Hey, just wanted to let you guys know that the way this blog has been in its past, it's been really crowded, and not what I want the vision to be. So, as much as it pains me, I've decided to move to a different blog to redo everything. However, I don't want to delete this. It contains hard work and effort, and I want it to be preserved. Let its kilobytes of data be saved on the servers eternal.
If you wanna check out my new stuff, go ahead and check out https://lordselrahc.blogspot.com!
Yes, that's what the initial domain used to be, but I changed it.
I might remodel this into just a personal blog eventually, write down my thoughts every now and then, who knows. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Review Redesign
So, as I've been thinking back, I've been realizing that I have been straying from my original goal of what kind of reviewer I want to be. Journalism is meant to thrive off of clicks and attention for money. That's not the path I want to go down. My goal is not to claim that a game is amazing or that a game is utter dogshit. My first and foremost goal is to provide explanations of the game in its highs and lows, and explain its pros and cons.
One of my main hesitancies when it comes to purchasing a video game is because I don't know how the game is going to feel in its downtime. What is it like to play this game when it becomes slow, boring, or in some other sort of lull? Video game trailers are meant to boast features, exciting gameplay, immersive story, and all that other fun stuff. And sure, that's great, there's nothing wrong with that at all; I wouldn't want to watch a trailer where it's just somebody grinding for experience the whole time. That being said, if the game contains lots of this grinding, I want to know how the grinding feels. I want to know if this grinding is going to be excruciating, or if it's something I can perhaps mindlessly do while I jam out.
That's what I want to provide. I haven't seen any sort of review that does anything like what I envision. Hence, I want to provide it. I want someone, curious and possibly even hesitant about a game, be able to turn to somewhere reliable to decide whether the game is right for them. Taste is subjective. One person may view a game as a timeless masterpiece, while that same game may be viewed as a disgrace to gaming for someone else. Not everyone likes visual novels, not everyone likes horror. It doesn't matter how many 10/10's that game is getting, it won't change the fact you dislike it.
Obviously, I'm still going to be giving my personal thoughts on the game, and some of the above is inevitably going to end up with some amount of bias, as, well, all of this information is coming from a solitary source; me. And that bias is going to be unavoidable. But I'm going to do my best to keep as much bias away, and to warn those about certain aspects that are naturally prone to heavy bias.
That's about all I have to say. I'm hoping that now I've had this revelation, I can finally be content with creating reviews more regularly, even if it becomes less often than my original once per week schedule. Thanks for reading this whole thing, by the way. You're pretty cool. I hope you guys stick around. See you then.
One of my main hesitancies when it comes to purchasing a video game is because I don't know how the game is going to feel in its downtime. What is it like to play this game when it becomes slow, boring, or in some other sort of lull? Video game trailers are meant to boast features, exciting gameplay, immersive story, and all that other fun stuff. And sure, that's great, there's nothing wrong with that at all; I wouldn't want to watch a trailer where it's just somebody grinding for experience the whole time. That being said, if the game contains lots of this grinding, I want to know how the grinding feels. I want to know if this grinding is going to be excruciating, or if it's something I can perhaps mindlessly do while I jam out.
That's what I want to provide. I haven't seen any sort of review that does anything like what I envision. Hence, I want to provide it. I want someone, curious and possibly even hesitant about a game, be able to turn to somewhere reliable to decide whether the game is right for them. Taste is subjective. One person may view a game as a timeless masterpiece, while that same game may be viewed as a disgrace to gaming for someone else. Not everyone likes visual novels, not everyone likes horror. It doesn't matter how many 10/10's that game is getting, it won't change the fact you dislike it.
Obviously, I'm still going to be giving my personal thoughts on the game, and some of the above is inevitably going to end up with some amount of bias, as, well, all of this information is coming from a solitary source; me. And that bias is going to be unavoidable. But I'm going to do my best to keep as much bias away, and to warn those about certain aspects that are naturally prone to heavy bias.
That's about all I have to say. I'm hoping that now I've had this revelation, I can finally be content with creating reviews more regularly, even if it becomes less often than my original once per week schedule. Thanks for reading this whole thing, by the way. You're pretty cool. I hope you guys stick around. See you then.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Paths of Freezing Metal
Japanese RPGs are always going to give you a good time. From the most highly praised like Persona 5 to the weirdest like Conception Plus, you can almost never go wrong with a JRPG. Trails of Cold Steel is no exception. Albeit it may be on the more generic side of things, it has a lot of cool mechanics, and an interesting combat format. Some may view this game as too cliche, too generic, or too weird, but I personally think that it's well worth your time. Well, if you're planning on playing the entirety of the series. Let me tell you, this game is terrible as a standalone game.
