#(I’M BEING FED. I LOVE MINIGAMES)

[seawaveleo]

i love you minigames i love you octodrop i love you ravager’s revenge i love you total chaos i love you king’s labyrinth i love you charity games i love you tcg i love you elytra courses i love you blue river raceway i love you tunnel rats i love you clocktower i love you tcg battle royale i love you decked out 2

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on Even More Games

[vague, unspecific spoilers for Heaven’s Vault, Later Alligator, and Life is Strange 2]

Thoughts on Heaven’s Vault

Heaven’s Vault is a game about archeology, which means it’s also a game about incompleteness. This is very clever. Inkle - also the developers of 80 Days, which I will play someday! - specialize in deep narratives that can be explored many, many ways, allowing for a lot of player choice. You make a lot of small decisions - do you share a discovery with the trader in exchange for a valuable item, or hide it so he doesn’t plunder it? do you go looking for your missing friend, or let her stay missing in case there are people trying to follow you to her? These all have their own little arcs and resolutions, and there are so many of them, and so many ways they can play out, that the game can never be played the same way twice. The overall story begins and ends in the same place and theoretically hits the same major beats, but the journey is tailored broadly and finely to each player; it’s a style of design Aaron A. Reed refers to as “not... a branching tree but a braided rope.”

Making a narrative about archeology is how you dodge the exponentially complicated nature of that design: if there are dozens of locations, characters, plot threads, bits of color, which can be engaged with at many points in time, or ignored, or dropped by the player halfway through, how do you avoid telling a story full of gaps and dead ends? Well... you don’t. Having only partial information and having to infer the rest is what archeology is.

The protagonist of Heaven’s Vault, Aliya, is digging up the secrets of an ancient civilization, having been sent by her academy to find a researcher who’s gone missing, and stumbling into his incredible discovery. Everywhere she goes, there are holes: she has partial understanding of the researcher’s journey and motives; he, in turn, had partial understanding of the mystery he was uncovering, and Aliya has only fragments of his knowledge; the ancient texts she translates are usually fragments of larger works, and she is guessing at the meanings of many of the words; the game’s constantly updating historical timeline has entire centuries with nothing but question marks. Aliya arrives in a new location and wonders aloud to her robot companion about what this place was, when it was founded, when it was abandoned, how her predecessor found his way her and where he went next and what he took with him.

The constant feeling of discovery - of unearthing - is magnificent. Site after site, I asked, “What is this place?” Always thinking, if the eventual answer is any good, this is going to be one of the best games I’ve ever played. And, in the end, it doesn’t give you an answer, it just give you enough to make the story feel complete. It answers by not answering.

Also, translating alien texts is just extremely my jam. I’m the weirdo who enjoyed the ending of Arrival but secretly wished the whole movie had been about xenolinguistics like the first half. I guess Inkle felt similar.

The game’s by no means perfect. I think I enjoyed the sailing between worlds more than most - it’s slow, but very pretty - but it’s going to discourage a replay. I don’t think the relationship between Aliya and her robot, Six, ever gets terribly interesting. Some of the archeology is a little too obviously game-y - sail around, wait to find a random ruin, beam Six down to grab an ancient doodad, translate a bit of text, lo and behold it’s from one of the sites you’re looking for and it’s narrowed your search radius somehow. (It gives Star Trek explanations the first few times - e.g. “it has radiation that only exists in one part of the nebula” - and then stops bothering.) And the game sags a little in the middle; it could’ve hacked out 3 or 4 dig sites and still given me the same experience.

But, all told, there’s magic in it, and it just feels good to be there. Do not sleep on this one.

Thoughts on Later Alligator

There’s not a ton to say about this game except that is charming as hell. Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera have build a beautifully animated world of cute alligators, one of whom is having a birthday party where he’s convinced he’s going to be murdered. He wants you to run around getting information out of everyone who’s going to be there, which you get by completing minigames. It’s a cast of weird and funny characters with weird and funny dialogue and there’s not much more to it than that.

The design can be a little frustrating. Some minigames, if you lose, you don’t get to try again. Some are annoyingly finicky. You need to complete them all to get the true ending, which means, in my case, playing the game three times to complete all the bits you missed or got locked out of. The ending was a little different each time, so it wasn’t a total wash, but the game’s on a timer that only advances when you play a game or take the bus, and once you’ve completed most of the games there’s a lot of traveling back and forth from one nowhere to another just to advance time to the next unskippable plot beat.

(It’s also a little unclear what you’re missing as you try to get the final ending, as some of the ongoing puzzle are optional.)

But I can’t get mad. The game is too damn cute! Each character is lively and unique, with tons of personality, and the dialogue is just clever enough not to fall into empty adorkability.

It good.

Thoughts on Life is Strange 2

Somewhere, early in the development of Life is Strange 2, some Dontnod employee wrote in a design document “Episode 4 - cult?” (but in French) and nobody told them “no.”

I will not forgive them for this,

After twenty minutes of LiS2, I was ready to yell at everyone who had reported it was boring. It has one of the most powerful, gut-punching openings of any game I’ve played in recent memory. And all through the first, second, and third episodes, I was in love. Unlike Before the Storm, this was its own creature, willing to make dramatic departures from the original game’s template. Instead of controlling a character with supernatural powers, you play as the superpowered character’s older brother. The one with the magic is a 9-year-old, unable to fully understand or control his abilities, suffering a recent trauma, and needing to be guided through a dangerous and racist world. All the ambition missing from Before the Storm is back, and this time the animation isn’t creepy and the writing is wildly improved (thanks to some journeyman script work from Fullbright’s Steve Gaynor) and I even have a computer able to play it on higher graphical settings.

