Returnal (PS5)

Legend of Legaia was one of the first JRPG's I had ever played as a child. While the concept of a playable story on such a large scale was new to me, the game was an immediate draw in with it's unique type of combat system and a story that starts vague but blooms in the same way the difficulty curves as an average RPG requires. The story is not the greatest by any means, but looking in depth it addresses many dark topics that are often ignored even today such as refugeeism, subjugation, slavery, poverty, over dependency, xenophobia and so many more. The combat is unique and is only used once more in the sequel, but is quite memorable as it requires players to carefully plan attacks and the use of arts (skills through attack combinations), spirit (raising the ... MoreLegend of Legaia was one of the first JRPG's I had ever played as a child. While the concept of a playable story on such a large scale was new to me, the game was an immediate draw in with it's unique type of combat system and a story that starts vague but blooms in the same way the difficulty curves as an average RPG requires. The story is not the greatest by any means, but looking in depth it addresses many dark topics that are often ignored even today such as refugeeism, subjugation, slavery, poverty, over dependency, xenophobia and so many more. The combat is unique and is only used once more in the sequel, but is quite memorable as it requires players to carefully plan attacks and the use of arts (skills through attack combinations), spirit (raising the required amount to use arts as well as applying defense), and magic which can only be obtained through besting unique monsters called Seru, which I will not explain to avoid spoilers. About the only thing that is a downside to the game is how cliche some of the characters are, including the main protagonist who fills the stereotypical role of many RPG's requiring they be silent, the ignorant girl who becomes the heroine after learning a truth, and the muscle man who is oblivious to the aura of jealousy he brings to others. These particular stereotypes will be overly played out as you progress in the game, but if you look past it you have a solid masterpiece. I have played this game for years on and off numerous times and I would highly recommend it for RPG lovers that love a good story, and are expecting the unexpected with a combat system.

Far from perfect, but so beautiful in it’s successes that it comes closer to perfection than it should. At this point, it’s not much of a secret that Returnal can be somewhat of a difficult game - and in that, I believe it’s not as hard as some others have had with it, but the game is challenging in its fireworks and fodder arcade-style combat - mostly due to the long, save-less, runs that requires a level of flawlessness that takes some time to perfect. At least for most, including myself. As said before, the save points are few and far between, and what lies between will cause you to live, die, repeat while losing weapons and items, only to put you back to the beginning for an attempt at a deathless run. Each cycle bringing a new layout of the land, or biome. It’s ... MoreFar from perfect, but so beautiful in it’s successes that it comes closer to perfection than it should. At this point, it’s not much of a secret that Returnal can be somewhat of a difficult game - and in that, I believe it’s not as hard as some others have had with it, but the game is challenging in its fireworks and fodder arcade-style combat - mostly due to the long, save-less, runs that requires a level of flawlessness that takes some time to perfect. At least for most, including myself. As said before, the save points are few and far between, and what lies between will cause you to live, die, repeat while losing weapons and items, only to put you back to the beginning for an attempt at a deathless run. Each cycle bringing a new layout of the land, or biome. It’s at the end of these biomes where the save points exist, but only after defeating a boss that will challenge every tool and twitch one has learned in the hours leading up to these encounters. While all of this may sound stressful, or even time-wasting, it falls far from misery, throwing some of the best feeling shooter mechanics I’ve felt in a long time, very similar to the fluid chaos of Control. Jumping and dodging are rarely unfair, if ever, always zipping you around like a well-controlled human pinball. Some tools, like the melee sword, stick with the player though runs, and provide even more power to conquer the strange life-forms of the wonderful worlds in Returnal. This is Control by way of a souls-like, but never lacking the arcade elements the production team made their name in perfecting. Strap in and get ready to dance!

Great game to play! First, the overall gameplay, sound tech (the 3D audio especially), visuals, haptic feedback, controls, all of that are awesome and very tight and adds to the overall experience and is a good showcase of the PS5. Overall story was intriguing and kept me curious as to where it was going. I'm just going to go into the gameplay a little. It's also a 3rd person view shooter game (think Uncharted, Gears of war, etc...). Now, this game actually has a pretty good auto aim system so if you like to run and gun without trying to aim directly at enemies, this is actually a very viable way of playing (actually the way I mostly played too). A lot of the time, you just don't have the time to manually and and shoot so this is something you will want to get used ... MoreGreat game to play! First, the overall gameplay, sound tech (the 3D audio especially), visuals, haptic feedback, controls, all of that are awesome and very tight and adds to the overall experience and is a good showcase of the PS5. Overall story was intriguing and kept me curious as to where it was going. I'm just going to go into the gameplay a little. It's also a 3rd person view shooter game (think Uncharted, Gears of war, etc...). Now, this game actually has a pretty good auto aim system so if you like to run and gun without trying to aim directly at enemies, this is actually a very viable way of playing (actually the way I mostly played too). A lot of the time, you just don't have the time to manually and and shoot so this is something you will want to get used to if you're not. There are complaints about there being no save feature (currently) and I definitely understand the sentiment. I had times when I had to put my PS5 into Rest mode because I had to step away. BE SURE TO TURN OFF AUTO-UPDATE IF YOU GO THIS ROUTE AS IT WILL RESTART YOUR PS5 IF THERE IS AN UPDATE. If this makes you worried, make sure you have a few hours free before you start playing, or set a goal that may be shorter to achieve. I would say my longest run probably took roughly 2 hours. As you progress in the game, you gain access to be able to go to further levels faster without having to repeat boss fights. I would say no run should last more than 3 hours (unless you're just spending time to clear out everything in every biome, which isn't necessary honestly). The final thing I'll note is the difficulty. Lots of people that say the game is very difficult to beat. I personally didn't think the game was overly difficult, and I'm not trying diminishing their experiences. It could be that the game just clicked with me. Most of the deaths I had were due to my personal performance rather than cheap random kills by the game (I say MOST). I believe I had roughly 25 deaths by the time I completely finished the game. I think as long as you're paying attention to your surrounding (3D audio actually helped a lot here) and stay on your toes and don't play too defensively/passively, you'll get far. Now, there were just 3 things that marred the experience for me somewhat. First, there were a couple of run ending glitches/crashes that ended a run I was on. There are some rooms that you can't leave until killing all enemies. One of these rooms didn't open after I cleared the room so I had to restart unfortunately. A couple of times the game just crashed. Now these were very rare for me (I think 3 times total in a roughly 24hr total experience) so overall not bad but wanted to let people know that this may happen (maybe patches have fixed by now). The other 2 things I have issues with are RNG related (basically lucked based mechanics if you don't know what RNG means). Just to avoid potential spoilers, there are 2 different types of things that you collect during your play through the game. These are randomly generated as you play so there is no guarantee that you'll be able to find what you are looking for in the area you are looking in, and those kinds of mechanics always leaves a little bit of a sour note for me. I will note that most of these are optional, so it doesn't necessarily contribute to you being able to complete the game (except for 1 particular set of items). I'll probably play this game again every once in a while to try and find everything, but no rush since I've beaten the game. PSN ID jjashikeegah if you want to verify I beat the game or if you want to ask questions. Overall a very fun experience that you don't usually see too often so if you want to try something new that's somewhat challenging, I would definitely recommend this game.