I just beat __

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Super Daryl Deluxe (Switch)

This is one quirky game. The backstory of the game is pretty unrealistic that I can't help but find it amusing. It basically involves two huge visionaries graduating from a high school with flying colours, because they somehow achieved a lot of great things, including world peace. The high school in which they graduated in is also highly quirky: it has eccentric characters, classrooms hosting anachronistic and strange things, weird loot and equipment, and flowery and humorous descriptions for anything. The main character Daryl is also quirky in his own way, since not only is he silent, he's also not a mime since he never react with sign language when people talked to him.

The main draw of this game is the customisable moveset. You see, this game is basically a beat-em-up, but the player can gain experience/money/items from enemies, like an RPG. Daryl, the playable character, can do this because he gained a book called "Interacting with Others" and that somehow allowed him to do all those fancy moves, and the best part is when you rank up those moves: not only do the moves have better performance, they also have a new look. For example, "Ride the Tide" is a move that summons the wave, and at a high rank Daryl will be riding a shark instead. He sometimes change his look on certain moves, like "What Goes Around" (a boomerang move) have him wear an adventurer outfit if he does it.

Because of the customisable moveset, chaining together those moves is the best part, because each move has different strengths. As an example, one move (Mop it Up) launches enemies in the air, which can be followed up with a melee attack while they are unable to move. The game has a tier system, where early-game moves are called "Trash" because they have limited capabilities. "Excellent" moves, on the other hand, have powerful capabilities. What I like about the game is that the moves labelled "Trash" aren't all outdone by higher tier moves. As an example, "Blinding Logic", a stun move, is the only one that 100% inflicts stun, whereas other stun attacks are chance-based.

The game is also packed with references, which is somehow justified within the game, but among the references, we have a Donkey Kong reference in the beginning of the game, a Ghostbusters reference, Little Mermaid reference and something that is an amusing surprise:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1204442354066673664

Despite the title insinuating that it's an upgrade of a previous game (because of the words "Super" and "Deluxe"), I can assure you that this is the original and not an update of a previous game. In fact, the significance of the title is only shown at the end of the game.

It's a fun ride, is what I wanted to say about it.

Thank you for reading.
 
Shovel Knight: King of Cards

Pretty nice for me to finish all the Shovel Knight story campaigns.
The focus of Joustus cards in King of Cards really threw me between genres (platforming and board game strategy)
I really like some references to Specter of Torment (as both KoC and SoT are prequels to Shovel of Hope), with Specter Knight using his items from his campaign.
 
Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Fun enough. Story Mode is fun but a bit on the short side, and a bit on the easy side too (for most events at least). There's little to do outside of story mode, so at least it's there. Tokyo 1964 is an interesting touch and it's cool to explore the Tokyo Olympics in two different years, especially when one of them takes the form of a retro arcade game. The final showdown was a bit disappointing compared to the penultimate event and just felt kind of tacked on, but it did have a lot of high points. The game isn't too much of an improvement from previous Mario & Sonic games, but it isn't bad.

Ranking with Tokyo:

London > Sochi > Vancouver > Tokyo > Rio > Beijing
 
Yoshi's Crafted World

Fantastic game, and easily the best in the series yet. It improves on the already-fantastic Woolly World in many ways, and adds some neat new mechanics of its own.

I'll be limiting these posts to pro/con lists from now on because I just don't have the time to write essay reviews anymore.

Pros
+ Two sides to every course
+ Courses span multiple planes
+ Costumes are fun
+ Cardboard craft theme is appealing, with plenty of attention to detail
+ Tons of rewarding collectibles (as with every Yoshi game)
+ Interactive boss cutscenes
+ Postgame levels
+ 2-player co-op

Cons
- Egg throwing is less fluent
- The ability to hold enemies in Yoshi's mouth is removed
- Kinda short
- Soundtrack isn't awful, but mediocre and inferior to Woolly World's
- Woolly World's yarn theme felt more unique
- Costumes are inferior to Woolly World's unique Yoshi designs
- No tools to help you find collectibles
 
Spyro Reignited Trilogy -- Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

Still one of my all time favorite platformers.
 
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Evo Explores (PC)

Although I have completed a handful of games, I decided to write about this one because it's one that I completed in around an hour, in anticipation for the Pokemon Direct since I wanted a game that I can finish after a short while.

This game takes cues from Monument Valley, which itself is a maze-like game taken in an isometric perspective. It even has a very similar look to its main inspiration that you might mistake it for that game were it not for the main character. It even features the character's ability to change gravity based on where they walk and the moving objects. Going through the game, though, reveals that it has some twists that make it feel somewhat more unique from Monument Valley, such as the cassette which can be flipped.

