Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

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Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (PSVR)

Time to strap in & step into a Galaxy far, far away.

Gameplay:

• Originally an Oculus exclusive released in an episodic format, it arrives on PSVR only as an all encompassing bundle, though each episode is still separate on the PS4's dashboard. Each episode has two gameplay modes, "Story" & "Lightsaber Dojo", plus a "Settings" menu, which even allows you to adjust the VR settings (I went with the standard experience, but there are all sorts of comfortability options for those more prone to motion sickness).
  
  The menu that greets you upon opening one of the episodes, it's immediately clear Move is required, as you must interact with the in-game buttons to progress.
• If I hadn't known going in that it was originally an Oculus exclusive, I would have assumed it was a first party effort on Sony's part, as the Story mode follows the PlayStation exclusive single-player template to a tee. You're funneled along a linear path from one impressive setpiece to another, with simple puzzles, ledge platforming (though you use the Move controllers to "physically" climb ladders/handholds, grip your way across ledges & overhead monkey-bar style elements, giving these segments much more immersion than you get on a TV), and the occasional combat scenario (with you in place fighting off a few waves of enemies or a boss) to break things up. Each episode's story mode picks up exactly where the last one left off, combining into a cohesive whole that took me about 3 hours to clear.
  
  
  The top image is an early example of a puzzle, where you must turn a knob in order to examine a hologram of your ship, while the bottom image features a boss fight against a Tie Fighter.
• As for the combat itself, new elements are added in each new chapter. In chapter 1 you get your first lightsaber about halfway through & learn to physically duel & deflect blaster fire. Chapter 2 gives you probably the biggest upgrade in which you can manipulate objects/enemies with the Force with a free hand(s), which is also used in puzzles (you also gain the ability to throw & recall your lightsaber as well). Chapter 3 rounds things out with the ability to steal & use Stormtroopers' blasters & grenades (the former of which requires quite some skill to get a good shot in).
• This leads us into the other gameplay mode in each chapter, the "Lightsaber Dojo". Each variant of it asks you to master what you know (up to that point) in order to clear 40 increasingly difficult combat scenarios (so 120 across all 3 chapters). Each level grades you on your performance (you usually have a set group of adversaries, and are graded on the time it takes you to clear them & how much damage you take, though there are also scenarios where you're instead graded on how many enemies you can take out in an timed onslaught), earning you 0-3 Commendations (think Stars) depending on how well you do. While you can move on even if you clear a level with 0 Commendations, for every 6 you earn you obtain an aesthetic unlock such as a new color lightsaber (or gloves, lamely enough) & eventually can unlock the specific lightsabers used by certain famous characters. These again are only aesthetically different though (as far as I've unlocked), so only the most die hard of Star Wars fans will likely find the encouragement to really care about the Commendations. Plus, unlocks don't carry across chapters, so each Dojo has it's own sets of unlocks (which means you'll have to start out unlocking the basic color options each time), though episode 3's dojo quickly lets you unlock dual lightsaber weilding (which as far as I'm aware doesn't feature in the first 2 Dojos).
  I thought I had taken some decent screens in the Dojo, but in the end this shot of me deflecting the blast of some sort of orb drone was the best I got. In the end I think things get quite hectic around any given Dojo's round 20, with so much going on it can be hard to accurately interact with what you want (particularly with the Force), so I haven't pushed much further than that in any of them. You do feel totally awesome when things are lining up just right though, and it can be a good workout.

Audio/Visual:

• As I've mentioned before, in many ways it feels like a first party Sony effort, and that extends to the presentation. Things look detailed, and even on my Slim model I didn't feel like I had an issue with blurriness (outside of a generally soft image due to the resolution of the set itself).
• They even match Sony's effort in spectacle IMO, and while these moments continue throughout the entire adventure, I'll try my best to explain with the game's starting moments...
  
  You start out finding yourself high above the atmosphere of Mustafar, and soon an Imperial Star Destroyer (sorry if that's not the right terminology, I'm not up on my Star Wars knowledge) flies in from directly overhead in a truly awe inspiring moment...
  
  After being taken down through the cloud cover you find yourself above the planet's harsh surface with a menacing structure far in the distance...
  
  As you approach the building it's size becomes apparent as it towers above you as you fly into a hanger (at this point I'm looking straight up to get a view of it's peak).
• The game has the iconic soundtrack & sounds of the Star Wars franchise to work with, and they're used to good effect (especially that buzz of the lightsaber).

