4 Games - 4 Reviews

A Splendid Tuesday to You All!

I hope this post finds you well and healthy. Today I wanted to talk about 4 different games I completed over the past few months. Worry not, Illevar updates are coming, but I got the urge to talk about a few games that I've been enjoying in my free time. 

With this short intro out of the way, let's dive into the reviews!

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

copyright Square Enix

I have mentioned this game a few times on my blog already as it gave me the biggest inspiration for Illevar. That said, I never fully dived into the game or its mechanics in any of those posts.

Voice of Cards is a short RPG published by Square Enix. It has a board game aesthetic to it with each character, monster, and item being represented by a card. Abilities and attacks use ability points and dice is rolled to check results or add extra damage. The fact this system hasn't been made into a board game yet baffles me and I hope it receives one in the future, though my own may fill that void someday. 

You follow a group of the notfinest adventurers chasing down their dreams (i.e. money) as they pursue a gigantic dragon through the game's world. The characters all have well defined personalities and humor is sprinkled throughout their adventure. A lone narrator guides you through the story and his dry performance adds to the game's humor. 

must be from the Midwest

The game goes from goofy to dark and back to goofy several times, never lingering too long on either emotion as the story progresses. The characters quickly grow on you and even some of the enemies.

This was a short jaunt as far as RPGs go and I really appreciated it. I don't think spending 50+ hours on this game would have worked as the story was tight and never really felt like it dragged.

Overall, I recommend completing this one. 

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

copyright Nintendo

Oh sweet, adorable Kirby. So perfect, so round, so pink. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a very pleasant experience. 

This new title is his first foray into true 3D. The hero from Pop Star finds himself, and several familiar faces, sucked through a wormhole in space to a post-apocalyptic world overrun with greenery and adorable, beast-like enemies.

Kirby gains a new ability that allows him to suck up large objects, such as cars, and use them to navigate several finely-tuned levels in search of his friends and to save the world!

Everything about this game felt great. The music, the atmosphere, the controls, etc. Even those who have little to no experience playing video games can quickly grasp what to do and how to progress.

The game offers a full co-op adventure with Player 1 taking on the role of Kirby and Player 2 taking on the role of Bandana Waddle Dee. My partner and I had such a a fun time switching off roles and completing this game. 

You can power up all of Kirby's abilities by completing side missions and challenges, while never feeling forced to do so. That said, you really feel compelled to 100% this game. The sad little Waddle Dees in cages definitely help motivate you.

Its so sad and so cute!

If you haven't picked it up yet, definitely try to when you can. Overall, I recommend completing this one.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

copyright Nintendo, Pokémon Company International, Game Freak

Pokémon Arceus took Pokémon in a whole new direction. Everything was tweaked from exploring, catching, battling, evolving, etc. Every little mechanical change felt like a natural progression to an otherwise cut-and-paste formula. 

The story revolves around you, yes you, being sent back in time by Arceus, aka Pokémon God, to help the people of Hisui complete the Pokedex and put a stop to some mysterious ailments affecting the lives of the Pokémon and people of this ancient region.

There was so much good in this game that it's hard to write about. The graphics were improved, the controls felt nice, there was actual reason to complete the Pokedex, and there was enough of a mystery to keep the story moving. It was refreshing to play through a Pokémon game where it felt like you were actually helping the Professor complete the dex, rather than that being a side quest as you stomped the crud out of Gym Leaders.

Moving around the wilderness and seeing Pokémon living their lives as you feed them, capture them, and battle them was like a childhood dream coming true. I wanted to see all of them and do all the tasks needed to complete their research.

The positives aside, the latter half of the game was a slog for me. Pokémon needs to find better writers. Period. There is a whole section of the game where a character betrays you for no, and I mean NO, gosh darned reason and it felt so forced and tacked on. Only for them to later be brought back to "reason" after battling them and hearing how their original village was burned down? Wut? Where the heck in any of the previous talks or cutscenes with that character was that ever eluded to? 

my face during that part of the game. Copyright Disney

Is this a game for younger kids and I'm just being hypercritical of a children's game? Yes. But, children can handle more than just, "surprise, I'm bad now" for characters.

I also felt there were a few problems with the "complete the Hisui Pokedex" to complete the game requirement. Not that this is a bad goal; heck I loved it up to a point. What soured it a bit was that the in-game pokedex will tell you that you have caught all the Pokémon in the region, BUT if you did not catch ALL the Pokémon that can spawn in the Space-Time Rifts that randomly appear on the maps (unless you literally set down the controller and wait for 40 MINUTES without touching or interacting with anything to force one to spawn), you cannot face Arceus at the end.

The only clue you have that some of these Pokémon even exist in the game is with certain items being found on the ground, in Space-Time Rifts, that allude to that Pokémon being in the game. The biggest offender of this being Porygon. A Pokémon only found in the Crimson Mirelands Space-Time Rifts which you would only know was in the game if you found one of the items needed to evolve it. Even then, there are no clues that this particular area is where it will spawn. Thanks, Google先生.

Okay, that was as long rant and I'm sorry. Overall, I do recommend the game, but have a guide handy to help you find some of those last few Pokémon at the end.

West of Loathing

http://westofloathing.com/

I was told about this game some years ago by a friend in Korea. I thought it looked pretty silly, which it is, and just kind of forgot about it.

I got a chance to play it on my partner's Switch this past weekend and, my god, it is a masterpiece.

West of Loathing leans heavily into its silly humor and simple, yet finely-tuned, gameplay. The gameplay is basic RPG 101 with each character taking turns choosing an attack and hitting the others until they collapse into a pile of gooey death. 

The writing in this game was amazing. You play as an adventurer traveling through a weird parody of a spaghetti western with a trusty companion and explore all that this strange land has to offer as you try to seek your fortune before ending in Frisco.

I have never laughed so hard at a game before. I have also never had a game accurately recreate my frustration of dealing with Immigration Services in Asia all while taking place in a literal ghost town full of bureaucratic nonsense and #3 pencils. Yes, that was a thing in the game.

I don't want to say anymore about the game lest I ruin the fun of stumbling around for anyone reading this. Overall, this game is a must play in my books.

Closing

Thanks for tuning in. Let me know your thoughts any way that you can. Next week, I'm back to posting about my game. 

That's all for today's post. You can always tune in again next week. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter.