Recent reviews by johnny.killstring

A beautifully designed game, that is not at all something I enjoyed. I found its procedural design, and learning-by-sudden death to be intellectually interesting, but ultimately, not fun to engage with.

I only mention this, as Spelunky was reccomended to me as a game that I - someone who doesn't like Roguelikes, or difficult platformers, might enjoy in spite of those things.

I did not. But if you like those things, there's a lot here to reccomend.

DELIGHTFUL thus far. Captures the spirit of Chrono Trigger in the way that few games ever really have. By far my favorite Zeboyd game, and I've played them all. :)

Will update as necessary as my play time continues, but I am really enjoying the game so far!

A thoughtful, weird, stylish, and absolutely worthy successor to Planescape: Torment. The writing, art, pacing, and characterization all echo the (rightfully) revered original. It's spirit realy does live on in this game.

Except the mechanics. The mechanics are fun now*. It's not quite Deus Ex-levels of Choose Your Path--I'm not certain that a pacificst playhrough is technically possible--but it's awfully close. Crises are a lot of fun, and the game nicely trasitions between crisis and exploration mode. HIGHLY reccomended.

A word of caution: if you dont like reading lots of text, this game is probably not for you. There is a lot of text here; it's well-written, and delivered in the (I thought) excellent style used in Pillars of Eternity. But if that game was text-heavy for you, Torment drowns it in a sea of loquaciousness.

Still! If any of this sounds like it's up your alley, I suggest looking in said alley; it's likey that Torment has already set up shop.

* - this was interesting to me, as I am not as much a fan of the mechanics for the tabletop game, which are very similar. They're quite good, but ultimately not something I enjoyed interacting with. Hence the pleasant surprise of enjoying them in this game!

TL;DR: nostalgic, smooth-playing ARPG beat-'em up with a hint of Metroidvania. Goofy, and a lot of fun - if it looks like you'd enjoy it, you probably will!

(Disclosure: I backed this game on Kickstarter, and then promptly gave up on it ever coming out. Then it came out!)

* * *

When I was very young, I spent a lot of time playing River City Ransom. I didn't know to call it a "Co-Op Action-RPG Metroidvania-like Beat-'Em-Up," I just knew there really wasn't anything else like it.

And over the years, there still wasn't much that was like it.

The Bouncer tried, but was dreadful. Double Dragon Neon has some RPG elements, but is still a linear journey. Of all the things, Secret of Mana scratched the itch while being a phenomenal (albeit very differrent) game in its own right.

Open World games like Sleeping Dogs (also great) are probably the logical evolution of--and heir to--the game concept; but there really wasn't anything that felt like it was in the the same genre as that old NES game.

WELL, THERE IS NOW, AND I LIKE IT A GREAT DEAL, THANK YOU KINDLY.

This isn't nostalgia as it was, but rather how I remember it. RCR:U has smooth, combo-based fighting, responsive elegant controls (very different from the original, haha), a diverse cast of characters who each feel a little different, a wide array of envorinments and enemy types to keep the fights fresh, and a lot of other tweaks and details that lend it a feel both classic and modern at the same time.

And yes, when you beat people up, they turn into coins, which you can then use to buy Sushi, which will raise your stats.

I do wish there was a bit more customizability in the stats--they seem to have simplified it from the source material--and the game is definately designed as a co-op experience, which can leave single-player feeling like there's a little something missing; you definately want to do this with full-on 4-player co-op if you can.

Having said that, I'm playing it by myself, and enjoying the crap out of it.

I'll update this as time progresses, but I'm about 3 hours in, and VERY happy with my purchase.

Charming and pleasant. It's very difficult to pull of the "Naive Chosen One who's a Good Person Just Because" archetype, but Zestria's main characte - Sorey - is possibly the best implementaton I've seen in years. He's earnest, likeable, and easy to root for.

Interesting enough combat, but let's be clear - the selling point of this game is its charm, and the remarkably human interactions between its cast.

(Edit: folks have requested more clarification: here you go! Also, I did not recieve this product for free, but I sometimes forget to uncheck boxes)

I wish I could reccomend this, but I can't bring myself to do so; Symphonia is a lovingly crafted story in a game that hasn't aged particularly well. It was reccomended to me from various sources, and I often enjoy JRPGs from multiple eras, so I was really looking forward to the game. On the surface it has a lot to reccomend it; a charming cast, a thoughtfully-implemented old-school JRPG plot, and an abundance of cute conversations between party members, all wrapped up with a semi-ARPG combat system.

Small problem: actually engaging with the gameplay never felt satisfying to me.

The controls are a touch clunky, the overworld and dungeon exploration are uninspiring, and the visual presentation is caught in that awkward era between charming sprites, and expressive, attractive polygonal models. Exploring the overworld, puzzle-solving in dungeons, and combat all felt like drudgery, and that's pretty much the game.

I've enjoyed similar games in the JRPG genre; later Tales games (a bit of Vesperia, Zestria), Xenogears, as well as the Star Ocean series, and I didn't find the act of actually playing Symphonia enjoyable enough to make it to the next bit of dialog.

It might be different if you're nostalgic for the Gamecube game, but as someone who never played that, I'm just not feeling it. I'm playing Tales of Zestria now, and I find that to deliver everything I hoped I'd get from Symphonia.

SO GOOOOOOD.

Just dripping flavor from every corner. I'm pretty bad at Stealth games, but the brilliant difficulty system lets players tweak settings so they get the right amount of challenge; whether they don't play many games in the genre, or are (presumably) quite good at this, and want a real challenge.

I wanted a real challenge! So... easy mode :)

Such a delightful game, reminiscent of the classic immersive sims.

About a half hour of unambiguous joy.

Can't really reccomend. I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, as well as XCom (old and new), but this just didn't click for me.

486-style graphics are an interesting choice, the use of terrain is promising, and the story was actually somewhat competently told. However, with no opportunities to level up betwen missions, it really punishes the slightest imperfection in the first few moments.

Just really not doing it for me, which is a pity.

Well that definately happened.