Bastion

I played it after Transistor, so the way of telling the story didn't surprise me and I cared little about it. Thankfully the pace is very good and the story sections aren't very intrusive.

The game plays like an old school action rpg, where the character levels up and can improve it's equipment, actually for me the fun was about increasing the difficulty and trying different equipment setups to overcome the challenge.

Bastion isn't very long and it includes a few interesting challenges and extra modes. I did 100% in two days which I guess it's okay for the price. The music is very nice and visually is very well detailed, though in some ocassions is too bright for my eyes.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Want a light oldschool arpg

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

The Wolf Among Us

I started this game after falling in love with Life Is Strange, so I was looking for more of this kind:

It's dialog heavy game with interesting characters and stories in a very extravagant world. I really loved the setup.

The main story is very interesting though there are some usual cheap-telltale moments just for the drama. And I'm not happy with the ending at all.

There also is some exploration to do very similar to the "point & click" adventures but there are no part of puzzles, it's only for the immersion.

And then there are the QTE events, no thanks, Life is Strange demonstrated that this is not needed.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Want to hear a story

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Atelier Shallie

And another cute Atelier game!

As Escha&Logy, this game has 2 protagonists to choose from with very different personality. I choose Shallotte and I had a lot of fun, the other Shallie seems more of the "innocent" kind, I didn't try it for enough time.

It has been a long time since the last time I played an Atelier game and I noticed that alchemy has really evolved a lot, there are a lot of variables to play with that makes the item creation very entertaining.

I started playing this game because they removed the time limit factor, now I can choose when to advance into the next chapter giving infinite time to explore everything I want to. Of course some players may prefer the time limit setting and I think it should have stayed that way because we already have lots of games without time limit ;)

The combat system is turn-based with an use of turns similar to FFX and Lost Oddyssey where the order depends on the skill used and can also be pushed/canceled with the right skills. Also the game has an original way to use the party members on the reserve that makes the battles very dynamic and fun. A game with this battle system, the right budget and thematic, would be a masterpiece (I mean, an Atelier game is not very commercial).

Graphically looks okay and has a few technical issues but nothing unplayable. The music is very good, a few songs have entered into my favorites list ;), the voices are okay too.

The story is good enough though the chapters pacing is a bit weird, some chapters are very long and others extremelly short or irrelevant.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Don't hate "light" jrpgs

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.

Ar Nosurge

I started this because it looks like a nice Sci-Fi turn based jrpg, but I didn't expect this. Maybe I'm getting old, but years ago a jrpg didn't need tons and tons of obnoxious dialogs that don't contribute anything to the game.

I had the same problem that in Tears To Tiara, I didn't research too much about the game and I found that both are like Visual Novels. But at least on Tears To Tiara the combats were entertaining, in ArNosurge the combats are trivial and seem like a mere excuse the extend the game length.

The combat at first is really confusing, for about 8 hours I had no idea what I was doing but I was winning all the battles without problems and once I understood how it worked I became unstoppable, I don't remember using any item or friend skill. Also overleveling is a problem because grinding is easily exploitable.

The game also has a crafting system, it is very simple, the progression is boring, repetitive and it implies going through tons of stupid dialog again (and you can't skip it!).

The story starts good and has potential, but I grew so tired of reading cheap dialog that made me lose interest after the first 10 hours.

I think this game would be more enjoyable if it adopted the form of a pure Visual Novel to stop confusing people like myself :P. AND THERE'S NO SKIP TEXT BUTTON!

Did I enjoy it? No, this is bad.
I think you will like it if you:
- Liked Ciel Nosurge.
- Don't mind visual novels interrupted by boring gameplay

I rate my experience with a 3 out of 10.

Destiny

Pew pew pew oh nice view pew pew dance pew pew planets pew palette swap pew pew

pew pew die fallen pew pew die cabal pew pew die vex pew pew die hive pew die reaper?

pew the darkness pew pew the traveler pew pew the happening pew don't care pew pew

pew pew pew pew die guardians pew pew pew pew pew

pew pew I'm not doing anymore of these missions pew

Objective Complete.

Did I enjoy it? I had fun shooting things.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like Shooters
- Don't mind paying for content on a (purposely) content-lacking game

I rate my experience with a 5 out of 10.

