Recent reviews by Popegator

Elden Ring is a modern masterpiece and FromSoftware’s finest work yet. I will be playing Elden Ring for years to come. Either on challenge runs, with new friends who got the game to do coop, just to experience it again or to try and collect all the items on one file over time. I couldn’t recommend Elden Ring enough and I can’t wait to see what FromSoftware has for us next.

Forefathers one and all, bear witness to a masterpiece.

I have finished the Elden Ring DLC and I plan to review that separately!

Full Review [www.backloggd.com]

Chrono Trigger’s reputation precedes itself. If you haven’t played Chrono Trigger yourself already, you’ve surely heard tales of its legend. A 30 year old game made in the golden era of RPGs. Back when Square Enix were separated into SquareSoft and Enix. Legendary creators in of themselves. It is no wonder why this game is heralded as one of the best RPGs ever made, if not the best for many. As an RPG lover this was a game that I have been wanting to play but never got around to. I didn’t play many SNES or NES games growing up. My childhood gaming was spent on the N64 and original playstation. It’s been a blindspot for me forever. And now to play the game for the first time, to experience this legendary game for the first time with 29 years of game design between when it originally released to now, it’s astonishing to me that this game not only stood the test of time, but feels incredibly fresh and more modern than some modern RPGs.

TLDR at the end


Part of this is that it’s filled with modern interpretations that games just recently started incorporating. Things like your entire party getting experience from fights, all fights being on screen or scripted, and I think what really sets the game apart from the rest being the dual techs and how enemies move around and that affecting certain attacks. It’s crazy to see these ideas so early in games when there’s easily 15-20 years until that becomes a modern practice in RPGs. It’s also crazy to see choices impacting the game as well. That’s still not even common in JRPGs as a whole. It’s largely specific styles of RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Mass Effect that heavily employ that. While I don’t think Chrono Trigger has it as in depth as those games, the court scene still blew me away. That mixed with just how each encounter feels so thoughtful. The encounters are quick but a majority of the enemies have mechanics to them and not just higher health values of resistances. And how it organically tells you. Early on in the prehistoric area of the game there’s an enemy type that is resistant to physical attacks, and you only have Crono, Lucca, and Marle. So naturally after the first physical attack doesn’t do much you’d use your newly acquired magic and Crono only has lightning. Then lightning decreases its defense. It’s not even a status effect. It’s just a mechanic of the enemy. Which I found incredibly engaging. The creators were so ahead of their time with so much of the game.


Not to say there aren't some old school designs or ideas in Chrono Trigger. It is still a product of its time. But I feel these older school design philosophies are feeling fresher again. It’s an old school style JRPG with the overworld map and different areas to visit within said map. There’s old school side mission design with no quest log really, there’s no way points, there’s just NPCs with directions and hints. And I honestly think this is a welcomed change of pace. I think the popularity of Elden Ring and the souls games have brought to the limelight the joys of figuring things out. When the game opened up and provided a variety of side quests I had a lot of fun tracking them down, figuring out when, where and what to do for it. There were just 2 quests I looked up hints for. After looking them up I realized I had already been given the hints in the game but just didn’t register that they were connected to the quests. Which for an SNES title to only have to look up 2 things for just side quests and nothing more was really impressive. Since a lot of the older games tend to have some parts where things just feel obscure. This old school hands off approach feels incredibly refreshing now and I feel is returning to the gaming zeitgeist.


This game on top of feeling so ahead of its time is just masterfully crafted. Chrono Trigger’s pacing is so incredible. Starting at the millennial fair, then quickly getting thrusted into medieval times and stumbling into an apocalyptic future sets up a tone and cadence that just doesn’t slow down or get boring. I think what helps in the pacing is that the game is also shorter compared to a lot of RPGs. This game can easily be finished in 20ish hours in a first playthrough. It took me 30 hours to finish the main game and side quests. Really the only critiques to the pacing could be that the millennial fair takes a little bit to figure out what to do, but it’s largely about exploring the fair. And the end sequence can have just a lot of bosses. But these are more like nitpicks rather than actual critiques. This is one the best paced games I’ve ever played.


