Topic: Last Game You Beat

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Tales of Berseria (PS4) - Currently the newest entry in Bandai Namco's long running Tales Action JRPG. Screenshots weren't allowed.

Gameplay

• Tales games are often considered JRPG comfort food, and this is a good example of that. It has pretty standard setup, where it's towns & dungeons are separated by field areas you must explore. Enemies roam freely in dungeons & field areas, and upon touching them you'll enter a battle where you'll fight a group in fairly standard ARPG fashion.
• Battles take place directly in the environment (just with a circular boundary denoting the battle area, and if you press up against it long enough you'll build up an escape gauge that lets you flee most fights). Fighting is all real time though there is a meter that depletes for every attack you make so you can't just spam attacks. The meter can be extended in battle by inflicting status effects, defeating enemies, and dodging attacks at the last second (the last method actually produces an item in the battle area you need to pick up first though, and your party members can & will try grabbing it for themselves). The meter decreases if you are inflicted with a status effect or are KO'd. It goes back to default after battle.
• Each of the four face buttons has a four step combo mapped to it, and although the combo is the same across all four at the start, as you unlock new moves you can customise each one as you see fit. Each move (or arte, as they're called) has a different element associated with it (more powerful ones usually have two), a specific enemy class it's strong against (dragon, person, beast, etc), and a status effect in can inflict (stun, burn, poison, etc). By paying attention to an enemy's elemental affinities and class type, you'll need to tailor a combo best suited to dispatching it.
• Pressing the touch pad during battle will bring up a menu that pauses the action, letting you use items, give allies commands, and even customize your combos & change your equipment in the middle of battle. Other than a short waiting period regarding using items, there's no limit on doing this. You can only carry a max of 15 of each type of restorative item (and you can't use an HP regenerating item if you have any kind of status effect inflicted on you), so plan carefully.
• Each piece of equipment has a master skill that you learn if you equip it long enough (these are usually buffs such as granting you a 4% resistance to fire attacks, or 8% increased damage to undead enemy types, for example), so it's good to try out a variety of different equipment (even if it may not grant you a specific upgrade in general stats) so you can build up an array of permanent buffs. You can also use materials you find (or obtain by dismantling equipment) to enhance the equipment you do want to use, which improves it's stats & gives you increased buffs while wearing it.
• At some point you become acquainted with a band of pirates who you can send out on expeditions. They bring back food ingredients you can't find in shops (for cooking buffs, which I never used), items you can sell for large sums of money, cosmetic attachments (and the game's, very underwhelming, swimsuit costumes), and treasures (these tend to be little more than easter eggs referencing past games), so be sure to send them out as often as you can as there's no reason not to (doing it enough will open up a sidequest, too).
• The main quest is marked by a star, while sidequests are marked by a speech bubble with an exclamation point (these don't appear on the map until active though, so I didn't bother until endgame where I had unlimited fast travel so I could scour towns repeatedly to find any I missed). While some may be blocked off temporarily at certain story moments, no sidequest is missable so you won't be punished for waiting (though some quests won't open up until another is completed, so if you do all available be sure to revisit towns to see if any new ones pop up).
• Other side activities include Class 4 Administrative Zones (which are little islands with arenas on them, used to practice against a certain enemy class), Katz Boxes (you open these by collecting these little orbs that are scattered EVERYWHERE, and you earn cosmetic attachments/costumes & a certain secret location for doing so), and Code Red Hunts (there is a really powerful enemy roaming around each field area & dungeon, usually off in it's own little corner of the map, and it's worth your while to challenge them).
• At some point you obtain a magical hoverboard that lets you travel on foot a bit faster. You have to find a glowy spot in each region to use it there though, so it's mostly used for exploring past areas (enemies so many levels below you will automatically be defeated while riding, though you'll earn no rewards/exp this way). You can also buy items at shops that let you return to the entrance of a dungeon or warp you back to any town you've been to (unless one is temporarily blocked off due to story reasons), and later on in the game you can obtain "bottomless" variants of these items that don't deplete.

Visual/Audio

• It's not pushing the PS4 to it's limits (it seems to be using a somewhat spruced up version of the engine used in Tales of Zesteria, which was also on PS3), but things are generally crisp, colorful, and pleasing to the eye.
• Stylistically I think it's quite a big step up from Zesteria. The previous game had generally bland locales & character design IMO, but despite taking place in the same world (just many years apart), Berseria generally has aesthetically better locale & character design, placing it closer to the charm that earlier games had.
• the in-game range of alternate costumes has improved since Zesteria, though disappointingly the best stuff is still locked behind DLC. While there is a swimsuit line you can obtain in-game (for example), all male characters unlock the same black pair of trunks, and all women unlock the same black one-piece (which is actually more modest than Velvet & Magilou's standard attire). It's not a huge deal, but I still miss all the unique stuff you could unlock in Abyss & Vesperia.

