GreenMenace

Fortunes Weave was a game I looked forward to for a long time. It lived up to my expectations. In my opinion, I preferred Three Houses. That said, it's easy to tell how much love went into this game. Ten hours in, and I can tell that Fortunes Weave aims to build on the world Three Houses started. It also adapts storytelling to make each path truly unique (that said, I feel as though they pulled from traditional Fire Emblem tropes). There are interesting additions to mechanics, including additional types of battles. The voice acting is great! The portrait art is immensely enjoyable! The cutscenes are well done. It all comes together to really try to build and explore a story on a path. That said, the game's review lost a point in my book because it isn't necessarily easy to "find a stopping point" in the game. Conversations tend to go on awhile followed by cutscenes and more conversations. They went a little long, but again, I appreciate the love that went into the game. And I would highly recommend looking into it!

SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Switch 1 edition. Better graphics and FPS make this game far more playable. That said, I was generous with the Switch 1 version grade and I truly think this might be the most overrated game of all time. Yes, these are improvements that came two years later, but the first version of the game reused BoTW's engine far less effectively. The first ten hours are great. But once you drop to the world below, you are introduced to monotonous gameplay that is supposed to last hundreds of hours. The story, the characters, the plot, the setting, a development of any kind--is really not what the game is about. The game goes out of its way to forget its prequel and contradict it--which left me pretty incredulous. The Purah pad is "new", the champions of BoTW are all but forgotten, people don't remember that calamity Ganon was just stopped by Link (not even that, people just don't remember Link exists), and Kass is gone to name a few. While on subject of its predecessor, BoTW faced several complaints such as empty music and too much time in a menu. ToTK somehow took all of BoTW's flaws and made them worse. Ultrahand and Fuse are centered around eating up time "setting up" instead of playing. It truly feels like to me the game tried so hard to be a meme for Youtubers--at the cost of being fun. Some players will love the sandboxing. Some players are satisfied living in a world that feels like an MMRPG. That isn't me. What if you don't like Ultrahand? Well, that cannot be since using Ultrahand to build futuristic machines (or abusing the hoverbike) is the key gimmick to this game. In a word, the biggest problem ToTK faces is *pacing*. It. Takes. So. Long. To find a set of armor. To unlock all the faeries. To obtain the materials for *one* set of armor. To obtain the rupees to upgrade said armor. Even a player like myself, who had played the game and knew to exploit the hoverbike, had to spend dozens of hours defeating enemy camps in a circle every blood moon so I could have enough monster drops + zonite to upgrade one set of armor and get enough energy wells to explore. Surely someone can do it faster, but it took me roughly fifty hours to do that! That is insanity! I wasn't against weapons breaking in BoTW, but I hit my personal breaking point in ToTK. It didn't feel like resource management. It felt like a chore that ate my time. Materials were valued less in game, and the game requested more rupees. ToTK adopted the belief that bigger and longer is better, and will remain my personal standard of what kind of grind is bad. A lengthy, unrewarding grind does not increase the value of the game. Legends ZA took a leaf out of ToTK's book (the depths) and reused the same land with a different backdrop. I think it's lazy game design, and it isn't fun to explore. I call this game overrated. I say so because everyone deemed it a must play. ToTK, up to this point, might have been the most anticipated game of all time. It did extremely well at **** then dropped off. Everyone said it was better than BoTW (including critics--who said they couldn't play more than 80 hours of ToTK after declaring there was hundreds of hours of content). Fans of the game were very annoying, getting on every other Nintendo game board and calling all other games--including BoTW--trash. And don't get me started on the accusation that many defenders of ToTK still say: "people don't like ToTK because of nostalgia for BoTW". Not one person in my friend group liked ToTK. I was the only one who finished it. And I finished the game out of spite. People who drop this game don't really find much reason to return. You HAVE to like the sandboxing aka machine building to want to play ToTK over BoTW. Is there a game here? Yes. Is it a good game? Yes. There are more materials in ToTK than BoTW. There are more enemies. There is more music. The depths are super cool (although I was bummed because I promised a game that spent a lot of time in the sky). I played it through twice. The second time was way better for me since I minimized my experience with Ultrahand and flew through the skies at a high FPS and resolution. But at the end of the day, the theme of vehicles in an adventure game really conflicts with Link. Link. Is. A. Knight. NOT an engineer. Sometimes Zelda games go overboard with mechanics. Skyward Sword went overboard with motion controls. And in my opinion, ToTK doesn't feel like a Zelda game because it focused really hard on the wrong things. I didn't care about machines, or Ultrahand, or slowly breaking boulders, or the plot of "why is Zelda acting weird", or the contradictions of its prequel of all things, or marking my map so I could backtrack old paths to slowly upgrade my armor. And yet...that easily takes up 80% of the game. The game should have me focused on the FUN part of the game. And ToTK does not do that in my opinion. Both ToTK and BoTW felt slow and I want the *pacing* of the game to feel more epic.

Hear me out. There's way too much forced RNG in Mega Dimension. The bulk of the expansion focuses on a boring and frustrating crafting system. There have been patches to improve how frustrating it is. But I absolutely detest the donut system. It's stressful. It's time consuming. Even though the cutscene to make them is undeniably adorable. But I digress--the autosave function is designed to block players from save scumming donuts--a common technique that exists in EVERY game to skip frustrating parts. Donuts are made up of ingredients (berries) that you have to farm from areas that required a decent donut to get into. They introduce new pokemon for you to catch--but wait! There's an rng system in place that *ensures* that you as the player will have to spend hours and hours inside the donut system praying for the right one to show up. See, in most Pokemon games I've played, it's an adventure where you get to set a goal and go after the Pokemon of your choice--not craft a couple hundred donuts, complete menial tasks, put in a dozen hours, and hope to get the Pokemon I want. It made zero sense to implement a crafting system. Sure, they were generous with apriballs. Sure, game designers have rigged DLC to be better economically with time. Sure, you have a guaranteed shiny with the right donut (taking away the fun rng factor). But--oh. My. Gosh. Why did Legends ZA base the game around a crafting system? And why did it abandon its Legends Arceus roots? The game felt like a complete absence of adventure. I'm stuck in a city in the base game, and for DLC I got to go to the space version of the same city. Don't try to beat save scumming, Pokemon game designers. It's literally common practice since video game's conception to save time. Instead of implementing a failsafe system to waste my time, work on making a game that's FUN to play. Give me reasons why I don't WANT to skip your game. If there's no way to skip it, you can bet I'm not touching another Legends game again. I'm disappointed this was my first Switch 2 game.

Legends ZA felt like it was given the task to make space for all the Pokemon who had not made it onto a Switch game yet, while reintroducing mega-evolution. The new game mechanics are reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicles and work well, shaking up an ancient formula. However, Legends ZA did not have a big enough Pokedex to justify making battling a primary focus. Pokemon is also about an adventure, but Legends ZA took several steps in the wrong direction by forcing frustrating elements into play. It’s not a total disappointment, but I would personally only rank Legends ZA over BDSP when compared to other Pokemon games. Once I put the game down, I'll never pick it back up. This game is NOT a must play.

Short intense fun. Get revenge and snipe your friends in this pixel platformer. This game has appealing pixel graphics, simple controls with a broad range of application and a demanding single/coop mode. Best of all, the party potential. I believe this is a game that excels with more people. You can pick your favorite settings or randomize the settings along with the map to focus on what kind of experience you want. The multiplayer is my personal favorite, but the need for multiple people does lower my rating of the game.

Pac-man multiplayer? Apparently it exists in the Quest for the Golden Duck. I like and appreciate the idea, and it's a cheap game. It's safe to say it's not going to be your next big addiction.

Good game that's better on any other platform. Not a knock on the game, but I didn't enjoy using the joycons to play the game. It feels weird to use bumpers to attack. The graphics suffer. Highly recommend the game, but if there is any other platform as an option, I'd go with it.

I like the premise. I got this back in the day looking for anything Zelda. But I couldn't bring myself to make it far.

Good enough game with good ideas, but it's outshined by prior Mario Parties. The boards are dull. There are other Mario Party games on the Switch that are better. Unique dice and game modes alongside a great cast of characters do not save the gameplay.

Disgaea 5 on the *switch* doesn't tempt me to play it. I enjoy this type of game, but I learned that the game requires an internet connection, plays like a mobile game, and has rudimentary characters and a nonsensical plot. I understand the point of the game is combat, but again, I don't feel tempted to get involved with a game that doesn't invite me to stay. It would be easier for me to give the game more of a chance if it didn't require an internet connection. I would suggest others to look somewhere else within the genre, because I believe most games would have more to offer. I got this game on a big sale, and still found myself feeling disappointed. I really don't think it should be rated as favorably as it is.

This is a deep game, but it takes too long. A "quick" match takes around 8 hours. Then there's the fact that there doesn't feel like there's enough variability to justify spending multiple games in a single Civilization. The four win conditions are relatively close to each other--you will always need good science and a good military (because the AI like to prioritize warmongering)--which in turn requires good culture to get good production, all tying back to getting food. And the thing is, the tutorial doesn't teach you the application of what you're doing, so you have to turn to outside resources to learn what exactly you're doing. My verdict is that this is a fun and a well-designed game, but I strongly believe that there are better alternatives in the same genre for your time. I will not be trying future entries of these games.