But nothing good lasts.

Everything good about the series screeches to a halt in Episode 4, the one where some asshole said “cult?” and didn’t get a Nerf football thrown at their head. And it’s not just that it’s a terrible idea; it’s actually sort of amazing how much the game relies on an alchemy of plot, tone, theme, and writing, and how a slight imbalance can throw the whole thing off. Episode 4 has scene after scene that are powerful in their conception - brothers reunited after a violent rift; a boy having his first conversation with his estranged mother in nearly a decade; getting interrogated by the feds for a crime that can’t even be explained by physics - fall flat because the writers can’t think of anything interesting for the characters to say. (Steve Gaynor’s name stops appearing in the credits as of this episode.)

And here the game’s rickety bits, kept delicately together for three episodes, start to shake apart. Dontnod’s overly-earnest voice direction, which I didn’t notice in the early episodes, started to wear me down. (”Could you sigh mid-syllable, like you’re slightly overwhelmed with emotion?” “Sure, on which line?” “All of them.”) The thinness of the secondary characters, most of whom pop up for one episode and disappear, became more noticeable. The lack of a mechanical hook like the time rewinding of the original game, and the attendant commentary on choice-based games and power fantasies, made the game feel less substantial. The surreal imagery of the original, obligatorily evoked in the prequel, is sensibly absent, but there’s nothing equally striking that replaces it. Even the branching path decisions become less clear: the end-of-episode stat screens for the final episodes mentioned at least a dozen choices I didn’t even know I’d made, some of which were critical in shaping my younger brother’s morality and were not necessarily the choices I’d have made if I’d known I was making a choice at all.

Come the final episode, I got An Ending that seemed right for the way I’d played, but much of the way I’d played felt accidental.

So what are we to make of this? Life is Strange is a beautiful disaster, an ambitious disaster, where Life is Strange 2 is almost less interesting for being  more competent. It has a huge mess of charged topics - American racism, teens losing their virginity, raising a child outside the nuclear family, grief and trauma - and, while it handles them without the gracelessness and sledgehammer subtlety of the original, it doesn’t come to any conclusions about any of them. LiS1, for all its jank, had some opinions, where LiS2 falls into the category of “this sure is some shit, innit?” games.

It starts with a powerful premise, deeply relatable characters, fine writing, beautiful art, but can’t even manage, in the end, to be a disaster. It is the only game in the series so far to be forgettable.

[kouei116]

Diabolik lovers Lunatic Parade: Kanato Sakamaki

Earl Walter stole Yui's heart and replaced it with Kleinod. Yui and Kanato went to the earl's castle to ask for it back, but he wasn't there. They were advised to try find the butler to ask where his master was. Kanato wanted to get some rest first so they headed to a hotel. Due to the parade, the hotel was fully booked, Kanato demanded to see the manager - who recognized Kanato was Karlheinz's son and ordered staff to prepare the best room for him. While they filled in the accommodation card, the receptionist asked if Y was his friend, and Kanato replied: “She is my wife" (♡´艸`)

K: Hey Y, do you hate becoming a vampire that much?

Kanato told Y if Kleinod broke, it'd still be fine because he'd turn her into a vampire and they could be together forever. Y couldn't make a decision abt becoming vampires yet, Kanato got upset that she didn't understand his feelings and ran out of the hotel room. Y ran around town shouting his name looking for him. Seeing her desperately trying to find him, eventually Kanato came out in front of her. She must be tired from all the running so he suggested going to eat. While eating, Y suddenly fainted. Kanato brought her back to the hotel, he apologized it was his fault causing Y to run around earlier, he was very worried that if she remained human and someday she will die, he'd really hate it, he wanted her to stay with him forever. Y told him again that she wanted to find her heart first before making a decision. Kanato respected her decision and agreed to help get her heart back. 

K: If you don't use cunning/dishonest means, you won't get the things you truly want.

They went to Reine de Aji general good store (Aji the lady owner here is the younger sister of Saba - the shop owner in Vandead Carnival game) to ask abt the butler. Aji asked them to get her the forbidden apple pie before answering. This forbidden apple pie was extremely popular and too many people queuing to buy, Y said this couldn't be helped and was drinking smoothie talking to Kanato in this CG. He wanted to use his dad’s power to get the pie but Y wanted to find other ways. 

A boy bumped into Y, spilling smoothie all over her clothes. Kanato was angry demanding the boy to apologize to Yui properly and the boy started crying. Y told the boy she didn't mind, it's alright. The boy apologized to both of them and ran away, then came back with his Dad - who was the forbidden apple pie shop owner. The Dad said Y forgave his son with a smile, she was a kind vampire (Y noticed that he mistook her as a vampire) so he wanted to gift Y a forbidden apple pie. Kanato accepted it but Y wanted to return the pie bc she didn't treat the boy kindly to receive rewards. Kanato got mad (bc he wanted the pie to exchange for the butler's info) and ran off. Y tried to follow him, she bumped into the boy and he said his Dad was testing Y, it was actually a poisoned apple pie; if Y was a genuinely kind person, she'd return the pie.

