Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 21, 2026, 02:18:23 pm »

46. Resident Evil Requiem

This Capcom at its finest. Pure excellence in nearly every aspect. It's bloody. It's spooky. It's intriguing. And it's so polished that it has me scratching my head as to how the developers were able to make something look so good. It's on the shorter side, to be sure. I would have happily gone through one more area as both Grace and Leon if it meant more discoveries, enemies to slaughter, and places to learn more about the overall world of Resident Evil. My only note on the game is that it's easy to get turned around or lost, but that's it. Otherwise, I recommend this game to anyone. I'm pumped to get a review going for it.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 06, 2026, 01:28:11 pm »

45. Resident Evil 2 Remake - Leon

As soon as Code Veronica's remake is announced, I finish yet another run in an modern RE. I think I like Claire more as a character, but I like Leon's route more. Getting to play as Ada for a bit was a nice change of pace. Otherwise, it's basically the same thing. Leon doesn't get access to the Heart Key in the station. Instead, he gets the Club Key. Leon doesn't get the grenade launcher, but he gets a flamethrower. Fighting William in container yard area is still annoying as hell; something that seems to be a common factor in all horror games. I'll probably play Requiem next, which looks to be amazing.

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General / Re: The Mighty Polymega

« on: June 06, 2026, 01:26:38 pm »

Pass.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 31, 2026, 01:27:42 pm »

44. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

I'm exhausted after this one. I take full accountability for not doing my research prior to this outside a quick internet search of "Next game to play in the Crossbell arc." I really wanted to see what happened next with Lloyd, his friends, the city he calls home, and some of the supporting characters. I didn't want to see what happened to Rean; someone I found dull as dirt since my brief stint in the Erebonia arc. Unfortunately for me, to see what happens with Lloyd, one has to see what happens with Rean. I thought I could get by with reading the story synopses that the game provided for Cold Steel - Cold Steel IV but I was pretty lost. However, that kind of worked to my advantage since it got to a point where I could simply scene skip everything and not feel like I'm missing anything. At some point I had a thought - people had to go through five games total to see the truth behind Rean. If my experience with the series is anything to go by, then that could mean an upwards of 1000 hours of game time. Sheesh. Anyways, the third character was cool, and honestly a fresh diversion from the other two mains. Combat was cool, and I really enjoyed seeing the SSS go from crisp, 2D sprites to full 3D models. I have more thoughts that require a review so I'll just stop here.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 27, 2026, 09:36:15 am »

Game 7 - Metaphor: ReFantazio (PS5) - 84 Hours

Ohh boy. This game was a hard one for me to finish. I don't think I've ever been down on a game this much in a very long time, especially one that's been so well received by others. The TLDR is that I found this game to be a painfully anemic spiritual successor to Persona, with a lot of problems that added up to an underwhelming experience.

The best part about the Persona series is that juxtaposition between the high-school simulator and the dungeon crawling fantasy. In Metaphor, however, the setting is about as generic fantasy as you can get, which takes out a lot of the intrigue for me. I thought it was going to be a reverse fantasy, where the main reality takes place in this middle age setting, and the “fantasy” is a world akin to our real-life modern reality. This is present, yes, but only as far as the story and isn’t actually realized in gameplay, which was incredibly disappointing. The best part about the setting was the relationships between the multiple races, but the rest of this game’s world is not all that exciting if you’ve played a JRPG before. Compare it to Persona, and it feels like so much is missing.

This sentiment of “something’s missing” came through the strongest during the road trip segments which are prominently featured as part of your day-to-day story. You'll be traveling along the ground through the water and in the air and you'll be watching these cutscenes where the characters are standing as still as statues with their hair not even blowing in the wind, and then you'll stop along the way to feature this panorama of this broad landscape or a town but there's no 3D exploration at all and it's just provided in the form of text that you read, and then the final dungeon that you get to ends up being a carbon copy of the previous dungeon and there's really only three layouts for the entire game (tower, jungle, tomb). Outside of the 5 major cities, any other towns you visit is just a single screen with maybe a shop or dialogue option. It could feel the ache as your party takes in these beautiful vistas that serve as brief respites during your journey – I wanted to actually explore those through gameplay! I thought the game was going to have more open world exploration, as was teased with the large desert area outside of Grand Trad. This seems to have been dropped entirely in favor of tedious and overly long dungeons that just don’t feel exciting to explore.

