June 2023
Finally quit my second job which is not only a massive weight of stress off my shoulders but also frees up my weekends. That which hopefully will now be more dedicated to my backlog among other things. Considering I had bought both FFXVI and SF6 and not touched them was a big sign that this was needing to happen. Oh, I also started FFXIV so I may have just traded work time for full time dedication to that :) So much for progress.
A fairly surprising true to source remake. A lot of remakes, reboots, and even some remasters will either had quality of life changes or simply make the game easier for the modern times. System Shock instead keeps it pretty original and makes you work for your gaming experience. There are no HUD direction indicators, added notes, free healing, etc. I think the only quality of life they may have added is the ability to add markers to your map which is highly recommended and wish I had utilized it earlier. Otherwise, Just a classic old school game experience with very great overhaul of graphics and voice work. I’m not sure how it compares to the original, but the difficulty settings have multiple sliders. One for combat which focuses on damage, enemy frequency, etc. Another for story where the hardest has both permadeath and a time to beat lest you feel defeat. Puzzles which are mostly just panel switch related. Finally, Cyber which deals with the FPS bullet hell hacking minigame where the hardest can flatline the Hacker if they fail. Overall, story is decent and straightforward. I only wish the final encounter was not so abrupt. It really lacked any real finality or provided any aftermath/effects from the incident. Not to mention the final battle itself lacked intensity or even have much communication between the Hacker and Shodan.
I very much appreciate the keeping to the classic standards as I found myself totally absorbed into the game trying to figure out what needs to be done, exploring, and fighting for my life. That being said, there were a few moments that even with going through audio logs and notes were not as clear as they could be. Some of it was on me where I completely forgot about an unexplored area, but others didn’t really seem to get mentioned or feel logical. On top of that, key cards (very important items for opening doors) can easily be missed. They don’t particularly stand out in any way and could just be on the floor somewhere or even in a random dead guy’s inventory. Even with my thorough scouring various areas I managed to miss one which got me stuck for a while. Combat is fairly solid as far as FPS goes though the game can get tough on higher difficulties and it doesn’t seem like enemies have any fraction of being interrupted or caused to sway their shots which means the game relied on a bunch of peek around corners and waiting out shots rather than bother taking risks. Melee is also surprisingly strong with the right equipment and supplements as I found I completely bypassed most bosses with such. Cyber hacking was… okay. The minigame felt a bit lacking and more than a few enemies proved to be more annoying and healthy than it should have been. It can also be pretty hard to navigate and control the cyberspace sections in general. Puzzles for the most part were enjoyable and differed between either getting the power levels to the right amount or completing a circuit.
All in all, I had a relatively positive experience save for the final encounter and having a few stuck moments. The biggest notes of negativity go to a few things like the inventory where inventory management grows cumbersome very quickly. Thankfully, you can drop weapons and even go to other floors without them despawning as you will not have room for everything (be sure to use your marker system to keep track). The recycler only being a 3 x 3 space which means trying to scrap random items becomes even more tedious, especially since some items cannot be scrapped in their non-vaporized state despite having recyclable credit amounts. Adding to that, it seems weird that you cannot scrap weapons you don’t use anymore. I guess this is to help prevent soft locking yourself, but after upgrading or finding better weapons, older or excessive weapons just feel like they don’t have use and could better go to funds.
Recommend: Yes
Rating: 7.5/10
Another story focused entry that even has scripted battles that are here for story purposes rather than actually winning. Classes are no longer picked by the player but instead are pre-chosen similar to that of FFVII and FFX. Unlike those games, you don’t choose who is in your party and instead is dictated by story something somewhat similar to FFII. It’s also worth noting that this game is very clearly influenced by the oh so popular Star Wars Franchise with both’s its themes and story beats.
The core gameplay is fairly consistent with the series though the 3D version mixes it up a bit. Bosses are a little more interesting as they have certain phases and interactions that require figuring out and strategizing against their mechanic. All the 3D models look fairly great though there is some clipping in animations. Secret pathways are much more hidden and annoyingly hard to navigate as you are wandering through the dark knowing very little if you are moving or not (especially in towns when you have no individualized map for the area). Voice work is great.
The introduction of augments is an interesting addition though not nearly explained enough as it should be. At the face value finding and using an augment grants a character an action similar to that of a class skill. However, these augments are used up once used and are fairly obscure to get. Some are gained through story or beating the game… the rest are a bit more complicated. Most will need to be found after certain story events (usually beating a boss then scouring a previous dungeon) or giving 3 augments to a character and when they leave (for good) they give you their own separate augments. This being said there are a ton that are missable. The final thing that is not noted about augments is at level 70 and above your equipped augments are your sole source of stat ups per level. This information can easily make or break endgame, especially if you are fighting superbosses and on hard difficulty no less (something I ended up doing both).
