Lurker > SpoinkRulezz

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch)

I was already close to beating it before Pokemon Violet came in between, but now I have beaten the game. I haven't done every side quest or gotten every rare blade, but I did a lot nevertheless. I also have Torna: The Golden Country still to play and I probably will at some point, but I mostly wanted to turn off enemy aggression at some moments which greatly improved my patience with the game (so that was well worth the 30 bucks).

So this game was a reattempt after I sold it a few years ago. I could not get into it as much as XBC1 and seeing how long it was, I just didn't want to bother. However, I rebought it at the start of the year to give it another chance, but lent it to my partner soon after I bought it, whilst I played his copy of XBC: DE since I had never actually beaten the game before this year (and it was still amazing like it was on the Wii). So it definitely took some time for me to get going with XBC2.

Now I've finally finished it and I have to say...it's good, there's a lot of charm and colour to it, the characters are fun and the story certainly expands a lot towards the end. All in all an impressive product and the battle system is quite enjoyable later in the game. However, my initial struggles to get attached to the game still hold true to an extent and I do feel it takes too long before battling actually becomes enjoyable. Sure, XBC was quite primitive in comparison, but it also wasn't really in the way much. XBC2 could sometimes feel reaaaally sloggy. I also just don't like the world building and story pacing as much as XBC1. It's just too all over the place, the lore sometimes felt very random and I'm actually not all that satisfied with the ending. Not saying it's bad, but not my cup of tea per se. It felt just overly anime and cheesy at some points where it just hindered my attachment to a game of such an epic scale. You also start getting stuff to really care about a bit too late imo. XBC1 also had an info/twist dump at the end, but the build up of it all felt far more natural. Also, maybe it's just me, but I felt that the final boss in this game was pretty lame in almost every regard and surprisingly simple.

I sometimes felt like XBC2 lost itself in its own complexity or attempt at it. I still liked it overall, it's an impressive product, but I'm not sure I could ever play through it again.

Pokemon Violet (Switch)

Honestly, I absolutely loved it. It was so addicting from start to finish. I also really enjoyed the characters and the game's finale goes harder than any mainline Pokemon game yet.

I would say that just about every great thing this game offers has downsides though. It is very easy to overlevel once more. The challenges are repetitive, although likely because they're too easy as well. The Tera gimmick is probably really cool in competitive battling, but no ingame trainers do anything noteworthy with it aside from one of the gym leaders. The finale is amazing, but the game could have led up to it more than it did. And after it, there is little to set your teeth into unless you like online battling.

Then of course there's the performance which has been discussed ad nauseum already. I found it very noticeable, but never truly disruptive. In the end, the game is Pokemon; pretty much nothing requires pixel perfect control mastery. It's more of an unfortunate thing.

All that said, the game's open world is just that much fun. So much stuff is easier and quicker than it used to be, like making good pokemon. There's constantly something to find not far from where you are. The main game is also quite meaty, especially compared to Sword/Shield. Some of the music is absolutely banging too. The box legendary is actually a pokemon you feel a bond with rather than it being something you catch randomly. And the dog pokemon. And Clodsire.

All in all, Legends Arceus focused on catching and discovery and did that better than Scarlet/Violet, but S/V have both that AND classic pokemon gameplay. Definitely a strong return to form for Pokemon on Switch after the mediocre LGPE, SwSh (minus DLC content) and BDSP.

Final team was:
Quaquaval L71
Scovillain L70
Kilowattrel L72
Clodsire L71
Grimmsnarl L71
Baxcalibur L70

Pokemon Platinum (DS)

Another fun romp through Sinnoh. One of my lesser played regions, although with 1 Diamond playthroughs, 2,5 Platinum playthroughs and 1 Brilliant Diamond playthrough, it's not that much less anymore.

To me, Platinum is still the best Sinnoh experience. Sinnoh in itself is a good region overall. The E4 was tough as expected, that level gap between my team and their teams really became noticeable and they always seemed to have something to cover my team's weaknesses. Some good Pokemon in my team ended up being near useless in the E4 because their typing or stats were exactly wrong there, such as Empoleon being weak to Ground or Houndoom just lacking that bit of speed that's necessary with the level gap. Fortunately, I had Garchomp and Staraptor, plus Luxray for double Intimidate.

Yeah, overall, fun experience. I always notice I enjoy the first half of a pokemon game more than the second, as long as I have Pokemon from my team to evolve it feels like I have something to work towards.

