Recent reviews by Shortchimp

7.5/10
This one was surprising. I initially thought I would had liked lighting returns the LEAST of the 3 in the xiii trilogy, but after finishing the game, doing a ton of the side quests, even doing the superboss for this game, I truly think that lightning returns is the best of the 3 games... even though like its other 2, is flawed to their core.

Story
This one is what people always point at, and quite honestly I am in the middle of both opinions. Is the story amazing? no. Is it the best of the three? better than xiii-2, but structure wise prob the weakest of the three. What I liked about xiii's story was honestly the writing, even though it felt like them attempting to do the nier automata's side quest approach of doom and gloom, but with a worse writing style that doesn't hit nearly as hard as that game. For the main story, it feels like a super streched out 10 hour story forced into a 30-40 hours long game. The main concept of the story is how little time Lightning has to reverse the destruction of the world by a god that created it all. It has a TON of themes surrounding how death affects the current living souls, religion and religious power abuse, and the effect of living for 500 damn years without aging, losing your loved ones and how they affect that person. Honestly I feel like this was such a strong base for a story, but it was obviously not given the time it was needed to polish the story, which is why I feel like they decided to add the time mechanic, and have a ton of the story content being side quests. The side quests were the more interesting aspects, and was actually worthwhile compared to the previous ff games just for the story, even if they weren't written as well as other games I have played. The main story has a ton of issues I didn't like, like how each character had 1 main story chapter dedicated to them, and once they were finished, they legit don't show up at ALL till the very end to help lightning. Apart from that I feel like I did enjoy this story way more than xiii-2 purely for the writing, even if the structure was pretty wack.

Characters
This one is a bit mixed for me. The one thing I like is the even though they tried to make lightning "stripped of emotion", I honestly liked her way more than in XIII. I know this game is practically JUST her on focusing on their character development, while xiii had to balance multiple party cast members. Even tho... she was kind of a ♥♥♥♥♥ in XIII and yes she does develop, but I found her in lightning returns to be way more interesting of a character who struggles with the fact that she can't even feel sad about her missing sister anymore. I still don't think she is a top tier written character, which is sad considering she had THREE WHOLE GAMES to develop, and i've cared more for those with just 1 game, but it is what it is. What I believe is weaker this game around is the other party members. I know they aren't shown much screen time but man they are just casted aside so much in this game, even then aren't written that well. Hope was stripped of his emotions as well, returned to his younger xiii form (why?), and even though you hear his voice for 3/4 of the game, was soooooo damn bland compared to his xiii counterpart. The other cast members were also not that interesting. Noel was weak asf in this story and feels a bit rushed for his character, even if I understood his motives. Snow was the best of the returning casts for having the most interesting storyline, and honestly I liked him the most. Caius was meh in xiii-2, and was meh in this game as well. They try to flesh out his motives in a good light in this game but it wasn't that strong imo. Fang and Vanille were pretty interesting for their dynamic, and I liked their development in this game. Sazh, poor dude, had pretty good scenes for the what, 10 minutes of cutscene he has in this game. They cut his involvement in xiii-2 and they did it again in this game, like cmon I like his character premise so much but he barely does anything in this game AGAIN. The side quest characters were short, but had some good highlights, they were probably the better aspects of this game, but did feel like an extra budget and time would had made them REALLY good (which this game didn't have, obviously).

Gameplay
For the huge shift towards action, quite honestly I liked the system a ton. It is a sudden change from the paradigm system from xiii and xiii-2, but honestly I liked it better overall. I liked the paradigm system, but it did have some issues that grinded my gear like how unresponsive some actions felt like turning around, being stunlocked (even though this happens still in this game), and how samey the encounters can be esp in xiii-2. It isn't perfect, I wasn't the biggest fan of some enemy designs, some of them were designed purely to waste your time and such, and the shop system being completely worthless (first playthrough), and the GOOD items being so damn expensive you will NEVER afford them till you have already finished the game was just a tease. The good aspects tho, perfect guarding was such a good mechanic, and adds a ton of enjoyment for making fights purely off of skill instead of just higher number scaling. Talking about scaling, lightning's power scales from doing side quests instead of grinding, which I liked a ton. The three character archetype shifting was so damn good, and can get pretty busted with stuff like 100% damage reduction styles and such. Apart from combat, the time mechanic was such a cool idea at first, till you realize there is so much damn time that honestly makes the time mechanic practically worthless apart from working around quest schedules and one dungeon. I did all the main questlines, did like 93% of the side quests, and still had 3 days to go that I honestly just rested through. I would vastly prefer the time lightning had to be BARELY enough to do everything and talk about how you can't do everything you want to do, but nope, its just there to be scared of at first, then be forgotten till you remember its there so you can sleep till the final day. Lastly the pacing of the game from main story to side quest was a bit jarring, and just feels like they had so much they wanted to do, but with the limited budget with shows a ton with the cutscenes being mainly real time rendered, with generic animations and such that was nowhere near the quality of xiii and even xiii-2, which kinda sucks.

Music
Good, but wasn't as good as xiii-2's ost. There were still some pretty good songs I liked like the Ark theme, Wildland theme, Luxerion theme and the final boss theme I liked, but nowhere near as good as the top tier final boss themes from other FF games. Still, I liked the OST for this game, but for how amazing xiii-2's ost was, I was a bit unfair to compare to.

Final Positives/Nitpicks
- PC Port was ALMOST perfect compared to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ xiii-2 port, with the only MAJOR complaint apart from wack method to change graphic settings, was the lack of kb+m support. (previous 2 had kb+m, why couldn't this game have proper support?)
- Some of the side quests (and Sazh's quest) were wayyyy too annoying to do, some of them wanted you to travel so damn far, wait apart separate days, and weren't worth it story and reward wise.

Conclusion
Lightning returns was honestly a pretty good game comparing to the other 2 games. While I did complain a ton in this review, I still honestly think this was the best of the three. While the story wasn't as strong structure wise, I enjoyed the writing the most, the combat the most and believe if it were given the proper budget and time, would had been up there as one of the better FF games easily. Instead we are left with a bit of a mess, with a time mechanic that gives too much time to matter, and the padding with how little story they had to tell prevents it from being a great FF game... but compared to the other flawed xiii games, still stands out as the great XIII game.
7.5/10

6.5/10
Final Fantasy XIII-2 was my most anticipated game to play throughout the whole 13 trilogy. I quite honestly expected to be blown away by this game after the poor experience I had with 13. However while 13-2 fixes a ton of issues that I had with 13, especially with gameplay, it also leaves a ton to be desired on other aspects like story.