Kanato arrived at the shop, giving the pie to Aji, but now she said she didn't remember any promises with Kanato?! She was happily having the first bite when Y rushed in and warned her abt the poison. Aji was skeptical but Yui's face didn't look like lying. Aji thanked Y, said from the start she didn't plan to tell Kanato the butler's whereabouts, but for Y, she'd help. The butler liked medicine herbs so when the Earl was away, very likely the butler would be at the Smaragd volcano to gather them.

Kanato told Y he found it strange why the Earl still put the Kleinod inside her after stealing her heart, and he felt like everybody they met in town today were testing them. He worried abt Y's health and suggested returning to the hotel to rest. Y slept and had a dream abt a mysterious man telling her: he granted her wish, since he took the heart away, she didn't get into any troubles with the vampires; the Kleinod can work forever, the Sakamaki lied to her abt it being temporary because they want to suck her special blood. Y woke up to a worried Kanato but she lied that she didn't remember this nightmare well enough to tell him. She trusted Kanato but she got anxious if he would still love her without the special heart. 

Y and Kanato went on a gondola to get to Tirkiss waterfall near the volcano. The scenery was very pretty, Kanato said in town they couldn't enjoy the parade so they should take a break now, they know the butler is here, no need to worry. A fortune-teller lady invited them to try her shop that was famous for accurate love fortune. She gave Y a cup of tea to drink up then looked at the remaining tea leaves to predict that Y was having doubts abt Kanato. Y denied this but suddenly her body felt hot, her consciousness started fading and she fell into the water. Kanato jumped straight into the water to save her but the water was strong, she realized if going on like this, he’d drown...

K: ... Quiet! Only I can decide your fate. Don't die without my permission, I won't forgive you!

Y got drifted away and couldn't see Kanato anymore. She woke up in a cave with Kanato collapsed nearby. She was very happy he was still alive. She apolozied and told him the truth abt the dream. He said he only knew those kleinod to work temporarily, and:

K: Besides ... Even if the heart disappears, I will always love you. It's more important to me that you are alive than being able to suck your blood. I thought even if I don't say it in words, you already understood ... but seems like I was wrong. I ... love you *kiss*

Suddenly lots of bats appeared <Minigame Whack a Bat>

K (patting her head): It's a reward for your working hard (fighting the bats in the minigame). I’m praising you. 

After beating the bats, it wasn't likely that the butler was here so they should return to the hotel. Y sneezed, Kanato asked if she was cold, checked her forehead and sensed a bit fever, told her to give him her hand bc it'd be troublesome if Y collapsed (aweee) Y saw somebody collapsed and ran over to check even when Kanato didn't want them to get involved. This man woke up and explained he was picking up a rare moss growing inside a cave that has poisonous gas even to vampire. He bowed his head to thanks Y and Kanato for saving him. They noticed he had a red granite stone on his forehead and they realized he was the butler! Y explained her situation, the butler could only give them the card written by the Earl hinting the location: On the full moon night, when it raises the crown at the very high peak, I'll return. (sorwy, I don't understand what this means TwT)

Y thought the Earl could be either at the tower or the mountain. Unexpectedly she overheard the girls nearby talking about the Zatan's mouth at Diamante fountain: if you put your hand inside the mouth, it will tell you the truth, but no one have tried yet because it's said that a disaster may occur to you e.g. splitting up with your lover. Kanato was very cool put his hand right in and got the answer: The Earl will appear at Onyx tower. Y asked if he wasn't scared of losing her, but he said: “If that happens, I will take you back. It's not likely that you belong to anyone else but me...”

They came to the tower and Earl Walter was there. He said he’d return Y's heart with a condition that she vowed to part from Kanato forever. She replied that he was wrong, he didn't take her most important thing. There's no way she'd exchange the 2nd most important thing (her heart) for the most important thing (Kanato). Kanato was very happy to hear her feelings. Suddenly the tower started to crumble and they got thrown outside, Kanato managed to catch her and said: 

K: Y! Don't leave my side. Hold on more tightly. Please don't let go no matter what. I will definitely protect you, now and ...in the future. You can stop worrying, it'll definitely be alright. I love you... I love you.

When Y woke up, she and Kanato were in the Earl's castle. He said he did want her heart but he realized that Y and Kanato were worthy of keeping such a treasure hence he returned it. Kanato demanded him to show his face but he refused. He hoped they would enjoy the festival and he needed to leave for his next target to steal.

Y had fun at the parade because Kanato was at her side. The forbidden apple pie shop owner gave them an apple pie (not poisoned one this time yay) and Kanato fed Y from his fork

Y: ... It’s extremely delicious! Just like you said Kanato!

K: That's good. You can eat the rest.

Y: Eh, is it ok for you Kanato? Does it not suit your taste?

K: No, it's not that. Because, as expected, I like this better *kiss*... Fufu, thanks to you eating the apple pie, this feels sweeter than usual *Nnn....n...Nnn.....*. You're a special. Y, to me you're probably the forbidden fruit. I love you ... From now on, you're mine and mine alone, forever ....

Care for Vampire:

K: ... Thank you. Thanks to you, Y, I've felt much better. Let's sleep together like this. If you sleep with me, I will get well. (...) From today, you will be my personal pillow. ... Are you happy? ... Fufu, me too. Please let me hug you like this forever...

