but I also split that between... years? Not sure. I know I have gotten a bad end, or maybe just not the "true end" so I'm not sure if I recorded this on here because of that. Usually I'll "qualify" a game as beaten on a credit roll unless it's a fake credit roll like Nier, or something.

This game requires multiple playthroughs to see everything and at least a few strategic uses of the "Curse of the Moon" feature. Which takes you back in time in the game but with stuff you have acquired. So some things can be a little repetitive and that might be why I took a bit of a break before finally fully finishing the game.

But it's fun. Having multiple characters, each with their own abilities and quickly swapping between them is fun. Having some modern quality of life features make it less stressful than some old Castlevania games can be. It's also a little quicker paced in general, which is a good thing.

I just wish the mechanical side of the game took some more modern approaches. Controls and whatnot. It would be nice to be a little less limited - per character, and not be locked in to your jump trajectory. Some of the platforming can feel pretty clunky/unfair because of it. Especially when knockback is involved. I say definitely play the game in Casual mode unless you love getting knocked into pits and restarting. I don't, and thought the game was way less fun until I tried casual mode, but then I had a blast.

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

Genre: Action RPG
Time Played: 23 Hours, 51 Minutes
Too Short/Long: It's complicated. If you just plow through the story, probably too short. If you aim to complete most or all of the missions, too long.
Pleased/Disappointed: Also complicated, I am pleased with fleshing out of certain characters and certain aspects of gameplay.
Why I played: I had been meaning to go back to Crisis Core for a long time. I played it on PSP and didn't quite get through it, though I think I got further in the story than I realized, I probably just got too caught up in the side missions.
Recommend to others: Hard to say. I wouldn't say it's essential if you're a fan of FF7. I wouldn't recommend it as your intro to FF7. But if you specifically want to see Zack fleshed out as a character, then yes, I would recommend it.

Crisis Core is an okay game that is just a few small missteps from being a great game. It has a fun system that just kinda offers random bonuses but provide little story sequences and allow you to use special moves. I think that it's kind of divisive, but I don't think it's bad.

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Saturday, November 25, 2023

Cocoon

Genre: Puzzle Adventure
Time Played: Somewhere between 5-10 Hours
Too Short/Long: Alright for what it is and I'm torn whether I wanted more or if more would have made it felt like it dragged on. I feel like It's probably solid if you do all the bonus stuff.
Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pretty pleased, it offered a relatively new experience.
Why I played: I've been hearing a bunch about this game since it came out and some of the mechanics in trailers and such looked pretty interesting.
Recommend to others: Yes? Maybe? I don't not recommend it. But it's a weird game and until I got around the ~60% mark I had no idea what I was even doing most of the time. But I liked it and if you like weirdo puzzle games go for it.

Cocoon is a weird game. I can't tell if it's genius game design or deceptive game design, but for a large portion of the game I just felt like I had no idea what I was doing. I was along for the ride and the environmental puzzles were my mode of transport. I felt like I was on auto-pilot just going from place to place and I can't tell if it's because the puzzles are just that intuitive or if this is just a walking simulator disguised as a puzzle game.

I want to say it's the former. I want to say there is just some amazing game design at play that combines a unique gameplay experience with zero narrative outside the visual context as you play and intuitive design that has you solving puzzles in the moment-to-moment as you encounter them.

It wasn't until I was probably further than 80% through the game that I had had to stop what I was doing for even a moment to think "How does this work...oh!" and even those moments were short, it often took longer to put the ideas in practice than to consider them.

There are also a couple "action" like sequences with the boss fights, but even those are more about solving and performing the action, so it's not enough to put this game into action territory, but those were fun, and I honestly expected more, but that's not what they were doing for this game. It at least helps break up the game a little bit and act as marker of progression.

It was a pretty good game though. You can put a world inside a world and then put that world inside itself, and that's pretty neat.

Friday, November 24, 2023

OneShot

Genre: Puzzle Adventure
Time Played: 8 Hours
Too Short/Long: Pretty much just right. I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into some of the puzzle mechanics though.
Pleased/Disappointed: It was pretty good, I was pleased with it.
Why I played: I had been wanting to play it for some time, it looks really cute. I never got it on Steam, and kept flip flopping on getting on Switch, because technically I already had it from an itch.io bundle. You can't really play OneShot on the Steamdeck... I eventually just caved and sat at my computer to play a game, which took a lot from me.
Recommend to others: Only if you really like digging deeper into what games have to offer as at face value. This game does some of the grunt work by literally telling you what you need to do at times. I think it pulls off some of it in pretty clever ways. I appreciate it, but it's not for everyone. Thankfully, I think the Switch version builds 100% of it into the game, so it might be the better option for most people.

