Recent reviews by K1wi

Before I go ahead and sing this game's praises, I would just like to say that The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak is indeed a valid starting point for newcomers interested in the series. Yes there will be references to previous games that you will miss, guest character appearances that will go over your head, etc.. But even without all that knowledge and experience, you will still be getting a fantastic JRPG with a very-likable cast of characters, engaging battle system, varied customization options, and the series' signature deep world-building.

This game's greatest strength is most certainly the story and its main protagonist, Van Arkride. Van works as a Spriggan, which is essentially the series' version of a private detective, and he essentially takes odd jobs from anyone both good and bad as long as they can pay. This allows the story to explore more grey areas that even the previous games would usually only bring up every once in a while. The story also places a large emphasis of developing Van as a character with how he deals with requests, his interactions with the other characters (his employees especially), and the unfolding truths of his sensitive past that all help build up to an emotional yet epic finale.

The game's main setting this time is the long teased Republic of Calvard. Throughout the campaign you will be going through the central city of Edith as well as the surrounding cities completing odd jobs while dealing with the mafia along the way. Each city offers its unique feel from the cozy village of Creil, the technological institute of Basel, to the eastern landscapes of Long-Lai that all help paint the picture of Calvard being a traditionally diverse country. The odd jobs that you will be doing in those cities will also add points onto your alignment chart consisting of law, chaos, and gray. Leveling up an alignment will yield certain rewards such as equipment or Holo-cores for Van. Some jobs will even give the choice to choose certain actions from different alignments that will give bonus alignment points by the end of it. In short, it took a while for us to finally be able to explore Calvard but thankfully the wait was well worth it with how expertly realized it all is.

Other than the story, Falcom have also taken great strides in reworking the series' battle system. You have two options available to you those being Field Battles and Command Battles. In Field Battles you are able to fight enemies directly on the map similar to an action-RPG but much more simplified since you only have a basic attack that can turn into a combo string with repeated presses, a charge attack, and a dodge. From my experience, the field battles basically serve two functions: to be able to mow through weaker enemies quickly without having to switch battle modes, and to get more formidable enemies to a stunned state so you can switch into Command battles with a Battle Advantage at the start. As its own thing the Field Battles aren't really anything special but since they are supposed to be complementary to the Command battles I'd say they are a good addition.

The Command Battles are where the gameplay adjustments are truly felt. In battle you are able to move your characters freely within a certain space and once you choose an action (attack, guard, arts, crafts, items) your turn ends and moves on to the next character. It isn't just the standard turn based affair however. Several additions have been made to help improve the engagement of these encounters. For example some skills have a positioning bonus based on if your hitting an enemy from the sides or the back. Then there is the SCLM system where if two party members are positioned close with each other they can then assist with following up basic attacks or even power up the other's crafts or arts. In addition there's the reworked Orbment system which can also help with the build variety that you can have. There is a lot more to cover concerning the Command Battles but all in all it is very solid.

The soundtrack is something that has to be mentioned with all Falcom games and Daybreak's ost overall.. is just okay. There are still standout tracks sprinkled in here and there, especially during the finale, but according to the standard set by earlier titles in the series the selection on offer as whole could have been better. The main city theme is cozy, the standard battle theme is catchy, and some of the emotional cut scene music is beautiful, but I always had a feeling while playing that a lot of the songs are still missing something to make them stand out more. Thankfully this isn't going to be a deal breaker for anyone who is playing but still I feel this is worth mentioning especially for those who are passionate about these games' soundtracks.

There is so much more that I REALLY want to talk about with this game but I already feel as though this review's already long enough and that I already got across the main points that I adore about this game. is a standout JRPG in a sea of already amazing JRPGs. The story, characters, and world-building of the series are some of the best here, in addition with the snappy feeling gameplay and combat it really makes this game hard to put down. To reiterate, if your someone who wants to start the series and don't know where to start, go ahead and try this one . This series is genuinely something you need to experience for yourself.

Persona 3 FES was my gateway into the Japanese RPG genre. Without it I would’ve never became an Atlus fan or have gotten into other big JRPG series such as Dragon Quest, Xenoblade Chronicles, Yakuza, and tons more. Its a game that I hold a lot of respect for despite its many flaws. Persona 3 Reload aims to bring back this beloved title with updated visuals and Persona 5-esque quality of life. And after beating the game on hard mode after 80-ish hours, I am confident in saying that Persona 3 Reload succeeds, for the most part, in its set goals of bringing this classic PS2 experience back to life.

My biggest fear before the game came out was that Atlus were going to pull a P4G/P5R and add additional characters and arcs that would potentially change the story’s direction. The aspect of the original that fans were the most fond of was indeed the game’s story as its messages and themes about dealing with loss, death, and sacrifice were presented beautifully through the narrative and were payed off perfectly with the game’s ending. Thankfully, Atlus went with the best case scenario and kept the game’s narrative intact while also adding additional scenes and in-game events that explored already present story moments and characters that were previously lacking from the original. In addition, these new story events and the series staple social links are now entirely voice acted. In retrospect, having social links be voice acted from beginning to end might sound like a trivial new feature but after beating the game I just couldn’t imagine this series moving forward without it.

The gameplay is where this remake’s changes are most felt. Atlus made it very clear during pre-release that Tartarus and the dungeon crawling gameplay loop were their biggest focus to improve. The main changes are :
• Allies don’t get fatigued anymore.
• Added Dashing and preemptive dash attacks. The dash attacks can even be improved to where you’ll be able to inflict ailments on enemies pre-battle.
• Added breakable objects which can drop valuables to sell.
• A new rare resource is added which can be spent to fully heal everyone or be used to unlock a new type of rare chest. This new resource can also be acquired through social links.
• The reaper can go through multiple floors now. (Genuinely scared me the first time)
• Monad doors may appear which are special challenge doors where you fight a stronger enemy and get rare rewards.
• Each tartarus block has a more distinct layout from one another which helps alleviate the feeling of tedium slightly.
• People may get lost into Tartarus and you’ll have to go and find them before the next full moon. You’ll get rewarded accordingly as well.
All in all, even with these many additions tartarus still feels like a slog to get through but it is still a tangible improvement from the original. So it’s safe to say Atlus did manage to improve tartarus, even if it isn’t by much.

In combat, Persona 3 Reload still adopts the series’ one more system while also adding the shifting mechanic which is Reload’s equivalent to Persona 5’s baton pass. It isn’t as overpowered as baton pass since you don’t get the overpowered buffs anymore but thats completely fine since the game is already easy to begin with, even on hard mode. Reload also introduces the theurgy system which lets your party members unleash a special attack that ranges from dealing severe damage to applying party-wide charges and concentrates. Party members are also given personality traits which dictates how effectively their theurgy meter increases and also gives them additional buffs and effects. All of these additions help Reload’s moment to moment combat flow much smoother and gives each party member more mechanical individuality that also helps highlight their actual personalities better in battle.

Visuals I’d say is an 80-20 win for me. Some areas like Gekkoukan High School, the Velvet room, and Pawlonia mall look stunning in the new engine. While some areas like the dorm look off with how much it differs with the original because of how much brighter it is. Basically, the original game’s atmosphere is completely absent in certain areas but those cases are honestly few and far between since the game generally does a good job at looking fantastic and keeping the original spirit alive.

The soundtrack is also very high quality (unsurprisingly). It is a very faithful recomposition of the original score while also adding in new additions such as “Full Moon, Full Life” and “Color your Night”, which are both f***ing bangers. As the case with remade soundtracks of video games, people’s general opinions of them may vary since a lot of the recompositions do have a new spin in doing things compared to their original versions. I personally have songs that I think are better here and other songs that aren’t as impactful as the original. My opinions aside, it is all still very good and you will guaranteed be grooving to a lot of em.

Persona 3 Reload may not be the definitive version of Persona 3 as it is still missing content from the other versions, but to me it is definitely the best version of Persona 3. With the added quality of life, top notch voice direction and characters, and updated gameplay loop it is most certainly going to be the version of P3 that I will come back to whenever I feel nostalgic for it again.

