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Current Mood: impressed

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Diablo IV

Las Lágrimas del Reino

Back when my brothers and I were obsessed with the works of Blizzard Entertainment, we discovered the first of their Diablo series, with whose sequel and expansion I would spend significant time, given the multitude of classes. The third Diablo game wouldn’t see release until a decade after the second, and the fourth game, Diablo IV, would have a similar wait before it came out. The fourth entry, as a few other video game series in Japan and the West have, leaps into an open-world setting, like Nintendo’s Zelda and Pokémon franchises. Does it do so well?

The fourth game occurs half a century after the third in Sanctuary, where cultists summon the new antagonist, Lilith, daughter of the demon Mephisto, who seeks to fill the power vacuum created by the decline of angels and demons across the land. The narrative has varying cutscenes depending on which character class the player selects, along with plenty of texts that reveal backstories, sidequest subplots, and a well-developed central plot. A few narrative gaps still exist between the third and fourth games; however, the story remains engaging throughout the experience.

Players can select from five classes: Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, Rogue, and Necromancer, each with their unique ability trees, and choose a difficulty, accommodating to gamers of divergent skill levels. Regardless of whomever the player selects, all have a health orb whose depletion means death (in which case they can resurrect at the expense of a tenth of their equipment’s durability), a fixed number of potions with which they can recover their health (with upgrades to this amount found sporadically through Sanctuary’s dungeons), Spirit that the use of many abilities consumes (and which standard attacks can gradually recover), and many skills with a cooldown time before they can use them again.

Killing enemies earns the player experience, with foes frequently dropping money and treasure. Before reaching fifty levels, leveling gives players a point they can put into their class’s respective tree to unlock various abilities and bonuses. If players wish to do so, they can pay to reset points and redistribute them however they please. Players stop earning skill points when their character reaches the mentioned threshold. At that time, their Paragon Board unlocks, with its points acquired at fixed times while advancing to the next level and allowing for increased stats.

In towns, the player can repair their equipment (which doesn’t seem to wear down regardless of whatever combat they’ve seen, except upon death), replenish their potions and health, purchase new gear, and so forth, like in prior games. The mechanics work well, with plenty of quick action and rewarding exploration; however, players can’t pause the game, and the potential to waste a lot of time against bosses exists (though depleting their health to fixed amounts will cause them to drop health potions). Regardless, the fourth game nicely fuses elements from the second and third entries.

Control, however, could have used improvement. Among the primary issues is that one needs a constant internet connection and a PlayStation Plus membership to play Diablo IV in the first place, which is ridiculous since I had spent $60+ for my physical copy. Even so, there are a few quality-of-life features such as subtitles for the voiced dialogue, adjustable text size, helpful in-game maps with objective markers, the ability to skip cutscenes and through some dialogue (though the latter feature isn’t available during “cinematic” scenes), the option to exit dungeons instantly after completing them (though some exceptions exist), and readily-available teleportation across Sanctuary, even when the player is far away from a teleport point. As mentioned, however, the game is unpausable, along with other issues like the absence of an in-game measure of total playtime, the vagueness of a few sidequest objectives, and how the game doesn’t preserve the player’s current location whenever they quit the game and restart later. Ultimately, the fourth game could have interfaced better with players.

While the soundtrack features good instrumentation and has some callbacks to prior Diablo games, the fourth installment’s music is otherwise unremarkable, given the lack of memorable tracks and overreliance upon ambiance, which seems typical of most Western video games. However, the voice acting and sound effects shine brighter.

Diablo IV executes its visuals nicely, with realistic art direction for the human and nonhuman characters and players able to customize their protagonist’s appearance. Different equipment also affects character looks, with the environments and colors being believable, the weather and illumination effects gorgeous, and the critical story scenes having an engaging cinematic style. However, the typical imperfections of three-dimensional visuals abound, like poor collision detection, blurry and pixilated texturing, and occasional choppiness.