I love sci-fi and time travel settings. I was raised on watching Back to the Future so time travel has always been a favorite science fiction idea of mine. Getting to explore the same few continents and how they chance as eras change is so fun to see and experience. And the vibes and art of each era is so beautiful. And if it wasn’t clear already, the art for this game was done by the legendary Akira Toriyama. (May he rest in peace) It’s honestly incredible how defined his art style in this. It’s not just in the animated scenes and cover art (I played this on steam so I got those, they weren’t in base Chrono Trigger) but it so clearly bleeds into every aspect of the game. The backgrounds, the pixel art. You can really tell upon seeing the fiends, dinosaurs and the final boss. Such beautiful art provides so much life to this game. And possibly even more renowned than the game itself is the game's soundtrack. I heard the chrono trigger soundtrack before seeing the game or playing the game. The iconic soundtrack and vibes of it are unparalleled. From the music in the woods to the music of antiquity. It’s so beautiful and so tranquil. If you haven’t listened to the music of Chrono Trigger I highly recommend checking it out.


Chrono Trigger feels so fresh playing it even today which is an incredible feat. This game stands the test of time and it is no wonder why it has inspired so many. This game is simply a treasure and is a must play for anyone but especially any RPG fan. Built by the dream team of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama. This game’s legacy is well earned and deserved. A masterpiece ahead of it's time.

TLDR Review

GTFO is one of my favorite co-op experiences I’ve had in gaming. The strategy and tactics and butt clenching tension of running these missions is unmatched by anything I’ve played and tbh I think anything the market has to offer at the moment. Its atmosphere and lore are top notch and I think if you’ve got a group of friends to play it with and like tactical shooters or scifi horror this is a must play. However do note that the game starts slow and you will ♥♥♥♥ up a lot. There’s a reason the game's tagline is “Work together or die together”. I personally say it’s well worth full price but I do always advocate for getting games cheaper when you can. And considering it’s a niche game and you ideally want a full group to play, it’s probably best to recommend waiting for a sale on this game. But it’s so worth it regardless.

For my full written review check out my backloggd!
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Popegator/review/1449746/

SUPERHOT is the most innovative shooter I've played in years!
SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.

Memes aside this game is fantastic. Short and sweet experience and it really is a cool concept. I'm still playing through all the challenges in the game but it is a joy. A very unique experience that was very addicting. Feels at times like a puzzle solving game and a shooter which I absolutely love. It's got a little bit of a story which subverted my expectations. Overall this game is an easy recommend to anyone in my book.

Batman Arkham Asylum is still an amazing game. I think it truly earns its spot as a true classic and also the epitome of what a superhero game can be. And this game I think is simply a must play for everyone but certainly for any Batman fan out there. I can not wait to check out the sequels as I’ve heard they only improve upon what Arkham Asylum was. Rocksteady were truly ahead of their time with this game. I’m glad I revisited this game as it’s truly a masterpiece.

My full review was too long for steam, so if you'd like to see my full write up check out my review on my backloggd!

My Full Review![www.backloggd.com]

This is my TLDR version of my review since my review was too long for Steam reviews apparently lol. If you want the full review you can read it on my Backloggd!

My Backloggd Review [www.backloggd.com]

The game isn’t horrible and I think there’s plenty here that a lot of people will enjoy but ultimately the game just doesn’t do it for me. And that’s fine. I’m disappointed because the game is beautiful and I really wanted to love it. But after trying to play it twice and encountering the same issues and snags both times I figured it’s time to let myself drop the game. Since I didn’t finish it, it’s very possible the game could’ve grabbed at some point and I wouldn’t have been able to put it down. If none of the issues I wrote above bother you and you’re still interested I would recommend picking the game up and giving it a try but it just wasn’t a game for me in the end.

I usually try to finish the games I write reviews on and I think this is the first one that I’ve written where I haven’t. But I think it’s a good practice to write out my thoughts and feelings on games that don’t necessarily mesh with. Even if it’s not a scathing or super negative review.