Final E4 team was:
Empoleon L54
Garchomp L53
Gallade L53
Staraptor L52
Houndoom L52
Luxray L51

Diablo II

Final Fantasy VII (PS4, the original game)

My first ever playthrough of FFVII, although I did play through the Midgar portion already years ago. Such a long time before I got around to it, but now I can finally say I've played FFVII.

I find it nearly impossible to make up my mind about this one. In some ways, it is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, in other ways, it shows its age too much and it has story problems (but to be fair, almost every JRPG does, so I can't really fault FFVII more than other JRPGs).

Honestly, from the games I have beaten in the series, it's hard to say which ones I truly enjoyed more. The only certain one is 7. 9 and 12 are close, I guess I have a soft spot for 12. 6 would be, but I have never actually beaten it. 1, 3, 4, 5, 10-2, 13 and 15 are all below 7 for me. Haven't played 2 or 8 yet. So that leaves it as a top 5 FF, despite finding some things not hold up well.

I would say the start of the game is great. I love the setting. After that, it becomes a little more generic, but it's still pretty good with some great setpieces even now. It has quite interesting characters and simple but effective lore/world building. However, the way those parts are presented and even some of the elements used to explain what happens or happened to whom are not always that elegant and it feels like the game is a bit ambitious for its time. The small text boxes can only do so much and it shows in some of the unexplained, convoluted or downright illogical story elements. I also feel like the translation is bad, even considering I don't know Japanese and even ignoring the spelling/grammatical errors, because some of the dialogue flows absolutely horribly.

Gameplay? Mixed bag as well. Materia system feels both fun and problematic. Some of the forced and gimmicky 3D minigames are just tacked on to showcase what they could do, but they don't hold up well I feel. At least this version has some QoL additions to make it less slow and sluggish, a thing that is welcome in every PS1 FF.

Overall, it is at least a memorable title. The story, characters and world building are all flawed but gripping at the same time (moreso than a lot of games in this series). Also, it definitely increased the scope of the series and modernised the setting while keeping the fantasy as well. And man, I'm LIVING for that boss music.

I don't know what score to give it in 2022. I think it has enough of its own identity in the series and is actually more enjoyable to play than FFIX I feel (which was too slow and rigid for its own good despite a lot of the other elements being fantastic). I'll have to go with a 9/10. I can definitely see how good it must have been in 1997 and in terms of gameplay and story I would say it holds up fine compared to the rest of the series.

_Blur_ posted...

Those ones can be a pain, and I think I looked up a couple (Pichu I remember specifically), but that's not even what I was referring to! The absolute "must Google" one is Manaphy who you get at the end of the quest "The Sea's Legend." Those RNG ones don't compare to the absurdity of it

Oh that one, yeah you're absolutely right about that. I had already looked up a guide for that one earlier in the game as I was never going to get that quest. Which makes sense, considering the way you're "supposed" to solve it...that was ridiculous from the developers. :')

_Blur_ posted...

Final encounter is quite awesome. But there are some Pokemans you basically have to Google to figure out how to get. Like...100% have to. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyway totally agreed with that rating. Arceus freaking rules and had me wildly addicted too. Easily my #3 GotY behind Elden Ring and Tunic.

Yeah absolutely. I am in that stretch where the last few Pokemon I need are RNG-based (Space-Time Distortions forming and hoping the pokemon spawn, weather changing etc). I at least got the Cherubi I still needed fairly quickly. But all of these I absolutely needed a guide for, no way you are going to find that out without it becoming insaaanely tedious. Distortions don't happen nearly enough to just "try what you can find" in all the regions. Did make me realise I should have gone to all the distortions during the main game probably instead of waiting it out until postgame.

And that's a great list you've got there! Elden Ring is just ridiculously amazing and Tunic, while I don't have it, really seems interesting and fun!

Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Switch)

For a long time I thought I wasn't going to bother with this game. But a few weeks ago I did buy it on a whim after feeling like playing a Pokemon game again and seeing it placed pretty highly on rankings for the Pokemon series.

What a pleasant surprise! I think this might be one of the most flawed games I got this addicted to. I can literally play for hours and hours and forget the time, which has been a long time since I've experienced that. I can't make up my mind why though. There are a lot of flaws in this one: it's a very repetitive gameplay loop, side quests are often generic (but the characters/pokemon in it are quite cute), the graphics are truly terrible both technically and aesthetically, sound design is all right but it tries to be very Breath of the Wild with it and does it worse, ride pokemon have a botched camera sometimes and let's just save this for last; the battle system is...a thing. Turn order is just unreliable and you basically need speed and few weaknesses in this game to do anything. Story is expectedly meh and far-fetched, but it's not too bad for a pokemon game and the characters are decent too within the context of the series.

