#Magna Carta: Tears of Blood

[desktoparchive]

[playstationgamemania]

[zaruba-needslove]

I love this little minor side plot about Lehas planning a surprise party for Calintz, I mean... it's Calintz's birthday! Not to mention how prior to this point, we had the mini 'quest' about getting the party (particularly Calintz) to go around finding the materials to craft a birthday present for Lehas.

Like yeah, the plan's seemed more like a method for them to appease Lehas's 'wrath' for causing her so much trouble, tho who's to say that Eonis hadn't noticed that Lehas had a soft spot for Calintz?

It's not just because it hints slightly at Lehas's possible secret affection towards Calintz (which you'd barely notice earlier in the game with Calintz being oblivious et al), but also because we got a bit of tease on Reith/Calintz ship. I mean... Reith even got so excited with the plan - I mean, they even got so excited to pull the surprise party for the birthday boy...

But then, knowing Calintz who just so focused on his secret mission, he wouldn't have thought that Lehas would want to celebrate his birthday of all things. Though yanno, it could've been better if Lehas had insisted in making the team stay...

Then, maybe... they could've been around when HQ was attacked.

But dang... Calintz had so much emotional baggage to deal here. Like here's that guilt about not being able to reach HQ (and help Lehas) in time, the regret about not treating/understanding Lehas better in the past, realizing Lehas's feelings for him... and then there's his confusion and complicated feelings for Reith.

I kinda wished I could dwell on this plot a bit longer instead of having the plot speedrunning with the whole Light of Salvation shard plot. XD

[akraphe]

workshop #1

1.

Nobody dies intelligently, I used to think. To forfeit time whether by exhaustion of the body or the mind, In exchange for a thirsty gravedigger, a few black suits, and some plot of land ; to choose the anti-future, forced by any hand, hers or yours, and disintegrate deep into the great nothing, knowing very well nobody knows themselves unalive ; why, except by ignorance or incompetence, would grief, like a perpetually moving ocean, be allowed to crash, overpower and overwhelm the mind ? Why else would we want to learn that our pain gets to live forever, while joy eventually dies ?

2.

"Now I am alone" she thought mere seconds ago, familiar wind swaying around her, carrying the smell of paintings lost to flames And corrupt manuscripts of medieval flesh. Waiting for the leap of faith from calm violence to violent calm. It's not her first try. The choice of a personal funeral Lingers frequently on her mind. Now fear and desire pale Next to the question "Will it be my last ? Will the ocean under these hills be Where finally I pass ?"

Suddenly There are no more footsteps on the grass.

3.

People's smell or respect. Her voice telling anecdotes And turning heads. Happy birthday wishes from friends. Detecting irony. The idea of touch and touch itself. Flying business class, And other similar stuff Like dignity or rights. Nicknames. Correct blood Flow. Her friends Interest. Peace, ataraxia, Rest, whatever its name. Ah yes, and long hair, Ready to break bread, And wind's eulogy for her.

It's the inventory of all the things She's lost.

Shooting privilege.

Something's missing. Rage, all the rage, Enough to fill an infinite canvas, Infinite pages or magna cartas.

4.

Who is she ?

I don't know her Any more than you.

Is she a free bird, a departing plane, A falling spit, an empty plastic thread, Like the tears of a cis dude who can't get Erect ? courageous woman, passionate tran, forgotten dog or insect in a box ? Mirza ? Jules ? Léontine ? guerrilla girl or sad Fantine ? lonely weirdo or speaker at the pride ? is she the one that cries or the one that fights ?

She's a master of treason.

5.

She translates texts for the sad few: Poems, essays, secret recipes, fanzines on sex and trans bodies, political manifestos for her beloved lefties.

Care or be cared. Think or be thought of. Be the cure others need.

She shaves heads and slaps backs; sleeps early when we all still dance; knows her way around syringes, needles, comic relief and desperate people.

Arrogantly move on. Unloose your own void. Laugh yourself to sleep.

[denble]

Stellar Blade & Hyung-tae Kim

Not FFVII or FF related but since I'm back being a gamer for now, I might as well say something about this matter.

Stellar Blade | Eve

So I just stumbled upon the information of this game a week ago, and thought: "Hmm, that thigh curves look way too familiar."

Then a few days ago, I caught the controversy about Eve (the game's main character) basically being too hot to be real, and got informed that the character designer behind her is Hyung-Tae Kim.