Such an incredible game. I’m really in awe and unsure how to really write a proper review of this game. To this date this is the largest and longest game I’ve written a review on. I spent a total of 180 hours on this game, subtracting 10 hours from that for a 2nd character I had started and it took me around 170 to beat. I really took my time with this game and loved every moment of it. There were some ups and some downs. But it was such a great time. All the characters are so excellently voiced and written. The amount of writing and voice acting in this game is astounding. The amount of effort and time that must have gone into making this is staggering. Given that the end credits took me about 30 minutes to go through as well.

I wanted to start off by addressing the issues the game has. There aren’t many and they are mostly performance issues. This game is very taxing on the hardware. They’ve been optimizing it more and more and it has significantly improved since launch. But do know that it’s still not perfect. Especially come act 3. Act 3 is where a lot of the performance issues occur. Nothing that makes it unplayable but it’s certainly enough to give some frustrations. And I feel I’m fairly tolerant of performance issues. So your mileage may vary based on your own level of tolerance.

Still with all that I think this is a special game and will be referenced and replayed for many many years. I have so many hours and it was 1 playthrough. I’ve got a 2nd character and now I plan to start another playthrough. I rarely replay games. And when I do it’s usually at least a few years down the line. Baldur’s Gate 3 just has an aura of irresistibility that despite nearly 200 hours in it I’m ready to go right back in.

I think I’ll do this review a little differently and leave it brief. If you’re a fan of RPGs, D&D, and games with choice and consequences do yourself a favor and just grab yourself this game. Larian has outdone themselves and this will likely be game of the year 2023. It certainly is for me. May Selûne light your path to Baldur’s Gate

Deep Rock Galactic is one of those games that I truly feel like I’ll be playing forever. As long as I have a friend who’s wanting to rock and stone, they’ll have my pickaxe by their side! It’s a wonderful game with friends and might be one of the quintessential games for a Left 4 Dead lover like myself!

TLDR at the end
As hinted above Deep R(C)ock Galactic is a game similar to L4D. It’s a co-op first person shooter where you are fighting hordes of enemies. Instead of zombies and horror themes though, the game is about 4 dwarves mining minerals out of a planet for the titular Deep Rock Galactic company. And instead of set campaigns and zombies you have caves that are all procedurally generated and a bunch of angry bugs. Mission objectives are determined by what mission you select but all secondary objectives are randomized. The mission objectives vary wildly from just going through and mining Morkite, which is a specific mineral, to liquid refinery missions where you build pipes and have to defend them to escorting a huge drill bulldozer that will have what is effectively a boss fight at the end and much much more than that. Between each mission you’re returned to the home base where you can edit loadouts, drink some beer, or play the real game, Jetty Boot.
There are 4 different classes you get to choose from when playing. You have the Engineer (my personal favorite), the Driller (my next favorite), Scout and Gunner(Who I haven’t even touched). All 4 of these classes play differently and all have their strengths and weaknesses. The scout is useful for lighting up dark caves and zipping around with their hookshot to gather minerals that’d be a much larger pain for other classes to get, the driller is able to drill through terrain and create tunnels and shortcuts to areas and direct paths to extraction. Engineers can place sentry guns and have a platform gun to create terrain where it is needed. Gunners have high DPS and can create a zipline everyone can ride for navigating areas. They all have their functions and might honestly be the 4 most interconnected classes in any game I’ve seen. When you have a team of 1 of each it truly feels like everyone else can cover the weakness of the other and people then have assigned jobs. What’s wonderful is that on top of that you can customize your loadouts. You can unlock so many things in this game. Weapons, cosmetics, power ups, perks. The game has so much customization and progression it truly feels endless and you can play whatever class how you would like.
This game proves that the idea of a battle pass can be fun as long as it’s not monetized into the ground. Deep Rock, almost at first glance, has all the signs of a monetized hellscape of a game. The game has so many different resources and currencies, seasonal battle passes which allow you to unlock cosmetics and resources, contracts which allow you to unlock additional features of the game. But it’s not monetized to hell and back. The game once you buy it is all completely free. They do sell some skins as DLC but that’s it. This game single handedly proves that the idea of a battlepass, since that’s how the seasonal events are structured, can be incredibly fun. It’s just fun to be able to progress and unlock things all the time and be able to choose what and how you unlock the stuff. What’s not fun about this battlepass structure is how it is normally horribly monetized and the free battlepasses just serve as a general slap in the face and temptation to lure you into the premium ones. This game doesn’t do that and it’s so fun and addicting. Besides the battlepass structure of the seasonal events you have contracts which will have you take specific missions and once you finish all the missions in a contract you will be rewarded with something. Oftentimes it can be a weapon for your class, it’s a promotion for your class since you hit max level on one, it can be for the story event or holiday event. There’s contracts for tons of things and it’s incredibly addicting to run through them. I’ll often just want to sit there and power through some contacts. Especially since I still have so much to do. This game is over flowing with things to do and in a good way. There’s so much to do and unlock. I’ve sunk 60 hours into this game and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what there is to do. 60 hours I will say is nothing compared to what I’ve seen people plug into this game. I have friends who have upwards of 500 hours in this game.
This section won’t be very long but I wanted to add it. The game is not much of a story game but there is some story and lore. I have not dug into the story or lore of this game much as it’s not much of the game's focus. It’s there for people who want to learn more but it’s not something I’m familiar with really at all.
Deep Rock Galactic is a wonderful game. The devs should be proud of themselves and I look forward to their next game which is Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core. They also have a vampire survivors style game but I’ve not checked that out as I’ve yet to catch the Vampire Survivors fever. But this game is certainly a go to co-op game with the buds. A night of Deep Rock is always a good night and I’ve had some nights where it’s just hanging out and cry laughing with the boys. It’s definitely one of the best horde shooters on the market and if you are a fan of that genre, or just looking for a good time with friends, Deep Rock Galactic won’t let you down.

