All Activity

Control Resonant I still have some side-content to clear in the post-game but I beat the main story today. Man, I have mixed feelings about this one. It was kind of a disappointment. On its own merits, it's a perfectly fine video game. A solid 8/10 that gets pushed to a 9 by virtue of being a Remedy game. The problem is that, well.. it's a Remedy game. I may have expected too much out of it. Let's start with what I liked: This was marketed as an open-world game but it's really not. The map is split up into discrete zones each with their own themes and with linear paths connecting them. The structure isn't all that different from the first game. It's just spread outside instead of all being in the Oldest House. The art direction is absolutely fantastic. The world is like a cross between the dream sequences in Inception and the trippiest parts of the first Doctor Strange movie. It's really great. The combat. It's not the deepest combat ever but it's fun enough and there's enough room for customization that I was never bored with it even though it can get a little repetitive. And while the combat itself is a bit simplistic, in the greater context of the game it can lead to some seriously cool moments. Especially once you get the gravity shift ability. One time I was fighting a bunch of enemies and some new ones appeared on a rooftop that just happened to be perpendicular to the one I was currently on. I jumped and shifted to the other rooftop and started fighting those new enemies but the way the camera tracked me without readjusting made it look like going from 3D combat to top-down combat and that was just such a cool little moment. That Remedy touch: I mentioned the art direction but it's more than just that. Even the level design feels unique to them. I can't really put my finger on what it is exactly but running around this version of New York reminded me of both Alan Wake 2 and the Max Payne games. Their games just have that specific vibe in every aspect that makes them special to me. Which unfortunately brings us to... Things that disappointed me: It feels like a Remedy game but it lacks what I've come to expect out of them. It never manages to reach the same highs as their last few games. There's nothing that comes remotely close to the Ashtray maze in this. There's really cool stuff spread out throughout the game but there's no singular set piece that really blew me away. There's one level out of the entire game that comes close but that's about it. The story: it's basically impossible to get into this without spoilers so all I'll say is this feels like a sequel to Control alone (and not a particularly satisfying one.) If that sounds like a weird criticism, well... So yeah, I have some thoughts on the game. I don't want to sound overly negative because I still think it's a pretty solid game. Basically all of my issues with it are because I'm a huge Remedy fan and I probably went into it with unrealistic expectations. They haven't announced anything yet but I kinda hope they have DLC plans that will address some of this stuff because after how great their last two games were, being disappointed with a Remedy game was the last thing I expected...

I'd probably get one if I didn't already have a Quest 3. Everything I hear says it's great as a first VR headset if you can swing the price, though.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown This is an interesting one, there's some stuff where it falls short, the story feels disjointed at times and it feels like a step back from 6 when it comes to some gameplay elements. At the same time, knowing the development hell it went through, I'm willing to be a bit more lenient with some of these issues. I did like the story, issues and all, the 444th Base and Spare Squadron are interesting concepts, specially with all other games having your character going from zero to hero, or just outright hero to legend. The themes of AI and drone use in warfare are pretty timely. Enemy Ace has the most ridiculous name ever though, Abyssal Dision seems like a perfectly normal name next to this one: Mihaly A. Shilage, full name: Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage. In terms of gameplay, while it does make sense for part of the story, I still miss Allied Support, even basic wingman commands are gone from this game, doubly annoying since allies are seriously nerfed, I watched a bunch of them actually land hits on enemy targets but still do no damage, add to that the amount of times you have to fight against several UAVs and it becomes the biggest issue in the game for me, thankfully, Ace Combat 8 seems to have fixed this. The tunnel run was one of the hardest of all the games for me, had to retry several times, both Died more to that than to enemies lol. Aircraft tree was interesting, I do prefer the older system though, mostly since you could sell unwanted/unused aircraft or special weapons when you unlocked one you actually wanted, this system involves a lot more grinding imo. Overall, I liked it, it has some issues, it's rough around the edges, but it's still decidedly an Ace Combat game, and that's all I could ask for. Grade: A With this, I've now completed all the main AC games, there's still some time left before 8 though, specially since I have to wait for my physical copy to arrive, so maybe I'll try some of the other games in the series, I think Infinity is playable now, though it takes a bit of work to get it going, maybe the PSP games will be a better choice, then again, Neverness is getting a new patch soon, with new story chapters and a new area so maybe that one will consume my time until 8 is here.