Story

• It actually has a pretty interesting setup for the genre in that to the world at large you are the bad guys. Naturally things are more complicated (and there are some great twists), but it's a great twist that sets it apart from it's contemporaries (though of course there are excuses as to why your appearance doesn't become widely known, so you can still waltz into most towns at any given point).
• The Tales series is known for the plentiful skits that pop up from time to time (where semi-animated portraits of the gang shoot the breeze about serious & silly topics alike), they're present & accounted for here, and as always help to flesh out the group as a likeable band that you're sad to say goodbye to at adventure's end.
• It does take place before Zesteria, and while you don't need to play it to enjoy this, there are a lot of nods to it (and since it was released first, they're presented in a way that it's assumed you've played it first), and I think the game's story is that much cooler if you have done so.

Conclusion

• It doesn't push the genre ahead in any meaningful way, but it's nice JRPG comfort food with a neat narrative twist & charm.
• Didn't take any screenshots, as like with Zesteria you're not allowed to in most situations (only those Class 4 Administrative Zones, those copy pasted training islands, allow you to take screenshots).

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Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) - The first part in a massive remake of the JRPG classic, and my first time with it in any form.

Time to get to work.

Gameplay
-Taking on more of a level based approach, most chapters are pretty linear affairs with pretty rigid progression outside of the occasional chest or other treasure right off the beaten path (it's generally more segmented off than even FFX, though this wasn't a problem for me. In fact X is my favorite FF, and this is my favorite since). That said, every few chapters take place inside a town, and these are a bit more open in that they always feature optional sidequests to complete, and sometimes even an arena, giving you opportunities to get useful gear or do some level grinding if you think you need it (though I never felt the need to grind myself, I did complete all sidequests I ran across, and did each available arena fight once).

• Also in towns (& in a few other areas) you'll run into Chadley, a character who will reward you with unique materia for completing certain sets of goals during battle, and new summons by defeating them in boss fights.
• Combat is mostly real time, with you being able to freely run around, dodge attacks, and use basic attacks at will, though each character has an "Active Time Battle" gauge that builds over time (faster if you're dealing damage), and only once one of it's bars are full can they use an item, magic, special ability, or summon (by opening the command menu the action slows to a crawl, giving you a taste of the title's turn based roots), meaning you can't spam items/magic willy nilly. Summons are powerful, but can only be called upon during boss fights & a few other large battles.
• Even regular battles can be quite engaging, but I must give special props to the boss fights, which are generally fantastic. A couple of the later ones I sort of just powered through with frequent healing as there was so much going on, such as the final boss, but they're generally really engaging fights that are fun to figure out.
• In addition to leveling, you can power up by upgrading your weapons & using materia. While different weapons have different strengths, you can upgrade them as you go along, so sticking with your starting weapons is entirely doable (it's recommended you switch out from time to time though, as using new weapons is how you learn new special attacks).
• As for materia, they are items that slot into your equipment that let you use magic, can increase your stats, or make available some other ability/buff, which you can only use while it is equipped (while earlier weapons tend to have less slots for materia, they obtain more via upgrading). You can buy materia from shops/vending machines, but I got enough through just playing (some are found along the main path, just off the beaten path, or by completing sidequests) that I rarely did this.
  
  
  Didn't take any battle screens, so here's a couple random pics.
• The fighting is usually broken up by light puzzling (such as looking for a switch to unlock a door, or moving containers with a giant robotic hand) which provides a nice breather. I also enjoyed the occasional bike segment. There are a few other minigames along the way as well, such as the surprisingly fun darts game in "Seventh Heaven" (disappointed that you couldn't play the pinball tables, though).

Audio/Visual

• The game's large budget is very apparent as this is one of the most graphically impressive JRPGs I've ever played. There are times when you'll run across the random element that looks incomplete, but for the most part it looks great, especially at night. Some of the set-pieces, particularly in the final chapter, were the most I've been wowed by a game's visuals in quite awhile.
  
  
  Some impressive night lighting...
  
  ...with the occasional incomplete textured item.
• Aesthetically I think it looks great. Though the main cast still has a few anime-ish elements to their designs that make them stand out amongst the NPCs that largely play straight, making them any more realistic wouldn't feel right and the balance they struck I think is the right decision.
• While some of the locations aren't that interesting (such as the sewers), in general the more contemporary/steampunk/sci-fi setting is still pretty fresh for a JRPG, and I think infinitely more interesting than the standard fantasy worlds of classic FF. I really liked some of the areas too (such as Wall Market, the Train Graveyard, the Shinra Building, and the trippy final chapter).
• The music quality is top notch & I loved the fact that you could collect music discs (however the jukeboxes were few & far between, without much range).

Story

• It has an interesting set-up for a JRPG given the setting, and while it seemingly starts out pretty grounded (considering), naturally things start to get out there by the end. A lot of gripping story threads are begun, but as this is just the start of a larger tale, most mysteries are left unresolved, a few even introduced in the game's final moments.
• I'm conflicted on Cloud himself, as he's not particularly interesting character personality wise. He clearly has a mysterious past that's responsible for his stoic personality that I'm itching to learn more about, and he does some badass things, but as a human he's only beginning to open up by the end.
• Tifa & Aerith are nice enough (with Aerith having an interesting backstory of her own & Tifa is just nice to have around), but it's Barrett that absolutely steals the show in terms of personality (and it's brilliant how he loudly sings the classic Final Fantasy fanfare theme upon some victories, keeping it alive in an organic way). Red XIII is pretty cool too, though we don't get much of him here.
• While I don't dislike it, I'm not a huge fan of the "choose your own Waifu" approach to the romance elements in the game. I much prefer a strong central romance in a game if it's to feature one (such as Tidas & Yuna, keeping to FF), and while Cloud's choices may be whittled down if it goes on to adhere to the original story pretty tightly, there's some rumblings that it may go on to change things up.
  