---

I really like Kanato's sub scenario with Carla. Kanato requested room service to hold a sweet party just for the two of them in the hotel's guest room aaaand Carla was eating their sweets there. Kanato was getting grumpy but Carla complimented Kanato's taste in choosing sweets - esp the religieuses that have high artistic value and sweeter than anything he has eaten, he’d ask Shin to get it for him - making Kanato smile again. Then Carla, Kanato, and Yui ate religieuses happily ever after hahaha. Just like my sis-in-law said, it's nice to see my old man and little boy getting along (人´∀`) The route is sweet, Kanato always worried abt Y’s health, he jumped straight into the water to save her, I squeaked for 15′ when he said Y is his wife haaa（˶′◡‵˶）It's just... I guess bc Yui's heart was missing, there wasn't any sucking blood scenes, only a few kissing scenes at the end, my ears starved playing this oughhh ;u;

[fatedcipher]

     It’s over.  I beat Kingdom Hearts 3, a game I’ve waited thirteen years for.  And now that it’s all said and done?

     I’m just disappointed.

     What follows is mostly my stream of consciousness impressions of the game, put to text more to organize and vent than anything else.  Be warned of strong opinions and acerbic criticism.

The Good

Roxas

It was one scene, but it was one hell of a scene.  McCartney fucking killed it.

The Sea Salt Trio finally gets justice.  Xion and Axel finally wear something besides the coat.

I had Sora walk around and take selfies while Roxas and Xion effortlessly demolished Saix.  So much catharsis.

Demyx

Yeah, I know, last thing I was expecting too.

Had exactly zero patience for series melodrama.  Every other word out of his mouth had me laughing.

Dude stabbed evil mcdarkness in the back to do the good guys a huge solid and got away with it scot-free.

Lingering Will

He was on screen for all of five seconds, but I cheered for all five of them.

Namine was the one who called him in.

Should have been him to finish off Terranort, but close enough.

Half the Disney Characters

Telling the obnoxious villains to fuck off.

Actually making them fuck off in a couple instances.

Put that Edgelord back where he came from or so help me!

Hayner!  Pence!  Olette!

Twilight Gang actually contributing to the main plot again.

Them giving a shit about Roxas when they didn’t need to.

Fucking bamboozled SoD, he just didn’t know how to react to their Scooby Doo shenanigans.

Mixed Bag

Some of the Disney worlds were pretty charming and had good cast interactions.

Frozen’s world was not.

Sora using the fallen keys was visually breathtaking and played in well to his power to connect to other people.

It was a reference to the stupid mobile game that has only polluted the plot further.

TWEWY world effectively confirmed in whatever is next.

I may not actually want to play whatever is next.

Music

It practically goes without saying at this point but, JESUS CHRIST THERE’S SOME GOOD MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO GAME

OTHER PROMISE/VECTOR TO THE HEAVENS ARRANGEMENT SLAYED ME

I LOVE YOU YOKO SHIMOMURA

The Bad

Gameplay

Plays like a janky version of 2 with a botox injection of DDD flowmotion that only makes the game feel more awkward.

Clunky melee combos have too much start-up, most have no invincibility or even armor to prevent being hit out of them.

Only a handful of the keyblade transformations are actually useful, all of which are a massive step down from drive forms.

Shotlocks still feel like extraneous instant damage and add nothing to gamplay flow.

Oversaturation of minigames leaves several worlds light on actual combat.

Attraction flow is too easy to get, not fun to use, lasts too long, and leaves you vulnerable to damage.

Worlds are simultaneously expansive by individual area and depressingly small on an overall scale.  Most of Twilight Town is inaccessible, Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden can’t be visited.

General Plot and Storytelling

Generally poor writing that fails to resolve several plot threads and introduces ridiculous retcons that only create more questions.

There’s a scene where all of the good guys are in the same room having a discussion about how convoluted the plot is and Jiminy chimes in that they should read the in-game summaries on the in-game phone.  This was when the game crossed over into self-parody for me, and not in a good way.

The total absence of Final Fantasy characters save for the mention of Cloud and Auron at the start of Olympus eliminates half the appeal of what is ostensibly a crossover series.

Awful pacing, having the Disney worlds as unimportant filler with the majority of the plot happening in the last few hours of the game, following what has depressingly become the norm.

General cutscene incompetence, from characters being effortlessly overpowered by enemies to standing around unarmed and slackjawed waiting for said enemies to cut them down.

Bad dialogue and direction clearly mandated by someone who doesn’t speak English mars a number of moments that could have been good.  The script shines primarily when it escapes that ignorant control, which is not as often as it should be.

Mass death and revival scene was entirely pointless, as were the multiple Heartless swarms everyone was suddenly incapable of even putting up a fight against.

Death is still largely non-existent save for a few characters.

It made me more bitter and fed up with this series than DDD did and that is a fucking accomplishment.

Sora

How fucking dare you treat my precious boy like this, Nomura.

Half the cast spends half the game demeaning him and refuses to listen to him for no discernible reason, despite the fact he immediately solves every problem he is introduced to.

It’s not as bad as DDD, but he’s still written to be way less intelligent than he was in 1-2.

He’s the only one who doesn’t get a perfect happy ending and the only who actually seems to suffer any consequence to his actions, despite those consequences being utterly nonsensical.

It’s not even clear what the fucking “Power of Waking” is and he never needs it save for the artificial death scenes.

Riku

Every other line in the script is shilling him and how he’s somehow better than Sora.

This Yozora clown is literally just a palette swap of him.

Three Rikus in one scene.  It is laughable in how stupid it is.

He gets two playable sections and fights the same shitty boss in both.

He’s the one who goes to pick up Namine, not Roxas, Sora, or Kairi.

You can feel how much Nomura loves him and it repulses me.

Kairi

Her lively personality is completely absent along with any agency she might have once had.

