Fabulously Olivier
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Posts posted by Fabulously Olivier
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I feel pretty disgusted with my home state for just removing licensing and training requirements for concealed carry permits.
Apparently, even the USA's ludicrous lack of basic common sense gun control is too much for this stupid little hellhole of mine.
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Apparently, just like with 13 Sentinels, developing the game has run the studio's entire budget and left the CEO paying out of pocket to finish the game. Vanillaware is an amazing studio consistently on the verge of collapse, and they need every success they can get.
Edit:
I made an exception to my budget gamer standards to support the devs. Got the PS5 version. Excited to dig into it this weekend.
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10 hours ago, MeteorPhoenix said:
Playing the demo a second time now. I think this game is going to consume my life for a bit.
It's funny, it's not actually that similar to FE, but it's still scratching an itch that Engage wasn't able to for me. Don't know if it can keep that up, but I'm feeling really good about it so far.
I get it, actually. If the final product is as consistently good as the demo content, then it stands to place in the top 25% of Fire Emblems for me. It scratches the itch better than anything from the DS era onwards.
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9 minutes ago, Integrity said:
i finally picked up helldivers 2 to play with mates and it's like somebody took planetside and earth defense force but asked the brave question: what if we made them fun
game fucking rules
As someone who has tried Planetside 2, that is an excellent and well-deserved dunk.
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On 2/21/2024 at 5:41 PM, vanguard333 said:
From what I've seen from comments, that's not the only extra game announcement that was only in the Japanese direct. The Japanese direct also announced Mother 3 on Nintendo Switch Online. Perhaps inevitably, a lot of people who have been waiting for a localization of Mother 3 are upset.
I see. I'll be cautiously-optimistic and maybe try the demo at some point (I say "maybe" because I have been very busy lately).
After playing the demo, it's similar to 13 Sentinels in that it isn't really an RTS. All of the actual decisions happen during pauses, then your actions execute in real time. When any battle or command completes, the game pauses again, allowing you to not only issue a new order, but check any changes to battle outcomes for your other orders (RNG rerolls after every fight) and make changes accordingly. You can essentially think of the time limit as a turn-limit with extra steps.
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February was relatively light on clears, but I nonetheless feel highly accomplished on my New Year's resolutions, being that I'm at 6/15 goals. Both of the shortest games on the list are knocked off, as are 2 of the long ones.
21. Spider Man Miles Morales
SpoilerCleared 2/11.
8/10.
I reckon I slightly prefer this to the original because of Venom powers.
+ Strong story, albeit weaker than Spider Man 1.
+ Improved on already strong combat and optional stealth gameplay.
+ Tones down a lot of Spider Man's worst/most frustrating side objectives.
+ Well-paced over a short but sufficient run-time
+ Traversal is as fun as ever.
- Some of the side objectives are still a pain in the ass.
- Too many collectibles.
- Locks some powers and the platinum trophy behind NG+, lazily padding its "dollar per hour value." I may still go for this next year or so since I'm so close to the plat.
- The low variety and number of crimes does eventually lead to the city feeling lifeless. It's just not very high quality dynamic content, and I am a dynamic content enthusiast.
22. God of War 3 Remastered
SpoilerCleared 2/12
8/10
OG God of War at its best, but still very much inferior to the new games.
+ Solid but simple hack and slash gameplay.
+ Tones down the puzzles and death traps.
+ QTEs are easier and less punishing than prior games.
+ Strong story, setpieces, and soundtrack
- Flight sections suck a lot.
- Still has QTEs.
- Timed death traps that you have to rescue a certain NPC from suck. Not as much as in GoW1, but they still suck.
23. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
SpoilerCleared 2/13.
8/10
I allowed myself one non-resolution clear this month, and it was one that I prioritized for its short length and impending sequel on Gamepass.
+ Strong story
+ Weighty, impactful combat
+ Good soundtrack
+ Incredible and poignant portrayal of mental illness.
+ Gorgeous visuals
- Poor puzzles pad the already short length.
- All collectibles are missable.
- The swamp and blindness trials are ridiculously bad. I damn near quit the game on the swamp trial.
24. Octopath Traveler 2
SpoilerCleared 2/17.
9/10
Thus far the best game I've cleared this year. So much so that I obtained the platinum trophy, extending my time played by probably about 20-30 hours.
+ Top tier soundtrack
+ Most of the character stories are compelling.
+ Crossed paths and the final chapter see more conversations between party members than the original.
+ Excellent subclass system.
+ Great turn-based gameplay.
+ Satisfying progression.
+ Great art style
+ Each character is distinct and useful.