It's not wholly original but it's a decent ride.

Thank you for reading.
 
Yesterday, I beat Mario Party 3's story mode with a Miracle Star ranking!

I also beat Game Guy's game room with 1003 coins in one go!
 
Super Mario 3D World

Well, I guess it's customary to do a review afterwards, so here goes. I'm going for the divide and conquer approach which I usually use when judging the main series games - gameplay/levels/presentation. I'm going to try and do an "objective review" but as always, remember that I can't judge anything without at least a little bias.

As a side note I use numbers as follows:
1/10 - terrible
2/10 - very bad
3/10 - moderately bad
4/10 - a little bad
5/10 - mediocre
6/10 - decent
7/10 - good
8/10 - great
9/10 - excellent
10/10 - excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some people have like 5 being bad or 7 being average but I use like this because 5 is the middle point of 1 to 10.

So first up is the gameplay. This is overall great. The controller selection and character selection are a great addition. The GamePad mechanics were kind of cool but they also felt a bit gimmicky and I was never really motivated to use the GamePad's special abilities outside of levels which required it (especially since the game isn't that hard anyway.) Something about the whole physics didn't really feel as right as in the 3D platformers between SM64 and SMG2 inclusive, such as backflips having to wait and long jumps feeling underpowered. The controls also got a little awkward in some parts, and I'm not a fan of the dedicated dash button thing rather than actually making use of analogue controls etc. Cat suit and double cherry didn't feel perfectly executed either. But overall, it's a fun and unique style, and represents a great execution of the idea of bringing 2D Mario into 3D. Cat suit was creative as much as it was a little awkward, the different abilities made it great too (admittedly they weren't fully balanced), double cherry was fun, clear pipes were good, generally a great execution. Score: 8/10.


Next: level design. Some criticise this for being too linear but actually I think that was sort of intentional. It was great how getting to the flagpole was linear but getting the green stars and the stamp meant going out of your way. Sometimes it was obvious, other times it was not. At first I was skeptical of its difficulty but as I progressed it got decently challenging. Some of the levels were really creative and there was an interesting range of styles from open world like sprawling savanna and revolving around those panels that flip every time you jump. 3D World's level design thus achieved its well-placed aim nearly perfectly, my only real gripe being that it was still a little too linear and easy. Score: 9/10

Presentation: Story was quite disappointing as it had very little content at all. I don't think that's essential given the style of game 3D World was intended to be, but I think a lot of fans would have appreciated it whilst it would not have done any harm. I do credit however, the fact that the Sprixie Princesses got kidnapped instead of Peach, the latter of which takes an active role unlike most Mario games (this is also something I love about Super Paper Mario; I haven't played Super Princess Peach or Super Mario Bros 2). Another thing that I feel was well-executed was
The fact that they made World 7 look like it was the final world only to have Bowser come back and capture all the Sprixie Princesses a second time and you find out that there's a whole other world for you to beat before you save them for real.
There's no dialogue in the game at all, which I think was a mistake as even in games which are light on story such as SM64 having some dialogue can be beneficial. Then come the graphics. These are divine. Everything feels very well defined, the natural lighting feels amazing, every scene feels crafted to perfection. Admittedly this is my first native Wii U game and I don't have a Switch, so I can't really compare it to others, but on its own I'd definitely call it great. As for the music, well it's quite hard to judge to be honest, but personally it's great too, though not so much as SMG1&2, and a lot of people seem to like the OST as well. Overall the presentation could have been worthy of calling excellent 9/10, but just the sheer lack of story and dialogue means I'm going to have to make it 8/10.

In conclusion, Super Mario 3D World as a sequel to Super Mario 3D Land strove to fully polish the formula of 2D Mario style brought to 3D. All in all it did this very well. I would say that as a whole it's nothing divine barring its graphics, and it certainly has its flaws, but overall it's still very good and I'd certainly give it a recommendation. Final score: 8/10.
 
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Luigi's Mansion 3. The King Boo battle is easy and my favorite floor was the movie studio.
 
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Switch) -- Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

150/150 dragon eggs acquired, 15000/15000 gems (+the 5000 extra gems in the Super Bonus Round) located. 117% completed. (Not really sure where the extra 17% came from...)

Ripto's Rage is still my favorite of the trilogy, but Year of the Dragon is easily a close second.
 
