Very much missing your videos, I hope all is well!

Just looking for excuses to say the n word

so sad this game never took off

3:37:00 this theory actually does make some sense the more you think about it. Given the unfinished state of the game, the sun going out everywhere might explain why Solaire went seeking his own sun underground. The lava made it the only bright area left in the world.

thanks for starting the unnsescary bullshit critics about ds2 git good noob

Major disagree with the art style. It's one of the most visually interesting games I've personally played. Sure Nintendo may have done it as some "compromise" between Wind Waker and TP, but I don't see that as any sort of flaw, it's the end result and execution that counts.

im so tired of pretending dark souls combat is anything special, IMO, it has slightly more depth than Ocarina of time and that's it. Every enemy encounter is exactly the same no matter what build you use (just dodge roll, dodge roll, poke, dodge roll, dodge roll poke). Fromsoft really needs to do something new because seeing the same assets ripped from a 15 year old game for their supposedly ambitious open-world game (elden ring) just to do the same thing but with a horse is getting insanely stale.

I feel so low iq for not fully grasping these concepts

I just finished the game(my first souls ever) and it left with a feeling of emptiness. This video managed to leave me the same way. Thanks.

It's the Marvel movie of games. Good story that draws average people in and not much to offer in terms of gameplay.

the rabbit and steel dev gave this vid a shoutout

This video and comment section keeps me sane in the face of never ending souls fans who have started to deflect any and all criticism as skill issue, and mostly determine these games quality by how complex a boss move string is. Sad to see what has become of these games, their influence on other games and the fanbase…

That Moldera music is a straight banger.

love your videos but hating on the snake eater theme song is a bad take, its such a perfect homage to the bond theme songs

I mean I absolutely agree with the video but saying Micolash was your favorite boss in bloodborne seems very hard to believe. that's like saying bed of chaos is my favorite fight in ds1

2:06 the word WHAT!

Ya hate to see it. A company iterates on an idea and the fanbase which once loved them so much become cynical and jaded. Fromsoft is releasing the best games in the industry. I think people need to step back and ask themselves if they are just fatigued with the souls formula. People decry and act as if From is losing their touch when every game they put out gets better and better. None of them are perfect and devoid of criticism (have to state this out of obligation), but everyone online is quick to denounce them once a critic comes along and becomes the new leader of thought. It's gonna be ok guys, based on Froms output they haven't earned your lack of faith.

16:23 - that three note phrase in phoenix wright is one of the most exciting and deceptively simple ostinatos you'll ever hear. who doesn't love a smart, repeated phrase over chord changes like that?

I woke up to him talking about Miyazaki getting pushed over a hill by a car

Oh man, this aged so incredibly well (like most of your videos) I really wish that you came back to the review game and checked all of these titles out 10 years later I just wish you would upload again in general, my favorite game reviewer 💖

2:48:00 this is the kind of level of camera zoom many fights could benefit from, especially in later games like Elden Ring where the camera can't keep up with some of the giant enemies.

The mention of the marble puzzle from Riven sent me into a cold sweat as I tried to recall what the 'gotcha' was for it, I'm still vehemently angry about it over two decades later but I can't even remember what it was.

The developers who dedicated a chunk of their lives to try and tell this story of early American culture literally taking flight on wings with sword to spread its message of ignorant laden hate, absolutely foiled by Matthew and his 5 minute rant on why you are actually racist for making this games plot unlike i white fella who says the n word with a hard r but only when trying to prove my internet gamer point!! Its from a different time of the internet but its the shinning flaw with this otherwise good video and the fact that people are still in this comment section for the sole purpose of defending Matt on this proves the point that it could’ve been left in the first draft with little consequence.

this video ties into a bigger problem where the gameplay loop is often press buttons to play the game, which often gets repetitive when playing video games (often pressing buttons) to play the game. And even then, you have to play the game -> win the game, repeat. Sometimes saving(?) progress USING THE SAVE BUTTON. Often times you must press a button at the right time in the video game, often repetitively. Whereas you cannot press the wrong button at the wrong time, oftentimes. This is repetitive gameplay loop.

This game did wonders for the 3D animated porn.

I know I'm late but there's a multiply command in Shenzen that can preform the same function and more compared to neg. Swap is missed but it would make the Mx6000 too overpowered compared to the Mx4000(X).

Do Balatro.

Aged like wine

rain world reminds me a lot of heart of darkness and oddworld, its a very brutal and animalistic platformer

1:22:25 good prediction there

Good.

totk pretty much solved most of the problems of this game (more and better enemies/bosses, better dungeons, more entertaining powers like fuse and ultrahand, better storyline, more accessibility, a really great ending and the last boss etc.) i think the only where they fucked up compared to botw is performance which tbh it was never good to begin with. i just hope that nintendo would give us a place other than hyrule for its next 3d game like termina, twilight land or an entirely new concept

It's fascinating to watch this after playing Elden Ring and to notice the similarities and how many of your points are still relevant and can be applied again, for better and for worse.

