Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS5)

In this entry of the long running action JRPG, Adventurer Adol & his travelling buddy Dogi arrive at the gates of the "Prison City" Balduq (in the nation of Gilia, but occupied by the invading Romun Empire). Seeing as how Adol always finds himself in the center of all sorts of shenanigans, the Romun authorities deem him dangerous and lock him away in the towering prison. With a bit of wit (& some help) he manages to escape the facility, but not before a mysterious figure shows up and inflicts him with the "Monstrum" curse, giving him supernatural abilities at the cost of not being able to leave the city's walls. Not only that, but he (and a small group of others cursed) are tasked with protecting the city from legions of invisible (to ordinary people) monsters called Lemuries. In order to seek out the truth of the curse (& to see if it can be broken) he must explore the city & all roads seem to lead back to the prison!

Combat:

• Across the adventure Adol will be joined by 5 other party members (though you can only have 3 active at a time), with each one having an attack style effective against "soft", "armored", or "flying" enemies (meaning you'll generally want one type of each amongst your currently active party), which encourages you to swap out the character you're directly in control of often (some enemies, including most bosses, are neutral type & aren't weak nor resistant to any attack styles). Furthermore, if you dodge or block just as an enemy attacks you'll engage a Flash Dodge (slows down time) or Flash Guard (temp attack boost). It's overall not much different than the last several entries in the series, but it's still one of the most fun & slick action JRPG battle systems in the business.
  
• While most of your time will be spent doing sidequests, battling monsters in the overworld, dungeon crawling & your other typical RPG stuff, events that stick out here are Grimwald Nox & Grimwald Eos challenges (the only seeming difference between the two being that Nox are mandatory, Eos are optional). They come in two varieties and either see you protecting a giant blue crystal from waves of Lemuries or trying to destroy a bunch of red crystals under a strict time limit. These are unique in that all party members, even ones who aren't in your active party (heck, even when they haven't even yet joined you elsewhere) are active as AI allies (you can only swap between directly controlling the three in your active party like normal though). At the "Dandelion" (your home base) you can expend resources to build & enhance traps/decoys that are automatically installed across Grimwald maps that help you keep the enemy waves at bay during these battles. You can also replay these challenges to aim for a better ranking (you're scored at the end, which dictates which rewards you earn upon completion). These are essentially like the "Raid Battles" from Ys VIII, but they all happen at telegraphed, set points, which I liked.
  
• While there are healing items (no magic system though), you'll automatically regenerate health if you stand still for a bit (this initially only applies outside of dungeons, however you obtain an item very early on that does away with that restriction) and only the character you're currently controlling takes damage (meaning you can swap to someone else with more health if you're low on health), so take advantage of these features when you can to save items (and while you can save at any time from the menu, there are also the traditional save spots before boss rooms & such that will auto heal you).

Exploration:

• Once things get going most chapters have a similar gameplay loop. You'll start out completing sidequests & battling monsters around town in order to build your Nox gauge, which summons a Grimwald Nox once it reaches 100. Once you complete the Nox a barrier comes down allowing you to explore a new district of the city or field area just outside town (if you filled the Nox gauge high enough, a Grimwald Eos will appear afterwards as well, which unlock an optional area upon completion). Story events in the new area will lead to the chapter's dungeon (during the first 2/3rd's of the game, a new party member will join you around this part as well). Each chapter ends with a little epilogue where you'll play as a surprise character still inside the prison, providing some big narrative twists.
• The city itself has an open world quality to it (especially once the barriers start coming down) with lots of shops (places to buy/enhance weapons/equipment, medicine, and more), as well as treasure chests, collectable "azure petals", and graffiti to find. Monsters don't wander around town, instead there will be these little Grimwald portals all over the place that will summon a few if you touch them (the world & people around you will freeze in time whenever you're in one of these fights). While monsters in dungeons & field areas have a set level, the Lemuries that appear in town are scaled up each chapter.
  
• Most sidequests DO expire, however as they are the most effective way to build the Nox gauge in order to progress the story, you'd have to go well out of your way to miss one. They can be pretty deep/important too, as you'll gain extra allies who'll hang around the Dandelion (they provide buffs during Nox/Eos events, and open up special shops inside the Dandelion that mitigate your reliance on running around all over town).
• In previous games you would collect "Sacramentals" that are party wide equips (some of them were mandatory for working through dungeons, like being able to breathe underwater, giving them a Zelda like quality, while others offered QOL effects like increased EXP earned), but these are largely replaced by "Gifts" here. Essentially, each Monstrum has a unique Gift, and it can be used (no matter who you're playing as) once they join your party. Same idea though in that the dungeon/boss of a chapter will be built around the utilization of your newest party member's Gift (examples: White Cat can run up walls. Feral Hawk can glide. Doll gives you a sixth sense that allows you to see enemies/collectables through terrain, see invisible platforms, see otherwise invisible weak points on certain bosses, etc.) Gifts also make exploring the city a lot easier as well, and in some cases let you reach areas/rooms otherwise inaccessible. The game still has Sacramentals for the QOL features though (such as the aforementioned one that lets you idle heal in dungeons).
• You're very much rewarded for thoroughly exploring the world, as there are characters who will reward you with goodies for filling up your map, finding "Landmarks" (scenic locations in the game world), finding azure petals, reading all the graffiti, and more. Most of these characters hang out at the Dandelion, but there are a few elsewhere in town.

