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Post by dsparil on Jul 18, 2024 17:29:56 GMT -5
So what's the rule again when it comes to tag team fighters, like the MvC series? 8 times with at least one character varying.
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Post by personman on Jul 19, 2024 12:14:30 GMT -5
Super Paper Mario (Wii, first time, 25 hours) I always enjoy looking at the odd ducks of a series ( well, not always) so even way back when I finished the first PM game I had to take a peek at this one and was amused that there is an early game over you can hit right at the start just by refusing the call to action. I always get a kick out of that. Little did I know this game would surprise me in some ways I wasn't expecting and I'm not just talking about the gameplay. Like TTYD certainly had a very un Mario like script but still kept itself pretty on model with its setting and such, this on the other hand is so out there you could have called this like Picasso Man's crazy road trip or something and removed it from the series. It admittedly took me a bit to warm up to but eventually it won me over and honestly I just find Mario being juxtaposed in places or situations you don't think he'd belong fun but when other series try to do it usually bug me but for some reason I'll give Mario a pass even if its bad. I like the setting for TTYD much more but with how wild this one goes I like it plenty as well but I was really surprised how much the story just GOES for it. Despite trying to be jovial on the surface the story is out right dire in its stakes and centers around two very tragic characters, you've got a malicious puppet master trying to stab everyone in the back, a shape shifter that decides to go 'fuck arachnophobes in particular'. Oh and you see a world get reduced to a lifeless void then shortly after you also go to hell; and heaven. Pretty much a mishmash of the Greek underworld and Dante's Paradiso cause MARIO right? Seriously. On paper (heh) it looks like it jumps the shark but if I'm being honest the story was one of the biggest things motivating me to keep going forward, it just worked I think. Hell even when it dedicates an entire chapter to mocking obnoxious nerds I did smirk thinking gee, kind of a low hanging fruit (not that I'm defending who their mocking) but they ended up making me laugh towards the end. Not to say that's all that got me through it as the actual game itself was plenty fun too. At first I was cautious since early on they toss some platforming at you that would be utterly obnoxious to do but you end up just switching to 3d and walking around it. Thats really cute and as someone who hates masicore romhack bullshit it put a smug grin on my face but I suspected that it would be the games one trick and therefor would run it into the ground. As I went on though nah, I felt like it had enough gimmicks and interesting twists to keep me hooked just fine. Really even though they have switched to a platformer action rpg type thing most of the levels feel much more like dungeons you would find in the last two games just more platformy. It may not be perfect but I thought it all worked just fine even if a lot of the hold over rpg bits feel a touch vestigial. Like leveling up is fine and all but the same huge list of items is present and feel a touch pointless; especially with the huge list of things to cook still being around. There is this big huge bestiary thing that actually takes a bunch of effort to fill out for not much reason than padding the game out. They don't exactly hurt anything but I think if they were to give this formula a shot once again they could stand to cut the fat but that may just be me. The boss fights are really weak too but their painless enough to get through so whatever. Otherwise I like all the little pixl things you get as most get good use and even the different characters to switch between I initially thought I wouldn't bother with since Mario is the only one who can flip dimensions but no I ended up getting really good mileage out of Bowser with Peach and Luigi being integral to later chapters. It's pretty good stuff. Honestly I'm pretty impressed! TTYD left me with wanting a proper sequel and now I want the same for this lol. It was a fun unique experience with both gameplay and memorable as one of the crazier games in the Mario series. Skimming over wiki articles as I played through this I vaguely recall the director saying this game was actually really hard to make and it sounded like there wasn't much interest in pursuing this style. I can kind of see that, having to pretty much make two levels on top of each other sounds like a headache. I also get the impression this game is pretty divisive since this marked the series departure from its roots probably prompting bitterness from the militant TTYD fans; the hell with them though I thought this great. It definitely has room to improve for sure but I loved it and would love to see someone take another stab at it someday. Also bonus points for being a Wii game with minimal waggle bullshit. Rating-8 Welp, as I can rarely get myself to not play things in order I suppose Sticker Star is next. Do I dare? Maybe after I finish my Majora's Mask playthrough (finally) I'll at least give it a peak.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 19, 2024 15:57:21 GMT -5
[EGGCONSOLE] Popful Mail [PC-8801mkIISR] (Switch / PC-88, First Time)
Popful Mail, the game we all know and maybe loathe from Working Design's gameplay butchering of the Sega CD port; get the Unworked Designs patch if you're going to play it. The original game for the PC-8801mkIISR feels a little like a mea culpa for Ys III. You have your red-headed bounty hunter Mail going through side scrolling dungeons but with bump combat. Mail's melee attacks are the only ones that are actually meant to be used this way, but every character does at least a bit of contact damage with any weapon. Aside from that, the Sega CD port has the rough contours of the original, but there's substantial differences including different bosses and map layouts. I probably wouldn't pick this over the patched SCD version, but it's still nice enough.