Ah hah!

It was an wonderful moment really. I felt like I just met an old friend whom I've long forgotten to ever exist.

Because you know, Hyung-Tae Kim is no stranger to the hot and sexy character design business. He's been in the business for more than 20 years (I'm surprised that I see nobody mentions this). Back in the 2000s, being gamers and art enthusiasts, I and my friends spent a lot of time talking and admiring his arts and character design (all the while laughed at the man's apparent obsession with big thighs and thigh gap).

Manga Carta - Tears of Blood | Reith

And it's pretty amusing to see that after 20 years, the man's taste remains the same :)))) And don't let him fool you by saying that Eve's 3D model is based on a real model therefore her physique is realistic. I can bet my money that he looked especially for a model with a physique as close as possible to her design on paper.

While the overly-sexy designs is not my cup of tea, Hyung-Tae Kim's use of colors and costume design is something that can water the mouth of every art enthusiasts. It's just... juicy. And judging by the amount of love that he gives to Stellar Blade's Eve design, I'm sure a lot of gamers will enjoy the game just by looking at her alone.

A side note for Magna Carta - Tears of Blood. Among my friends, I was the only one who managed to finish the game. Oh man, the graphic and battle system were pretty good (for an Asian non-Japanese game), but the game play and story became weird near the end.

*SPOILER ALERT*

There was this horrible dudgeon that was just very unpleasant to go through. As soon I was done with it, the game switch to the other party (two groups were approaching the location at the same time) and the game made me go through the dungeon once again :)))) Seriously, what kind of game design is that?

Just before the final battle, the main character lost all his abilities you've had him learnt throughout the game, and then be rewarded with a god-sent skill that basically made the boss fight a cheat.

Oh, and throughout the game, he developed feelings for the main female character. Only that she died, and then he switched to her twin sisters (they both met him when they were children). I really can't remember it is the twin sister that he's always been having feelings for since he was young or what, but it was weird seeing him being lovely dovely with one girl, and the kissed the other by the end of the game.

(and no, it's not like FFVII. Cloud has never been lovely dovely with either Aerith or Tifa pre-Lifestream).

*SPOILER ENDED*

[transgressiveprocess]

The Chosen...

“Squeal piggie…”

Bozo spins, hog-tied to a spit revolving over an open flame… naked save for clown makeup white face, red mouth smeared across the face like cunnilingus during heavy period… a bloody tsunami to the face… flesh sagging as the spit turns, flames flicking at nipples and asshole, the smouldering edges of the Magna Carta as it sticks out of his asscheeks…

He squeals as he cooks… pleasure and pain indistinguishable as he sweats, makeup running… hooded figures watch passively as his limp prick hangs down like shrivelled turkey giblets…

…round and round… stench of burnt hair and sex… fire spits and sizzles as heavy drops of pre-cum trickle into the flames as pubes, grey and wiry, turn to ash…

Round and round and round…

The gong bellows across the darkened room… candles flicker in darkened corners… no faces only masks… true identities exposed as anonymity gives rise to suppressed cravings…

The two robed figures… paying their dues… damp with sweat, excretions of an honest day’s work… robes infused with burnt flesh and history… stop the spit… heave the lumbersome sacrifice from the fire as the flames continue to dance, demanding more, always more…

Dumped on the floor, the crowd gathers around the body, twitching, moaning, as robes open… a procession of cocks, withered and scarred… misshapen from initiation… ritual circumcision of the ruling class… sighs and grunt as prostates swollen and malformed, milked dry for The Tribute, convulse… finally relenting…

Streams of piss… dark yellow to rancid black… pour forth over this wretched creature, rubbery skin fizzling… tiddly cock now erect with relief and arousal… Magna Carta twitching limply in time with sphincter convulsions as the air fills with the unholy aroma of ammonia…

… a figure watching from the darkest recesses…. without illumination or sound emerges… it continues… steady of stream and will… watch impassively until the last drop of has been shed like a final tear…

…the crowd steps back… cocks hanging free, the accidental follow-through dribbling down every other robe… the figure stands over Bozo, his makeup smeared with sweat… looking up… the face of God reflecting in his tear-filmed eyes…

…the robe lifts… the figure squats… her rubberised cunt inches from his face, a bushel of grey pubes… matted with semen as tradition demands… labia majora flap… crumpled and grizzled…

