A peculiar case where I can tell that an incredible amount of time, research, and love went into this game, and yet its fatally bogged down by its own weight. Theres simply too much going on in the story, too many side activities that take up disproportionate amounts of game time, too many tailing and hunting missions which amount to just sitting waiting to play the game, and too many cutscenes to ever feel anything but thoroughly bored.

How is this game so good. I got the same level enjoyment and wonder from it that I got from Super Mario Odyssey, and its just a PlayStation commercial?!? I need more.

An incredible atmosphere of horror that is completely unique from HL2. I first played the beta like 3 weeks before leaving on my mission, and then when I went to Oakdale, wdd run past this big industrial park every morning in the dark, and Id always feel the presence of headcrab zombies and other supernatural horrors lurking behind each imposing steel contraption.

Pure whimsical fun with some of the most creative boss designs I've yet seen. The love for animation and old school gaming is just oozing from every crack of this game.

That feeling when you realize the Undead Parish connects back to Firelink Shrine is a gaming core memory for, I think, everyone who plays this game for the first time. As is defeating Ornstein & Smough. It might've depleted all my energy for other From Soft games, but man did it bestow me with some of my most cherished gaming memories.

I'm totally perplexed by how bad my experience with this game was. I'd like to think it was just that I played it on Switch, or maybe it was an issue with my expectations. But then I try to replay it again and I remember how the game punishes you for talking to people and exploring by throwing you into unwinnable combat encounters when something goes awry. I remember how enemies on the other side of the map suddenly know your exact location and barrel toward you the first time your Rogue class character gets detected. The camera is claustrophobic, the story hook nonexistent, the worldbuilding trite... This game just does not work for me.

Idk what other Fallout players are smoking, 3 and New Vegas are brown, ugly, and one-dimensional. This game feels like a fully realized, colorful world that used to be full of life and is now full of radioactive horrors and fun secrets in equal measure.

My favorite tactical RPG ever. The character designs, battle animations, and rock paper scissors combat system are a magically addicting combination. I know I played it on the actual GBA, but my most vivid memories with this game are playing it on an emulator (where I'd speed up the enemy's turn by holding the space bar) while listening to Karma & Effect by Seether on endless repeat.