Recent reviews by BaneSword

oh my god, I'm not even sure where to start with this... the beginning is kind of boring, as you don't have anything unlocked and not many enemies show up, leading to a simple stroll through each level. And it feels a little grindy, because the higher difficulties (that tend to be more fun) are extremely difficult without armor piercing weaponry, that takes a bit of time to unlock. But after about 10-20 hours, you'll find yourself getting into higher level content... and the chaos that inevitably ensues leads to one of the most fun experiences with friends you'll ever have in a video game. But that's just talking about the beginner experience and general gameplay.

The entirety of Helldivers 2 takes place on a galactic battlemap, where the community decides which planets to defend or attack as we work to spread democracy as citizens of Super Earth. And enemies react in kind to our advances, leading to a dynamic war spanning multiple planets. And our choices have consequences - one of the systems on the map now exists as a black hole because the helldivers before me failed to stop a bug supercolony. Events like this are what create a live story - there is no "plot" to the game, and everything that happens is cannon. Meaning the plot occurs AS we fight the war. I just wish there was a way to view previous major events without needing to track down "the story so far" videos on youtube, as I've never played a live service game that has the community creating the story with their actions in the galaxy.

In Summary, Helldivers 2 is a live service game that takes an approach I've never seen before, and I've been having a blast doing my part to spread democracy amongst the stars..

My first impressions are that this game has a TON of potential to it. Haven't played with friends at the time of writing, but I'm eager to try out the team experience

Another amazing chapter in the Legend of Heroes: Trails saga (too lazy to write a full review at the time of posting)

Tried too hard to copy Genshin, and it's noticeable, from the monetization to the UI and monster design. The animations and movement also feel clunky, dialogue boxes are often cut off at the bottom, and the story is super generic (though I didn't play for long)

With that said, I do think there is potential here. I like how exploring interplays with crafting and resource gathering. However, the low-energy animations and clunky movement make the whole experience feel underwhelming and unsatisfying. Chopping a tree should not feel like lazily tapping my axe against the trunk - but with that said, I can see Dawnlands being quite fun with another few months of development time.

Everything you'd want of a FromSoft game and more. Thanks to the open world, all bosses can be returned to at a later point if they prove to be too challenging. And with a wide variety of paths to persue in terms of combat strength, there is always a reason to overcome each challenge and push forward.

Just finished Cold Steel 3, and I just can't word right now...
For anyone already invested in the series, the school segments can feel slow at times, but the payoff is worth it.

For those who don't know Trails of Cold steel, I highly recommend giving the series a shot. It starts way back with Trails in the Sky, and being the oldest in the series, it is also the cheapest. The general structure of the games stay the same throughout the whole series, so the first one provides a solid picture for the gameplay going forward.
Though I doubt anyone would be looking at the 3rd game first anyway :P

Cold steel 1 sets up the war, cold steel 2 escalates it beautifully.

Another Eden is by far the best mobile game I have ever played. It has a massive amount of content, and while sometimes grindy, most of the grinding is entirely optional, though I typically choose to do it. As it was originally a mobile game, it does have many of the major mobile game pillars, such as a gatcha system and micro-transactions. I personally think the gatcha system here is done very well - 5 star characters have a higher drop rate than most other gatcha games I have seen, and many 4* characters can be upgraded to their 5* version, though this typically requires some of the aforementioned grinding. Paying gives you guaranteed 5* characters instead, and every once in a while there is a special banner that allows you to select any character you want. And if you choose the free-to-play route, every day gives you 20 "chronos stones", the premium currency, 100 of which is a single pull. Of course, you're practically wasting it if you don't save for 1,000 to do a 10 pull that comes with a 4*, and this is where the mobile version is better than the PC port. The mobile version recently got ad support, and by watching 7 ads a day one can get an average of 60 stones a day instead of just 20. So while I recommend Another Eden as a game, I can guarantee a better experience on mobile, as more gatcha draws means more good characters, which means less getting stuck as the endgame slowly suffers from power creep.

The gatcha system is where most people's complaints seem to lie, so I wanted to talk about that first. Outside of the grinding and the monetization, where Another Eden truly shines is it's story. With many wonderfully written characters, an ever-expanding world, and beautiful artwork, AE is easily one of my favorite JRPGs. I have been playing it since it released globally, and I cannot wait to see how it changes in the years to come.

And with that, one final word of advice - beware the fishing grind.

Trove is grinding the game. I would recommend it ONLY IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS TO PLAY WITH, both to help pass the time and to create a reason to keep playing. Otherwise it feels like a pointless time investment.

The opening sequence just throws you into the game with no idea what is happening, but it very quickly does the "5 months earlier" trope - and from then on, is just as engrossing as trails in the sky was. For those of you who haven't played the previous story in the Legend of Heroes series, this one stands completely on it's own, but I still highly recommend it. Trails in the Sky (parts 1 and 2, skipped the 3rd due to hearing that it was a separate adventure) is one of my favorite games to date.

I should probably give a warning in advance however, that these games are more like a really long book - and I have heard this is a massive turn away for most people. While that tends to be the case for the jrpg genre as a whole, it is far more prevalent here. I find myself spending MULTIPLE HOURS TALKING TO EVERYONE EVERY TIME THE STORY ADVANCES. The Trails series is unique in that every time the story advances, all of the npc dialogue changes. And every single character in this game has a story that you get to hear about aside from the main adventure. So while you could ignore everything and just play through the main character's story, which is easily the most exciting part of the game, I find it far more rewarding to slow down and read the novel instead of just skipping to the good parts. It makes the large moments hit that much harder.