Story
13-2 tries to achieve the impossible of taking the already complicated idea of time travel, and asks the impossible question of what if the future affected the past by having that future timeline only happen that you changed by forcing new events in the past to occur. Was it done well? not really. Quite honestly if I had to point at any weak point of this game, its easily the story. While 13's story was flawed, it atleast tried to tell interesting themes with religion and power. 13-2's story is more of a time travel story with the only prominent theme being believing in the future, pushing forward knowing the bad fate and such. Quite honestly they didn't really stick to me as much as 13 did. One common complaint I always hear about 13-2's story is that it ruined 13's ending, and quite honestly yeah going full time travel did kinda sour it, but I wasn't nearly as mad as I imagined others were especially now that the 3rd game is already out. The game obviously had a smaller budget, so many cutscenes weren't as impressive as 13, and even going by discussion, it was obvious that this game's story was mainly character centric this time around, with the story's time travel just being a driving force that works only if you ask literally 0 questions about it. A VERY interesting thing this game does is with its ending, which I won't go into much detail for spoilers reason, but while a ton of people hated it, I liked it quite honestly.

Characters
One interesting thing about this game is that the main character from 13, lightning, is turned into a side character... and I was actually pretty happy about it. Lightning was never my favorite main character, and I enjoyed Serah way more character wise due to her more charming personality and willingness to actually give a ♥♥♥♥ about what is happening around her compared to Lightning's "conflicted" personality that is overall pretty weak imo. Noel is also the 2nd main character and while I did enjoy him a ton, I don't think both of them would enter my top 10 best FF characters list anytime soon... maybe serah. Noel's journey was very interesting, but quite honestly not the craziest. I think the one thing this game lacks is strong writing, so its hard to care about the characters stories, or the story in general. Even with that, I still cared for the two and I think they were a much stronger character story wise compared to 13's cast... who also show up again in this game albeit with major plot convenience and whenever the game felt like they should pop in and out. The worst part about having a convoluted time travel is that a ton of events in this game just felt so damn plot convenient, like oh wow thank goodness snow was in this timeline at this point and never shows up, or oh wow thank god Sazh shows up for literally 3 minutes at the perfect moment to contribute anything to the plot... Man I feel like if they just did the easier past affects future, or atleast explain the time travel WAY better than they did, it would had worked out much better.

Gameplay
Now this is where 13-2 gets the most praise over 13. SO many aspects of 13-2 is just 13's gameplay but actually way improved. The combat is faster, paradox shifting isn't a snails pace, you aren't introduced to mechanics every 20 hours cause the game actually respects that you will understand the mechanics quick. A ton of small things were just made wayyy better in 13-2, and the MAJOR mechanic difference is the monster mechanic, where instead of a third party member, you have a monster that you are able to capture, level up, infuse, and utilize in your party with up to 3 different monsters. Its honestly pretty cool, however does have some shortcomings. First of all the game's difficulty is easy for like 90% of the game, so you don't have to care about monster leveling apart from like 3 MAJOR difficulty spikes. Even then, smaller mechanics are only required for when you grind for the coliseum (which I didn't do cause I got burnt out at the end just thinking about having to grind for 30 hours for something I know I can do easily). Another thing I think was downgraded was the crystarium levelling up. Instead of the more interesting tower design of where you have to choose the branch and decide what to level up for each role, you have one large branch that you choose your role to level each orb. What this creates is you spamming the level up for your main role of that character, making the impact of getting those big skills feel not as strong as 13's system. Honestly having firaga 5 hours in the game was just kinda lame (even if 13-2's system has you spamming fire for single target anyways). Not only that, you forget the skills you get anyways cause of how fast you level specific roles, and of course serah and Noel have "unique" trees for each role, so some spells that serah can get, Noel can't... or nobody getting haste at all since ig it was pretty busted in 13. Another aspect is that the game does have some gameplay segments that focus on puzzles, and quite honestly I enjoyed them apart from one clock puzzle that would had been so much better if they explained it better than they did. Overall I think the best part of 13-2 is the combat, but it isn't the DIRECT upgrade I was led to believe.

Music
Now if I were to talk about direct upgrades... its the music. Oh my GOD the music in this game bangs. It is so damn unique compared to even the rest of the series with the variety and amount of songs that were just bangers. Historia Crux theme, New Bodhum, Worlds collide, eternal struggle, I can go on for nearly 60% of the ost as bangers it is insane.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-Ok, the pc port of this game is easily top 10 worst ports I have experienced. Required fix mod or else you will have so many damn problems with crashing. Audio sounds like ♥♥♥♥ and requires software to fix. Cutscene low resolution again. Even then terrible controls, performance sucks, I can go on with the amount of problems this port has. Its the worst of the trilogy easily.
- Didn't do endgame content, but did do DLC, and Lightning was just a repeating 2 phase boss which I liked honestly, and Sazh was just poker lmao.
- I probably liked 13-2 more than 13 due to playable gameplay this time, but story is worse.

Conclusion
13-2, even though was better than 13 for me, was probably the one I felt had the biggest wasted potential. They made so many well done changes to the gameplay that it sucks to have a few stick out that is worse compared to 13. The writing team of this game as well needs to realize why nobody else has done a future affects past story before... cause its buns. I feel like this game would had been LEAGUES better than 13 if it weren't for the fact that the story, while serviceable and has good characters and even villain, is held back by the convoluted story that tries to be more complex then it really is.
6.5/10

5/10
Resident Evil 6 is probably the most confused game I have ever experienced. While Resident Evil is known best when it does survival horror, RE6 is known as the survival horror... action, blockbuster, military shooter, etc, etc, this game can't really be described better than just a huge mess that attempts to please everyone, but instead pleases nobody.

Story
While most games would go the route of telling one, strong story, RE6 takes the brave route of telling 4, separate (but same storyline), weaker storylines. The main storylines are from Chris, Leon, Jake, and last but probably worst, Ada. Quite honestly they vary greatly in quality, as Chris probably has the least amount of story, but a simple goal. Jake's storyline focuses on the Nemesis like enemy and the relation between Jake and Sherry, almost like a love story. Leon's Campaign probably has the most attempts to do storytelling, but falls flat with many moments of just forced walking sections. They vary a ton in tone, but at the same time share the same (big explosions go boom). Probably the most disappointing was Leon's campaign, as it was obvious that they wanted to focus on horror, but then realized that they might bore the player, so reminds us that we are playing RE6 and throws an explosion I swear, more times than Chris' Campaign. Jake was the surprisingly stronger campaign, which isn't saying much, but thanks to its love story. Chris' was also a strong potential, but had less times to flesh out the story and instead focus on the action. Ada's campaign... sucked, and the story was just so one note that it got really stale real quick. The worst aspect of this story however was how they tried to connect everyone's story together, which on paper sounds really sick, but ends up with many segments of corny one-liners, standing still watching someone else have fun, or terrible, terrible writing moments that just makes me face palm more than take seriously.

Characters
While Resident Evil never had SUPER fleshed out characters, they always had more interesting characters. RE6 decides that the best way to flesh out a character is to force them to have terrible one liners, especially leon and jake oh my GOD man. They still do hold interest, as like said before, their relations between one another were interesting, and whlie I still complained about the storyline interconnecting was its biggest fault, it was still kinda cool to see them bump into each other and how they contributed... even if it lead to some fights just having you watch them have fun. Jake and Sherry's love story was the most interesting storyline, with Leon and Helena's was the 2nd most interesting. Chris' and his partner was probably the least interesting, and Ada... tried. I do think Jake trying to act the most badass in front of everyone was a bit corny, but I did like his development at the end... but man it sucks how much Leon's campaign storywise and gameplay wise was disappointing, even if they made it to appeal to horror fans... just to make it more action than the rest of the campaigns.

