Poison Control Review - A Beautiful Mess (PS4/SWITCH)

[@Swrinny]

I'm really curious to hear about your impressions of this game and if you have any questions feel free to post these as a comment and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Enjoy the video! :)

Beautiful review, thank you. I think I will give it a try anyway, and after your review I will keep expectations low and try to enjoy it for what it is.

[@Swrinny]

Glad you liked the review and hope you enjoy the game! Having tempered/realistic expectations is always good :D

[@jamberrycloud]

I bought this primarily because of the music! Gals Panic nostalgia and also the nice 2D art sealed the deal. Only played the first few stages though... I should get back to it. Not all games need to be top shelf stuff to be enjoyable... RIP Vita 😢.

[@Swrinny]

I can still vividly remember the OST when thinking back of the game haha! Hope you enjoy it when you return to it, if the story progression ends up feeling stale just know that it kicks into high-gear around stage 18-20 if I recall correctly

[@wholesomecomment45]

Not sure why, but I am getting "this game will become pricey in the future" vibes.

[@Swrinny]

The physical copies probably will be yeah. Niche titles like this tend to have limited production and fans that won't re-sell their copies after playing it :p

[@MA_KA_PA_TIE]

This game screams worth 100 bucks within 5 years cuz no re release, low print, jiggly wifu, and unique gameplay. Just picked this up at gamestop and the lady said they only got 1 copy

[@Nocturnal_Neko]

@@MA_KA_PA_TIE I had the exact same situation. Last copy the store had. I watched the trailer and thought it would be another digaea type game but hey at least I got a potential rare game.

[@borrellipatrick]

Picked it up for sale for $4 this past week. Never seen a physical copy anywhere

[@janusan89]

I agree with the review, although I didn't find the singular "levels" a problem when the story is forgotten because I feel that's the whole idea: you managed to help someone out of their regret, it's time to move on and that's about it. I didn't feel it was a bad choice but that's just me, but I really enjoyed my time with the game. Although I really don't care about Poisonette. I think she's too loud and obnoxious for my tastes, but different strokes for different folks!

[@dennisbergkamp17]

I just finished this game about 20 minutes ago. I can totally see why some people might not like this game. The controls can feel a bit janky, it can be kinda buggy and glitchy at times, but...for me personally, it just had this undeniable charm that kept me playing. The aesthetic, the amazing soundtrack, the writing (this game made me laugh a lot, the dialogue was surprisingly funny). It’s definitely not perfect, but Poison Control has a lot of heart, and I really did enjoy my time with it.

[@Swrinny]

Glad you had a good time! The writing definitely was the best part of it, both for the stories and actual dialogue :D

[@TheREALHugo4]

It was a good game but some parts were REALLY frustrating. But i enjoyed myself either way. And thanks for the video.

[@Swrinny]

Glad you enjoyed it! Out of curiosity - what were the most frustrating parts for you? Was it the combat arenas with the 3 tanky sword & shield enemies? :p

[@TheREALHugo4]

@@Swrinny The part where you had to collect 100 000 coins to get the yomi sake bottle (and it took me 3 hours to finally get it) and the final boss which had 6 enemies at the same time to kill (no joke).

[@Swrinny]

@@TheREALHugo4 Oh god that final boss haha. The enemies kept on respawning so I ended up running from one edge of the arena to the other and just focused shots on the boss. The purple poison didn't make it any easier either :D

[@TheREALHugo4]

@@Swrinny The enemies were attacking too which wasn't easy at all unless i used the radio attack. And god, that was tough, even when i was level 81-82.

[@TheFaceSoap]

I just beat it yesterday. it was alright, nothing too glaringly wrong other than some technical issues on Switch (fps slowdowns and draw distance problems - sometimes every onscreen entity disappeared on me) and a slightly janky aim assist system. the story was okay, but the individual belles and the concept was stronger than the execution. only spent like £5 on it in a sale so I got my money's worth, and the soundtrack was a high point of the game. the concept actually reminds me a lot of that anime Wonder Egg Priority, which I mostly enjoyed, but similarly to that anime, it fumbles the bag a bit.

[@prototypex28]

Nippon Ichi Software's makes some fun games but the price they ask is a little to high for what they deliver in the end. And no, I'm not complaining about the time it takes to beat their games but the games as a whole xD Still, I'm quite interested in this one, looks fun. A shame about the gameplay problems though... Btw, do you know what do we need to do to get each ending? I'm planning to go through the game just once, and if possible, I would love to get the best one xD

[@Swrinny]

Niche titles like this are expected to be a bit overpriced and normally I don't really mind that. And I agree that time is not everything when it comes to valuing an experience. Like, if there's a game that's only 5 hours but it's the best experience ever that I'll remember for a long time - I don't mind paying more for that! I really love the writing and the overarching plot so if you focus on that you'll be good :D At least you know what to expect from the gameplay haha. As for the ending, I actually recommend you get two of them as you can do these in a very short time and are both very good imo! Once you unlock the shop you can buy the 'Yomi Sake Bottle' item which costs 100K. This might seem much at first, but it's not too bad as you go through the stages. Just make sure to buy it before mission 23. During mission 25 & 26 you have a story option to use that item on 2 characters -> choose to use it. Then after the final boss fight also in 26 you have the option to use the item on Poisonette -> choose to not use it. This gives you what I think is the true ending (it's also my favorite!). Then after the credits, replay mission 26 and choose to use the item on Poisonette this time. This unlocks a secret 27th stage after which you get another fun ending. Only takes about an hour more to do this and imo it's worth it. Hope this helps and that you enjoy the game when you pick it up!