It almost sounds like a bad to mediocre game, but what got me is just how chill it is to play and how easy it is to make progress with both quests and the pokedex. Pokemon in a game structure like this just works. I've had so much fun playing it, sneaking up on things to catch them, coming across pokemon in more hidden locations, running around and gathering stuff. It's a simple loop, but it's absorbing. I got a little burn out after about the 3rd area, but near the end and even past that I'm really into it again and want to finish the pokedex and go to the final encounter.

9/10
In terms of the pure quality of the game, it doesn't deserve this rating, but I just had/have so much fun with it that rating it lower wouldn't do justice to how I experienced it myself.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)

Only the second Kirby game I've beaten in my life after randomly playing through Squeak Squad years ago, although I've played a bit of others such as Kirby's Adventure, Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush etc. It's fun and colourful, but generally, I don't love Kirby games, I just enjoy them.

Triple Deluxe is no exception, but it still was a fun game, definitely. Colourful, nice music, some fun use of the 3D effects (such as the electrical bars and shooting cannons at the other plane) and a couple of decent bosses (some are better than others). I was surprised by how long some of the levels ended up being, especially if you go for all the Sunstones (which I did). My favorite levels were definitely the Hypernova levels. It's so fun and cool to see everything just get sucked up and it's just crazy and cinematic. Fortunately, there were just enough of them. More would have become boring (they are very easy and sometimes slow), and less would have made it a pointless gimmick to include.

I did think towards the end it became too boss heavy. The final boss sequence was, for me, on the long side and I don't feel Kirby games really need that. I didn't enjoy the final world as much as the other worlds. Some level design elements are repeated too much as well throughout and while they are being built upon, sometimes it's very minimal.

Overall, solid platformer that was well worth the 12 bucks I ended up paying for it. Nothing too memorable, just another polished Kirby game with a pretty good amount of content (and definitely better than Squeak Squad). A solid 8/10 for me.

Mega Man X

Zelda

Super Mario World

While DS1 has that novelty charm and a bit more choice in where to go at various points in the game, everything else is just better in DS3 I feel. Better controls and combat, better boss battles and consistently good area design I feel (in comparison with DS1 having higher highs and lower lows). Both have strong DLC's.

So DS3.

I honestly just love the original Shovel of Hope the most.

Celeste (Switch)

To be fair, I played most of this last year, but I just finished chapters 7 and 8 in the last two days. I made a start in the DLC chapter 9, but I feel like I'm done. I also did 3 B-sides I think. There is still a lot of optional content, but I consider it finished for myself.

It's a very good game in its genre; however, I have to accept that it really isn't my genre in the end. Especially that 8-direction movement is something I just couldn't deal with well with both the joycons and pro controller. So many deaths because of an input my thumb just can't control all the time.

Other than that, I can see that it's very good. Thematically fantastic progression, great music and lots of clever rooms to clear. Also, it's very forgiving by only making you clear a room once and then autosaving when you pass it. That is definitely great and makes it far less tedious, being able to focus on room-to-room challenges. Still they managed to build new mechanics in smoothly and with a great progression curve.

Almost only positives for Celeste, but the genre of 8-direction ultra-precise and hard platforming is not for me. I enjoy a little more chillness in my platformers, it can still be challenging but not the finger acrobatics that this sometimes becomes. And I assume this one isn't even as bad as some others in the genre. Still happy (and proud) I beat the game's main chapters and some of the extra levels, I'm satisfied with what I've gotten out of it.

I guess it'll have to be X5 then, at least it has some decent moments and less broken level design than the others (barring X8 maybe, haven't played that enough but I could not figure that game out for some reason). Still has very inconsistent level design and some ridiculous mechanics, but it's generally playable.

X6 is so disappointing. I absolutely love the music in it, but that's the only thing I like. The level design is horrendous. I thought people must be exaggerating and that it can't be that bad. Unfortunately, it is. I don't remember enjoying any stage honestly. And then in Blaze Heatnix's stage, I couldn't take it anymore, so I stopped playing.

I didn't play much of X7, but I can easily trust everybody's opinion on that one.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)

This one has been in my collection for a while, but I never really played it properly. Every time I started, I quit after a few levels. However, after numerous JRPGs lately, this was a welcome palate cleanser and I played it at the right moment I think.

Overall, I thought it was a great 2D platformer. It looks so colorful and atmospheric, has really good level design especially in the spectacle department and surprisingly long and tricky boss fights. There really isn't much wrong with the game per se. I personally played it on Funky Mode but always with Donkey Kong, took a lot of the tedium of collectables out, but the levels themselves remain challenging enough.

I marathonned most of the game today. It is definitely short, especially considering the price. Obviously, it would be a little longer had I played the original mode with just 2 hearts, but still, maybe an extra full-length world would not have hurt. Sometimes, I felt the flow of certain levels wasn't so great; as if you're meant to go at a constant fast pace and "flow" into the action like in the most recent Rayman games, but the physics aren't suited for that I feel. The trial and error is sometimes too much as well; especially later on, margins to see what's coming next and act are small. And finally, I didn't always like the control/feel of using the rolls and dashes, and I found Dixie Kong far more useful than the others for most of the game, which made me just pick her as the partner almost all the time.

These are honestly small nitpicks that others may not even care about or consider a flaw in the first place. It didn't hamper my experience much in the end, but that's just what I felt. Nevertheless, terrific game. And it just so happens to be the first Donkey Kong game I have ever finished in my life, I just realised!

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster (Switch)

Was such a long time ago, and after replaying FFXII earlier this year, I wanted to replay this one as well. I still love it, I can definitely see it a little more objectively now, but in the end, I still get emotional playing it and I love the pace and pacing of the game. I was afraid this game would disappoint playing it for the first time after 13 years, but it pretty much holds up for me fortunately. This remaster is also pretty good, at first I wasn't happy that the console versions didn't have the QoL-stuff the PC version got, but this game doesn't need them like the PS1 FF's do. The game does look and sound great in this remaster.

Of course FFX-2 is also on here, and I'm actually really looking forward to its lighthearted sillyness and fast, job-based gameplay.

Super Mario Bros 3

Bulbasaur
Decidueye

Gyarados
Gengar

I feel like a gen wunner like this, even though I'm honestly not. I like Espeon and also love Decidueye, but Gyarados and Gengar I like a little better than them (well, it would be Decidueye -> Gyarados).

Bulbasaur
Cubone

But they're all cute, it was hard to choose.

Mega Man 2

Zelda

Mimikyu
Scyther

I love Heracross, but I have to vote for Mimikyu, such an amazing concept. Scyther is just that cool, and Snorlax, while great, has never been one of my personal favorites.

Kirby's Adventure

That game aged so well.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Mega Man 2

The Legend of Zelda
Mega Man 5

Mega Man 5

Horrible taste. BMDs are so sweet.

Arcanine

Metroid

Newfoundland dog. This really needs another list after this one is finished.

But I voted for the breed that's somewhat similar at least with the Bernese Mountain Dog.

Kirby's Adventure
Final Fantasy

Dunno about weird. But I'd say the following;

The Legend of Zelda
Despite having had a NES and a normal Gameboy, the first Zelda I've ever played was The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. Fortunately, despite the Oracles being relatively forgotten compared to the rest of series, I loved them and am happy that was my first experience with the series.

Castlevania
This one isn't weird in terms of quality or anything, but I'd say me starting on Dawn of Sorrow is interesting considering it was a sequel to a game on a system I had owned for years already and I was already hooked on the fairly similar Metroid-series by then. But Dawn of Sorrow was the first time I thought about playing a Castlevania game. I remember playing it for about 6 hours straight after I got it in the mail, so it was a good first impression!

Surprisingly fantastic batch. Shuckle is so cute though.

Dragon Quest IV
Mega Man 2

Dragon Quest III
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Mega Man 5
Darkwing Duck

Cavedweller2000 posted...

Mondo from Danganronpa first sprang to mind

This

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (Switch)

My first ever playthrough of Chrono Cross, which is a game I've been feeling attached to my entire life due to the soundtrack and having heard certain songs at certain stages in my life. I felt that right away as I started and heard Dreams on the Shore of Another World and Another Arni. I literally bawled my eyes out for some strange reason for a while every time I heard them ingame, especially coupled with some of the dialogue in the early game. It just took me back to my younger years, made me think about everything that has happened in between.

That strong emotion mostly caused by the soundtrack was quickly changed into a divided feeling of appreciation and boredom when it comes to actually playing the game. The battle system is unique, but also couldn't hold my interest for longer than a couple of hours. The many characters in the game are enjoyable to get as it feels like amassing a big army, but they're also mostly bland, blank slates with similar stats. The level up system has a bit of a Fire Emblem satisfaction and frustration for me, and it made the battles even more uninteresting as they don't give anything useful after maybe gaining a few stats here and there. There is a lot to explore and discover, yet so much of it feels like you need a guide. The story pacing is...wow. Everything gets dumped on you in just a few hours, making it even more convoluted than it already is by nature. Yet it's also intriguing and has some beautiful moments. Heck, even the amazing music is divisive; as good as most of the tracks are, the battle themes aren't great and you hear those (it's mostly the same two) a lot.