Dragon Age Inquisition

It felt like Dragon Age 2 all over again:

- Simple combat: spam all the abilities when they're available. On hard mode I just had to hit enemies longer, the AI script remains the same. There's a "pause mode" to establish battle tactics that is told necessary for the hardest difficulty, but I don't think that's needed to outsmart the enemies but to survive longer while the damage sponges are up. An rpg without healers is always suspicious.

- UPS/Fedex quests: check.

- Lot's of characters to intimate with tons of dialog lines. It's always nice to know more about them, seeing two male dwarves having sex not so much but diversity is apreciated.

- Fake choices: You let that guy become the king? Watch him appear, say his line ending with Outcome A. You didn't let him become king? Watch another appear, say his line ending with Outcome A. It didn't matter at all, only words change, same enemies, same objectives, same outcome = linear game with "open world" makeup.

- Character progression: Once you know what you want to be, the progression is very linear. At least the character classes have different playstyles.

The story starts nice but very forcedly tries to put everying from the last two games there, I think it would have been better as a new story in the same world.

What did I like then? Exploring. The beautiful graphics and nice scenario design make a very pleasant experience. I never cared about my characters nor the story, I just wanted to explore everything, collect rare materials, find new animals, dragons, decent puzzles and hidden places.

Did I like it? For some part yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like bioware games
- Like wrpgs

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.

Star Ocean IV: The Last Hope

A very good sci-fi rpg with a story that at first seems very typical, the hero of infinite justice wants to save the world with his party plenty of sexy costumes and funny colored hairs, but after a few hours something changes and suddenly becomes way darker and destructive, It really surprised me and that's when I started to enjoy the characters and the whole game.

The combat is some kind of real-time action, there are no random encounters (thanks!) though it takes place in a "stage" aside from the main scenario like the usual turn-based games (I'm explaining this so bad ;D) and is actually pretty addictive, where the player controls one of the characters and leaves the other party members to the ia.

Customization is good, there are a few interesting choices and each character has a different play style and a huge list of achievements to complete.

Exploration is not great but at least has nice places, cities and I remember a few cool designed dungeons.

Graphically as always I have no complains, I remember good models and a enviroment has some very nice designs with a few poor textures from time to time. Music is nice enough.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like Star Ocean games
- Don't hate jrpgs

I rate my experience with a 8 out of 10.

Bound by Flame

An usual western action rpg.

Boring story but at least there are 2 well defined paths and companions you can ****, kinda Dragon Age copy&paste.

The combat as always is real time button mashing, there are 3 different play styles with their own skill tree to choose from and which can be switched at any time, warrior, mage and rogue. I never found any reason to switch between them therefore I beat the entire game as a rogue and just 2 buttons: attack and dodge.

Customization also includes a few different armors and weapons which can be improved with materials found by exploring or killing monsters, I maybe changed my equipment 3 times on the entire game.

There are like 3 nice looking scenarios (swamp, iceland and castle), not very big and with a lot of backtracking, specially if you intend to complete the side quests.

I think the game does nothing very wrong and is actually fun, it just too short and lacks depth. It took me like 9 hours to beat the game with many side quests done, companions banged and the rogue skill tree completed.

Did I like it? I had (short) fun
I think you will like it if you:
- Want a simple action rpg.
- Your PS4 is starving. (my case)

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

One Piece Unlimited World Red

Best One Piece game I've played. This one mixes button mash combat, adventure and rpg elements.

The combat is combo based similar to Pirate Warriors but less massive and with harder opponents. Characters level up and can be equipped many different passive and active skills that are found through the game.

Depending on the equipped skills, the characters can perform different roles like healing, ranged damage, melee damage, support... and the player can choose to bring up to 3 of them to battle which gives a bit of strategy because choosing a wrong party can lead to a harder game. The player controls one character while the cpu controls the other two, but the player can switch between characters at any moment.

I specially had fun with the exploration to find materials for creating and improving items and skills, the scenarios are very limited and simple, though they look very good.

This mix of combat, adventure and rpg allows the game to not get repetitive because each one has a different pace and the player can choose when to do one or the other.

The game itself is not very long and sometimes gets too easy, but there are many side missions to do, items to find, improving the city and its shops, a harder new game+...

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Are a One Piece fan
- Don't expect anything like Pirate Warriors

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

I thought I would never play a Neptunia game again, but I'm glad I tried MK2. It is a huge improvement.