[@prototypex28]

​@@Swrinny Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to get both endings then :)

[@hyzenthlay7151]

I got the game on Switch not long ago on offer for €5, abd at that price, I love!! It's quirky, has very simole to learn controls, and the mini stories in the game are good. It does have flaws, and if I had paid full price, I would have probably been disappointed. So, the fact it was in offer made it a very fun game for me to play, and the shortcommings forgivable, and I'm glad I got it!!

[@jayejones3382]

Great video! I heard in one review that the Nurse story was treated poorly but no one else beyond that seems to mention it at all. Did the main characters and radio characters really all insult her at the end? And would you mind just sharing your impressions on the story in that level? Thanks for your time.

[@Swrinny]

Thanks! I don't think the Nurse story was treated poorly actually. I'm not sure how much you've read about it or want to be spoiled, but without the contextual specifics; the gist of it is that while she's appear as a perfect person on the outside, she also has a habit of telling horrendous lies. I guess you can compare it to having a coworker that has a really bad personality and has a bad impact on colleagues, but is really good at his/her job. During the mission the main characters were lied to multiple times, which annoyed them, but I don't think they were really insulting the Nurse's problems, just trying to figure out why she'd be doing that to them while they are trying to help her. After the mission one of the hosts carefully explains the Nurse's delusion on what is causing is and the other host ended up calling her a "pathetic dumbass". So one of the hosts feels a lot of pity for her situation, while the other one think she's pathetic for hurting others really bad through lies for selfish reasons. Honestly, I think the writing for this was good, because even in the conclusion there's something to be said for both the hosts' opinions. Hope this makes a bit of sense!

[@highvoltage103]

@@Swrinny Sayuri's character was inspired by a novel by Yumeno Kyusaku according to an interview for this game found at the game's official site.

[@Lalamik702]

Before this video, I thought this game was another persona inspired game. The layout and themes, in my opinion, are very similar. One thing that I don't necessarily enjoy is the lack of world building, though I understand having no roof was a good choice; I just wish there was more to look at instead of some flat floors with a couple of walls/objects. However, the game seems pretty alright overall.

[@jvts8916]

I rage-quitted for few hours after encountering a bug in my first encounter with the mermaid kleshas. One of the targets got stuck mid-death animation and no weapon I used could affect her, rendering the stage unwinnable. After replaying the stage, the bug didn't wasn't triggered, but I still found slowdown in the hell of the myriad belles and really annoying hitboxes for the klesha's shields. If I didn't encounter so many glitches, I could have recommended this game (though it gets REALLY lazy when it comes to recycling bosses)

[@Swrinny]

Sorry to hear that, sounds really bad though! Thankfully I didn't run into many glitches, at least not gamebreaking ones. 2 of the ones I remember is that a Klesha started floating after 'breaking' it, but I was still able to damage it. And the second one is where some Klesha's disappeared out of nowhere lol. As you said - that boss fight on the stages to move to the next circle of hell was disappointing too and the only solid was I was able to deal with the shield Klesha's was by using the explosive items as that damage goes through the shields. If you think of returning to it at some point, the story starts to pick up around stage 20 if I recall correctly. It doesn't save the gameplay, but it was one of the redeeming factors for me personally.

[@jvts8916]

@@Swrinny Thanks for the tip! I'm actually on stage 27, what I meant to say is that after getting angry over the mermaids, I took a break and then continued. And having reached that point, I can say that the rival battles are virtually identical from each other, too. After getting a game over on the three shield kleshas of stage 27, I looked up online if the secret boss is worth a replay. It's just a repeat of the final boss!

[@Swrinny]

@@jvts8916 Yeah I didn't want to say anything in case you hadn't continued. But all the boss fights were really underwhelming in terms of design, variety & mechanics. The secret ending was pretty fun though, but the 3 kleshas weren't :p

[@tibyandy]

Is this game worth the time? 18 hours takes you to a good ending? Asking because it's US$5 right now.

[@MemoirOfWar]

Nice.

[@TheDreadedZero]

It pisses me off that this game is ten dollars more expensive on the switch than on the ps4. Physical version is $39.99 on PS4 and $49.99 on switch

[@Swrinny]

Oh wow, I didn't know about that price difference :/

[@TheDreadedZero]

@@Swrinny the “switch tax”

[@azurekite3870]

Yea,the switch tax is all on the damn switches like how apple and apple tax on there products

[@rockandrolldude22]

is there an english dubb option?

[@Swrinny]

Sadly there isn't :c

[@serge9786]

I liked the Hell Girl anime much better. Thanks for the video tho be good.

[@Swrinny]

Glad you liked the video! And I actually never realises Hell Girl had multiple seasons - gonna have something good to watch over the weekend :D

[@TonyEjerJiang]

The entire review seems to be saying that it is a bad game, while it ends up with you saying that you love it. lol

[@Swrinny]

Where does it end up with me saying that I love it? :o