Gameplay
RE6's magnum opus... is super conflicted. Quite honestly the combat and core gameplay they made was pretty good, and was easily the most engaging of the RE games... if only they made the gameplay around a good game. RE6's gameplay is what happens when you have a good system, and do all the wrong things to make that system shine. They have a RE core gameplay with mechanics that focus around dodges, dive rolls, leaping around, and a melee system that encourages stuns into a almost wrestling game? Now instead of having that shine, they instead force you to fight goons with guns, annoying big monsters, and barely give you enough ammo to even flop around and experiment with the system they made. Or better yet, segments of just walking around, watching your 500th explosion, quick time event to just climb a rope? I feel like if they took this exact same combat system and made it around a better game, it would be a different tune. They instead shoved it into a game that didn't know what it wanted to be, action? Horror? RE3 fan? stealth? ♥♥♥♥ it lets have EVERYTHING. The one thing that does save this game is how much fun it is for COOP, which is where this game shines the brightest. I can't fatham playing this game by yourself and having the best time of your life. Compared to RE5's more streamlined, but still fun coop, RE6's coop tends to throw everything at the wall and hope you both enjoy it. While some segments are pretty fun, overall they get stale REAL fast, and especially Ada's campaign which had the most obviously tacked on coop to the point where the partner doesn't even seem to exist, yeah its a mixed bag.

Music
Generic, Generic, Generic. They really tried to replicate the "hollywood feel" a bit too much, and most songs in this ost was just really forgettable.

Last Positives/ Nitpicks
- a ♥♥♥♥ ton of skill points, which were worthless as we played no mercy.
- not the best pc port, but not the worst.
- The Inventory system sucks balls, and the last of coop partner trading and upgrading does hurt a ton on working together and such.

Conclusion
Even though I dog on this game, I still do think its worth a try... on coop only. Solo you might as well play any of the other RE games, as not only will you have a more enjoyable experience, but actually play a game that knows what tf it wants to be. I am glad this was when capcom realized to turn a complete 180 with the direction they were going and finally steer towards Survival Horror again, as I truly believe if they kept going this route, we would be singing a different tune about the RE franchise compared to how we talk about it today.

5/10

8/10 (as of 7.0)
Dawntrail is a new beginning for ff14, as with the end of endwalker comes a new dawn. Just as ARR had hiccups for having the job of starting a new long story, Dawntrail as well shows the same hiccups along the journey, and while done in a much better way than ARR, falls short of the storytelling that was previously done in shadowbringers or endwalker.

Story
This is probably the aspect that will easily be criticized the most, even for someone like me who still enjoyed the story a ton. Dawntrail's story can be split into 2 parts, and without getting too deep into spoilers, will have your enjoyment of each side, especially the first half, solely on how much you enjoy a certain character, or to be exact, Wuk Lamat. Luckily I did enjoy her presense, but I still felt like the 1st half does having really poor pacing issues and weaker writing in general. I know people didn't like how we are not the main character of this expansion, but from what we have had to deal with for the past expansion, it was a nice change of pace. It still can't be avoided however of how much I wish that 1st half had better writing, cause it took me awhile to start getting into the expansion till like maybe lvl 92 msq. The 2nd half does get better, with a huge shift in tone, but still suffers from the same pacing issues as the 1st half, and writing that not only lacks in certain aspects, but urgency as well. There are a ton of moments that the story wants you to start panicking, only for you to stroll along like you have all the time in the world so you can "better understand the people". Of course some of the best moments in this expansion WAS understanding others more, but it still affected the pacing way more than how ff14 pacing usually is. Overall I still feel like Dawntrail was a good overall story, but ranking wise is nowhere near shadowbringers or endwalker, and is probably around the same level of either heavensward or stormblood for me, specifically the x.0 storylines. Still enjoyed it more than ARR and believe it to be a very good story still, but knowing that its the world building expansion, would had liked a bit more better writing now that we have experienced EW and SHB.

Characters
Some strong ones, but overall wasn't as strong as previous expansions. The best highlight characters were Krile, Wuk Lamat (her expansion), Erenville, and the other supporting characters such as Koana and The three Ja Ja, but mainly the father and Bakool Ja Ja. Many of the Scions apart from Krile were a bit one note this expansion. We got to experience mainly Alphinaud and Alisaie as they tagged along with us the most, with the other Scions trickling down later on, but they and the rest of the scions (apart from krile again), didn't really experience a character arc this time around. While they do share screen time, Their writing in general felt more of a side treatment compared to previous expansions. They were still prominent, but weren't nearly as strong as before. Even with those complaints, they were still very good, as I really did enjoy Wuk Lamat's character growth throughout the expansion as she realizes her potential as the leader. Krile FINALLY getting the arc she deserves was a treat as well, and Erenville being the main tag along was a ton of joy to experience. Alphinaud and Alisaie still have strong moments throughout the story, albeit not the focus of this expansion. Koana's 1st half story arc was a ton of fun alongside the other contestants, especially Bakool Ja Ja. While the big main villain of this arc wasn't as strong as before, I still understood their reasoning even if I wished they were fleshed out a bit more. I still got teary over some scenes with the characters, even with ones I really didn't expect to cry over, and while the pacing was not that good this time around, still had those highlights that I love from 14's story.

Gameplay
Won't go over the base gameplay, just the new additions, also haven't done the new raid series or anything apart from msq yet. I loved the dungeons and trials this expansion, ESPECIALLY the dungeons as they felt not only challenging for a base msq dungeon, but had great songs and bosses to go alongside. The trials were also a ton of fun not only storywise, but especially mechanically. I am glad they are starting to make the msq encounters more challenging and engaging compared to previous expansions, and I hope they continue along this path. The new (or more enhanced) stealth mechanic this time around was good, of course was just the same as endwalker, but with visual indicators this time. For the new job additions, I played thru with summoner, which quite honestly their new additions this expansion were fine, as they didn't add much apart from solar bahamut, which does feel unique with the AOE heal, but not new enough to change how I do my rotations at all. Thew new jobs however are SO MUCH fun, I have been loving Pictomancer so far, but plan to level up Viper as I enjoy just how fast their rotation is overall. If there is one thing this expansion did the best, it was in the gameplay department.

Music
A much different approach to the usual songs we hear from Soken, and my god did he nail the OST for this expansion cause it is GOOOODDD. Many of the zone themes, especially towards the end were so damn good, and I just loved all the new songs that were introduced this expansion. While the ONLY complaint I have is the lack of new songs for scenes like the sad moments, or happy moments (or just a new song whenever the characters just talk about something), but still overall was fantastic as always.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-Planning to switch from SMN, as im starting to get a bit annoyed how dead simple their rotation is.
- Still loved Wuk Lamat, even with all the complaints
- The difference between 1st and 2nd half were jarring, but were tied together much better than how stormblood handled it.