Story:

• As a "Spice" smuggler captured by the Empire, luck shines on you when it's revealed that only you have the ability to access an ancient Mustafarian artifact known as the Bright Star, which Vader seeks to gain immortality (and more personally, a twisted desire to revive Padmé into the world, no matter who else has to parish). Soon you find yourself bouncing between being Vader's apprentice & the appeals of the Mustafarian resistance, who urge you to destroy the Bright Star before Vader can use it to bring destruction to the universe.
  
  Once an episode you'll be treated to a painterly vision, such as the one above that features a nightmarish vision of Vader bearing down on you. Word's can't describe how cool it looks in the headset.
• I can't say it's filled with memorable characters, but your Droid ZO-E3 (pictured above above the Tie Fighter image) provides much needed comic relief, and Vader strikes an imposing figure.

Conclusion:

• Just a really cool experience when all is said & done. It was my first Move VR game, and it left a really good impression, despite the occasional need to readjust things (which an issue with the tech rather than the game itself I'd imagine). I can't imagine how mind blowing it'd be to a Star Wars die hard.
  
  You've done well to make it this far.

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Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS)

This was my first Mario & Luigi game. While it's a remake, chronologically it's the first game in the series. It's a turn-based RPG at its core, but in some ways it feels a lot like a rhythm game. It's a very fun, unique, and quirky game and carries on the spirit of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars pretty well in my humble opinion.

Positives

• While the plot isn't deep by any means, it's entertaining, well-written (for the most part), and definitely has some silly moments.
• Many of the characters of the Beanbean and Mushroom Kingdoms are unique, well-written, and memorable. Fawful is now one of my favorite Nintendo villains. Not top-tier, but definitely up there! Also, Prince Peasley and that hair flipping...Hah!
• Graphically, the visuals are decent for a 3DS game. I've never played the original and have seen some comparisons between this and the original pixel art. While I can appreciate how the first game looked, this looks better IMO.
• The turn-based battling is fun, versatile, and heavily reliant on timing. Stomping, hand, and hammer attacks are easy to pull off once you get the cues down, but pulling off Bros. attacks takes some practice.
• The music is pretty enjoyable overall. Many tunes are reminiscent of the main Super Mario platformers (such as the underground theme, for example).
• There are plenty of collectibles to find and areas to explore for completionists.
• Finally beating Bowletta is very rewarding. Unlike most of the game, the fight is pretty difficult and becomes easier with practice.

Neutral

• While the Bowser's Minions portion of the game has its fun moments, it takes a bit to open up and seems pretty one-note at first. The RTS elements here are very passive as the AI controls all units outside of random prompts for the player to activate a special minion attack or buff/debuff via a button press. There is some strategy here based on what units you use, their placement in the lineup, and the captain you use and its abilities (with limited use through CP), but the rest is left to the mercy of the AI. The story in this mode ranges from meh to mildly entertaining; it's purely supplementary and can lead to a few extras that pertain to events in the main mode, but it isn't essential. I had fun with this mode for a little while but dropped it at some point in World 5 to focus solely on the main game.
  (I'm watching the rest via AbdallahSmash on YouTube for the story bits)
• For the most part, the main game's difficulty ramps up gradually. However, as much as I enjoyed the Bowletta fight, there was a SERIOUS spike in difficulty. Mario and Luigi were the same level as Bowletta (40), but the battle still took me 3-4 tries and a LOT of heal item spam. I was able to nail her attack patterns pretty well except for those windmilling arms; those are hard to read. X_X I wish the difficulty had been a bit more consistent there. Or at least had scaled up a bit more prior to the fight.
• While equippable items and gear definitely have their uses, they feel purely supplementary in this game outside of a few situations. This isn't a bad thing, but I feel like this feature could have been expanded more. (I know, I know, this one is aimed at a younger audience....)

Negatives/Nitpicks

• While not essential, I think this game would have benefited from the stereoscopic 3D effect. Unfortunately, like other 3DS games near the end of the system's lifespan, this was omitted.
• I really wish there was a way to move through dungeons more quickly. There were a few things I missed (mainly because I maxed out Chuckle Beans at Joke's End) and had to go back for a few. This was a bit tedious.
• During some of the later and busier Bowser's Minions battles, there are a few frame rate drops. It's noticeable, but not game-breaking by any means.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions is charming, entertaining, and a fun romp from start to finish. The main game is an absolute treat to play with its different setting, many unique characters, and addicting gameplay loop. Bowser's Minions is supplementary and somewhat unnecessary (and honestly would be better as a mobile game IMO), but it is fun when played in chunks and does help to fill in a few small blanks in the main story. This is easily recommended for fans of Mario and Luigi, the Mushroom Kingdom, and/or those looking for a fun, unique, light-hearted RPG.