Despite getting a keyblade and training the whole game, she gets halfway through a single fight before she’s easily kidnapped, held hostage, and callously executed.

None of her statements about protecting Sora are followed through on and are empty allusions to the first game.

SoKai is finally all but canon, yet the characters themselves hardly interact in the game and the Oathkeeper charm is never even brought up.

Namine

Her in-engine model is only ever used in the character files.

The only thing she does in the entire game is have a single conversation with Sora in the afterlife, in which he still fails to properly thank her.  

Riku is the one to pick her up after she gets a body because Nomura felt like awkwardly shifting Versus XIII’s unused dynamic onto two characters totally unrelated to it.

She’s still wearing the same white dress she has been since her introduction in CoM.

Aqua

Loses every fight she’s in to cutscene incompetence.

Seriously, you kick Vanitas’ ass in her only playable segment for her to throw herself spread eagle in front of some fireballs he throws out, it’s embarrassing.

Likewise jobs to Terranort and has to be saved by the COME GUARDIAN who is apparently Terra’s heartless?

Her single contribution to the plot is finding Ventus.

The refusal to let her age is just bizarre, the same extending to Ventus and Terra.

Antagonists

Xehanort remains nonsensically overpowered and omniscient, using time travel, clone bodies, and other contrivances to achieve his goals and have the heroes play straight into his hands until his actual last scene.

Multiple members of team dark don’t even have a good reason to work for the old man.  The former traitors are the ones to remain unfailingly loyal.

They show up to vaguely talk down to the heroes and/or wipe the floor with them before smugly disappearing without a scratch.  The only instances where this is even slightly averted are a couple scenes with the Disney characters and the defeat scenes in the final boss rush.

The majority of the villains are given cloying and contrived attempts at casting them in a sympathetic light when they have only ever been shown to be selfish, merciless, and cruel prior to their final defeats.  Xehanort himself is the absolute worst offender, being cast as a well-intentioned extremist at the last possible moment, despite this directly contradicting the entirety of his character prior.

     So yeah, Kindgom Hearts 3 isn’t that good of a game and has a story that’s legitimately quite poorly written and told overall.  Are my expectations inflated by the amount of time I’ve had to wait for this game?  Absolutely, but the series has been on a downward slope in quality since BBS and this was their big chance to correct course.  Even with the promise of TWEWY involvement in whatever is in the future, I can’t honestly say I’m interested in playing another Kingdom Hearts game after this disappointment and that’s depressing for someone who’s loved this series for so long.  There’s still a lot I want to write for Roxas and the rest of the cast, but when most of that stuff is attempting to revise the canon, it can be pretty discouraging.  All the same, I don’t want to give up on this blond haired kid and his friends just yet.  Their story’s too important to me to let it end like this.

[eurofox]

Yakuza 7 (like a dragon) review

I was dreading this one because of the turn based combat (I’m not keen on dragon quest for a start) and having an all new cast plus I had a major plot point spoiled beforehand but I decided to give it a chance anyway. Still prefer brawler style overall, but I did get used to it

The good shit: 

I ended up really liking Ichiban, he was just the character that was needed after Kiryu. He’s still as dumb ofc, but he’s really enthusiastic about everything he does. I still prefer Kiryu, but he was pretty subdued when it came to almost everything and he really did seem fed up by 5 so Ichi’s a breath of fresh air.

The villains were good this time round and Ichi’s connection to them made it all the more interesting. 

Sleep minigame was mad

No stupid enemies grabbing guns left about in cutscenes

Another great soundtrack

Lot’s of enemy variety, they really got wacky with it

I eventually got used to the combat. It’s ok, just a huge change. It does get a bit repetitive later though.

The special moves are all fun. Daigo and Majima especially. I think Majima was a sonic adventure reference?

Dragon kart is a nice distraction, wish we got more characters though, maybe next game

More locations and the uber app was handy given how big yokohoma was

Bringing back old theme songs was nice

I’m glad Watase made a re-appearence, he had a lot of potential and I’m glad he didn’t just get forgotten

Great news Wagi fans, he’s back (although how the fuck and why did no-one realise, did daigo not notice his captain never came out of hospital?)

The goon pokedex is a great 

Finally, playable female characters. Both are fine, although there was a strong smurfette feel to the group at times. Also I love that neither can be attacked by Kiryu in the boss fight, cool attention to detail. Seong hui was also cool but I wish she fought, it’d make more sense for her than the other 2 in all honesty.

The CDs are nice

I loved the whole dynamic with the group and the little bar chats. Kiryu’s chats in 6 were more awkward and brought back bad memories for me in school trying to add to  conversations so it hit to close to home. Ichi has more charisma. I hope they keep this for the next game, I’d love to see the Tojo gang discuss stuff, especially with Daigo as he never got to do much outside of chairmanning

They had a reasonable explanation for Han sorta coming back. He was OP tbh but still cool.

Date cameo, always good to see him

The kiryu fight was good fun

I got into Ichiban confections, but I did need a guide to get started. It wasn’t explained very well.

The tojo and omi being gone opens up a lot of possibilities.

Onomichio my beloved

The Bad shit:

OMG the fucking Majima fight is an absolute bullshit difficulty spike. Worst in any game I’ve played in years.  I was comfortably beating enemies/bosses before that, there was no real indication I was severely underleveled except a hint that I should use the arena (and i was halfway through on my first attempt). I get they are meant to be Tojo legends but that felt cheap. Then I overlevelled and it wasn’t fun. Kiryu’s and tendo’s fights were far more balanced

Dungeons are pretty samey, although they are mostly optional I suppose.

