Recent reviews by JohnnyIronic

You don't need me to tell you this is worth your time.
All I can say is, you deserve whichever path you choose.











And should you relate to a certain fool on one path... God help you. Because I certainly won't.

Nice little game to scratch that quickplay procedural dungeon rpg itch.
The backpack management strategizing keeps runs fresh especially when working with certain parameters like missions and builds.
Difficulty is balanced, not too hard not too easy.

My only gripes are that you have to use each of the other characters (which may or may not be fun to play as, YMMV) to finish the story mode. The other is that the "hard" modes are simply adjusting damage and health values, which is a bit of a shame.

Tl;dr Its half baked, the right ingredients are there but it should have been QA'd, given more treatment and focus in some aspects, and needs a lot of improvement overall.

Pros:
+Mechanics feel right for 'Classic Sonic' gameplay.
+Character choices for different playstyles that you can freely switch between levels if you so choose.
+Emerald powers are a nice additional feature to vary up your playstyle.
+Graphics overall looks pleasing.
+Zones and acts have a good variety of mechanics to keep gameplay fresh.
+Infinite lives (You will be glad you have them)
+Tee Lopes.

Cons:
Some obvious ones:
-Minor bugs.
-Slowdown can occur when certain events are triggered.
-Denuvo.
-Epic games account required for online play.
-Microtransactions. Nothing to put past Sega's recent practices, but still disappointing to see.

Gameplay-wise:
-Emerald powers really become forgettable until the game prompts you for the niche opportunities to utilize them.
-Bosses are full of time-wasting segments that you will find yourself standing around waiting for the next chance to attack if not dodging. Unlike in previous 'classic' titles you will sparsely find opportunities to attack more than once during an opening.
-Some bosses also have very cheap attacks (some that will one-shot you) that, coupled with above, can waste 5-10 minutes of your time each try, just for not being able to know those attacks exist. One in particular has a mechanic never used previously and will throw you off completely unless you looked up a guide.
-Single-player gamemode gives you a narrower field of view meaning you can get blindsided by traps/enemies, which forces you to play slower...in a Sonic game. This is worsened when playing a certain mode.
-Stage pacing feels a little inconsistent when some zones have 3 acts, and others are balanced to only have one.
-Medals and bonus stages serve very little purpose other than for customizing a robot you can use for online play, which you may or may not play.
-Without going into spoilers, this game feels very lacking in storytelling, especially justifying why Fang even exists (other than for fan nostalgia-baiting), Trip is given little background, and the final boss...is not very well explained either.
-Long credits that makes you wonder if selecting "Go back to the main menu" will result in missed content, (It won't.)
-Jun Senoue.
-All for $60 upfront.

And if you're wondering why I have so many hours in this game, the majority was spent on bosses. They are THAT much of a timewaster.

All in all, I'd say if the more glaring problems could be fixed with a little more quality-of-life improvements implemented (Just make bosses faster, please.) I would recommend it. But for now, maybe hold off for a sale.

Dear Sega,
You could have done this at any point of time in the last 21 years.

Robert Belgarde.

Game is finally playable with negligible problems.

Patching has continued to improve the game's performance although some areas do suffer from stuttering (probably to load in a lot of assets at once)

Dear Devs,
Help shenanigans Gaben triggers cute.
-Snoot crew

PS: Monkey 4 Lyf

To be clear: I LOVE THIS GAME, BUT THIS GAME HAS TECHNICAL ISSUES THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED.
I have had to do some tweaking with the settings and with my graphics card setting in order to make this game FUNCTIONAL. For this reason alone I am keeping the review as negative until issues are corrected.
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Now to the game review itself:
If you haven't played the original Nier you can skip this part
If you enjoyed Nier the first time it came out on PS3/360, it is 100% worth the purchase. This rendition comes with:
-Better combat gameplay
-Additional content that exceeded my expectations
-Recycled Vessel DLC from original has been added for free
-Additional voice work with characters
-A completely redone soundtrack (Of note, Snow in Summer, Emil/Sacrifice and the theme of L-----)