- Some bosses are really cheap/annoying. I'd argue the secret boss in particular is actually poorly designed.
- It's basically impossible to level party members evenly for most of the game.
- Party members are still disconnected for the most party.
- The game's approach to endgame grinding sucks. Even the rare Octopuff/Cait enemies barely make a dent in your endgame levels. Basically the only way to maybe level in a reasonable time frame is to hire a certain NPC who gives you 6x uses of either 2x/10x/100x xp or jp. 100x xp is almost underheard of, and JP rolls always feel bad.
25. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
SpoilerCleared 2/25.
8/10.
So, J. S. Sterling giving this game a 7 is considered her worst take ever, but I frankly see where she's coming from. Even for all its objective qualities, the game has so many subjective and objective annoyances that I can easily see that being valid or even correct.
+ Beautiful art style and soundtrack.
+ Excellent exploration and traversal
+ Fun and varied puzzles
+ Varied enemy design.
+ Immersive physics system provides so much freedom of expression that people are still tackling this in new ways. For those who rate this a 10, this is usually why.
- The only thing rain contributes is annoyance. There were zero situations in which I was glad for it.
- Weapon durability is always shit. And the combination of fragile weapons and small inventories make rewards unexciting. Not to mention that weapons are in fact a majority of chest rewards as opposed to more useful commodities like rupees and arrows.
- The same physics system that is the game's biggest strength is also its biggest annoyance. Huge ragdoll physics when you take a hit. Items rolling down hills. Items just barely not being placed into their intended destination. Etc. Etc.
- The stealth section was a huge flaw.
- The sand seal section also sucks.
- Combat requires too much perfect defensive timing with too much penalty for error.
I'm working on Persona 3 Reload. I'm in early November.
I've also played a few hours of Diablo 3 to get the season rolling.
I'm playing the Unicorn Overlord demo and it is beyond amazing.
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1 minute ago, ciphertul said:
Think Alain could teach Alear on how not to lose you ring? Or will Alain take a page out of Alear's book?
How would that even work?
"That day, Alain learned that he was the real mind control all along."
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13 minutes ago, ciphertul said:
Just wait until you get Yahna the witch then you'll it's truly is VW.
I think he's saying that it's specifically the Dragon's Crown devs within Vanillaware. Which checks out, as this game was in some stage of development for roughly 10 years. As someone who actually didn't like Dragon's Crown, they've more than redeemed themselves to me.
Which brings me to my demo impressions. It's excellent. If the demo is reflective of the overall game quality, it's solidly comparable to the top 25% of all Fire Emblems. The gameplay is strong, the soundtrack is great, the art is top tier, the characters are fun, the game is brimming with depth and replay value, and the story is inoffensively fine. No significant complaints.
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5 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:
Isn't the time limit on the demo 7 hours instead of five? Its pretty generous either way.
I'm just going off the PS5 store description saying 5. I've heard 7 in youtube impressions. Maybe the Switch is 7?
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7 minutes ago, Wist said:
Sorry, I realise this thread is for impressions, but about how long does the demo take to play through? I wasn't planning on trying the demo but I'm thinking maybe I should give it a shot after all.
It's a 5 hour timed demo, not based on any specific game chapters. Demo progress carries over to the purchased game.
I'll be trying it this weekend now that it's available on PS5.
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The Japanese Direct had an extra game announcement and it's one of the best of the showcase. It's called Reynatis, and it's an action JRPG with male and female protagonists written by Nojima and made by the team behind Eiyuden Chronicle Rising and Pennyblood Hellbound.
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1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:
Overall, it was alright. A lot of remakes, re-releases, and remasters, though that's not necessarily bad.
I've been cautiously optimistic about Unicorn Overlord; I was looking forward to the idea of another tactical RPG. But then it mentioned having real-time strategy and, depending how it's handled, that's a bit of a dealbreaker for me. I really don't like real-time strategy, as it all too often comes down to, "How quickly can you micro-manage a million things at once", and I don't like that; I prefer turn-based strategy since it lets me go at my own pace and actually think about what I'm doing.
The first Monster Hunter Stories appearing on Switch is neat. I remember enjoying the demo on the 3DS only to end up not actually getting the game itself, and I enjoyed the sequel.
Everything else that was shown is not really my cup of tea.
What I will say is that Vanillaware is pretty approachable when it comes to RTS gameplay. I can't speak for UO until I try the demo of course, but 13 Sentinels was this very refreshing blend of real-time tactics and Final Fantasy's ATB system that let you actually think out each move. I hate RTS games and I loved the Hell out of it.
