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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

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dhaabi:

--- Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 04, 2026, 08:25:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: marvelvscapcom2 on February 04, 2026, 05:36:30 pm ---5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
--- End quote ---

I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.

--- End quote ---

Unless I'm mistaken, my takeaway from these thoughts is that they focus more on the fact that this is a modern port to a game that released twenty years earlier but didn't have its flaws addressed. I can't comment on how the port plays, but something I can confirm is that, even in the original game, there is an element of performance experimentation that's expected of players to accomplish instead of strictly following the presented call-and-response rhythm beats. Anyone would be lying if they'd argue that this experimentation doesn't feel spastic during play, but I personally found it tolerable since I greatly enjoy just about everything else this game offers.

I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.

kashell:
13. Star Ocean: First Departure R

I finished the other part of the first playthrough. There's nothing major to report; it was kind of a speedrun. I removed Mavelle from the party, and put T'Nique and Welch in the party. I didn't use either of them much.

dhaabi:
07. A Space for the Unbound || Nintendo Switch || 02.02.2026



Like I've realized with some of the other more modern games I've bought physical copies of years ago but am only just now getting around to playing, A Space for the Unbound is a game I don't particularly remember the reason why I made a purchase. For a lot of games that fall into this category, I'm mostly drawn to visuals foremost and decide from trailers if the gameplay is something that I'd enjoy or find interesting enough to try out. With that said, I began playing without knowing what to expect in terms of narrative, which I knew would be the game's emphasis.

Because A Space for the Unbound is a story-driven adventure experience set in 1990s Indonesia that chiefly moves forward with passive instead of active player engagement, much of the following thoughts will be broad overviews. To be succinct, the game's plot concerns coming-of-age struggles and trauma, relationships and friendships, social acceptance, and artistic expression, all of which interconnect with another. While I really had no basis for what to expect regarding story, that the game takes on a somber tone that only delves deeper into negativity surprised me to some degree—perhaps because the game's visuals and early plot points contrast this declining tone. Until around the midway point, the game is overly linear and keeps players focused on the next immediate goal. Even though there is a small town environment to explore, much of it remains inaccessible during segments where a specific locale isn't relevant to the ongoing plot. And this is done in spite of a number of side activities to pursue over the course of the campaign, meaning many of these opportunities are both brief and time-sensitive.

Throughout the narrative that unexpectedly employs magical realism, a reoccurring power that becomes available to the player is the act of Spacediving. More-or-less, this power allows for the player-character to delve into a person's psyche, though it's an act that's only possible during scripted events. As one may surmise, these moments feel morally wrong as we're often forced to alter who these targets are on a fundamental level through puzzle-solving that, at times, sometimes later has great impact to the decisions they make for themselves later on. So, I found myself questioning what this act really means for the player-character and their goals as it very much came across that they were making decisions on someone else's behalf to serve their own personal needs, even after later plot points are later revealed to a greater truth that complicates the morality of such acts. With such a gameplay mechanic alone, it's apparent that A Space for the Unbound has dark elements to its story. Fortunately, this tone does not ever feel forced or as if it's being accomplished to subvert a cheerful narrative that is regularly done in other works to the point where it's now almost expected in modern games; instead, the plot always feels grounded as it presents characters and scenarios that feel true to life.

As a game full of emotional unrest, it does, however, have one major flaw: its length. When reaching the game's halfway point, how drawn-out, unnecessarily complicated, and even a bit aimless the experience is at times becomes unable to be ignored. A point is reached when a lot of back-and-forth exploration is necessary, and it's made worse that this segment concerns tertiary characters that players shouldn't be expected to care about and still aren't even by the end. This particular issue is made abundantly worse because the game's actual protagonist—whom players do not play as—is often delegated to a far more subordinate role. Over time, the plot evolves into something far more tangled than the simple emotional story that the introductory hours establish. This is fine on its own, but the game decides to repeat its dialogue, messages, and themes again and again and again and without any excusable reason to either. Still, I will mention that I do consider aspects of the game's ending sections commendable albeit not entirely impressive. At that point, the game isn't afraid to take its time with its impassioned conclusion as it allows it to resolve in a realistic manner. But, overall, much of A Space for the Unbound's impact is diminished as it loses efficacy while thwarting players the ability to maintain engagement. My total playtime was around fifteen hours, yet there are games with stories just as emotional that accomplish their story in far less time and with more success, and it's for good reason too. I undoubtedly think that a story like this could be conveyed effectively at such length, but the game ignores a timely experience for a prolonged one.

Apart from narrative, the town where the story takes place is interactive and explorable while being segmented by individual screens. To advance the story, it's common to be assigned basic tasks to complete. Normally this is presented as finding an item, but these tasks seldom challenge the player as required items are usually in the next screen or two. And in the event players do need something but don't know where to collect it, the game routinely tells you where to go. Unfortunately, there are few things to inspect, and what can be inspected is almost always a valuable item or information to learn. So since there are so few things, players will have to go out of their way not to engage with them when passing by. Since these segments are the only interactive gameplay segments, how shallow that sometimes are is a bit upsetting, though I won't deny that there are more engaging interactive gameplay segments as the game continues. Additionally, there are optional objectives to complete such as collecting bottle caps or petting stray cats. They're not difficult to complete, so they all come across as something to maintain player interest as other parts of the game stretch out.