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Super Mario Galaxy (Super Mario 3D All-Stars - Switch)

The only game in the collection I had previously beaten, how does it hold up? I completed it with 91 out of 120 Stars.

Gameplay:

• It's structured much like the first two entries in the series, with a hub world (the Comet Observstory) to run around in that connects to the various Worlds (Galaxies in this case) you'll be traversing. There are 6 rooms in the Observatory that each house 5 Galaxies (save for the last one, which only has 4), and like 64 each Galaxy requires a certain number of Stars in order for you to enter it, with the 5th Galaxy in a room always being a Bowser level that unlocks the next room of Galaxies. In this respect it strikes a nice balance between 64's open progressiveness & Sunshine's requirement that you must complete a certain collection of Missions to progress. It has more hard locks than 64 meaning you'll probably have to collect most Stars in a Galaxy, however no individual Star is required (outside of the Bowser level ones), so you still have some freedom to skip a few if you feel like you need to. In order to unlock the final level the only things you'll need are 60 Stars & access to the 5th room (so if you get enough Stars in the first 4 rooms' Galaxies, you don't even need to explore the last couple rooms).
• The Observatory is much more streamlined compared to past hubs & doesn't have as many secrets. There are no Stars to collect in the hub itself (unlike 64 & Sunshine) & and unlike the past couple games it doesn't have any secret one off levels hidden within (it still has one off levels, but they're much more signposted, and unlock after obtaining a certain number of Stars, just like regular Galaxies). Really the only "secrets" it has are a few 1-UP mushrooms that respawn everytime you return.
• Galaxies themselves come in 2 flavors. You have big Galaxies that have 5 Stars each, and small Galaxies that have 1 Star (rarely 2) each. The first three Stars of a big Galaxy are it's main missions (and these do need to be played in order) while the 4th is usually a hidden Star (it'll only be accessable via one of the main Stars' missions) & the 5th is a comet challenge mission (this requires you to complete a certain main mission with an extra challenge, such as a time limit, or one hit deaths). Small Galaxies only have one mission associated with them, and thus one Star (a couple have a hidden Star as well, though).
• Galaxies do tend to be much more linear than 64 or Sunshine's worlds in terms of design. You'll usually start out on the same planet no matter which mission you're playing (which at times can be somewhat sandboxy), but depending on which mission you choose you'll take a completely different path through the Galaxy, visiting different planetoids on your path to the end goal. Of course, except in rare circumstances, small Galaxies only have the one goal. While the open ended nature of past games' worlds could be impressive, I think I prefer Galaxy's more focused approach.
• Gone is FLUDD, & Mario is back to having most of his 64 moveset (though with no diving I believe, and melee attacks have been replaced with a spin move, which you can use as an attack, but it's also extends your jump a tad & activates certain elements in the environment). It feels much tighter than past games (especially 64), and is a joy to control outside of a few small issues. Namely it can be tough to correctly line up a jump on small round planetoids, and every once in awhile when running straight Mario will suddenly run in a circle quickly, seemingly to make sure that he's oriented correctly (these aren't huge or regular problems, though).
  Mario sometimes needs to reorient himself due to some topsy turvy level design.
• There are some elements of Wii's motion controls still in-tact as well. The most everpresent of which is an on screen pointer which you'll occasionally need to make use of in order to interact with the environment. This is controlled via your controller's gyro (you can simply touch the screen in handheld mode), and while it requires more reorientation compared to the Wii original, you're rarely ever tasked with doing anything particularly demanding with it, so I never found it to be an issue. Otherwise there are a few rare instances where you'll be required to use the gyro to motion control a Manta Ray surfing or "Monkey Ball" style section, but I didn't have too much trouble with those either. Otherwise the spin move is still tied to a waggle motion, but you can now activate it by pressing a button as well (which is what I did).
• Powerups return to the franchise after being absent in Sunshine, and feature quite a bit. Bee Mario lets you hover over large gaps (it works like FLUDD's hover mode), Boo Mario lets you float & phase through certain surfaces (plus looks cute), Spring Mario is a bit unweildy to control but lets you jump to really high places, Ice Mario lets you run, slide, and jump on water & lava (there's even a section where you have to wall jump up waterfalls), Rainbow Mario gives invincibility, Fire Mario makes his debut in a 3D game after being a staple in the 2D games for years, and there's even a Flying Mario powerup, though it's really only ever used in one mission & the hub world.
  Fire Mario goes 3D. Use fireballs to fry enemies & light torches.
• It's also a much more boss heavy game than past 3D entries, with most big Galaxies having at least 1 boss fight, sometimes 2. While most of these are pretty standard (though more involving than 64's efforts), and there are a few you fight more than once with a harder variant, there are a couple impressive & unique boss fights, such as Kingfin, pictured below
  An excitingly tense underwater fight sees you dodging explosive piranha skeletons while trying to hit this big guy's weak point with shells, all the while keeping an eye on your air guage & picking up bubbles to replenish it. He won't go down in the typical 3 his required either, taking 5 or 6 hits to put down.
• It's often said that this is the easiest game in the collection, but I don't think that's necessarily the case. It just doesn't have as many obtuse moments where you wonder what you're supposed to do next due to the more focused nature, it's a tighter controlling game compared to 64 (and even Sunshine a bit), and it's much more forgiving with regular checkpoints & lots of easily obtainable 1-UPs in the hub world (you're even offered 5 extra lives every time you start the game up).
• If you manage to collect all 120 Stars you unlock the ability to replay the game as Luigi (who again makes his first appearance in a main 3D game, playable or otherwise), who has a higher jump at the cost of more wonky physics, acting as a hard mode of sorts.

