On one hand, Gnosia is a mix of two genres I don’t particularly care about – a social deduction game and a visual novel. On another – it’s so shockingly fascinating and well put together, that I was engaged until the final ending of the game.
Tag: great soundtrack
Thoughts on: Scarlet Nexus
Playing Scarlet Nexus was a bit of a rollercoaster. It looks great, it has nice tunes and its combat system looks stylish and fun. But then, the more of it I’ve played, the more I grew frustrated and bored. And in the end, even though I’m a huge fan of games where you have two playable characters going through two parallel storylines, I couldn’t keep on playing with the second character. I just didn’t have it in me to play more of it. Yet, what a fascinating project this is.
Disapprove: Wasteland 3 (with DLCs)
Even though I’ve still never gotten in the mood to try and conquer the original Wasteland, as with many other cRPGs of that era, I did enjoy Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut quite a lot. Back then I said that it didn’t feel like a Fallout game not because it couldn’t be one, but because it didn’t want to be one. It had its own take on a post-apocalyptic tactical turn-based RPG that still remains enjoyable today despite some flaws.
Wasteland 3 aims to be… different? Frankly, I’m not sure what it aims to be, but the result is not great.
Happy about: Blasphemous
I’ve played Blasphemous about 2 years ago, just a few months after its initial release, and decided to stop my playthrough. As a fan of more exploration focused metroidvania titles, I didn’t gel well with the action focus of the game, especially since it was also going for the “Dark Souls inspired” challenge, seemingly. But a few months ago I’ve seen other people play it on streams and realized, that the game wasn’t exactly what I first thought it would be. So I decided to give it another go.
O tempora: Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster)
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Back when I was going on my Final Fantasy spree in the early 00s, trying to play all of the titles in the series, being late to the party myself, FF V left me conflicted. On one hand, I remember enjoying the vast majority of the game and the way the Jobs (character classes of FF series) were handled. On the other, I also remember serious difficulty bumps, most notable one being the final boss that I simply could not defeat no matter how hard I’ve tried, which lead to a long and exhausting grinding session, before I was finally able to finish the game. Yet, with recent years Final Fantasy V has become a very popular entry, leading to really cool charity events like Final Fantasy Four Job Fiesta, and I was curious about replaying the game myself.
Now with the Pixel Remaster version available, I was happy to see that my opinion on the game became more positive.
Happy about: Psychonauts 2
Ah yes, Psychonauts 2. The game that no one expected to happen, but many hoped. Psychonauts, the very first project of Double Fine as a studio (even though a lot of its talent had prior industry experience), was a game released in 2005 and despite positive reception it was a big commercial failure. Yet, as years went by, more and more people came to love and praise it so when the studio was able to purchase back the rights for the game, the first rumors of a potential sequel started circulating. But it wasn’t until 2015, when the crowdfunding for the project was announced. And after 6 years, with a VR-only mid-equel Rhombus of Ruin released released in 2017, the game was released.
Was it worth the wait? Well, only if you’ve been among those who’ve waited.
O tempora: Syberia I & II
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Twenty years ago in 2002 when Syberia was released, the point and click adventures were on a decline. It wasn’t like the genre didn’t have any recent fantastic examples, The Longest Journey being from a few years before. But otherwise, it felt as if nobody really knew at the time what to do with the genre and how to approach it. And to be absolutely frank, Syberia itself oftentimes felt like it didn’t really know how to approach the genre either, yet it so elegantly stumbled through its beautiful locations with its wonderful magic realist story that it pretty soon became a critical darling at least in some circles. And also started a short, but pretty decent run of adventure titles made by Microïds that ended around the time of the Sinking Island.
While I have played both Syberia and its sequel when they were new, and did enjoy them (the original more than the second game), I haven’t replayed them ever since until now.
O tempora: Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster)
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Final Fantasy IV has not been the first Final Fantasy I played. But it is the only title in the franchise so far that I’ve played more than twice. In fact, this Pixel Remaster playthrough has been the… fourth playthrough, I believe. As I’ve previously played through the original “Final Fantasy II” release, the unofficial translation of FFIV, the Final Fantasy Chronicles release on PS1 and the Final Fantasy IV Advance version on the GBA. I’ve also attempted to play the 3D remake for DS, but extremely disliked the visual style and changes to the game. Hence, why I was so excited about the Pixel Remaster version coming – hopefully the “ultimate” remaster of the original version of the game, available for generations to come. And this version is pretty much exactly that.
In love with: Exo One
I remember seeing the Kickstarter for Exo One back in 2017 and being confused and inspired at the same time. On one hand, an idea about an exploration game where you use a spaceship marble to explore planets sounded extremely fun. On another – very limited and hard to imagine past the concept stage. Four years later Exo One is finally here to disprove my doubts. I mean, sure, it is still quite limited in potential. But what it does is still far more than I could ever expect.
O tempora: Final Fantasy III (Pixel Remaster)
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Of the three NES Final Fantasy titles that I tried playing years ago, FF3 was the one that get me hooked. I still dropped it at around a quarter of the story in, but I was planning to return someday. I even gave the 3D Remake version of the game a chance, even though I really disliked the style and approach to those DS Remakes. But it wasn’t until now that I’ve finally finished Final Fantasy III. And I really liked it.