Ok, first off, what is Trails of Cold Steel about? Well, it's a traditional 3d JRPG. You run around different maps to fight monsters and complete quests with the help of your classmates from the unique Class VII. One of the more unique things about Cold Steel is your ability to form bonds with your classmates. For those of you familiar with the Persona spin-off series of Shin Megami Tensei, this may sound very familiar, and for good reason. The more time you spend with your allies, the stronger they become.
As for combat, it's fairly unique. It's not action-rpg beat-em-up style, but it's also not necessarily your standard turn-based format. Instead of just selecting moves, you also have to worry about your placement, and different turn effects. It's a very complicated system to explain on text, so bear with me. When you encounter an enemy, you're given a designated circular area where you fight in. During your turn, you have 6 options: run, item, move, attack, arts, crafts. Run is your basic "escape the battle", however you're also given a percentage on your success of escaping. Item, move, and attack are also fairly generic. Item lets you use an item either on yourself or on a teammate within moving range, attacking is your standard attack against an enemy within range, and move solely dedicates your turn to moving, usually used for just getting out of the way of an attack, or setting up for an attack. Arts and crafts both use different point bars, and can technically both be defined as "skills", but are both very different, hence why they are in separate options and use separate points. Arts involve your standard magic skills, representing one of the 7 elements in the game, and can be either attacking or support. Crafts can as well be attacking or support, but crafts available depend on the character, and focus more on the weapon used by the character. Arts require a period of time to charge before being used, meanwhile crafts are instantaneous. Anything you do will delay you. Heavier actions such as more powerful arts will delay you a lot, requiring more time to charge, meanwhile simpler actions such as a basic attack or using an item will allow you to act again sooner. Some turns give the character or enemy a special bonus. Some will restore hit points, some will allow their moves to instantly kill anyone they hit. This is one of the important factors when considering what action you use on your turn, playing a lot more into the strategic element of the combat system. It may sound complex, but it's a very simple system to grasp, even given its uniqueness.
So, it has a fun combat system, a neat plot, vibrant areas and world building, and colorful characters. What are the downsides to this game? Well, this game is somewhat of an old game, for starters. If you're not playing the remastered version, you may find some combat very slow and slogging due to a lack of a turbo mode/fast forward. This game did come out in 2013 after all, so you have to give it a bit of slack. Other than aged graphics and the occasional weird writing, plus a typo or two, the main concern would be the draw distance. It would be like if you could only see about 20 or 30 feet in front of you. To give an example of the abysmal draw distance in this game, I would like to compare it to that of Pokemon Sword and Shield, a game I may review one day, but probably not, because I refuse to waste $60 dollars on it. However, that's a subject for another (possible) day. You have to get very close to an enemy to actually be able to see it, and by the time you can see it, you're close enough to the point where it can almost see you.
This is not to mention the abysmal 'ending', if you can even call it that. Minor but also somewhat major spoilers ahead, so skip to the last paragraph if you wish to avoid spoilers. Near the end of the game, you're forced to have 3 boss fights in a row, not including the scripted fight. No, there is no save point. The first boss is very simple, but is an absolute slog to go through. Next up is the scripted fight. After that, you're introduced to a completely new style of combat. You fight a boss, and then after a couple cutscenes, you fight the final boss. After defeating the final boss (barely), the final boss gets up, essentially says "this isn't even my final form!", and beats you down in one hit. Your classmates walk over to protect you from them, and the talking cat next to you wishes your giant suit of armor that you just awakened to take you as far away as possible, against your will. The game ends as you fly into the distance, abruptly I may add. It's not even one of those shots of the horizon, the camera is on you, it pans up as you rise up to the sky, and then you fly off screen. Then the credits roll. The end. What?!
Overall, I'd give this game a solid 7 out of 10. It has definitely aged over the years, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable than it would have been. Fun characters, fun combat, interesting story, and it all comes together to make this game. Give it a try, I'd recommend it if you're a fan of JRPGs.
Ok, first off, what is Trails of Cold Steel about? Well, it's a traditional 3d JRPG. You run around different maps to fight monsters and complete quests with the help of your classmates from the unique Class VII. One of the more unique things about Cold Steel is your ability to form bonds with your classmates. For those of you familiar with the Persona spin-off series of Shin Megami Tensei, this may sound very familiar, and for good reason. The more time you spend with your allies, the stronger they become.