One of the main reasons why I bought the switch was the promise of Metroid Prime 4. That hasn’t happened. I decided to give 2d Metroid a shot, and while I can comfortably say I prefer a Prime game, I had a blast with Metroid Dread. Pros Tight controls Great theme Satisfying playstyle Cons Camouflaged blocks inhibit early progress in story A hidden move mechanic I got stuck a couple times in the early game because it felt like a Mario boo house. When you’re stuck, shoot at the wall! The game says. Didn’t like that. It’s formulaic enough though to where you can learn what to expect, but still...Also, the developers put a lot of enhancements (though not required to beat the game) behind a complicated move mechanic that isn’t even mentioned in the game. And, to add insult to injury, they put that mechanic on the most breakable part of the joy-con. It was stressful to use the technique, fail, and try again a dozen times because I was worried I was harming the controller. While the music doesn’t detract from the theme, it doesn’t carry much weight. Thankfully, the rainbow robots (why all the colors though?) pulled through. The E.M.M.I. put the dread in Dread. It was fun and satisfying to sneak around them until you could finally take them out. This is a very well made game because once you get some momentum, the game is really fun. The items didn’t really add anything new to the game, but boss fights were fun enough to where I found myself mashing to shoot as fast as I could. The game looks fantastic and the controls are very satisfying to pull off. There are quality of life features too like the map marking where you found, but couldn’t reach, areas and or enhancements. Loading screens were put in spots that didn’t interrupt the immersion of the game. It’s a short game costing $60, but it gave me something that most Nintendo games don’t offer an adult: a challenge. In summary, I don’t like games with guns. I don’t like platformers. I don’t like horror themes. But I like Metroid Dread and have no regrets.

This is BOTW 2. As a long-term hardcore fan, I think there’s a lot more to be critical of than what I’ve seen from critics. Despite improvements to BOTW’s core formula, this game is not a masterpiece. It’s simply a sequel to a great game. Primarily because the puzzles did not deliver in this entry. Pros Story/Characters Improved Interface Greater Variety Cons Puzzling / Dungeons Music More Linear Safe TOTK improved upon monster variety. It’s much easier to switch items, the quests are passable, and the characters feel more likeable. Most importantly, the story in TOTK can go toe to toe with any other Zelda. The map feels significantly different from before, so I can confidently say it doesn’t feel “rehashed”. That said, this is BOTW. Even the tutorial is scarily close to BOTW. I’ve never been big on the futuristic theme. I can see why Nintendo’s given BOTW so much love considering its sales, but I think part of BOTW’s success was it’s fresh breath into the franchise, not the structure of the game. In other words, I don’t want 100+ hour long Zelda games. Especially considering how many of those hours are spent walking from place to place. Fusing is a large portion of the game. It’s helpful because it gives every item in your inventory a purpose. It’s somewhat annoying because most of the time, ALL of your items become ugly. I’m worried that Zelda is starting to lose its identity. The puzzles were heavily, heavily reliant on Ultrahand. It needed more materials to work with to allow a more diverse experience. Puzzles in TOTK revolve around machines. It didn’t feel like Zelda, and worse, it wasn’t satisfying to complete a puzzle—it was sweet relief I could stop using Ultrahand. Puzzling in TOTK feels much more linear than BOTW. Yes, linear. Machines are meant to be built one way to work. And that made shrines feel like an absolute drag. Of all the changes in the game, I feel like the music changed the least. I’m used to having beautiful Zelda music each game, but BOTW and TOTK have not delivered. The music was empty in BOTW, but the Sky Islands theme is nothing short of AWFUL. A good chunk of the score I can look you in the eye and say anybody, and I mean anybody, could write it. I don’t play Zelda to build modern technology. I play Zelda to play epic one on ones with exciting music, progress through a story, and complete dungeons. That’s what OOT was designed for in the first place. Link’s a knight, not an engineer. I like fast paced, satisfying puzzling that tests Link’s reflexes and skill. Not running around the map. Not taking thirty minutes as you fiddle around with Ultrahand to progress through three phases of a single shrine. It’s like TOTK was forced with the worst of two worlds. It avoided the influence of old school Zelda, and it couldn’t provide too much variety to work with since the open world game is already hard to design. All in all, I didn’t mind the “go here” “go there” attitude that TOTK developed to extend simple tasks like unlocking the Sky Towers. I’m satisfied with the BOTW formula, but it should place a much larger emphasis on puzzles. Not big lengthy physics puzzles, a simple chain of commands to get Link from A to D in five minutes. Time will tell whether vehicles in Zelda will be popular, but for me on a personal level, they’re a bust.

Full disclosure, my first time playing this game was on NSO. In my book as a long time Zelda fan, Minish Cap beats out Oracle of Ages as the worst Zelda I've played. I can enjoy A Link to the Past or Oracle of Seasons even today. I think what made me dislike it so much were the graphics. I was frustrated because I had a hard time with the puzzle logic--sometimes you'd do supernatural (albeit cool) things you'd never think of, and other times it was nigh impossible to tell height differences. The dungeons were a disappointment, but the bosses were fun. I liked the hat and shrinking to a different world was definitely cool. The Kinstones were an interesting addition that I may have been more interested in had I not felt the need to end the game as soon as possible. I do think there were too many--Kinstones as a whole limited exploration. I can see how my favorite entry of the franchise, Skyward Sword, was influenced by this game. In the end, lots of cool, creative ideas were put into this game. But it just wasn't fun for me.

I liked this game enough to buy it twice; a console version was too enticing since I wasn't big on the PC controls. If I have a preference between the two, I'd pick the switch version, hands down. Pros Great Music Decent Story Appealing Graphics Tight Controls Cons Forgettable Characters Puzzling Fetch Quests The controls and level scheme allows for some replayability. You can choose to be melee, ranged, or a hybrid of the two. You can switch up what elements you focus. And while run of the mill quests and characters are disappointing in a beautiful game and a solid main story, the main draw to Crosscode is the combat and puzzles. Puzzles are hard to the point where it can slow the playthrough down. That can be a good thing--but if you ever take a break from the game, you will have a hard time picking it back up because of all the nuances involved with each puzzle, whether it be platforming or objects you interact with. Combat has a satisfying level of difficulty as well. All in all, a super solid game that translated very well to the switch.

I highly recommend the original King's Bounty. I appreciated the ideas to switch up the series, but they just fell short. The changes made it sound like King's Bounty had improved its story, but don't be fooled. As bad as the original King's Bounty story was, you could speed past it to play the fun aspects of the game. Now it's dragged out with "go here" and "go there". The switch is not the platform to play this game. I got this game on a large sale, and still regret it. It feels more linear and less strategic than the original King's Bounty. The decisions are not exciting because the game itself pushes you into making specific decisions depending on your class (to unlock your class's unique skills). The units at the start are very limited. The overworld itself is rough around the edges and not fluid. The running in the game is awkward, but funny enough to where I couldn't hate it. I haven't played this game beyond two hours (but I am familiar with the series as a whole) because it just didn't cut it for me. Not only is it a rough game graphically, but it doesn't run great on the switch. On a different platform I'd add another one or two points. I'm sure that if I had stuck with it, some of the strategy and decision-making would have developed into something that could be called fun, but oh boy, this is a rough game.

Hogwarts Legacy is a great game, but it falls short of being a masterpiece because of some oversights and awkward moments. Pros Lots of collectibles Simple, but satisfying puzzles Fluid, easy to understand combat Exploration Music / Art Cons Rudimentary Tutorials Limited Voice Acting Disrupted Theme Empty School What does Hogwarts Legacy excel at? It excels at “collecting” stuff. You collect spells, potions, and complete a list of tasks for rewards. The other part Hogwarts Legacy does very well is its combat. I was very skeptical of it going in, but both the simple puzzles and the combat are satisfying; but also very repetitive. The game’s a lot of fun. It’s a little cutscene heavy at the start, but a lot went into the music and art to make players feel like they really are at Hogwarts. For example, each dorm room has unique architecture. It’s nothing short of awesome. The story and characters were, for the most part, great. I appreciated the thought that went into some puns made by the characters and the lore scattered throughout the world kept me engaged. I found myself rooting for some of the characters. For me, the game really picked up once I could fly. Tutorials were barebones, which often meant it took a little extra time to figure out. The Alohomora spell in particular I couldn’t figure out until I looked it up on the internet. Another aspect of the game that fell a little short was the quantity of voice actors. It felt like all the villains had the same one or two voices. I know that the protagonist had a limited number of voices to choose from. I can understand some overlap, but it felt a little like missed potential there. Wandering around the school or interacting with characters, you always do so *alone*. While I may have liked certain characters, and some characters may have invited me to do a couple things, I didn’t really feel like I was making friends. This led me to believe that I would prefer a social-focused take on Hogwarts. Fun as the combat is, I’d prefer to get into mischief and interact with other characters. The last criticism I have is how the theme was disrupted because the game was trying too hard to be diverse. There were too many accents in the game. I wanted to feel like I was in Great Britain, but you have transfer students and transfer professors who are given the limelight for good chunks of the game, and I would have rather stuck with the British accent OR gone to a magical school in another country and stuck to THAT accent. If it were a Wizarding school in France, then I want a French culture, if it was one in Korea, I’d want a Korean culture—I’d be irritated if English characters weaved their way in as an integral part of the game. I want a celebration of culture. And I want an imperfect cast of characters—that includes artistic license to create good and evil characters without things getting political. In conclusion, this is a good game. This game IS very diverse. Improve the secondary characters, or the puzzles, or increase the number of voice actors and added quidditch, or improve the “school” feel of the game and you’d have a masterpiece. I’ve heard rumors of an intended sequel, but to capture my interest, the game must improve its core gameplay by making the game feel less like a repetitive collection grind.

I've spent 50+ hours in this game with my nephew. It's a good platforming game, especially for kids. The multiplayer aspect is really nice. Thing is, the physics of this game drive me crazy at times. Sometimes button inputs just don't do what I tell them to when I need it and that puts me behind when it shouldn't. The fact that it's free and that there are rotating maps give it a lot of value. However, as should be expected, there are in game cosmetic purchases so be aware of that going in. It's also worth mentioning that Fall Guys is cross platform--meaning you can play the same game on different consoles.