As a game within the JRPG genre, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA is easily one of the best to come out in recent memory and it is absolutely criminal that it barely gets the attention it deserves. The best way to describe of why I adore this game as much as I do is that the game does the general JRPG experience and trims 90% of the fat. The pacing flows at a breakneck speed, the progression always consistent with the need to grind being almost nonexistent, the exploration is simple yet very addictive, great balancing and difficulty, and then the cherry on top being the game's iconic soundtrack.


The game follows one of the stories of the self-proclaimed adventurer Adol Christin as he was stranded on a mysterious cursed island alongside every passenger of the Lombardia. You and Adol's objective is to gather all of the castaways and find a way to get everyone off the island. But the more you trek on the cursed island, the more you realize there is much more going on with the island's history than you had originally thought.

The story itself isn't anything groundbreaking nor does it do anything much different compared to the the traditional JRPG story mold. Bear in mind the game never a needed a overly complex plot-line in the first place since it is more focused on using the story to complement the overall gameplay, such as introducing new characters in the world, getting you to the next set-piece, and to present alternate gameplay activities(Raids, hunts, etc.).


Ys as a videogame franchise is one of the longest have to ever existed. With so many entries as of this point in time you may be wondering whether or not that Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA is an acceptable starting point. All of the Ys games follow a somewhat similar structure to the Xenoblade Chronicles series. As in that each individual numbered title tells its own self contained story with its own set of gameplay gimmicks and cast of characters but sometimes sprinkling in occasional references to the other games that may range from cheeky callbacks to being a big component of the main plot near the end. That being said, prior experience isn't necessary at all and jumping into Ys 8 as your first Ys adventure is one of the best decisions you could ever make.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA is a brief yet memorable adventure. One that will stick with you long after your first playthrough. The game is the pinnacle of all of Nihon Falcom's experience and creativity over their 40 year long history, and it is a shining example of what other modern day JRPGs should strive to be.

Dragon Quest XI S is a game that is as strange as it is charming. As complex as it is simple. A game that sticks to its series' 30 year-old roots and doesn't shy away with doing so. Every aspect from the visuals to the story is exactly what you'd expect from a modern entry of a legendary long-standing series such as this.

Series Consistency
Dragon Quest XI S stands out when compared to the modern entries of some other long-running legendary video game franchises. Not in terms of quality mind you, but with consistency . So many franchises go on for so long to the point where they forget about why they were beloved in the first place and instead change the series formula drastically and forgoing staple series quirks in an attempt to sway the modern mainstream audience and to act as the video game equivalent of Oscar bait .

That is why even though Dragon Quest XI S is a big budget, AAA, Unreal 4, massive Japanese console game, this entry still prides itself over all the retro bells and whistles that the 10 previous main titles have established from the past several decades. The game takes all the series staples such as the turn based combat, characters, story, music, and heart , and used the modern hardware capabilities to make them shine brighter than ever. Rarely compromising on anything presented to the player.

Technicals
As previously mentioned, the game was developed using Epic Game's Unreal Engine 4. And Dragon Quest XI S is one of the best Japanese games that make use of it. The engine's capabilities lend well to this title's overall art-style and lighting. Never once do the semi-realistic environments ever distract from cartoon-y designs of all the humans and monsters.

Speaking of which, Akira Toriyama returns to lend his blessing for the character designs of Dragon Quest XI S. Never have the characters and monsters looked as clean and expressive as they do in this game. And to make them stand out more, the game has lent them fantastic voicework from a full cast of talented voice actors. Not just from the accents, but certain characters way of talking from others also help to establish a vast world full of cities that have developed with their own personal histories.

Gameplay
As you may have pieced together so far, Dragon Quest XI S can be described as a retro and classic JRPG with the coat of paint of a modern big title. Everything from the way its story unfolds, the overworld exploration, party recruitment, and combat flow screams traditional JRPG. So in turn, anyone familiar with the genre can hop into this game without much problems.

The game being traditional isn't a minus at all as what I have learnt from the having beaten it is that as long as the execution of a game's features are done expertly, you can still get away with providing the players a fun and memorable experience. And Dragon Quest XI S excels at that, more-so than other dedicated retro callback games.