In regards to other details, they vary in quality. The most important of these aspects lies in the game's writing. It's apparent that the game is translated into English either from the original language or, at the very least, developers or even translators who aren't fully versed in the language. To be expected then, dialogue is sometimes stiff with some typos and strange sentence structure, but this is largely excusable and is infrequent but still obviously noticeable. Beyond simple movement, other small gameplay mechanics are periodically introduced such as sneaking, fighting, and engaging in courtroom trials. They all to seem be inspired by certain game within their respective genres and also an appreciated change of pace despite usually being simple. What's most apparent from an onlooker's perspective are the game's visuals and audio. While not in large abundance, animated sequences are impressive. But even the game's general presentation marked by graphically impressive pixel art is well-designed with fun animations and character expressions that better bring scenes to life. Meanwhile, the game's accompanying soundtrack is praiseworthy as it adequately and consistently complements story and setting without fault.

By the time I reached the conclusion to A Space for the Unbound, I was even more conflicted than I usually am after having played a game that's left me feeling mixed. While I think the plot presented is well thought-out, it ultimately suffers from bloat, repetition, and a lack of focus to a degree that can't be excused by the elements that are conveyed well. Should what I would consider to be major weaknesses had been addressed in some manner for the final product, a game capable of leaving both a profound and dramatic influence on its players is undeniable, but unfortunately that's not the case.

bikingjahuty:

--- Quote from: dhaabi on February 04, 2026, 08:44:51 pm ---
--- Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 04, 2026, 08:25:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: marvelvscapcom2 on February 04, 2026, 05:36:30 pm ---5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
--- End quote ---

I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.

--- End quote ---

Unless I'm mistaken, my takeaway from these thoughts is that they focus more on the fact that this is a modern port to a game that released twenty years earlier but didn't have its flaws addressed. I can't comment on how the port plays, but something I can confirm is that, even in the original game, there is an element of performance experimentation that's expected of players to accomplish instead of strictly following the presented call-and-response rhythm beats. Anyone would be lying if they'd argue that this experimentation doesn't feel spastic during play, but I personally found it tolerable since I greatly enjoy just about everything else this game offers.

I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.

--- End quote ---


The last time I tried playing it, on the PS1, I tried multiple ways of getting the hang of the gameplay. I tried going explicitly off the visual prompts and timing it gives you, I tried following the beat, and I tried just winging it, and nothing worked. I couldn't even clear the tutorial. I have no idea how you're supposed to play this game. I have to believe that it is playable since so many people speak highly of it, but I couldn't make heads or tails on how to accomplish even the most basic tasks that were being asked of me in this game.

ssj4yamgeta:
4: Gundam Breaker 4 (PS5)

I wasn't planning to play this yet, but I got stuck on the plane tyrant boss in Code Veronica X and wanted to play anything but that or Tomb Raider for a while. I put GB4 in to try it out and ended up bingeing the game in about a week because it was so fun to play. Basically it's a game where you play as a gundam, tear parts off of other gundams in combat, and use those to improve your own.  However you're not actually playing as a gundam, you're playing as a computer-generated representation of a plastic gundam model in a fictional online game based on the hobby of collecting and building gundam models. This concept causes some issues I'll get to later. The core gameplay loop is excellent. You can use the parts you break off other gundams in missions to customize and create your own unique custom gundams, which is really cool and gives you the feeling of having an enormous collection of action figures to play with. There's also a Diablo-style loot system where each part has its own randomly-generated level, rarity, and skills. You can either farm for stronger parts or use synthesis to level your favorite parts up, improve their rarity, or add new skills to them. After a while it really makes your custom gundams feel custom.

Where the game really suffers, though, is the story. It starts off with you and other players of the fictional online game forming a clan and trying to "take your team to state", so to speak. This is fine except for some of the characters being high schoolers and the writing being somewhat childish as a result. Also because the gundams are used as your lobby avatars, you'll see them doing things the "actual" mobile suits wouldn't do, such as laughing or acting scared. It's a tad offputting, but if those were the only issues, the story would still be serviceable at worst. What really kills it is when it jumps the shark in Chapter 7. Earlier at the end of chapter 5, one of your teammates who was obviously an AI clone of another teammate gets kidnapped by a rival clan of hackers who take over the servers during a tournament. Chapters 6 and 7 are then about rescuing her. Sure, AI companion character, it's been done before in countless JRPGs, seems like no big deal... until you get to the final boss, where the mask slips off and the story turns into aggressive pro-AI corporate propaganda. The "villain' is a former developer who took over the servers to protest the game's use of AI to create content. When he explains this to the main characters, they all immediately start preaching to him about how the AI girl is just as human as they are and that he's the one without a soul. They go on to say that everyone needs to accept AI in the game because it's the inclusive thing to do (not joking, that's the actual kind of language they use). They even say that the AI girl has the same rights as any other human. Basically the message the story tries to push is that if you don't like AI, you're a bigoted terrorist. Not bigoted against specific types of humans, mind you, but bigoted against AI! Apparently you can be bigoted against nonliving things now.

The game gets an 8/10 for its gameplay, but unfortunately the terrible story knocks it down to a 6.5/10. It's very disturbing to see a video game studio trying to push the public acceptance of AI Psychosis, which is the belief that AI is alive. People are literally dying now in real life because they made the same mistake these characters made and assigned personhood to a computer program, then obeyed it when it told them to kill themselves.

Completed:

Tomb Raider II (Evercade)
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
Gundam Breaker 4 (PS5)

In Progress:

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PS4)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (Gamecube)

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