However, it is worth mentioning that this is, in my opinion, a few downsides (Aside from the technical issues)
-A completely redone soundtrack, which made a few of my favorite tracks a bit worse (Song of the Ancients-Fate, Temple of Drifting Sands, Blu-Bird, The Incomplete Stone...) and honestly didn't improve much of the rest
-Not much else in QoL changes (A chapter select would have been nice.)
-Character artstyle has been changed for much of the main characters. (Matter of opinion, honestly wouldn't have minded the originals)
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If you HAVEN'T played the original Nier, then this is the best way to play the game short from getting the game on another platform.
Look up a guide online for tweaking your graphics card settings for this game. You will need it.
It may be difficult to approach this game, gameplay-wise, when comparing to action-RPGs of this generation, but you should keep an open mind knowing this originally came out in 2010, over a decade ago.
If you enjoyed the storytelling of Yoko Taro's other works (Drakengard, SinoAlice, Nier Automata) then definitely play this game.
If you enjoy good storytelling in general, this is your game. I promise you will find someone, if not every one of the main cast, that will stick with you well after you are finished playing.

Some tips:
-Do your best to avoid spoilers about this game, the game is story-heavy and is best experienced with a fresh mind.
-Check all the gameplay and sound settings so you can tweak some things like camera distance to best suit your preferences.
-Consider doing as much of the sidequests as you can.
-Though the game may be tedious at points, there is always a reward for doing so.
-If you're wondering why my play time is 90 hours, thats how long it takes to 100% this game. If you are simply going for the main story path, it shouldn't take you more than half that time.
-Lastly, keep playing after you reach what you may think is an ending.

A fantastic 3D platforming game with fights that take great focus but with great satisfying mechanics like deflecting bullets back to enemies. Short but heavily replayable if you're looking to improve your time/death count.

Some nitpicks to the devs:
-PLEASE ALLOW CUTSCENE SKIPPING! This really hurts when trying to attempt zero-death runs
-Rails need to be a little more responsive, a lot of deaths have came from simply not catching a rail despite me touching them with my face
-Some walls when running feel like magnets when I'm trying to leave them
-sometimes the dash feels like I'm moving forward about an inch, and other times when dodging using dash it flings me to the other side of an arena
-physical platforms that can be landed on but serve no purpose below the level where you can fall on, but can't return from just get in the way from restarting

I want to get off Mr. Goichi's Wild Ride.

*Do not play this game unless you have completed 'The Silver Case'*
It is also recommended, but not mandatory to have completed 'Flower, Sun, and Rain' (which is in dire need to be ported!)
Heck, for good measure, you should also be familiar with Killer 7 and even Twin Peaks too, why not.

This game (yes game now) is an improvement on it's predecessor, 'The Silver Case' in that there are now puzzle-solving elements, code breaking (although most of it is simple memorization), point-and-click searching and investigation bits which will test your wit, intuition and patience.
Big emphasis on patience. Suda is a sadist. Use a guide if you must. No one will blame you for some portions.
Just be happy you aren't playing this game on a cell-phone, which was the original intent.

When your head is not wrapped around trying to find a needle in a haystack, you are most likely going to be grasping your hair trying to piece together the story. If you weren't able to fully grasp The Silver Case's story, themes and overall messages, chances are you won't with this one. Pay close attention, take notes on whos who. Also, be sure to play each chapter in the 3 storylines one at a time, in a ring-like order where you play one from each (00 Correctness -> 00 Placebo -> 01 Correctness -> 01 Matchmaker -> 01 Placebo -> 02 Correctness, and so on)

It may seem daunting with all of the aforementioned but underneath the insane storyline there are great moments to be found, great dialogue exchanges that you wouldn't find anywhere else, and a grim look at a possible future humanity may someday face. Prepare yourself for a strange story unlike any other.

Oh, and when you reach a certain point, I HIGHLY suggest you save the option "Kill XXXXXX and XXXXX simultaneously" for last. You will know when you get there.

Now be a pal and lend me 50,000 Yen, won'tcha?