Visuals:

• Graphically it's nothing mind-blowing (it's a mid budget title originally designed for PS4 & Switch), but it looks nice due to the art direction, and it runs at a rock solid 60 fps on PS5.
• Now, the pallette can look a little grey as it largely takes place within & beneath the boundaries of a city/prison/fortress (which I know was a disappointment for some coming off the vibrant tropical island locale of Ys VIII), however there are still a few areas where they manage to inject a bit more color, and I still thought that the main dungeons were distinct enough to feel unique (especially the spooky atmosphere of the catacombs). If you're worried about it being grimdark though, don't be. The vibe isn't any darker than your typical JRPG and there are plenty of colorful cast members & costumes (as an aside, all the DLC costumes from it's original release are part of the standard purchase on PS5).
  
  
  
  
  

Story:

• The narrative has some very cool twists with plot points I was eager to find out more about (especially that surprise character I mentioned in the prison segments), but at the end of the day it ends up being pretty standard JRPG stuff (power of friendship, felling a "god", & all that). Still, at least it was very interesting to get there.
• If you wonder why I've been referring to characters by names like "White Cat" & "Feral Hawk", it's because their Monstrum moniker is different from their regular name, and finding out who they are in their daily lives is in spoiler territory (some of them you meet long before they're revealed as a Monstrum, though in most of those cases it's easy to figure out).
  
• As an aside, I kinda find it amusing how they don't even try with their (broader) world building & come up with names for their fantasy countries like Romn (Rome), Garman (Germany), Ispani (Spain), and I kid you not Afroca. Heck, a big part of this game's specific background lore is inspired by Joan of Arc in Britain & France's Hundred Years War, with Saint Rosvita's role in Britai & Gilia's (Gaul?)... Hundred Years War, lol.

Conclusion:

• Maybe a bit of a step back from Ys VIII (largely in terms of locale variety), however it's still a very solid JRPG and I think there are a few things I think it does even better (I like that environmental exploration abilities are just natural upgrades & not tied to Sacramentals, freeing up Sacramental slots for QOL effects like extra item/gold drops & the like, and that the Grimwald Nox battles were at set points & don't interrupt you exploring like VIII's Raid Battles could sometimes do).
  

@RR529 I enjoyed your review. I look forward to playing Ys IX at some point in the future after loving Ys VIII earlier this year. I'm probably going to play Memories of Celceta first since Lacrimosa of Dana was my first Ys game I've ever played, but again, I look forward to playing Monstrum Nox as well.

@RR529 Thanks for the review m8. I finished the PS4 version 2 weeks back and I agree fully with what you have written about the game. It isn't as good as Ys 8 but for me that was mostly since the start felt kinda slow and it took a while before the story and action got rolling. One day i hope to play Memories of Calcetta and Ys origins too, I should have them somewhere in my backlog (or library as i prefer to call it).

@KilloWertz, @Lavalera, thanks for reading!

One big nitpick I forgot to include is that for whatever reason enlarging the minimap is mapped to pressing in on the L stick (which is used for movement), so during hectic fights I was constantly getting half a screen of map, lol (luckily you can see through it so it wasn't debilitating, but it was an annoyance).

@RR529 That's annoying. Is there a way to disable that? If I remember correctly, I thought you could disable being able to do that in Ys VIII with the L stick bringing up the map over the screen. Unless I'm remembering it wrong and that was another game. I was doing that constantly in the game and disabled it because it's almost impossible not to accidentally press it in at times.

Blue Reflection (Steam)

On her first day of high school, Hinako discovers that she (as well as a couple of mysterious classmates Lime & Yuzu) is a magical girl called a Reflector that can enter the subconscious of others in order to connect with them & resolve emotional turmoil. Across the events of the game she'll bring her class together, perhaps save the world, and if she plays her cards right may even realize a dream she thought shattered.

Gameplay:

• You'll split your time between the real world where you'll go about your day around school hanging out with friends & chatting online, and delving into the "Common", a dungeon built by the connected subconscious of humanity, where you'll battle monsters in turn based fashion.
  
• It actually has some pretty unique systems. The big thing is the Ether gague in the lower left corner. Managing it can be important as if it's full enough you can expend it to give a character extra moves via the "Overdrive" command (up to four moves in one turn if it's full enough). However in-between each character (& enemy) turn you can expend some Ether in order to regen party HP/MP, guard against the next attack, or advance your turn order. A few of a character's skills may deplete (or charge!) Ether in addition to their MP pool, and you can choose to have a character bypass their turn to charge Ether as well (I believe this also regens some of their HP/MP). Unfortunately all this management only becomes relevant during boss battles, as regular enemies become pushovers after the first couple hours. By the endgame I could one shot most mobs with Yuzu's Grapevine attack (this eats up a lot of MP, however HP/MP are fully restored after each fight, meaning there's no incentive to hold back during normal encounters).
  