Conclusion
Overall was a very good expansion for a x.0, especially with how it has to start the world building and a brand new arc. However it still has its faults that prevent it from being as good as it could be. I understand why others feel very mixed about this expansion, as while other departments were improved a ton, the story obviously wasn't as strong as previous expansions. I know that the previous writer has now taken a more back role, so new blood is writing the msq, but I do hope they figure out their tempo and write the patches with much more care than the base msq. Still very good for msq, but would had liked the same writing quality as we had before.

8/10

10/10
Shadow of the Erdtree is easily the most ambitious dlc that they have ever released, and thankfully in my opinion, probably their best dlc yet (never played bloodborne however). The best parts of elden ring return in this expansion, with not only more unique areas to explore, but also probably the hardest bosses fromsoftware has done, with of course, some of their best they have ever made.

Story
As of writing this review there hasn't REALLY been a full breakdown of the lore of the dlc, but I have done all of the character questlines, read most of the item descriptions, and fought all the bosses so I have a general idea of the story. Without going into spoilers, most of the character arcs were really good, diving into the groups slowly losing trust of each other over their own goals, either teaming up, or going against each other. The main storyline is also SUPER detailed like how I would expect from elden ring lore. While it didn't answer all of my questions I had, specifically with Melina, it answered who tf Miquella was, and his motivations that led to everyone else's story to go the way they went. Again, won't spoil cause I know game is new, but it is easily worth diving into the story of this game, as it has the intrigue, helped Mohg beat the allegations, and of course, made me ask more questions than answers which depends on how you view that.

Characters
For the main bosses, Messmer was easily the one I had the most questions for, and with confirmations that we FINALLY got with him, he was easily the most interesting of the bosses. He also just had a really cool character story that connected with other side characters in the game like Hornsent and such, with themes of revenge and betrayal of their own mother to a lowly tarnished such as yourself. Other bosses like Bayle were also such a joy to dive into their lore, but the final boss in particular was not only a surprise, but also a changer for how their story is, completing their arc alongside Miquella over what their motivations were and how they affected the game as a whole. For the NPC questlines, they were all interconnected apart from a few, which made their stories a ton of fun to dive into as they struggle to live without the blessing they thought to highly of. Of course some still try to believe, but others start going to their old ways, even falling victim to the thing they tried to prevent, like how the drive to revenge caused them to never be satisfied till all are gone. I loved diving into the lore, and while yeah it is a bit weird the direction they took for the finale storypoint, I still think it was an amazing story with a conclusion to those characters... even if it also created new questions and left some plots unanswered, specifically with again, Melina (even though we can fill in some gaps about who she was with Midra).

Gameplay
Of course, Elden ring gameplay was something I already loved, but now they took the difficulty and cranked it up to an 11. For starters, one aspect I think they improved a TON was exploration, as a ton of areas connect to other areas that are not only jaw dropping, but also had the world design that I think was even done better than base game. The game scales with the idea that you are bringing your endgame character, so of course they introduced the blessing system to not only scale your character back to how you were lvl 1, but to also incentivise exploring, since you already have all the upgrade stones you need, you probably already have your build set, and you don't find cookbooks or other smaller finds that interesting anymore. They still nailed the reward system for an open world setting, as I found a ton of new spells and weapons I utilized not only for their usefulness, but also how damn cool they were. I also really enjoyed the blessing system, as it allowed the bosses for this dlc to easily be the hardest they ever have been, but still allowing the exploration side of elden ring to be utilized, meaning you can just go out, find blessings and come back even stonger for the bosses. Talking about the bosses, they were really damn exciting in this dlc, and had some of the best bosses fromsoftware has ever made. The final boss, Messmer and bayle to be specific were so peak, and other bosses like the divine beast were also so damn good it was insane. Of course there were some bleh bosses like the commander, who was the only time I felt like the boss just needed a rework to actually be fun for the way fromsoftware obviously intended, and fighting him normally meant dodging a move that literally has a 2 frame window to dodge or else risk getting hit. Even with some of the ok bosses, this dlc still had some of the best, and of course with how difficult they were, made beating them oh that much more satisfying. One thing that I think is underappreciated is how they tackled the biggest complaint of base game of how catacombs were all the same. In this dlc, not only is the catacomb only really repeated like 2 times this dlc, but had really unique mechanics this time. The other caves had new designs of ice and fire, which added a ton, but also gave you an idea of what to expect in the cave without looking up the loot list.

Music
Really good. The best songs were with The final boss, Messmer, Rellana and the divine beast. Of course as a fromsoftware game, the best songs were the boss themes. Even the ambient songs were pretty good at setting the tone of the area like the forest. Also the Avatar's theme transitions were just chefs kiss.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-Performance was poor, most areas were fine, but some areas did dip to 50 fps at most, and for the final boss one attacked dropped to almost 25 fps which was insane (luckily was very easy to dodge).
-Do wish they explained the blessing systems better, I can tell some players didn't understand it and complained about how crap their max lvl character was doing.
- Would had liked a new ending atleast.
- Would had liked more sorcery spells that weren't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Conclusion
Shadow of the Erdtree for me paid off as easily the best dlc, if you can even call it that and not an expansion, fromsoftware has made. For those complaining about the difficulty, especially early on, just explore and find blessings. If you are saying the final boss is hard then well... ok you got a point. For $40 you are basically getting a sequel to elden ring, and this is EASILY the golden standard for what an expansion to a singleplayer game should be like alongside cyperpunk 2077 and witcher 3's expansions.
10/10

7/10
Dark Souls 2 is easily the black sheep of the souls titles from fromsoftware, and it earns that reputation easily. However, it is still, a fromsoftware souls game. Even with all its flaws, it is still a good game... BUT, it is still, a bad souls game.

Story
A surprisingly good story for how panned this game is. While dark souls 1 is the beginning of the age of fire and ds3 is the end, DS2 takes place in the very middle of the age of fire. Dark Souls 2 is easily much smaller in scale compared to the other 2 souls game, as you are set in a castle that has no bearings to the era, with a time difference so large from ds1 that everyone forget gwymns name, the first cinder lord. It is also much more personal, with your character and the undead curse with how hopeless everything is, even if you try your best. Nobody believes you apart from 1, and it is your struggle that overcomes everyone's expectations. All of the characters struggle to accept the reality that they can't change what is going to occur, with death so close at the door, the only thing they believe they can do is wait, as trying is worse than just accepting fate. Apart from that, the story is a bit messy compared to DS1, and isn't as rich as future titles like ER or DS3, however it has the best personal journey for your character with the struggle to cure the curse that nobody has ever accomplished curing. Of course talking about the whole story would take too long, but the tldr is the war against giants that vendrick caused, even if they were probably weren't going to attack to begin with. Curse gets to Vendrick, vendrick is now a sad, sad, wondering cursed giant.