Piggie squeals… cock twitching as a final stream descends upon his face… groans of arousal as ammonia stings his eyes, wide open… a veritable waterfall of bodily waste… mouth open, tongue out… lap it up, piggie…

Oink, oink, oink…

…the chant rises through the halls… makeup runs off leaving nothing but the face… the one for the respectable classes… the hard-working masses… the ravenous, gluttonous mob baying for the blood of The Other… insatiable… irresistible… undeniable…

Oink, oink, oink…

Bozo… transformation nearly complete… grunts and squeals and writhes… seared cock head rubbing against stone slabs… right of passage… part of history… pre-cum mixing with all that came before him…

Oink, oink, oink…

The stream stops yet the figure remains… flaps wet, feet marinating in warm yellow puddles…

Eyes reddened… burning with purification… he looks up, opened mouth in wonder… watching the divine anal sphincter of The Anointed begin to twitch and spasm…

Gasp of wonder as the Holy Hole distends… a solitary brown eye opening… a creature of the depths awakening… The Anointed howls as her asshole stretches wider and wider… two clawed hands, fingers long and crooked emerge… pulling asscheeks open from the inside… rectum torn as the foul beast emerges… blood and shit dripping from gaping wound to the gaping mouth… rancid bodily fluids sliding down paralysed necks as forked tongue flicks in the air…

Oink, oink, oink…

The robes flapping furiously as aged cocks are beaten… aroused by ceremony… pricks corralled by arthritic hands… holy stimulants flowing through failing bodies… the creature emerges… hangs from The Anointed… claws dug into asscheeks… anal cavity completely voided… hangs, waiting… waiting… tongue flicking over scorched nipples…

Oink, oink, oink…

Oink, oink, oink…

Oink, oink, oink…

A final squeal as distended testicles… twisted and bloated… finally release… cock twitching as foul seed spurts forth across the slabs… piss and shit and blood and cum congeal…

Oink, oink, oink…

The creature howls… tongue flicking through the yellow, brown, red, white globules… flashing deftly… smudging and smearing… a Union Jack … from the excretions of The Worthy… emerges on the stone slab as moans rise… patriotic ejaculations across The Chosen as the creature finally descends… easing down through The Chosen’s opened mouth… lubricated by blood… by shit… by breeding…

A wet thud as The Anointed collapses to the ground… her unprepared face cracking dully on the stone… all part of the tradition…

Two robes moves the unconscious body… two move to release The Chosen…

He raises… stretches… every bone clicks as if snapping… spine twisting into unhuman contortions… as He settles into His new home, the chosen flesh suitable for the bloodthirsty, insatiable electorate of The Pure...

[lowpolypeople]

Calintz from Magna Carta: The Phantom of Avalanche

[ellie-mars]

Ko-fi | Patreon

[pantyhosedcharacters]

Carian Lora - Magna Carta: Tears of Blood

[trap-of-the-day]

Today’s trap of he day is Azel from the video game Magna carta tears of blood

[zaruba-needslove]

[lesserknownwaifus]

Carian Lora from Magna Carta: Tears of Blood

[rydiacosplay]

Calintz Jerevinan from Magna Carta Tears of Blood.

Music: Battle Theme 3 (Magna Carta ToB OST).

[game-levels]

For a while I hoped someone would give the PSP version of this an English translation.

I like Hyung-Tae Kim's over-extended poses.

[emilsan]

Game List - PC Launchers (not Steam) + Emulation

Below is the list and overview of my games on PC Launchers (non-Steam) and emulation.

Completed – finished the story or played enough to consider the game completed. For example, if it’s an action-heavy and not a very story-oriented game, I may or may not play it to the end credits. If it's something without an explicit ending, I'll consider it beaten when I get tired playing it and if the game is very story-driven, I’d need to see the entire story.​

Mastered – achieved something that grants a “mastered” status. For example, spent more than 100 hours, played at numerous points of my life, collected all trophies or achievements, et cetera.​

Dropped – I tend to avoid dropping games but there might be some which I will want to keep for one reason or another despite having negative views or just not willing to complete them properly. They will have a “Dropped” status.​

No status – yet to play or haven’t finished yet but intend to.

Ratings

10 out of 10 - very important to me on a personal level.

9 out of 10 - this game excels at what it's trying to be, impressed me a lot.

8 out of 10 - just a very good game.

7 out of 10 - good, though could have been better.

6 out of 10 - decent experience but I expected a lot more.

