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about a week ago I finished Omori, at the recommendation of a friend. it's one of those games over the past few years that did that cutesiness-hides-psychological-horror structure (which I knew going in). if I'm honest, I didn't really like it. in part that's because it's a huge love letter to earthbound and similar games, and my first console was an n64, so I missed that era. also, I'm never one for horror in general, and in particular there's one sequence towards the end black space that nearly lost me - in part because I felt tricked into doing something horrible (though if I had just tried one loving button I could've avoided it), in part because I was rolling my eyes pretty hard at the repeated imagery of Basil dying violently, and in part because of the repeated allusions to a final secret truth, which I always find irritating in media. also you're supposed to lose to the final boss, but it only counts once you've gotten far enough in to I think phase 6, so when I did lose to phase 5 and had to do the whole thing over I was irritated. but I was sincerely not expecting what that final secret truth was, and was duly affected by it, so credit where credit is due. and I knew that I got the "good ending" because the achievement pop up said so explicitly, but I was surprised when my friend told me that there was an entire other route starting from a dialogue option that I didn't expect to be a branch point, and that impresses me. so I'm not gonna replay it and I wouldn't put it in game of the year discussion of whenever it came out, but it was a solid game even if I didn't like it personally.
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Nov 26, 2023 18:29
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 03:48 |
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finished Lies of P. got it a few weeks ago, played a ton of it over the past week, final playtime 27 hours. apparently I got the best ending of three and 80% of the achievements, and the remainder don't seem too onerous, might get the rest. the way people describe it is correct: an extremely competent and downright good souls knockoff. combat's a pleasing mix of bloodborne and sekiro, and the twists like the blade/handle weapon assembly work well. generally I enjoyed the difficulty - I gather it's been made a little easier since release with a wider parry window and so on, and overall it felt appropriate. on the other hand, I one-shotted the final two bosses, but I was pretty kitted out by that point, so oh well. level design is pretty boring but perfectly functional. the linearity, slightly-too-frequent platforming, and obsession with rickety wooden scaffolding are a little disappointing, but not enough to drown out the pleasure of winding through a long level and finding yet another shortcut. I laughed out loud more than once upon seeing treasure and getting brutally owned by a gotcha enemy around a blind corner just before it. the aesthetics outside of the belle epoque cityscapes are also pretty boring, and it all feels like video game levels rather than lived-in locations, but that belle epoque stuff looks very good. the script's translation is grammatically fine, more or less, but extremely, extremely stiff, and it needs an editor not only for word choice but also some pretty heavy cleanup on structure and consistency in some details. but there's some good ideas and strong, coherent theming in there. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed several of the side stories as well. also the way the ending sets up a sequel hook is goddamn hilarious. good game. absolutely worth a go if souls games are your poison and you want something to fill the hole in your life before shadow of the erdtree
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Dec 12, 2023 05:57
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just beat hi-fi rush. played it on hard my first go because I'm bullheaded, just over 13 hours. what a loving incredible game. the idea is that it's simultaneously a beat-'em-up spectacle fighter and a rhythm game. every attack you make comes out on the beat, with extra damage if you hit on time, and enemy attacks come on the beat too. it's a fairly usual toolkit, extremely well done, of light attacks, heavy attacks, super attacks, partner attacks, dodges, and parries, enhanced by a grappling hook, all of which reward you for being on beat - and even the environment blinks and bounces to the tunes. which are really good. it starts with the black keys' lonely boy and nine inch nails' 1,000,000 and never lets up, though at the same time it jumps between genres with aplomb. as for my personal taste, having sequences late in the game start blasting invaders must die and perfect drug were the most goddamn fun I've had in years. and the in-house songs are excellent as well. when the credits had shinji mikami as executive producer I understood: you've done it again, you beautiful bastard. honestly, the only problems I had are that the platforming is fairly unexciting, the multiple enemy shield types that different partner attacks counter are a bit finicky, and there's a few typos in the text. but those are nothing. and now that the credits have finished rolling I see that there's a whole postgame deal that I'm super looking forward to. play this loving game
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Jan 4, 2024 03:18
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I posted about hi-fi rush when I beat it a few weeks ago. but I'm posting about it again now that I've just platted it. play this loving game. it's so god drat good. an absolute joy.
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Jan 26, 2024 03:28
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