Fabulously Olivier
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Posts posted by Fabulously Olivier
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53. Hogwarts Legacy
(Cleared 9/1)
7/10. Initially really impressed me, with its production value, combat system, and attention to detail, but wears thin over time. Also, before anyone calls me out, I neither bought the game nor had it bought for me. I used a copy dad bought for himself.
+ Impressive attention to detail makes the game an IP fan's dream
+ Flexible, excellent magic system. Fun enough to enjoy at a casual level, but also seriously technical to master.
+ Strong soundtrack
+ Strong visuals
- Low enemy variety
- Low content variety
- Tiny inventory
- Gear passives feel undercooked and shallow
- Aggressively Ubisoftian in its approach to open world.
- JK Rowling bad
54. Kingdom Hearts 3(Cleared 9/2)
7/10
+ Solid gameplay, if a bit shallow.
+ The Pirates of the Caribbean world is seriously impressive. Really streamlines the Black Flag naval combat in the best way.
+ KH has always had a great soundtrack
- The story is incomprehensible, juvenile gibberish.
- The removal of all Final Fantasy characters is lame and undermines the original premise.
- Some worlds are actively unfun. Having Frozen immediately followed by Winnie the Pooh makes for a bad middle section of the game.
55. Sea of Stars(Cleared 9/9)
8/10
+ Gorgeous presentation
+ Catchy soundtrack
+ Flexible approach to difficulty customization
+ Great combat
+ The characters all feel distict
+ Interesting lore
= The story is... I hesitate to call it bad. It's more so bad it's good, with some frankly hysterical tonal whiplash. Like imagine if Fire Emblem Engage actually pulled off what it was going for.
- Most of the characters lack personality, Garl aside.
- I'm not a fan of the timing mechanics in battle. They don't really do anything other than make the experience worse.
- A lot of the locks on bosses are a lie. As in they are actually impossible to break in the alloted timeframe, and don't even follow the normal rules of getting weaker the more locks you break.
- Locking the true ending behind collectibles is cheeky.
56. Fuga: Melodies of Steel(Cleared 9/9)
8/10
Speaking of tonal whiplash. Take the most adorable set of cartoon animal children and put them in Valkyria Chronicles, and you've got this emotional trainwreck. I highly recommend this masterpiece to anyone who likes Fire Emblem and wants that experience in a turn-based JRPG.
+ Masterfully uses is cute artstyle and support conversations to emotionally batter you and make you want to protect them. It evokes the same desire for a perfect run that Fire Emblem does.
+ Particularly deep turn-based combat.
+ Effectively creates the same attrition-based gameplay and social sim as Persona in a more streamlined form.
+ Really excels at "one more go" pacing.
+ Interesting adaptation of WW2 storytelling.
+ Innovative game structure.
+ Likeable characters.
+ Beautiful soundtrack.
- The difficulty choices are fake, if not downright deceptive. Not choosing the hardest route causes the player to lose out on so many rewards that the game will become harder for them. This is the problem with rewarding more skilled players with power in any game. Those who need the help fall behind, while those who don't need the help get an easier game.
- The degree to which enemies hit you with status effects is obnoxious.
- Blocking often feels bad because it only works on one enemy. And enemies tend to attack all at once.
- Lack of saves in battle or even between many battles can result in game sessions going on way longer than intended.
57. Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star(Cleared 9/10)
3/10. So, when I of all people say a Warriors game is shit, it's really shit.
+ The roster's good. It's just one Lancelot short of having all of the anime essentials, and he's added in the sequel. And... that's the only complement I have.
- This is not Fate. This is the same stuck-in-an-MMO isekai bullshit as Sword Art Online. In fact, I'm 99% sure they wanted to do SAO and got stuck with a different license but decided to do it anyway.
- The story is so atrocious, boring, and focused on cringe fanservice that I literally started enjoying the game more after I started skipping it all.
- The game is solely concerned with slowing you down. It uses the Hyrule Warriors DE style base capture where you have to spawn enemy officers by killing hundreds of peons, except the peons are more durable, you have to kill more, and they love to spread out. Also, this also applies when defending your base, against all logic. And enemies LOVE to invade your bases, so you'll be doing this alot. This game is the secret to immortality. It makes 15 minutes feel like 45 minutes.
- Most of the movesets I tried feel really subpar, with slow animations comparable to FEW without Astra.
- Low stage variety, and they almost all look alike. Except for the ones that have a slight Japanese flair on the same garbage online coding aesthetic that the rest of the game has.
- The main story locks you into the 3 waifus (Nero, Tamammo, and Atila). And I do mean waifus, not heroines, because they spend most of the game's script uncomfortably dry humping your self-insert protagonist to death. But I digress. Want to play anyone else? You're locked into their side stories with the same 3 formulaic missions.
58. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart(Cleared 9/17 - Platinum Trophy)
9/10. Just a really friggin enjoyable game.
+ Strong story, for a mascot platformer, anyway.
+ Ratchet's blend of third person gunplay and collectathon is always a delight.
+ Rivet is a delightful new character, and if they would up their production rate of these games, I wouldn't mind her getting her own solo games. Or just, you know, coming back.
+ The guns are all quirky and fun to use, and fun to upgrade
+ Collectibles are satisfying and useful
+ The visuals are good
+ The rift mechanic is fun
59. Ghostwire Tokyo(Cleared 9/18)
7/10
+ Visually stunning and unique
+ Awesome animations
+ Ideal for someone like me who prefers slower gunplay.
- More Ubisoftian than an actual Ubisoft open world game. Bloated as Hell.
- Some enemy types are extremely annoying
- The game frequently rips you away from your powers, forcing insufferable stealth sections
60. Diablo Immortal(Cleared 9/22)
So, any score I give this is coming with a big asterisk. It's more fun than Diablo 2, but it's also so evil its monetization that it's a worse game. Ultimately, I decided on a 4/10 to represent that.
+ Excellent visuals for an ARPG. It's both grimdark and attractive.
+ Solid combat, if compromised by touch controls.
+ Their approach to channeled skill cooldowns is excellent and should be copied going forward.
- Disgusting pay to win monetization
- Level gates the story constantly.
- Frequent intrusive reminders to try social and store features.
61. Trials of Mana Remake (Hawkeye/Riesz path)
(Cleared 9/24)
7/10.
+ Charming nostalgic art style
+ Good retro music
+ Fun DW-style combos
+ Great class system
+ High replay value
+ Loaded with collectibles
- Bad voice acting.
- Can't smoothly combo attacks into spells.
- AI is dumb. It doesn't heal reliably, and it can die on you pretty easily.
- Certain trap sessions are stupidly annoying.
- It's hard to like the characters. Charlotte is annoying. Hawkeye is generally likeable, until he decides to be a big creep. Kevin's voice acting is insufferable. Riesz is cool though, and I don't have enough experience with the other 2.
As for what I'm playing now, I'm mainlining Lost Judgement and Chained Echoes. I'm also playing Torchlight 3 and nearing the end of my Neo TWEWY run (but it says a lot about my opinion of the game that even its ending arc isn't making me focus on it).
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I've got a better idea. Make it Pokemon Party. With up to 8 players each carrying a badge that the others have to win off them.
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In terms of platforming/collect-a-thon mascots:
Mario > Ratchet and Clank > Spyro > Kirby > Banjo > Crash > Jak and Daxter > Donkey Kong and Yoshi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sonic.
But hey, Sonic. You're still better than Bubsy.
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On 9/13/2023 at 8:47 PM, vanguard333 said:
I imagine they will anger Intelligent Systems, since Fire Emblem Engage was made using Unity and the changes are being made retroactive.
My hope is that this means they will switch from Unity to a better engine. As for which one, I have no idea. I think at least a few turn-based games have been made using Unreal Engine, including one that used a hexgonal grid, so I think it would be viable for future FE games. As much as I'd like to see IS use an engine it itself made, the sad reality is that in-house engines are becoming increasingly less feasible for game studios; Square Enix learned that the hard way in the PS3 and PS4 era, where their in-house engines: Crystal Tools and Luminous, were unfinished piles of garbage that couldn't handle most of the games Square Enix wanted to make at the time (directly causing the 10-year-long development nightmare Final Fantasy XV went through).
To be honest, even before this, I had my concerns about Intelligent Systems using the Unity engine for Engage, mainly because I remembered that Unity merged with that malware company almost a year ago. To be honest, I'm surprised that that wasn't the thing that made everyone want to stop using Unity.
It frankly seems to me like that merging with the spyware company was done to create their download detection software to facilitate this business model change.
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So, I do find myself a little baffled at Koei, because they've really missed a trick on their Nintendo Warriors games.
Another licensed game on the Switch with sequel potential for the next console just makes sense. Xenoblade would be cool, sure, but you couldn't really follow it up well until the next Xeno game. But something like Pokemon you could basically keep going forever. Double dipping with one huge success on the Switch and another huge success on the next console. Seems like a missed opportunity.
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26 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
I suppose; you do have a point. I would just argue that a very late tagline is still a bad tagline in this case, as the rebirth of the genre has already happened.
I see. What's Suikoden?
Suikoden was a PS2-era JRPG loosely based on Water Margin. Published by Konami. It was known for having a LOT of playable characters, and you could view the modern day Trails series as scratching that itch.
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9 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Good question; I honestly don't know.