The stop motion cutscenes they used sometimes made me feel sick for some reason. Didn’t care for that design choice at all.

Ok, maybe Kashiwagi could have survived, but no way lau ka long should have.

Mirrorface was dumb as fuck, he only played a small role thankfully

Graphics seemed like a downgrade compared to judgement at times, maybe I’m imagining it though

That annoying noise adachi and saeko make when you stand still for a second drove me nuts

that same ice clink sound effect in the drinks (minor quibble, but yeah)

Food does not give experience, why does it say that.

Switching jobs was a massive pain at times, I just stuck with enforcer, idol, hitman and hero.

Some attacks just seemed pointless

Poundmates are way too expensive

Yokohoma isn’t as nice to look at, but that’s not the games fault. Lots of bland office buildings.

Nanba’s betrayel for a brother we don’t even get to see annoyed me. Didn’t let that fucker back in my party after that lol. And if he wasn’t actually homeless why does he carry on like a hobo.

Geomijul are filling in for the florist . i thought they got rid of him for being too convenient a plot device but here we are again.

Arakawa and Daigo seemed to leave a lot of shit up to chance imo.

Crafting felt kind of limited

Ichi’s capacity for forgiveness seemed a little delusional at times, it is pointed out and I guess he says himself there’s no logic to it.

Trying to make the brothel owner out to be some swell guy felt a bit cringe, it’s the whole grey area thing I know but he still seemed like a dick.

Substories took too long at times and there’s a few pretty boring ones

I’m happy I gave it a chance anyway and it’’ll be interesting to see where they go from here. No more ‘traitor in the Tojo clan’ ‘someone shot/abducted daigo’ or ‘omi vs tojo’ plots from here on out. IDK how Kiryu will fight as he isn’t a gaming addict so how are they gonna square that when he joins? 

The characters were well fleshed out and like judgement you can see they’ve gotten better with their story telling. 

The combat was jarring at first but I got good at it eventually and started enjoying it a lot more. It helps they were so creative with attacks but I’ll always prefer brawling

[gatetoglimmer]

So here’s my KH3 progress report, note that I’m a massive binge player so I go for 5 hours and then don’t touch the game for several days. I’m def probably over a week or two from beating the game.

A little annoyed with how backloaded it feels like a lot of the plot action is bound to be at the rate it’s going. I would assume that Arendelle would be the halfway point thereabout of the game but I feel like nothing truly significant has really happened that the audience wouldn’t already know. As far as I know....this isn’t like KH2 where you do each world over again so I’m a little at a loss here with that.

As far as the two princess worlds have gone I had very drastically different experiences with them. LOVED CORONA, beautiful world, felt sorta linear at times but I did like that the level didn’t feel like it was just Tangled But Sora is There Too which I was worried about when we basically got two scenes in the beginning that were just Tangled But Sora is There Too. Especially when in comparison, Arendelle was just Frozen with Sora making weird cameos. Nothing quite like stopping a level cold for Let it Go to happen but Sora and co are just...there...and then the awful audio mixing when Anna was filling Sora in with the backstory just...who thought it was a good idea to redo Do You Wanna Build a Snowman with vocals under Anna trying to speak????

The irony here is that I actually don’t particularly care for Tangled in comparison to Frozen so I was really set up here for my feelings to be the exact opposite. Also they made me hit Marshmallow and I am not pleased with this.

In terms of the other worlds, they’re fantastic, so far Toy Story has been def my favorite. It felt like it actually had a plot that felt convincing and not forced or awkward at all. I don’t know quite how they did it, maybe it was the whole introduction with Rex and the anime guys that did me in. I was stunned at that trailer???? Whatever it was fab. I hate Sora’s monster form it makes me anxious to look at and the Monsters Inc level felt really linear but it was all worth it to see Sulley yeet Vanitas through a door and that door through another door and that door through another door and then shred that door. It was...beautiful and it is what I deserve.

What I am not a fan of is, I just started the Pirates level and HOLY HELL SORA UR SO BEAUTIFUL??? But....it takes place during PoC 3 and we’re on like...5 in our world so it just feels really late?? But also it felt like almost a half hour of really dragging cutscenes between some okay gameplay. Good to see a level that remembers that Sora can swim, that’s kinda nice I guess. I hear BH6 is way better but this level has felt like a slog just to get there.

So far the minigames are always a joy. I actually am finally understanding (probably because I’m an adult now) how the Gummi Ships work and I really love the open exploration of the space between the worlds. I’m a sucker for the Winnie the Pooh level every time tho the second version of the minigame gave me s t r e s s like holy hay did Lumpy come in clutch. And of course, I. Would. DIE. For. Little. Chef. I WOULD DIE FOR HIM. I WILL COLLECT EVERY INGREDIENT, GET EVERY RECIPE UNLOCKED JUST FOR HIM BECAUSE HE DESERVES IT. Though you couldn’t pay me to play the stupid gummi phone games, couldn’t make me in Union X and you can’t make me now.

As a child that was unhealthily obsessed with Disney Parks and Hidden Mickeys and such, both the attraction attacks and the lucky emblem challenge has been a joy. I’m having so much fun and just seeing my dad’s reaction when I told him I took out a Titan from Hercules with a train from Big Thunder Mountain was...priceless.