Characters
DS2's characters is SUPER mixed compared to other titles. For the non hostile NPC, they either range from interesting to downright bland with their story. Aldia was added in scholar, and I can't see who well this game would had done without him cause he had the more interesting dialogue out of the other NPCs in this game by far. Emerald herald, who takes your firekeeper role, is very interesting just like all the other firekeeper. What seperates her is the fact she wasn't ORIGINALLY a firekeeper, and only became one to test you out and see the journey you would take. Vendrick's story and inevitable depressing confrontation was also handled really well. Vengarl was a interesting dialogue as he is stuck beneath stone that he will never escape, and lastly Lucatiel, who had the best of the questlines surrounding a talkable NPC. The other characters suffer from having either super disappointing questlines, or none at all and turn into more bland shopkeepers who sell you ♥♥♥♥. I can't tell if they were just not given the thought to have interesting characters, or if they didn't realize the time it takes to add their lore, so only focused on a few NPC and gave the rest just a "want to buy something?" plot. For the boss lores, they are very interesting like all other boss lores. While the story is much more confusing for what happened with all the bosses that weren't vendrick, they were still captivating.

Gameplay
Now here is where it gets super controversial and what causes the label of "worst souls game" comes from. The gameplay of DS2 is very... mixed? Saying that EVERY aspect of DS2 is worse is just plain wrong. A ton of new mechanics in this game become staples in future titles. Power stance, SLIGHTLY moving with drinking (you still slow down to a stop mid way thru tho), the MUCH larger build variety in this game, respeccing character, SO many new mechanics in this game were just pretty good and are used in future titles to be improved upon, like power stance of course, and moving while drinking. However, this was a very experimental souls game, which means there were a ton of new mechanics introduced that were just plain ass. The most obvious one is roll I-frames being tied to agility stat, which is just a terrible mechanic that thankfully does not return, as it forces you to invest into a stat you didn't need to before just to match I-frames of previous titles. Animations like going thru fog doors, opening levers or doors no longer give you invulnerability frames for the first 2-3 seconds, which means areas that spam you with enemies are now REQUIRED to kill, as running past means getting killed before you can even get past the door. Going back to that, the runback in this game was just INSANELY terrible. This game has the WORST enemy placement in the series, with many areas forcing you to fight 3-4 enemies at the same time, and punishing you for even THINKING of running past them. The game forces you into a playstyle of pulling them one at a time to handle them, which quite honestly wouldn't be that bad if they weren't in your way to ACTUAL BOSSES. Runback is the worst mechanic in any souls game, and DS2 makes runback the worst I have ever experienced with far distances, forced encounters just to have another chance. the only mechanic that I truly believe they did not intend, but makes these 3-4 enemy jumping you bearable was that after killing them around 15 times, they stop spawning in for the rest of the run, which I believe they did to prevent farming, but in reality makes you not stuck on some runbacks for actual days, especially in areas like Iron Keep that throws 15 enemies in front of you, with a fog door that punishes you for running past them at all. I was able to get past this area purely cause they stopped spawning in period, as the boss was already hard to begin with. For the bosses in general, they were overall worse in DS2 compared to future titles. Many of the bosses were either too easy, too bland, or have terrible runback. There were some really good bosses, primary from the DLC, which had not only interesting stories, but had some of the best DLC in the game and were overall MUCH better compared to base. Most of the DLC felt higher quality then base, but they also introduce optional bosses in 2 of the dlc that quite frankly, were trash. The other bosses were probably the best in the game though.
Music
Still really good, just like other souls games. A ton of the songs were really good, but some were a bit generic for my taste (or were too easy to hear their full song). Songs like what played after finding Vendrick, Majula, Skeleton Lord theme (even if his fight was ass), Aldia's theme, Allone's them and the ruin sentinels' theme.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-The PC port is ASS. no steam cloud save, streaming the game was terrible, terrible kb+m controls with a crap double click you have to constantly reset to fix, no PC overlay, so many aspects of this pc port lacks a ton of the modern features the other titles and even DS : remastered have.
- You get jumped by dark spirits... alot. You even get attacked by actual players even if you are turning hollowed.
- losing max hp after death is cruel and I am glad it doesn't return at all later titles, as running out of ways to restore humanity would had made segments of this game near impossible without grinding for more.
- ♥♥♥♥ Frigid Outskirts
- Some areas in this game was BEAUTIFUL. But some were also really ugly, which with the level design, was really inconsistent.

Conclusion
This game is still a pretty good game, as even when I tested out some other indie game souls game, I craved for how good DS2 is compared to those titles. However, comparing DS2 to other formsoftware titles shows just how weak this game is compared to the other souls games. The experimental aspect of this game and sloppy feeling of this game makes way more sense once you realize that Miyazaki did not direct this game, and barely had his input of the development of this game. You can easily tell, as tons of aspects of this game lacks the polish that the other titles contain. Even with that, I like this game a ton, and to call it a bad game is laughable. But would I recommend it as a first title compared to the other souls game? probably not.
7/10

9/10
Dark Souls 1 is easily a masterpiece, containing some of, if not the best level design I have ever experienced with beautiful visuals, story with beautiful lore, and of course really amazing combat even if its successors are much smoother than this game. With the near perfect DLC its hard to knock this game, even if its 2nd half starts to trip at points compared to the 1st half.

Story
Dark Souls story, specifically the lore surrounding it will always be one of the best stories to deep dive into, even if while experiencing it can be challenging to consume compared to other games. The basic story revolves you, the chosen undead, attempting to relink the fires by killing Gwyn, who currently sits at the throne himself. Beyond that basic premise, you mainly learn the story by environmental storytelling, character dialogue and of course with classic souls tradition, through item descriptions. Having to through the age of fire after the war against the dragons with the new "and now, pretty dead" lords, with the inevitable of the fires burning out, requiring you to relink the fire and delay the age of darkness. My ending was relinking the fire, but quite honestly I do prefer the "evil" ending of age of darkness where you do not relink the flame, as I feel like even if we have to enter the age of darkness, a new flame will always re-ignite. It is a beautiful story even if it isn't an obvious story compared to other game. This game's constant theme of futility, and the constant push to face the impossible to achieve your goal is an amazing theme. WIth the DLC they further expand the darkness humans have, and the consequences of being fully consumed by their darkest desires, and if our futility for power is a good or bad thing. I didn't even dive into the characters yet, who have their own really interesting lore and story by themselves. Overall I really love Dark Souls Lore, as DS3 and ER lore as well, they were all such a joy to experience, and even a better joy to deeper dive after finishing the game, with the only one (haven't played DS2 or bloodborne yet), that I didn't enjoy deep diving as much was sekiro. I still think I enjoyed DS3 and ER lore a bit more as they seemed much much more fleshed out and more enjoyable to deeper dive, as I felt like apart from the main story, deep diving some characters was cut much shorter than I thought they were, as they are much more ambiguous on who they are, so their story is pretty short for some of them compared to future entries where the most minor character has such insane lore that you have to step back a bit.

