Roundup 2

12 March 2024

The Roundup! Part 2!!!!!!!

hey! it's been a while since i last wrote something here hasn't it. i can't say it's been because i've been busy honestly, it’s just that opening google docs and typing kinda fills me up with some insane dread and anxiety since i start thinking of school and i really dont wanna do that. however since i liked writing the review roundup i did a couple of months ago, I figured i should do the same for the bunch of games i've finished since i last posted. it’s probably gonna be a semilong post so buckle up for some #takes from your local literal who.

so i didn't really end up liking alan wake 1 when i finished it. its a weird game that’s quite plagued by dev problems and script issues. lots of parts in it dont really mesh well together unfortunately, and the final game plays like a really boring version of luigi’s mansion but with a gun.

since then i’ve grown a bit of an appreciation over it after i finished it. i think the game’s messiness contributes to its thriller atmosphere quite well. the way the story “develops” feels like you’re right inside one of alan’s shitty books where he cast himself as the chad and the dark presence as the soyjack, for lack of a better way of explaining it. it works kinda weirdly but i think alan wake is a game that’s “good” but more plagued by its own ambition than anything; something that could very easily be refined in a sequel that hammers home the horror elements and the psychological horror of the writer’s room and the dark place.

BUT, before remedy made that game, they made Control and released it back in 2019. Control is a game about…control lmao. It’s a game that’s predominantly interested in how our traumas fuel us and how we can overcome them, and the usage of SCP aesthetics with a maximalist brutalist architectural aesthetic and lynchian (i hate saying it like this lol) storytelling makes for an extremely unique game in the AA space it occupies.

i think what stood out to me most of all is how good it feels to control. Jesse has this floatiness to her movements that make the big arenas feel incredible to jump around in, and as you get more abilities you feel like you’re getting more and more in tune with the themes of the game. Jesse learns to tap into her trauma and draws power from within it to overcome the SCP nightmare that’s in the oldest house, and the player follows up on this journey as they get stronger. it’s a very simple narrative that’s really nicely told as you get snippets of the situation at hand with some really pretty aesthetic flourishes like the Trench flashbacks, the Darling tapes or the weird board scenes. i can see why people wouldn’t like how up it is on its own hype but i relished in how hard it went. i didnt beat either of the dlcs (though i started the alan wake dlc but didn't finish it) so no comment on those except that Alan’s voice actor is always a treat.

speaking of alan wake: his sequel game also came out. i haven't finished it because i'm playing it with my dad (he’s really liking it) but i think it’s so far a stronger game than the first one, easily. it’s fucking gorgeous first of all, truly a game that could only be made with modern hardware. and the way it’s trying to fit in the pieces of the metanarrative between alan, saga, the first game and what it means to be a shit writer stuck in your own head is really cool. might end up writing something bigger if i feel like it idk.

im writing something on this. it’s probably gonna be as big as the samrem review if not bigger. i love these two games a lot and theyve made my brain whirl around a lot since i finished them. look forward to the ultimate akai mato review.

yakuza is the game series i think of when i think about my childhood watching youtube videos on games i couldn’t play. i had a wii growing up and my parents refused to get me any console after the Wii U, so most of my experiences “playing” non nintendo games that werent ports to the wii i rented from blockbuster came from let’s play channels. i distinctly remember making my youtube account to subscribe to The Media Cows after they started posting their videos on mass effect 3 multiplayer lmao, and it’s through channels like them, the rad brad, centerstrain01 and others that i grew my appreciation for the broader side of gaming back when i was, 11.

come 2023 and i finally got my first non nintendo console that could play modern games and i immediately bought yakuza kiwami on a sale. that game is like, generally ok, but it was a fun time visiting kamurocho for the “first time” (i played yakuza 0 a bit before it but i didnt beat it so it doesn’t count for my point). In came november 2023 and sony announces that a bunch of yakuza games are leaving playstation plus, including 7. i made it my mission to do the entire yakuza series myself to get to 7 and feel the differences firsthand, but i had to cut that short because i really wanted to play 7 and this gave me the best excuse to cram it all as fast i could.

and what did i think of it? it’s great! incredible hot take i know, the super popular yakuza semi-reboot is a good game? who could have seen this coming! i kid but i was pretty pleasantly surprised at how good of a first draft this system ended up being for me, coupled with a really interesting story about familiar bonds, election schemes and the consequences of the not!LDP’s policies on sex work and the homeless.