Rating: 7
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Jul 21, 2024 17:59:50 GMT -5
100 Pumpkins 2 (Steam, first time, time is in the image)
Yes I know, I have died a huge number of times in this game, to be fair I never was too good at precision platformers and the like, and after some time I stopped caring (also because the only way to get a good ending is to have <10 deaths, but it's not worth it for a single image and an achievement), but I wasn't mad at the game since it's quite clever and well-made. I didn't play the first 100 Pumpkins game, it looked like a C64 game and was structured like it, this sequel has still the same basic structure but it's much more polished. Basically the world is a map divided in a 10x10 grid of single flip-screen areas, every single one has a pumpkin hidden in it somewhere and we have to pay attention to the screen's title (every one of them has a name, just like in computer games of old), the graphics or other hints, and bringing them back to the home screen will give us some items (keys, double jump, run) to bypass the various obstacles and catch the damn orange fruits. Our only tool is a pitchfork that has a surprising number of uses, from weapon to makeshift platform, basically the game is a pocket-sized metroidvania with lots of platforming challenges, four (or more?) bosses, a fast travel system and several points where we have to think outside the box or do some oddball stuff including to play a mini-game inside the game. Very creative for what it is, and a huge improvement on the previous game despite being still made by the same guy all alone, so even if it's pretty frustrating at times and the music is horribly grating, I will still give it a high score. 8/10
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jul 22, 2024 12:30:27 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate NS FTP 12 hours
It's Hades but with the Ninja Turtles! Just not as refined. It lacks the variety in dialogue, achievements, and build capabilities. A lot of that stuff is there but the powers and builds end up being kind of samey and the new dialogue runs out early on fighting the bosses. Each Turtle has some unique skills and the multiplayer is an interesting wrinkle that I never tried. Like Hades you progressively unlock bonuses that make each run a little easier. Eventually I hit a point where the only way I would lose is if I attempted all the challenge rooms so the difficulty is lower than Hades but I had fun getting to that point. The loop of making it to a new floor and boss only to get spanked learning the pattern and coming back next time more prepared is satisfying.
Took me seven runs to beat the game the first time and to clear the story you need eight wins total. Thus far I have twenty-three runs and twelve clears and at least one per Turtle. Raph and Mike are the best Turtles. If you like the license I would give it a try. I did encounter a couple crashes while playing (mostly opening up the artifact menu in the shop) but the game saves at each floor so I never lost any progress to this. It would be sad to see people ignore this as simply another licensed cash in game because it really is good.
Aside: They cast Yuri Lowenthal as Mike and all I can hear is Yosuke from Persona 4. It is kind of annoying. Like someone said 'Hey Yuri do an original TMNT Michelangelo impression!' I like him as a VA but for some reason it bothers me here.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 22, 2024 13:26:13 GMT -5
Veigues Tactical Gladiator (TurboGrafx-16, First Time)
I kinda hated this at first, but then I read the manual. This isn't too bad for a mecha action game, but the controls are a bit too clunky.
Rating: 6 but a high 6
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Post by dsparil on Jul 23, 2024 10:30:58 GMT -5
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II (Switch, First Time)
I thought the first Spirit Hunter, the originally series-less Death Mark from 2018, was an okay horror VN with room for improvement. The follow up, NG in 2019, improved the adventure portions but the story still left something to be desired. After five or so years, the direct sequel to Death Mark improves some things but is mostly a regression.