Final Fantasy XII was my introduction into this Final Fantasy series. It had a fun enough tutorial, but then the main protagonist was introduced and I quickly lost interest. Maybe I'll finish it someday, but there was no reason for me to feel an urge to continue.

I consider this game the epitome of all Warriors games, even by today’s standards. I suppose a part of that is because of all the changes made in the “Definitive” edition that truly made it definitive. This is the only Warriors game I would ever need. And yet, it only manages to pull out a 7 because I can’t bring myself to recommend a Warriors game over another game, even if it is the best one. You get to choose your favorite Zelda characters to fight as while attempting to secure victory for Hyrule. I will admit I enjoyed playing the cast of characters available. There’s a wide variety! And for all I can tell, they each have a unique fighting identity that makes a single battle with them feel different from any another. The adventure mode in particular added a lot of variability to fights with different goals. Legend mode has a more dynamic feel in fights, but those fights also last three times longer. Mastering the skill ceiling isn’t difficult, but you have to learn and apply all the mechanics of the game to finish the battle as fast as you can. Adventure mode contains most features used in the game, such as the My Fairy feature and unlockable characters. Legend mode contains unlockable characters and the game’s story. Play Hyrule Warriors to unlock your inner kid, or to satisfy your need for a meaningless grind to max out character trees + levels, or to spend time with a child as you trample the hosts of evil by mashing the same button combo over and over again, so much so that you remember all of their moves even years after you’ve stopped playing.

Metroid Prime is a masterpiece. The game really nailed the sense of “high stakes” with satisfying rewards. Sure, you might lose five or six times at different times on your way to beating an area, but you walk out of it with that one win feeling like a champ. It now looks and plays better than ever. It’s an old one, but a fantastic game beloved by players for years. It delivers both a satisfying challenge and a fun experience. This game. Is worth your attention.

Scarlet and Violet is an ambitious generation that mixes elements from Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus. Pros Open World The Strategy and Heart Gameplay and Story Cons No Difficulty Scaling Graphics Game Performance The multiplayer in this game is incredible. You can have two people (up to four) running around the world at the same time without an impact on the game’s performance, and joining raids is a cinch while linked. Granted, to do so, you need to have two switches and two copies of the game like most switch games. The story actually put forward an effort. The characters actually had heart this game. Don’t expect anything huge, but it certainly made the game more enjoyable. Not to mention there were several points in the game where I lost battles (because I ran wherever I felt like). Weak spots in Sword/Shield such as cooking and internet connection have dramatically improved. Cooking has become a full on crafting system. And the internet connection hasn’t caused any problems for me. I’m sure I’ll run into them someday. There’s no way Game Freak’s fixed that. Even raids have improved, allowing all players to act at the same time. No longer do you sit and do nothing as you watch the AI increase their defensive stats. The biggest detraction from this game is the game performance. This is coming from someone who isn’t a tech genius, but at times (mostly the beginning of the game oddly enough), the screen tore. I can’t identify it in just about any other game, but in Scarlet and Violet it was obvious. And catching Pokemon is a little awkward considering where the Pokeball lands. The terrain in general is usually pretty rough as well. In summary the moves look nicer than they ever have on Switch, but everything else is lacking in the graphics department. And looking at all the bad reviews, they're dumping 0-2's purely on graphics lol. In conclusion, this is the best Pokemon game on Switch for the casual player. If you aren’t into collecting every species, online battling, shiny hunting, or anything usually reserved for the “postgame,” Scarlet and Violet delivers a fun experience.

In hindsight, Oblivion suffers from being sandwiched between two great games. On one hand, you have the newer, flashier Skyrim. On the other, you have its predecessor, Morrowind, which is a masterpiece. I did not make it far in Oblivion because it introduced a few mechanics I wasn’t fond of (namely, introducing how everyone knows whether something is stolen or not). Characters level like they do in Morrowind, and the game looks a lot like Morrowind. But when you hear people talking about the Elder Scrolls, this entry gets glazed over.

I like the art of the game. I like the music of the game. I like the premise of the game. I like strategic, turn based combat. But for some reason the game itself doesn't mesh well with me. I prefer listening to the soundtrack to playing the actual game.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Star Wars aspect of this game. However, I didn't realize how big the world was going to be, and I won't finish the game for a long time because the backlog of games I have on my list is too long to give this one a try. I get it's a short game, but it's looking like it's a short game with most of the game running between areas. I liked the combat well enough. I'm not into the sort of skill tree this game chose. I made it halfway through the first world and I went, uh oh, it doesn't look like exploring the world will be fun and the game's cramming it down my throat. Good game, I would have enjoyed it further had it felt like there was more action. I also was enjoying the story. But goodness, the puzzles in this game were limited enough to where I just wanted to progress in the story. I don't play Star Wars to climb and zipline.

It’s the black sheep in the Heroes family (it even changed its name). Ubisoft got way too confident after Heroes V’s popularity and promptly drove the beloved series into the ground by trying to monetize the game like it was some sort of Moba. Pros Best looking Heroes game to date Strategy Different from the standard Heroes formula. Cons Grinding for meaningless achievements No RMG Lack of neutral monsters So there it is, the game looks great, and it plays great—but it doesn’t feel finished. Five factions come with the base game. It’s like the developers didn’t pay any attention to what players liked about the Heroes entries. It’s the diverse strategy and replay-ability, not the cheesy campaigns, that drive this game’s popularity. Even so, the five factions are very different from one another. This game aims to shorten the length of Heroes games by allowing players to choose the talent trees for Heroes, adding a fun element of Blood or Tears to really make four different types of heroes per faction. You can convert conquered towns to match your faction as well. It’s very different, but I didn’t mind that aspect since it made the game feel like a “Risk” board game. The changes made in the game allowed players to customize their hero. I didn’t mind the idea of rewarding the multiplayer aspect, but then a lot of fun features were locked behind a grind—some of which require well over a hundred games to unlock. If the game had an RMG, that maybe could have worked, but there weren’t many maps to choose from to begin with. And with less factions, there’s less kinds of troops, but somehow the developers thought it was good idea to cut back on neutral monsters as well. As a result, you’ll feel like you’re fighting the same fights over and over again. There were other cut corners in the original game, but the fanbase rallied and convinced the developers to add towns. It's really easy to summarize this game: it’s a fun game, but the cut corners cheated the game out of its own potential.

The first Trails of Cold Steel introduces a game that is clunky at times, but still solid. Pros Tuned up replayability Fresh start and great new soundtrack Story Cons Character Involvement Pacing Bland Stereotypes Trails of Cold Steel has implemented a new system that rewards players for replaying its game, allowing players to push past the slower parts of the game much faster. The turbo button is a new feature that I didn’t take advantage of at first, but regretted not doing so later. The soundtrack is enjoyable, and the story introduces plot twists the player can’t see coming. There are some glaring issues though. At any given point in the story, EVERY character comments on it. Its painful, but that problem is fixed in future entries. The game does its best to create a climax for the player—but it does so by slowing down the game. You will feel it. Trails of Cold Steel gives you fun “bonding” moments where you get to know a character better. Your time is limited though, so you have to pick and choose who to interact with. Some moments are better than others, and some moments are absolutely cringeworthy (as a piano player, I hated watching characters play the piano). I’ve never been big on the main character of this series, but I’ve enjoyed the characters of Trails of Cold Steel as a whole. The characters don’t do much to surprise you (aka they’re two dimensional)—instead you grow to be comfortable with them over time as you progress through the story. Trails of Cold Steel is a four game series, so that’s important to keep in mind. Like a book, this game isn’t going to resolve everything inside the game which is intended to leave you curious about what the heck is going on. Bear in mind that if you haven’t tried a Falcom game like this, then it will be a new experience. Trails of Cold Steel—should you try it? A Trails game is like a weird hybrid of a book, movie, and video game. There’s story elements involving many characters, and you get to watch the characters interact. This game is LINEAR. It doesn’t get carried away with making the game challenging (as the game focuses on delivering a fleshed out story and challenge could interrupt that), but it offers several difficulties to players. You have to manage your resources to prepare for a simple—yet fun combat system. Players should not worry whether this game will be “too hard”. Put in the time and you’ll beat the game no problem. For the next series, I’ll be playing on a console. Trails games also go on sale fairly regularly, so if you’re uncomfortable paying full price, you can wait. I took the risk on the Trails in the Sky series and loved it. I haven’t enjoyed this series as much, but there are absolutely moments where Trails of Cold Steel meets or exceeds its predecessors. Best of luck finding your next JRPG!

Before I gush about this game, let’s get one thing straight. This game is old. If you’re thinking about looking into the Trails series, you might be better off looking into later entry that’s more visually appealing. At the very least, do your homework looking into this game if you really want to check it out because you need to figure out whether this game is your type of game. Odd as it sounds, I’d compare these games to Marvel—if you like people (superheroes) banding together to do the right thing like a Jedi order, then Bracers are the answer. I bought this game on a whim at college and started playing it because I liked Estelle. To my surprise, there was a solid plot to the game. This game tells a great story. It was popular enough to where there was a movie of it on Netflix. The series as a whole seems to be gaining traction in the west as more and more trails games are getting translated to English. The good news about that? If you like this game--there's more where that came from :) Its combat is simplistic (so I wouldn’t recommend the highest difficulty), but it adds a little bit of strategy into the game between story moments. I loved each of the characters introduced into the story, and I was really sad when the game ended because I didn’t want it to. The Trails in the Sky series contains my favorite video game story with some of my favorite video game characters. Its side quests were likeable enough to where they took several of those characters and put them in Cold Steel. It’s old, but I enjoy the art, and I enjoy the peaceful music, the colorful scenery, and the rural world portrayed by Trails in the Sky. This game tugged on my heart strings because the characters were so relatable and likeable. I’ve tried many JRPGs since Trails in the Sky, but none of them have affected me the same way. It’s a special series in my book.

