Video Games Baby Let's go Come On Now!

I was so excited about the first Octopath traveler game way back when it came out. It was completely and utterly mid but it was so refereshin to play something that was really not trying to be anything other than an homage. Take the bravely default battle system, stick with HD 3D 2D pixel art and slap a classic Final Fantasy Job system on and BAM! Literally what else could you ask for. I completed the first one, got the extra end game jobs and made it to that crazy like evil spawn entity boss battle. It was totally exactly what I wanted. Then came 2, which was more of the same. The gimmick began to ware off pretty qucik. No change in the UI, how the battles worked at all, or even new classes. It was literally just more. Which was fine, but I guess that nostalgia itch had been scratched sufficiently by the previous one. I never made it more than 20 hours into the Octopath 2, and I tried a couple times.

Now I'm 24 hours into Octopath Traveler 0, and I gotta say that some itch is being scratched. The big thing is the 8 charaacter combat does a great job of making battles feel brand new. Everybody is squishier and has less mana pool since you can be swapping between rows and recovering whoever is not actively in the front row. The characters in the back are also still charging up BP (Brave Points is what it was called in Bravely default, I actually don't know if its the same thing here) which means while you are wailing on enemies with a party of 4, there is an entire other party of 4 charging up and getting ready to tag in. This fundamentally transforms what was such a conventional, clean battle system into something much more frantic. I was so worried about not having a dedicated healer when I first started the game, but I quickly realized once I had a full party of 8 that the switch out system is the main way to heal. You don't need a healy necessarily, you can just switch out the character near death for a couple turn and let them recover in the back row. The best part is how natural this all feels to do. It seems like there's so much going on on screen. But you get into a kind of rhytem. Weaving people in and out, breaking enemies and then bringing people up to dish out massive damage. Or taking a brutal attack and being forced to switch a character who was building up BP to the back to catch their breath, while the new character keeps ticking away at the break or does suplimental damage. It turns what was a classic waltz into something like Jazz. It will be impossible to go back to the battle system of other games after this, and I really hope that Octopath 3 retains this multi-row combat system to some extent. Oh Also there are new weapon types FINALLY.

The story in all of these games thus far has been meh at best. The core cast never interact in each other's "paths" and its such a waste of a premise. In an effort to gave more control to the player, they really narrow the experience of what could have been. So, instead of focusing on individual charachters, what octopath traveler 0 does is focus on the WORLD. The original set up is pretty generic with saturday morning/edge lord villians that are hard to take seriously, but then it shifts to be about the other half of the continent and it starts to take on a more of Game of Thrones type of narrative (that is my only reference for fantasy and I havent even read the books or like the tv show sorry). You are a nobody who just happens to be witnissing a lot of crazy political drama happening. I am only a few chapters into this new arc but it is definetely already a lot more intereting than anything either of the previous games did...

Completed on 03/03/2026

This game is frustrating for me. I really love the opening section with Grace, but it quickly ends up falling flat once her half is over. The medical facility instantly felt so classic with the move back and forth between wings and zombies coming back to life more annoying than before. The inclusion of a crafting mechanic here actually elevates the experience. providing more options but with scarce resources where every craft feels like a huge commitment. The puzzles are lacking though. You’ll never not know where to go. Leon’s portions though are a slog. I enjoyed his sections when they were short bursts of action, but it quickly gets old when you’re in the back half. You’re immediately heavily armed so there’s no building up an arsenal like in 4. That also means you’re fighting swarms of enemies right off the bat. There is no dodge but it feels like there should be. Instead there is a parry but you can’t parry everything and there’s insects ion as to what you can or can’t. Ammo is also so plentiful. I played on the "classic" difficulty and never struggled with resources or enemies really as my time with Leon. His half feels like a truncated 360-era shooter.Narratively, this game undermines anything that has happened after 3 with no reference to anything in 4, 5, 7, 8 and only a passing reference to 6. Graces story is… fine but really is not interesting and she gets not characterization other then being caring for a little girl. Leon’s dying of the T virus, though they never make a suggestion as to when or how he got infected other than he was in raccoon city. But he was also infected in 4 with a parasite so does that change anything? Anyway, we gotta go back to raccoon city which just happens to be right outside this medical facility and get “Elpis.” They don’t do much with the one tone destroyed raccoon, and it’s still just zombies aside from one big spider. The RPD made my eyes roll because it’s so forced how much the game wants you know it’s a big deal Leon is back here, as if we didn’t just return here ourselves in remake 2. We already did this nostalgia bate and it worked great, I don’t need it again. Oh and Mr x is back, also there’s a Hunk axe fight that means nothing cuz why not. Even the final boss is a version of nemesis, undermining its own villain they introduced. It was this last section with Leon where the game was trying so hard to remind me of cool things from the series it forgot to do anything substantial for this game. It eft a sour taste in my mouth and ultimately feels like filler with no unique identity of its own. It’s short, and doesn’t give you much of a reason to replay it. This might be my least favorite one yet. At least 5 had boulder punching and 6 has #Nivenfield

Completed on 03/21/2026

I’m not a huge fan of these walking sim adjacent games, but this one makes up for it in its visuals and atmosphere. It’s really gross and visceral. Not really a platformer and definitely not a puzzle game, you just kind of wander between set pieces. At times it can be hard to figure out what the game wants, so dying regularly feels like a requirement and I wish the loading times were shorter. Still worth playing for all the body horror and unique monster designs. War is BAD and won’t someone please think of the children?! (genuinly)

Completed on 04/23/2026

I got this because of the Undertale soundtrack DLC and it was half off. I don’t love even love undertale but that’s a whole different word vomit. I tried getting into the original crypt of the necrodancer but found its blend of rogue like had rhythm game just had a little too much going on. it never clicked for me and I just wasn’t good at it. Their Zelda spinoff was fun though. I was mostly able to finish it because you could rely a lot less on keeping rhythm and just play it as a classic Zelda game. Rift is totally solid all around. It’s a much smaller, classic rhythm that really doesn’t have much going on. I still get that euphoric feeling of slipping into a trance, being in synch with a cool song and seeing number go up. That’s really all I need when it comes to a rhythm game. Kind of a testament that maybe there really is no need to complicate the formula by trying to blend genres. Not that I fault them for trying.

The story is serviceable, given I don’t know anything about the cast or their relationship. The art style is cute and I’m sure there’s a ton of Candace x Dove fan art out there.

Written 05/03/2026

I haven’t technically beaten this game yet, but I am at the last boss and I wanna get my thoughts down before I get to a point of where I just wanna be done with this game. I honestly don’t even think this boss is terribly difficult. He has a combo move that kills me in one though and It is getting increasingly annoying. So why not take a break and reflect.

Overall, I think this is one of the easier games in the franchise. Definitely easier than DS1, but maybe not as easy as Bloodborne. Easier doesn’t mean more or less enjoyable necessarily. It’s just something I keep thinking while playing. The game does a really great job in terms of the different combat styles of the bosses. I have never really felt like I had to learn combos in previous games, more just avoid getting hit in general. But here it really felt like I had to learn the best directions to roll towards and when to punish a boss after their moves. After Bloodborne, I think these might have some of the most enjoyable and “fair” feeling bosses in the franchise. Although, a few do have run ending combos that can feel pretty cheap.

The world building is also great. It’s very cool to return to spots from DS1 and see them dilapidated, but nothing ever felt as impressive as actually playing through DS1 for the first time. I’ve never been the kind of fan who got super invested in the lore of these games and the mysterious of these worlds, but I have always really appreciated all the effort that’s gone into making them feel so distinct in their kind of dark fantasy tone. This one is much more straight forward in its structure for better or worse, The hub world already has the blacksmith and shopkeeper, and teleporting is unlocked from the start. It’s a lot more straight forward, for better and worse. The world feels smaller in some ways, but it’s also a lot easier to navigate and get through.