I want one of those so bad, I just can't justify it at that price.

I was lucky enough to go straight to the reservation queue and then it only took about a week for me to get my purchase email. I was expecting so much worse lol. This is going to be my first VR headset so I'm pretty excited even though it ended up being way more expensive than I was hoping for. I was gonna get the 1TB kit but it's almost 2K in Canada. Fuck that. I'm planning to stream games from my windows desktop for the most part anyway, so 256GB should be plenty. The ergonomic accessories pack was sold out, though, that's a bummer.

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation This is it! Where it all started for me. Story is cool, all the different characters are interesting and how it goes from despair to hope to victory is neat, sure it's not as good as Zero or 3, but it holds up. Maps are bigger and have more enemies too, some missions are split into different operations, completing a certain amount of these completes the mission. In terms of gameplay, this one has a new mechanic called Allied Support, completing operations allows you to call allies to help either attack enemies or defend you from pursuing aircraft. This is seriously OP and really fun to use against the enemy ace squadron, bunch of them show up, hold up on d-pad, all of them are gone now. Might be because I've been playing through the other games in the series but I remember the last battle being way harder, specially both tunnel runs, this time around both felt super easy. Overall, it holds up well, still as good as I remember. Grade: A+

More!

I guess I forgot to post it at the time but a few weeks ago hell froze over and I bought a game on the EGS. Fanatical had the Deluxe Edition of Alan Wake II for like 15 bucks and it reminded me that I never got around to playing the DLCs for the game. I figured I should probably get around to them before Control Resonant comes out, so here we are. Alan Wake II: Night Springs and The Lake House DLC Man, it's always such a treat to revisit a Remedy game, whether it's a replay or new content. At least, that's how I felt within minutes when I started the Night Springs DLC. If I had played it closer to the main game and had been anticipating it as the next piece of Alan Wake content, I might've felt differently about it. But playing so far removed from the game, I was fully on board with this what-if nonsense. I actually wouldn't mind more short episodes like this. I'm not sure how much of this I'm supposed to take at face value but each of the episodes were a ton of fun to play. The Lake House is more serious. It's basically a mix of Alan Wake and Control. It feels more like a Control DLC but with Alan Wake gameplay. There's even a teaser for Control Resonant at the end. I love that doing the whole connected universe thing allows them to do stuff like this. I can't wait to see what they'll do with the Max Payne remakes because of this. Anyway, it was great. Can't wait for Control Resonant. Just a few more days! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War *flamenco music intensifies* Absolute Cinema! Arthurian references, flamenco, lasers, one of the best player titles in the entire series, this game has everything! This is also the game that holds your character in the most legendary status lol, 5 had the Demon/Ghosts of Razgriz thing, and previous games have you eventually become a legend among both allies and enemies, this one takes things to the next level. Which makes sense as the story takes place after the war, still, right from the start, your character is referred to as "Demon" and eventually you get the title of "Demon Lord of the Roundtable". \m/ \m/ The story is told via this documentary being made on the Belkan war and the actions of your character, Galm 1 Cipher. Cutscenes are live action, interview style, with characters talking about their experiences going against Cipher. Along with 3, this is at the top of Ace Combat stories for me. Gameplay has some changes, you can't choose wingman aircraft, but you can change their special weapon, the conversation system from 5 is gone, but wingman commands remain. The biggest change is the introduction of the Ace Style system. "Did you know, there are three kinds of aces?" Depending on how you play, you'll move the Ace Style gauge between the three different styles, you start as Soldier, if you focus only on mission targets, ignore certain targets and spare enemies when they can't fight anymore you'll move to the Knight style, destroying everything including some neutral targets and incapacitated enemies will move you to mercenary style, mixing strategies keeps you in Soldier. This affects which enemy squads you face against and in turn, changes the story, who shows up in the interviews and what they have to say about you depends on your Ace Style. Credits song is also one of the best in any game, ever! Grade: S