For the positives, the main story is stronger. The nameable protagonist of the first game is now a paranormal investigator having been dragged into it. He gets called to investigate a school where students are being targeted by a malevolent spirit calling itself The Departed which uses other spirits to do its bidding. Most of the game’s seven chapters deal with a specific spirit and general setting and premise ties in the spirits less attached to the main plot in a better way than the previous games.
The problems of the game pretty much all boil down to its lower budget compared to the others. While the adventure portions of those were presented as 3D dungeon crawlers, this one is pure 2D side scrolling mostly in identical school corridors. The amount of adventure gameplay is also reduced by a large amount. It’s so minimal that this really might as well have been a regular VN that occasionally threw some small gameplay at you.
I finished in 11:51:44 plus a fair amount of extra time not captured by the time but whatever.
Rating: 6
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jul 24, 2024 4:16:13 GMT -5
Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer (PlayStation; Replay)Since I already revisited the other two PS1 Spyro games earlier in the year, I thought it'd be nice to finish off the trilogy with the most summer-y game during... well, the summer. I've always associated Gateway to Glimmer (justice for the PAL title) with this time of year. That's partially cuz I bought this specific copy back in the summer of 2011 and also Spyro's planned vacation gets interrupted, but mainly it just feels right. The trilogy is at the mid-point with a kind of vim and vigor that comes from being the second, more confident shot at its concept, you're basically a tourist visiting various new cultures full of folks and activities, and there's a sunny optimism in the music and colour design that I don't view as strongly elsewhere. In terms of vibes, Spyro 1 is more of a spring game and Year of the Dragon is absolutely an autumnal/winter game. When it comes to replaying the games, I'm not as inclined to revisit 2 as the others, and that largely comes down to the mission-based structure. While it allows each level to be mechanically unique in how you go about exploring and completing the main goal, it doesn't offer as much freedom in doing what you like as the collectable-driven style in 1 and 3. At least not until you've found all the Talismans and can now focus on collecting enough Orbs to fight Ripto, but that's most of the game done with by then. It doesn't help that I'm not that keen on the final world's batch of levels, nor a good few of the side missions in most of the areas after Summer Forest. I just skipped over those unless I absolutely had to. For what it's worth, I still agree with most of the things I said in my Hardcore Gaming 101 article. What's changed is me, that I'm not as tolerant of those side missions as I used to be. On a more positive note, something I've learned to appreciate is how - with its greater story focus and well established world - Gateway to Glimmer's got the blood of an RPG flowing through its veins. More spiritually than mechanically anyhow, think along the lines of Tail Concerto or Sonic Adventure rather than Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. It's always a good time revisiting the PS1 Spyro games, especially after so much time away, and I even bothered to stop and smell the roses in a couple places. I don't do that anywhere near as often as I used to, to simply chill out and watch the skyboxes for a while as the rad music plays in the background. Maybe that's something I should try to do more often. Hopefully I'll find a way to do it.
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Jul 24, 2024 10:42:51 GMT -5
Tres-Bashers (Steam, first time, time is in the image though the Steam timer is close to 9 hrs) Idiotic title aside, this is an example of a retro title done right and a good short-form metroidvania. This little rat dude Terry has his friend kidnapped by Sasquatch, are you a bad enough dude to confront the hairy bastard's army of cryptids and various bizarre monsters? It was made by a lone developer ondydev, who is specialized in retro-style titles with this one imitating various NES titles, most notably the cult classic Ghoul School. The movement is slightly clunky, mostly because to defeat cryptids you first have to shine your flashlight on them and you can't change direction suddenly when the flashlight is on. The world is not huge but all the areas are very interconnected and finding keys is not an issue, even though there are gates blocking certain areas if you haven't bashed enough enemies there's mostly always a way to bypass them. Most of the game is set in a haunted school, but there still are a variety of other environments including a big UFO, a temple in the sky and a mountain full of caves and forests. The scope of the game is to defeat five bosses to get the relic that open the gate to Sasquatch's hideout in the clouds, but there's still other things to do if you want including to bash every single enemy in the game (I came close to it...), recover a series of weapons, unlock the additional area with hidden boss that is much harder than the lame final fight (the disparity in the time of completion is also due to the fact that I wasted a hour in trying to beat it...), and collect all of the monsters' descriptions scattered around. Very enjoyable overall if you like metroidvanias and retro titles.