I found the combat while pretty decent to be at the end of my experience very long and tedious. I don't like the mixture of real time and turn based combat. The combat is either extremely difficult or extremely easy and it is all based on whether you can get the jump on the enemy in the real time combat version. And a lot of enemies have fast, unpredictable and uninterruptable attacks, and if they hit you first, you might as well just run away and try the fight again. I did end up liking the archetype system, and the different ways that you can customize characters ended up being really fun to explore. It was definitely my favorite part of the game and the bosses offered up some really satisfying challenge. But outside of combat, there’s maybe about half of the activities that you could do in P5: no ability to romance any characters, no jobs, no clubs, nothing.

The last thing that just didn't do it for me was the visual design and the music. I will say that the character design is incredible and the human designs are top notch. The monster designed though is about as generic as you can get, and overall I just really didn't like the visuals the constant shifting of magla crystals in the environment felt very distracting to me the user interface just wasn't very strong and the music just isn't very good it's either generic or really stupid with the heavy reliance on these fast vocalizations that clash incredibly with the amount of spoken dialogue that happens during this game, especially during the battles.

And of course, the nail in the coffin for me is the 80+ hour story. Like other Atlus game, I question why it needs to be that long to finish the story – it’s fine, but I really didn’t feel like it made a good use of it. There’s a lot happening in the story, sure but to me it really boils down to unrelated smaller story plots that are done to gain favor in your bid for king. There’s a LOT of political posturing and flowery dialogue about how to run a country and yada yada yada but it just didn’t really resonate with me because the overall story movement (except for the anti-religious movements in Martira) didn’t really feel all that exciting. The main antagonist, Louis, still manages to fall into the typical villain video game pitfalls with most of his backstory really coming out towards the end of the game.

Metaphor is a fine game, but really didn’t capture me like it did for other people. For a game that’s been scored only one point lower than Persona 5 and was a contender for GOTY, I felt like the move away from the Persona series led to a lot of sacrifices, and it didn’t feel like Metaphor had enough time in the oven to really flesh out the new ideas.

I'm 55 hours into Metaphor and have the same general sentiment as you. I really don't see what made this a GOTY contender, as the story and characters are all very surface level. Visually, Atlas (after all these years) still hasn't figured out how to animate in a way that doesn't make everyone look stiff as heck. Side by side with a Square Enix game, or even something like Expedition 33 and it looks like amateur hour. I really don't get how they have gone so many years without improving in this area, it's been a problem for decades.

One thing I differ from you on though is the character designs. I just don't think they look that interesting. The human designs are cool, but of the characters you meet in the game there isn't a single one who I would ever buy a figure or poster for to show off. Maybe I'll meet one later on in the game I like but as of right now all the character designs fit firmly in the "fine" category. I don't hate them, but I also don't particularly like the either.

My favorite part by far, which you touched on, is the archetype system. Having the ability to mix and match abilities between classes to kind of build your own custom class makes for a crazy amount of skill expression in building your team. You can make some really broken classes. My favorite right now is my mage who actually gains mana each turn passively, allowing for easy dungeon clears as he can spam his skills and still enter the final boss with nearly full mana. I love RPGs with deep customization like this because it is fun to theory craft party builds that let you steamroll dungeons.

I enjoyed Metaphor, and I agree with all the above. I think combat and overall atmosphere helped with the story's shortcomings (which I enjoyed because the characters drove it). That said, I remember being more than ready for it to be over. I've played games longer than it but they either had better pacing, better writing, or a better combination of the two.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 22, 2026, 08:25:22 am »

43. Wild Arms 4 - platinum'd

Man, what a fun trip down memory lane this was. My opinion on the game as a whole has increased since I played it ten years ago. Initially, I didn't like Jude. Now, I think he's great. Initially, I thought the writing was cringe. It still is, but I appreciate it more - especially with some of the messages the narrative carries. Initially, I had no interest in bothering with optional stuff. This time, I sort of had to for trophy purposes but I'm glad I did. The most challenging fights were also the most fun. It was fun making the Sherriff's Star, which completely trivialized some of the fights I once thought impossible. And of course, the ending and epilogue were as bittersweet as ever. This getting a PSN release gives me some hope that ACF and WA5 aren't too far behind.

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General / Re: Have your favorite games changed over time, or mostly stayed the same?

« on: May 21, 2026, 09:07:40 am »

My favorite games from back then still remain my favorite. The rankings for some of them will swap/change around from time to time but generally my top ten/twenty/etc. has remained consistent. My top four games are still in the slots that they've been in since they became favorites.