Character
Like other souls games, are some of the best characters in any game. For DS1, some of the characters that I personally loved were Artorias and his companion Sif, Gwyn's tragic tale, Logan (might be mage biased but loved his inevitable downfall of his chase of forbidden knowledge), Solaire (duh... although didn't kill the red eye chaos bug first NOOO), and classic patches of course. I haven't even gone through ALL the characters I loved but they were easily the best ones that stuck out to me, even with some others like the lore behind Seath, Gwynevere's false presense and such, I can go on and on. Your character is mainly a pretty vague "chosen undead", whose origins is pretty much up to whatever you want it to be as it doesn't matter, only you ended up in a cell. Fighting your way up from the title of some random undead to the one who relinks the flames is so damn satisfying, and stays a theme throughout the souls game. While like I said before some characters don't get as much fleshing out as I thought they would have compared to future titles, they were still the quality of souls lore that I crave for, and even while typing this review I am watching an hour long lore video on DS1.

Gameplay
Souls gameplay as usual, which is the same loop that I loved even with Elden Ring. Of course being the 2nd one in the series behind demon souls, the gameplay isn't as smooth as future titles, but it still holds a special place in my heart, as the one thing that it is STILL unmatched in is with the level design oh my GOD is it good. Firelink Shrine and how it connects to so many areas in the game was so beautiful to experience. Even apart from that aspect, many areas in this game were such a joy to go through and was easily the best out of any of the souls games I have ever played so far. Now of course the infamous 2nd half does falter a bit in this department, which is a bit of a theme with this game quite honestly. Going back to the souls gameplay, the basics of dodge attack is still here, and while my main build was INT magic focused, I still liked to stick close as range was not the greatest with not only the pitiful range, but also lock in range being pretty short. Magic in this game is pretty good, and while variety in animation is pretty bland as you are just sticking your magic stick in the air, there was still plenty of variety with spells, and it was rare for me to stick to casting just 1 spell, as with the pretty bleh lock-on magic tracking, certain spells worked better in other scenarios. For melee combat it is much slower compared to DS3 and ER, and lack the fleshed out art or additional abilities of other titles, or power stance and such. Even with that it is still immensely satisfying to be rewarded for successful dodges and exploring to find new gear and spells that make your life in the age of fire easier. For boss design, DS1 has a ton of amazing bosses that still stand out in the series. While peak wise future titles achieve much better boss designs, DS1 still has really damn good with Gwyn, Artorias, Manus, and the rare feat of a really good duo boss of Ornstein and Smough. While I love DS1 bosses, there are still some issues I have, primarily with how easy a ton of the bosses felt like. The 2 main reasons are the pretty small health pool that get shredded by how strong you can get in the game. Not only that, bosses almost never have a delayed attack, so reaction is much easier to handle which is a good thing, as less memorization, but with the smaller health pool means bosses end faster than I would had hoped. Lastly I don't think any of the bosses have phase 2, which makes their already short fights REALLY short. Apart from that, these bosses still trump 95% of other boss fights in any other game I have played action wise, and their design alongside lore were such a treat to experience, even if I felt like ♥♥♥♥ for killing Sif.

Music
Bangers after Bangers oh my GOD. Gwyn's theme, Firelink Shrine theme, Seathe's theme, the Ornstein and Smough theme, so many songs in this game were just amazing especially with Gwyn's plin plin plon. Souls has always had really strong songs, and DS1 does not disappoint or hold back at all. While some areas were pretty quiet to soak in the environment, some areas could had used some songs to enhance the environment I felt, even if they did I would had probably complained either way.

Last positives/Nitpicks
- Gwyn's low health bar (common theme) made me feel a bit bad so used mainly sword as a mage even if it meant dying over and over, as I really loved his boss fight, not only mechanic wise but design, lore and music wise.
- Magic's lock on was trash in this game, it seems to aim for the enemies head instead of body, so it was very easy for the spells to miss early on.
- Entrance to DLC felt a bit too ambiguous, and if I didn't have a guide I would have 0 clue how I would figure it out.

Conclusion
Dark Souls 1 is easily a masterpiece, and even if it stumbles a bit 2nd half, is still peak gaming in my eyes. The Souls series is seriously unbelievably good and its crazy to see that the first dark souls game still holds up unbelievably well, with unmatched level design especially with the interconnected firelink shrine areas.
9/10

7/10
Alan Wake is a... Interesting game I will say. Quite honestly This game has some of the most interesting and really intriguing storytelling I have ever heard from any other game, while also having some pretty big flaws in not only the way the story is told, but ESPECIALLY the way the gameplay is.

Story
EASILY the best part of this game and the only real reason to play this game basically. The story of Alan Wake is the type of story where if someone asked you to explain it, you will go into a tantrum waving your arms around explaining many different story points and what is going on, even as you don't really understand what is going on... and man is it exciting. The story is mainly a ton of references but purely exaggerated like the cop who shoots first asks later, even if a civilian is in the way, or the twilight zone being called night springs, and so much more. You follow Alan Wake (duh) who slowly comes into the realization that the path he is walking, the story he is experiencing, EVERYTHING, is a set story that Alan has already written. You find manuscripts throughout the game which at first may seem like collectibles, but in reality are pieces of story that WILL occur, or has already occurred word by word. There are even moments where a character will read what Alan wrote, moments later experience that right after, then you are able to read a manuscript that explains in detail his death and his reaction to it. Themes wise is mainly the struggles of Alan as he is told countless of times that his imagination is just in his head, only to realize that they will never understand crazy as well, they also AREN'T crazy. There are some issues with the story however without going into the worst part of this game I will discuss later, the game is honestly a bit TOO tame in the early episodes apart from stinger episode finales, and has a bit of a pacing issue throughout. Even if you were to erase the gameplay part and focus on the story, the way it is told can be a bit rough as simply, the voice acting can be pretty meh at times, and doesn't even improve at all till the DLC chapters, which ramps up the craziness in the story. Talking about the DLC chapters that I will just combine, they are honestly pretty good and I would personally say, are better than the main story, as it starts to embrace the better parts of the story telling and not just slowly walking with an old women explaining she has been waiting for you, which isn't that interesting compared to being FLIPPED OVER AS ALAN YELLS AT HIMSELF TO DIE BY WRITING NEAR IMPOSSIBLE STORYLINES THAT SHOULD KILL HIM BUT DON'T, that is the better parts of the story in this game, when it embraces its crazy side, not when it changes the pacing to go into... more on that later.

