Recent reviews by Lodum

Used to really like this one, but recently it's been stuck at around 40fps for no apparent reason, making it basically unplayable. Not as a framerate snob thing, but the game playing at 2/3rds speed.

Others in the discussion forums seem to be having the same issue with no forthcoming solution.

One of my favorites, but not without its faults. It's charmingly cute, a big plus for me, and is a cool world that's fun to explore, another big plus. I can definitely see myself doing it again.

I played it on "maximum combat difficulty" and the only qualm I have with that is the stamina system being too restrictive. Attacking uses a lot of stamina and means you spend a lot of fights dodging waiting for the bar to fill back up.

The item system was kind of annoying, both the actual inventory and usable items. The inventory is very VERY small and there are a lot of item types early that fill it up quickly. Otherwise, only having one item equipped at a time is unfortunate, especially after one item the spear proves to be so often relied upon as its both better for a lot of late-game combat and leaned on a little too hard in level-design for its ability to create platforms.

The story's pretty great but I'm not a huge fan of the ending. I was kind of surprised that the game ended when it did, I was legitimately expecting at least one more area after what turned out to be the final boss. I felt kind of let down and that the story didn't get resolved.

Even with those qualms, I very much want to see the sequel.

The devs set out to make something like Donkey Kong Country (maybe specifically 2) and they succeeded.

A lot of the game seems to be designed around doing what the inspiration did, for better or worse. The few things new (or at least new to me, maybe it's from other inspiration) they try work and set it apart. I do wish it was more difficult and was kind of surprised when the end snuck up on me. That said, this is a solid platformer I'd recommend to people looking for a breezy, not-that-difficult time.

I hope this serves as a development springboard for a sequel where they try more unique ideas because they did do the base well.

The Trails / Kiseki series is my favorite JRPG Franchise.

Trails in the Sky the 3rd is a complicated game to me. It's heretical to some to say to skip it, but I can see why others do. It's basically the epilogue to Trails in the Sky mixed with the "non-canon anime movie" of the same franchise.

I love it for the epilogue bits. Seeing what happens to the characters you already like is the best part by far. That it also starts threads that pay off in later Trails games is icing on the cake. It's just that those parts are completely separated and have virtually nothing to do with the rest of the game.

The game itself is where the game fumbles for me. I think it is overloaded. It drops seemingly endless numbers of new party characters on to you constantly while also showering you with new quartz pieces so that keeping up with any of it is a fool's errand. Some people really like it for this, but I am not one of them.

Stripping Trails of its strongest aspect, the world, and replacing much of it with the most boring dungeons imaginable was not a good move.

Kevin's story is also pretty good, but... well, it takes forever for it to get there.

In favor of not rambling on, I've heard it said to Skip the 3rd and watch the cutscenes. While I don't completely agree with that, I know why people say that. The good parts are great, but I'm not sure if trudging through a whole JRPG is worth it.

The Trails / Kiseki series is my favorite JRPG franchise.

SC (Second Chapter) continues where the first game left off and raises the stakes substantially.

The Trials / Kiseki series is my favorite JRPG series.

Not without flaws, it's a charming adventure through a great world with fun characters. Given this one's age, it's not surprising it harkens back to a relaxing era of JRPGs.

Quite possibly my favorite work of fiction. Muv Luv was no slouch and Alternative elevates the series even further.

I laughed, I cried, it ended, I cried some more, and now Alternative's next just so it can hurt me again.

Goes more open-world than its predecessor, which makes it less focused and worse overall. You've got a run button now, which is nice, but the DLC outfits, weapons, and other various unlocks really bothered me. Plus, they added microtransactions. Bleh. Otherwise, while I preferred the first game overall, Rise wasn't bad. It's certainly more Tomb Raider and the tombs are still the best part.

The first and most concise of the reboot trilogy. Gameplay isn't anything revolutionary - it's a pretty "standard" 3rd-person shooty action-adventure game of the era - but made better by unlocking the exploration abilities. The optional puzzle tombs are the best part. Biggest qualms were needing to farm scraps to 100% the game and the lack of a run/sprint button.

I originally avoided this series because of the infamous death scenes, but it really wasn't hard to avoid most of them.