Console titles emulated on PC, launchers (Epic Games, RGL, etc.) running natively.

PlayStation 2​

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia Undub

Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica Undub

Baroque​ Undub

Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shou English-patched​

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

.hack//fragment

.hack Infection vol. 1​

.hack Mutation vol. 2​

.hack Outbreak vol. 3​

.hack Quarantine vol. 4

Dark Cloud 2​ Undub

If like a lot, consider the first.

Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore

Drakengard / Drag-On Dragoon​ Undub​

Drakengard 2 / Drag-On Dragoon 2​ Undub

Dynasty Warriors 6 Undub

Out of curiosity. If like, consider older PS2 entries.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Eternal Poison Undub

Eternal Ring

Galerian's Ash

If like, check out the PS1 prequel.

Grimgrimoire 

Growlanser: Heritage of War

If like, play the rest of Growlanser.

ICO​ 5+ hours, 2018​. 7/10

ICO was interesting to play. It’s a platformer by Fumiko Ueda, and it has the kind of grim story you’d expect to see in his games. The presentation is great and platforming/puzzle mechanics feel fun. At some point I got stuck on some moment and couldn’t progress, so maybe I will finish the game later.​​

Kuon

King's Field: The Ancient City Undub

King's Field IV

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood

Puyo Pop Fever 2 Fan-translated

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song

Rogue Galaxy Undub

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Undub

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends Undub

If like a lot, consider other older entries.

Seiken Densetsu IV: Dawn of Mana Undub

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Undub

If like a lot, play the rest of Shadow Hearts.

Shadow Tower Abyss English-patched

If like, look at King's Field and previous Shadow Tower.

Shining Force EXA Undub

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Undub

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 Undub

Shin Megami Tensei – Persona 3 FES​ Undub + music modification​ May continue, 20+ hours, 2018. 8/10

I went into Persona 3 shortly after finishing Persona 5. I played it a few times (one on PS3, then on PS2 emulator undubbed) and I never finished it… but I still think it’s a great game. ​​

Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

SoulCalibur III

Silent Hill 2, 3

And look at 4, other.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time Undub

Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity Undub

Suikoden III

Suikoden IV Undub

Suikoden V Undub

Suikoden Tactics Undub

Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut Fan-translated

Tales of Destiny 2 Fan-translated

Tales of Legendia Undub

Trapt

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria​ Undub

Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Undub

Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse Undub

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra Undub

Warriors Orochi Undub

Warriors Orochi 2 Undub

Wild Arms 5

If like, maybe previous

Zill O'll Infinite 

Waiting for full English patch

PlayStation 3

Ar tonelico Qoga Knell of Ar Ciel Undub

Asura’s Wrath​ Digital + DLC (Xbox360 license). Completed, 10-20 hours, June 2018.

Disgaea D2 A Brighter Darkness

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention Completed, 10-15 hours, 2019-2020. 6/10

Drakengard 3 / DRAG-ON 3

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn

Eternal Sonata / Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream

Enchanted Arms Undub

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection + Peace Walker (PS3)

Red Dead Redemption

Soulcalibur IV

Soulcalibur V

Tales of Graces F Undub

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Undub

Tales of Xillia Undub

Tales of Xillia 2 Undub

Xbox Game Pass

Celeste​

Fable III​ (not available on digital platforms, except Xbox Gamepass Ultimate streaming)​ Completed, 20-30 hours, before 2014​. 8/10

Fable III is a one-of-a-kind Western RPG, and not just because of its unique British aesthetics but also because of the gameplay. You can become friends, lovers, foes with any of the NPC in the game, interact with them, get married, live together and more. On top of that, the game has plenty of unique content such as mini-games, its own economy system, choices which affect the story. ​ ​ I think that choices are the core element of RPG games and for some reason (cost of development?) JRPG and Western RPG tend to avoid them, and even companies which used to be the frontrunners of choice in games have moved away or don’t focus on them as much anymore.​ ​ It’s unfortunate that Fable has such a troubled fate as a franchise and ceased to exist after the third game. Hopefully, the new Fable will not be cancelled and I’m curious to see how it will turn out.​

GUILTY GEAR STRIVE

Available on Game Pass in 2023.

Life is Strange True Colors

If like, maybe Tell Me Why or other LiS.