  
• Other oddities include not being able to use items during combat (all usable items either permanently or temporarily increase a character's stats), you don't level up by obtaining EXP from battles (rather, you earn skill points at set points or from building affinity with your classmates that can be spent on certain stat profiles for your party members. While all stats increase during level up, you can choose if you want a character's attack, HP, MP, or defense to get an extra boost), and there is no gear to equip (in place of this, you'll obtain emotional "Fragments" from your classmates that you can equip to a character's individual skills, which alter or enhance that skill's effect. For example you can give an attack the ability to inflict a status ailment, or add HP regeneration to a support skill that buffs it's target's stats).
• Boss battles are pretty fun (and the only time you really need to get to grips with the unique battle system quirks) and see you facing off against giant Kaiju like foes with some absolutely killer visual design. While you don't gain extra party members throughout your journey, all the new friends you meet along your journey do assist (exclusively) in boss fights providing buffs to your party or attacking the boss. Only annoying thing is that boss phase transitions nullify any extra damage (for example, let's say a boss transitions to it's final phase once it's down to 5,000 HP. If you hit it with an attack that does 5,000 damage while it still has 6,000 HP, instead of starting the final phase with only 1,000 HP left, it'll only take the first 1,000 damage, and still start the final phase at 5,000 HP).
  
  
• Most chapters have the same gameplay loop and start out with you taking on sidequests (9/10 times just basic stuff like "take out X number of this monster" or "pick up X number of materials in a dungeon") and hanging out with friends in order to build affinity, and once you hit certain thresholds (in affinity points & character level) you can report your progress to Yuzu & Lime to progress the story. Unlike other similar games there is no day or time limit, so as long as you don't report your progress to Yuzu & Lime as soon as the threshold is hit, you can spend as many days as you want hanging out with friends & building affinity. Friends who are located outside won't appear on rainy days, and everytime you go home at the end of a day you are given a few different prep options (take a bath, study, or make lunch) which will occasionally give you a small random stat increase.
  
  
• Otherwise there is a little Tamagotchi like minigame called "Dark Cave" (although I played it a bit, I'm not sure what if any reward it grants in the main game), a Jukebox where you can listen to music, and once the game is complete you unlock art & cutscene galleries. One of your classmates will also hide a pink bear plush somewhere around the school every other chapter or so, but I'm not sure if there's a point to it (even when found there's no way to interact with it that I discovered), or if it's just for fun.
  

Visuals:

• There's not a lot to the game world, with the largest environment being the school grounds (and even then there are a few rooms like the music room you can't access), and only 4 dungeon environments (though the environments can mesh together, creating more), however it looks lovely all around. The school has a kinda grounded lived in look, while the dungeons are all very fantastical & magical. I'm not even sure how many rooms each dungeon has, as 99% of the time you can complete your objective by simply clearing out whichever room you're dropped in at the beginning (there is some sort of warp point at each end of a dungeon room, and sometimes it'll just send you to the other side of the same room with all enemies respawned, & sometimes you'll go to a different room. I don't think they're procedurally generated though as you'll see the exact same room like 3 or 4 times repeatedly on your dives. You exit the Common from the menu, so I don't think there's even an official begining or end to them either).
  
  
  
  
  
• It has a lovely "Shojo" looking art direction, which makes the pretty prevalent fan service feel kinda out of place. From a personal standpoint I don't mind it (just look at the outfits I chose to wear in my Fatal Frame & Ys IX review screenshots, lol), but the vibe in general seems much more Sailor Moon and less Senran Kagura, so the fact that the rain makes school uniforms transparent & there's a pretty common amount of bathing/shower scenes as well as shots of the cast mostly undressed in the locker rooms feels kinda random, like I don't know exactly who they were aiming this at. Apparently the sequel tones this aspect down though.
  

Story:

• Story kinda picks up towards the end with a few decent twists & lore revelations, however overall I wasn't too engrossed with it. It's probably 80-90% "cute girls doing cute things" and it's looking more & more likely that it's just not my jam (I felt similarly after playing Atelier Lydie & Suelle years ago, so maybe Gust as a whole isn't for me).
• Kinda annoying that the one "gamer girl" archetype in the cast is all about mobile games. I know it's a Japanese game but c'mon, lol. This isn't a serious complaint (or really a complaint at all), but are there really people THAT into mobile games?

Conclusion:

• It's by no means a bad game, but I don't think it was exactly for me although it had some cool parts. I understand the sequel is apparently a lot better so I may look into that in the distant future.
  

Not a review as such and this may be the wrong thread but I'm wondering what if the new Lords of the Fallen (the old one was made by the Surge Devs) reviews better than Atlas fallen (made by the Surge Devs).
I have a feeling that it may well do.