Visual/Audio:

• Despite it's age it's still a remarkedly good looking game, and while you can see some rough edges if you look close enough, it otherwise looks thoroughly modern. Plus, it's cleaned up to 1080p in the collection (720p handheld) & upgraded to 60FPS, which while not a requirement is a nice upgrade.
• It has a nice variety of colorful & imaginative worlds, from militarized fortresses, oversized bee colonies, a playroom, haunted mansions & more. It's a game that keeps delighting until the end.
  
  
  
  Some of the varied locales you'll experience.
• One thing I like about the game is how epic it feels in scope & adventure. There's a bit of a "war/resistance" theme permeating everything, as even when you're not tackling Bowser levels (which are the most overt with such theming) Galaxies often take the form of militarized asteroids, aquatic bases, & massive warships (it's not enough to be overbearing, as there are still a lot of whimsical worlds as well, but even those can have elements of the overall theme, such a turret bound Monty Mole atop Gold Leaf Galaxy's highest point, giving an air of occupation to some of them).
• It also feels decidedly "on brand" in a way that previous 3D games didn't. In addition to the Fire Flower, elements like proper "Bowser's Castle" levels, "?" Blocks & more (including Luigi, who was a pretty big omission in past games) make their debut in a 3D game, solidifying it as imaginative as past 3D games while at the same time being comfortable in it's place as a Mario game.
• Even as someone who usually doesn't pay too much attention to music in games, Galaxy is great in this department. Big bombastic adventure tunes, remixes of classic Mario tracks, and sweet melodies that meld well with some of the game's more somber moments.

Story:

• It's another "Bowser kidnaps Peach" narrative, but presented in the most epic manner in the entire series. Mario is heading on down to Peach's Castle for a big celebration & Toad Town is all lit up for the ocassion (I think it may be the only time outside of the Mario RPGs the town appears?), but suddenly an armada of airships raid the town blasting it apart with meteors and upon Bowser declaring that Peach is invited to the creation of his own personal Galaxy a UFO breaks cloud cover, carves her Castle out of the ground and carries it into space. Mario tries holding on but is blasted off by Kamek (the wizard koopa), and after a brief tutorial stage getting you acclimated to how this space-fairing adventure plays out Mario is recruited by a mysterious figure known as Rosalina to restore power to her Comet Observatory (when at full power she can take him to the center of the universe where Bowser is putting his plan in motion, however the dastardly koopa has stolen it's supply of Power Stars in order to power his machines of conquest)
  
  He just won't give up.
• Again this leads it to having a sort of "war/resistance" vibe, as it really feels like a team effort. Rosalina lends Mario the power of the Luma (starlike beings who populate the Observatory) which allows him access to the star shaped gates that blast him to all corners of the universe, a plucky group of Toads (led by the progenitor of Captain Toad, including his catchy theme) travel the void in a ship built by the Luma on the search for Stars (you'll run across them often in Galaxies & usually must help them out in order to get a Star that they found), and there are even times you'll have to travel to a previous Galaxy to save Luigi after he's gotten himself into trouble trying to find a Star. Heck, every time you unlock a Bowser level a Luma informs you that they've "located an enemy base".
• There's also a Library on the Observatory, and at certain thresholds you'll unlock a new chapter in Rosalina's backstory, told via a totally adorable children's book aesthetic. It's quite a somber tale & even gets surprisingly emotional. You'll even get some lore on other things, such as the origins of the Power Stars themselves. Alas (likely due to the immense success of the back to basics New Super Mario Bros. titles), further Mario titles have really stripped back what narrative elements were starting to creep into the series with Sunshine & Galaxy.
  