Epic Games Store

​NIOH: The Complete Edition (favor PS4 version but keeping EGS for better framerate and graphics)Mastered, 103 hours, 2019. 9/10

One of my first platinum trophies was achieved in Nioh. I liked the game so much that I wanted to get all the trophies and the platinum.​

The best thing about Nioh is perhaps the atmosphere. It’s an interesting mix of historical Japan with mythology and supernatural yokai. The bosses and enemies were all impressive in their own right and felt challenging but fair. The skill system adds a lot of depth to the combat and feels rewarding to learn, the game is essentially a constant learning experience.​

Another part of Nioh I liked was its story. William is a foreigner in Japan who speaks English while all of the other characters (except villain) are using Japanese. The language barrier feels fresh and as the player, you’re put into the same role as William who learns more about Japan in his journey.​ ​

Nioh is one of my favorite games ever made and it almost reaches the level of quality set by the FromSoftware Souls games. Even though Nioh takes a lot of inspiration from Souls, it always feels original and not borrowed like every other Souls-like tends to be.​ ​

I’ve played Nioh 2 and found it to be nowhere near as good as Nioh 1: the story was nowhere near as good, fighting felt too overwhelming and overstuffed, built around grind and the gamedesign was way too similar and seems like it did not evolve one bit after Nioh 1. So, Nioh remains my favorite part of the franchise and I see Nioh 2 as the “add-on content” or “post-game”.​ ​

Shenmue III

Yoku’s Island Express​ EGS - performance, Switch - portability. Completed, 2020, 5 hours. 6/10

Yoku’s Island Express is a mix of a platformer and pinball game. In order to progress through the areas, you need to collect enough points and you do that by performing pinball jumps. The visual style is unique, the game has a distinct atmosphere and the pinball inspiration is executed well.

Wii and Wii U

Arc Rise Fantasia

Depending on whether there is a functional control scheme.

Super Mario 3D World (succeeded by Switch remaster) Completed,

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD​

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon​ Completed, 10-20 hours​, 2020. 10/10

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is a very unique game about loneliness and life after trauma. It has one of the best atmospheres in games I’ve seen. The game is very important to me personally.​

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Would also like Metroid Other M if there’s a config for wiimote

GOG Galaxy (CD Project Red)​

Deus Ex

Ghostrunner Completed, 5-10 hours, 202​1. 7/10​

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game / Gwint: Wiedzminska Gra Karciana​​ Mastered, 300+ hours, 2016​. 7/10

I really enjoyed Gwent in its beta/alpha test moments. I spent more than 300 hours just playing it and it was my first computer card game. After the launch on mobiles, I felt like the game was too streamlined and became too similar to Hearthstone in a bad way, as opposed to being a mix of all card games and leaning more towards Yu-Gi-Oh. ​

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

No Man’s Sky

Thief Gold, Thief II, Thief: Deadly Shadows

Wiedźmin 1: Edycja Rozszerzona / The Witcher: Enhanced Edition​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Mastered, 30+ hours, before 2015​. 7/10

The Witcher 1 was one of my first RPG. I’m lucky to have played it after the updates in the “Enhanced Edition” form. And I say “lucky” because CDPR games are known for being buggy on release, which makes me wonder how buggy was The Witcher 1 since it was their first game ever made. ​ ​ In anyway, I liked the atmosphere of TW1, more Slavic lore and mythology compared to TW2 and TW3, more choices and a decent storyline, soundtrack and Polish voice-actors.​ The only major issue with the game is its combat, of course but it didn’t feel bad to me back when I played the game.​

Wiedzmin 2: Zabójcy królów / The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Mastered, 50+ hours, before 2016​. 8/10

The Witcher 2 was a step in the right direction for CDPR – the presentation was much better than the first game, quests were even more carefully written and the system of choices and impact on the story is still one of the best ones I’ve seen in modern games. At some point in the story, depending on your choices, the game will present you with an entirely new chapter, one which cannot be accessed unless you replay the game from the beginning and make a different choice. I wish more RPG were doing that since (for me, at least) choice means “role-play” and indicates that the game is actually an RPG. ​ ​ To this day TW2 remains a very good RPG. In some ways I actually like it more than the third Witcher.​

Wiedzmin 3: Dziki Gon / The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Completed, 25+ hours, 2016​. 8/10