As for combat, it's fairly unique. It's not action-rpg beat-em-up style, but it's also not necessarily your standard turn-based format. Instead of just selecting moves, you also have to worry about your placement, and different turn effects. It's a very complicated system to explain on text, so bear with me. When you encounter an enemy, you're given a designated circular area where you fight in. During your turn, you have 6 options: run, item, move, attack, arts, crafts. Run is your basic "escape the battle", however you're also given a percentage on your success of escaping. Item, move, and attack are also fairly generic. Item lets you use an item either on yourself or on a teammate within moving range, attacking is your standard attack against an enemy within range, and move solely dedicates your turn to moving, usually used for just getting out of the way of an attack, or setting up for an attack. Arts and crafts both use different point bars, and can technically both be defined as "skills", but are both very different, hence why they are in separate options and use separate points. Arts involve your standard magic skills, representing one of the 7 elements in the game, and can be either attacking or support. Crafts can as well be attacking or support, but crafts available depend on the character, and focus more on the weapon used by the character. Arts require a period of time to charge before being used, meanwhile crafts are instantaneous. Anything you do will delay you. Heavier actions such as more powerful arts will delay you a lot, requiring more time to charge, meanwhile simpler actions such as a basic attack or using an item will allow you to act again sooner. Some turns give the character or enemy a special bonus. Some will restore hit points, some will allow their moves to instantly kill anyone they hit. This is one of the important factors when considering what action you use on your turn, playing a lot more into the strategic element of the combat system. It may sound complex, but it's a very simple system to grasp, even given its uniqueness.
So, it has a fun combat system, a neat plot, vibrant areas and world building, and colorful characters. What are the downsides to this game? Well, this game is somewhat of an old game, for starters. If you're not playing the remastered version, you may find some combat very slow and slogging due to a lack of a turbo mode/fast forward. This game did come out in 2013 after all, so you have to give it a bit of slack. Other than aged graphics and the occasional weird writing, plus a typo or two, the main concern would be the draw distance. It would be like if you could only see about 20 or 30 feet in front of you. To give an example of the abysmal draw distance in this game, I would like to compare it to that of Pokemon Sword and Shield, a game I may review one day, but probably not, because I refuse to waste $60 dollars on it. However, that's a subject for another (possible) day. You have to get very close to an enemy to actually be able to see it, and by the time you can see it, you're close enough to the point where it can almost see you.
This is not to mention the abysmal 'ending', if you can even call it that. Minor but also somewhat major spoilers ahead, so skip to the last paragraph if you wish to avoid spoilers. Near the end of the game, you're forced to have 3 boss fights in a row, not including the scripted fight. No, there is no save point. The first boss is very simple, but is an absolute slog to go through. Next up is the scripted fight. After that, you're introduced to a completely new style of combat. You fight a boss, and then after a couple cutscenes, you fight the final boss. After defeating the final boss (barely), the final boss gets up, essentially says "this isn't even my final form!", and beats you down in one hit. Your classmates walk over to protect you from them, and the talking cat next to you wishes your giant suit of armor that you just awakened to take you as far away as possible, against your will. The game ends as you fly into the distance, abruptly I may add. It's not even one of those shots of the horizon, the camera is on you, it pans up as you rise up to the sky, and then you fly off screen. Then the credits roll. The end. What?!
Overall, I'd give this game a solid 7 out of 10. It has definitely aged over the years, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable than it would have been. Fun characters, fun combat, interesting story, and it all comes together to make this game. Give it a try, I'd recommend it if you're a fan of JRPGs.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Overhyped Wilds
I recently purchased the Outer Wilds during a PlayStation sale. I was really looking forward to playing this game, as it had been hyped up to me as being a space detective adventure game. In some cases, that is somewhat true. However, I wasn't expecting it to be a barely populated space majora's mask with terrible controls. Overall, it was an extreme disappointment, and a waste of 20 dollars, and boy am I glad I got it on sale. Honestly, I'd rather play This Is The Police, and you know how I feel about that game.
