While I certainly don't mind taking in the scenery a game has to offer, it's really a pet peeve of mine when the game limits the rate at which I can experience it. While I can appreciate the quasi-realism of carry weight or stamina regen, in practice I always find it kind of irritating to have to deal with. Especially…

Assassin's Creed is really bad about this (or at least it was in IV, the last one I played). Usually, they're trying to set up a conversation between two characters, but you have to keep transitioning from a leisurely amble to an all-out dash that sort of maybe averages out to the same rate. Really distracting and…

Well, most of what's already unlocked are all basic gameplay mechanics you need right at the start, like if you had to purchase a skill to do a running jump in Mario or something. My guess is that they wanted to do the skill tree, and gated off skills, but then realized you wouldn't even be able to play the game…

It's still worth your time IMO. I would just suggest not wasting too much time in the open world: there's just not that much there to see and do.

I was really looking forward to this game, and though I'm not completely disappointed, this review really hits the nail on the head. The original game was held back by concessions to game design trends, and so is this new reboot. Only now instead of unnecessary gunplay, we have an unnecessary open world and…

Actually, most of the moves you get right from the start. Only the 180 spin, double wall run and jump tuck are gated off. It's kind of strange, because there most of the skills to unlock in the movement section of the upgrade tree are filled out before you even have a chance to start upgrading.

The pomegranates! Clever girl

I really agree with this. The open world design leaves a lot to be desired. One thing I'm noticing a lot is how many choke points there are, which makes it feel constraining, the opposite of what an open world game should be IMO. The delivery missions are also frustrating since they give you just barely enough time to…

I agree, Nintendo ought to take some cues from the older Metroid games in the future, but I don't think horror needs to be a part of Metroid. The sense of isolation is much more important. For me, Metroid is about wandering through hostile, alien landscapes, not knowing if what's behind the next door will be a…

You forgot to mention the rating: a cool zero stars.

Unimaginative really hits the nail on the head. It just doesn't feel like much work or thought was put into the environments. Also, I have to wonder if lifegems were a late addition to the game, when they realized they made the game too challenging in the beginning, and didn't want to change it around.

That and not being able to speed through enemy turns. It gets so tedious to sit through 5 minutes of them taking their moves without being able to do ANYTHING.

A couple more thoughts: I'm currently in No Man's Wharf, right before Flexile Sentry. I'm already level 51, which seems really high considering I've only fought three bosses up until this point. And the bosses have been severely lacking oomph, especially since the music is incredibly quiet by default, which I don't…

So earlier this week, I decided, maybe against my better judgement, to give Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin another go. I can really see why people don't like this game. The game's main approach to difficulty is just to throw a million dudes at you at once and have you try to make that work in a system that…

I was a little surprised it wasn't mentioned. Pokemon Snap and Fatal Frame are both explicitly about photography, but the way they're gamified means that there's typically a "best" way to take a shot, which for me goes against the artistry of photography.

Well it seems to be working exceptionally well for him.

I love the little pieces of his insane life that he drops so cheerfully and casually, like finding is real father in a militia in the Ozarks. I barely took notice of him in previous seasons but he's really becoming my favorite character this season.

Somehow his scenes always manage to bore me, even more than the repetitiveness of Arya and Dany's plotlines. My eyes just glaze over whenever he starts talking.

This episode was pretty… ehhh. I really liked a lot of what was happening, (Benjen Stark lives! Sam rebels against his asshole of a dad! Arya remembers who she is!) but it just felt poorly put together and haphazard in places. The last few scenes were especially bad about this - Jamie forced to leave the Kingsguard,…

It still felt good; she was getting some long delayed catharsis, even if it was in a distant way.