Even though I like The Witcher 3 less than the second game, I can’t argue against how well the third is made and how much it advanced the franchise forward, earning world-wide success and recognition. It honestly makes me wonder if TW3 was just lucky, being released in a time when nearly every other popular Western RPG franchise was “resting” or had some issues.​

Ys Origin

Ys Seven

Ys: the Oath in Felghana

Zwei: The Arges Adventure

Ubisoft Connect (Uplay)

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood​​ Mastered, 50+ hours, before 2014​. 8/10

I’ve done absolutely everything there was to do in Brotherhood and loved every second of it. The setting of Rome was brilliant, the gameplay had a lot of depth and variation and the story was enjoyable, even if I wasn’t a fan of the main character. ​

Assassin’s Creed II​​ May continue, 5-10 hours, before 2014​. 7/10

I haven’t played that much of Assassin’s Creed II. The game came out at a time when I couldn’t afford licensed game, so I had to go for a pirated copy… which didn’t work out. At that time Ubisoft had implemented a piracy-protection tool which forces all players to connect to the Internet, otherwise you can’t play the game, and at that time I couldn’t play the game.​ Many years later I tried playing it and I spent 5-10 hours doing that. It wasn’t as impressive. My guess is that I didn’t like AC II as much because of how much time I spent in AC Brotherhood, so a lot of the innovations and new mechanics brought by the second game didn’t impress me that much. Still, I want to keep it in my library and maybe finish properly one day. ​

Assassin’s Creed: Unity​​ Dropped, 2016, 5-15 hours​. 4/10

This is definitely one of the weakest Assassin’s Creed games ever made. I thought the story and characters were fine, Paris was nicely detailed but everything else was just poorly made. The missions were boring and repetitive, pacing was poor, the AI was dull and the online component were poorly implemented. It was ridiculous seeing yellow-colored assassins not noticed in public but that’s what you’d see in the game. And if that’s not enough, Unity was also a major technical mess on consoles and PC. ​ I’ve decided to keep Unity despite disliking it since I like Paris and the way it is shown in the game.​

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – Gold Edition​​ Completed, 50+ hours, 2020. 8/10

At first, I was avoiding this game. I’m not exactly sure why I was avoiding it, maybe the Internet’s hate towards any AC game that isn’t about Ezio or Desmond influenced me, I’m not sure… Regardless, eventually I started playing it and after a few hours I started falling in love with AC Odyssey. The world was beautifully made, main heroine was very unique and became one of my favorite female protagonists in games and the new gameplay systems introduced in AC Origins were tuned in to a very good state. ​ Some of the issues I’ve had were: a) unbeatable bosses and the whole thing with level cap. I played after it was all patched but sometimes the balance and the whole mess with “you can’t fight this enemy unless you get to their level” was quite annoying; b) the “present time” storyline with Abstergo was very annoying and I never want to experience it again; c) some of the animations could have been better and the game still didn’t improve the horse riding despite being released 8 years after Red Dead Redemption 1.​ AC Odyssey has some issues but once you get into the game, a lot of them just don’t matter anymore. And the fantastic main heroine, good story, Greece and the usual charm of Assassin’s Creed bring it up to be one of my favorite AC games.​

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate​​ Mastered, 20-50 hours, 2016​. 8/10

I’m hesitant naming my favorite Assassin’s Creed game just because I like both Syndicate and Odyssey that much. I loved the story in Syndicate a lot, I loved exploring London and the gameplay was quite nice, too. AC Syndicate is one of the very few games in which I genuinely wanted to get all of the trophies, just to see every part of the city and do all the missions.​

South Park: The Stick of Truth

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Rockstar Games Launcher​​

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Special Edition​​ Completed, 72 hours,  2018​. 10/10

After the fantastic Red Dead Redemption 1, I thought it was impossible to make a sequel which will be as good. Rockstar Games managed to not only reach the quality of the first game but surpass it on every aspect you can think of.​ The game is a prequel set some time before the events of RDR 1. It tells the story of a gang in which John Marston (protagonist of the first game) used to be. Story of RDR II manages to show a different side of John Marston and the writers were brave enough to go for a completely different main character… who ended up being more interesting to follow than John (which is something I couldn’t imagine the first time I saw Arthur Morgan in the trailer). ​ Every mission in Red Dead Redemption II is handcrafted, all 70 hours of my playthrough I never felt like I’m doing the same thing and the story is quite lengthy with a great amount of cutscenes, the execution of which can easily rival many of the Western film classics.​ Red Dead Redemption II is one of the best games ever made.​