Characters
There are 2.5 really good characters in this game, Alan (duh), Barry, and Sarah, kinda. Of course Alan Wake is easily the best character in this game... its HIS story so he writes himself to be the center of the universe who only HE can save the world, only to realize his writing is the reason everything is going to ♥♥♥♥ and people are dying around him due to his writer knowledge that cause and effect is essential in writing, even if it costs his own life. Barry is the 2nd best character in this game, as he plays the comedic best friend role for Alan who gets the most screentime from any of the other side characters that questions, but also sides with Alan. Without Barry there would legit be no other character I would care that much about apart from antagonists, and while he is a bit generic with his writing, he was interesting enough to where I enjoyed whenever he was alongside Alan. Sarah is the .5 good character, as quite honestly while she tags with the other 2 pretty often, she is kinda bland and wasn't that interesting of a character. There is one redeeming factor, she has a gun, and she can actually aim with it holy. The other characters are stereotypical, which makes sense, but are interesting enough to not be TERRIBLE to watch.

Gameplay
Here we go. When I said I had issues with the story, or anything with the game... its cause of this. The gameplay in this game is... really REALLY repetitive to the point of boredom at times. It gets the job done, but fails to change past chapter 2. Literally once you get past chapter 2, you have seen everything the combat has to offer, anddd there is a total of 6 base chapters AND 2 DLC chapters, which does improve the formula. You point flashlight, you wait till they burn, you shoot. Enjoy this cause you do this for basically 10 hours straight whenever there is no story telling, the better part of this game. I LOVE amazing stories in games, but this game REALLY pushes my usually enjoyed type of game, as yeah the story is great, but when the gameplay got me so tired that I began to start RUNNING by enemies just to avoid doing that really bland loop, thats when you know there is an issue. There is of course SOME things that are shaken up, there are vehicle sequences that are, meh? They are a bit floaty and doesn't control that well, but quite honestly it means I didn't have to do flashlight shoot loop so I enjoyed it for that only reason. Boss fights suck ass in this game and NEVER improve. However there is still a light in this gameplay, the Idea is really good, and at first was REALLY cool. The best parts of this game are when you deviate away from the point flashlight shoot, and start using your environment to deal with the enemies. Explosive canisters, explosive flashbang? Grouping them up to use a flare, THAT is when the combat feels really nice, which is something they obviously realize as in the DLC, you start to get WAY too many of them to handle with just a gun, but are given way more opportunities to handle them with more unique environmental kills like activating a key word that spawns barrels to blow up ontop of them, or breaking out rocks so a lighthouse can flash and kill them. Apart from that loop, the game doesn't really start to move away from that till farrr past, in the last dlc chapter which has a really damn cool section where you are on a wheel going through parts of previously gone through levels, and its trippy as well which is when this game is at its best. If it wasn't for this REALLY good story I would be singing a different tune for this game, as without expanding the mechanics, it gets stale a bit too fast for the length of the game, till finally the DLC changes it up finally.

Music
There are some good songs in this game, mainly from the old farts of asgards who have their own fictional band. They aren't memorable, but they are awesome when they play. Other than those songs the game only really uses copyright songs that fit in the conclusions of each episode, so aren't distracting.

Last Positives/ Nitpicks
- I really hope this gameplay is fixed in AW2 but man.
- Environmental kills are really fun at least.
- Only Alan Wake where the game finishes with me having more questions than before the ending.
- Why was Alan's voice actor so flat till of course, the DLC episodes, his range is insanely good and its a shame it isn't really shown till way later.
- You could tell they had fun making the story, just wish they had fun making the gameplay cause if they did this game would be actual PEAK.

Conclusion
Alan Wake is easily a REALLY good flawed game. The story this good should not be held back by this gameplay. I know AW2 actually embraces the horror aspect, but man if this game just focused on horror it would be SO damn good. The story is easily the best part of the game even if I have to wave my hands in the air like a maniac explaining what it is, but I love it as it at least makes a ton of sense and has pretty good writing to be kept interesting enough.
7/10

9.5/10
A Timeless Classic for a reason. Chrono Trigger stands with Final Fantasy VI as the golden JRPGs of that console, and maybe the golden titles of the SNES period. Playing through the game, it is easy to see why it is so loved, and with the added cutscenes, it adds so much to this game that I wonder how some sequences were even experienced without them, even if some of them are just the same sequence but instead animated to emphasize their importance.

Story
A surprisingly more complex story that I would had imagined going in, especially for a SNES game. It is a repeated tune, but the themes of existential crisis,not sitting down and accepting "fate", and of course themes around the idea of time travel, with the benefits and of course, consequences. You focus on going through all the time eras, finding out your fate due to lavos, and finding companions who tie their story to lavos as well. With how complex time travel can get, Chrono Trigger knows how to have the complexity of time travel, without overdoing it and causing a confusing mayhem that ends up harming the story more than it benefits it, as it is pretty simple to understand how the time travel works with past affecting future, changing the past changes the future, and changing the future does not change the future, but having future knowledge can help you change the present or past. There is no meeting past self (kinda), and other time plots that convolute the story, which is amazing. Considering how short this game is for a JRPG, the pacing is excellent. The game does start to falter a TINY bit towards the end, but is able to make a great conclusion. It also helps that the side quests in this game are just amazing, as they each focus on each character, and have great character developments that make each and every single one of them worth playing through. Its really hard to point at issues with the story for this game, if I had to consider ANY, it is the tiny pacing issues toward with the end which lands greatly, some of the sidequests were a bit out there to understand who to solve them, anddddd I guess I was a bit confused how the multiple endings were at first, only to realize that the most obvious one is the best ,and the other endings are gotten through actions taken during the playthrough instead.

Characters
All of the cast were done excellent. Each of the characters have their own arc that all ties in together. Each of the characters represent the time era they were in, both good and bad considering the future that lavos created. The main character, Crono, is of course a silent protagonist who is designed to be a self insert, but brave character, which works considering the era it was set in. The other characters were all written so well, as Marle, the princess turned love interest, has an interesting story not only tying with cronos and of course her ancestory, but also her family struggles with her father who both struggle to accept the death of their Mother, and finally accepting and realizing how much they care for each other. Lucca's arc as well is just excellent, who ESPECIALLY gets one of the best scenes thanks to the excellent side quests in this game, and of course her inventions that allowed time travel to begin with for cronos and the group (even if it was fate that gave them the opportunity). Frog's arc and his rivalry with Magus (and depending on your choice, his redemption or acceptance), were just amazing, especially with his struggle as the human Glenn and accepting to become the hero that his previous companion sought out to be. Robo at first didn't seem that crazy, but his side quest fleshes him out way more and makes him another interesting character in the group. Ayla is also very interesting, but is probably the weaker one considering that she lacks an interesting side quest, which the other characters get, giving them the fleshed out development they needed. Magus finally after finding out who he is was a joy to experience, and while he is a bit sidelined with some story beats, his dialogue as he has a more personal connection with Zeal and lavos made him a worthy (and very strong) companion. It is insane how well done these characters are done, and not only are fleshed out throughout the game, but with how amazing the side quests are, makes them the fleshed out cast that everyone knows of, even if not all side quest developments were made equal, they are still all amazing.