Pokemon Blue Mystery Dungeon

Probably was slightly overleveled, was level 36 or so when I kicked Rayquaza's ass. Only thing it really did was use Ancient Power on my Magnemite (which made it took, like, 1/5 of its health?). Meanwhile my Treecko partner just spammed agility (boosting our team's speed) and I just used Ice Beam (I'm a Mudkip). Magnemite also super-sonic'd it (so it got confused?) and did a super nasty Metal Sound (lowers Sp. Def by three) + Thunderbolt linked move to finish it off. Even if it survived, it still had to deal with Agility that made us move before it, and my Ice Beam. I think the entire battle was like 4-5 turns.

The dungeon itself was more annoying when you have Scizor in a monster house spamming agility to its friends and Altaria puts one partner that knows Agility to sleep. :/ Still, no Reviver Seeds used as everything gets 1-2HKO from my PP moves.

Agility is busted in Mystery Dungeon.

Oh and the story? Shorter than you'd think. And while it has the feels since you do genuinely bond with your partner, it still feels like a plot for a kid's game. It's really straightforward, but I like plots that are easy, characters are pretty much one-note and easy to understand; etc. I dunno why people think there should be more of a plot, as I prefer this one over Explorer and Super's plots.

Rayquaza's not that smart for being a legendary. Despite being guardian of the sky, it doesn't know a meteorite -ahem, a "star"- is heading its direction so it tries to fight a bunch of disruptive kids (tbf most legendaries such as Articuno and Moltres are ridiculously petty for believing that a bunch of kids are responsible for the disastrous upsets in their home regions) that are trying to make it do the excruciatingly difficult task of looking at the sky.
 
Pokémon Sword a couple days ago - main story, not postgame. I expect to finish the postgame's story, and then maybe try to fill in the Dex a bit, but I'm not a huge fan of Pokémon, so I'm probably not going to go completely hardcore with Shiny hunting or whatever.

EDIT: Just beat postgame story, so I guess now I'm going to try do fill the Dex.
 
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Super Mario 3D Land

I'm going to try reviewing this in basically the same style that I did here.

Gameplay: Pretty much the same as 3D World. There are a few small disadvantages in comparison to that game such as the more limited character choice and no Plessie but overall I'd still give it the same mark - 8 out of 10.

Level design: Generally great, but the linearity here is kind of to the point of unforgivable. Galaxy 1 had the best balance imo but this is just too far. The Star Coins are almost always right in your path this time. Also, the game is too easy even when you take into account the fact that it was aimed at younger people. The bosses in particular were particularly lacking as they were quite repetitive and all very easy apart from the final boss which was basically just a decently challenging platforming level with Bowser occasionally breathing fire at you. However it still felt well composed overall and I particularly loved
The Special World, though I've not gotten too far with this.
So I can't award top marks but it still probably deserves an 8 out of 10.

Presentation: This is probably the game's biggest downfall. The story and dialogue are once again next to inexistent, though I do credit that bit where
You think you've won at the end of World 8 but there's a cardboard Peach and Bowser escapes, so you pursue him to this epic tower but then he actually breaks the floor, triggering the final boss fight. The fake Bowsers were a neat thing at first but grew kind of dull later.

Graphics actually feel kind of good, but the 3DS definitely holds it back from being anywhere near what 3D World was. Music is good but not as good as many other Mario games if you ask me. The levels' presentation was a great deal less interesting than in other 3D Super Mario games - they don't even have names and the overall game rarely steps out of the traditional Mario-style worlds such as Forest, Desert, Ocean, Overworld Grassy, Snowy, Volcanic. It generally feels like a Mario game but not really any remarkable one at that.

Despite the flaws, the presentation does have a few good elements.
Having Luigi as a secret was pretty neat especially when you had to save him from Dry Bowser, whose return was even more epic than in NSMBDS as you killed him from the final boss fight but he apparently returns multiple times which is cool
As I say the music and graphics weren't bad at all just not quite as good as some other Mario games. The game did a good job of entertaining returning Super Mario gamers by referencing the successful Super Mario Galaxy several times. I have a hard time choosing but I'll probably give the presentation a 6 out of 10.

Conclusion: Whilst the game cannot compare to other 3D entries in the Super Mario series, it's a solid game on its own and was a creative new take on Mario platforming which despite having been overtaken by 3D World in almost every way, still comfortably remains recommendable in 2020. Verdict: 7/10.
 
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Starfire said:
the game is too easy even when you take into account the fact that it was aimed at younger people.
Click to expand...
Just wait till you get to
The true final level. The difficulty is so unbalanced. Not only was it the only level I died in, I died in it over 30 times.