  Time for a story.

Conclusion:

• I found this to be just as captivating as it was the first time around, and really cemented itself as possibly the greatest core Mario title I've played. In hindsight it feels like 64 & Sunshine were rough drafts of what a Mario title could be in 3D, and while there are certain things about them I appreciate more (and I think Sunshine in particular is still a great game), I think Galaxy excels by taking the lessens they learned from the first two attempts, crafting an equally imaginative, yet razor focused adventure that's distinctly Mario in a way the previous games weren't.
  
  An explosive success, if I say so.

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Devil May Cry 2 HD (Switch)

Even though it's considered an infamously "bad" sequel to the original genre defining title, as someone who generally likes to play through games in order, what do I think? (For reference, the quick turnaround of this review after my SMG piece is that I played the majority of this before getting 3DAS, but wanted to hold of on writing about it until I finished off the last 3 levels of the second campaign, which I recently did).

Gameplay:

• A level based action game that consists of 31 missions spread across two story campaigns (18 missions for a Dante run, and 13 missions for newcomer Lucia). You are graded on your performance in a level (based on time spent, damage taken, items used, combat aggressiveness/style, etc.) with a better ranking granting you a larger number of Red Orbs (in-game currency used for upgrades) as a reward. Obviously the intent is for you to better your performance so you'll be able to afford better/more upgrades for the tougher late game missions, but the fact is that the game is easy enough that even by playing cautiously you'll still earn more than enough to get you through without much trouble (it should be noted that Red Orbs are regularly found in the level environments, and are dropped by enemies upon defeat as well. Due to the fact that some groups of enemies respawn after a few minutes, it's entirely possible to farm them in spots as well).
• You string together melee combos with "X", ranged attacks with "Y", dodge with "A", jump with "B", and activate "Devil Trigger" (a transformation that increases your attack power & heals health with damage dealt) by pressing "L". I believe it's possible to guard as well, but it's telling that the game is easy enough that I never had to do so (preferring to dodge). To the game's credit there is a lot of room to play around with some flashy & stylish combat, but you'll never really be put into any situations where you'll need to do any advanced stuff (in fact, unlike the first game, you can't even buy any advanced techniques or combos as upgrades, as your full move set is available from the beginning), and to be honest in many situations it's possible to get by just by holding down the ranged attack button and slowly mow down everything around you, even off screen (there are these harpie enemies that are hilarious to fight, as when they spawn you can just start shooting and see them fall from the top of the screen one by one every few seconds, as there is automatic enemy lock on). Even some of the tougher enemies can be pretty easily stunlocked by a constant barrage of gunfire.
  
  Imma gonna go ahead and take you out before you're even on screen.
• One (sort of) improvement on the first game is a wider gamut of bosses to fight (with only a few you fight more than once, and even then it's usually just once per campaign), but while there are are some that are fun to fight when you get into the intended groove, aside from one annoying boss that's hard for the wrong reasons, none of them are particularly challenging, and most can be cheesed with ranged attacks just as easily as normal enemies (or in the case of a corrupted tank just by hacking away at it, as it can't shoot you when you're under it's turret).
• Outside of combat you'll have to contend with simple puzzles (such as finding a switch to activate a door), the ocassional platforming element, or even a timed escape sequence. The platforming can be a bit clunky, but nothing I found to be particularly irritating. Oh, and there are also hidden combat rooms behind random doors in every level (some levels must have more than one, as there are 20 in Dante's campaign despite the fact that he only has 18 missions, some of which are just boss rooms). There are no hints as to which doors hide one of these secret rooms, so you just have to check every single one you see in the environment (now, these are optional, but they ocassionally do reward you with a Blue Orb fragment, more on these later, for completion). Needless to say I didn't find all of them.
  