Played on: PS4 (As a PS2 Classic)
Also Available on: PS2. Do not play on PS5 due to severe graphical glitches due to how that handles the PS2 emulation compared to the PS4. (At the moment at least)
Time played: 5 hours 37 minutes.
Developer: Zener Works (Sony's Japan Studio also helped out a bit from my understanding?)
Publisher: Sony
Genre: Turn Based JRPG.

I was going to do a simple PS4 game you've been playing post (Not that there's anything simple (or short) about my posts ) but I decided to extend it into an impessions/5 hours in review piece because... I've enjoyed my time with it so far (despite some of it's quirks) and this long forgotten and ignored Sony title could use a little push I feel.

So that wasn't just a funny screenshot. I SWEAR I saw the box art for this game all the time back in the day in the pre-owned sections of Gamestation & Game but I ignored it, picking up other games that I was much more intrigued by (Which is ironic given the themes (more on that later)).

Thing is... It never came here to Europe! It being ported to PS4/PSN is the first time we ever got to play it. It sold pretty poorly in the US so I can't imagine it was game that got imported a lot to our little island of the UK.

And yeah as my first paragraph ended... This is a Sony published and co-developed game with another company called Zener Works.

Aside from a Pokémon Black & White trading card title for DS this is the only notable game in Zener's library. Got a few mixed reports from what I very quickly googled but either way they've only worked on 4-10 titles with most of the stuff they've worked on being mobile related in recent years.

Annnnyway right off the bat we get this lovely splash screen on PS4

If this artstyle ISN'T Tim Burton inspired then I dunno what is (Especially when you see the background characters via other screenshots).

It was this that drew me in now that I actually got to see the title beyond it's cover art that I've apparently never seen before (Though I'm still convinced I have) through screenshots off the PSN store.

It's just so radically different looking compared to anything else I've played. When I read the summary it only intrigued me more and the fact it turned out to be a turn based JRPG?! The cherry on top!

Though if there's one thing I'll critique the game for right off the bat is the voice acting for the narrator who pipes up every now and again. Or should it be the voice direction I critique?

Either way the narration has this bedtime story kinda vibe to it that I personally feel doesn't work as nothing else in the game's presentation really lends itself to this. It seems more like a play in fact with how your/Ari's mother begins the game of introducing herself as a lovely and wonderful mother to herself whilst starting on dinner and the text box next to where the dialogue pops up has "lines" written beside it too.

I do so love a good narrator so it was pretty disappointing given how dry it is. He's the only voice in the game too I believe but he doesn't pipe up too much outside the opening so far.

Annnnyywwwaaay you play as Ari (Though you can change his name if you desire). A 16 year old lad who is rather... Overshadowed by everyone else in his life, ignored whenever he does speak up and doesn't really get noticed at all!

As one character puts it... Ari would eat cold mashed potatoes for dinner without batting an eyelid and not say a thing as they go out on extravagant shopping sprees.

He has an ordinary, rather mundane existance.

That is til the day the circus rolls into town, a water shortage starts affecting the shops and his little sister Annie is attacked by a Ghost.

Not life threating mind.

Turns out she's got cursed to speak Pig Latin for the rest of her days and your mother is saddened beyond belief that she'll be relegated to comic relief... That is until your father brings out a bottle said to contain a spirit that can stop the curse.

It wasn't quite what was planned however when it's not some benevolent spirit that pops out. But a Demon Butler, James, who works for...

Though you can call him Stan

I'm sure you can imagine what happens next?

A contest of course to see who has the best shadow so that the Evil King Stan can possess it, grow in strength in the mortal realm before he can assume his proper form and then take over the world!

...And in return he'll undo the curse on Annie (And accidentally turn her shadow pink in the process) I suppose.

Ok so I may've cheated a little with that last question but you shan't be surprised to find out that Ari has the best shadow in the family and thus becomes the host for the ressurected evil king!

Things however take a turn after that. Stan tries his best to be dastardly and wicked but is instead mocked and humiliated by the villagers.

Upon trying to do even more evil and steal a treasure the chruch has, Ari defeats the ghost whom was stopping the village's water supply and is hailed a hero with Stan being billed as a hilarious comedy routine of his.

Shortly after you hear about several other ~Evil Kings~ arising and Stan quickly deduces that his lost power has been stolen by these imposter kings and you'll need to take them out so he can revive into his true form.

And yeah... That's the first hour or so and set up for the game and the start of Ari's journey.

If you hadn't got it by now, Okage has a very comedic and light hearted tone to it. Stan in particular comes off as quite the goofball despite his previous incarnation apparently obliterating half the world!

It's certainly interesting and unique in that being forgotten, ignored and overshadowed is one of the main themes of the game.

Some early dialogue seems to suggest that everyone having their role to play might be important too? (Which considering it's a JRPG -even if really quirky and different one- I've played too many to know if it isn't punching god directly in the face then it's about breaking free from fate and changing destiny!)

Anyway back to Ari. Lots of other games have dialogue that give you the illusion of choice typically only for a line or so of interactivity with that before it carries on like nothing ever happened.

