The Platinum Melt-off Twenty Twenty-four
What began as “I wonder how Verified Vanquish really is on the Deck” turned into a months long retrospective for PlatinumGames’ outputs of the 2010s. The studio sure seems like a collection of hacks by the time this is done. No, I don’t mean that they are talentless, it’s just that for one bunch of people who set out to make something different, they sure went back to their Okami well way too often and never managed to make something better than their Capcom swan song. Especially in 2019, when a remake from Capcom felt more refreshing than the bottom item on this list, aka Platinum’s downright bizarre experiment. This is only the short of it, you all are welcomed to read the longer takes with the links below.
Winter coming for you
Ah, how I should have listened to the doc! It’s funny to see people defending games panned by critics. Those should be used as filters people use for purchase decision, yet some just see them as opposite statements. Oh, well, do not pre-order games is always good advice, since by the time that Waypoint review was published, the payment was already made.
Fall From Grace
Numbers four and three here are both about robots with feelings. Very different feelings: one about robots being sad in the expanse of its plot; the other about robots being angry in expanse of everything. One is the longest on this list and the other being the most brief. Placing them accordingly was tricky. But I decided that the decency of remaining brief warrants a higher place here.
If Astral Chain is about listening to critics when they roast something, NieR Automata reminds me that I should listen more carefully to the same bunch when they sing something praises. “What do they really like about those games?” and “Would I like those things?” are the questions one should ask themselves.
Critical acclaims Automata received from American video game critics certainly brought the question of a game’s release window to one’s mind. Had it not been released in the post-Trump blues (Something that is likely to happen again in 2025 terrifyingly enough…), would people sob along with Automata’s patchwork of sad tidbits? I would like to think no, but then what do one resident in miHoYo’s country of origin like yours truly know about social problems in the USA,
Tango went under after Hi-fi Rush while Platinum kept going after Vanquish made one want to cry out against the injustice that is video game industry. Perhaps it’s just this industry’s preference of photoreal?
Dog days of Summer
Deciding whether Bayonetta was released in the aughts or the teens is bit tricky. But since my review is based on a playthrough with Japanese dub, it would be fair to consider this one a 2010s release. The dub cast was not assembled until 2013’s animated feature and there are obvious difference between this dub and the 2009 sub. The one I noticed being Bayonetta’s first time seeing boss Justice’ vine/tentacle. The 2009 Japanese subtitle can be translated into English as “Yikes!” while the Japanese dub is “I am not into tentacles.”
Pleasant Spring
Back in 2023, I wrote that one should lock Bayonetta 1 and 2 into a cage fight to see which one is the better. The result is surprising to yours truly: the sequel won by one-hit knock out. The sequel is just better in every aspect. It also symbolized a threshold for Nintendo: between the days of Wii U and 3DS when they tried not to pad out their games and the days of Switch when they were bafflingly praised for padding out a launch title.