Also worth noting it is playable in single player. I don’t think it’s as enjoyable but it is an option. Still very worth it if that is your preferred way of playing but not the ideal or best way to play.

I grew up playing the first 2 Borderlands games. I absolutely love them. I have nearly 200 hours in the original and nearly 500 in Borderlands 2. I’ve recently gotten a group of friends together and we’re going through the entirety of the Borderlands series starting with the first one. We recently beat it and let me tell you, nostalgia can only do so much. While I actually did have a blast playing this game with my friends, it’s mostly due to the friend group and my nostalgia for this series.

TLDR at the end

The Issues

Despite brandishing the name “Enhanced edition” the game still has plenty of issues. All of us experienced framerate issues, connection issues, and just overall jank. There’d be times where one of us had to restart due to us loading into a new area and our frames would just tank into oblivion. Other times it’s just the longer the session the more likely the framerate would start to drop. I’m unsure why. There is also a latency bug with the game that thankfully there was a steam forums about. The bug being that even if you all mute and disable microphones, it’s still transmitting your mics, or registering it somehow and that causes unbearable lag. You have to go into a file to manually disable the voice chat completely to fix this issue. The steam forum for better understanding of the issue if you find yourself reading this while having issues playing the game.

Steam forum fix for co-op latency issue

Those were the most consistent technical issues. However my brother in law (one of the people I played with and who I played these games with when I was younger) was having issues with just the sound playing for the game. Unfortunately I don’t remember the cause or how he resolved that issue since that happened when we started and he found a fix himself.
Some various not as common bugs included items falling through maps. Some items stats disappearing and reducing to level 0 (displayed with having no level) when dropped. Characters occasionally t-posing and more.

This doesn’t even really touch on just the game itself. The game itself definitely feels a little crusty to play nowadays. The gunplay feels very stiff and inaccurate, the base weapon sway, especially for snipers, is ridiculous, the loot drops were wildly bad. We would get items that were nearly 10-15 levels below our current level dropped sometimes and if you dared try an encounter even just 1 level above you, you’d get rolled. Now I remember that last one from playing Borderlands 1 back in the day, but I never remember the loot being so bad. I’m not sure if they changed that or not. Memory is hazy since I played Borderlands 1 around release and never went back after Borderlands 2 released. The car physics are also bad but in my opinion they’re so bad that they circle back to being good. But unless you’re like me and my group and you find your car clipping a rock and it going flying or crashing into each other and getting the cars stuck fun then you’ll probably not enjoy it. But to me honestly the car physics are a plus.

