@el-shmiablo said:

You could say the exact same thing about Japan's contributions to gaming, but just switch out shooter for JRPG

Nope, but you tried. Being prominent in the genre isn't the same as only servicing that genre.

@scotty As someone who for the life of them cannot get a low end GPU for an acceptable price right now, I have no doubt in my mind Sony is doing an exceptional job right now to even be offering as many PS5 as they've been able to since their launch. It just amuses me to see them fall into a situation we've seen in the past with people calling out companies suggesting they're purposely not offering as many of a product as they are able to just to drive up demand, which when you really think about it basically never makes sense, since those companies aren't at all profiting off scalpers turning around the lower stock.

@scotty Indie games are good all over. I probably prefer AAA games from places like Japan and Korea though. There's some exceptions, but I can probably count them on one hand.

Amazing: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia

Technically cheating here, because I only played the demo, but it definitely left an impression on me. Really interesting and seemingly complex tactical combat. Full game lets you choose which Kingdom you're playing as between a good amount, which I imagine changes how the game plays out quite a bit. Really well written and interesting characters, and I really cannot stress this point enough. Some of the most interesting character backstories and designs I've seen in a long time. If you're into that kind of thing, you need to check out this game. Main story seemed pretty interesting too from the tiny bit I got to see, although I was definitely stuck as a Kingdom I wouldn't have chosen in the demo. So why didn't I buy it if the demo was so good? $50 just feels kind of steep for it, so I'm waiting for a sale.

Meh: The Last of Us Part II

For the most part it just disappointed me as a continuation of the story of the original. Felt like I watched one of my favorite characters become a horrible person. The whole themes of the story just felt super over the top dramatic in a way that made me roll my eyes. At one point they forced me to kill a dog in a QTE to progress. Felt like certain characters retreaded ground in a way that felt desperate to recapture the lightning in a bottle from the original. There's a part near the end that feels like it is trying to be MGS4's ending, but it is so over the top in a game going more for realism that I couldn't take it seriously at all, so it instead felt like a circus attraction. There's also a scene that leads to intimate relations that feels like it reinforces abusive relationships I was not a fan of seeing seemingly glorified, but I'll admit I feel like I must've missed something. All that said, of course the game looks very nice, and it has tons of accessibility options, so at least it is good on a technical level. For the most part, (looking at you dog QTE) I didn't get frustrated from the gameplay, just the narrative direction and story. I wish I hadn't played it and could just believe everyone who preaches and insists it is amazing, because I became super tired of the back and forth arguing with it the rest of the damn year, which for the longest made me not even want to let anyone know all the problems I had with it, because I felt like I'd be lumped in with certain crowds just for not resonating with the game.

Rubbish: Ninjala

This game is something special but not in the good way. This game's design, monetization, structure, menus, text scrolls, etc. are nothing short of nightmarish. Why'd I say text scrolls? Because they speed up and slow down while the text scrolls!!! This is a F2P game, so you can go give it a go yourself and see. I'm confident you're not going to come back and tell me I'm wrong about this game being rubbish. Trying this game out, even for the short time I tried to make sense of it, was like a fever dream. I feel like there must be skill involved in playing this, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what that skill is when the battles are so heavily centered around a Rock / Paper / Scissors type system. I imagine there's some sort of meta for what you should be doing in matches, but every time I played this it felt like complete nonsense, and the result of every match felt like I had just rolled a D20 with absolutely mixed results. The worst part of it all is you can see seeds of a good idea in there, but there's so much insane nonsense in the way of realizing that into a satisfying game for the player, that I cannot believe this game hasn't died yet. I'm awestruck that people are playing this. I do not get it. I didn't hop in one match and then bail either. I gave this thing an honest couple of hours trying to unpack, understand, and digest it. In the end, I just gave up. What the fuck is this game?!

@bam541 Sony needs to knock it off with the artificial scarcity!

Joking if you couldn't tell.

@yoshi I haven't played them recently enough to really argue between which Galaxy game is better, but I will say I'd miss the Rosalina backstory from Galaxy 1. So rarely in a mainline Mario game do we get an interesting piece of lore / backstory to a character like that. Oh, and you're just saying Galaxy 2 is better because Yoshi is in that one! (with a bunch of weird ass transformations that probably don't need to exist)

@el-shmiablo Like I said in my post before, among the spread of AAA Japanese games you tend to have more different types of games, compared to mostly some form of shooter, or sports or racing games, which likewise people tend to either be down for or not at all interested in.

@yoshi Odyssey is way easier than Galaxy though.

@dipset You can make the same argument for other kinds of games, but end of the day they're still all at the core the same kind of game, which can quickly become tiring no matter how different they are from one another.

My full thoughts are very spoilery, so I'll try to pick my words carefully but I actually found myself kind bored with the game until the last fourth or so. The segment after the Castle is interesting, but it also feels not fully baked to me, which the section following it also suffers from I feel. I really wonder if they gave special attention to the Castle after Lady D took off as an internet sensation or what, because the game feels pretty disjointed in content. I almost loved the ending, but they couldn't really commit, and it ended up not resonating with me at all as result. I went into this hoping it'd be the next RE4 for me, but it really didn't feel like that at all by the end, despite the constant nods to it and mechanical similarities.

In the end, it is definitely the kind of RE I never need to revisit, but at the same time I'm kind of anticipating what's next, whether that be DLC or the next entry. I think that has some cool potential following in this one's footsteps. I just kind of hope Capcom slows down a little. I'm convinced after this one they're cranking these out way too fast, and they could be so much better with more planning and development time. Worried about the series burnout I've been feeling for awhile too, so I think it'd really benefit them to not rush forward like this.

And if I wasn't clear before, I genuinely wish this game was longer. Sure, it is long enough to get your money's worth, but I do think certain sections could've benefited from more time to breathe. I don't think every RE game needs that, but when they're going for the feel of RE4 where you're going through an absolute gauntlet, well this one just didn't hit those notes.

Parts of this game felt poorly tested. Again, it might be a symptom of them rushing development too much, but it wasn't like buggy jank, but rather just constrictive design elements. I've heard people call this game very linear, and I think that's a result of what I'm talking about. Lots of the encounters could've just used a second pass to tighten them up. The opening section is an example I think I can point to. It is trying to do the RE4 hold out against a mob thing, but it does it infinitely worse by limiting the play environment to these narrow corridors with way less options for the player, making it many times harder as a result. Too hard in my opinion, given it is the very beginning of the game. Lots of people say it is the hardest part of the game, which I feel is very poor design, just throwing your players in the deep end. Another thing a little later is how Lady D and her daughters stalk you in the Castle, but with the way their pathing and appearance is programmed, it just feels kind of annoying? It is like a much, much worse version of Mr. X. Largely that's how RE8 felt to me, a worse version of previous concepts. Does have some standout ideas fresh to the series, but they're much too short-lived.

Well, I'm not trying to crap on the game. I still feel it was like an 8 / 10 . Just really didn't live up to my expectations for it, despite keeping my anticipation in check and going in not expecting it to be THE SAME and giving it a fair shake for what it is.