Onimusha: Way of the Sword I went into this one with pretty high expectations. I was basically hoping for Samurai Resident Evil 4. And that's not too far off from what the game ended up being. Roughly half of the game is linear areas that are structured pretty much like in RE4. The other half is spent running around Eastern Kyoto doing side-quests, finding secrets and unlocking new sections of the map as you progress through the story. That second half is the weakest aspect of the game. It's fine but it gets kind of repetitive after a while. The entire map looks very samey and after a while you run out of new things to do, so you just end up repeating the same kind of missions. If they make a sequel, I really hope they'll take the time to make the side-content meatier and add more variety to the map. The combat is where the game really shines, though. Combat against basic enemies is way too easy early on but once you start running into bosses it's a completely different game. This is the most satisfying sword combat I've played since Sekiro. It's nowhere near as difficult and it's definitely not a souls-like. But once you've got a boss' pattern down, it gets into a very similar rhythm where it almost feels like a rhythm game. Parry a few attacks to enter the blaze state, then start deflecting attacks to chip away at their stamina bar and once that's depleted you get an opening to hit them with an Issen Break attack that takes a huge chunk of their health bar. There's a training room you can go into to replay the tutorials and rematch all the bosses and I think the biggest compliment I can give to the game is that I almost always went in there for the rematch immediately after beating a new boss in the story. It was just so satisfying to fight them again after mastering their moveset and just wipe the floor with them. Especially the ones that gave me trouble in the story. Even when the early game bosses start being re-used as minibosses later on in the game, it never bothered me to fight them again. And now that I'm done, I can't wait to jump into new game plus on Carnage difficulty and do it all over again. So yeah, that's another banger from Capcom. At this point that's like 3 GOTY contenders from them this year. If it wasn't for GTA 6, I'd say they have it on lockdown...

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War "When history witnesses a great change, Razgriz reveals itself..." EXCELLENT \m/ \m/ The longest of the AC games I've played so far, sure 3 has more missions but since they're all pretty short and spread out across the different paths/endings, this one is technically the longer one. Some changes from 4 in terms of gameplay and progression. You can no longer buy special weapons, whatever comes with the aircraft is all you get, however, some planes have a kill count bar, the more you use them and the more enemies you shoot down with it the more it fills, once full, you unlock a variant of that aircraft with different weapons and stats. Also, you're now in charge of your squad, that means having to buy multiple of the same aircraft, or different ones, either way, you'll want enough for each member of your squad. There's also squad commands, you can tell them to attack, cover you, disperse or use their special weapon. A simple "conversation" system is also here, sometimes characters will say something or ask basic questions and you can reply with a yes/no. It's pretty basic, but still neat. Some of these will result in your squad changing orders, sometimes they'll go all "the enemy is spread out throughout the operation area, should we split to deal with them?" and you can tell them whether to spread out or not. The story is cool, this time told through CG cutscenes following your squad. As you progress, you get different quotes from a poem from Strangereal, telling the legend of Razgriz, a fictional entity that appears as a demon that brings destruction, dies, then returns as a hero. The poem bits change to reflect the status of your squad as the story advances. The whole Razgriz thing, the legend, poem and how eventually your own squad uses it as its name is imo, the perfect combination of cheese, badass and fun. While I liked it a lot, there were a couple of missions that were a bit annoying, one involves a recon mission where you have no weapons and have to avoid a ridiculous amount of radars, you might as well just lower the landing gear and drive the plane around given how low you have to fly to avoid detection lol. Another one took me a bunch of tries until I ignored all enemy drones and focused on the boss ship. It was not a big deal, but there are also times where you'll be restricted to specific planes, and also some missions will immediately move to the next one, which can be a bit annoying if you've prepared an anti-ground loadout only to find the next mission involves some serious anti-air combat. Overall, it's a pretty fun entry in the series, story is among my favorites, definitively would like to come back to it in the future, now though, it's time for Ace Combat Zero! Grade: A+

Oh yeah I got a couple Ninty games too.

StarCraft Ghost Pt. 2

It's also not an RTS but an open-world shooter apparently...

STARCRAFT!! \m/ \m/ 2030!!!

Live action prequel to Ace Combat 8. \m/ \m/

Along with their respective amiibos. Cause I buy amiibos now, I guess. I was planning on continuing my Metroid series marathon soon, so now I've got a specific date to shoot for. Shouldn't be too long anyway, up next is Samus Returns, then Metroid Fusion and Dread. I may or may not skip Super Metroid since I've played it before.