Another neat thing about this game, is the boxart(?) you win every world.
 
Princess of Tennis said:
Just wait till you get to
The true final level. The difficulty is so unbalanced. Not only was it the only level I died in, I died in it over 30 times.

Another neat thing about this game, is the boxart(?) you win every world.
Click to expand...
"Is the boxart(?) you win every world." - Princess of Tennis
 
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Octopath Traveler (Switch)

The biggest draw of this game is the graphics, which are clearly inspired by the SNES RPGs of old, thanks to the sprite work of the characters and the sprite-textured environments. Special effects like rays are thrown in depending on the environment, like the bright beaches of Coastlands. It gives the game a nice nostalgic feel that feels right in the modern age, and one that I immediately embraced (a Final Fantasy remake in this style would be most welcomed). The music is also generally fantastic, where each part of the terrain having its own theme, and the battles having a variety of themes also help.

When I started out, I picked Ophilia because previously I picked Primrose in the demo, so I thought of picking the character on the opposite side of the spectrum. This turned out to be a decent choice because Ophilia's talents come in handy, namely her healing and the fact that she has 100% chance of guiding people (provided that her level is high enough). The thing is, in this game, you cannot switch out your first character until you have cleared their 4 chapters, so you are basically stuck with them, resulting in them having a higher level compared to the rest of the team. Here are my opinions on each of them, based on the order of recruitment:

Ophilia: Character-wise, Ophilia is probably the least interesting of the eight travellers, as well as the least interesting voice acting, but I suppose her purity makes up for this. Not to delve too much into the story, but I found it interesting that her reason to travel is basically a foil to her antagonist's plans. Her ability to guide people is quite useful at times, but as the strategies of battle become more involved, I used this ability to summon NPCs into battles less and less. On matters of battle, her talent of healing is extremely useful, especially because at certain points of the game, you need to deal with heavy damage, and later on, the ability to reflect elemental damage is a huge boon. I often put her in a position of a magic user because it synergises very well with her usage of staffs, which usually grant high elemental attack bonus.

H'aanit: I have taken a liking to her middle-age English usage, which makes her sound very formal and stoic. She also has a snow leopard, Linde as her companion, which is really nice. Her ability to capture monsters is decent, but their limited usage hampers things a lot since the stronger monsters are more difficult to catch (the highest rating ones have only up to 3 uses!). Linde may be very useful early on since there's no limit in usage, but its power level will eventually be dwarfed by stronger monsters and H'aanit's skills. Because of how other monsters cannot fight forever, her ability to send monsters to NPCs is not very useful if Linde cannot overpower them.

Therion: The thing that makes Therion enjoyable is not only his loner personality, but also how snarky he is. His skills are also very useful to have, for he can steal from NPCs, meaning free items if the steal is successful. He also has the most annoying ability to open purple chests, because not bringing him on an expedition means that I need to remember to do that next time. I often gave him high evasion gear because he just seems like the type to evade a lot of attacks, and that comes in handy quite often.

Tressa: I have heard of how useful Tressa is when it comes to money, so I went all the way to the opposite side of the map to get her, and indeed she has very useful tools for money, like passively collecting them when travelling and her ability to collect money from most enemies. In fact, I have gathered a lot of money because of this, which are usually used for equipment in shops but not usually for purchasing from NPCs (because Therion is generally better since I get them for free). It's also refreshing to see a protagonist that have parents that are not only alive, but also present.

Primrose: The protagonist which is more difficult to use, because not only does her story contain many unsettling things like abuse and human trafficking, her ability to seduce people to join her is not very reliable, even at a very high level. Her dancer skill is useful for stat boosts but only affecting one character at a time is limiting, unless her "limit break" is used. However, since her allure is separate from Ophilia's guiding people, it's still useful for that very reason.

Alfyn: When I first started the game, I wasn't familiar with what Alfyn or Cyrus could do, until I got Alfyn and realise how awesome the ability to inquire people is. Basically it can reveal hidden items, make inns cheaper and even unravel some information that can be used for sidequests. He's also quite easygoing and has some pun-tastic lines like "Cool off!" and "Pick your poison!", and his ability to mix ingredients is a huge advantage itself since the concoctions have unique healing that items can't provide, like the ability to heal BP for the entire team.