Trails of Cold Steel II is regarded by many Trails fans as the best game in the series. What makes it so enjoyable is that you can easily follow what’s going on and the game really makes good use of its characters. If you liked ToCS I, then this is a no brainer. The more invested you get into the game, the more you’ll get out of it. I’d also argue that this is the “fastest” paced game in the Cold Steel series, which is a big deal since the other games get bogged down with random junk. It also improves bonding moments and combat from the first, so I’d say it’s indisputably the better game of the two. That said, I don’t see any real purpose in skipping to this game or to the fourth one. It’s like skipping through a book—I can’t imagine it ever feeling rewarding to skip or to go back and play a game after the plot’s been revealed (unless you loved the whole series in the first place). That and Cold Steel makes a ton of references to itself that almost act like an inside joke—it’s not great for the player that’s played the game, I imagine it would be even worse for a player who hasn’t.

I keep trying to like 2k basketball games. With the lack of sports games on the Switch (and a 98 percent discount) I really really hoped to like this game. It's hard to pass the ball. It's hard to shoot. Games should not be this tacky, be this hard to play, and take up this much space. It takes a TON of gbs to have this game, and it just isn't worth it to even keep it downloaded. I've tried earlier and later renditions of the game and nope. Just not worth it. I was willing to shell out a couple bucks on a hope for something enjoyable so I suppose it was worth my purchase. But I didn't like a single thing about this game. To get me to like 2k in the future, I need smoother, more forgiving controls. I want the game to do a lot of the thinking for me. And I really don't like sports games that have their players standing around. Let my players play basketball

Mario Odyssey is a fun, uplifting game. It is especially fun when you have a kid to play it with (my nephew was around 7 at the time we played it). It’s a good looking game that plays well. Players can “get good” with using the hat to help Mario leap and bound through the worlds. It’s not really a game I’ve enjoyed playing by myself though. And I’m not big on hunting for all the moons, so I’ve found myself playing other games. I beat the game with my nephew and we played for a while after it was beaten, but once you move on, there’s not much reason to come back. Lots of people love the game though, and the praise they shower it with is earned. To me, it just isn’t fun without a kid enjoying it with you. If you’re a Mario fan, this is the Mario game to get on the Switch. If you’re looking for a game to play with a young kid, then I honestly can’t think of a better game than this one to do just that.

Astral Chain delivers on a game that feels “different” from other games. I stuck by the game and beat it, and while I can say it’s a good game, I’ll also say it’s not the game for me. Platinum games does a very good job developing a system that rewards players for perfecting the game/combat. I’m not into fighting combat perfectly—I just want to fight. And the game had plenty of satisfying mechanics and fights in it. My biggest complaint is how the other dimension looked. The color hurt my eyes and there was little variation in color as I had to puzzle my way through an ugly dimension. I was slightly disappointed by the detective side of things since quests felt run of the mill. A good sort of standard, but nothing spectacular. Even then, I can’t hate it because it gave a nice change of pace from the action. This game was a well designed game, through and through—it just didn’t click with me. I highly recommend Platinum Games (which includes Astral Chain) if you like a beat em up game with a skill ceiling that rates your progress.

I loved Remoat Stadium. I really, really dislike Thea Sky Ruins. Tencent is changing tack, and I’m not changing with it. Pros Easy to learn Mobas have a lot of replayability Short games Cons Takes a long time to receive Pokemon Two abilities Stiff competition In a moba style game, I like chaos. I like team fights. And Pokemon Unite took deliberate steps to be “just like” other mobas, leaving its niche of essentially what was a straight up team-fight for 8 minutes (out of 10 minute match) of wholesome fun. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next step was to lengthen games because it has deliberately slowed down farming and scoring. Now there always has to be one person in each lane so you can’t fully team-fight in most cases. The result? People sit in their goal zones and deadlock the lane—there’s nothing to farm, and you can’t leave your goal zone because if you do—you get hit and they heal, or worse, they score while you get a tiny bit of farm. Deadlocked lanes aren’t the player’s fault; this is what the game has pushed for—to add a lot more idle time in games. This game feels a lot more like League of Legends, and I’m more likely to go play that than play Thea Sky Ruins because there are more characters, better skins (for the same price), and more abilities—which leads to a greater variety of gameplay. Pokemon Unite will never be able to compete against other Mobas if it copies them because less moves = less variability per Pokemon. To be clear, I mastered the game and made it to high level masters. I know what I’m doing and how to win. I loved Remoat Stadium. It was clunky and frustrating, but also a lot of fun. There are things the game is working on—like the reporting system—but I’ll be taking a break until, if ever, Tencent decides to make changes to the game to make it feel fast paced again. The money practices have changed significantly as well. Skins were always expensive, and I’ve actually bought a few to support the game back in Remoat Stadium. Players can earn about 3000 coins per week grinding the game. The last two Pokemon released cost 14k. Now, Pokemon are getting harder to purchase with in game currency and you can’t buy new Pokemon with in game currency for a week after they’re released. It’s crossed a line of ethics in my opinion. You want me playing your game because it makes it easier to matchmake, giving a better experience for everyone. When I like your game I will spend money on the Pokemon I like. Do NOT try to frustrate me into spending hundreds of dollars. That’s not promoting a game, that’s just disgusting.

The DLC is easily worth it if you like the base game. It adds two additional wild areas, grants easy access to dynamax Pokemon, allows a rudimentary crafting system via the cramomatic, hands out a mythical Pokemon, and yields lots of legendaries for you to collect. Not only that, but I found myself preferring the new wild areas because I could have one Pokemon follow me around. One part of the game I haven't reviewed yet is the online battle system, available to players with Nintendo Switch Online. I was new to the system when it started, and I was excited to check it out. Problem is, it takes a while to figure it out. You can beat the story with just about any Pokemon team, but online, you have to figure out the meta, and I hate it. Right now, the rules allow for two Pokemon usually banned from ranked matches. So, as for an example of a meta, in singles, teams have Kyogre, Landorus, and Zacian. Let that sink in—not only is it incredibly annoying to fight, but you’re stuck fighting the same fight over and over. Other players aim to play a game of attrition, stalling a match (I think that’s like 30 minutes a match). I’ve made it to the highest tier, but I did so without a meta team out of principle. You can fight casual matches, but matchups found that way are rarely evenly matched. In the couple I fought, people just loaded up on legendaries and mythicals to fight my standard team of Pokemon. If you want to do well in the online battle system, you HAVE to understand the difference between IVs and EVs. IVs are easier to figure out than EVs. So it’s mostly "effort values" that will give players trouble.

Trails of Cold Steel III is the very definition of a mixed bag. To enjoy it, you have to come up with a strategy to approach the game. It’s a good game underneath its flaws, and from what I’ve read, several fans of the Trails series think this is the best one yet. If you can’t tell yet, I’m not one of those people. Pros Trails has never looked this good Good story, good characters Connections to past games Cons Pacing problems TMI Lacks its niche I’ve been hooked on the Trails games. It took a bit for Trails of Cold Steel to grow on me, but this one is a little rough around the edges. You can add two points to this review if you decide to skip the parts that are boring. I was always so worried I would miss something, I’d patiently sit through a monologue—only to realize that Rean was just reminiscing…don’t let the voiced dialogue fool you. Chances are, nothing’s gonna happen. The plot’s not thickening and characters aren’t developing. It’s just…there. This game has a lot going for it. I like the references to its past games—they are obvious, yet they aren’t alienating. Agate was my favorite character from Trails in the Sky and I was happy to see him here. At the same time, despite the turbo button (which is mandatory to cut down on time—60 hours is a long time), the game takes its sweet time panning across buildings and scenery, even on turbo. Yes, the game looks better than ever, but let that speak for itself. Oftentimes, there are pointless conversations and small talk. Small talk in video games should only be done as necessary—to smooth out conversations. It should NOT dominate the experience as a whole. Sometimes the characters discuss orbments and science. Rean regularly has to go dungeoneering for science. Characters react to Rean’s exploits. Rean talks about the good ol’ days with several of his classmates—each at different points in the game. Tita designs stuff. Characters try to act like a normal person oftentimes by asking “you still doing ______?” and forcing you as an outsider to watch small talk occur between NPCs that doesn’t really matter. A whole bunch of things were required for me to read this game, but not a lot of it was interesting or relevant. 100%ing this game would be a real chore because I didn't want to immerse myself in this game longer than I needed to. A part of me just wants this to be a new pair of games—separate from the previous two Cold Steel games. I didn’t really feel the need to get to know the new characters, but the old ones basically went poof, “we got other lives now.” The guys are too macho this go-around so I found the female characters to be much more enjoyable. There are less characters than Cold Steel I but it’s just as long ****. What bothered me most about this game was two things: A) The game took twenty irl hours turboing for it to amp up its speed past a snail’s pace. And, B) The game’s plot strays too close to Trails in the Sky while maintaining the same formula for unraveling the story as the first Cold Steel game (a game that had almost twice the number of characters you had to meet). I can’t elaborate more because I don’t want to spoil either plot, but you can easily draw parallels between the plots of Liberl and Erebonia and how they play out. It’s nothing short of disappointing. Maybe they’ll be able to explain why in a future entry, but for now, I’m disappointed. Many of the plot twists were ones I saw coming a mile away. Like…it’s starting to get a little corny. Bracers knocking people unconscious I get. But military personnel charging armed terrorists and nobody gets hurt most of the time?? It’s not like I want people to get hurt, but it’s hard to feel immersed in the story when I have to pause for an eye roll. Orders are an interesting way to shake up the pace. Trails of Cold Steel outshines its predecessors in graphics and in combat. The game has its moments—but they are diamonds buried in the rough. This game is not what drew me into Cold Steel, or Falcom’s games in general. If this had been the first entry, I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the series at all. You have to find the game behind a wall of reminiscence. I’m not talking about the mentions of previous series of games, I’m talking about Trails of Cold Steel’s references to itself. Do yourself a favor and skip each one of those unless you felt attached to said referenced character. What sets Trails of Cold Steel apart from other JRPGs in general is the way it tries to develop secondary characters. It has a lot of them, and it tried a little too hard this game to keep up with Cold Steel I/II characters while developing a new batch. It was enough to make me take breaks from the game, but not enough to turn me away from the series as a whole. It was too much information, and not enough heart.