You can be as snarky as you like with Ari but because he's considered so quiet and meek nobody actually listens to his reply and carries on like nothing happened... And so the limited interactivity actually works with the theme of the game?

Thing is... There is an affinity system from what I gather that'll reward you down the road for the choices you do actually take as the player so it manages to have it's cake and eat it too?

With Stan taking over your shadow (And literally towering over and overshadowing you in most scenes) he essentially becomes your mouthpiece (He even pretends to be your voice at one point in the second chapter and Ari actually gets acknowledged more directly rather then being talked at).

I'd say the writing, dialogue and characters are easily the best part of the game so far. It's definitely elicited a few laughs or just made me smile as it completely (well mostly) disregards and deconstructs your typical JRPG tropes.

I really love the second party member of Rosalyn. The typical hero like character. 23 years old... and has a massive chip on her shoulder and early on even displays some anger issues thanks to a certain event in her past she gets consistantly mocked for by the other "heroes" (Not the party but other so called heroes). Reluctant devotee of the parasol indeed!

I love the dynamic between her and Stan too and how they bicker at each other with their childish insults. She's a perfect foil for the doofy shadow king.

Kissling is an.... Odd third party member. A 45 year old scientist... Who studies ghosts... And uses his field research as an excuse to hound pretty girls...

Yeah that's what his status screen bio says in game.

It's definitely weird, Kissling himself being quite eccentric but he doesn't actually come off as that bad despite what the bio says? I'm not mentioning his hobby though...

The side characters so far all have amusing dialogue though and it's been a while since I felt actually bothered to talk to NPC's (even if just for some slightly amusing lines).

Having played the game for about 5 hours now and getting through two boss fights, two overworlds and a dungeon I can say the combat feels pretty dang basic.

Animations can take a while and whilst it uses a gauge system like the ATB system from Final Fantasy games of yore it pauses once the gauge fills up and removes the urgency that would arise from said system.

I did foolishly die to the first proper boss of the Sewer King and I nearly died in the very first battle even so... It can be a little challenging especially when you're by yourself til the very end chapter 2.

The encounter system is rather unique too.

The fields on the overworld (It works the same in dungeons too) has I think a max of 3 ghosts that just appear and chase you down that you can avoid... But they aren't set encounters.

The ghosts only follow you a bit before disappearing and a fresh new batch of ghosts can pop out anywhere on the field, even directly before you and cause you to run right into them and start a battle.

The music is pretty... eccentric too from what I've heard so far with battles having a normal and a low hp version to make it more tense and the cities have an outside and inside version that it can switch between but the soundtrack is... not what you might typically expect half the time?

For example this is the main boss theme

... I'm not musically inclined enough to say why but this track just doesn't quite do anything for me.

And then I heard the disadvantage version.

When this song drops the rising tension 43 seconds in (Volume warning!) my jaw dropped before then uttering pretty much every expletive I know from just how flabbergasted I was.

What is this track? It goes so bloody hard and is an absolute assault on the ears it's insane.

Here's a few more tracks to give you a better sense of it's... Style?

I... Don't have a whole lot more to say for only 5 hours of playtime and 3 chapters in. I think it looks pretty decent for a early PS2 game?

Either way hopefully I'll have a full review somewhere down the line... Maybe. Who knows?

But at least Ari and company aren't quite so forgotten now...

@LtSarge Enjoyed your Final Fantasy XVI review! I agree it’s an amazing game and I too appreciate the streamlined approach. I’m currently going through FF mode in new game+ and the new enemy placement and increased difficulty let the combat system truly shine. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and bringing your review to my attention!

@Jimmer-jammer Thank you for reading it!

I really want to play FFXVI on FF mode but I just have so many games to play that I don't feel like doing it anytime soon. Alas, I'll have to add it to my to do-list in terms of PS5 titles I should replay (including Returnal).

@HallowMoonshadow Nice impressions piece on Okage. It sounds... like an interesting but also extremely messy mixture of various elements that don't all come together gracefully. But sometimes just being interesting and unique is enough.

It's kind of funny how the main character is such a non-entity. Sort of reminds me of FFXII, where Vaan was ostensibly the main character, but then the better characters come on-scene and even the game seems to forget that the stupid kid exists!

I do miss these sort of weird collaborations Sony used to get up to in earlier years. Their published output was more hit and miss back then, but also more varied IMO.

That soundtrack is definitely a little strange.

@RR529 I like your review of Blue Reflection! I'm still shocked I haven't played either game in this IP, considering I'm a long-time mahou shoujo fanatic. Maybe it is that feeling that it's not... aimed at traditional mahou shoujo fans that got me. The footage looks a little too Compile Heart for my liking. The presence of fanservice kinda reinforces that for me tbh.

I do want to give it a shot at some point, though, especially since the combat seems decent.

And to answer your question, there absolutely are people that into mobile games in Japan. Like, crazy into em. But yeah, I'd prefer a "gamer girl" more like Chiaki from Danganronpa 2.

