Finished Resonance last week and loved it, very good addition to an already great series. Visuals and art direction are easily at the top 5 of this gen…Requiem was amazing visually already but this one is even more impressive, the scale in this game is breathtaking. Gameplay wise I really enjoyed the combat and the puzzles and thought that the pacing was excellent all the way through. The combat system was very interesting with how fast and lethal every hit felt, hopefully they will refine this even further because it has a lot of potential. Sophia was a good protagonist and the story was intriguing from the start, voice acting was top-notch as well especially the lady that did the VA for Sophia.
So after I finished Resonance I immediately started playing Onimusha: WotS and now I am almost 30hrs in. The combat system in this one is definitely one of the GOATs in the genre, it’s crazy how smooth AND precise everything feels in this game…I literally can’t understand how they did this - having all these smooth and detailed animations and feeling so good at the same time. They put in a ton of work in the combat system and the bosses and it shows, in fact the bosses are the best I’ve seen in a Capcom game since DMC3 - easily one of the best boss gauntlets in an action game ever. Also the linear missions/levels are very fun and look great, I just wish there were more of them. Kyoto while an interesting idea doesn’t reach it’s potential mainly because the side-activities are mediocre, Capcom went for quantity over quality here…instead of 20 mediocre side quests they could’ve made 5 good ones with interesting combat scenarios and why not some unique bosses/mini bosses. Thankfully the combat is so good that it carries the game through the repetition of the side content. Story is pretty good and Mushashi is a freakin’ cool protagonist, it really helps with how good his facial expressions are. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys the genre even with it’s shortcomings, it’s highs are so good that they have to be experienced by everyone who considers themselves a fan of the genre.
playing the Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered demo, I’ve played through it three times as different characters and I will finish it with the others. I also tried the Wo Long 2 alpha demo but I’m finding it pretty boring. not sure if I’ll go back to it
Went back to the Wo Long 2 demo and played for longer. It’s actually pretty good, it’s better than the first game. Also finished Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered demo again
I think I’m a Genshin apologizer now. I made fun of it like Fortnite when it got popular, but for a free game you can play on mobile the game is insane after you finish the first city/region. And there’s an (apparently new) feature to skip to latest story content. The map itself is huge. Like it’s insane. Gameplay stays simplistic controls wise but gets a lot denser as I started actually playing the game as intended and focused party roles. The gameplay loop is also a lot less repetitive than I first suspected.
There’s just a lot of freedom in how you actually want to advance & gain experience. You don’t have to interact with everything available, so what I thought was overwhelming at first actually makes a very relaxed experience. I don’t even really pull much pressure to pull for characters. Maybe that’ll change later, but for content now I just need to focus on one party of four and making that synergize.
A mobile gacha game I play is One Piece Treasure Cruise and it sucks because like five years ago they revamped the game to center everything on new limited content that you have to pull special boosted characters on three different banners once a month for the content to not be tedious as hell to get through. It’s not even difficult, but there’s specific unique combinations of status effects that make it hard to build a team of characters for that the boosted new hard to get unit magically counters all at once. Genshin is still an RPG action game and so it feels like you just make the team of characters you most enjoy, make them as strong as possible, and go off exploring.
Something I’ve also noticed if how East Asia RPGs are blending fiction drama worlds a lot. Specifically Sci-fi and fantasy. I did jump forward in Genshin and ended up on a Spaceship to the moon with artifical deep space signal receivers that were constructed by ancient dragons. In chapter seven you get a freaking gun and it temporarily turns the game into a Gears of War like third person tactical shooter. Story and gameplay wise, it’s something I’m surprised to see western audiences praise because I’m so used to fans of certain worlds or series being so heavily fixated on everything feeling like it fits in the world or is lore accurate or there’s no clashing of appearances. Wizard with a gun isn’t just a joke, it’s a meme. I’ve had arguments with people when I say that genres don’t matter much except for set dressing and stories can be executed however. I know Halo fans were up in arms over the non canon event armor cores not looking lore accurate enough. Not being biblically accurate is something that’s quickly made fun of within a Fandom. But all these non-western stories do it so much (especially in Manga and anime). I just find that interesting. Tales of Arise, Crimson Desert, and Genshin Impact. All similar in this technology mixing and all from different countries. And way more games (those just came to mind). You’d usually think the opposite considering east Asia cultures have a more traditional mindset than the rest. They’re pretty liberal about what to shove into a game though.
Played for about 10 hours. Great freaking game but there’s way too much content in the game since it released in 2020. I’ll never ever catch up so I decided to drop the game. Also, you can’t delete your save file which is weird and start over so that was another reason. Still, great game.