I loved Banjo Kazooie growing up as the eccentric characters grabbed my attention. I was suspicious of an undisguised clone of the game. This is a late review because, well, I took my time buying this one. Yooka Laylee is a cute game that feels a lot like the game I loved as a kid. Pros Fun abilities Solid Formula Beautiful themes Cons Camera issues Levels could be a little tighter Bland music Yooka Laylee offers a coop mode (in case a little child would want to join you) and it even offers a few simple minigames you could play with others. It also confused me by the way it managed to consistently tell adult potty jokes that would surely go over a kid’s head. I can’t tell you who this game’s for. I would guess the game is for children from the art, but there are references to the way games used to be and the progression into the modern era…something that Banjo Kazooie fans would appreciate. Some abilities straight up copy Banjo and Kazooie of old, while others allow you to skip the majority of puzzling/platforming. All were appreciated, however. Levels are bigger than I would like, but it was doable. I managed to find workarounds by exiting to the hub after getting a Pagie to avoid traversing the world. I was really disappointed by the music. I don’t have high expectations for this sort of game, but at least Banjo Kazooie aimed to make music that was catchy. I liked the hub world. Expand or explore a new world sounded fun, but it fell short as it was always best just to explore a new world. The game’s price tag is unjustified. The game isn’t big enough, nor is it fun enough, nor is it tight enough to charge sixty dollars. The only reason I got it was because it was eighty percent off, and the game exceeded expectations just because it was cute. The themes are what make this game. Period. For once, I liked fighting the same enemy over and over because they were dressed to the world. Without the themes, the game wouldn’t have been fun. What would make the game worth sixty dollars? Fixing the flaws I mentioned, namely the camera. The camera issue has plagued generations of 3d world games like Mario. Fix it, allow the player to be more immersed in your world, and that alone would justify the price. At the very least, make the game feel a lot more sleek than Banjo and Kazooie. This game felt like it could have came out on the Gamecube (yes, I know it was made by an independent company) or the Wii. Really random, but I would have also liked the game more if Yooka was female. I know he’s a replacement for Banjo, but really, I would have liked the game more with a female duo. I can't give this a higher score because I wanted to like this game for nostalgia's sake. But in today's day in age, I think it's reasonable to expect more in terms of gameplay (the themes were great--I was happy enough with the art). Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed myself since this game has its own collect it all niche on the switch roster, but I wouldn’t be able to recommend this game to someone unless they wanted a Banjo Kazooie fix.

A staple in the genre of the hack’n’slash, Diablo II’s reputation precedes itself. A lot of the beloved parts of the game others have tried to replicate, but few receive as much glowing admiration as this entry. Pros Improved art Quality of Life Improvements Progression Cons Time consuming Stressful Difficult for the uninitiated I say improved art, but I loved going back to the old artwork. The imperfect graphics actually made the game look a lot scarier. It’s really hard to outdo the original graphics, but the new ones did a satisfactory job simply being “modern.” The reason why this is a massive pro is that I can’t stand the font of old Diablo. It would legitimately prevent me from playing the game. The changes made to the game made it more friendly to newcomers. Diablo II excels at the grind for gear. It takes hours upon hours. But the game’s theme of hell and the gameplay is actually very clever. You grind for rare gear (people would hate me for making this comparison, but this is how it feels for me) which feels an awful lot like shiny hunting in Pokemon. Players fight wave after wave, exit the game, and do it again. Over and over and over again. You beat the game, and you start over—only to realize that the game’s gotten harder. You complete the same quests, fight the same bosses, the same monsters, everything again, except they deal much more damage and can take a lot more punishment. It’s kind of how I’d imagine hell would be—a lack of change—and it’s brilliant. The classes are diverse, and you can tackle the game at your own pace. Death is punishing as you might lose all your hard-earned gear you grinded hours for. It’s fun I guess, but I can tell you I had to spend 5 or so hours at times trying to recover gear after dying. Quitting was not an option because I would lose a lot more than 5 hours worth of gear. It’s something I could do without personally. Newcomers of the game won’t strategize properly for the final difficulty where monsters can have total immunities. It’s important to strategize and have multiple sources of damage. Otherwise some battles will take a very, very long time. All in all, playing this game, I recognize why it’s considered a gem (especially when looking at the old graphics). It is also coop which means you can strategize and tackle the game with friends, though the game does not support cross play. Even if the price tag seems a little high, it will no doubt occasionally go on sale. I am optimistic about the future of the genre, but Diablo II celebrates all the good from the good old days.. If you are into the genre, Diablo II Resurrected is a pretty safe bet.

This review has been a long time coming. SSBU was my first game on the Switch followed by BOTW. I’ve explored most of what the game has to offer (aside from competitive online play) and I can confidently assert that it lives up to its name. It is an ultimate Super Smash Bros game. Pros Solid DLC Familiar gameplay—if you’ve played Smash, you know the game Custom Stages Smooth gameplay/controls Cons Clones Personal Preferences Starting off, I’ve tried everything extensively except competitive online. SSBU is an amazing entry that has mastered the Super Smash Bros formula. Playing online? That usually includes a wait time. No worries, the game allows you to practice your moves on a sandman while you wait to learn the character / warm up. It lets you customize a battle—add a handicap to the best player, control which items show up, have all players have a flower on a head, play levels from previous SSB entries, and a ton more content. There are a ton of player modes. You can go to the vault to browse/create levels, fight in Spirit Mode, hold a tournament with friends with up to eight players at a time, fight matches online, and again, a ton more. It’s hard to narrow down a topic because there really is a lot of content in Super Smash Bros. The game has every Super Smash Bros character ever created. But that leads us to the first flaw. Several characters look mildly different, but have identical attack animations. Peach and Daisy (their color). Marth and Lucina (hair length and gender). The difference is the impact of the moves. In Marth and Lucina’s case, Marth does more damage if you hit people at the tip of your sword. That and a different voice are not enough in my opinion to classify the two as separate characters. Let Daisy be her own character. Let Marth remain independent of Lucina. When you factor in the number of clones, the roster loses a chunk of its value. However, I have been very, very pleased with each DLC. Each character there was well thought out and is fun to play. A similar criticism I have is on the Smash ultimates. Many feel the same. I skipped a gen of Smash Bros, but you could have characters that had Smash ultimates that did something other than damage. Luigi created a zone where enemies slowed down, Bowser turned into Giga Bowser, etc. What also hurts is that some ultimates (cough cough Zelda) are extremely easy to hit and are a guaranteed kill once someone has taken enough damage. It’s for those characters alone that I can’t bring myself to use the FS meter. Some levels I like to create are focused on the aspect of making people hard to kill (I like to try to think of levels that favor certain characters). Several ultimates and assist trophies are guilty of ruining that experience. I’m not crazy about the single player story mode. It was far too grindy and complicated so I skipped it. Other players like it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. Another disappointment are the levels people share online. Like, so many levels are designed to blow up your character in 5 seconds. I gave up on it pretty fast. But that’s not the game’s fault lol. What really gets me upset is that Nintendo made it really hard to play with friends online. I understand the necessity of a pay wall, but I think two people should be able to join an online battle. Like, those features would only encourage players to have a copy. Mariokart 8 offers a feature somewhat similar to that. One person per copy gets in the way of families being able to take advantage of the game. Families (I'm talking about immediate families) should not have to buy multiple copies of the game to play online with long distance family members who also bought the game--that's disgusting. But that's a gripe about NSO more than SSBU so I won't factor that in either. You would think that games on the switch would improve over the Switch’s lifespan, but that doesn’t hold true here. Super Smash Bros Ultimate looks good, and it plays really well too. It surprises me just how well it runs on the Switch. Truly the ultimate version of an ultimate game. Maybe they’ll create a new Smash Bros, but Smash Bros Ultimate might be what defines Super Smash Bros for the next several years.

Bear in mind I got this game for two dollars. But over the course of a week, I’ve had a lot of fun with his game. It also offers crossplay with PC if that catches your attention. Magequit is a very straightforward game. The objective is to defeat all enemy mages. You can do a free for all match or set up two teams. There’s no story mode, only a single player mode where you can fight local matches / play against AI. Or, you can play online with other players. The online mode offers gems that allow a player to customize their mage. In my opinion, it’s also the epitome of “not toxic.” The worst thing that can happen is that sometimes people team up against you in a free for all match (there is no doubt in my mind its kids with their friends or a parent with their kid). There’s little to be done for a player that has spells from all available elements whizzing at them. That leads me to the reason why I took off a point; the AI will focus you. I’ve put a few hours into the game and I still can’t reliably beat a mid-level AI free for all because of all the spells flying at me. This isn’t really a game you can play with AI; the online mode is better. I should point out that this game shines the most when it’s chaotic ie with more than 3 players. While I’m not crazy about the art and I would like more levels, the game does well in satisfying the imagination of what’s going on. There is strategy as you pick your spells between rounds. There are a total of eight elements, each with their own spell tree. Mages pick spells based on a draft. As a result, you might not get the best spell. This is what adds dramatically to Magequit’s replayability—that and its online mode. If you see it on sale and what you read sounds fun to you, I’d give Magequit a shot for sure! I would recommend it to a person who either a) wants a game with a lot of local 3+ player potential, or b) someone with NSO who would participate in online matches.