The combats are turn based again but this time the characters move around the battlefield which allows to establish different strategies, target multiple enemies, hide from being hit, etc. I have played a game with a very similar concept, maybe Arc the Lad on PS2?

Combats aren't random and are very easy to avoid, also the battle pace is very nicelly done where I never got tired of fightning over and over. The game balance is great but there are too many overpowered skills which I tried to use only on boss fights.

On the customization side, we get to equip with many different items and also choose between a few skills to build different combos.

The game's pace has improved a lot, we get a more detailed world map with lots of things to do like quests, visit cities, battle in a colisseum, watch events, explore dungeons which are very short, I don't have any complain I think it is perfect for this game.

Graphics are okay though it abuses a bit on palette swap. Music has some catchy tunes and voices are good for a low budget game like this. Also it is not very long (I got the true ending in 22 hours) but has a great new game+ with new dungeons and many endings to watch.

The story starts fine and I watched many events because it was interesting to know the characters, but it got very boring after half game and I started to skip many events and only paid attention to the main story.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Are a neptunia fan
- Don't hate anime jrpg

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Anarchy Reigns

The only Platinum game I didn't enjoy.

A game with fast action, basically It feels like a 3rd person shooter with a very arcade gameplay. I got bored very soon, the combat gets too repetitive, the development is not interesting and graphically looks mediocre. Overall the game feels like a very low budget one.

On the good side it has an online multiplayer mode which i did not try but I'm sure it can get pretty addictive.

I think the online mode is the game's main feature and this is the explanation of why the single player experience is so poor.

Did I like it? Boring
I think you will like it if you:
- Want to play online
- Like simple action games

I rate my experience with a 3.5 out of 10.

Dragon's Crown

An excellent arcade action game with lots of rpg features, including the usual town with shops and tavern, a customizable party, many weapons and other equipment and very different classes with a few "talent" choices.

It plays a bit like a button masher with different styles for each class. I tried the Knight who I used a lot in aerial attaks and block+counter.

Playing solo may get boring because the combat gets repetitive but the online multiplayer is very fun to play, specially with friends.

The story is the usual medieval theme, save the world from dragons and other epic enemies. I usually skipped all the dialog.

It is a 2d game with scroll 3d movement a la Golden Axe. The art design is excellent, it looks specially beautiful on the PSVITA. Music is nice too.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like arcade action games
- Going to play online

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.

Tales of Symphonia

I enjoyed this "Tales of", but probably if I played it now I would hate it as I do with the latest one I've played because I remember that I didn't care much about the story nor the characters.

Gameplay is the usual, staged encounters with real time fights where the player controls one character and leave the others to the IA while being able to order them to cast a few skills. It is very entertaining, but the button mashing can get tiring after 40 hours.

On the customization side we find many equipment like weapons and armor that can get bought, created and upgraded via the crafting system which is entertaining as always.

The story is about the usual heroes of infinite justice, with a few surprises that are very welcome but after many hours I grow a bit tired.

A good jrpg with entertaining battles but, like Abyss, I think it is very overrated.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Never played any "Tales of"
- Or love "Tales of" series
- Want a nice jrpg

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Beyond: Two Souls

Another interactive movie form the creator of Heavy Rain.

This one starts excellent; I found that the main character is very interesting and I wanted to know more about Jodie and her special powers.

Despite the story is explained in a very weird order of events, It managed to keep my interest for around 75% of the game, but 2 things killed the game for me:

1. The Side stories: a few but long stories that I found unrelated to the main story, there are just some random events that happened to the main character during her life.

2. The final episode: It felt just like another side story, I really wasn't moved by it or its ending.

The gameplay is just about move the joystick a bit or push this button and sometimes the action scenes are unintuitive, I preferred the QTE from Heavy Rain because.

Graphically is really impressive, it has a very realistic design and the best attention to detail and illumination that I've ever seen. Models look and act very realistically too, the music is okay, voices and sounds are excellent.

Did I like it? Kinda.
I think you will like it if you:
- Played and liked Heavy Rain

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

XCOM Enemy Unknown

To me this Xcom started really great, with premises of a deep strategic turn based rpg.

The player can control up to 6 characters, with a few interesting classes and abilities to choose from that gives many ways to approach a battle. Battles are fully turn based: player moves their characters and after this the enemy does his movements. Movement is limited but not grid based, also relies a lot on the usual cover system, maybe it's like a slow paced Rainbow Six?