If you’re okay with doing things out of order, after you finish Mondstat the latest updates let you jump forward to the most recent story content. They give you little character guides, so you’re not that lost. Then you also have access to exploring anywhere and all the prior non-story quests. It does have that MMO feel of “I started too late and can’t do everything” but since it’s mostly single player and has a lot of freedom it comes off more like a Skyrim or Crimson Desert to me. God the Witcher 3 is still daunting to start especially since that game is far more linear and story & character heavy.
Also you can start over if you just use a different server. It doesn’t actually change anything, you can freely switch, and I don’t notice any differences. I only found out because I made my account like a year or so after release on my iPad while in the US, but tried it again when it came to Xbox while it was in Japan. I didn’t notice it defaulted to Asia and literally forgot I had played a little bit (which was dumb of me because I remembered I had a hoyo account and connected it). Then it defaulted back to America when I returned. I was so confused until I realized.
If you actually want to start over, the only downside I’ve run into is that I can only friend people on the same serve. Which kinda sucks since there’s now a sandbox/map creator/Roblox mode that’s a good party game with friends and not all my friends can play together.
Finished Onimusha: WotS yesterday and loved it. Despite the mediocre side-content the things that this game does well are so high quality that for me it overcomes these flaws. Combat and bosses are amongst the very best in the genre plus the main/story missions and linear levels are all excellent. Final level with the boss rush was great and the final boss battle was amazing. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes action games.
Now if E-Day wasn’t coming out in a week I’d start Onimusha: WotS on the highest difficulty but since I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete this before the 6th I’ll instead chill out a bit and play some old arcade games and indies. I’ve bought maybe more than 15 old arcade games in the summer that I still haven’t checked out so now it’s a good time I guess. So it’s all about shmups, run and gun, fighting and beat em’ up games for a week.
Completed Onimusha: Way of the Sword this past Sunday. Played on Story Mode. Just over 35 hours play time. Excellent freaking game and coming off of Wolverine, the combat and gameplay is at such a higher level that it’s insane. I’ll keep this short -
Visuals - 10/10 (superb)
Audio - 8.5/10 (great)
Gameplay/Combat - 9.0/10 (excellent)
Story/Characters - 8.5/10 (great)
Overall - 9.0/10 (excellent)
Graphically, the RE Engine strikes hot again as all the environments, character models, animations, etc. all look superb. I had no issues or complaints in this regard. Audio wise, the voice acting is really good as are the sound effects and the music is great. Didn’t like that there was no voice acting for the vast majority of side quests. One of my few negatives with the game.
Gameplay/combat is excellent. I would have liked to be able to turn off the enemy detection arrows that pop up on the screen when fighting enemies. Other than that, repeating boss fights drags down this aspect a little bit because you already know their attacks and patterns. In general though, the boss fights are excellent. Just wish there were less repeating enemy boss fights.
Story/Characters were overall great. I didn’t like a few things near the end of the game but won’t mention/say what they were since it would obviously be spoilers. But I was into it from the start through the end.
Overall, an excellent 9.0/10. Hoping for Onimusha 2!!
NOTE: Black Flag is currently my default game of the year but after finally wrapping it up the other day, it will most likely not be my game of the year due to two main reasons - first, I believe that the combat/gameplay in Origins/Odyssey is simply more fluid and responsive and thus better and second, it’s a remake and im not a fan of giving my game of the year to a remake of a game that obviously already had it’s time. I still have 10 games for 2026 and one of them should hopefully end up being my game of the year.
That level of chill couldn’t be me. I go through an existential crisis everytime a game I paid full price for but haven’t touched goes on sale or joins game pass.
Oh damn. I know games will go sale eventually but I tend to play 90% of the games I buy day one on launch day. With Cyberpunk, it was a shit show and I decided to wait until the next gen upgrade in early 2022 but I kept having new releases so I kept pushing it back. I’ll eventually get to it. Just don’t know when. lol
In general, it’s not that I don’t want to play the game(s), I just don’t always have the time and a situation like this year where I have literally have 10 games in 4 months (August through November), I can’t do anything about. When I get to them, I get to them. It’s not like the games are going anywhere. lol
On Wednesday I got my PS5 slim and Rise of the Ronin in the mail. I have 6 hours in it so far. Yesterday I bought Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered. I have Nioh Collection and Nioh 3 coming in the mail.
After MIO (which was awesome) I’ve been playing Hell is Us. I’m surprised by how overlooked this game has been, while it’s on GP and PS+. It’s super immersive, no markers or maps, and no soulslike THANK GOD! It’s genuinely doing so much stuff that I love about games, exploration, discovery, puzzles, atmospheric world, deep lore and storytelling without many cutscenes or walk&talk, and pretty decent combat. I’m in love with it, and again surpsied that people don’t talk about it.