Pokemon BDSP shouldn’t be your first Pokemon experience—it offers a greater challenge than other games, yes, but it fails to provide the quality of life changes seen by recent Pokemon games. Pokemon BDSP is a mixed bag. On one hand, the game looks good. On the other, it reverts back to problematic, out of date issues. Pros Game looks good Access to Mythical Pokemon Difficulty Cons Shiny Hunting Time Clock Based on Platinum version, but doesn’t contain all of Platinum’s features Nothing New I enjoyed BDSP. It looks bland, but it certainly looks better than many recent Pokemon games. And yes, I usually hate the chibi art style. I probably would have given Link’s Awakening a 9 and played it more than once if not for the chibi art style. It’s a little too cute for me to want to spend hours in it. But the Chibi art style doesn't bother me in this game--it doesn't feel like its crammed down my throat since the main action part of the game is in Pokemon battles. The battles in BDSP feature Pokemon that utilize strategies used by competitive Pokemon players, which means that this game contained the most challenging and rewarding standard Pokemon battles. Pokemon contests make a return, allowing the player to train and use their Pokemon for something other than battling. The Underground is like a wannabe Wild Area, but also offers some mini games for players to participate in. To give the game more oomph, players who own other Pokemon games can obtain a Mew and Jirachi which are not catchable. Arceus, Shaymin, and Darkrai became available for a time as well so that was another plus. But I don’t think they’re available anymore, so that probably won’t affect the person reading this review. The final pro of this game worth mentioning is the fact that it allows you to customize your Pokeball. You can’t change the exterior, but you can apply stickers to change the animation when your Pokemon comes out. There’s some worthwhile animations there. People were disappointed that the game didn’t contain everything that Platinum offered, but that isn’t what bummed me out the most. What bummed me out the most is the shiny hunting. The game’s load times are longer than Sword/Shield’s. And the odds of finding a shiny Pokemon are 1 in 4000 even with the shiny charm. Yes, you can do Pokeradar (something I haven’t bothered with since it sounds really annoying how easy it is to break a streak), and they haven’t changed the Masuda method. But shiny hunting a legendary or through straight encounters will have a person hunting a long, long time. People who like hunting with full odds aren’t forced to increase their odds with the shiny charm. People who don’t like hunting with full odds are out of luck. Even though it is compatible with home now, it took almost a year for that to happen. What has really irked me as of late is the Time Clock penalty. Change the time, and time related events (ones you have to do over and over again) don’t spawn for 24 hours irl. That’s what the rule says. However, I have waited for DAYS, and still there’s been no change. With some research, I’ve seen that the time penalty can take 24 IN-GAME hours to reset. That’s absurd. As far as remakes go, Skyward Sword HD gets a bad wrap, but it does a heck of a lot more to make the game more convenient (and consequently more immersive) than faithfully repeat the same mistakes and then some. In summary of the cons, I don’t feel like BDSP respects a player’s time. My opinion is that the greatest appeal to the game is playing through the main story as its ai presents a greater challenge than other mainline Pokemon games I’ve played on the Switch. I liked it, but I can’t recommend it.

This game is a titan ****, pun intended. In my opinion, this AAA title contains the best Nintendo exclusive story on the switch. There’s a good chance it’ll remain that way until the end of the switch’s lifetime. Maybe it’s sequel will outdo it. I hadn’t played the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but you don’t need to in order to enjoy the game because the stories are separate. Pros Pretty environments Likeable characters Unique strategy elements Rewards for exploring the depths of the game Players that like the game have the option to purchase the Torna DLC, which is arguably the best DLC available on Switch Cons The game suffers from being overcomplicated Suggestive themes can get distracting Lower rated blades have a painfully bland design Not all blades are created equal The graphics are enjoyable, but some things, like the menu, won’t age well. There are two menus that players work with, and it can be confusing to navigate. Additionally, there are too many characters with suggestive themes. To the point where it’s just gross. I can live with characters like Pyra and Mythra. I can’t, I just cannot stand some of them because the focus is on the suggestive theme—and it doesn’t match the personality of the character at all. The good news there is that you aren’t forced to use them. It's just a shame to me to find a rare blade with a relatively cool design, only to realize that I can’t enjoy it. Going along with blade design, only rare (5 star) blades have a unique look. 1-4 star blades might have a unique name, but have an identical color scheme, so when you get a new blade, most of the time, it will look identical to all your other ones. The other problem with this game is how oddly complicated it is. It wouldn’t be hard to learn if the game would just tell it to you straight. But it doesn’t. It gives you one time to learn a tutorial (where they throw a bunch of information at you and say here it all is, remember it) and then it moves on. It keeps introducing new game mechanics throughout the game, each time putting an emphasis on it and telling you why it’s important. You go through a good portion of the game like this. Then, you’re expected to remember it all. Can’t remember? You have to locate a hint merchant and buy the right hint off of them. You can get around this issue by using the internet. Battle requires you to press buttons just before an attack lands. Different blades have different abilities to aid Rex and his companions. I’m disappointed that there is a best “healer”, “tank”, etc. It just means that there needed to be a little more love put into the other rare blades. Like many other JRPGs of the same genre, characters feel the need to shout out the name of the move as they’re doing it. It’s weird, but I don’t mind it. You can count on Nintendo to add fun resource gathering methods. There are secret areas to find, rare blades to collect, and skill trees to complete. If you’re a person who likes checklists, this game will make your day. Make no mistake, this is a big game. If you’re like me, and you like a good, uplifting storyline, then you’ll like this game. The graphics are passable, it was only bothersome to me on a personal level. As long as you understand what’s going on in the game and what you can actually do, you’ll get the most out of your experience. It really deserves a higher score as it's a great game, but it is inhibited by unnecessary quirks. Tips: In-game vocabulary gets confusing (don’t even get me started on the phrase “attack canceling”). Drivers are humans, blades are weapons with spirits in them—or something like that lol. Drivers and blades level up differently. Blades level up as you use their various abilities. And to increase a blade’s skill tree, you have to do certain things as specified on the skill you want to upgrade. I went through half the game not knowing how important it was to use a party gauge attack to end fights for better loot and additional experience. I didn’t know until the end how to upgrade blades which meant a lot of meaningless grind at the very end of the game. And I also didn’t know that the orbs showed up for elemental combos on the upper part of the screen, hinting which blade to utilize next, which is a big part of strategy as well. Hope that saves at least one newcomer’s time. Not by minutes, but by hours.

Fire Emblem Three Houses is my favorite game on the switch. I accidentally deleted my previous review of this game so I’m rewriting it. Pros The characters The strategy The theme Cons The story is just okay DLC was somewhat disappointing Game art This game plays like a soap opera. Each character has their own arc that reacts to the story of the game. FETH won an award for the voice acting in it, which means that however corny the game might get, at least it rocks its corniness. This game became a target for memes because that’s what it aims to do. You’re supposed to interact with each character and feel a certain reaction to them. Over time, you get to know their likes and dislikes and that changes your opinion about them. Some characters are more two dimensional than others, but there are characters worth getting to know in every house. I look at some and think, “You pansy…” some I relate to or think of my own friends, and others I find myself rooting for. The strategy is satisfying, and there’s a wide range of difficulty settings to work with. You can choose to remove permadeath, and I’m sure you could choose to not use the option to go back in time to fix mistakes if you set yourself to that standard. Fire Emblem is a tactical strategy game about war. But what it does with its characters is explore different reactions to conflict and how loyalties get mixed in. Three houses tells the perspective of the main story from—surprise—each house. Problem is that each game will usually run about 70 hours. That’s both good and bad depending on your opinion. The nice thing? This game plays EXACTLY as marketed, so you can look at reviews from big names like IGN or GameSpot etc and decide if the game looks fun to you before buying it. I picked this game up on a whim because I liked how the strategy of strengthening each character looked and it delivered what it promised. In the hours you play, you will do a fair amount of grinding, but there are “bonding” moments between characters that shake things up. Don’t like the grind? You can simulate through a lot of that and focus on the main story…but what has fans happy with the game is how good it feels to feel like you’re a part of the monastery. I was fine with the DLC. It added four new characters, new features, and new classes. I wasn’t wowed by it, but I also wouldn’t want to be without it since I love the game so much (yes I have played through each ending). If graphics matter to you, you’ll also probably want to play the game docked since there is a glaring difference in graphics between docked and undocked. I thoroughly enjoyed the game in every way, and hope you check it out!