while the combat is really simple, i think it does a really good job at mixing its urban setting with dragon quest-esque combat to create this semi-unique mix of active turn-based combat. it has a lot of issues that the sequel fixed, mainly the lack of character control in battle, unclear AOE indicators and kiiiinda uninspired boss design and general lack of difficulty barring two bosses in particular, but i think it manages to be engaging throughout, and that’s something i care about more than if the systems are unique in a vacuum. one aspect that really stood out to me was the way the game encouraged me to grind a bit to get every character as even as i could, encouraging me to check jobs with interesting skills just to see what they could inherit to the main jobs i chose for my party. this is something i’ve also heard the sequel makes more interesting so i'm excited to get to that when it’s not 70 dollars anymore lmfao.

also to talk about the story a bit: i think it’s generally very competent and has an incredible grasp on the characters it wants to make central to the emotional core. everyone’s talked about how great ichiban is and how lovable he is but it speaks to the beats of the writing and Nakaya Kazuhiro’s talent to portray the vulnerability he exhibits throughout the key points where he talks to the antagonist made me tear up hard. speaking of which, without spoiling anything, aoki ryo is also a really good emotional counterpart to ichiban and he’s played BEAUTIFULLY by the goat Toriumi Kousuke. the ending is one of the most heartfelt and heart wrenching things i've seen in a while, and i haven't stopped thinking about it since i finished it.

i started this as a joke with some friends and ended up streaming it in full over the next few days after that. beast media. kino.

i knew i had to beat this before rebirth while i was under the illusion i'd be playing that at launch. silly me. but it was worth going “back” to FF7R through this dlc. very short and sweet and Yuffie plays better than every single character in remake. the way she can flow from close combat to ranged and exploit stagger with the unity attacks is really fun and i'm curious to see how her mechanics change in rebirth.

ill also add that i played the nibelheim incident demo for rebirth and also found that very fun. the changes to cloud’s movement and attacks are really good and unity attacks are a very welcome addition to the system. i just wished that the game would stop going all prestige on me and have me walk super slowly through certain environments.

i played this while i was half listening to my arts class lmao. i haven't beaten vanilla celeste but i thought the movement here was super smooth with some major issues in depth perspective and shadows. often i'd fall off because i didn't know where madeline was relative to the platforms below her and that was annoying; but also who cares lol this was made in a week and it’s more fun than most 3d platformers.

i've been playing granblue fantasy on and off for the last 6 years. i never got super hardcore into it but i had phases where id grind like a degenerate and then drop off for a couple months before picking it back up when the burnout faded. either way i'd still call myself a longtime fan.

however, relink never really caught my eye compared to other people. it looked nice but the constant lack of info and multiple delays just made me not care about the project, coupled with the fact i didn't have a console that could play it even if i wanted to, so i stopped caring and got excited for other stuff.

in came anime expo 2023, the first time i ever traveled by myself to another country with friends, and there they had a demo booth for relink. it was single player only and you could fight two bosses back-to-back, a goblin warrior and a griffon. the moment i took control of Gran i could see the sparks in my eyes fly out into the screen. movement felt great, and the combat was super responsive. even as i got my ass handed to me i couldn't stop going back and queuing for 10 minutes just to try it again and again. my friends and i even made it a small competition to see who could get to the secret boss since it required some inane requirements and strats, but it was incredibly fun.

the game itself captures this feeling by harnessing its main quest design through a monster hunter framework, and adding the one thing that makes granblue fun, seeing the number go UP.

you’ll beat the game and immediately start doubling, tripling, quadrupling your attack and hp, gain new equipment slots, and break through every cap the game has as you battle through very fun bosses by yourself or with other friends. i've been playing the post-game only through co-op and it’s been a blast going through the game as a group, grinding and leveling up our weapons and getting to fight cooler and cooler bosses. more than anything, relink captures what makes playing with friends fun, and what makes single player rpgs with a focus on grinding up, and through its bizarre concoction of monster hunter progression systems, incredible art design and fun enemy encounters, manages to make a game that in any other context would be a live service nightmare, but instead it’s a fully complete bespoke experience that i've been growing to appreciate every time i open the game up. give it a go if you have a group of friends you wanna blast through some arpg bosses together

also there’s a main story but lmao it sucks ass.