Given the lack of an in-game clock, assessment of total playtime is difficult. However, I sometimes used my watch timer and estimated I finished the game in over seventy-two hours, consisting of significant time exploring Sanctuary and completing sidequests, although advancing the main quest doesn’t take long. Replayability exists with the vastness of the game world, which I hadn’t fully mapped, countless sidequests, achievements, and so forth. However, the need for a PlayStation Plus membership to continue playing, which I immediately canceled upon finishing the main quest, will deter many from devoting additional time to the game.

Ultimately, Diablo IV was an ambitious production from Blizzard and nicely accomplishes its transition of the series to open-world format, in my opinion, even better than other major video game franchises that have done the same despite their “universally positive” reception. The gameplay is fun and rewarding, the narrative is intricate regarding its backstory and “present” plotline, the visuals are top-notch, and plenty of extra content can occupy players endlessly. However, issues such as the need for a constant internet connection and PlayStation Plus membership to play, various interface problems, and unremarkable sound prevent it from “game of the year” status. Despite its faults, it warrants a playthrough from those who enjoyed its predecessors and is one of 2023's better releases.

This review is based on a playthrough of a physical copy purchased by the reviewer as a Druid.

Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Variety of classes to choose from. Lots to explore in Sanctuary. Well-developed narrative, Nice graphics. Plenty of lasting appeal.	Requires constant internet connection and PlayStation Plus membership. Quitting the game doesn't always preserve quest progress. Lackluster soundtrack.
The Bottom Line
One of the stronger major releases of 2023.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	9.0/10
Control	6.0/10
Story	9.5/10
Aurals	7.0/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	8.5/10
Difficulty	Adjustable
Playtime	72+ Hours
Overall: 8.0/10

Current Mood: satisfied

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

A Night to Remember

Experimentation can be tricky when it comes to long-running video game franchises, although some series like Final Fantasy have relied upon them for many console generations. Such was the initial case with Konami’s Castlevania series, with its first sequel, Simon’s Quest, throwing roleplaying game elements into the mix, which the developer would heavily extend with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, initially released on the Sony PlayStation and receiving countless ports for over two decades, among the latest of which is that included in the Requiem collection, itself based on the version unlockable in the PlayStation Portable’s The Dracula X Chronicles.

Symphony opens where its chronological narrative predecessor Rondo of Blood ended, with vampire hunter Richter Belmont vanquishing Count Dracula. Four years later in 1796, Richter has disappeared, and Dracula’s castle rematerializes, with protagonist Alucard arriving in want of sending it again to the depths of the netherworld, along the way teaming with Maria Renard, who had aided Richter in his past crusade against the forces of darkness. The plot is simplistic and spread out thinly, with plot holes involving how Maria finds her way through the castle to chambers Alucard needs to use special moves to access, although there are good twists, and the narrative is at best serviceable.

The translation is based on that for the PlayStation Portable version included as an unlockable within The Dracula X Chronicles, and while it is legible and has some decent lines, many of the iconic ones in the original script are missing. There are also plenty of missing periods at the ends of sentences, misspellings galore, and misleading item and spell descriptions that make it a sub-par effort.

Luckily, the gameplay largely compensates for whatever narrative and translational foibles Symphony has, with most critics and audiences rightfully hailing it as the godfather of the Metroidvania subgenre, even if it builds upon the formula that the first Castlevania direct sequel Simon’s Quest executed. Alucard can move around and jump (with the arc and intensity of his leaps mercifully being far more flexible than in Rondo of Blood), attack with an equipped weapon, and, if his armament is one-handed, block projectiles with his shield, players also able to outfit him with other equipment like armor and two accessories.

Frankenstein was his creator, not the monster himself.