Ys IX sounds like Ys VIII 1.5, which is sort of the vibe I got from it. Even if it's not as memorable, though, being akin to one of the action-rpgs out there is no crime! I've enjoyed all of the Ys games I've played to date (not something I can say in favor of Kiseki...), and I bet this'll be a good time when I get to it. Another excellent review with some great screenshots!

Thanks for reading @RogerRoger and I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings!

I did actually beat it (With only 21/22 hours of playtime I believe) and honestly my thoughts are pretty much the same as what they there then.

It's very much a diamond in the rough sort've situation. Super scuffed but when it got it's chance to shine it was sparkling

I mean I could tell you what went down if you REALLY wanted but it'd be one hell of a rundown knowing me

The short version would be that I was mostly right about the whole classification thing would lead into a going against fate/destiny sort've thing (but not how I imagined it would play out at ALL), I was quite shocked at one event in particular and sadly the game ended on a sequel tease?!

Yeah having beaten it I can safely say it is a very messy game.

I'd definitely say there was deadline, techincal issues or something.

The only things I could find about it's development were Zener was originally going to make a game for the Panasonic M2 in 1997 before it got canned and then Sony contacted them. Then in 1999 Sony said for them to switch over production to the PS2.

So something must've give as Okage does have some wild pacing issues (as the 6th chapter was only 30/40 minutes long) and my total play time was 21/22 hours which as you know is kinda short for most JRPG's.

But the charm. THE OODLES OF CHARM. I really enjoyed my time with it despite it's faults. It's a game I'm going to remember for a long while just for the cast alone (Especially Stan).

Honestly it might be the second best "new" game I've played this year.

I mean... Penelo is technically even worse as at least Vaan has a connection to the plot thanks political mechaniations of Arcadia with his brother Reks

Plus ya know Ari's being a silent proagonist and non entity is actually worked into the plot of Okage With the 5th chapter of the game even dealing with the villian removing Ari from existence entirely and Ari having to go round and, essentially, butt in and yell at NPC's to find his voice and get seen by society once again

Having played through the entire thing now I can say some tracks only get weirder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Completion Status: 100%

”Wowie Zowie!”

Mario (technically Mario Mario, since his last name is bizarrely also Mario) is one of the most iconic characters in the history of mass media. He has transcended video games in a way that few characters do, going on to become a recognizable icon almost on par with the likes of Mickey Mouse. The character is arguably emblematic of video games in general, and certainly, for most people, is the go-to representative of Nintendo, the Japanese manufacturer that created him in the first place. Despite the omnipresence of this character, though, his 2D outings, which created and continually revolutionized the platforming game genre in the 80s and early 90s, have been weirdly tame and non-descript for almost two decades since Nintendo first revived this series in the form of New Super Mario Bros. back in 2006 on the Nintendo DS.

At the time of its initial release, NSMB was a big deal. The first real 2D Mario platformer since 1990’s Super Mario World! Even if you kicked the ball forward five years to the brilliant, late-gen SNES platformer Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, that’s still an eleven year gap after multiple regular 2D Mario entries. Finally, proof that the 3D outings hadn’t completely replaced the 2D ones! NSMB was well-received both financially and a popular level, and it remains a staple of Nintendo DS game recommendation lists to this day. Then came NSMB Wii. While it was largely the same sort of thing, it also introduced simultaneous four-player co-op, and it made since that the home console entry was similar to the smaller outing on their handheld.

If it had stopped here, the sub-series would likely have been well-received. But then came NSMB2 on Nintendo 3DS, and NSMB U on the Wii U, all broadly the same and playing it safe in terms of aesthetics and mechanics, and suddenly we entered the weird situation where one of the most creative franchises in video game history felt… cookie-cutter and generic. NSMB U back in 2012 was also the last traditional 2D entry for more than a decade. Nintendo innovated with adjacent Mario sub-series, like their out-of-left-field level creation/sharing toolsets in the Super Mario Maker games, or the Super Mario 3D Land / 3D World games, which combined a 3D presentation with design conceits reminiscent of the 2D games, but it felt like the traditional 2D Mario platformer had been swept into the dustbin of history.

That is, until earlier this year, when Nintendo surprised everyone with the imminent release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Nintendo Switch. Here was, seemingly, a Super Mario 2D platformer worthy of inheriting the arguably unfulfilled legacy of Super Mario World and Yoshi’s Island: from early trailer footage, this game has showcased a quality many of us thought had disappeared from the series… it was weird! And creative. Add to this an immediately apparent art-style shift that seemed to recapture much of the personality of the classic 2D sprites, and it wasn’t long before people were declaring this to be the true, long-awaited successor to one of Nintendo’s oldest and most formative video game series. Was it worth the wait?