How they even got away with making this games still baffles me. Dragon Quest XI S is the perfect example of sticking your guns and your dedicated fans, while providing meaningful tweaks and improvements to the series experience that helps it stand shoulder to shoulder with other excellent games of today.

Death's Door is a game I was very excited for up until its release and I must say this is easily one of the most polished indie game experiences I have ever had. Its hard to describe but everything about playing this game felt so spot on, so right.

Death's Door gameplay takes a bit of Zelda, a pinch of Dark Souls, stir it all well in a cauldron and Poof!! Even the story can be described that way as well. Charming yet quite depressing under it all.

The visuals and music also deserve a special mention. The artstyle throughout has always looked so clean and the music accompanying every area is all so fitting that I couldn't imagine the game withoit it.

All in all I am glad a game like Death's Door got so much recognition at launch because great games like these tend to get ignored or poorly marketed

8.5/10

My first introduction into the Shantae franchise and it certainly was a special one indeed. Just to be clear it wasn't because of the giant mermaid chick everyone kept going bonkers about, I just happened to see this game on my front page and was charmed with the art style lol.

The visuals of this game quite literally stands out. The use of 2d animations for characters and enemies on the foreground and the 3d models for everything else is still very eye catching even nowadays. And I would go as far to say this game still looks better than the entry that came after.

As far as I'm aware at this point the gameplay pretty much remains intact as previous titles but with a few tweaks to feel more modern. Shantae still has her hair whip, her animal transformations, her adorable crawl, and other neat things like item customizability.

Speaking of that item customizability, with a few upgrades and purchases you can EASILY make the game a breeze in a matter of a few levels if you want to. There are still moments where you will get instakiled regardless of health upgrades, but that doesn't stop the fact that the most of the game's challenge can be neutered even unknowingly on your first time through.

Overall Shantae Half Genie Hero is a very solid action platformer all things considered. Personally it is far from being a favorite of mine but the charm and alure of this game cannot be ignored.

8.1/10

(P.s. yes i agree the mermaid is Mega shexy ;^))

Now this is a special one. The Blind Forest caught my eye with its beautiful visuals and fluid gameplay the moment I laid eyes on the steam trailer. Not to mention the cheap price it was pretty much a pretty quick purchase.

The game's reputation now is still very well set even with the sequel existing. From the moment you press new game and the swift transition taking you through the whole 10 minute intro was entrancing enough to tell me that this game was going to be something precious.

The story itself isn't anything too impressive on paper but on your first playthrough you wouldn't even really notice that as the game does such a good job at expressing the important moments with the colorful visuals, amazing cinematography, and fluid animations.

Speaking of fluidity, when the act of just moving your character is fun then you know the whole gameplay is bound to be exciting. Paired with the game's iconic bash ability which allows Ori to use objects and enemies as catapults to launch her further into the air, the entire game will feel like you are just swimming through water.

The combat of Ori however has always felt like the least properly developed part of the whole package. It all comes down to spamming the attack button when the enemy is close and maneuvering away from incoming attacks. While Ori does have a ground pound and the bash move at her disposal it doesn't help that the combat overall is still pretty shallow.

The developers clearly knew that as instead of boss fights the game puts you up with intense chase sequences in place of them. To take in mind that the first chase sequence often gets complaints from players as being a major difficulty spike from what was presented beforehand. They may come off as very intimidating but once you memorize the sequence patterns and pay attention to your surroundings you will soon realize that they are all designed pretty fairly. It is just takes quite a while of getting used to.

Ori and the Blind Forest is still considered to be one of Xbox's best games they have put out in the last decade and persists pretty strong visually even in the next generation of consoles.

8.8/10

Just to preface the actual review, this is the Scholar of the First Sin version of DS2 which is a rerelease of the original that includes the dlcs from the start and has rehauled and rebalanced the entire experience to feel more polished than the regular game.