Killing enemies nets Alucard experience for occasional level-ups, points earned from enemies proportional and based on his current level. He also gets several moves with which to explore Dracula’s castle and may occasionally need to purchase items from the Librarian such as a key that opens glowing, blue-outlined doors, alongside other amenities such as healing potions, equipment upgrades, magic spells, and tactics for defeating certain bosses. One item for which players might find use is the Library Card, which instantly conveys Alucard to the entrance of the Librarian’s chamber and can be helpful in case the player finds himself or herself in an undesirable situation, namely if close to death since the game dumps players unceremoniously back to the title screen if they die, with progress lost.

As with the protagonists of prior Castlevanias, Alucard can obtain sub-weapons from broken candles, which can allow him to perform Item Crash abilities that entail throwing axes into the air, throwing a knife directly forward, having a Bible swirl around him, and the like, which consume hearts also obtained from shattered illumination sources. While many sub-weapons can be useful, keeping specific ones can be troublesome at times, since Alucard can’t freely swap between them as desired, and I found myself often and accidentally losing sub-weapons I preferred, since players can’t freely swap between them, although luckily, the locations of certain ones remain fixed throughout the castle.

Exemplifying the Metroid side of the Metroidvania formula, Alucard can find fixed upgrades to his maximum hearts and life throughout the castle, with the latter usually obtained after boss battles. The mechanics largely work decently, although one major scrappy mechanic that even the game’s staunch defenders acknowledge is the method through which to use consumable items, which entails the player to go into the menus, equipping one, and using it outside the menus. There are various other annoyances such as the knockback when contacting foes and/or their projectiles if applicable, which can lead into accidents such as Alucard being knocked into the last chamber, but aside from dated mechanics such as these, the gameplay helps Symphony well.

As mentioned, exploring Dracula’s castle can be enjoyable, so long as players remain meticulous in their exploration, although newcomers may find themselves lost at times. Furthermore, the spacing of save points can be inconsistent and annoying at times, although going into the menus pauses the action, and a suspend save is available if the player needs to quit to when real life calls. The need to go into the menus for item use and the lack of an option to sort items in the player’s inventory automatically are other issues, but otherwise, Symphony interacts decently with players.

Sir Alucard and the Green Knight

The soundtrack is another high point of the game, with a variety of pieces from various genres such as neoclassical that fit the environments well, although those played in the second accessible game map can be somewhat repetitive. The Requiem port also uses the rerecorded voice acting from the Dracula X Chronicles unlockable, which is good for the most part, among the most improved voices being those for a few of Alucard’s familiars. The quality of the sound effects, though, is somewhat poor, many sounds at times dated, but Symphony is easy on the ears.

The two-dimensional visuals remain largely unchanged from the original PlayStation version, aside from the option of smooth texturing that makes them better, which isn’t a bad thing as they still look nice even today, with the character sprites having great anatomy despite not showing much emotion during cutscenes, pretty environments, great animation, and even some 3-D effects involving many monsters and occasionally the scenery. There are a few incongruities such as the graininess of the CG FMVs, most enemies having weird death effects such as catching fire upon their demise, and Richter’s character sprite not reflecting Ayami Kojima’s design, but otherwise, the graphics help the port far more than hurt.

Finally, the game will run players somewhere from six to twelve hours, with things such as unlocking every PlayStation Trophy, completing the automaps, filling out the enemy compendium, varied endings, and even different characters to play enhancing lasting appeal, although there can be slight frustration at times in an initial playthrough, and no New Game+ or adjustable difficulty.

Overall, while Symphony of the Night rightfully deserves its status as the godfather of the Metroidvania subgenre of roleplaying games, given its good fusion of gameplay elements from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, along with RPG aspects such as leveling, that doesn’t automatically render it one of the greatest titles of all time as many have hailed it. For one, there exist many dated elements within and without the gameplay that haven’t aged very well, such as a few scrappy mechanics, a weak translation, and subpar audio quality. Regardless, it’s more enjoyable than classic Castlevanias of yore like Rondo of Blood, and a nice look into video game history.

This review is based on a playthrough of the version included with Castlevania: Requiem to the main ending of the secondary map.

Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Good combat and exploration mechanics. Beautiful soundtrack. Nice art direction. Plenty lasting appeal.	Some scrappy gameplay aspects. Poor plot and translation. Weak sound quality. A few dated visual aspects.
The Bottom Line
A decent start to the Metroidvania subgenre.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	7.5/10
Control	8.0/10
Story	6.0/10
Localization	4.0/10
Aurals	8.0/10
Visuals	7.0/10
Lasting Appeal	8.5/10
Difficulty	Moderate
Playtime	6-12+ Hours
Overall: 7/10

Current Mood: impressed

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Diablo II: Resurrected

¡Viva la resurrección!

Back in the mid-1990s, my brothers and I discovered the Warcraft series of computer games, starting with the first sequel, which had us hooked and gave us interest in developer Blizzard Entertainment’s other titles, among them the Diablo action RPG franchise, which we had the chance to play from its inaugural installment. The turn of the millennium marked the release of the original Diablo’s first sequel, which would receive the expansion Lord of Destruction, and with which I would spend a ton of time, given the myriad character classes. A little over two decades later, Blizzard released a remaster of the second Diablo and its expansion, Diablo II: Resurrected, allowing modern generations to experience the classic roleplaying game.

When starting a new game, online or offline, the player has a choice from seven classes, each with its own set of three skill trees consisting of passive abilities and spells that consume mana. All characters have four primary stats: strength, which determines attack power and dictates what type of equipment, including weapons and armor, one can wear; dexterity, which determines weapon accuracy and is often necessary for being able to equip specific weapon types; vitality, which determines maximum health; and energy, which dictates maximum mana. Characters also have stamina that drains whenever they run and recovers whenever they have it toggled off or are standing still.

As in most RPGs, the player’s character obtains experience whenever they kill enemies, and upon leveling, they can invest five points into the mentioned four base stats and one point into a skill in their respective tree, with higher-level abilities unlocked at certain levels provided the player has at least one point in a lower-level passive or active ability. In the PlayStation 4 version of Resurrected, players can assign ten action shortcuts (including attacking normally), which really becomes handy especially with classes that have a variety of useful actions in their skill trees, such as the Druid, which can shapeshift, cast elemental magic, and summon creatures to his side.

Stonehenge, eat your heart out.

Should the player die in offline gameplay, they lose all current equipment and items yet can retrace their steps to where their character died to loot their own corpse and get everything back, a fair penalty. The default offline difficulty is fair, with players seeking a different challenge able to scale the toil of combat to higher levels, meaning greater rewards but more risk in that they lose everything their character has if they die. The game mechanics are enjoyable, although the remaster lacks quality-of-life features such as a suspend save and the ability to pause the action, even in offline gameplay, and the finite inventory space will irk some, given the balance they need to consider about things such as keeping stat-boosting charms their item space and what exactly to keep and sell.

The issues with inventory management and the lack of pausing and a suspend save are the primary strikes against control, although there are plenty positives such as teleportation back to town at fixed points within each of the game’s five acts, not to mention the ability to summon portals back to town at any time within each area so long as players have the respective scrolls to do so. There’s also little difficulty in figuring out how to advance the central storyline, although the PlayStation 4 version can crash at points (which happened to me chiefly in Act IV), and there is a fair bit of loading. Regardless, Resurrected does decently in interaction.

The second Diablo’s narrative picks up where the first left off in the world of Sanctuary, the nameless character of the first game trying to contain the franchise’s eponymous demon within his/her body, the Lord of Terror corrupting him/her and allowing demons to wreak havoc. Cutscenes between acts focus on the Dark Wanderer, while each act has its substories, dialogue often varying depending upon which class the player has chosen. There are links to the first game, the fate of the town that served as a hub in the first game highlighted, and the mythos and backstory are excellent, but whichever character the player creates lacks development. Regardless, the storyline mostly glues the sequel well.