It's just very hard to decide how I feel about the game. There is much more to say, but I'll leave it at this. I think I appreciate the game without necessarily finding it that fun to play.

Also, this remaster is super lazy (they didn't even bother to upscale the ending credits), but everybody knows that by now so no need for me to talk more about it.

Over The Road Racing

XBC3, DQXII and with some scepticism FFXVI. Don't care about the rest. Maybe Star Ocean if this one ends up being good.

Natu. So cute and I loved me some Xatu in gen 2, always my go-to flyer and packs a decent Psychic to boot.

Typhlosion -> Infernape -> Charizard -> Blaziken -> Incineroar -> Cinderace -> Emboar -> Delphox

I think. Although I like Blaziken a lot, but it's also awkward. I'm pretty sure about the top four, but the order is trickier and changes sometimes (do I actually like Infernape over both Charizard and Blaziken?). Incineroar is a gatekeeper, Cinderace is a creative concept but soccer is a bit far removed from my tastes, Emboar is a Fire/Fighting meme thing but something about Delphox just bores me too much.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Switch)

Bought this a year or two ago I believe for the PS4 before selling it again, but a couple years later I rebought it recently on the Switch when it was on sale. I had already beaten Final Fantasy XII vanilla about 12/13 years ago when I borrowed a PS2 from somebody, but for some reason I've been wanting to replay this. This time I got really into it again and especially found it just relaxing to play. Setting up good gambits and letting it play out, explore the large environments and generally the game just being fairly easy was quite chill. The speed up function of the Zodiac Age makes a ridiculous amount of difference, it's so much less tedious to play and this game with the gambit system is perfect for it as well. Because of that, I did more in this version than in the vanilla version actually, getting far more Espers this time around, doing a lot of hunts and sidequests or exploring late game sections of certain areas to obtain equipments and magicks/skills.

The job system generally seems to impress people, but I don't find it too exciting in this one. It's just a nice idea to have the feeling of variety and choice, but most of the differences aside from physical vs. magic are only noticeable late game, and even then it's all about which equipment, magicks and skills you actually find, a lot of which is just based on luck or guide knowledge anyway. It certainly doesn't hurt to have it over the original license boards, but it's not a huge gamechanger. I'm sure there's more depth you could get out of the job system and some of the combinations, but you'd have to dig deep and the game except for maybe two to three bosses (not counting Trial Mode) doesn't require that much effort in optimalization anyway. Magic is definitely better in this version though, I remember I basically avoided Black Magic in the original version, but I've just been Scathing my way through late game this time around.

Overall, the game has a lot of imperfections, but they are somewhat easily forgiven compared to later titles like FFXIII and FFXV. It tried something different, it worked in some ways and didn't in other ways, but it was relaxing, there's tons of exploring and side content even if you have to search very thoroughly for some of it, attempts at differentiating the dungeons with some gimmicks at least and a nice, upbeat vibe even in the heavier moments. The story is fine for what it is, my opinion basically hasn't changed on that. Characters and dialogue are a mixed bag, just like it was before for me. Some games get better with age, some games get worse with age, this one stayed right where it was for me initially but in a more playable and less tedious package with the Zodiac Age.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch)

Finally beat Xenoblade Chronicles. I've had the Wii version for a very long time, but never ended up beating it despite being in love with the game. This game makes it both easy and hard to be a perfectionist; the quests are fairly easy to accumulate and complete, but there are a lot of them and they can take quite some time in the Wii version. The Switch version makes it a little less "questing" as you can literally follow a path, but it sure is far less time-consuming and tedious, so the questing ended up being relaxing as I finally set out to finish the story. In the Wii version I stopped twice: first time right at the start of Sword Valley, second time on Valak Mountain. This time, I was hooked all the way through and actually loved playing through Mechonis (for the most part).

Because I was level 82 at the final boss it ended up being very easy, but I felt like I worked hard to get to that point, so it was actually satisfying. As expected, the game stayed fantastic right to the end. The story kept building itself up gradually, receiving more layers, and everything culminating beautifully in the game's final plottwists. Even the gameplay does that, it becomes more and more interesting as you get better gems, team combo's and skill links to play around with and that never really stops at any point during the main game.

Still just an absolutely amazing game, seeing all the pretty areas being even prettier this time was a treat and very happy to have finally beaten the game after all these years!

andylt posted...

Tropical Freeze is terrific if you like DKC!

Yeah, I can see that in the poll! Even these get stuffed apparently.

Look closely at my username and a hint can be found.