As is typically the case with Mario titles, the game begins with the barest narrative context possible: Bowser is up to shenanigans, and you have to stop him by collecting macguffins from a variety of different worlds. Nintendo’s commitment to providing as little worldbuilding or interesting characterization as possible to its flagship franchise is almost admirable, although it does become tedious when you’ve fully played through all of these games. Super Mario Galaxy was the rare exception, but the development that game provided for space goddess Rosalina literally had to be snuck in under the noses of senior designers! Anyhow, it’s a Mario game, which means, just like back in the 90s, your character will be running around collecting coins, platforming, and crushing enemies mercilessly under their own body weight.

As in Super Mario 3D World, you’ll have a variety of characters to play through this game as, including, in a weird moment of mainline recognition, Princess Daisy, who is typically relegated to the benches except when the Mario crew decide to periodically drop their grievances and rivalries and go kart racing or play tennis together. She’s sort of like that weird relative who gets dragged along to social events, but goes unseen and unheard of otherwise, but I’m sure this is a treat for the couple dozen, probably not very well-adjusted Daisy enthusiasts out there.

The game appears to treat whoever the playable character is as the protagonist. Since I played through the campaign as periodic kidnapping victim Princess Peach, it was fun seeing Bowser greet her as his “beloved” at one point, and also having the narration refer to “Peach’s party,” making it feel more like her adventure and less like she’s merely an alternate skin for Mario. Unhappily, the game mechanics don’t help in this regard, as all of the characters play exactly like one-another, as far as I can tell. This is a pretty big departure from previous games with multiple playable characters, where each would control differently from one-another, giving the player an incentive to experiment with everyone.

The reason for this, I imagine, can be found in the game’s Badge system. Players will unlock and purchase (via in-game currency) special equippable badges throughout that often impact how the player controls the character. These can be subtle (maybe making the player dash a little faster) to extreme (making the player character invisible) in terms of their impact on the experience. It’s an interesting experiment, and more than a little reminiscent of the tonics from Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, but, in my experience, too many of them feel like crutches for inexperienced players, meaning I played through much of the game without engaging too much with the system. The ones that aren’t crutches just feel sort of useless.

The game’s primary gimmick is the unlockable Wonder Flower which can be found in nearly every level. These collectibles will warp the fabric of the level itself, often leading to the creative and wacky setpieces that featured heavily in the game’s marketing. These sequences are unique, varied, and are arguably the big draw for this particular game, as you never know what effect they’ll have. Sometimes they turn the player into another sort of character entirely. Sometimes they cause the game’s enemies to break out into song, like in a musical. Sometimes they lead to alternate challenge areas. It feels like there’s a thousand weird ideas crammed into the Wonder Flower sequences throughout, and it was a genuine joy discovering them firsthand as I played through the game.

Otherwise, the level design itself is… adequate, but a bit on the easy side. Apart from the mind-numbingly brutal final post-game level, this isn’t a game that’ll be giving one too much of a challenge, and I’d argue the levels here often feel less involved than they did in something like New Super Mario Bros. U. That’s not to say they’re bad or poorly designed, persay, but it’s clear the bulk of the love went to the Wonder Flower sequences, and the rest of the game feels a bit vanilla in comparison. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze this is not.

Nintendo does have a few other new additions to help distinguish this entry from previous 2D Marios. For one thing, the game is filled with these… profoundly irritating talking flowers, who will provide commentary as you travel through the game’s various levels and worlds. Thankfully, they allow you to both change the language the flowers talk in, or remove their audio entirely. I switched the language to Japanese and had a much better time. No offense to whoever voiced these flowers in English, but it’s like they specifically scouted out someone with a subtly irritating voice.

Wonder’s coolest innovation, by far, is its online mode, which allows you to see fellow players and communicate with them in a limited manner as they play the game in real time, sort of like the online interactions in Journey. This gives the game world a very… populated feel that’s absent from previous Mario outings. If you die in a level, other players can actually help revive you within a very limited scope of time by touching your ghost as well, making it an addition that has a meaningful impact on the gameplay. I guess you can use this as a sort of crutch as well, but, honestly, this aspect of the game was so cool that I don’t mind at all. And unlike something like Dark Souls, you also don’t have to worry about other players entering your game world and killing you, so there’s very little reason not to just leave the mode on all the time.

It’s just too bad this spirit of innovation wasn’t extended to the game’s bosses. 2D Mario games have very boring, samey boss fights, and Wonder does nothing to break with that tradition. I was hopeful the first time I fought Bowser Jr. and he transformed in interesting, unexpected ways, but nothing else is done with future encounters in this regard. It’s truly weird, since the 3D Mario games since Sunshine have been filled with weird, memorable, unique bosses, while 2D Mario has adopted an almost totally opposite approach. One would hope a game like Wonder would have seen fit to buck this trend, but alas.

Wonder’s new transformations aren’t anything to get too excited about, either. The new elephant transformation is interesting for a few moments, but the game does very little to take advantage of its properties in the same way as, say, the cat suit transformed much of Super Mario 3D World. The drill powerup is cool, and very akin to something from Super Mario Galaxy 2, but, again, the game’s levels don’t do a lot to exploit its potential. Ditto with the bubble powerup, which allows you to blow bubbles that can be used as temporary platforms.