The soundtrack has several solid tracks such as the title screen theme, not to mention other orchestral pieces that shine the most in Act V, though not a lot of the music is memorable. The voice acting is mostly good as well, and the sound effects are never out of place, resulting in a decent-sounding game.

A lot of loot in flames.

The remastered visuals are in many respects breathtaking, keeping the same style as those in the original version and its expansion, with an isometric perspective like the first Diablo game, with a general aura of darkness about the environments, the lighting effects and shadows being superb and realistic, alongside photorealistic upscaled CG cutscenes in between acts. Other positives include different equipment affecting the appearance of the player’s character, though this doesn’t apply to whichever mercenary they have. There are a few other issues such as occasional choppiness and many reskinned enemies, but otherwise, the remaster’s graphics look great.

Finally, the sequel ranges from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, with the myriad classes, replay mode received upon completion of the main quest, and other things such as PlayStation Trophies very well enhancing lasting appeal, though mileage will vary as to the heavy inventory management.

Overall, Diablo II: Resurrected is mostly a solid remaster, the graphical upscaling being most notable whilst other aspects largely remain unchanged, which is certainly not a bad thing. Other positives include the excellent gameplay with endless variations, both online and offline whichever the player decides, the good continuation of the original game’s storyline, and great soundtrack. Granted, there are a few issues regarding the possible difficulty balance that can vary among classes, the absence of pausing or a suspend save feature, the sizeable inventory management, the lack of memorable music, and a few issues with the visuals that existed in the sequel’s initial incarnation, but new generations of gamers will likely be more than happy to experience the classic for the first time.

This review is based on a single playthrough of the digital PlayStation 4 version as the Druid offline.

Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Well-assembled game mechanics with initial choice of class. Clear direction with new dungeon maps for different playthroughs. Great narrative with minor plot differences depending on class. Solid audiovisual presentation. Endless lasting appeal.	Difficulty will vary from class to class. No pausing or suspend save. Mileage may vary regarding inventory control. Not a lot of memorable music. A lot of reskinned enemies.
The Bottom Line
A great way for newcomers to experience the classic action RPG.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	8.5/10
Control	7.5/10
Story	8.5/10
Aurals	9.0/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	9.5/10
Difficulty	Variable
Playtime	24-48+ Hours
Overall: 8.5/10

Current Mood: accomplished

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NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...

A Boy and His Grimoire

The era of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's rival Xbox 360 wasn't completely a golden age for both systems (although Nintendo's innovative Wii console acquired better reception), or for major video game companies such as Square-Enix, with its Final Fantasy XIII trilogy polarizing fans and critics, along with S-E's Dragon Quest franchise's sidetrack to the Nintendo DS with its ninth installment. However, one game that gained a cult following, in spite of mixed reception, was Square-Enix's NieR, a spinoff of their lesser-renowned Drakengard series, which had different versions featuring younger and older protagonists. It would receive a remake, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... (yeah, it's a mouthful), which has certain features that really make it stand out among the Japanese RPG crowd.

The remake opens with a prologue occurring in the year 2053, where the protagonist, whom the player names, protects his ailing sister Yonah from ethereal entities, before cutting to a little over fourteen centuries later where he and his sibling inhabit a village constructed upon the ruins of an ancient town. He ultimately receives the companionship of the enigmatic sentient book known as the Grimoire Weiss, both seeking a cure for Yonah and eventually battling entities known as the Shades and their master, the Shadowlord. The banter between the hero and Weiss is definitely witty, although another companion the protagonist receives, the female Kainé, definitely steals the show with her verbally abusive tongue.

The translators definitely weren't shy to localize the game in all its profane fury that extends to countless F-bombs, certainly pushing Replicant's M rating to its limit in that regard, and the general mature nature of the remake, as a result, will definitely lure older gamers somewhat tired of the relative tame thematic nature of most RPGs originating in Japan. The localization for the most part definitely helps the game more than hurts, with perfectly legible dialogue, good naming conventions, and a lack of spelling or grammar errors, although there are some stylistic choices such as not capitalizing "god" when used by itself. The storyline itself does have issues such as an overabundance of fetch quests and derivative elements like amnesia but is far more than bearable.