  Make up your mind, my man.

Conclusion

• With satisfying combat, some of the best boss fights I've experienced in recent memory, wonderful worldbuilding, an interesting story setup, and high polish all around, this has quickly become one of my favorite FF titles, and is currently in the running for the best game I've played this year.
  
  The sun sets on an epic adventure (screenshot not actually from the game's final moments).

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Paper Mario: the Origami King (Switch)

Gameplay:

• It continues the turn from JRPG to Action Adventure the past couple games started, and it's really starting to feel comfortable in it's new role.
• Gone is the level based progression of the past couple games, replaced with a more proper overworld to explore, and dungeons best described as traditional Zelda lite. You'll still be exploring it in a pretty linear fashion, but each area is large and full of secrets to find.
• The most prominent secret to find are the hidden Toads (they are hidden in creative & imaginitive ways, and while some will return to Toad Town or some other Kiosk out in the world to open up a shop, most will join your in battle audience, which you can pay to help out during battles), who often have a humorous zinger they utter before running off. You also unlock Toad Points for every one you find, which you can spend in the Museum in Toad Town to unlock concept art (which is a feature I always love seeing in games).
• Other things to find are Treasure Chests & "?" Blocks (which house coins or collectable trophies which can be viewed in the Museum), Not-Bottomless Holes (these are filled in with confetti, which you get when defeating enemies or by hammering objects in the environment, and you get coins for doing so. Sometimes a new path is opened up when you fill one in as well). Lastly you have HP Up hearts, and much like Heart Containers in Zelda, they increase your maximum HP when collected (they come in +5, +10, & +20 varieties, increasing your base 50 HP up to a maximum of 200, and for every 20 HP increase your attack power increases as well, which allows you to defeat some weaker enemies in the overworld without having to enter a battle). If you miss any, you can talk to the "Love Toad" in Toad Town (he has to be rescued first, though) who will give you hints as to where missing HP Up hearts are.
• Regular battles come in 2 flavors. The most common are turn based battles with Mario at the center of a ringed arena, and you have a small window of time to manipulate the rings and line (or group) up the scattered enemies. It's more of a puzzle game in that respect, where if you solve it you get a power boost and often get to defeat all enemies without them getting a turn, and if you fail you're going to take some damage before trying again (you can spend coins in battle to increase the amount of time you have to solve the puzzle, or you can have the Toads in the audience help you out by throwing you items and/or partially solving the puzzle. The more you spend the better their help is, and I assume the help is better the more Toads you have rescued). The other type of battle is against big paper mache enemies (called paper macho here), which occurs in real time in the overworld. The name of the game here is to get out of the way when they charge you, then whack them with your hammer (they have a weak point on their back that makes it easier to take them out if you hit that first). These are rarely just out there though, and are often scripted encounters.
• Boss battles as well come in those two flavors as well. The puzzle bosses change things up by having the boss at the center of the arena, and you have to manipulate the rings in order to set up a path for Mario to follow to safely get to the boss to attack. Each boss usually has a unique gimmick of it's own on top of this, resulting in the most engaging & unique encounters of the game. The Paper Macho bosses happen in real time and are often really impressive in terms of scale (these are a nice change of pace, and I enjoyed them as well)
  
  
  Examples of both puzzle & real time boss encounters.
• Your base hammer & boot attacks are unlimited, though you can obtain more powerful versions as well. These have a limited number of uses, though once you obtain one once you can buy more from the Toad Town shop. These get better as you go on, with the hammers & boots you find in one area generally being better than the ones you found in the previous areas. Some have unique effects though, such as Ice or Fire variants that can have an elemental advantage, or reward more coins during battle.
• There are also items you can use in battle (or sometimes outside as well). The most common are are mushrooms which restore health, but other Mario staples such as Fire & Ice Flowers, POW Blocks, & Tanuki Tails show up as well & do as you'd expect. I honestly only ever used Mushrooms.
• In some regions you will have a partner who will join you in your adventure (and battle). They all only have one attack, and it'll either hit or miss. They tend to get more useful the further you get though. The first one refuses to join you in dungeons, and their attack is a single target move that seems to have a 50/50 chance of hitting. The later ones tend to follow you into dungeons, and have multi target attacks that seem to get more reliable.
• You can buy accessories that help you out in battle or elsewhere. Battle accessories can increase the maximum time you have to solve puzzles, increase your HP during turn based battles, or decrease the damage you take. Other accessories have useful effects outside of battle (such as increasing the range at which you can collect confetti or giving you discounts at shops), or are just fun (such as changing your confetti to Sakura petals or enabling retro jump & coin sounds).
• There is the occasional minigame to take part in as well, whether it be fishing, shooting gallery, or even a game show segment. I found these to be hit or miss, with some I enjoyed (like the shooting gallery), while others I hated (well, just the game show segment).

Audio/Visual:

• It's a really sharp looking game, with an amazing sense of aesthetic. Everything looks to be made out of some sort of paper craft, and every region is a joy to explore due to some creative theming, whether it be a theme park based on feudal Japan, an open sea segment that's a clear homage to Zelda (particularly the seafaring games), or even paper craft renditions of famous Mario locales such as Bowser's Castle.
  
  
  Some great vistas await.
• I think it was a brilliant move to make the enemies origami versions of all the classics, as this frees up the wide gamut of Bowser's minions to appear as friendly NPCs. While there are still lots of Toads, you'll find yourself visiting a Monty Mole village, a shrine popular with Koopa Troopas, and more (other Mario staples such as Luigi & Birdo show up ocassionally as well). It really seems like they're getting pretty good at working with the "core Mario characters only" rule, and I hope they can continue this trend in the future as long as the rule persists (if anything, Odyssey should open up their options considerably).
• It has good music selection as well. I'm not one to pay much attention to music in games, but it definitely had some beats I was bopping along to.

Story/Writing:

• While Toad Town is preparing for an Origami festival, the Origami King, Olly shows up to capture Peach's castle and begin his plan to transform the entire world into Origami. After Mario escapes with the help of Bowser & Olivia (Olly's sister), he goes on an adventure to stop the dastardly king. It's not a terribly deep narrative, but it's surprisingly touching in places, and can even get unnerving at others. It's not as involved as the older JRPG entries (or Super Paper Mario), but it's definitely a couple steps above your typical Mario platformer (or Sticker Star, for that matter), which is appreciated.
• The humor can be pretty good in spots, and at times it seems like they're giving a sly middle finger to the restrictions in place (such as when Olivia tries to find a name for Bob-Omb, and eventually repeatedly calls him "Bobby", even though he officially doesn't have a personalized name).

Overall

• I really enjoyed my time with this. While I can see why some would say the battling becomes tedious, I think the puzzle aspects make them engaging in their own right (especially the bosses), and I think it's becoming much more comfortable in it's new Action-Adventure role, despite a few stumbles here & there. I'd place it just under the top tier of Switch exclusives (below Odyssey, BotW, & XC2, same place Luigi's Mansion 3, Link's Awakening remake, & DKC: Tropical Freeze, above Kirby Star Allies, & Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3).
  
  You're back on top, Paper Mario.

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Indie Wave!

A Short Hike (Switch)

Gameplay

• A simple 3D platformer in which your only goal is to scale the tallest mountain on the small island the game is home to, Hawk Peak. You play as Claire, a humanoid bird, who has the ability to jump & glide, and in order to scale the peak you'll need to collect Gold & Silver Feathers scattered about the game world (Gold ones add an extra jump for every one you find, while Silver ones increase the size of your jumps & glide speed). There is no time limit & no danger, it's just a hike you take at your own speed. The platforming & gliding feels great, but there's an optional speedboat minigame I thought was a tad clunky to control.
  
• The thing is, while there is a signposted path to take to the top (with just enough Gold Feathers along the way, you don't actually need any Silver Feathers I believe), the island is a small open world filled with people to help, secrets to find, & minigames to play, and it's best bits are often just exploring around, or making up your own path. You only need 7 Gold Feathers to reach the top, but by the end I had 11 Gold & 2 Silver (collected more Gold after the fact, which you may see in some of my screenshots).
• As for the minigames, I ran across races, a variant of volleyball, fishing, & a speedboat segment, and they're all simple but fun (being good enough will often net you a Gold Feather). Completing quests for people (really relaxing & simple stuff, like picking up all the litter on a small island) will often net you Gold Feathers as well. You can also obtain optional equippable items such as a bucket to water flowers (which act as springs launching you to higher ground when bloomed), a shovel to dig up treasure, or a picaxe which you can use to open up shortcuts to various points on the island.

Audio/Visual

• The game has an overhead/isometric view, and it's full of vibrant colors. Whether it be white sandy beaches, autumnal foliage, icy peaks, stormy shores, and more, this small world packs a lot of biomes, many you'll miss if you don't get out & explore.
  
• The game has a pixelated sort of retro 3D look (think PS1 or DS), though it looks good as it's intentional. Furthermore, you can make it look cleaner & sharper in the settings if the standard look isn't doing it for you (which is what I did).
• The musical tone fits the game & the areas well. It really helped set the mood in spots.

Story

• You're off to summer camp and awaiting an important call, only to learn that there's no reception out here in the boonies, except that is on the island's highest point, Hawk Peak. Thus your journey begins, and who knows, maybe you'll commune with nature along the way. It's a very simple set up with very little words along the way, but man is the ending evocotive. I inexplicably teared up at the end in a way a video game has never before made me.
• Some of the characters you meet along the way have tiny little narratives of their own that are tied into their minigame or quest if you take the time to get to know them (as an example, there's a character scalping Gold Feathers, selling them for over 2 times the price that the Visitor's Center does, but he's doing it because he's behind on tuition, and you can actually pay it off for him, which then ties in to another character's quest), which is a neat little touch.
  