At the end of the day, it’s a souls game. It scratches that itch of high difficulty and satisfaction of growth as a player to surpass that difficulty that only these games give me. After playing all of them, it’s really impressive how distinct each are from each other and how they each offer a unique experience.

Pontiff fight almost felt cheap, and Dancer has to be one of the coolest looking bosses in the whole series. I thought I would miss my Uchi but Sellswords Twinblades are pretty sick. I only learned the L1 trick after Dancer!

Update: I beat the Lord of Cinder and hour after writing this on my first try

Written on 06/20/2026

This game had some really great moments early on. A bit of a slow start, but once the characters get together, it’s goofy and the gimmick is immediately satisfying. I could see this coming out on the PlayStation 2 between Viewtiful Joe and Okami. Each of them have a distinct selling point gameplay wise, that they build a world around.

At first I was a little put off by the realistic girl android, but she’s not really treated as a human. She is weird and very expressive, and while she is child-like, the game never tries to force a kind of humanness on her. Hugh is a classic goofy male lead, and their relationship is fun to see. It never tries to be overly dramatic (Well… until the end) so it feels very cartoony and like a silly sci-fi adventure.

Unlocking the hub space and seeing all the collectibles and unlockables also cemented the arcadey feel of this game. The first few worlds are distinct and exploring them are a lot of fun. Traversal is tight, but every space feels fleshed out. It works great with the early combat sections. It is stressful having to hack an enemy before shooting in a small room, but it feels so satisfying blasting away at them after and seeing the health come down in chunks. The narrow spaces and mechanicals make for a more survival horror feel. You have limited ammo in secondary weapons, and your primary pistol can feel like it takes forever when it’s recharging. It feels like shots matter still.

Unfortunately… all of this glowing praise starts to melt off towards the back end of the game. Enemies get spongier and more and more are thrown at you at a time. The limited ammo and hacking modules felt fine when it was less enemies, but then they start to feel like severe gameplay oversights. If they were going to build towards this action forwards ending, then healing should have become instant, the hacking faster, all weapons having rechargeable ammo etc. It’s no longer tense, it’s just annoying. Why does Diana take SO LONG to charge up an attack that is essential and that you can easily be knocked out of?

The last couple locations also devolve into generic space station being taken over by goop. The narrative isn’t anything interesting, and I wouldn’t mind it at all if it wasn’t for all the other flaws that started appearing. The final moment between the leads is also just so random. It takes a dramatic turn that feels tonally inconsistent with the majority of the game.

Fun first half. If it ended a few hours ealier and was cheaper, I think this would have been a real stand out of the year.

Written on 06/27/2026

I pretty immediately felt like this was going to be a good game. The run they start you off in is frantic and fun, and felt distinctly more action forward than Returnal ever did in my short time with it. It’s a level based, rogue like shooter where pattern recognition and reaction speed are the most crucial things you can get better at. It’s a big fancy 3D shmup, a bullet hell that constantly has you dashing away from wave of bullets with gritted teeth. And I loved basically every second of it.

The game never stops being fun, no matter how many times I had to redo a section. It’s because of how tight everything feels, control wise but also how rewards are dolled out. Not only do you find artifacts that will give you status bonuses, but there are a bunch of different weapon types that each randomly have effects that can fundamentally change how you play. You can also just level up by collecting exp off enemies, making every single enemy feel important in taking down. At first, I thought it was a little easy. It really starts to pick up in the back half though, and there were some bosses that had me doing full game run backs to be better prepped for. The only time I ever felt annoyed was during the post game content, replaying through some levels felt more tedious when the only purpose was to get to specific rooms for story content.