I liked Pokemon Shield so much that for the first time (and probably the only time I’ll ever do this) I purchased its partner game. I did so because I’ve really enjoyed shiny hunting in these games—and plan to get a shiny living dex someday. This review is for people deciding between Pokemon games available on the switch. I won’t review any game I haven’t played. If you want a detailed review of Pokemon Sword, please review my Pokemon Shield review. Without further ado, here is my take on the following Pokemon games: Pokemon Let’s Go—This game has the highest odds of finding an overworld shiny Pokemon. Generally, players are unable to single out Pokemon in a shiny hunt. As for the Pokedex, it sticks to the first generation of Pokemon which allows the game to make the graphics a little more pleasing to the eye. If you own this game, you can easily obtain Meltan and Melmetal in Pokemon Go. It intends to take players back to Red, Yellow, and Green, but they made several changes. The partner pokemon are refreshing, but the changes to all game antagonists are not. Pokemon Let’s Go has players catch Pokemon like Pokemon Go and it offers a coop system that makes both catching and battling Pokemon significantly easier. EVs are replaced by candies. Pokemon Sword/Shield—This game is the eighth generation of Pokemon. It boasts the ability to make Pokemon battle ready quickly. Pokemon raids are a fun addition, considering how much XP you get in addition to the rare items and Pokemon obtained. Raids allow the postgame (ie collecting Pokemon and making them powerful enough to challenge other players) to go quicker than ever before. It’s not exciting per se to participate in a raid, and it can also be incredibly frustrating if you go with AI teammates since certain Pokemon do their absolute best to do nothing during the raid. Players can change Pokemon natures and obtain hidden abilities through items, which previously was impossible. It’s also easy to reset EVs. Finally, and most importantly for myself, there are a variety of methods to shiny hunt. In addition to shiny Pokemon, there are marked Pokemon, which are Pokemon with ribbons that allow for a title to follow after their name. The introduction of the wild area allowed players to encounter a lot of Pokemon early in the game. This title’s flexibility is what has me coming back to play it years later. Pokemon Home—This app is important since it is key to trading Pokemon over the GTS. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl—A nostalgic nod to Pokemon’s 4th generation. It includes some features of Platinum, but not all of them. The most efficient way to shiny hunt is through Poke Radar, but it’s possible to “mess up” your streak if you encounter Pokemon the wrong way. Other than that, this game has the worst odds to encounter shinies. On the plus side, though, the ai actually puts up a little bit of a fight. Gym leaders use viable strategies seen in online ranked play. The underground acts as a simplified wild area which addresses a former weakness of the limited Pokedex entries of the old games. Pokken Tournament DX—A fighting style game. I played the demo and had fun with it, but it was too expensive for me personally to justify purchasing it. Pokemon Unite—A kid friendly moba. Still has plenty of toxic moments, but for better or worse, players have a hard time communicating to each other. It’s a fun free to play game that’s relatively easy to pick up. Pokemon Snap—This is a more casual approach to Pokemon, where you take pictures of Pokemon in their natural habitat. You can toss things at them to try to get a better angle. It’s shorter than other Pokemon games, and it looks a lot nicer to boot. Pokemon Legends Arceus—The latest Pokemon title (with the longest tutorial). You either love its game design or you don’t. I really like how it focuses on catching Pokemon out in the open. Typically, encountering Pokemon is a random encounter from a set encounter table. As I played the game, I felt like I was memorizing where different Pokemon hung out. I don’t know why it gave me such joy to hear an alpha Blissey roar out a challenge to the world, or to hear the cry of surprise when a Pokeball hit them out of the blue, or to hear the cry of outrage when they broke out and spotted me. This is really the only game where shiny hunting could be dubbed as “fun” since this is another game that allows overworld shinies as you ride a Pokemon roaming the world. Another thing worth mentioning is that I enjoyed the characters in this one as some of them were as goofy as the Pokemon Gale of Darkness and Colosseum era. I would have liked more variety in the research tasks, and the graphics would have been well received during the Gamecube era. Contrary to what you might have heard, it is not an open world game. It’s more like five large wild areas plus one hub.

Did Pokemon give us a story where the point wasn’t to become the best battler? Did Pokemon aim to make a game that pleases all ages? Did Pokemon revamp the battle system to take a different spin? And did they incorporate “boss” fights? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes. I wasn’t in love with the game at the start because my expectations were low and the story is straightforward and simple, but while this game won’t earn any awards, it’ll be a hidden gem that I can confidently recommend to any player who has ever had any interest in Pokemon. The game blends Pokemon Snap with a standard Pokemon game, adding strategic elements to catching Pokemon. Pros Opportunities for strategy Wide arsenal of things to do Smooth gameplay Cons The graphics aren’t just below average, it can get in the way Late game gets redundant When I was playing BOTW, I couldn’t help but wish it were a Pokemon game. I had little interest in sneaking up on monsters to kill them, but the thought of using the environment to catch Pokemon was thrilling. I had no clue that a game like Legends Arceus would come to fruition, or that it’d actually be a lot of fun. There’s always something to do—earn money, complete sidequests, work on the dex, catch new Pokemon, strengthen your Pokemon, collect rare items, and shiny hunt. It cannot be stressed enough that you can switch activities at a whim. That level 39 cherrim my trainer fought for literally 24 in-game hours as I threw every kind of ball in the game at it? I got so annoyed I ran, caught 4 other Pokemon is succession, and switched areas to earn some money. It takes a bit for you to unlock every area, but you can always return to areas you’ve unlocked. Strategy-wise, I had the most fun playing this game than any other in a long time when I went to encounter a flock of Ursaring. Each one was ten levels higher than my strongest Pokemon, so I had to try to lure them out one at a time. Problem was, luring them out too far lead to interruptions from other Pokemon like Luxio/Luxray. When I finally managed to isolate one, they could still wipe my team easily so I had to develop a strategy to consistently defeat them. It was an absolute blast, and an unexpected challenge. Fifty hours in, and the strategy remains. However, it does get to the point where you’re just chucking balls at everything you see to fill the dex. It minimizes the strategy of the game and eliminates challenge, and that impacts the fun. I love the font, but the graphics really need attention. It’s not just rough around the edges, there’s missed potential. And there should be more ways to interact with the Pokemon you’ve caught. Literally, work on the graphics in every department and you’ve got something really special. What makes this entry so exciting is the idea that Pokemon might consider evolving from its roots to something bigger, and in many people’s opinions, including my own, something better. Definitely a game worth reviewing.

Skyward Sword [SS] isn’t a game for everyone. With that out of the way, let me tell you why SS is my favorite Zelda game from my favorite franchise. First I’ll acknowledge its flaws. You can read other reviews and get a very solid understanding of those so I won’t waste your time. Most of them are correct. I would add that I would have liked more monster variety as well as more things to do in the sky as the sky and its islands feel relatively empty. I loved Skyward Sword because of its story. It doesn’t do anything extraordinary, but it attempts to develop characters and introduce plot twists. In my opinion, any Zelda game without Ganon as its main enemy already deserves some attention. The characters are as goofy in this installment as other Zelda games. This game also stands out from the rest because it started to break away from the old Zelda formula that had been established. And while mandatory motion controls were/are unpopular, SS is the only Zelda that features them, creating an experience you can’t get with any other Zelda. The game was my first Zelda experience that had a hard mode. Two of the dungeons in the game are in my top three dungeons list (and I’ve played most Zelda games out there since A Link to the Past). Finally, I’d argue that the ending of the game was as epic as Zelda gets. This is a fantastic game that’s only getting better with the remaster. Not only that, but the game will also somehow be connected the next game in the series I’m super excited for—BOTW 2. SS was my favorite game on the Wii. On the switch I’m roughly 18 hours in. The game looks more crisp, it runs smoothly, and it’s now portable. The button controls work well, but they take away from the immersion factor that the game aimed for. The motion controls work, but because joy cons are uncomfortable for me to hold, I find myself using button controls most of the time. I’d recommend switching to motion controls for big events in the game like bosses. The game feels a lot faster paced since a lot of the wordiness can now be rushed or even skipped entirely at times. And the free roaming camera adds a lot to the experience as well. In conclusion, if you’re on the fence about considering giving SS a shot, I’ll wrap up with these thoughts. SS is a differently paced game from most Zelda games. Since it is a little slower with compact environments, it’s not a game for everyone. It places a different emphasis than BOTW. It doesn’t offer much to players who want to explore, but it offers an immersion factor, great dungeons, and good music. The story of SS is more important than any other mainline Zelda game. While marketing has focused on comparing the game to BOTW, I think it’s much more comparable to Twilight Princess. SS may not have aged as well as other remastered Zeldas, but it’s still a fantastic game and was a no brainer preorder for me.