Overall

• A Short Hike was a joy to play. It may indeed be short (I finished it in probably under 2 hours, and if you speed through it, under 1 hour isn't undoable), but despite the speedboat clunkiness, the vplatforming controls are spot on (once you have a good number of Gold Feathers, scaling & soaring through the game's vertical world is one of the best feelings I've had playing a game. It's very Nintendo-like in the sense that getting from one place to the other is fun in and of itself), and it's brief narrative hits hard.

Gato Roboto (Switch)

Gameplay

• A standard "Metroidvania" that's a clear homage to Metroid in particular, though with your playable character being a cat. If you've played one before this won't be radically different, with it playing host to 5 or 6 interconnected "zones", and by obtaining upgrades along the way you'll be able to access later areas & go back to grab collectables you missed out on earlier. The upgrades you get are pretty standard fare, such a Screw Attack like move & Missiles as examples (though your missile supply is unlimited here, there's a cooldown meter so you can't spam them).
• It does differentiate itself in a couple ways though. Most notably you can exit the power suit and run around as Kiki (the cat), who is quick, can climb up walls, and fit into tight spaces (there's even a dedicated meow button!), but has no offensive capability & dies in one hit. Naturally there are times when you'll have to leave the suit behind and look for a way forward as Kiki (with one of the game's zones almost entirely revolving around that). Other times you will use other vehicles, such as a submarine, as your power suit doesn't play nice with water.
  
• Otherwise, the game controls are mostly good, though I felt it was a tad floaty. It's a pretty breezy time mostly IMO, though bosses can be a step up in difficulty (usually took me 5-6 times to beat them, with a few exceptions). As for the collectables you have Heath Modules (increase maximum "NRG", lol), Cartridges (more on these later, but there is a character who will upgrade your basic shot if you collect enough), and Data Logs (more on these later).

Audio/Visual

• It uses a minimalist black & white art style, though sprites are well animated, and I felt like it did a good job of making each of the zones feel distinct (you're not going to quit playing and wonder if you're in the Aqueduct or the Ventilation area when you come back). Plus it has a handy map.
• The aforementioned Cartridges unlock different color palettes for use, such as Gameboy (pictured below) & Virtual Boy inspired looks.
  
• The soundtrack fits the game pretty well I'd say.

Story

• A space soldier (Gary, I think) recieves a distress signal from a military research facility, but on his way to investigate Kiki steps on the controls, causing the ship to crash land and Gary to be injured, thus it's up to our plucky feline friend to complete the mission.
• Along the way you'll run across Data Logs (just one or two per zone, with some being along the main path, while others are more hidden), with messages left by the staff of the research facility before things went bad. They're a nice way to add some narrative to the proceedings without bogging it down with text & exposition
  

Overall

• This was nice "Metroidvania" comfort food. Granted, the Switch is full of indie "Metroidvanias", but I think this was a good one, and don't play a ton of indies anyway so I had a good time with it.
  

Waifu Uncovered (Switch)

Probably the only screenshot I can post here, lol.

Gameplay

• A pretty standard sh'mup in terms of gameplay, it's Arcade Mode features 7 levels of bullet hell action (while Story Mode features 8), with all the typical upgrades (wave shot, move speed, etc.) accounted for and they carry across from one level to the next, so you'll become progressively more powerful during a run. While you'll eventually play through all levels by the time you're through, you'll have the option to play an easier or harder level after you clear a level, so no two runs have to be exactly alike. I found it works pretty well for the most part, but I was never able to clear Story Mode, as it features tag team boss fights (which are way too chaotic) & you heal less health in-between rounds.
• It's levels feature artwork of anime style women in the background, and for "story purposes" (more on that later) the more enemies you defeat the more uncovered they become. Once they've become suitably stripped you fight that level's boss. While it starts off in "Censored Mode" (where their most intimate bits stay covered up, mostly), the game's most prominent unlockable is an "Uncensored Mode", which as advertised features the women's breasts fully exposed when activated. It should be noted, given the title's theme, that despite the aesthetic direction of the title, it was developed by a western studio and all women are explicably said to be over 18 (with the majority being in their 20's). I figured it should be brought up since it would be the concern of some.
• It features a ton of unlockables outside of the "Uncensored Mode", including various ships with different stat focuses (though I always did best with the initial all rounder), a One Finger Mode that lets you play with only one finger on the touch screen in handheld mode (I didn't try this, but I believe it features a special hot dog shaped ship, for some crude innuendo), as well as a Gallery which allows you to view the women (covered or otherwise) once you clear their level once in either Arcade or Story mode.

Audio/Visual

• It's clear that the women are the focus of the game as they are presented pretty well (though your average Japanese developed visual novel has better art), while all the enemies you face look like flash animated knockoffs of emojis & memes (flying cartoon poop, asteroids with off brand "troll faces", etc.). It's clear they were just quickly thrown together to give you something to shoot at as you get to the "good stuff".
• It has exactly one song, and while it's pretty peppy, you'll probably be tired of it after one run.
• To it's credit, I never noticed any notable slowdown, even when the screen is absolutely cluttered.

Story

• Aliens are invading & have infested the clothes of women the world over! You play as a Ninja Horse (a ninja with a horse's head) flying around in a ship to fight them & save the women. It's absolutely absurd, but I guess it kind of has to be in order to justify the goings on. Nothing more to it than that.