  Still better than Mario 64 (burn...)
• In between missions (and at certain statues within them) you can access the upgrades menu. Here you can spend your Red Orbs to upgrade the attack power of your melee & ranged weapons (each can be upgraded twice), buy a limited number of health increasing Blue Orbs (these can also be found off the beaten path inside of levels as well, both whole & in pieces, of which you must collect 4 to make a whole), Purple Orbs (these increase your max Devil Trigger guage), or Yellow Orbs (these fully revive you if you're killed, however you can only hold one at a time. They can rarely be found in levels as well, however will be converted to Red Orbs if you already have one). You can also buy one use restorative items as well, but it's an easy enough game that you're better off saving for the full upgrades.
• Otherwise you obtain alternate melee & ranged weapons as you progress through the game (with one being quicker but weaker than default, and the other being slower but stronger), but I never felt the need to switch from the defaults). You also obtain amulets that augument your Devil Trigger abilities (such as one that increases your attack strength even further while transformed, or one that increases your regenerative capabilities). Early on you even get one that lets you fly in Devil Trigger, but this isn't used much.
• Lucia's campaign does reuse levels from Dante's, though some of them are remixed (like one you play in reverse), and it does have some new ones as well (such as an underwater level), including a different final boss. I'd say it's just different enough to be worth a shot if you completed Dante's & want more (it does expand more on the story too).
  
  Lucia's underwater mission. By default you're equipped with grenades which are cumbersome to use, but there is an (easily missed) harpoon gun early in the segment that makes combat underwater much easier.
• You unlock a new costume for your character of choice on every difficulty you complete the game with them (for completing Hard mode the costume is the same for both characters, a skin of Trish from the first game). I only completed it on normal, however.
• When you complete the game you unlock the ability to challenge the "Bloody Palace" mode with the character you beat it with. I haven't played it, but believe it's just a challenge mode where you must clear rooms of increasingly difficult enemies. Not sure what, if anything, you get for clearing it.

Visual/Audio:

• While the first game had a very thematic castle for you to explore (it was originally intended to be a Resident Evil title & has sort of a "Metroidvania" style structure, just cut up into levels later in development), DMC2 was intended to be level based from the start & isn't anywhere near as moody as the original. I wouldn't say the levels are inherently samey (you do travel from a small European village, to a big metropolis, industrial complex, ancient ruins, and more), but they do come off a bit more dull than spooky as I imagine the intent was supposed to be.
  
  
  
  
  That's not to say it's all bad though. The two pictures just above are from the same level, as you explore a skyscraper in somewhat of an interconnected manner it slowly becomes more demonic in appearance the deeper you get.
• Otherwise it cleans up pretty nice in HD, but is a pretty standard looking game from the era.
• The soundtrack didn't standout one way or the other.

Story:

• Many years ago the residents of a small island community helped Dante's father defeat a devil known as Argosax, however a powerful businessman known as Arius has invited the forces of darkness to turn the island into Hell on Earth all in an attempt to revive Argosax & gain immense power himself. Lucia, the last of the island's devil blooded warriors recruits Dante to help her put a stop to Arius' plans.
  
  This wannabe Dracula is up to no good.
• It's not the worst story in the world or anything, but it is told sort of clumsily, especially if you just play Dante's campaign as Lucia's holds quite a few plot points that really don't get covered in Dante's. There are other points where things sort of just happen though, such as a mission where you're randomly warped to a boss fight in one of Dante's missions right before the end, and warped back after you beat it, kind of like how they couldn't think of how to organically work it in. Also, I totally think missions 5 & 6 of Dante's campaign were alternate ideas for the same mission (one where you fight a demon helicopter as you scale a skyscraper, the other you fight a skyscraper turned into a demon), as you start out both in the exact same area (which doesn't make sense, since you're working your way up the island). I think they just liked both ideas so included both.

Conclusion:

• Is it a terrible game? I really don't think so. It's just a pretty run of the mill action game with a bit of a clumsy story that happened to be the follow up to the title that arguably defined the stylish action game, so was seen at the time as a big disappointment. Taken on it's own is a perfectly playable action game, that despite being a bit too easy for most fans of the genre might be worth a punt on sale.
  What a terrible night to have a curse (wait, wrong monster killing action series...).

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Ys I & II Chronicles Plus
Platform: PC
Playtime: 6 hours for Ys I; 8 hours for Ys II. All weapons and items found in both games.

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Today I'd like to talk about a duology of JRPGs I recently completed: Ys I & II Chronicles Plus (2013), which is an upgraded port of a similar collection that has been released on the PSP some years before called Ys I & II Chronicles (2009). These are, of course, only the most recent collections of Ys I & II from veteran Japanese developer Nihon Falcom, which are some of the oldest games in the medium, with the first game in this collection (full title: Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished Omen) dating all the way back to 1987 on the PC-88 in Japan (the West wouldn't see a version of the game until a Sega Master System port, localized as Ys: The Vanished Omens, in 1989). While we're talking about the historical stuff, it's probably worth mentioning that the TurboGrafx-CD port of the Ys I & II collection was the first RPG ever committed to CD-ROM in North America. Yeah, there's a LOT of history here.