7.5/10
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Post by personman on Jul 27, 2024 12:59:02 GMT -5
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS, first time, 40 hours) I've had this thing sitting in my 3DS for 5 years now, or rather I did before I broke my last 3DS. Heed my words: resist the siren call of doing a shell swap or anything else involving disassembly with these things they are an utter NIGHTMARE to work on; least thats the case with the New 3ds XL models anyways. That aside I don't think I have a whole ton to say about this one since I'm sure just about everything that could be said has at this point. Suppose I'll just do some bullet points of things I found interesting. - The ad campaign for the original was really striking with the magazine ads being even more so today as an American.
- You read about the dev history for this and it kinda sounds like it began as a dare by Miyamoto. The crazy crunch they did to get this out in 15 months may have influenced the odd more grim tone the games has I feel.
- Aliens
- With all the stories of Miyamoto 'flipping the tea table' I hear about I can see the Mask Salesman being based on him. If only because I'd love to think of him running around the office doing this to people.
- I remember a big petition called project moonfall going around to get this game re-released making the rounds back in the day (I mean nevermind it was re-released but I heard the Gamecube port was pretty much unplayable). I scoffed at it figuring petitions never worked but hey, like 4 years later this came around so maybe? Sure hope no one is holding their breath on an official Mother 3 localization though.
Annnd guess I'll ramble anyways, fuck it. This is a case where the game is an absolute masterpiece but I'm not sure I like playing it as much as Ocarina. The whole focus on timed events is just fine and there is enough sign posting to piece things together and figure out where to go and when but I just don't care for it personally. Yes the song of double time is a god send with how it works now but I still just followed a guide to get most of the over world busy work out of the way soon as possible. Once I cleared most of that I was good, just can't really stand following time sensitive stuff. Otherwise no complaints save for the stray fairies in the dungeons, the time limit is of no consequence otherwise but tracking those stupid things down and returning them in time was really annoying and made things a bit stressful. I kept telling myself to just dedicate a cycle to finding just them after clearing the place but I'm too stubborn and pulled it off save for Ikana Canyon's temple. That's on me though. Otherwise nothing to really complain about for this version. The graphics are a wonderful glow up, particularly how cozy all the Clock Town homes are. The QoL changes are fantastic as far as I can tell I kinda co-oped the original with a friend so long ago I can barely remember it but the retouched boss fights seem pretty good if still rather easy; though Twinmold is way worse. I also really like the vaguely off vibe the game has as many love to laud it as the 'darkest Zelda' and yeah I guess so but I always felt like it just holding back a bit too much. Like its on the cusp of REALLY being super grim and spooky in places but just softens it enough winding back to being kinda typical again. Sure, there are some pretty striking messed up things hidden in some of the nooks and crannies but other than that its still pretty squarely on brand. It's fine really just if it were up to me I would have gone farther, not saying Zelda needs blood and gut everywhere far from it but if we really want to call this the darkest Zelda I think it needed a little more of a push to really earn that. But as someone who is not super attached to the series I'm willing to push it farther than it should go I'm sure. Again, it's fine, game has plenty of charm as is. Its tough for me to say if I like Ocarina better or not. I appreciate that it experimented and ended up nailing it so well but I think I just find the more straight forward nature of the former more my speed. I mean the fact I've been on and off with this game for nearly two years says something. Perhaps I'll consider a replay of Ocarina sometime this year and see how well it can hold my attention, they both have such strong merits that deciding which one is better is kinda a fools errand I say they're both about perfect in their own ways. But yeah I'll stop rambling now, this is great and you all know that lol. Rating-9
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Post by dsparil on Jul 28, 2024 16:23:32 GMT -5
Fairune Origin (Switch, Replay) Fairune Fairune 2 Fairune Blast
Perhaps sensing that there’s a new Fairune coming this year, I suddenly decided to replay the Fairune Collection. Actually I just don’t really having on my plate until the new FDC comes out, but the games were on my mind for some reason.