Overall

• It's fun as a novelty just to have something so shamelessly crude & mature (immature?) on console (particularly a Nintendo one), but if I didn't get it for "free" (I got it with gold coins), I probably wouldn't have bothered.

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Super Mario 64 (Super Mario 3D All-Stars - Switch)

While many are taking the opportunity to 100% the game, I'll admit up front that I finished with 73 Stars, pretty much doing the bare minimum for completion. For reference, I had played it off and on as a kid via rentals, but this is the first time I've completed it (as a kid I only ever explored the worlds on the castle's first floor).

Gameplay:

• A 3D platformer, and at the time of it's release the only one of it's kind, that introduced many design conventions that many games use to this day.
• It takes place on the grounds of Peach's Castle, which acts as a hub world that connects the various worlds (which are housed within magical paintings, or other objects, such as a clock) you'll have to traverse in order to clear the game. The further you get, the more of the castle you get to explore.
• There are 15 main worlds you're able to explore in the game, and each holds seven Power Stars to collect. These are the game's main collectable, and the more you collect, the more of the castle you're able to access. The game is pretty open ended in terms of it's progression, where even if you're playing one mission, if you find some other Star you're free to go after it instead, and there are nearly twice as many Stars in the game than required to beat it, so if you don't like a particular world or mission you don't have to push yourself to complete it (there are some exceptions of course, as if a world has a boss it'll usually only appear if you pick it's specific mission, and you need to beat Boswer stages to obtain keys to access different castle floors).
• In addition to the to the 15 main worlds, there are also 3 Bowser levels (straightforward platforming levels that end with a boss fight with the big guy), 3 Cap levels (straightforward platforming levels centered around specific powerups, upon completion of which you unlock that power up for use in the main worlds, as some Stars require them), and the occasional hidden mini world which house 1 Star for collecting their red coins (Bowser & Cap levels also house a red coin Star as well). Along with a handful of Stars that are just given to you by Toads in the castle, there are lots of extras to find.
• Thank goodness for it's open ended nature too, as the game is definitely rough in the gameplay department. Make no mistake, there's a great core here, and when things are going good Mario has a diverse move set that feels good, however the camera is finicky as heck & you often have to fight with it, and Mario is slippery as all get out which makes more deft platforming sections an exercise in frustration (also, the Wing Cap just flat out sucks. Great idea, a nightmare to actually try to controll unless launched via a cannon). I really think I did myself a favor by putting an end to it before reaching some of the later worlds which have reputations as absolute death traps. Granted, it apparently controls better on an actual N64 with it's stiffer control stick, but I'm not playing it on N64.
  
  
  The top screen looks like a fair enough challenge, but as for the bottom? No thanks!
• I personally had a really hard time with the Bowser fights too, as I just couldn't get the timing of when to throw him. I maybe could throw him into a bomb once for every 10 throws which isn't terrible for the first two fights which only require you to get him once, but you need to do it 3 times in the final fight, which really tried my patience (It probably took me 10 times to finally beat him).
• To end on a more positive note, I actually found myself really enjoying the game's water worlds of all things (Jolly Roger Bay's eel mission notwithstanding). I generally had no issue controlling Mario under water, I thought they had generally good design, and they just seemed overall relaxing. Big Boo's Haunt was decent as well.

Audio/Visual:

• While it naturally looks a bit rough these days, I think it looked pretty good overall cleaned up in HD. While they were probably impressive for their time, I don't think any of the worlds come across as anything particularly memorable today. I guess Shifting Sand Land & Rainbow Ride (and the other sky levels) were conceptually pretty neat looking, but they're some of the most irritating worlds from a gameplay perspective (Rainbow Ride in particular is one of those worlds that's so hard I really didn't try it). I guess I liked Hazy Maze Cave as a concept (and it had some of the trademark red scaffolding calling back to the original Donkey Kong arcade game), but it wasn't a particularly pretty world, even by SM64's standards. Again, I liked the relaxing vibe of the underwater worlds (even if Jolly Roger Bay looks a bit too drab when above water). There are some thematic stinkers though, such as Wet-Dry World (I think it's supposed to be a flooded city, but it comes across as a random jumble of floating platforms, which is a problem the first and last Bowser levels have too).
  
  
  
  Some environments. I liked the underwater areas.
• While it didn't particularly bother me, it's also weird in how "off brand" it feels in certain respects. While most of the iconic enemies (such as goombas, koopas, lakitu, and more) are present, as well as a few green pipes along the way, there are no "?" Blocks in the game (instead we get "!" Blocks), breakable bricks don't have their iconic brick texture, and series standard items like Super Mushrooms & Fire Flowers are nowhere to be found.
• As usual, I don't have much to say about music. Guess it fits the game, though.

Story:

• Mario gets an invitation to Peach's Castle only to find out that Bowser has taken over the joint and locked it up. Only by collecting the Castle's stolen Power Stars (which Bowser's minions have spirited away into magical paintings) can he further explore the castle & stop his old rival. Nothing more to it than that.
  
  Bowser's at it again.