===If you are planning on buying DS2, get this version as it is much cheaper, more packed, and is generally received better than the older version.===

Out of the three, Dark Souls 2 is the game that I have always had the most confused feelings about. Not that it is bad mind you. In reality it still has a lot of similarities to the other two: high highs, low lows, an artstyle that at times can be absolutely gorgeous but at other times can look like the worst mesh of textures you've ever seen, etc.. It is just that this game has a lot of conceptually cool design choices when looked at on their own are pretty and soundly solid. But when you put them together they clash so much with eachother that it makes the gameplay overall feel way more clunky than the game it is supposed to be a sequel of.

It would take longer than needed in a steam review to list them all but the most brought up reason why players think the gamplay is clunkier than DS1 is because of the adaptability stat. It's a brand new addition to the stat leveling system that influences your movement and most importantly your rolls. The problem of adaptability isn't that its a bad addition. The main problem is that the stat having an effect on your rolls is not communicated well at all at the start of the game so a lot of people going through DS2 on their first playthrough would constantly get hit by attacks even though that it looked like they dodged perfectly later not knowing that higher adaptability is needed for the later parts of the game.

To give DS2 some credit, it does do a lot more new things than even DS3 and even adds an option to experience new game+ areas on your first playthrough, even the bosses.

But to be fair, even though DS2 has the biggest roster of bosses in the entire trilogy a BIG majority of them are either very forgettable, poorly designed, or just straight up boring. To me, the best bost fights and combat encounters come from the late game dlc content but playing through the entire game to get there didn't really feel all that worth it.

I still think Dark Souls 2 is a good game at the very least but everytime I get asked about which game to talk about DS2 is the one that comes up the least in my mind. It is still worthhwhile experience if your a Dark Souls fan but it is one that I have very little want of coming back to.

7.8/10

A Hat in Time (or AHiT for short) has always been the most stand out mario-like for me ever since playing it all those years ago. Just like the protagonist everything about the game is cute, goofy, charming, and sometimes a tad bit twisted.

And just like a Mario game AHiT is all about collecting timepieces, which is this game's equivalent to stars and jiggies, in order to fuel your starship, unlock new areas and new items, and your always present excuse to explore every nook and cranny of every freakin map.

The exploration itself wouldn't have been fun on its own if the gameplay weren't as strong. Spoilers: it is. Compared to the modern 3d marios its actually pretty simplistic, but with how fine tuned it feels and with the many equippable power ups it still manages hold pretty well on its own.

The characters and music are easily the game's most iconic part, with how much you see them and hear the music all over the internet that is. Voice acting quality was unexpectedly fantastic which surprised me the first time around with all the big name vg actors popping up every here and there. Oh and the music... in short without having to talk about it in length... 10/10.

I don't know if it was just me who experienced these problems, but the performance of the game during my first playthrough was pretty all over the place. Sometimes it ran perfectly fine the next it would just run at a third of the usual framerate with some occasional slowdown. It wasn't because the game is heavily demanding or that I set the settings too high. Just some random occurances. Again, maybe it's just me but who knows.

A great 3d platformer, perfect for fans of the genre or for those itching for an experience similar to the marios and banjo-kazooies. Besides some technical problems and annoying bugs A Hat in Time is a very pleasant adventure.

8.5/10

First off, it's Shovel Knight. So of course it's good. Taking the iconic blue digger and putting him into his own puzzle game made me sceptical at first. But after playing through the campaign a few times, i am pleasantly impressed with how well thought out and polished the entire game felt.

To describe the gameplay with the simplest terms, its like Candy Crush where everything falls into a pre-determined grid and you have to reach the end to progress to the next level. But unlike Candy Crush this game is actually good lol.

Visuals and characters are also spot on with how each of them compliments each other perfectly giving the game a wonderfully upbeat charm.

Speaking of characters, every major character you meet along your journey are also playable once you beat them in a duel. Every character sports there own unique quirks that gears you to play them with different strategies than you would be using when playing another. This adds so much to the replayibility and mastery of each character can take a long while but still feel really rewarding.

Everything is all so simple but its how all those aspects mesh together that make Pocket Dungeon a fun time killer and a worthy entry into the Shovel Knight spin-off series.

8.6/10