I debated giving this game a 5, but I got my money’s worth out of it with about 80 hours of play. It’s a pretty game, and I got my money out of it. I’m writing a review because there’s a dlc coming out for the game and I personally don’t think it’s worth it because of other, better Zelda titles. I’m going to explain why, but first, the pros and cons of this game: Pros Visually pleasing in every way The game lets you get straight into the action Less grindy than any other Warriors game I’ve played Satisfying 1v1 combat Coop play Cons Lots of better Zelda games to choose from Repetitive Poor AI All in all, this game is the latest Warriors game I’m aware of and sometimes it just doesn’t feel that way. In the other Hyrule Warriors we have on the Switch, the AI takes forts. It really feels like (in Age of Calamity) your enemies sit, waiting for their lives to be taken away. Seriously, download the demo and stand back. Most of the time, you will only lose if you lose all your hearts. If you don’t fight, nothing happens. Then, once killed, the enemies stay dead. I don’t mind that last part, but it takes away the idea that you could lose friendly forts, which removes a fun aspect of challenge. Comparisons Breath of the Wild—Breath of the Wild is the game AoC is based on. AoC does everything I hoped it would do—it fleshes out the Zelda characters and story that were virtually nonexistent in BotW. However, BotW gives more freedom to the player for exploration since its in the open world genre. AoC’s combat is heavily based on BotW, but provides a much simpler experience. Not gonna lie though, AoC does some really cool things with the Sheikah Slate. Link’s Awakening—This is a much smaller game, which means it takes less time to complete. It also looks good albeit with framerate drops. The game has gone on sale a couple of times which means that if you’re patient, you can pick it up for about $40 plus tax. It’s got puzzles and bosses that diversify it more from any other Zelda game on this list. Hyrule Warriors DE—AoC is clearly the newer game since it looks more sleek, but I have more fun with HW. It’s more challenging and it has a lot more battle modes to choose from. HW requires way too much grind, even though the definitive edition greatly reduced it. In AoC, it’s relatively easy to upgrade every character to the max which is a super nice feature. After 200 hours in the game, I still have characters that aren’t fully upgraded in HW. Finally, while AoC removes some features like the magic meter, it adds features like the magic rods to make duels feel more involved. I was attracted to most characters in HW since it covers Zelda games over a couple decades. That isn’t the case in AoC. It assumes I was attached to the characters from BotW, and I felt zero attachment to anyone as I played BotW—the characters were that bland for me. Skyward Sword HD and BotW 2—It’s worth noting that these games are coming to the switch. They have a full stories separate from BotW. Skyward Sword follows the old linear Zelda format with dungeons and puzzles and arguably has the best story of all these games. BoTW 2 is a highly anticipated game…because it’s the sequel to BotW, a critically acclaimed game that set a new standard for Zelda. Let’s not forget that there’s a good chance that other Zelda games might be ported over to the switch. Cadence of Hyrule--Haven't really played it beyond the demo, so I can't really compare it to AoC. But again, it is its own game, untethered to BotW. AoC is very flawed, but I still had fun with it. If you like everything BotW, Zelda, or Warriors related, then I can recommend this game. Otherwise, your money/time is better spent on another game. My point in this review is that I would literally choose any other Zelda game than this one. I would push for any of those games before AoC (as I own them all). I may have spent 80 hours with it, but that was to complete the game in full. A part of me wishes I’d just watched the game over Youtube. I imagine it’ll be like $20 for the dlc so the price of the game could cost some people $80. As you can imagine, I will not be getting the dlc.

Great games. I've only had time for Mario 64 so far (which is the worst of the three). If you haven't played these classics, you should look into these games. I loved Mario 64 as a kid, but I had never collected all the stars. Pros Classic game (s) 3D platforming that set the standard Simple gameplay Fun characters Cons The limited timeframe to purchase the game Disappointing extras The camera really needs to be fixed Interacting with objects was difficult Playing Mario 64 again on a hybrid console felt great and I will play through the other games. I don't like what Nintendo has done with the limited time to purchase the game, but I don't regret my purchase. Yes, you can play these games on an emulator for free, but that takes away from the Mario franchise. I paid to support Mario and to enjoy three games (two of which I haven't played) on a hybrid console. These games are old, but they're still fun. On Mario 64, the camera got frustrating at times because I couldn't look where I wanted to and I had to get creative. It also would have been nice to see it get the same love as Mario Sunshine so that it could fit the whole screen. It's a faithful remake, but I would have liked to have seen basic improvements to the game to make it more user friendly. It's annoying when you know what to do, but by golly, you either can't interact with the object immediately in front of you, or the ai doesn't move so you stand for a full minute, watching and waiting. However, that is for Mario 64. I expect that the next two games won't have the same problems. These games are great, clean fun. They are worth looking into, but soon won't be available (unless you buy off a third party looking to make a profit). I hope in the future, Nintendo offers bells and whistles for a limited time and then just the ports of the game in the future because what happened here took away from three great games.

This isn’t new per se, but it is the definitive edition of a really good game. Dragon Quest XI tells a fantastic story full of twists and turns with a common theme of how light shines through the darkness. Pros Great story led by good characters Definitive Edition Clean Great Cinematics Cons The story takes its time The interface It took me awhile to get into the game and to understand its humor. It’s full of puns. I really started to enjoy the game once I unlocked most of the characters. At first, the art design appeared “kiddy” to me, but I gradually warmed up to it. My seven year old nephew enjoyed watching me play the game, and it was clean enough to where I felt comfortable with him watching. Even though the characters were simple, they worked well together to contribute to the overall experience. As I progressed, I felt rewarded by both the satisfaction from beating difficult challenges and the unfolding of the next part of the story. This game contains the most enjoyable cinematics I have ever seen in a game. This is the best edition available as it’s like there’s a dlc packed into the game that grants additional costumes and a little more story. This was my first experience with Dragon Quest, and it didn’t disappoint. It might be the eleventh title, but it was very friendly to those who were not familiar with the story. The only thing not friendly about the game is the interface. It doesn’t feel natural, and it looks ugly. Even though I played the game for dozens of hours, I still had difficulties figuring out which screen to navigate to. Some modes are utterly pointless (I’m looking at you picture mode and party talk mode). After awhile, I got used to it. This is a renowned series. If you want to try a new JRPG, I would highly recommend this one. If you aren’t familiar with JRPGs, this one would be a great one to introduce you to the genre (although I would recommend looking up a guide to avoid frustration with the game interface).

I was really beginning to feel bogged down by this game. There was just too much grinding required. In my opinion, there are better JRPGs available. Still, Octopath Traveler was a game I can respect. Pros Unique, fun battle system Great Value Beautiful 16 bit graphics Great art style Cons The grind Limited interactions The story The side quests Frankly, this isn’t a game I would want to play again (after 70 hours of play and exploring just about everywhere). It convinced me that I’m a casual gamer. If I cared to do the many fetch side quests, I could easily sink in another 30 hours. However, I didn’t have much interest in scouring the world doing x to then be able to do y. Reviewing a guide is a must to save the player time from pointless npc interactions searching for the solution of an arbitrary quest. Equipment is more valuable than the character’s level. Late game, it took me hours just to level up my characters five times (and yes, I am fully aware of the fastest farming methods). Even though there are many places to farm with a wide variety of monsters, I found myself going to the same spots to farm, hoping to get the most experience. It didn’t take long for me to memorize every kind of encounter for each area I farmed in. The story, as well as the characters, are good, but not great. The way the game is structured inhibits any real character development. While trying to get to a high enough level, a player must play the first chapter of eight different characters. In short, you never can just focus on one story; you are forever tied to eight okay stories, instead of focusing on your favorite story. The character conversations were there, and they were needed. However, most of the time, I found myself uninterested in the conversation. The unique character interactions were okay, but they got old fast because it was always, “walk up to an npc, press y, and resolve.” Character classes, over time, seemed to just meld together and lose their individuality. The characters with any individuality are the most popular and are going to be in everyone’s party because their unique passive is irreplaceable. Gameplaywise, this game is at a 5 or a 6 for me. It was hard to finish. But there are some fantastic aspects about the game. The most well known is its combat system. Players are encouraged to strategize to get “breaks” to really rack up the damage. There is a vast array of weapons, armor, and accessories to choose from. I found myself changing my equipment from time to time to adjust to a big fight. So while the game is an awful grind, at least it was a grind spent in a fun combat system. The graphics are beautiful. The art style is unique. There are a lot of monsters to fight in Octopath Traveler, and each are charming. The stories, while weak, were enjoyable because they had fun themes associated with them. In conclusion, this game was worth it for me. In my opinion, it’s a game that’s overrated. The story, the side quests, and the satisfaction from leveling up my characters were lacking. If you don’t mind a heavy grind, and you enjoy the artwork, then this is a solid game to check out. You can easily figure out whether or not you like the game by downloading and playing the demo for free. Believe me, the game doesn’t change up the game mechanics…

This game is a Pokemon game, through and through, for better or for worse. I have beaten the game and completed the pokedex. I'll soon check out competitive play because the online play looks promising. I've really enjoyed playing the game. Pros Quality of life changes Incredible Customization The Galar Region The Wild Area Cons The story is too short The protagonist is far from likable Little innovation Missing Pokemon I believe that Pokemon Sword and Shield are a step in the right direction, but the game needs a lot more innovation. I thought this game was going to make more changes to the Pokemon formula. Traditionally, a lot of people stop playing the game because they've caught all the Pokemon and they've beaten the story. Then they're charged more money to do it again in a different region. If the game shook things up a bit more, in just about any area, then I believe that the games would be even more fun than they are. It gets a bit tiresome to see the standard "battler, breeder, scientist" stereotypes with every character. I loved the setting of the Galar region. The theme of Pokemon Sword and Shield were done very well. I enjoyed the new Pokemon. I was happy with the wild area. I wanted to be able to move more freely around it, but the introduction of a wild area is a great start. You can access Pokemon from just about anywhere and you get a permanent escape rope. The game is easy, but I wouldn't say it's because of the quality of life improvements. If it bothers players, there is nothing stopping them from choosing to not use them. The customization for the trainer is pretty crazy. I'd never imagined a Pokemon game would enable a player to choose so many unique looks. To be honest, I believe they went overboard on that because I'd rather have improvements to the story than character customization. My primary interest in Pokemon games will always be the Pokemon. I found myself rooting against my avatar. I didn't like the vague expressions of wonder it made at everything. The other characters had a reason why they wanted to become Pokemon champion. It felt like my trainer became a Pokemon trainer on a whim. If there is one thing about any pokemon story I'd want to do away with, it'd be the beginning. I understand they want to connect with a lot of people, but I do want a protagonist with a personality. A silent Pokemon trainer is not nearly as cool as a silent Link. With the elimination of Pokemon from their games, I will hold Gamefreak to a higher standard. If there are less Pokemon, I want better graphics and a better story. The story in Pokemon Sword and Shield wasn't bad, and I enjoyed Team Yell, but there wasn't enough of it. The graphics in this game are better than any Pokemon game I've played. I am glad I purchased this game and I would recommend it because I feel that there is enough content in the game to entertain anyone that loves Pokemon. It's also a game that is very friendly to players who are new to the franchise.