Recent reviews by Zorak

we're so back

1. The We <3 Katamari DNA in this game is extremely strong. If you like We <3 Katamari in particular (which, you should), you're going to like this game.

2. Massive amount of stages and "stuff" to do. Lots of gimmick stages as a result, so if you're just after Biggest As Possible type stages, you may find that they're spread out among a lot of more atypical ones (similiar to We <3 Katamari). But there's also WAY more stages than both Katamari Damacy and We <3 Katamari, so even if there's levels whose gimmicks don't hit for you, odds are there are others that will click more.

3. The stylistic variation / collection variety is so massive compared to past Katamaris due to the time-travel gimmick. Game is as goofy and funny as ever.

Dogs welcome me into their holy places so at least I got that going for me

Ghost Trick is not only one of the best adventure games of all time, it's one of the best games of all time straight up.

It strikes a great balance between fun, heartfelt, serious, and incredibly goofy. The mechanics provide a lot of nuanced complexity compared to a traditional adventure game, more akin to a puzzle title, but it's relatively simple enough that it's not especially finnicky.

It's admittedly a bit short, but given the quality of the story and adventure, honestly, that's kind of a plus? It doesn't outlast its appeal or drag on. It's just as long as it needs to be.

Play Ghost Trick.

COME ON EVERYBODY
OK? Mr. Sunshine~ ♫

help

Super Robot Wars is a series of SRPG games, wherein mecha from various anime are smashed together into a single unified storyline. The strategy-level portion of it is largely secondary to the fanservice aspects of it, but they are serviceable but fun SRPGs. SRW30 is the first non-original-characters-only version to make it to the US. And that's cool as hell. It is very fun. You should check it out if you enjoy mecha action and/or SRPGs.

OK, let's talk about what's new and different about this one. SRW veterans are probably aware that these games aren't especially hard, even on their maximum settings, unless you deliberately play to that fact. Which, yeah, that's true here. Like the last couple games, SR points are gone, so there's no bonus challenges either.

But: this is actually kind of the biggest departure of this series to date in terms of format, in that they've largely gotten rid of the "route" system of previous games in favor of a free-form adaptable series of missions. Dialog in these missions is actually pretty dynamic and changes based on who you've recruited and the sequence of events, though the story doesn't actually change or anything. It's a fun addition that gives greater intrigue to your approach to executing missions.

There's some half-baked aspects to this new system, in that it never bottlenecks your cast down in the way the old route system did to force you to use underserved parts of the cast sometimes (e.g., no "well I guess I'm fielding the Methuss *SIGH*" moments), which further lessens the difficulty. Also, the whole "world map" system seems like it needs some more meaning, as they don't actually have any "cost" to you moving around. There's not a lot of point to browsing the map beyond the occasional class of mission that doesn't show up in your mission list.

Altogether: I'm really enjoying my time with SRW30. It's both relaxing and engaging.

Easily the most fun I've had with a fighting game perhaps ever; something about way the systems and the floor rankings are handled makes it easier to slowly work your way towards understanding and (hopefully one day?) mastery. It's also gorgeous and the soundtrack slaps. The rollback netcode is fantastic, though the back-end server netcode could still use work.

I was somewhat lukewarm on Ori and the Blind Forest. It was beautiful, but the combat was deeply unsatisfying, and the level-design left something to be desired. Ori and the Will of the Wisps, on the other hand, is even prettier, has much more fully realized combat, and is seriously improved in the structure of levels and the various platforming encounters.

I still felt rather frustrated by the constant DO IT RIGHT OR DO IT AGAIN escape sequences that I disliked from the first game, though they seemed to be much "fairer" this time around. The changes made to checkpointing all around made the whole thing less painful and more enjoyable. Those movement mechanics: still real good.

I kind of wish it was even more of a Metroidvania than it was; the power necessary to proceed in each area was located in that very-same area, which made exploration less a "gee, I wonder where I go" and more about "where's this area's upgrade" and "can I get this minor stat boost". Which is *fine*, but I rather enjoy how more standard Metroidvanias unlock whole random parts of the map as you get newer abilities.

Supergiant makes great games. Still relatively early in this, but this may be one of the best they've made in terms of pure gameplay? Great atmosphere, music, voice acting, narrative (thus far). It good.

I find Paradox's titles broadly impenetrable in terms of getting into. I've tried CK2 several times and just, couldn't. I don't have the patience to do all the detailed research to get up to speed on my own, and the tutorialization is poor.

Stellaris is the Paradox title I've managed to get into, and I like it an awful lot! It's got good tutorialization, it's fun and replayable. It could stand with more of that procedural weirdness that their other titles seem famous for, but... hey. 400+ hours ain't nothing.