Overall:

• There's definitely a solid core here, and it can definitely be fun when things line up just right, but there's definitely a lot of rough edges to cut yourself on along the way. Which begs the question, should Nintendo have given it a bigger overhaul? While their decision to make the collection as bare bones as it is was more than likely a decision based on frugalness, I don't think it's inherently a bad decision. If we are to posit that games are an art form, I think it's important that they should be playable in their original forms with minimal updates, warts & all (especially in a collection such as this, which is meant to show how the franchise has evolved over the years). Granted, whether you personally think that's worth the money is up for debate, but I think there's some merit to it, and should be tried out of curiosity's sake, even if you're just in it for the more modern titles.
  
  I will say that as someone who only dabbled in the game during it's original release & hasn't much thought about it since, there was something satisfying & affirming about actually seeing it to the end, even if it wasn't the most positive experience at times.

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Over the weekend I finished up Trials of Mana (PS4)! Given how limited my PS4 time has been lately, it was a journey a few months in the making, even though the game (including post game) only took me about 30 hours.

Gameplay:

• A full on remake of a previously Japan only Super Famicom action RPG. It's pretty standard fare in terms of base gameplay, but the way you progress through the game has a pretty unique twist.
• Upon startup you pick 3 of 6 characters (each of which fills one of the typical roles, such as Duran being the "Knight" archetype, Hawkeye the "Thief", Angela the "Mage", etc.), and while you'll run into all 6 on your journey, it's these 3 that will join your party on your quest (with the first selection taking the role of the "main" character). Your character selection determines where in the world you'll start the game, and ultimately, even which final boss you face (more on this later).
• Battles take place in real time directly within the environment (no random battles here, though there are some scenarios, usually near a treasure chest, where a group of enemies will pop up when you get close), though there is a surrounding ring that denotes the "battle area". With a few exceptions such as boss battles, by pressing up against the edge of the area you'll build up a meter that lets you disengage the enemy & escape. More powerful enemy attacks will be telegraphed with a red area of effect, giving you a chance to get out of dodge before they hit (bosses will have some super powerful attacks that encompass the entire battle area, and you'll usually have to destroy some objects that have blue life bars in order to interrupt the attack, usually stunning the boss in the process). Also, you can only use up to 10 of any given item during a fight (for example, you can have 53 Cups of Wishes on you, which revive a fallen party member, but you can only use 10 of them in the middle of a fight).
• During combat, In addition to basic light & strong attacks (with the latter being effective at breaking armored enemies barriers), you'll unlock a series of special attacks that are mapped to L1 + a corresponding face button (these use up an energy meter). By pressing up or down on the D-Pad you'll pause the game and bring up one of two ring menus (one of which houses usable items, the other your character's spells). You use L2 & R2 to switch between characters (this works outside of battle too, unless you're in a town, where you must be the "main" character), and you can dodge & guard too (though I honestly never did the latter outside of the tutorial).
• When it comes to powering up your characters there are multiple ways to do so. The most standard ways are simply levelling up via battle experience (which works as expected), and obtaining new gear (in a pretty straightforward affair, the battle equipment available to you when you arrive in a new town will be unanimously better than what the last one offered). However, you also earn training points when you level up which can be spent on further stat increases, new spells, and "Abilities" (while the extra stat increases & spells are immediately applied/learned, "Abilities" are passive buffs that must be equipped once learned, and each character can only have 4 equipped at the start). While some "Abilities" can only be equipped by the party member that unlocked them, there's actually a good amount that can be equipped by any party member, no mater who you unlocked it with. The last and most important way to upgrade your characters is obtaining new Classes...
• At certain points in your adventure you'll be able (and are expected) to transform your party members into new Classes. Doing so grants them a new look (though you can switch back to earlier costumes in the menu), massive overall stat boosts, a new special attack, the ability to equip 2 more "Abilities" than before (so after your first Class change you go from equipping 4 to 6, then up to 8 during the next Class change), as well as an extension of your basic attack combo. At every juncture you'll be asked to choose between Light & Dark transformations, each of which has it's own look & abilities (this doesn't affect story, as you're not becoming "evil" by choosing the Dark version of a Class over the Light version, it just changes the focus of the stat & "Ability" upgrades, such as a more attack focused upgrade versus a defensive one). New to this version is a 4th Class, which you can only unlock during post game, and doesn't have Light or Dark variants (it's mentioned as having the benefits of both the Light & Dark versions of Class 3, merged into one).
  
  
  Class 1 & Class 3 forms of my party.
• Fields & dungeons are pretty linear in terms of design, with only slight exploratory elements such as treasure chests off in little alcoves or a fork in the road that lead to different locations. Dungeons may have simple platforming elements, dangerous terrain such as poison/lava, very simple puzzles (such as flipping a switch to unlock a barrier), and occasionally an unlockable shortcut once you get far enough in (incase you have to leave & come back). Like with most RPGs of this type you'll eventually unlock sea & air travel which make traversing the world easier, and you are actually given the opportunity to choose your next objective at certain points, giving it some open elements.
• Oh, there's also a character called Lil' Cactus hidden in most towns, fields, & dungeons (sometimes in two places in the larger areas), and you unlock certain perks for finding him enough times (such as free stays at inns, revealing the locations of unopened treasure chests on your map, ocassional doubling or tripling of battle exp, & more).
• Also, you obtain Item Seeds (which come in different rarities) from treasure chests & defeating enemies that you can plant in pots at inns (and near select save areas) that harevest a variety of items (such as usable items or even equipment). Sometimes you'll obtain equipment that's better than what you'll get in nearby shops (by endgame I was unlocking better equipment through seeds than what was available to purchase at the best shop).