Battles aren't very long and usually are just about killing everything in sight, it's fun and kind of challenging, sometimes a but unfair like enemies poping right behind my characters.

The customization, aside from the character classes there are weapons, equipment, some kind of crafting and many ways to improve the main base which give many bonuses and a few other things to do.

The problem here is that after 8 hours I already had everything under control, I got overpowered weapons, my classes were at maximum level, my sniper was a killing machine and battles had nothing else to offer and started to get very very repetitive. So I ended up bored and rushed to watch the end.

In the end is an excellent game but it lacks the dept I need to be entertained for many hours.

Did I like it? Only for the first hours
I think you will like it if you:
- Are a xcom fan
- Like srpg

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Drakengard 3

I loved this game just because of its lore. The story is interesting and original, though a bit confusing and it needs some research (like reading novels, buying dlc...) and would have been nice that the full story was integrated in the main game. The characters are interesting and fun, though as usual in Drakengard they are a bunch of depraved people who I can't feel any empathy for them, well I feel sorry for Mikhail ;\.

The game gets played similar to Dinasty Warriors but with way less troops and very linear scenarios, slashing trough weak soldiers I barely had any problem beating the entire game. There are also a few stages that are played with the dragon which are fun bun not very challenging.

There are 4 kinds of weapons that can be improved and are played a bit differently, but it the end I didn't find much need to change weapons and went always with the sword, which I used like only 3 different sword on the entire game.

A major complain, I reached a point in the story where the game forced me to have all the weapons available to continue, which means like 6-7 hours of grinding or buying the very expensive dlcs that costs me more than the game, this sucks.

Graphically is weak, it has low detailed textures and enviroments plus has many framerate drops too. Music is awesome though, I love the last boss song ^^.

If this team really developed Nier, I don't get why this game looks and plays so worse, Nier graphics were way better, more stable, it didn't have linear enviroments and gameplay was better polished (not to mention the companion AI...), I think it could have been an excellent game but this is a long step backwards.

Did I like it? Just because of the lore, could have "played" it youtube.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like the drakengard/nier world

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy XIV

The second version of the second mmo featuring a world with a few Final Fantasy details like summons, black mages and chocobos.

Gameplay is the very standard "World of Warcraft" style, quests and more quests about deliveries and defeating monsters all the way to the max level where the player will start attending bigger and spectacular dungeons and fights. The combats are cooldown based with a way slower pace when compared to other games.

The amount of content is decent but lacks many basic features. The story may be cool, but it isn't what I'm looking on a mmo so I skipped most of the dialogs, there are some unskippable ones, I didn't like this because affects the game's pace.

Graphically looks very good. The interface, special effects, monsters and characters details are awesome, specially the clothes that feel very realistic. Enviroments have nice textures and modeling but they feel a bit generic and not very fantasy like. Music has nice calm melodies, with is nice to avoid repetitiveness on a mmo.

Overall is a good and addictive mmo, but it is too standard for me and has nothing special to offer rather than the FF theme.

Did I like it? Yes, but...
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't tired of mmos

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Bayonetta

Again an excellent action game from Platinum games, this time with the old Devil May Cry style but with its own personality.

Combat is simple but fastpaced, intense and challenging enough to not get repetitive. Plus it has a decent amount of customization, very similar to the Capcom game.

As usual the amount of content is low but to compensate the replay value is high.  The story is good enough though the main character behavior can turn off some people ^^.

Graphically looks okay while keeps the 60fps (thanks!), the enviroment is mediocre but there are some very cool enemy designs and special effects.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like action games

I rate my experience with an 8 out of 10.

Vanquish

  

I hate shooters but love Platinum games, so I had to try it and I loved it.

Mainly because is a nice demonstration of how action games should be, challenging and fast paced action where the player can't abuse the care-bear mechanics like the cover system.

The development is very nice though the difficulty curve is a bit high at the beginning, but once learned it is very fullfilling. My complain about the Platinum mechanics is that when I want to play the game after a few months, I need to do the tutorial again because I forgot about how to play it properly.

The content is scarce but the replay value is high with many optional things to do and different difficulty modes.

As usual, the story is just an excuse for the gameplay and it doesn't hurt. Graphically is detailed but it looks a bit low resolution.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't scared of challenging games
- Like action games

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.