In terms of the presentation, much has been made of the game’s lovingly animated character models, and… yeah, they look great. I was especially stunned the first time I saw the sheer fluidity of the animation when a character was electrocuted. It’s reminiscent of a somewhat higher budget Rayman Legends. Nintendo has injected life and personality into the game visually in a way that we haven’t seen since the 16-bit era. The game’s lighting and general aesthetic is also just lovely to look at. And at a crisp 720p, this looks pretty awesome in handheld mode, and especially on the Switch OLED.

The music is less… impressive. Yet another way this doesn’t deviate from traditional 2D Mario. Considering the often incredible effort put into the soundtracks for the 3D games, it’s a little weird to me that Nintendo insists on making such basic OSTs for its 2D mainline titles. It’s better than what you’ll hear in other 2D Marios, but… c’mon.

I know the tone of this review is a bit negative, but it really is a fun game. Quite fun at times. It’s a good experience, and, unlike a lot of recent games, one you can fully complete in 15 - 20 hours. I’m only down on it insofar as it could have been a legendary game. As it stands, it’s absolutely a solid entry in the series, but it won’t set the world on fire in the same way previous entries did, or even some of the more recent 3D games have. Still, if you enjoy the gameplay loop of these titles, you’re in for a beautiful game that’s a joy to play.

... I don't know how to feel about this line despite the fact I ended up having a good chuckle about it... Poor Daisy and the poor Daisy enthusiast too

It's a great, well written review otherwise and to be honest it does make it seem like Wonder is a case of style over substance which is a darn shame.

Unimaginative bosses, Unispired level design, gimmicky transformations that are underutilised and rather bland music...

It seems like all the effort was put into the Wonder Flower set pieces and the animation for mario and co with everything else suffering greatly for it.

A real shame Ral but at least you still found enjoyment in it despite everything.

Hopefully with this new foundation in wonder the next game can actually do something about it's rather milquetoast parts and elevate them to a proper gold standard!

@HallowMoonshadow It doesn't help that the few really loud Daisy enthusiasts I've met have been people who won't shut up about her. Like people who join a new religion. Or vegans.

It's a good platformer, but my standards are rather high with Mario. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario 3D World are three of my favorite games of all time. For some reason, the 2D games just aren't on the same level. Nintendo is a company almost synonymous with amazing, memorable boss fights, so I don't know why they feel the need to make literally every boss except for the last Bowser Jr.

In comparison, in Super Mario Odyssey, at one point you turn into a tank and fight against a gigantic Mecha-Wiggler that creates wormholes in the space-time continuum.

@Ralizah I'm just glad it was Daisy catching strays and not Rosalina! You gave her the compliment she deserves. Unfortunate to hear of your experience the game overall though. At least it was mostly just a case of disappointment rather tthan he game itself being totally unfun. Somewhat surprised however as I've seen many tout it as one of the best iterations of 2D Mario there is, but it doesn't sound like any of your criticism was necessarily undeserved. Wish you'd have had a better time with it, but I'm glad you can still appreciate it for what it is! I'll have to give it a go at some point when the price goes down a bit, haha.

@Tjuz LOL

It is kind of a shame Rosalina isn't here. Although I guess it wouldn't have mattered too much, since characters don't really control differently. And I suppose the less Nintendo dilutes Galaxy's legacy by using Rosalina as spare cast fodder, the better.

I think it's a decent game when put up against other 2D Marios. Currently, I'd rank them:

Yoshi's Island > SMB 3 > NSMB U Deluxe > Wonder > NSMB U > SMB 2 > NSMB2 > Mario Land 2 > NSMB > World > SMB > Mario Land

It's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. Things just... should have evolved more since the 90s, like they did with 3D Mario.

@Ralizah This reply made me wonder what games Rosalina does even show up in as a playable character. I've only ever seen her in Mario Kart, though I have to admit I haven't played all that many Nintendo games of the last decade. I've been playing bits of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope over the last few weeks and there I've finally been introduced to Rabbid Rosalina. I was... disappointed to say the least I did not get the real Rosalina as a character, but I guess a version of Rosalina fused with Rabbid DNA will have to do? Eh? At least she puts Rabbid Peach in her place. That little... 😉

@Tjuz She's in the majority of spinoffs. Mario Party. Mario Golf. Mario Tennis. Mario Strikers. Mario Kart. etc.

She's also in Smash Bros. and a playable character in Super Mario 3D World.

Thankfully I ignore almost all of the spinoffs. Don't like sports, and Mario Party is something that requires a very specific environment to be enjoyable.

@Ralizah I suppose I'm just unlucky having bought the Mario Party on Switch that doesn't include her then! Like really, they included Birdo? I have no words to describe how that makes me feel. Never really played any of the sports ones like Golf or Tennis though, so makes sense they would've passed me by. I think the only sports game I've played would've been way back on the DS with Mario & Sonic Olympics. Smash Bros is sadly a franchise I've never really gotten into even though I've been interested. Mostly because anyone I know would not have a great time playing that, haha.