Yeah; Unicorn Overlord does look neat. That said, it's a bit weird that they advertised it as "The rebirth of tactical fantasy RPGs"; tactical fantasy RPGs never died; they're arguably more popular than ever before. The closest they came to dying occurred when Fire Emblem was at risk of being cancelled, back in the early 2010s.
I didn't know about Elyuden Chronicle; the direct was the first time I heard of it. What is it? Is it brand new or part of an established franchise?
I'd argue that tactical RPGs DID very much die, and FE was the last major holdout, until it also revitalized the genre and we started getting a bunch of them over the last few years. So it's not a bad tag line - it's a very late tag line.
Eiyuden Chronicles is a crowdfunded spiritual successor to Suikoden.
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So to sum up my thoughts:
If you're a Mario fan, this is as much of a god-tier direct as the Fire Emblem Direct of 2017 was for us. Probably more so, honestly, because none of those Mario games is an awful mobile game, and no one is concerned about the roster of a Mario game (probably).
If you're not a major Mario fan, it was probably a trash tier direct. Most of the best games showcased were those we very much knew about already.
For my personal part:
Unicorn Overlord looks great.
Eiyuden Chronicle will probably be one of the best games of next year (but we already knew about it)
SaGa isn't the ugliest JRPG franchise in the world for once, so maybe it will be interesting.
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I legit thought Unicorn Overlord was FF Tactics Remake until the title dropped. But it has my full attention.
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So Peach is now Kirby. No, I don't apologize for that mental image.
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Fire Emblem Engage was built on Unity. Unity seemed like a viable engine for the series going forward.
However, Unity is planning to screw over all of its game developers with a retroactive royalty change based on unique downloads, rather than purchases. This makes the engine unfeasible for most franchises, especially niche and indie ones, and will likely result in a mass exodus to Unreal.
So what do we think of Fire Emblem's future in this? Do you think it will transition to Unreal? Go back to the Warriors Engine? Develop its own?
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30 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Mario Warriors sounds like a pretty fun idea
until they make my favorite character (Luigi) unplayable just to piss me off I'll never forgive you for Hanneman Koei, never, neveeeerrrrAnyway, I think the Mario and Rabbids games did a pretty good work of showing that Mario and friends can be made to wield weaponry without it feeling out of place. It's just a matter of style and execution. I mean, they made Luigi popping heads with a gosh darned sniper rifle feel completely natural.
Sniper Luigi felt totally natural after Mario Kart introduced his death stare.
I hope they would also include DK and Yoshi. Not only because I don't want DK Warriors ever, but well, because they just feel like such natural fits on the roster. I would main the hell out of Yoshi.
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43 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
I like just the idea of Peach getting another game, at long last. It's probably too much to hope, but I wish they'd give her a battle axe like she gets in the movie. That's like, by far the coolest thing the movie did, period. It needs to become official in the games that Peach runs around with a friggin' halberd to chop off Bowser's noggin with.
That Mario Warriors that Koei apparently wants to do suddenly just got way more metal.
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So, maybe this is a hot take, but Tales of is an incredibly 6/10 to 7/10 franchise. (Zestiria is a 4/10). All of the pre-Arise games have dogshit combat, Arise has a weak story, and most of the Tales games have a bad story and bad combat.
The franchise absolutely could be great if you build on Arise's foundation with a story at least on par with Symphonia/Abyss. But we're not there yet.
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46 minutes ago, samthedigital said:
Playing this way makes Xenoblade 2 an absolute slog.
Xenoblade 2 is an absolute slog.
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3 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Yeah; I still wouldn't purchase it if they did that, but I would be able to somewhat respect it. I'd respect an actual prequel more, but Age of Calamity proved they aren't willing to do that even when they have a golden opportunity.
I hope they don't skip over Genealogy; it would be really good to see more of the currently Japan-exclusive FE games to see versions that get international releases. But yeah; it is almost-certainly a given.
I see. Okay.
I wasn't implying that they shouldn't do Geneology. It's one of the best and most important games in the series.
But like, I wish FE stepped up its remake production cycle. Because basically everything pre-Awakening deserves a remake, and they've thus far only done the most unappealing games (IMO).
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6 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Yeah, it is too soon. But I can't help but be concerned that they will once again create a crossover that will be falsely-advertised as a prequel only for it to be a what-if time travel narrative. It would be especially egregious in the case of a Tears of the Kingdom crossover because Tears of the Kingdom already has time travel in it that is firmly established as a closed time loop; the past doesn't change.
That said, it might not actually be too soon, since the Zelda team did spent an entire year just polishing Tears of the Kingdom, and they could've shown Koei Tecmo the game during the year of polish.
What did you think of my other hopes and predictions?
Honestly, if they're gonna do it, they should just go full on bullshit and smash it together with Hyrule Warriors DE. Sort of like a Hyrule Warriors Ultimate experience. That'd at least give it a reason to exist beyond something that could have just been an AoC dlc.
I think the Geneology remake is a given, unless they do Binding/Blazing or PoR/RD instead. If this game isn't announced by spring next year, it's a next-gen exclusive game for sure.
And uh... I don't care about the Oracle games or NSO so no comment.
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4 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Here's my hopes and predictions:
Hopes:
1. A Genealogy of the Holy War remake; specifically, one that is a from-the-ground-up remake, but still a remake.
2. A remake of the Zelda Oracle games that is a bundle that includes the cancelled third game. This one can be a 1-1 remake like Ocarina of Time 3D and Link's Reawakening, as the inclusion of the cancelled third game would easily be enough to make the remake worth it.
3. A way to purchase at least some of the individual games that are available on Nintendo Switch Online. There are multiple games on that service that I want to play, but not enough to make me want to use it, especially since I'm not actually purchasing the games; I'm just renting the ability to play them. I still have Oracle of Seasons on my 3DS; I want to be able to purchase the Oracle games and actually keep them.
Predictions:
1. A new Warriors game that is a crossover with Tears of the Kingdom. The announcement will claim that the game takes place during the events of the Imprisoning War and will show the full story of Hyrule's founding and the war against Ganondorf. However, there will be a zonai construct shaped like a celery stick that wasn't there in any of the flashbacks...
2. Another trailer for the Super Mario RPG remake.
I think they'll take any excuse to make another Hyrule Warriors. It'll be super unnecessary since they've basically exhausted the IP, but it will happen anyway because it'll sell.
That said... it's probably too soon for that. It basically entails that Koei was shown TotK during development, and has been concurrently developing this game off of the bones of Age of Calamity.
(But hey, if it adds Kass, who am I to complain).
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My wish list remains the same as ever.
* Literally anything Fire Emblem. Okay, almost anything... nothing Mobile-adjacent.
* A new licensed Warriors game. I'm expecting a new mainline Warriors game (DW10) either here or at TGS, but something for Nintendo, Square, Sega, or Bandai would really make my day.
* Golden Sun.... but I won't hold my breath.
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7 minutes ago, Samz707 said:
Most character action games don't really have any tactical elements on the level of ordering troops around/swapping between characters.
I don't hate FEW3H but I do wish there was a slightly better difficulty. (It sounds like Maddening is clearly for NG+ and that level of grind is not something I'm interested in.)
It doesn't ruin the game for me but it does make me wonder what we could have for a real-time FE game that's willing to be a little harder and focused more on individual duels rather than cutting down hordes.
Okay, but "individual duels" rather than "cutting down hordes" is the polar opposite of what Warriors is. It's like saying "you know, I really appreciate what this whole Pokemon thing is going for, but I really think the game would be better if it focused on shutting down all these Pokemon dogfights."
I'm guessing you're asking for something a bit more like a Mount and Blade or Kingdom Under Fire. Which, you know, okay, that might also be cool. But I want Warriors to be Warriors, and mowing down hordes is very much what makes it unique.
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I think Three Hopes could have done with an additional setting aimed at high level characters and NG+. Particularly one that makes enemies go for allied forts more, like in the first FEW.
But also, traditional difficulty isn't really the point of the genre, and anyone asking for peons to be more aggressive is REALLY missing the point. Basically, Warriors has a unique power fantasy niche, and way too many vocal weirdos in the Warriors community want to get rid of that niche and turn it into (an inferior version of) every other character action game.
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2 minutes ago, 𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥 said:
I don't know if this is really unpopular but I hate boss fights that you absolutely cannot win. Why even let me play if you're going to waste my time on something that I can't even win against? Maybe for story reasons but in that case just make it a cutscene, letting the player take control is just a waste.
I only find this atrocious if they let you waste consumable items in the fight. That's just bad game design. Unwinnable fights need to bare minimum disable use of any limited resources.
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Level downscaling is almost always a good thing. All you lose is the illusion of progress because you can't go back and one shot boars. It's the most shallow, meaningless thing to give up. And what you get in return is that all content stays fun and rewarding, forever, playing with friends is seamless, and the game becomes more and more of a retroactive sandbox as you progress further.
I'm not even entertaining your arguments that there is "no progression" in a game with level scaling. Nope. You're wrong. You are actually objectively wrong, because you are gaining access to new areas and expanding your options.
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Real talk. Sea of Stars is amazing, but those derpy animated cutscenes immediately reminded me of CDI Zelda.
Soooooo what'cha playing?
in General Gaming
Posted
I get that. I regularly go back to Guild Wars 2. The Guild Wars setting has been home since middle school.
Speaking of memories, I just picked up the Shining Force trilogy on my phone and ad-unlocked it. I've always had some serious nostalgia for Shining Force 1 even though I've never beaten it. Time to fix that.