Max Payne 3​​ Completed, 10-20 hours, before 2015​. 10/10

Absolutely fantastic and one of my favorite games made by Rockstar Games. Perfect combat, bold storytelling, impressive cutscenes, memorable music, technical excellence – Max Payne 3 has everything. MP3 is a noir game but unlike many other noir films and games, it doesn’t just slap black and white color palette. The game takes place in sunny Brazil (and other locations) and manages to create this rich dark atmosphere of noir without using some of the cliché of noir genre.​ ​Max Payne 3 is one of my favorite games to date with a story unlike any other.  ​

BattleNET

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 No license, Mastered, 2020, 50+ hours, 8/10

Much like Battlefield 1 is my favorite "grand scale" online shooter, Modern Warfare 2019 is my favorite "smaller scale". The gunplay is very satisfying, the game has a near perfect shooter loop and mechanics that combine the classic "run and gun" of Call of Duty and a more grounded, heavy handling from Battlefield.

The only few things that did bother me while playing Modern Warfare 2019 were the obnoxious hyper-masculine finishing animations, dialogue (I had to turn off the voice-acting to not be annoyed by it) and very tasteless and out of place collaborations (like the one they did with Godzilla, out of all things, or some horror movies).

Overall, Modern Warfare 2019 is worth playing if you can look past its obnoxious hypermasculinity and just pay attention to the gameplay.

Diablo II: Resurrected

Hearthstone Completed, 50+ hours, 2021, 8/10.

Hearthstone is easily the most presentable and easy to learn card game around. Despite being free-to-play, you don't need to spend money on it to have fun, so that is a plus.

The game is set in the World of Warcraft universe, so it carries over all the colorful and interesting characters from WoW. Since WoW isn't very heavy on the story, I actually think Hearthstone has a better narrative than WoW.

Hearthstone may not have the technical quality and depth of Yu-Gi-Oh nor the invetiveness and edge of Gwent but the colorful visuals, laid-back gameplay and a fantastic (for a card game) story make it one of the best digital card games.

Heroes of the Storm​​ Completed, 2020, 15-20 hours​. 6/10

Heroes of the Storm has all the unique characters from Blizzard games. RTS and MOBA aren't something I feel interested in at all but I thought the gameplay here is easy to learn and has enough depth, challenge.

Community in HotS is more toxic than you can imagine but it is easy to turn off the chat and all communication for a better experience.

Overwatch​ Mastered, 50+ hours, 2017-2018​. 8/10

Overwatch's biggest strength is that it wasn't afraid to talk about representation in gaming and create characters that would be memorable and inspirational. Not just that, Overwatch plays great and is excellent in almost every way.

I do wish Overwatch would had some story content, though.

World of Warcraft: Classic and Retail​​ Completed, 30+ hours, 2020​. 7/10

There's something very immersive and satisfying about just playing World of Warcraft. Though the game is mostly a collection of very small stories, the sound, atmosphere, visuals and the masterful execution make it fun to play even 18 years later since its release (2004).

The game did age, unfortunately, and the lack of a strong narrative really brings it down. WoW has everything to be the epic saga that is Final Fantasy XIV but it seems the developers have no will to attempt that.

With that said, World of Warcraft is an experience and something worth to see. I tend to prefer Classic WoW because it feels more atmospheric but Retail has its good sides, too. Perhaps eventually there will be WoW 2 that combines the strengths of both?

EA Origin

Alice Madness Returns No license

Battlefield 1​​ Mastered, 170+ hours, 2017​-2022. 8/10

Battlefield 1 is one of my favorite first-person shooters focused on multiplayer. I like how the game goes for a more grounded and serious portrayal of war and keeps reminding people that wars aren’t as fun as entertainment and fiction, and veterans’ stories make them out to be – war means death and that is a topic that video games don’t do often.​ The multiplayer is very well made, and I feel like every weapon is balanced nicely; the game encourages you to assign or follow orders and not just play “deathmatch on a big map”. Speaking of maps, they’re all memorable. Shooting feels right and challenging but not as complicated as previous Battlefield games.​ I think Battlefield 1 managed to make the right choices in almost every aspect of its gamedesign - the game feels modern, it takes the best things from its main competitor (Call of Duty) while retaining the old Battlefield formula of large-scale conflicts and team-work. The graphics are impressive and each map has its own atmosphere.​ Absolutely my favorite multiplayer shooter to date.