funny story, while i was writing this i finished elden ring with most of the major bosses beaten but without triggering the credits because i dont wanna do ng+ for the dlc. sometimes my procrastination gets the better of me and i beat games like that lmao.

much ink has been spilled on the topic of elden ring and from software. personally it was one of the only games that made me resent not having a game-ready pc or a ps4/ps5 when it came out and i saw all my friends cream their pants over how kino poggers it was. luckily i ended up acquiring a ps5 last year and after seeing elden ring in a daily sale for 30% off i immediately started it and…dropped it for 7 months after getting to raya lucaria lmao. i dont even know exactly why i felt so underwhelmed by what i had played; maybe it had something to do with my choice of build (wretch start, mage only) which felt undertuned and annoying as i scrambled to find a staff and spells to start my quest in earnest, and by the time i conquered stormveil castle and got to the gates of raya lucaria after 20 hours of fucking about and finding out i got severely burned out of the game and just kinda left it there and played some other stuff; i think armored core 6 had also come out around the same time and i really wanted to check that out so elden ring ended up kind of forgotten to me for a while

then the dlc trailer came out and everyone around me was talking about it, and that was enough to spur me back into action and finally conquer the rest of the game. needless to say, the game hooked me harder than ever after that extended break and i beat it 2 weeks after with 83 hours of playtime and most of its optional stuff done and dusted, including malenia and ranni’s whole questline.

elden ring is one of those games to me. the type of game that gnaws at you with its fanged teeth and doesnt let you go until it eats you whole and the crows get the leftovers, or something. it’s a game that, paraphrasing a friend of mine, brings back the design sensibilities of 80’s RPG design and fully realizes them in a full 3d environment. a game where you can go somewhere and in most cases find some catacombs with a spirit ash left behind, or an npc will point you cryptically into a questline, or you’ll get ambushed by a big-ass dragon and die. the lands between transforms from this magical and unknown land to a land of explorable mysteries where you’ll be able to find cool legendary swords and armor, fight historical bosses and explore the fucked up parts of its geography as you slowly uncover the lore and the relationship charts of who’s who and what’s where. the best parts of the game for me were the moments where i knew where i wanted to go and went there, and by going there i found a cool legacy dungeon or a boss fight or a rise, and conquering it felt like i wrote a part in my own story of becoming the elden lord.

magical only partly covers the experience of playing elden ring. it’s a game filled with possibilities and playstyles, a game where stuff being kept from you feels just as exciting as uncovering it. i might end up writing a bit more on elden ring later down the line but i am very, very excited for the dlc and whatever it’ll bring to the lands between.

only gonna write a bit on this because i got burned out and played other stuff instead. i think nocturne is one of the most vibe-based rpgs ive ever played. totally unconcerned with having a main story, it dedicates its playtime to bespoke dungeon crawling and pure gameplay. SMT has a reputation for being ball-busting hard and i cant disagree with that assessment, though it might be because i was peer pressured into playing the game on hard mode. regardless, it’s a game that fully understands its scope and vision and realizes it in a really cool package of really inspired visual design, atmosphere and mechanical prowess. i know people like to complain that the dungeons are “too gimmicky” or whatever but if having complex layouts with dangers outside of enemy encounters counts as a gimmick then sign me the fuck up. ill beat this before the end of the year

finally, this game got on psplus while i was procrastinating writing this post and ive poured around 10 hours into it. sifu is a game that mimics the style and flow of martial arts movies by way of god hand and sekiro. if that sounds like a good enough pitch to you then hop on and have a blast as you get your ass kicked over and over again. ive personally been grinding the lower levels so i can have an advantage in the later ones but the combat system is so complex and so intricate that it hasnt bored me at all. it feels like a great mix of arcade playstyle based on short levels and depth to relatively simple mechanics and a DMC-esque upgrade system where your moveset becomes more and more intricate as you play through the levels and get really, really good. very excited to beat this and be sad that more games dont approach their macro design like an arcade game anymore.

and that’s that! im gonna try my best to write a lot more in 2024 (i say this despite it being march already lmfao) and try to be more consistent with my blog posts as long as this site still exists. i wanna make 2024 the year i get really into certain games and try to explore more RPGs and finish quite a bunch of famous games in my circles (cough cough rance quest, sekiro, dark souls 2 and dragons dogma 2) so please be on the lookout for my following blog posts. thanks for reading!!!