Notes: I very much recommend looking up an augments guide (especially if you are a completionist) as the game does a terrible job of informing the player of the vital uses and locations of these. There are also a number of .4% item drops that are insanely hard to find let alone figure out which enemy drops them, again guide/lookup info recommended. The newly added Namingway questline is easily my favorite part of the game, that is all.
Recommend: Yes
Rating: 7.5/10
Monster Hunter: Generations
3DS
43 hours
There’s a certain idea on paper that would have made this a good game and on certain aspects it is. Unfortunately, I don’t think the execution was quite there. As it sounds it combines quite a bit of the previous games including the various villages and monsters. However, this creates an absolute excess of monster variants that make this game a slog. The first few hunting stars are just overflowing with Jaggi/Genprey variants and it took so long for the game to pickup when you start to get more interesting hunts. Additionally, since it takes a lot of the monsters from the other games it seems like that’s all the more hunts that do not contribute towards upgrading your weapons/gear. On that subject, the new UI for weapon upgrading is very bizarre where the base weapon has levels and each level eventually unlocks another path. It felt really confusing on top of the egregious random materials needed and getting lost once you do branch off of the original path. Most weapons also did not seem to particularly vary much in terms of damage and sharpness. On the other hand, the game introduces Weapon Arts which absolutely improves and diversifies the same old formula. I only wish it related more to doing certain actions to unlock these rather than specific quests.
If you’re looking for some sense of story or buildup… you chose the wrong entry. Instead you will find that you will be bouncing between each hub to clear out every conversation and potentially pickup every menial task. Even with fast travel I felt I was spending far more time tracking down each notification rather than taking on hunts as each hunt triggered more meaningless conversations. The great finale to the base adventure was a Glavenous which left me dumbstruck when the ending animation and credits started to roll. Certainly afterwards you unlock post game final bosses from previous entries, but to end on a Glavenous left me unsatisfied but not enough for me to continue post game content into the high ranks.
Should also be noted that the small monsters seem extremely aggressive, even moreso than other entries. Which gets downright annoying and confusing as you get interrupted by lowly animals that should be running for their lives. I guess there is no self-preservation in this world.
It’s a shame that this was such a mixed entry because it does introduces some great combat additoins and even reworks maps to remove the horrid underwater elements. However, the slog the beginning has and the unsatisfying conclusion was just… not enjoyable.
Weapon of Choice: Chargeblade
Best Mons: Zinogre
Worst Mons: All the early game variants and the Bulldrome.
Recommend: No
Rating: 3/10
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
3DS
Relatively enjoyable VN with detective and court-room themes. The music, art style, and animations are pretty excellent and improve both the general plot and humorous moments. Though I do wish there were more cases outside of murder, they still offer plent of varying story beats and a small variety of characters to meet. That being said, it does feel like the do regurgitate quite a few characters within this trilogy a little more frequently than expected.
The original game is fairly straightforward while the second two introduce a spiritual knowledge checks to uncover individuals secrets. It is more of the same as the court cases are fairly similar but those instead offer a difference of pressing certain dialogue and presenting evidence whereas uncovering secrets is merely presenting. It feels a missed opportunity where they could have offered more detective work as showcased in the bonus episode of the first game where you had to uncover prints, etc. On that note there are a few relatively minor vices with these games. First, some evidence isn’t quite as clear as I would like. Usually the description makes up for the small picture however, there was a case where it suggested that there were marks on a cup that I genuinely thought was the design of the cup and not an external factor. The bigger grievance is there are occasionally weird solution paths where you have to press an unrelated dialogue statement before presenting an equally unrelated evidence, needing to ask a certain question before even finding a piece of evidence, or requiring an oddly specific evidence when several pieces fit the case. Some can be due to personal error but felt it was far too frequent even if I was being dumb.
Personally, it’s hard to play much of this game in a short span, but is nice to play a case every once in a while.
Best Character: Miles Edgeworth/Godot
Worst Character: Larry Butz/Oldbag
Ranking Game Order: Trials and Tribulations (3), Original game (1), Justice For All (2).
Recommend: Yes
Rating: 7/10
I’m glad you were able to de-stress your life a little. That’s always a great feeling! Also thank you for the reviews. I’ve been thinking about playing System Shock for a while so it’s nice to get your perspective on it before I start
I appreciate it, certainly is a relief.
Always a pleasure, thank you for reading.
System Shock can be challenging so I wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I look forward to your review on it.
^_^