Luckily, a solid gameplay experience backs the narrative, with Replicant being a pure action RPG with real-time combat, the protagonist having a variety of moves such as attacking with weapons of different types and using various magical abilities thanks to the Grimoire Weiss. Occasionally upon defeating Shades, the main character may acquire "Words" he can assign to his various weapons and magic, empowering their various statistics and effects. One major convenience for those who would wish to cheese through the game is the ability to set the hero to attack and cast magic automatically, and while it does only show marginal incompetence, particularly if he's close to ledges and can receive damage from falling into bottomless pits, but he'll otherwise dodge and defend and take virtually no damage doing so. Generally, alongside the different difficulty settings, Replicant accommodates players of pretty much any skill level.

Control isn't nearly as solid, but does have plenty of positives such as crystal-clear direction on how to advance the central storyline (and while most sidequests don’t give great direction, the game is perfectly beatable without seeing them through), easy shopping, the ability to see how weapons increase or decrease stats before purchasing them, in-game maps, descriptions of item effects, and so forth. Granted, there is some issue with the save system, with sometimes more than half an hour between save opportunities and no suspend save of which to speak, although death luckily allows players to restart near where they died. Generally, Replicant interacts well with players.

The soundtrack also serves the game well, with many tracks having vocal accompaniment, largely Japanese with maybe the occasional smidgeon of English, and fit the various environments, such as the metallic underground mine theme. The voice work is decent and fits the various characters, and while there are plenty of annoying voices, most of the time, the player can skip through the text to cut them short. Generally, a great-sounding game.

Replicant is perhaps visually weakest, given typical three-dimensional graphic offenders such as blurry and pixilated texturing when seen close-up, an inconsistent framerate between standard gameplay and the "cinematic" cutscenes, poor collision detection, and plenty of pop-up of environmental elements such as grass in fields. However, being an M-rated game, the blood effects are superb, and the overall color scheme leans towards grayish and whitish. There are also some good weather and lighting effects, the human character models have realistic anatomy, and the Shade designs have some semblance of variety. All in all, the remake is far from an eyesore.

Finally, playtime is significantly shorter than the average JRPG, somewhere from twelve to twenty-four hours to "cheese through", although this aids well the game's lasting appeal, with different endings, Trophies, adjustable difficulty, and the like, albeit with some slightly-annoying level design that luckily doesn't detract too well from getting the most out of the gameplay experience.

On the whole, NieR Replicant is nearly a gold standard when it comes to roleplaying game remakes, given certain features that really stand out such as the potential for players to make the gameplay hands-off, given the brilliant auto-battle mode, with its other aspects shining such as the control, narrative with mature dialogue, the soundtrack, the graphics, and the potential lasting appeal. There are some minor imperfections in regards to things such as the save system and visual blemishes, although what the remake lacks in quantity, it certainly compensates for in quality, and at least for me was a breath of fresh air among the JRPG crowd given its mature appeal to adult gamers, certainly worth more than a glance and a nice surprise given its niche among Square-Enix titles.

This review is based on a playthrough to one of the standard endings of a physical copy borrowed by the reviewer.

Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Autobattle is a godsend. Beatable without a guide. Some great banter and profane dialogue. Solid audiovisual presentation. Short, with plenty of lasting appeal.	Some long stretches without saving. Cinematic cutscenes unpausable. Plot is somewhat fetch quest-centric. A few irritating voices. Slight visual imperfections.
The Bottom Line
An excellent remake, but falls slightly short of masterpiece status.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	9.5/10
Control	9.0/10
Story	8.5/10
Localization	9.5/10
Aurals	9.0/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	9.5/10
Difficulty	Adjustable
Playtime	Less than 24 Hours
Overall: 9.0/10