The first Fairune was a flash game way back in 2009 and is slightly updated here as Fairune Origin. It’s a very simple game with only a handful of screens. Find the four fairies while fighting some filler enemies and use some items along with way. Not too much going on here and it’s super short.
The full Fairune is basically Hydlide. This was less evident to me the first two times I played it, first on 3Ds and then Switch, but even the logo is reminiscent of it. The combat is a major difference. It’s technically contact-based but enemies die in one hit if they’re “correct” for leveling, lets call this same level enemies and the game tells your target should be, or lower. Same level gives 1 XP and a loss of 1 HP, lower level enemies just die with no HP loss or XP, 1 level above does more damage and gives 1 XP, more than 1 damage you more and more without dying. It’s a quick game, and the enemy guidance gives you some gentle nudging.
Fairune 2 though is an example of bigger not being better. It does slightly revamp the leveling by giving you more XP if you defeat a higher level enemy and you can go above your level a bit more which is a plus. There’s also more explicit story which is a little lateral since it’s also overly skimpy for how complicated it is. That extends to the gameplay which does feature a large world spread over multiple discrete areas making it about 3 to 4 times the size, but it’s all too maze like and confusing. There’s too many things to collect, and it’s barely clear at times what you’re really supposed to be doing. I don’t know how anyone could reasonably finish this without a walkthrough and keep their sanity.
Fairune Blast is a simple 2 minute caravan shooter and that’s it. I guess it’s technically a game that came be completed, and I did for all three characters like I did in 2018 before I ran this. I actually did put in a fair amount of time trying to get higher on the leader board, but the highest scores are 3x what I could do. Not that I was trying to top it or anything, but I feel like there's something about it I could never quite figure out.
I finished in 00:08:06, 02:01:05, 04:17:54 and I’ll say 00:06:00.
Rating: 6, 7, 6, 6
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Post by lurker on Jul 29, 2024 11:19:42 GMT -5
Revising my plan and tackling the main two Darkstalkers sequels before I get back to Vampire Savior 2.
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Post by excelsior on Jul 30, 2024 6:48:52 GMT -5
Marsupilami: Hoobadventure (Switch, First Time, Some Hours and a few minutes)
This is a pretty nice Donkey Kong Countrylike but the main difference is that despite aping the gameplay of DK (see what I did there?), for the most part, it doesn't carry across that series difficulty. Those tougher parts are saved for the DLC and optional content which does allow platforming vets to flex their muscles some. What it does retain from Donkey Kong is the movement with short momentum bursts and hop n' bop action being at the forefront of the action. Stages are nicely pieced together with a really good flow, allowing gameplay to feel upbeat and enjoyable moment-to-moment. Even collecting what become meaningless collectables feels worthwhile. Secrets are worth finding and add some interest beyond following the standard flow of the levels.
On the downside this is a clone game and, whilst it's fair to say it's a finely crafted one, nothing goes beyond what we've seen before. This simply isn't the most original platformer out there. It even retains the time trial mode, although it's still a nice bonus for those looking for more to do. I also must make mention of the inconsistent frame rate, which can feel quite jittery, which is uncomplimentary to the aforementioned flow of gameplay. I'd have to suggest playing this on a platform other than Switch if possible.
The core game is pretty short, with just three worlds. That said, for me at least, the DLC offered the best to see in this package. It adds a nice prehistoric theme, the most challenging stages and a further 'cataclysm mode' which adds a more difficult variation on those stages. The game is charming enough throughout, but I really liked being able to jump on and run from the dinosaurs that came from this theme. In my opinion the DLC is necessary to complete the package, although perhaps not suitable for those looking for an easier time.