The Ys (pronounced "eese," like "geese," but without the g sound) series has grown more prominent recently with the 2017 PS4 release and 2018 Nintendo Switch release of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana worldwide. This was also my first exposure to the series, and I absolutely loved the game. Now, while I wait for the PS4 followup Ys IX: Monstrum Nox in 2021, I thought I'd go back and revisit older games in the series to get a sense of how it has evolved over the years, starting with the original two games.

I don't usually review two games at once (I'm going to do this with another set of games for one of my next reviews, actually!), but it's important to note that, unlike any other set of games in the Ys series, Ys I & II are essentially one game split into two parts. In Ys I, you first meet the now iconic Adol Christin, a 16 year old adventurer with flame-red hair and a burning passion for discovery and adventure in his heart. We open as Adol heads to Esteria, an island nation that has been isolated from the rest of the world by a "stormwall." Adol (wordlessly, like Link from The Legend of Zelda, even to this day in modern entries) eventually helps and befriends a young woman named Feena, slays demons, and discovers a vast supernatural mystery related to the Kingdom of Ys, which vanished from the earth previously. What follows is fairy tale-esque high fantasy involving ancient goddesses, magical books, prophecies, and people discovering their magical bloodlines as Adol faces off against increasingly difficult foes over the course of the game. Ys II begins with Adol having been teleported to what remains of the Kingdom of Ys, which we discover is actually floating above the Earth. I won't say more so as not limit the amount of spoilers, but it's all fairly impressively story-driven for such an old game (even if these extremely faithful remakes probably increased the amount of dialogue and introduced more cutscenes and whatnot to modernize the presentation a bit).

The most immediately notable aspect of Ys I & II is the battle system. Ys games are "action-rpgs," so combat takes place in real time on the map, and success in battles is mostly down to reflex and player skill. Technology didn't allow for tremendously complex battle systems in games back in 1987, however, so the first two Ys games adopt was is now called the "bump system." Essentially, Adol has no attack command. Rather, any time he touches an enemy, they exchange blows automatically. Attacking an enemy head-on leaves Adol vulnerable and is a good way to get him killed. So the player has to bumrush enemies from unusual angles: diagonally, straight on from an angle, so that they're barely touching the enemy sprite, from behind, etc. It sounds like a supremely awkward system, and, admittedly, I'd never play this way over having an actual attack command (something that was actually added to the Nintendo DS port of the original Ys game, but I digress), but it works surprisingly well! Part of that is the speed of gameplay. Sort of like Doomguy, Adol seems to be in his element when he's mindlessly charging around the battlefield, rushing enemies and making them hilariously explode into clouds of gore (it sounds nasty, but the cutesy art style doesn't really allow for graphic detail at all).

This system worked less well for me when it came to bosses. In Ys I, bosses are generally simplistic in design to allow for this style of combat, and thus devolve into irritating spectacles where you spend most of the match running from attacks that follow you around the battlefield before desperately running at the enemy for the second or two he'll expose himself at a time. The nadir of this approach actually came with the final boss of the first game, Dark Fact. This jerk ping-pongs around the stage like a crack-addled chipmunk, shooting projectiles out of his body pretty much constantly. So he's hard to hit as is. Once you figure out how to predict his movements and hit him, you discover that, every time he takes damage, a floor tile disappears below him. Thus, over the course of the battle (which typically lasts ten seconds or less, because the battle itself is an embarrassingly unbalanced spectacle), it's easy for the player to accidentally pin themselves in by destroying too many of the floor tiles in a single area, but where the player ends up destroying the floor tiles feels mostly like chance, because so many projectiles are constantly assailing the player that they die if they stay still for more than a second or two, and are constantly taking damage. So it's a battle of attrition between the player and the boss until the player happens to get lucky enough not to destroy too much flooring in particular patterns. I've heard this boss isn't too bad in the PSP version, but, for some reason, the frequency of his attacks and speed of his movements is tied to the framerate the game runs at in the PC release. So, when the framerate is unlocked, he bounces around at near lightning speeds and fills the stage so full of projectiles that the player never really has a chance. I actually had to put a third party application on my PC to limit the game's framerate to 60 to make it playable, which seems supremely dumb oversight on the part of the developers.

Boss encounters in Ys II broadly work better thanks to the introduction of a new element: magic attacks. Adol, very early in the game, gains the ability to use magic. This has a variety of non-offensive uses (including disguising himself as a demon to sneak past certain enemies, freezing time, warping to previously visited locations, and so on), but he ALSO gains the ability to damage and kill enemies by shooting fireballs. This spell is also very easy on the MP meter, so it's clearly designed to be well-used by the player. Most of the bosses in Ys II are designed to be attacked with magic, so the fights can afford to be a bit more complex and creative.