To start off, let me give you a gist of the 'plot'. No, this will not give any major spoilers, but if you would rather go into this game as blind as possible without knowing what's happening (in which case, good luck figuring anything out), go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. You wake up by a campfire with your alien friend roasting marshmallows. You learn from him that you're a soon-to-be astronaut, and that you need to go get the launch codes from your supervisor over by the observatory. After navigating through a maze-like town even when given signs pointing in the direction to go, you make your way to the observatory, find your boss, and on your way out, a mysterious statue moves and stares at you, causing you to see all of your memories from since you woke up by the campfire. You now have the launch codes, and are free to explore the galaxy, to find out about a lost civilization, the mysteries of the solar system, and the fate of the Outer Wilds Ventures. And, well, that's pretty much it. I can't say much else other than the ending is extremely unsatisfying and not worth the effort, even the effort of watching someone else play the game or just looking up spoilers. It's that bad.
Alright, control time. First off, let me explain that jumping should be a button. A simple press of a button. You should not have to hold down a button to jump. You can hold down a button to, say, charge a jump, but it's expected that when you just press the button, you jump. And I do NOT mean the 2 millimeter poot that Outer Wilds gives you. Second off, flying is a near impossible mechanic to grasp. Every planet has extremely terrible gravity. Some examples being you can't get off your home planet without launching yourself 3000 kilometers into space, if you so much as jump on a small planet you'll fly into space, the thrusters are so terrible that they constantly will fly you into the sun, landing is a task that you don't even know you completed until you give up and hope you did it, you can't even get out of water sometimes. The only good controls in this game is the fact that the left joystick moves your character, and the right joystick moves the camera. Or, for the PC master race, WASD moves your character, and moving your mouse moves the camera. Seriously, people complain about bad controls, but I doubt they've played this game.
Overall, this mess gets a 3 out of 10. It's barren, has conveyance you expect from an NES game, terrible controls, and broken physics. Like, seriously, how am I able to clip through planets so frequently? It's so infuriating. The only reason this score doesn't go lower is because it has good music and an interesting concept. I highly recommend against this game. If you're looking for a space exploration game, I would recommend Starbound, or even No Man's Sky. As for a detective/mystery game, I'd say go with L.A. Noire, or perhaps the Zero Escape franchise. There are many better games out there, and are way more worth your time. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope I was able to help you with your decision.
To start off, let me give you a gist of the 'plot'. No, this will not give any major spoilers, but if you would rather go into this game as blind as possible without knowing what's happening (in which case, good luck figuring anything out), go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. You wake up by a campfire with your alien friend roasting marshmallows. You learn from him that you're a soon-to-be astronaut, and that you need to go get the launch codes from your supervisor over by the observatory. After navigating through a maze-like town even when given signs pointing in the direction to go, you make your way to the observatory, find your boss, and on your way out, a mysterious statue moves and stares at you, causing you to see all of your memories from since you woke up by the campfire. You now have the launch codes, and are free to explore the galaxy, to find out about a lost civilization, the mysteries of the solar system, and the fate of the Outer Wilds Ventures. And, well, that's pretty much it. I can't say much else other than the ending is extremely unsatisfying and not worth the effort, even the effort of watching someone else play the game or just looking up spoilers. It's that bad.
Alright, control time. First off, let me explain that jumping should be a button. A simple press of a button. You should not have to hold down a button to jump. You can hold down a button to, say, charge a jump, but it's expected that when you just press the button, you jump. And I do NOT mean the 2 millimeter poot that Outer Wilds gives you. Second off, flying is a near impossible mechanic to grasp. Every planet has extremely terrible gravity. Some examples being you can't get off your home planet without launching yourself 3000 kilometers into space, if you so much as jump on a small planet you'll fly into space, the thrusters are so terrible that they constantly will fly you into the sun, landing is a task that you don't even know you completed until you give up and hope you did it, you can't even get out of water sometimes. The only good controls in this game is the fact that the left joystick moves your character, and the right joystick moves the camera. Or, for the PC master race, WASD moves your character, and moving your mouse moves the camera. Seriously, people complain about bad controls, but I doubt they've played this game.
Overall, this mess gets a 3 out of 10. It's barren, has conveyance you expect from an NES game, terrible controls, and broken physics. Like, seriously, how am I able to clip through planets so frequently? It's so infuriating. The only reason this score doesn't go lower is because it has good music and an interesting concept. I highly recommend against this game. If you're looking for a space exploration game, I would recommend Starbound, or even No Man's Sky. As for a detective/mystery game, I'd say go with L.A. Noire, or perhaps the Zero Escape franchise. There are many better games out there, and are way more worth your time. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope I was able to help you with your decision.
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