Nix

Alright, so thanks to SE shitting the bed with their pre-orders, I managed to get the game 10 days early. I've made some pretty good headway into the game's main story, so I thought I'd talk about the game for a bit. I'll try not to spoil too much story-wise. The short of it is that I'm really liking the game. Was it worth the 14 year wait? Probably not, but this game is basically the best we could've hoped for I think. I think so far the best quality that this game has is its writing. In that regard, this game really hasn't skipped a beat. All the characters, both new and returning are quirky and endearing, and the way they bounce of eachother in conversations has me grinning ear to ear constantly. Rindo certainly makes a better first impression than Neku, but ultimately what made Neku endearing by the end was the dramatic character development he underwent. Rindo is a bit more static so far; he has his own problems to work through sure, but there really hasn't been much for him in terms of personal growth yet. Gameplay wise, this game is honestly a fairly standard action RPG? You control multiple characters at once with each character being assigned to a different button depending on which Pin you have equipped. So far I've only had 4, but some official screenshots show up to 6 Pins at a time, so I suspect the party is gonna get bigger soon? Maybe multiple pins on each character? I dunno. Your party members can be damaged when you're not controlling them, but they've done a fairly decent job at dodging attacks on their own so it really isn't that big of a deal. The main gimmick of the gameplay is the groove meter where you have to switch between different characters' attacks to build it up. It captures the addictive nature of passing the Light Puck from the first game fairly well; setting up combos and experimenting with different Pins to build even bigger combos is still a lot of fun. The game steadily introduces new features to the groove meter as well, giving you the chance to build meter even faster with better timing and the ability to build up even more meter for bigger attacks. There's also this giant fucking social board where you spend friendship points to unlock bonuses and stuff. It's where you get your easy and hard modes, unique clothes and food from certain vendors, and some new minor abilities like being able to jump over fences and small ledges. The game's performance is super uneven on the Switch though. In handheld mode it isn't too bad; it's rough at times but managable overall. Docked has been a significantly worse experience. Also, the soundtrack is fire; can't wait to get it in the mail.

I also put in a reservation... though I went all in for the $650 version lmao. Probably gonna dual boot Windows and make this a portable Emulation/Game Pass machine.

except video games fuck man

There's a cool little WIP mod for Sonic Unleashed right now that's adjusting some variables with the Werehog to make the game a better experience overall. Faster movement speed, a slightly higher jump, no battle music, higher quality fur rendering (or lower quality for lower end PCs), higher exp gain, and more adjustments are being looked into. There's a lot of incredibly minor shit that can be improved in that game and it wouldn't take too much work.

At least the rest of the game looks fine. Fuck.