OneShot is another one of those games that it's better to go in not knowing much... except, I don't think it really matters all too much, I never got the feeling the game was taking itself too seriously or that any kind of spoiler was going to ruin the experience. Either way, I'll err on the side of caution. It's pretty accessible and while it has some fun puzzles and such, more of it is pretty easy stuff presented in the style of old pc adventure games where you have to actually access your inventory and choose an item to use that is a appropriate for the situation, but the vast majority of the game is just going where you need to in order to progress. It's more about the journey than the trials and tribulations thereof. You just have to be willing to think outside the box from time to time.

To that effect, it does it's job and offers some innovative ways of messing with the game. Perhaps my main complaint is it doesn't do it enough? If you play through the "full game", the second half offers far fewer puzzles, only a couple the entire playthrough and doesn't really expand much on some of the introduced elements. I think they could have come up with a lot more clever ideas using some of the tricks they introduced, but overall it's a small game made by a few people, so I'm not complaining. I enjoyed it and it choked me up a bit at the end.

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Super Mario RPG

Genre: RPG
Time Played: 16 Hours
Too Short/Long: Super Mario RPG is pretty short for the style of RPG it is, but it feels right for what it is. It never drags, even if there are a couple spots that are a little combat encounter heavy. I guess I would like more, but it's one of the most accessible rpgs, so I feel like it's just right.
Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased. I mean, I love this game and expected no less.
Why I played: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is one of my favorite games. Also I have receipts of me saying I wanted to replay it about 3 months before the announcement of this remake, so the timing couldn't have been better.
Recommend to others: I would absolutely recommend this. To everyone. I feel like it's a game everyone should play, without exception.

Super Mario RPG is a remake of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. I don't know why they dropped the subtitle. Especially when there are other Mario RPGs. I feel like it's one of those title changes that only creates confusion. Anyway, I went in with a bias and strong nostalgia for this game. I don't recall if it was the first RPG I played, but it might be the first RPG I finished. I didn't really get into rpgs until I was 11 or 12 and had internet and I know I played this at least a few years before then. I would have been 9 when it came out and we moved right around the time I turned 10 and I remember playing it before moving.

Anyway, this isn't about when I played it, but that's how much the game is tied to nostalgia for me. Not only did I play it then, but I remember it being one of the first games I emulated, since technically I had only rented it(several times, mind you). I've since purchased digital copies of the game and played through at least one of them, but at this point it has been awhile since I played the game and earlier this year I got that bug in me again.

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Monday, November 13, 2023

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Genre: RPG
Time Played: 40 Hours
Too Short/Long: Generally the pacing is pretty good, until the very end, like the last few hours are tacked on. This may just be me personally.
Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased. There are so many classic RPGs I would love seeing get this exact treatment.
Why I played: Star Ocean 2 is an amazing RPG. I feel like back in the day it stood up there with the very best, but in recent years I feel like people have forgotten the praise this game used to get, maybe, partially due to some very divisive sequels, but I have never forgot, and this game does it justice.
Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has any love for classic snes/psx style rpgs. It is technically an action rpg, but not in the way modern takes on action rpgs are and definitely accessible to those who might prefer turned based.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a remake of The Second Story, and this time, for Real. Years ago they sort of remade Star Ocean 2 on PSP, but it's more like an "enhanced port". They actually remade Star Ocean 1, using a lot of Star Ocean 2's mechanics, engine, quality of life improvements, etc. To go along with that, they did an enhanced port of Star Ocean 2 with new art, new voices and some additional content, but it was still the same base game generally, using mostly the same assets and mechanics.

Second Story R is an actual remake, but still using some of the (previously new) assets and content. It's like them finishing the job, or fully realizing the idea. It's a very true to the original remake in that regard. There are still even more quality of life improvements, more modernization, but it's still at it's core almost the same exact game released 25 years ago. This is a game almost literally built on top of the old game, and I love it. It also goes to show how great this game always was. There are so many aspects that just feel like they're from a modern game that is trying to harken back to the good old days. Well, this is the good old days.

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