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General / Re: 4 New Games Added to the "World Video Game Hall of Fame"

« on: May 11, 2026, 08:28:38 am »

I didn't know there was a video game hall of fame. I went to a video game museum once in Texas which was a ton of fun.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 08, 2026, 08:06:44 am »

42. Trials of Mana - Archdemon

The final playthrough with Hawkeye as the lead, along with Riesz and Angela. Finishing his campaign and his (and Riesz's) final boss earned me the platinum. This was my first time in any version taking control of Hawkeye as the lead. I really liked playing as him. His Nightblade (D/D) class was brutal as heck and had more versatility than I thought. Riesze, of course, became a Star Lancer (L/D) and Angela became a Rune Seer (D/L). Enemies were shredded left and right by the time we reached the second class change. Things were easy up to that point since I upped the difficulty, but taking advantage of new game plus and the carry-over abilities still made short work of just about everything. Trials was a lot of fun to platinum. I may have earned the platinum, but I didn't see 100 percent of what it had. There are some additional classes to try, and I never started a game as either Duran or Charlotte. Which brings me to my character rankings no one asked for: Riesz > Angela > Hawkeye> Kevin> Charlotte > Duran. I still hold Riesz as my favorite, but Angela is just a smidge behind. Both of them are great in terms of story and combat. I just like attacking/comboing slightly more than blasting with magic. Hawkeye is next. Dual daggers is always a way to win me over. His light class options don't feel as fleshed out as his dark class. Kevin is next and he's just a brute. Similar to Hawkeye, his light classes seem like an afterthought. Charlotte and Duran bring up the rear. I don't care of their stories and Charlotte's Elmer Fudd-esque dialect is such an odd choice. Still, they have moments where they shone. This is a great game so Charlotte and Duran would be ranked with something like a B. Time to take a break from action RPGs while I figure out my next game!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 01, 2026, 12:12:48 pm »

41. Trials of Mana - Dark Lich

This was a more or less a speedrun. I intended for it to go quickly, but I didn't think it'd go that quickly. My party was Kevin (D/D), Charlotte (L/D), and Hawkeye (D/L). Thanks to New Game Plus, I had a boatload of options that drastically and rapidly increased my team's levels. They were ready to class change well before the class change capability was available. I had plenty of leftover ?? Seeds for the second class change. Finally, Kevin absolutely shredded everyone and everything in his path. He was a strong character in the original and that carried into the remake. His second class change to Fatal Fist had a CS that demolished groups of enemies and he learned a Luna spell that increased his critical hit rate. In other words, Kevin was bordering on OP and destroying all things in his path. Supported by Charlotte's Sage class that had saber magic, and Hawkeye's Ninja Master abilities, the enemies literally had no chance. The only time I was challenged was during the fight against the Wood Benevedon. Otherwise, a quick and brisk file where I wrecked everything with fisticuffs. After I get the trophies for their third class change, I'll start my last file with Hawkeye, Riesz and...I'm not sure who the third will be yet!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 27, 2026, 08:38:03 am »

40. Trials of Mana - Mondoragan

I still have some post-game content to do that's required for New Game Plus, but I can chalk this first run up as completed. I chose Angela (L/L), Duran (L/D) and Riesz (D/D). I just got their class four upgrades before posting this and making some progress in Anise's Stockade. This was a great run. I finished the game once on Switch back when it was first released at the height of the pandemic. Now, with the intent of seeing everything for the trophies and trying new parties, I'm feeling just as excited. I'm really I chose Angela as my MC instead of Duran. Back when this game was only available with emulation, patches, and titled Secret of Mana 2, I foolishly chose Angela as my MC. It took her a while to grow into her own in the original. In this remake, she's much more capable and still manages to become as close to OP as possible through natural game play. I played the game on Normal difficulty and while there were some challenges with her in the lead, I still eked out victories. Duran was fine. I won't be using him in any more files. Riesz was still a treasure and continues to shine as my favorite character. Her Dark class changes don't really align with her goal and narrative, but damn are they sure fun. Once the post-game stuff is done, I'll start a new file with Kevin as the MC, along with Charlotte and Hawk.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 20, 2026, 10:42:56 am »

39. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

I have a bone to pick with this game. It's not because it's bad. It's actually quite good outside of my usual issues that plague the Trails series. My issue is with the side content. Halfway or so through the game, I lost track of where I was supposed to go so I looked up a guide. Doing that led me down a rabbit hole of learning how important the seemingly unimportant stuff was. All of it was like a series of unfortunate events. If you don't fish, then you can't feed a cat, and you'll miss a Master Quartz. If you don't cook, then you can't get special dishes, which you can't offer at the Jizo Statue, and you'll miss a Master Quartz. If you don't talk to important characters (i.e characters with portraits) then you'll miss bonding with them and you'll miss potent accessories. If you don't talk to that ONE PERSON during that ONE TIME during that ONE CHAPTER, then you'll miss out on a book series called Sunshine Agnes, and ultimately miss another reward. I think the real kick in the d*** with all of this was learning that there were hidden quests during certain chapters at certain moments that could only be accessed by talking to a specific NPC. Y'all, Crossbell and its surrounding areas are filled with NPCs. There's a few people that probably relish in talking to everyone all the time. Personally, I'd like to keep the narrative going while taking care of the listed optional quests. I was annoyed when I learned about all the Detective Points I missed because of these hidden quests. The cherry on top was when I learned of one that shed light on Lloyd's (the main-freaking-character) brother. You know, the reason why he became a cop in the first place? By the end of the game, I was shy of reaching the top rank. I played on my Switch 2 so it's not like I was trophy hunting, but that doesn't make me less invested in some of this stuff. One final complaint: I won two important fights where it didn't matter if you won or lost. I finished both of those as the victor, only to learn later that winning against them was optional. I played on Normal, so it's not like the extra experience points made me super-powered due to the game's scaling.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 18, 2026, 04:50:45 pm »

Still chugging at the series with Mega Man X4.  Looks great, with some really cool boss designs.  Overall it felt much easier than other titles.  Theres a little bit of a difficulty spike at the end, but nothing outlandish.  The first game in the series with voice acting and it is absoultely terrible, which has its own flavor of charm.

Did you find out what you were fighting FOOOOOR!?!

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 17, 2026, 08:40:58 am »

38. AAA Dynamic Scenes

My partner and I have been "playing" this to wind down at night. We've completed enough puzzles between the two of us on varying difficulties for me to consider it complete. Simply put, there's a variety of stunning wallpapers (many of which are animated) that you can have on in the background kind of like a bougie screensaver. With the push of a button, you can turn them into a jigsaw puzzle. You put the pieces in one at a time. Throw in some of the most chill, relaxing, haunting, captivating music (depending on the puzzle) and you have the perfect way to chill after playing something more intense. We'll be going back to this time and again, but I wanted to capture it on here.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 13, 2026, 08:40:04 am »

37. Final Fantasy VII

Another platinum for another classic. During this file, I did a lot of firsts. It was my first time getting a date with Barrett. It was my first time skipping the Gongaga area. It was my first time not entering Wutai to deal with Yuffie's Materia stealing antics (something I'll avoid going forward). It was the first time I got Aerith's final limit break. I think most importantly, this was the first time I fully utilized Cait Sith's Game Over slot via his Slots limit break. Specifically, I was able to knock out both Ruby and Emerald Weapon with it; no Mime/KotR combo silliness. This lead to more firsts: my first time not needing to bother with the tedious Chocobo Breeding for a Gold Chocobo. (It's been proven you don't have to race them to unlock better ones but still). And, it lead to my first time getting Master Magic, Command, and Summon Materias. There were other firsts but I won't get into them. I'll just say that I had an absolute blast with this classic despite having to really follow a guide to avoid missing certain things. As a result, I feel like I'll do a replay of this sooner rather than later. The game is still great-fun, and having the boosters around makes some of the less favored areas much more manageable.

31. Pilotwings 64 (N64)

I feel like all gamers have those special comfort games they play when life isn't at its best or maybe they just need to be reminded of simpler times. In my case, I felt like I needed both. I found out last week I'm getting laid off from a job I've had for 8 years. I don't work from some mega corporations where layoffs are the norm and the company is certainly small enough to where everyone is fairly connected to everyone else, even the executive management team. So the fact that I was one of about 40 people that were told we're getting let go soon came as a complete shock. This unfortunate news derailed my playthrough of Chrono Trigger, a game from a genre I struggle to get into even when I'm not dealing with life changing events. When I finally did feel like doing something other than frantically navigating a terrible job market, I decided to play a game I've thoroughly enjoyed since I was a young kid, and one that reminds me of those simpler times better than most.

So sorry to hear about that. I hate that you're going through something like this. Definitely play those comfort games to help punctuate the job search.