Score - 7/10
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jul 31, 2024 4:38:21 GMT -5
I've been pretty bad at writing about what I've beaten recently, so I'll try log what I can before the month's out. Sonic Robo Blast 2: Sol Sestancia Part 1 (Windows; Replay; 1 hour 3 minutes)This was one of the earliest map packs I played for Sonic Robo Blast 2, back when I got way into the game round the summer of 2021. It popped into my head some weeks ago as the follow-up was finally released after a couple years' development, and I thought it'd be nice to revisit the first part so I was in the right frame of mind to check out that second game. I wrote about my first playthrough back in 2021, so I'll link to that here in terms of summarizing the plot and structure while I dig into any new thoughts I have. It's gotten a couple updates in the meantime which add new cutscene levels that flesh out and clarify the story, and that's a neat way of keeping things more in the moment. I got reminded of Half-Life on a couple occasions, how the journey felt like a continuous "one foot in front of the other" type adventure. Although I still enjoy a lot of the original artwork, both for the level textures and the countless characters who you can ran into, I'm not as jazzed about the level design. It feels a bit too cramped, often forcing you to slow down just you can squeeze into an area or make a turn. Perhaps it works best when you're playing as a slower character - I played as the Adventure Sonic character mod where Sonic has his moves and controls from Sonic Adventure 2 (my default choice for playing SRB2 these days), and while he's not as blisteringly fast as the regular Sonic, he's still a good bit faster than most of the usual characters. Shame it didn't go well with the intended flow of this map pack, to the point where I didn't enjoy it a whole lot outside of how everything's linked together. mb.srb2.org/addons/sol-sestancia.116/Sonic Robo Blast 2: Sol Sestancia Part 2 (Windows; First Time; 1 hour 13 minutes)At least I enjoyed Part 2 a good deal more. It follows directly on from the end of Part 1, where Eggman's taken control of the Sol Sestencia island and you're on the run. Eventually you find that a ragtag resistance team has been formed to stop his schemes, and you join up to help out however you can. This plays out through a series of varied and surprisingly expansive missions, with much larger levels that play nicely with speedier characters and keep up the game's flow. I was almost always impressed by how much can happen in a single stage, sometimes having an extended setpiece (like outrunning a countdown that you have to regularly restore) or jumping between a bunch of different settings and ideas. There's always something new around the corner, and I felt pushed to keep playing to see what else would happen until I eventually beat the thing in one sitting. Perhaps doing it in one go is also why I have a harder time recalling specific things, even though there's plenty of memorable stuff that goes on. Couple things I particularly liked were having a new hub in the form of Knothole Forest, and getting to revisit the first part's hotel and town under cover of night. That last bit was a much appreciated change of pace, being so quiet and letting you take a couple minutes to vibe with the place in a new mood (and also the gap in release time between made that revisit feel more emotionally significant). It's pretty much what I liked about Part 1 but with more polish and interesting stages, so I'd deffo recommend it if you enjoyed Part 1. As it turns out, there's a plan to make one more Sol Sestancia to finish up the story, so maybe I'll be back in a year or two to write about that if all goes well. : ) mb.srb2.org/addons/sol-sestancia-2.7136/
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Post by personman on Jul 31, 2024 20:02:00 GMT -5
Koudelka (PS1, emulated on Steam Deck, first time, 14 hours) With how much I liked the Shadow Hearts series it was only a matter of time till I got to this one. Finally found the time to sit down with it and its pretty easy to see why it's not talked about much and when it is its usually derisive; well save for like one of those hipsters that just excuses any obscure piece of media for the sake of it but nevermind. Whether you like this game or not you can't deny that it is very interesting in many ways like the mastermind behind the whole thing was Hiroki Kikuta who composed the Secret of Mana soundtracks among others which of course explains the music, sparse as it is being pretty cool. He then promptly left the company he founded right after making this too which is curious, wonder if the game not quite shaping up discouraged him or he just plain didn't like directing after getting a taste prompting the move to free lance composing. The development itself pushed the envelope with mocapped actors actually playing out the scenes themselves and turns out since they had to go to California to use a studio with good enough equipment that opened the opportunity for them to cast some local actors who actually knew what they were doing thus winding up with the game's best quality being a surprisingly great presentation. I'm not going to call the acting oscar worthy or anything and I've seen people over praise it for sure but compared to the usual fare you'd see in games at the time this was a huge jump and you know what even today I think it still manages to hold up. Sure, much of it is still hammy (especially with James) and some of the script is a bit stilted as you'd expect but it has a very charming stage play feel which is something you just plain don't see anymore, especially in games. It has charm in freaking spades and the actual plot itself is really pretty nice with it having extremely low and personal stakes for a JRPG which is refreshing. While Kikuta's claims of reading a hundred books of history and all that I'm sure is an exaggeration the research you can see is at least sold well enough for you to just roll with it. Throw in a ton of moody prerendered backgrounds that I always have a soft spot for and even decently done CG cutscenes (with everyone in their porcelain skinned glory) and you can't deny it deserves some props. So all this rambling and I'm not talking about the actual game and that's because its not great of course. Even if it isn't as bad as I've heard some claim it is legit bad and while I was able to get used to it one can't be blamed for being put off by it. This damn thing is just so obnoxiously slow like it is obsessed with the character models of the enemies as each encounter has to spend like two seconds just spinning the camera around them before you even get to do anything; never before have you seen a game so proud to present a 3 polygon cockaroach. Even if it wasn't for that the battle system does nothing interesting at all and its scaling is completely busted with a few levels you'll pretty much overpower everything. I didn't get a single gameover once in my whole run and as time went I never even had to heal really, its just silly. Further you can tell they wanted to get some survival horror bits in here and their solution to that was weapon durability. Thing is you can get a variety of firearms and they have no risk of breaking and do the most consistent physical damage in the game with ammo starting to pop up all over the place past the first disk so just have Edward as your gunslinger and whalah, whole system you put in place pretty much pointless. This further invalidates the tactics lite element of battles since I just had the entire group staying at range shooting and cast spells at anything before it could get to me. Seriously the scaling is so out of control once Koudelka and James get their magic stats up even a little bit they were dishing out nukes producing numbers in 4 digits at the start of the 2nd disk. People also complain that armor and accessories don't exist but just level up the parties luck stat and you'll end up buried in items of all sorts, so much you'll be throwing stuff away again just completely destroying any pretense of the survival horror angle they wanted. Oh and I have to say it just because its funny: cast refelct on everyone when you confront the last boss, you're now invincible. I mean if I was going to have it any way I'd rather the game be easy so I can get the crap out of the way and get back to the good stuff. Really to me the only true fatal flaw with it all is the glacial pace the things run at with how high the encounter rate is. An easy solution is to emulate it and just bind a fast forward key. I tried to get that working but Retroarch wasn't wanting to play ball on my Steam Deck, alas, good thing I've been on firewatch at the hangars all this month. Other than that exploring the monastery is still neat. There are some resident evil style puzzles which aren't impressive but don't really offend and you even uncover some short cuts that'll get the Dark Souls level design worshipers to take notice perhaps. There are things to like here but sadly the heart of the thing is pretty much a dud and will likely make you ask why this wasn't some kind of adventure game or Resident Evil clone instead. Hell Kikuta wanted to do something else besides a turn based system but the team wasn't up to it. Though gotta say if they did manage that I hope they would have found a good place to put the lovely battle and boss theme somewhere. I bet something kinda like Parasite Eve or Vagrant Story would have worked well with this. There is a podcast I listen to that rates schlocky horror movies on a specturm of whether its 'art' or 'cool'. I consider this game very cool and personally for myself I actually enjoyed my time with it and will be looking back on it fondly. But to recommend it to others? Yeah thats pretty difficult as is and most that may have interest in it probably would just watch the cutscenes on youtube or something which is plenty valid. Otherwise unless your a Shadow Hearts fan and want to see the novelty of the series origin first hand or think you're patient enough then yeah you may not mind. In the least its a unique little interesting title that is more fun to talk or hear about than actually play. I'm happy I played it despite. Rating- cool 4 Star Fox 64 3D (3DS, replay) Been going back and forth working on Sticker Star and the first Shadow Hearts and have been doing runs of this to take a breather from those two (mostly Sticker Star). Don't really have much to say about this one, was the reason I got a 64 back in the day and its one of my favorite games. Still holds up and the touched up visuals are a nice icing on the cake as well. Perhaps the only thing I'd put against it is within the genre it is pretty basic when other series did more to push the genre like Panzer Dragoon or something. You know I really need to play that series some day damn it. Rating-8
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