Fun to view this from the future. There's something delightfully naive in assuming that the most ephemeral medium, games, will persist into the future. Zoomers don't even know who Kubrick is. It's hard to imagine they will remember Q*bert.

It's a shame you never did Mario Odyssey. That game is incredible.

Good.

With regards to reviewing games in the context of the genre, I think your perspective is backwards. It's not that games are reviewed as instances of some kind of platonic ideal of what a genre should be, but that genres provide a shorthand for the types of experiences certain groups of games represent and that allows you to quickly compare, criticize or commend aspects of them without having to communicate the appeal from scratch. Genres themselves are emergent, after all, and even reviewing a game "as an [x]" relies on some kind of common cultural understanding of what it means to be [x]. Fundamentally any review relies on some common experience in order to create an impression of why the game is appealing and so far no game that I'm aware of is able to somehow stimulate every positive experience you could have at once - they have to tailor and fit their design intentions to provoke some kind of specific response from the player. In an action game, that means creating a credible impression of threat and risk and then providing appropriate fanfare when the player is able to overcome the challenge set before them. In a puzzle game, that means fitting the pieces available to you together in a way that represents some kind of fundamental understanding about the puzzle itself or gives you a new perspective. If I was talking to someone who had never played any games, I might have to go down to this sort of low level analogy to communicate the appeal to them and at an even more fundamental level if they'd never had any experience which was intellectually satisfying or exhilarating then I might only be able to communicate through my tone of voice and expressions. As you go further down the chain the resolution of what you can say and the intensity with which you can say it are obviously lost but as you get higher you're forced to bring in much more specificity and subtext which you might not be fully in control of. No one is reviewing Sekiro as a puzzle game because experiences for puzzle games aren't useful for informing your opinions about Sekiro - you might not be intellectually satisfied as you interact with the world but that's because the game provides a totally different experience rather than an inferior instance of a puzzle experience. Beyond that with so much distance between Sekiro and puzzle games, the common experience of puzzle games in many instances won't exist even if it was communicative about how people experience Sekiro. But, I think there is an interesting avenue here - for someone the review "resident evil is a bad cosy game" is probably a good review. If your only understanding of video games is as a casual, low stress environment to relax in then experiences directly antithetical to that like action, competition and horror might represent a contrast which is informative to your opinion of the game. Those genres make different compromises in terms of intended experience which likely make them fundamentally incompatible within a single package. The important thing is that the axes of the two experiences have to actually be opposed rather than just orthogonal - if the only limit to how compatible two genres are is how densely you can pack them together then it's unlikely be meaningful to say only "there are no puzzles in this action game".

it is just funny that they reused the exact same korok model for botw and totk lol

DS2 glazers are so delusional. you can beat the game 5+ times have valid complaints and still be met with "skill issue" or whataboutisms it's embarrassing really..

😂 sad

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo much talking. Far too many humans are making these types of videos today, and basically saying the same things...over and over and over again. I hope you all get your likes and the attention you crave so much.

Watching you play is painful

Great review/comparison of both games!

Well, I want to express my opinion here, even if it won´t have nearly as much good receivement as, for instance "And ER and SotE sucks, Fromsoftware didn´t learnt anything" or that im gonna have less likes than an a "what are you yapping about" response. Is not that I do mind though, every place has their own niche and the niche here is disliking the modern games/ prefering the older ones, although I find ironic that many BB and DS3 fans appeal to this mesage just to dump an even more modern entry. But people dumping newer games even if the flaws aren´t different is something extremely common on gaming. There points I can rely on, like, for instance, I believe that the game has standarized and as result they are less unique, which makes me agree with the title with the video, it also has less atmospheric value and, although Matthew didn´t mentioned, has less thoughful level design and enemy placement, which specially stung me on DS3 due to being a mostly linear experience. I do not think that is a hot take what I said. Neither that the feeling of urgency and damger are much higher on the older games, for new inclusions that made the experience easier. The respec ability for instance removes a lot of pressure of leveling up, even if iI would enjoy that inclusion, same as it would be removing weapon requirements. As a last point I also agree that is frustrating (especially on DS3 case) the fact that they remove or add some mechanics that seems to be an amazing addition, rather than they have flaws that they really haven´t improved that much, like the awful camera, the optimization or the questionable hitboxes. That said, I still prefer the modern games mostly (except DS2) over the older ones, and this is because that while, I actually agree with DeS/Base DS1 feeling more unique and adventurous, there are many things I am aware. These bosses have actually much, much less replaybility value due to the reason Matthew mentioned. If a boss fight has an specific way any player with any build could use to defeat him/trivialize him, then that boss looses that value that was lost to begin with when that uniqueness fade away. You dont need to use a new strategy if you are underleveled/overleveled, or use a completely different build.This is why on the end of the day when you ask most people which favorite boss is you would get something like Gael, Friede,Artorias, Ludwig or Messmer, even people who started with the older entries. And talking about build variety is something again I disagree with. Playing with a magic build will have different problems, advantages, and strategies compared to a melee build, much more than only damage. Alone the difference with a straight sword and a greatsword are noticeable on how you should apply it, as there are windows available on one that aren´t on others, or that one of them can let you attack on a more convenient place due to the range difference. And status effects applies as well, even on a greatest purpose this is for doing more damage. Which, yes? The point of every boss is to deplete the health bar, is a gameplay loop, and was refined towards that mentality of damage same as how Mario jumps were refined as every newer entry came on, having more and more options which point is to make you cover farther places. This is why more options like Dual Wielding, Posture breaks or Combat Arts were introduced to the mix, to give the player more options to deal against the difficulty. And well, thats all, feel free to call me "fromsoft drone" or what you want, let me tell you im a bit dissapointed by the tribalism im seeing with every game as it goes on, that at this point changing it to wharever direction will have a very big chunk of the community dissapointed.I think that the ideal is to enjoy every game for what it is, recognizing what you like and what you didn´t, but im confident someone would use the "comformism excuse" for that...