Gameplay
This was a surprise to me. The system revolves around the usual ATB system seen in previous FF games, but this time uses positioning as a key part of the combat as other turn based systems similar to this have either attack one, or all, instead this game contains move that only attack if the enemy's position are together, which plays a strong element that this game excels in, enemy and player position matters if they are hit or not. Attacks that are a straight line will only hit if the enemies are also in a straight line, and circles of course are the same and you get the point. This element makes this combat system so damn fun, as it adds a really fun aspect due to the fact enemies move around while in a waiting state, so you can either attack now and only attack 2 out of 3, or maybe wait a bit more till they group up and attack all 3 at the same time. This risk reward system while also being quick thinking of specific attacks for positions makes this system thrive really well. Of course end game attacks ignores this a bit, as the strongest spells usually attack all, but it still persists for some attacks still. The time travel mechanic is just insane to consider they made it work for a SNES game, and while some confusions happen for the side quests, the game just flows so well. There are some issues, as items are VERY basic till endgame when they start getting more strong passives, but for most of the time its mainly bigger number is better, which is fine. Finally The animations with how the party fights together with double or triple tech was a joy to experience, as their personality is expressed through how they fight, and fight together.

Music
Easily one of the best in gaming. It is easier to point out songs that AREN'T godtier, and even then it is hard to point out those so few songs that are fine. Each new song made me stop to listen to them, as while other game's OST may have 1 or 2 songs that stand out the most, nearly the entire OST in this game is the standout. Crono's Theme (main theme), frog theme, Battle theme, Corridors of Time, Secrets of the Forest, Lavos Theme, Boss Theme, I can go on and on that I might as well list the whole OST as ALL of the songs are just peak after peak to the point of being unfair.

Final Positives/Nitpicks
- Last Segment of the game was a bit of a dip, but still lands amazing
- This OST man...
- Having nearly ALL the sidequests land this hard is a rare achievement that not many games can achieve, and enters games like NieR Automata for amazing asf side quests.
- Having enemies die one at a time was a bit slow, but again, SNES.
- Even the smaller side characters around the world were very interesting, and the villains were well developed.
- Game is a bit easy, but with interesting battle and fight mechanics, it doesn't turn into a button masher luckily. Probably doesn't help that the excellent side quests, consequentially makes you super OP as well.

Conclusion
Again, broken tune, but this game is simply AMAZING, and easily stands as one of the best JRPGs. This game has aged so damn well that it is so easy to see why it is timeless. It easily stands with FF6 as the 2 Golden Titans of JRPG SNES games, and is easily still one of the great games to play to this date. A game that focuses on time travel and is able to handle it well is a feat. This game is an easy recommendation, and while it isn't the most complex story, its simplicity with strong themes is played to its fullest strength in this game.
9.5/10

For $8 on sale you can not go wrong with this bundle. Of course across these 3 games they are not equal in quality as some shine brighter than others, and of course, some smell like just straight up ♥♥♥♥ (looking at you DMC 2). I made essay length reviews on each of the games, which of course can't fit in the steam's review word limit (and thank god), so I'll just instead summarize what I think of the 3 games instead.

DMC 1 (6.5/10)
Quite honestly, pretty good considering its the first in the series. Remnants of what will become DMC still show in this title, as the combo system, while VERY basic is still deep enough where you are still learning new combos even towards the end. Dante's charismatic personality is still in this game, albeit not as fleshed out as in future titles (like at all, he BARELY has any cutscenes compared to future titles). Voice acting is a bit iffy, which would be fine if they knew it was meh till they attempt emotional scenes, thats when you see full force that the voice acting is just not it. Story is basic and gets you from point A to Point B, but the missions in between feel like Dante is just roaming around. What holds this game back is EASILY the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ camera controls, knowing that it was due to being a prototype RE game turned new title, you can tell as this camera likes to fight you SO DAMN MUCH. Being forced into using only fixed angles is fine, but when you are fighting bosses where the camera does not want to work with you, it leads to scenarios of getting hit by ♥♥♥♥ you can't see while the camera slowllyyy pans to the boss. Its terrible. Other than that, pretty good game.

DMC 2 (3/10)
I thought this game couldn't possibly be that bad cause how could it? DMC 1 was pretty good, all they had to do was expand upon that. Knowing the history of DMC 2 however, prototype Tomb Raider game turned DMC 2 due to popularity, didn't bring back original devs, original (unnamed director currently) removed for new DMC director who would direct DMC 3 as a way to show not only show to the fans, but to actually keep the series alive, the ♥♥♥♥ show just makes you curious on just how bad it could be... anddd yeah, its ♥♥♥♥. DMC 2 takes what made DMC 1 good and throws a ♥♥♥♥ ton out the window. DMC 1 was a bit challenging? OK fine the enemies now wipe their ass as they swing, meaning they will always miss if you sidestep. DMC 1's guns sucked? OK fine DMC 2's guns are now so damn broken that they auto juggle, combine that a ton of the boss designs now rely on you using ONLY guns now. DMC 1 combos too weird? Fine here's a new combo system that flat out sucks. DMC 1 had repeating bosses that were tiresome? Fine have these 1 time ♥♥♥♥♥♥ bosses instead, and here is a infested chopper cause ♥♥♥♥ you thats why. Dante's Personality this time around is just depressing, with the VERY few lines he has in this game just being emo-like and bland asf. His design is peak, too bad his personality does not keep up. Other characters as well are just too undercooked, and the story is also undercooked. You can tell this game was rushed out the doors to meet popularity demands. Music is bleh as well. This game is kept by the fact that there is still some DMC DNA in this game, and while the combo system is a downgrade, is still fun at times and some bosses were a bit fun as well. This game just needed more time in the oven, with an actual vision by a group of devs knowing what they want... and that is why we got DMC 3.

DMC 3 (8.5/10)
Easily the best of the 3. Gameplay FINALLY shines a ton in this game. Story FINALLY embraces its more cheesy and over the top tone that DMC 1 kinda touches on. The characters all have satisfying arcs that co-exist. This is when the series REALLY started to get really good. While a prequel, Dante's personality is just a joy to experience, especially as he develops alongside Lady and Vergil. The story is simple in concept, but of course the character's journey is where it shines. What shines the BRIGHTEST is easily the gameplay, as the fluid combos, air combos, mechanics, introduction of seamless weapon melee switching, so much was introduced that made this game's gameplay so damn good. While not the best, as DMC 5 is still the best imo, 3 is when the game really starts to let loose. This game as a whole would easily beat DMC 5 in my books if it didn't have one very fatal flaw, which is 3/4ths into the game, the pacing, gameplay, character arcs all just halt. You go from every chapter introducing a new mechanic, boss, storyline into just backtracking, fighting no new bosses, REPEATING old bosses, introducing annoying enemy types that can't be juggled or have you wait for them to allow you to attack them. Thankfully the last chapter is easily the best in the game with the best boss design from a game that already had pretty good boss designs that while aren't perfect, combine with the EXCELLENT ost in this game makes them so much fun to play through. If that 3/4th section didn't exist, this game would easily be perfect.