The world building is so bonkers, there were moments where I was just in awe of these rooms that you are supposed to just be blasting through. The first biome looks like space hell, the second looks like an H R Giger art book, and one looked like Anorlando on fire. They all feel distinct and genuinely made run backs kind feel integral to seeing all the sides of a biome. The story is like Silent hill 2 set in a sci-capitalist dystopia akin to Alien, but with the human existential experience of Anihilation. Also we could through in SMT: Strange Journey in there if we want. I was worried it would be too much like any of these things for it to feel fresh, but the gameplay and the way the story unravel in little bits made it feel like a unique experience. Arjun is looking for his wife but maybe he’s not the best husband (a tale as old as time for this medium I feel). But it’s not just about him, the whole cast is dealing with these personal anxieties being brought out by whatever is going on with this planet. Not every character feels entirely fleshed out, but hearing bits about people (some who you never even meet) makes everything going on just feel more vivid and unsettling. The wife, Nitya, is also give way more interiority than most wife characters in this Bad Husband genre. I found her dilemma and the ways she deals with them to be really engrossing. She is a victim and a damsel in Arjun’s story, but that’s not where her story begins and ends. She has this whole experience on this planet separate from Arjun that really (metaphorically and physically) changes her. Arjun himself is also interesting, though I didn’t find him that much more compelling than most bad husbands. His actions are not excused by the narrative, but we are given reasons that are little more complicated than usual. They story feels very modern, a real elevation of what’s come before.

Great game, fun, 10/10? I would honestly be nit picking if I had to find things I didn’t like. I guess I wish that Arjun would randomly say things that cut out the audio recordings you find. Also why does there always have to be a dog like enemy in every alien world and why are they always the most annoying to deal with.

Written on 07/18/2026

I was familiar with Raidou from him popping up in other SMT games, but I didnt ever look to deep into his origins. I was really interested in this remaster because of the different battle mechanics and the world building. I love the idea of a digimon cyber-slueth but SMT. While the more action focused gameplay doesnt mix perfecently with the press/turn system of the mainline series, I think it's enjoyable enough for it's runtime.

Raidou is a cool character and the game started off with a lot of potential for me. Structuring the game around cases that raidou has to solve is fun, and I was looking forward to see how each one would feel distinct from the last and introduce a new myster to solve. The models are look great and the cutscenes are sick, the SMT artstyle is on full force here. There narrative ultimately get's a bit too convoluted/random in a way that left me dissapointed. I wish they could have just kept it more simple, since that simplicity was orignal what made it feel so fresh compared to the mainline series that is so dramatique.

I also feel like I didn't really get a good handle of the dmeon fusion like in the other games. No matter how I fused them or leveled them it always felt like they died pretty quick / werent doing the most damage. I couldnt tell if that was my fault or if the game pads out battles by making the bosses have large health bars. Not being able to command them directly would also get annoying. They focus on keeping you and eachother alive, but there are times where I'd rather they be focusing on hitting weaknesses whenever I didnt have the right elemental skill equipped for the battle.

None of these issues ruined the experience for me though, the game isn't long enough for that to happen I think. It's a fun little spin off game with it's own unique world and I would defintely check out the other ones if they remake the sequels as well. I'll wait for them to go on sale again too.

Written on 07/23/2026

The Fears to Fathom Series have always been a good short romp. They rely on jump scares, but the the atmosphere is usually really good. It's not hard to make a game scary really, and I've been impressed with how the series has been able to stay true to it's original scope while slowly expanding mechanically.

Scratch Creeks is the first attempt at a co-op experience, and my friend and I were very excited when we learned it had come out. The opening seen does a good job of introduced this mechanic of needing two people to move things, and my friends commented "Oh we're defintely going to have to barricade ourselves in at some point." But, that never happened. There wasn't really any reason for the game to be co op. It didnt do a single thing other that required to charcters working together except for moving boxes and moving a tree.

It also felt like there was A LOT more dialogue in this one, and writing has never been these games strengths. There were some fun world building moments during opportunities to explore and I wish the game relied on more of that rather than having to wait for a blank faced NPC to finish speaking. There's an insinuation that the horror is going to be around race and discrimination, but then that's dropped and becomes something a more generic.

Not bad by anymeans, and pretty inline with the rest of them. I guess I was just excited about the co-op, only to be let down with how surface level it is. There are moments where you are just waiting around for the other player to finish a task. Luckily there is a cow clicker minigame you can play.