This game is a masterpiece.

Glad you introduced me to this thru the larger Zachtronics video and this one. This is the only one Ive really stuck with after I paid for but only recently claimed from a humble bundle from a whipe back.

Always loved the MGS reviews but on a rewatch after experiencing the full story of Peace Walker, it's kinda funny to see "Big Boss isn't as morally gray as he ought to be" over the cutscene where he's recruiting a child soldier, literally telling the kid to give their life over to his personal army. My main problem with PW on this front is that his crimes in the pursuit of MSF were basically treated sympathetically by the narrative of the game or explained as one of Kaz's ideas that Big Boss ended up going along with.

I revisited this video after days of playing this game, and as much as I’m enjoying it (it sparked a newfound hyperfixation on Norse mythology), I still agree completely with everything Matthew said.

This series is unique for how the first game people play in it completely sets their expectation. Bloodborne brought in so many new people that will judge the rest of the games with it as a yardstick. I find they usually measure Dark Souls and Demon's Souls as being boring and generic comparatively. I have friends who started with Elden Ring... and they predictably have zero interest in the past games' more unfriendly and masochistic elements. Dark Souls 2 created a whole weird substrate of fans that didn't even see it's sloppy mechanical and aesthetic divergences as flaws. Getting screwed by the Agility stat or lazy cluster mobs or stupid record player spinning enemies was just a part of the "uniquely harsh challenge" that DS2's predecessors lacked. I technically started with Demons' Souls; but didn't really get hooked til DS1. Aside from a few early stages, I mostly just find it too annoying to bother revisiting. I'd rather play through the first half of DS1 for the tenth time, honestly.

Brief Update (from Matt's Patreon) 30 Nov. 2024. I only made one new puzzle this month, to tutorialize a certain concept better. The rest of my time was spent reshuffling them into the right order (a surprisingly time consuming endeavor which I think is finished now), polishing up the Game Boy version (which is now very polished) and getting a start on the PC version (which is not a functional game yet but is coming together faster than I expected). A couple of important points. Firstly, the Game Boy version still has no sound. I'll definitely add some sound effects before release but I'm still unsure about music. This seemed a point of concern in the comments last time so I'll talk about it a bit. Unlike the other projects, this game is small enough that it's a chance to fulfill a selfish little dream of mine: making a game on my own. I can't draw at all but I did the sprites for this game myself and they look fine, at least I think so. Game Boy tiles are only 8x8 so there's not much room to go wrong. This is one reason why I'd prefer not to get a dedicated composer involved. I also don't think I could afford to pay a fair wage for a soundtrack anyway. Maybe it's post-hoc rationalization but I'm not convinced it needs music. When I play it while listening to music I sometimes get too distracted to focus properly on the puzzles. Logic puzzles can require you to reason in difficult ways about what you're seeing. I've tried to avoid long/tedious chains of reasoning but even so it's a difficult game, one that really benefits from focus. Even mild distractions can slow down my gameplay quite a bit. Omitting music might be the right call for this reason. On the other hand, I'm also a little tempted to just do Game Boy renditions of classical music. They say it helps you focus after all, although it sounds quite different coming from a Game Boy chip. I don't know. I'm currently leaning towards no music. If I regret it I can always do an update later. Secondly, I'm planning for the PC version to be a straightforward port of the Game Boy release. It'll be almost like playing the game on an emulator, except you'll be able to use the mouse to fill in tiles. This means blowing my 8x8 sprites up to be much larger, which might be abrasive for some. As such, I'm asking my partner to do an alternate tileset which you can swap between, something that'll look nicer at high resolutions. I think it might be fun if it looks very different from the Game Boy version but I suppose I'll leave it up to her. If it goes well, maybe we'll do more than one. Anyway, it's been a good few weeks. With a bit of luck, this will be the last briefing I have to give you. Here's hoping the PC version goes smoothly, I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible.