Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi’s Mansion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Nuclear Blaze
Looking through my library for a palette cleanser, and spotted this, a game I bought years ago, on a whim, as it was ‘by the creator of Dead Cells’, and which then later almost inexplicably got a PS5 upgrade.
It’s a 2d platformer with mild puzzling, where you’re a firefighter sent to deal with a blaze, who stumbles upon a mysterious facility, and has to battle through that solo putting out fires. It was apparently made for a competition, and that is perhaps borne out by the reuse of the odd Dead Cells asset here and there, but it is fun and unique, and doesn’t outstay its welcome; it is very short. It also has multiple settings you can change to tailor your experience/difficulty, as well as multiple modes, including a Kid Mode, and a harder ‘Hold My Beer’ mode unlocked after completing the game. The latter does shake things up nicely, and I should know, as I had to complete that too to get the Platinum, and the whole thing took less than a day.
I liked it. I needed a game to kill some time yesterday, and it did that admirably. I also liked the multiple modes thing; even if I didn’t test out Kid Mode myself, I do like that it’s there. The whole thing was just an amiable, fun time.
Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi’s Mansion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
A fantastic game, which I eventually had to accept I would need to platinum to get out of my head. This in itself is rare for me, as I'm generally borderline opportunistic about platinum trophies, rather than dedicated, but I went out of my way on this one, and enjoyed it immensely. That thing down at the bottom of that thing can go fuck themself though, as can all the "beach events".
In fact, that highlights nicely "the thing" about this game - it is not without its faults, far from it, but it still so rarely betrays its relatively humble origins, and does things with some imagination and verve (and je ne sais quoi, I suppose) that it stands not just as some kind of plucky underdog, but as just a really bloody good game. I've played both Persona 5 and Metaphor: Refantazio in the last year, and while this may not prove to be my favourite of the three, it should be mentioned in the same breath, certainly in terms of quality, while also standing apart in doing something a bit different, and not being beholden to the usual JRPG trappings and tropes.
The mashup of JRPG, Soulslike, and actual grown-up story was a breath of fresh air, and I join a lot of other people in now being very, very interested in what comes next from Sandfall.
I never played the PSP game, so it was all new to me, which probably helped, as did going in with an understanding of and suitably managed expectations due to its heritage. I also think I developed a borderline unhealthy need to finish all the missions I could as soon as possible, which lead to the aforementioned gamebreakingness, and the afternoon spent trying to work out how to beat Minerva (which really wasn’t that bad once I’d twigged how Battle Stance actually worked).
The more I think about it the more I realise there wasn’t really that much of a main game, and that they really could’ve done better with the way (or when) missions unlocked; as soon as you manage to brute force your way through a couple and learn how Materia Fusion works the rest of the game just becomes a cakewalk. In fact, my biggest issue in the last few hours, besides Minerva, which is why I was trying in the first place, was trying to get the stats I wanted on Materia that wasn’t going to then turn into something else/something I didn’t want when I fused it.
Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi’s Mansion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
My Final Fantasy VII experience will be forever enriched for having met Zack Fair, the adorable motherfucker.
Like it's protagonist, Crisis Core is irritating and occasionally desperately stupid, but I couldn't help but like it. The story is largely rubbish, and hilariously inconsistently acted. The pacing is all over the place, even before you realise that at least two-thirds of the content in the game is comprised of the incredibly basic side-missions accessed in-menu from save points. You can utterly break the game by using the gear from completing them too, as they're eventually harder than the story missions, to the point where nothing I faced in the last two chapters of the story took me more than three hits to kill, including bosses. This despite the final side-mission boss taking hours and hours of attempts, and hundreds and hundreds of swears.
If I didn't already know it was a remake of a handheld game I think I'd have worked it out anyway, and that isn't a compliment. It's a 7/10 AA-feeling game, on the basis that its myriad components all probably average out to about that, but despite all that, I just liked it so much. I do find myself hoping no-one takes that as a recommendation though, so much as a sign that I'm maybe a bit odd.
I did think it was great though, and am glad I did finally play it after all; I wondered if I ever actually would, but thought if I was going to it would need to be before Rebirth, which I'll probably get around to around 2027 the way I'm going, but still.
Hell, I'm tempted to play the original for the first time in years now too.
Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak
Ys Chronicles 1
Metaphor Refantazio
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ys Chronicles II
Astro Bot
God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Luigi's Mansion
Finally played this, on the 3DS, and was a little over halfway through when I started getting a little fed up with using the 3DS nubbin to control it, at which point the fact you would be able to play the original GC version on Switch 2 was announced. Oh well.
Having to use the nubbin was about the only thing I didn’t like about it though, other than Luigi moving a bit too slowly. Lovely little game, which I really should’ve got around to before now, what with it only being a year shy of a quarter-century old…
JDubYes