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1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:
Sales are a pretty convincing reason for a company. The first BOTW Warriors was among the best selling Warriors of all time. You can also argue Tears is reason to give BOTW Warriors a sequel. But people are right that a Xenoblade Warriors would be more artistically exiting.
I meant artistically, obviously.
But it's a null point because there was nothing. Honestly extremely mediocre showcase. Unicorn Overlord demo is a win, SMTV Vengeance may be a win depending on what exactly it is. And that's it.
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Hyrule Warriors 3 can wait its turn until it has a reason to actually exist.
It's time for Xenoblade or Pokemon. Or a Fire Emblem one that doesn't have the worst roster imaginable.
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7 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:
You know what would be brilliant? If Hades 2 would be revealed in the partner showcase. The original Hades was a rather good fit for the Switch after all.
I hope to see more of the Unicorn Overlord game. Frankly I kinda worry about it. Strategy rpg's and jrpg's might not be the same but there's strong overlap and Unicorn releasing right between FF7 and Paper Mario might hurt its sales a bit.
A Warriors announcement seems pretty likely. A Xenoblade Warriors would be a very logical next step artistically but due to it being a niche jrpg not financially. Or that is what I was going to say but apparently the Xenoblades sales are about on par with the 3ds FE games which was enough to give Fire Emblem a Warriors title.
Yeah, Vanillaware has always been kinda niche, but they get good word of mouth which gives them a long tail.
AFAIK, 13 Sentinels flopped, and then ended up performing in the long run. Amazing game, btw.
But there also isn't a good time this year for Unicorn Overlord to launch. We're in the best JRPG year in a very, very long time. Possibly ever.
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It being a partner showcase kills FE's odds, but the chances of a Warriors game (maybe Xenoblade?) being announced actually just went up significantly. So I'm interested.
Also hoping for a Unicorn Overlord demo. Everything else about it looks great, and the gameplay is the one big question mark I have.
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I have much hype for Ysassin's Creed: Black Flag.
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4 hours ago, JulieFalcom said:
I think I belong in the minority with this, but I don't think it's unpopular at all to say that I enjoyed Ys VIII more than any Xenoblade Chronicles game manly for being factpaced and less romantic than like Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The battle system was more fun too despite being simple. And Ys VIII's soundtrack is my favourite soundtrack of all videogames I've played yet.
I think Ys VIII is more comparable to Tales than it is to Xenoblade. And to that end, it's the best Tales game ever made, and it isn't close.
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So, I don't know how or why number progression came to be the defining factor in people's minds for whether a game is an RPG. Because it absolutely isn't. Levels and gear are tangential.
The one and only thing that makes a game an RPG is choice. Narrative/personality choice, character build customization, or party customization. Without at least one of these things, a game is not an RPG, period.
Unpopular video game fact.
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Best - Tellius. It's varied, practical, and above all, regal. There's an elegance to many of the designs that still holds up great.
Worst - Engage. While environmental art and animations look great, character designs often look like Xenoblade 2 rejects. We've got the garish protagonist and the most annoying clown in the universe. And I have to assume Timerra was dropped on her head many times as a child, because her mother successfully convinced her that McDonald's playpen balls are rare gems and she should wear them.
As for artists that I'd like to see have a shot at a future FE, I think that Octopath/Triangle Strategy's Team Asano would make excellent character portraits. And Vanillaware would be amazing at everything.
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Ronin has difficulty settings, and therefore, it has my attention.
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8 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:
Tifa in Tekken 7 was the big thing before those hopes were dashed by Noctis. Tifa is to Tekken what Geno (and also Ridley before him) were to Smash. If you asked me what character that would make me drop everything and buy Tekken 8, it would be Ryo Hazuki.
Such a weird choice in retrospect given that FF15 basically has no cultural relevance anymore. Like, it's probably got the same amount of regard (or less) as the Assassin's Creed it crossed over with.
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Some guests I know of:
Soul Calibur is known for guest characters. It usually has 2 per game.
Warriors Orochi features crossovers from Team Ninja games (Ryu Hyabusa, Sterkenberg from Atelier), and WO3U also features Sophitia from Soul Calibur.
Dante is in SMT3 Nocturne
Injustice 2 has ninja turtles, Hell Boy and (too many) Mortal Kombat characters.
Guests I want:
If Injustice 3 happens, I want the Power Rangers, Spawn, and Omniman.
For the next Soul Calibur game, I think Ike, Ichiban Kasuga, Jin Sakai, Dante, and Kratos would be amazing guests.
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FF7R was one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played, despite me not being a FF fan to that point. I sure hope FF7Re will be even better.
Unicorn Overlord
in General Gaming
Posted
"Misplaced under the sofa cushions" wouldn't quite fit on the unit select screen.