Ys II, in general, is just a flat out better game than the original. The story is more fully realized, and it ties back to Ys I in some cool ways. The game has a larger number of distinct locations to explore, making it feel more like an adventure. Combat, as mentioned is better, including a far less frustrating (and maybe too easy, but whatever) final boss. There's more dialogue. And the final dungeon, while still confusing, doesn't make me want to rip the hair out of my head like the original game's final dungeon, Darm Tower.

Both games also suffer from drawbacks, however. Primarily stuff that's baked into how the story progresses. Anyone who plays really old video games that aren't level based knows they often tend to have infuriatingly cryptic puzzles and progression logic, and the first two Ys games are, while hardly the worst examples of this, no exception either. Receiving critical items and moving the plot forward often depends on engaging with NPCs in unique ways that require some guesswork. The player will also frequently have to return to old locations to do or find something, often with very little direction on the part of the games. None of it is unguessable, of course, but it's not signposted nearly as clearly as it would be in a modern game, and this could lead to hours of frustration on the part of the player. Just read a walkthrough if you end up feeling lost.

The worst aspect of these games are the dungeon design and lack of maps. These games LOVE to throw the player into dingy, barely visible labyrinths filled with monsters, multiple floors, environmental puzzles, etc. So that makes them hard to navigate right off the bat. Now consider that these games don't support any form of in-game automapping of any kind. There aren't a tremendous number of locations in either game (they're shockingly small, actually; particularly the first game), but all of them are confusing and a pain to get around. Even the towns are large and dense enough that, even late in the game, I found myself wandering around them blindly, looking for plot-relevant NPCs or special locations.

I mentioned that I hated the final dungeon in Ys I, and it's primarily because of this. It's this hours long (seriously, half the game is spent climbing that %^&$#^* tower!) slog where everything looks the same, certain floors are filled with teleporter puzzles, and one particularly egregious bit of cryptic old-timey video game bullpucky is involved. I spent so much time lost in that dungeon.

The strongest point of this collection is the music. The original PC-88 OST, as basic as it was, was an early set of compositions by the legendary video game composer Yuzo Koshiro, who would compose the music for several of Falcom's early games. These tracks have been completely re-orchestrated a few times over the years for various re-releases (like, 5 or 6 times in Japan), but the soundtrack in this latest re-release is probably the best version of the music in these timeless games.

The forementioned fairy tale vibe of these games is immediately reinforced by the dreamy title theme for Ys I when you first boot it up:

The soundtrack is fairly diverse. You have your happy town themes:

More chilled out location themes:

The fantastic dungeon/region themes, which tend to be up-tempo and exciting:

And then the flat-out rock music, which often accompanies tough boss battles:

Also thought I'd link this very pretty track. The original composition was cut from the PC-88 version of the game, but they managed to squeeze the remade version into more recent versions of the collection, including the one I'm reviewing:

Impressively, Ys I + II Chronicles Plus supports alternative soundtracks and character designs - a set original to this version of the game, and a set that dates back to the earlier, non-localized PC re-release of the game in 2001 or so. You can mix and match these settings: I opted for the lush instrumentation of the Chronicles re-release, but the very charmingly retro character art found in the game's earlier PC re-release. You can even change the music to what was in the primitive PC-88 version (although, unfortunately, there's no accompanying graphical changes to go alongside that).

Here are a few screenshots to compare the differences:

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As it stands, then, while the games can be a bit hard to get into from a modern perspective, I think they hold up marvelously well given their age and the relatively minimal changes brought to the remakes. This classic JRPG duology struggles to hold up to experiences originating from modern hardware, of course, even within the same series, but they compare favorably to other games from that area (I'll replay Ys I & II any day before I subject myself to the rough contours of the NES-era Zelda or Metroid games again, for example). Adol Christin, despite being rather little known to most people, has enjoyed a storied history of gaming adventures that go back to nearly the dawn of the medium, and I'm excited to continue on this journey with him through the various Ys games.

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Fun fact: The opening for Ys II featured in this game was animated by Makoto Shinkai, who also directed other openings for certain Falcom games and would go on to become a sensation in the anime world with his masterful 2016 romantic-comedy-fantasy film Your Name

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Fun fact: There was apparently a fairly decent anime adaptation of both of these games in the late 1980s. And they're watchable for free on youtube!