This game is so damn smooth to play and I’m having a fantastic time just running around. Like it just feels intuitive and fun and simple to really make work for you. At first it was quite overwhelming but I adapted right back to it very naturally. I like the new Not Drive forms but I wish they were a little more colorful? Is that a dumb thing to ask for? They’re really pretty and I dig the colors for the Winnie the Pooh keyblade the most so far but I just wish each one stood out more from each other.

As for the plot...I can follow it just fine I will never understand why people get so weird about the plot but I can see how someone who hasn’t kept up on the games would be a little confused. But information is being sort of drip fed in a way that’s not too overwhelming, which I guess is annoying for me because it feels like a lot of retreading but it’s important to remember that I’m not the only kind of person playing this game and being mindful of that has been helpful. My friend who I’ve been playing the game with a lot only played the first game and she’s kinda kept me in check about that feeling. So it’s good for now. I just hope that we get more plot picking up soon. For all the gummi phones connected all of the characters, they feel like they almost slow the action down in a way because most of the cutscenes are just people face timing each other? Which I think is part of the issue.

Also why is Merlin at the bistro isn’t he supposed to be training Axel and Kairi (who I ship now because tbh they’ve actually...had sweet conversations and they’ve probably gotten the most opportunities to grow and show their personalities with each other, especially Kairi.) Childhood best friends is cool and all but Kairi as a character has always felt secondary to Sora and Riku and having someone who is there to actually be a character with her is nice to watch.

That got real long whoops. I’m also playing on beginner because I like to get to experience the plot first and then go for the cool shit second. Though I’m going for the secret ending which means after BH6 I basically have to halt progression cold to go get ALL of the Lucky Emblems....wish me luck??

[superfamigos]

los juegos de 2016 de oli

My inaugural post on el Super Famigos punto com! Cool beans! :D

So here's my 2016 games list. These are the games I liked most in 2016. In lieu of ranking, I'll list them in alphabetical order. I'll also add some honorable mentions, since I did enjoy them and don't want them to be left out. ;)

The List

Breath of Fire III

(heartthrob credit: BoF wikia)

Fitting that the first on my list would be a SuperFamigos classic!

I picked up Bofee ("Breath of Fire III" -> "BoF III" -> "BoF3" -> "Bofee") after some prodding from my friend Chris. I’ve wanted it for a while, and even played it once, but… I don't have as much patience for JRPGs as I used to, even ones as good as Bofee or Chrono Cross. This time, though, ♪ I had a little help from my friends ♫.

Since SuperFamigos was just starting up, I downloaded OBS and gave streaming Bofee a whirl. And sure enough, broadcasting and interacting with friends via chat is way better than grinding alone. Chris shared all his expert secrets, and I flew through the slogs that stopped me before. And we spawned a whole slew of inside jokes too (oh man Teepo's flowing locks *o*). I haven't played/streamed much recently, due to a combination of old hardware and busy schedules, but with luck I can fire it back up in 2017.

As for the game itself: it's great! Top notch pixel art, animations, and music. Story's a bit slow, though Chris assures me it gets better. Definitely more fun with friends. ...smells burnt

rating: "9/molotov"

Chrono Cross

(stunning opassa credit: Chrono wikia)

Frickin' Chrono Cross! What a sweet game. Beautiful scenery, amazing music, and a genuinely enthralling and mysterious story. I'm still not fully sure what's going on! The battle system can be intense too: trying to fend off the Fire Dragon with only two Revives? Are you kidding me??

I must confess, I got Chrono Cross three Christmases ago. The game has a couple of the same JRPG issues that Bofee has. So my tactic is to whittle away at it, every once in a while. And it's a bit like turning down the lights and sitting back and listening to Kind of Blue on vinyl; you come away feeling well fed.

So why is Chrono Cross on my games of 2016 list? Partly because the OSSC got me hyped to play it on my new HDTV (it was disgusting before) (and it handles the 240p <-> 480i switch quite well), partly because Chris again got me through some tough parts (he’s a boss, seriously), and partly because it's an awesome game and it won't come off my "games of <year>" list until it's beaten. So there.

rating: "poshul4mayor"

Downwell

I finally beat Downwell (normal mode) and unlocked all the palettes in 2016. Even then, I haven't stopped playing.

Downwell is the one mobile game I actually enjoy. For all the critically acclaimed mobile games I own, none have kept my attention like console and handheld games do. Except Downwell.

The mobile qualifier is important. Often I was chilling in a café, or waiting in line for a sandwich, or unable to sleep on a redeye flight, or trapped on a god-forsaken Snowpiercer Amtrak to Portland that was 6 hours behind schedule because snow somehow broke the signals and freight trains rule the rails and "we can't tell you if it'll be 30 minutes or 3 hours"

…Anyway. Downwell kept me sane in 2016. I don't even mind the touch controls.*

By the way, here's my fav strat: Floaty. Attract gems + popping gems + gem recharge. Laser if possible, or machine gun / burst / puncher. Combo as much as possible, but only to 25 each.

rating: "10/10/10"

Open Source Scan Converter

(razor sharp credit: Rex Warden)

I know, I know, it's not a game. But it counts as one, because it gave my PS1 a new lease on life.

And what a lease it is! I kid you not, I had serious goosebumps whenever I first fired up wipE'out" XL with this puppy. It was ｂｅａｕｔｉｆｕｌ. I noticed background textures I had never noticed before. Colors popped, not bled. I could read the menu text in wip3out! And no noticeable lag! Game after game, I was amazed at the difference. A major reason these old PS1 games are on my list is the OSSC.