Onto the good

Despite all that, I had an absolute blast revisiting it. Borderlands 1 is really interesting to revisit after so long because it hadn’t really found its identity fully. A lot of the humor, while I wouldn’t exactly call it subtle by normal means, was very subtle compared to the other games in the series. It hadn’t really turned into the memey mess that Borderlands has become. And depending on who you ask that can be a good or a bad thing. But it does become more fully fleshed out the longer you play and especially in the DLCs. I will also say that I think the original Borderlands has some of my favorite DLCs. We didn’t actually play them all this time so I can’t fully speak to them but General Knoxx has my favorite loot room of all the DLCs I’ve played, the Ned’s zombie DLC is very fun and goofy. The claptrap revolution DLC is super funny considering every enemy “becomes” a claptrap and the Mad Moxie DLC is a very fun arena DLC. We only revisited the zombie DLC however, as when we beat the final boss everyone kind of agreed that we’d just like to move onto Borderlands 2. Which can’t really fault anyone for that.

There are also some really cool parts in the base game. One of my favorite parts and one of the first times I’ve ever seen a scene like this in a game (I know it’s not the first to do something like this) but when the Guardians are fighting the Crimson Lance at the final push of the game. Those final areas feel really fun and hectic and it’s really cool to experience what is essentially a 3 way fight between you, the lance and the guardians. Again not the first game to ever have a scene like this but I believe it was my first time experiencing one in a game and it has just left a mark on me.

Final Thoughts

With all that being said, I’m not really sure I can recommend this game. Really playing Borderlands 2 no matter what way you look at it will be a much better time. Better gunplay, better skill trees, better story, more customization, really finds its stride with comedy despite it becoming more memey, and better archetypes with the gun companies. The gun companies in the first one more so just felt like different stats. I think the biggest differences you could feel were like the Jacobs and Maliwan guns. Jacobs because they would do ridiculous damage as their slogan was 1 shot 1 kill. Maliwan because they were always elemental and had high elemental effects. In Borderlands 2 all the gun companies have dramatic differences and make them feel that much more unique and zany. Even starting with Borderlands 2 you won’t lose out on any story. Most of what happens in Borderlands 1 is either explained or just some background lore that doesn’t really matter. I don’t really see any reason you’d choose to play Borderlands 1 over Borderlands 2. Unless you have extreme nostalgia for Borderlands 1 and didn’t like 2 for whatever reason. Especially with all the technical issues. Which honestly really is a shame because like I said from the start, I do love this game and I did have a good time.

TLDR

I had a fun time but I’m nostalgic for this game, if you have no nostalgia for this game I would not recommend you play this and would suggest you start at Borderlands 2.

I just finished this game. Clocked in at about 76 hours. With doing most side quests. Haven't touched on any post game content yet. But I really recommend this game. This was a fantastic game. It's not without it's faults. The pacing between story beats can be slow sometimes, there was certain plot points that just left me with a "Why did you just do that" feeling, and then some of the characters are a little tropey. But I think overall the package is fantastic and nothing that really pulls away from the overall experience of the game

The combat is fantastic and addicting, there was never a time I dodged out of combat other than maybe to conserve healing/restorative items while dungeoning. The characters while I mentioned were tropey I grew to absolutely love. Tales games are usually renowned for their good characters, while only playing this one and Tales of Symphonia I can say that so far in my experience this is true. I don't think I like some of the characters as much as some from Symphonia but I do love all their interactions together and towards the end it really felt like they were a super cohesive family/friend group. It was fun seeing their interactions. And seeing all the skits. Although the skits are dispersed a little unevenly. There will be times where I get 3 or 4 skits at a time. I was compelled to watch them when I saw them, but there was a lot at once sometimes.

But keeping that all in mind, if you're looking for a really good time with combat, learning and meeting new characters and seeing their interactions and bonding with them, and also goofing around and dressing them in goofy outfits like bunny pig gloves then I totally recommend this game.

Will probably play some post game stuff soon.