Cyrus: I am surprised to find that Cyrus' skill is one of those that can make their reputation suffer, since he's also kind of gentlemanly compared to the others who are more understandably sinful. I suppose he's a bit socially awkward if he had to scrutinise people, which sounded like he's interrogating them when it's put that way. Since he's basically another mage character, he is really useful for that reason, and it's favourable to put him in another mage class for this reason. Plus, he can scan one weakness from each and every enemy or boss at the start of the battle, making the battle go a little smoother. His way of speech is very enjoyable, because he sure has a way with words.

Olberic: The one that I hired the last is also the one that will eventually be my powerhouse, because he has high attack and eventually I gave him a skill to increase the damage cap. Not only that, his skill to challenge NPCs is great, because you can draw from his entire skill set rather than dispatching monsters (which is not as reliable). Similar to Cyrus, his speech is enjoyable but for a different reason: he has a more spirited way with the way he delivers his lines, especially if you boost to the max ("My blade is unbending!").

One thing that kind of fascinated me with the game is how it's overall more grounded than the average Final Fantasy game. Yes, the game has monsters still, but they are more generally inspired by real-life, such as animals (including animal tribes), plants, automatons, skeletons and good ol' human enemies (in fact, encountering a dragon is considered a huge thing in this game). The best part is that stronger versions of enemies are not just recolours, but instead have a feature that make them look different from the others. The items are also more realistic, for instead of potions and elixirs, fruits are the main source of healing, including jams which are the elixir of this game, and nuts which give permanent stat boosts. That's not to mention that most of the game has more grounded character quests, like Olberic fighting his way in a tournament and Tressa rescuing a fellow merchant from a ruthless landlord.

The battle system may seem quite complex, but the existence of on-screen elements also made it simple. For one, the turn order is outlined on the screen, similar to Final Fantasy X. Also, every enemy has vulnerabilities, and if you hit them with one, then it will be revealed to make life simpler. If they run out of shields, they become super vulnerable, making every hit much stronger than before. This is even encouraged because you get 10% more experience if you do that. To aid in battles, every attack and skill have the ability to consume BP (here, it's called Boost Points), which unlike Bravely Default, only boosts one move at a time, and in general it's more useful if boosted. For attacks, it means attacking more than once; for boosting/debuffing skills, it increases the duration; for offensive skills, it increases its power; finally, every class has an equivalent of a (unlockable) Limit Break which can only be used if you use at maximum boost, and they have generally useful abilities like making an ally use the same move twice, make status moves hit all instead of one, or just outright unleash a powerful attack on a foe. I daresay that the battle system is where half the fun is, because the amount of strategies that can be executed felt limitless. It's helped that every boss have some twist to keep things interesting, such as those with weaknesses that are locked until certain conditions are met, such as defeating the boss's minions.

The game also has a job system, which can be unlocked by going to shrines. It's basically encouraged to do so, because the characters get stat boosts and an expanded moveset by doing so. Not to mention: unlocking skill also unlocks support skills that can be mixed and matched, like taking the Thief's Snatch and apply it on the Merchant to obtain twice the money, or using the Dancer's Second Wind to apply passive SP recovery on a mage character. The game also have a few more jobs other than the ones used by the main characters, but they require fighting a tough boss to properly earn them. What makes the job system fun is how the characters deliver their lines if they have a different job.

Although the game is considered complete if the protagonist's fourth chapter is completed, given that that's when the credits roll (in the order that you clear the chapters, a very nice touch), the game has one extremely tough boss that is basically the final boss since it requires all party members to be used. It's best to clear the side quests before that because they offer some nice rewards, especially of those with the significant side characters for each traveller. The final boss is tough because you need to clear stronger versions of existing bosses (which is the easy part) first, and they cannot be skipped. I had to read up on the strategy of the boss, but I am fortunate to make it out alive with one close call, because it took a long time to beat it.

After beating the optional final boss, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I have just conquered the most difficult boss in the game.

Thank you for reading.
 
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New Super Lucky's Tale (Nintendo Switch)

Originally I was going to 100% it, but I found myself rather frustrated with a certain slide puzzle at Gilly's Island and wasted about half the day trying to figure it out, annoyed I just decided to complete the normal stages and beat the final boss.
 
you need to beat more star ace opponents
 
198X (Nintendo Switch)

Features five games inspired by arcade-era classics but is roughly two hours in-length, would recommend waiting until it's on sale if you're interested. The narrative and voice acting is really nice, but what sold me on it was the outstanding pixel art.
 
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I got a Saturn HDMi cable today (something I wanted for both the upgrade over my previous S-Video setup and the ability to record videos)... and managed to get my first no-death run of Thunder Force III on video! While not considered a very difficult game by hardcore shmup players, it does have some dickish and demanding parts so I was happy to get it.
 
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