Granted, YMMV; the results aren't nearly as drastic on other TVs I tried. But on mine… There's no going back.

rating: "I could cut my veggies with that PS logo"

Pokémon Sun

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (I really like this game.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (A lot.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (There's too much to say.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (Do yourself a favor and give Pokémon Sun/Moon a try.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

rating: "AAAAAAAAAA/AAAAAAAAAA"

Pokkén Tournament

(sassy credit: chipsprites)

Taking a step back for a sec.

Moving to Seattle was hard. It’s still hard. I live by myself, it's my first time working out of college, and sometimes even cooking food is a chore. My life has certainly gotten better now, but those first few months were…hard.

Pokkén was what I played when I wasn't at work. It's a great game, with bumpin' music and satisfying mechanics that I could really get into. But more than that, it was a game that helped me get through a rough time. For that reason alone, I would definitely recommend.

rating: "Weavile's playmate? HECK YES"

Splatoon

(manual or automatic credit: Syfy Games)

"But Oli, Splatoon came out in—"

Whoa there. Listen up. If you haven't already guessed, this is MY list o' 2016. It doesn't matter when such-and-such game came out. If I played it in 2016, it counts.

…but you do have a point. I didn't get Splatoon until Christmas 2015, which led to me missing a good amount of the summer unveils and hype and such. And online games stress me out, so I had the most fun when I stuck to my niche: off in the corner with my paintbrush, flinging paint errywhere, firin' off torpedoes to the other side, occasionally ninja-ing peeps.

In any case, still played it enough and had fun enough to include it! Very refreshing to see some color and friendly competition in a shooter. Good music and 1P campaign too. I even picked up my first pair of Vans Slip-ons because of this game. Fashion help 10/10.

Splatoon is also one of the Famigos' go-to online games! Several times we'd host a private match and not even battle, but just hang out on the stage, swim around, go explore, etc. Kinda like what we do in real life…except as squid kids.

rating: "18/12 overture"

wip3out

(let’s be friends credit: infoxicated via wipeoutzone)

Until I got the OSSC, this game was literally unplayable on my new HDTV.

Okay, not literally. Seriously though, wip3out** has some of the most succulent graphic design in the industry, and that stinkin' yellow composite cable rendes it muddy, meh, and unreadable. Yuck. wip3out was the second game I tested with the OSSC, and it's easily the best demonstration of the power of upscaling.

But enough about that. wipE'out" (the series) is the beez kneez. What's not to like? Cream-of-the-crop electronic soundtrack, mouthwatering tDR design, spicy-smooth tracks, and rich chocolatey weaponry. That feeling when you tear down the track, barely grazing the wall as you unleash a Quake Disruptor…

wip3out makes my list this year, not just because of the OSSC, not just because it's a filet mignon of a game, but because I freakin' beat Venom Tournament mode for the first time. Even with unfair AI in Sampa Run! ( *｀∇ ´ ) And I plan to keep playing for a long time.

Interestingly, although XL/2097 and 3 have very different physics and handling, I can maneuver them both just fine…as long as I don't play them both in the same night. I get so used to one game, that I can't immediately swap discs and play the other without crashing into everything.

rating: "Excuse me, I think I need to return this steak, it's too delicious"

Honorable Mentions

Digimon World 3 I inherited this from a neighbor. Popped it in to admire the pixel art with the OSSC. The battle system is confusing, the FMVs are loltastic, but it has some surprisingly good music.

Hyper Light Drifter I really want to like this game more.

I love the music. And the art and atmosphere seriously gave me chills. Absolutely beautiful. But I just couldn't get into the combat: too visceral. I felt...almost dirty playing it. I understand that's kind of the point, but…

Maybe with time I'll get into it.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime Had a ball playing this at a work game night. Don't have many others to play with though.

Nuclear Throne Lol both Sam and I got the Humble Indie Bundle this year, so we both played lots of Nuclear Throne. Fun (3D glasses Eyes is my man), but a bit too stressful/addictive for me. Had to stop playing for my health.

Pokémon Black 2 I grabbed Black 2 as a birthday gift for myself (I did the same for White in 2015), and to tide me over until Pokémon Sun. To try and mix it up this time around, I played with only three Pokémon for the entirety of my run: an Ice Punch Weavile (bred in White), a Dewott, and a Growlithe. I only caught maybe another five. In the end, though, I didn't level enough and I ground to a halt at the seventh gym.

I think one of the many, many reasons I loved Pokémon Sun was that I dived in headfirst, catching Pokémon, playing minigames, getting invested. Guess I didn't do that as much with Black 2. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

That being said, Black 2 definitely has its moments. There's schweet music, and I still, still prefer the animated sprites to 3D models. (Some of the new Pokémon's models are great, but some are horrible.) Super satisfying to wreck newbs with a Ice Punch to the face. Just sadly overshadowed by Sun.***

Pokémon Emerald Lots of Pokémon on this list, huh? ;)

Got this along with a Game Boy Micro from my friend Cole. Similar with Black 2, I only used a party of four. Again, the music is top notch, and some great battle animations. Unfortunately petered out at Ever Grande City when I stopped taking the bus to/from work (my main time to play).

River City Ransom Lolololololol

Seriously, so silly and fun. Didn't play it much though (maybe an hour when Sam was in town).

* That much. ** Yes, I'm going to do this for the whole article. I don't care. tDR 4 LYFE *** See what I did there?!? ;)