Audio/Visual:

• It clearly doesn't have the budget of something like Final Fantasy VII Remake, but it has a bright & vibrant look that I really liked. Despite the fact that it's based on a 16-bit game, I found that the environments, while not really complex, played with verticality quite well (if I hadn't known beforehand, I don't think I would have been able to tell it's retro origins).
  
  
  
  
  I couldn't think of one or two environmental pics to post, so I picked them all! You later cross in the shallows of the lake below, and the mountainous bridge high above.
• The music fit the game I felt.

Story:

• The nations of the world are growing closer to conflict, and as the main character you chose you set out from your home country to put a stop to the fighting. Not soon after you meet up with Fairy (a fairy named Fairy) who reveals that Mana (the world's magic energy) is waning, evil forces are on the move (likely behind all the strife), and only by obtaining the legendary Mana Sword can things be made right. The thing is there's actually three different villainous factions, and while you scuffle with all three on your journey, your party makeup determines which one becomes dominate and ends up the endgame villain...
• Duran & Angela are after the Crimson Wizard, Reitz (spelled that wrong) & Hawkeye have to contend with Belladonna, while Kevin & Charlotte are up against some sort of marionette dude. If you choose a party that doesn't have one of those pairs (let's say Duran, Reitz, & Charlotte), you face off against Duran & Angela's boss by default.
  
  The Crimson Wizard has been cornered.
• Otherwise the game is a pretty standard JRPG fantasy tropes.
• It does have a post game that's new to the remake that features a superboss that's the same no matter who you pick. I won't dwell on it too much due to spoilers, but it adds a couple hours to the runtime at most.

Overall:

• Really just a great comfort food JRPG, and I had a good time with it.
  

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Focus on You (PSVR). I had actually went through this months ago, but didn't want to do a write-up until I played around in the post game mode, which I recently did.

Gameplay:

• A VR dating sim spread out across 8-10 chapters or so, taking you a few hours at most. In each chapter you'll be in a different location (such as a park, classroom, cafe, home, beach, etc.) where you'll be in a stationary position (though you can look around obviously, and at certain points you'll move to a different area in the room) and interact with objects & people in your immediate vicinity.
• Most of the gameplay revolves around dialogue choices when talking to Yua (the girl whom you are trying to woo) or texting a friend on your in game phone, and taking photographs with your in game camera (more on this to come). Otherwise there are ocassional small minigames where you'll have to make a cup of coffee or a smoothie for Yua when you are at work in the cafe, and other things of that nature.
  
• As I mentioned before you take photographs, which is the main gameplay element. There's a shoot in almost every chapter, and in these segments you're sort of taken out of VR (when pulling out your camera) and look at things through a flat image floating in the void (I guess simulating looking at the screen of a digital camera). You can rotate the screen to portrait & landscape orientations & implement a "beauty mode" (which focuses on Yua, or whatever else it is you're photographing, and blurs the background), and you can ask her to do one of three different poses in each scenario (you'll have the option to move on after the first couple poses, but you can take as much time as you need).
• While you can effect some things (such as choosing between 2 different outfits for Yua to wear during a chapter), I'm not really sure if it's possible to "lose" the game or get a bad ending. I know you get a trophy for doing things like making her favorite type of coffee or smoothie, but as there's no way to figure that out other than trial & error, I don't think it effects the end outcome (maybe the reward is just seeing her response in the moment).
• Upon clearing the game you unlock a post game area where you can listen to the game's soundtrack, look at all the photos you've taken, and replay the game's chapters in a "free play" state, placing Yua in any outfit & hairstyle you like (you can unlock outfits not worn during the story, so maybe that's the reward for doing things like making her preferred coffee during the story?)
  
  Come now, you can't go swimming in class.
• It is possible to play with Move controllers (which I don't yet have, but should be getting), but you can play with the Dualshock as well.

Audio/Visual:

• Graphically it looks stunning, seriously one of the best looking VR games I've played. Sure, that leads to some blurriness in some of the more detailed environments, but as the vast majority of things you interact with are up close & there's no quick movements, it's never a problem. Whatever the case, my inner weeb was excited about getting to sit in a Japanese style classroom
  
  
  
  Anyone like "Rony" brand electronics (actually, it does a good job looking like Sony when not right up on you due to the resolution).
• The soundtrack consists of soft melodic tunes & piano riffs that fit the romantic tone of the game.

Story:

• You play as a student in an Arts high school into photography, and after noticing your skill while in a local park, fellow student Yua Han recruits you into one of her own projects. You see, she's an aspiring fashion designer & she needs someone to shoot her in some of her designs for an upcoming competition. Along the way you two will become more than partners on a project.
  
• I won't say it's award winning or anything, but the VR setup makes it many times more engaging than any traditional VN dating sims I've tried.

Conclusion:

• It was something a bit different, but I'm glad I gave it a go, as I found it to be a unique experience and much more investing than a traditional dating sim.