Games Beaten List:
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (GEN)
- The Revenge of Shinobi (GEN)
- Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (GEN)
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN)
- Go Go Ackman (SFC)
- Super Wagyan Land (SFC)
- Super Mario RPG (SFC)
- Shin Megami Tensei if... (SFC)
- Front Mission: Gun Hazard (SFC)
- Steep Slope Sliders (SAT)
- Valkyrie Profile (PS1)
- Sakura Taisen (SAT)
- Shenmue Chapter 1: Yokosuka (DC)
- Shinobi (PS2)
- Gungrave (PS2)
- Assault Suit Leynos 2 (SAT)
- Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shinitamoukoto Nakare (SAT)
- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (PS2)
- Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu (FC)
- Ganbare Goemon 2 (FC)
- Sakura Taisen 3 ~Paris wa Moeteiru ka~ (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 (DC)
- Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koi-seyo Otome~ (DC)
- Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyou-ryuu Doujou (DC)
- King of Fighters '99 Evolution (DC)
- Madou Monogatari I (MD)
- Twinkle Star Sprites (SAT)
- Madou Monogatari (SAT)
- Policenauts (SAT)
- Demon's Blazon: Makaimura Monshou-hen (SFC)
- Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC)
- Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (GB)
- Red Arimer: Makaimura Gaiden (GB)
- Getsu Fuumaden (FC)
- After Armageddon Gaiden: Majuu Toushouden Eclipse (Mega CD)
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
- Elnard (SFC)
- Actraiser (SFC)
- Sonic Mania (PC)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC)
- Blazing Chrome (PC)
- ReCore - Definitive Edition (PC)
- The Outer Worlds (PC)
- Shenmue II (DC)
- Shenmue III (PC)
- Timespinner (PC)
- Ori and the Blind Forest - Definitive Edition (PC)
- Super Lucky's Tale (PC)
- State of Mind (PC)
- Undertale (PC)
State of Mind - I just happened to watch the trailer for this game after clicking onto its store page in the Xbox app, and though it looked really interesting. It starts out pretty well, with the main character, Richard, trying to piece together some recent traumatic events, and eventually trying to unearth the whereabouts of his wife and son. The visual style is very eye catching, with all the models drawn with a very low-poly look to them. It's actually one of the things that drew me to the game in the first place, since it kind of feels like ReBoot, or just a 3D game from the fifth console generation. The setting is 2048 Berlin, and robots occupy a lot of housekeeping, and law enforcement roles. After a short time, the game also introduces another main character in Adam: A resident of City5. The first hour or so is very interesting, and thought provoking, but over time the story felt like it made a number of missteps. There are a lot of threads of the narrative that terminate in loose ends, and the web becomes a bit too broad and tangled to settle toward any concise message. There are a ton of narrative themes about the nature of existence, and of life in the presence of advanced AI, which I like, but I don't think it offers any sort of elevated presentation on the topics. Another issue I have is that Richard is just sort of an asshole, and even though I tried to make him less of an asshole through dialogue choices, he still ends up being basically the same character by the end of the game as when the game started. Also, the ending has this choice that should be significant to the ending, but when I went back to try the other option, it was literally the exact same ending. The ending for State of Mind is really the closest thing I've seen to the ending of
Hud (1963) in a video game. Most people would hate it, because essentially nothing is actually resolved. I think it's a mistake to look at stories and say that the ending has to explain things. That's a lazy way to interact with media. However, I do think there was some need to touch on a couple details before the final scene. Not much, just a little more than what's there; particularly between Richard and his wife Tracy, which was basically the low-level plot thread that the game abandoned most of the philosophical ideas for, during the climax.
State of Mind is really an adventure game. The story is the primary element, but it has very basic puzzle and exploration gameplay. I enjoyed the Sonic the Hedgehog cameo, but the movement controls are kind of awkward, and the puzzles can be more of a nuisance than an enhancement of the experience. This was particularly the case in the club scene, where the game asks you to take control of a drone to scan people's faces, and find a particular patron. It's a very dark area, there are a ton of NPCs that match the characteristics you're asked to look for, and it takes a handful of seconds to scan the NPCs, if they don't move at all. That was the most annoying segment of the game for me, but there are a few times where the game asks you to take control of drones, and none of them were really any fun.
Anyway, it's not bad, and it's not particularly long either (probably 8 to 12 hours max), I just don't think I would actually recommend it.
Undertale - This is one of those games that everyone is supposedly meant to play now because of how 'amazing' it is, but makes me look a little side-eyed at people. Let me break this game down a little bit: Undertale's story is wildly derivative, and is essentially what one would get if he mashed together the central themes from Crusader of Centy, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, and the first three Suikoden games (all much better games, I should add), then allowed Earthbound to just stink up the joint with its insufferable idiocy. Without it even being a goal, the end result of my time with Undertale was as if someone had challenged me to not react at all to it. It was one of the most boring five-ish hours I've ever spent with a game. It actually made me
notice the fact that it was totally unable to make me feel
anything. (By contrast, I wept several from playing Ori and the Blind Forest. I am more machine than man, but I put this one on Undertale.) I really don't understand how anyone could become attached to the characters in the game. I honestly hate Sans so, so much. I just want to pop his dumb anime skull like a balloon. He's that faux-cool; that awkward translation of an anime character trope via a western anime fan, and it makes my skin crawl. The humor in Undertale is aspiring to be like Earthbound (which is also a snooze), but it's really just that middle school brand of irrelevant, pointless, randomness. It's that arbitrary comedic method of flinging shit at a wall and hoping something sticks. In essence, Undertale is just a binary representation of a middle-schooler. Also, what the fuck is a Temmie!
I actually played the game as a pacifist, but I killed the tutorial boss, because it didn't seem to give me any options. That, along with just splashing a cup of water on Undyne, and calling it a day, gave me a pretty shitty ending. Again, no reason to care about the characters and their weird, and frankly uncomfortable, attractions to the main character, so there was really no incentive to deal with them, and maybe improve the ending slightly. It's kind of messed up to start the game off that way, though, since the issues of morality aren't immediately apparent, and that ending basically leaves the game off with the message that 'there is no redemption.' Personally, I think that's a shitty message, but whatever.
So, Undertale is an easy, boring game, that's basically a 2D walking sim, with really terrible Wario Ware minigames mixed in, and I hate the visual style. It's at least mercifully short, and the music is pretty good (easily the best thing about the game). It's probably, objectively, just all right, but I personally find it to be intolerable, and hope to never hear about it again.
I don't think I'll bother with stats this time. I'm just going to recap the games a little.
The Games That Everyone Should PlayShinobi III, Super Mario RPG (shockingly), Shenmue I, Shenmue II, Shenmue III,, The Outer Worlds, Ori and the Blind Forest
The Games I Loved Playing, Which No One Else Will Ever PlayKino no Tabi: The Beautiful World, Sakura Taisen, Sakura Taisen 3, Ganbare Goemon: Karakuri Douchuu, Madou Monogatari I (Mega Drive)
The Not Great Games I Wish Had Been a Bit BetterSMT if..., Valkyrie Profile, Ganbare Goemon 2, Madou Monogatari (Saturn), Getsu Fuumaden, Sonic Mania
The, Now Predictable, Popular Games I Couldn't StandFront Mission: Gun Hazard, Policenauts, Zelda II, Actraiser, Blazing Chrome, Timespinner, Undertale