Battlefield V Mastered, 15+ hours, 2020-2022, 6/10

With Battlefield V, Dice (developers of the game) were trying to make the franchise more profitable and prepare it for extensive monetization that can be seen in Battlefield 2042. Naturally, the quality and quantity were both put on lower priorities. Even though V uses a lot of the programming and ideas from Battlefield 1, it still manages to make the entire experience much less engaging.

Now, I'm not saying Battlefield V isn't fun to play. The maps are still beautiful (though, severely lacking the identity that matches BF1), the 64 player Conquest mode is fun and the weapons, shooting are satisfying. The biggest problem here is that Dice has damaged the dynamic of classes and simply didn't provide enough content.

This could have been a lot better but as it is, BF V is not as bad as BF 2042, so at least there is that. There's some fun to be had here.

Dragon Age II Completed, 20+ hours, before 2015. 7/10

While the game is lacking visual quality, dungeon/map variety, I thought the story was quite good and in many ways to me this is the best Dragon Age out of all three games. Despite its noticeable problems, everything comes together into a satisfying and memorable game with unique and believable characters (something BioWare is so good at) and a true RPG freedom of making decisions, falling in love, making friends or enemies.

Dragon Age Inquisition: GOTY Edition

Fe Completed, 6 hours, December 2019, 7/10

Fe is about a little fluffy creature that tries to understand the world it found itself in. As you explore the home-forest of Fe, you learn more about the terrifying Silent Ones, you'll communicate with the other inhabitants of the forest, run and jump and learn more about their and perhaps our world...

Fe is pretty vague about its story but I think it has a much stronger message than most vague games I've played. The gameplay is a mix of an immersive adventure game and platformer.

My only issue with Fe is that it lacks some polish in giving the player directions and perhaps having gameplay variety. Other than that, it's a cute platformer with a very memorable visual style.

Mass Effect​​ Mastered, more than 50 hours, before 2014​. 8/10

There were sci-fi games prior to Mass Effect, there were also RPG games where you could make an impact on the story and there were, of course, plenty of shooters set in space. What makes Mass Effect so monumental is that it wasn't just another game where you shoot aliens for 20 hours and forget it. Mass Effect 1 was the first part of the ME trilogy in which every choice mattered and the adventure was personal and memorable.

Perhaps the biggest strength of Mass Effect is its world-building. Everything makes sense, feels organic and believable. And though the shooting needed refinement it received in the future installments and the main antagonist and conflict scale were somewhat... introductionary, the game is still among the best RPG I can think of.

Mass Effect 2​ DLC Bundle​ Mastered, more than 100 hours, before 2014​. 10/10

I’ve completed Mass Effect 2 from start to finish more than 20 times and I felt like each playthrough was mine. ​There are few games that have attempted to take this

​​Mass Effect 3​ DLC Bundle​ Completed,  before 2016, 15-20 hours​. 8/10

Mass Effect 3 released in the time when Electronic Arts was negatively impacting the developers with demands to add multiplayer, microtransactions and turn games into service. Mass Effect was not the only franchise that got hurt because of that. Dragon Age, Battlefield, Dead Space – these franchises and more had a very hard time adjusting to the new demands of the publisher. As a result, Mass Effect 3 (despite having great talent and potential) turned out nowhere near as good as Mass Effect 2 and nowhere near as passionate and striking as the first one. ​ A lot of the choices made in Mass Effect 1 and 2 don’t end up changing much in the third game, many of the fan-favorite characters are reduced to a small appearance and often make you feel like the decisions you’ve taken were pointless. And on top of that, the pre-DLC story does not provide enough of a closure. Without the DLC, the game doesn’t deserve more than 7 out of 10. Thankfully, the downloadable content sets things right, gives more personal moments for the characters of the first two games and improves the ending as much as possible. ​ The gameplay suffered, too. Similar to Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3 combat just doesn’t feel as good as it used to in the second installment of each franchise and the online/co-op is intrusive, takes away from the experience especially if you play when the servers aren’t active.​ Mass Effect 3 had a nearly impossible task – it was supposed to resolve a conflict set up by two games which ideally would take more than one game to explore fully; it was supposed to be better than ME2 which I consider my favorite Western RPG of all time – unfortunately, Bioware could not make the game they wanted to make. That said, Mass Effect 3 still ended up being quite good. The DLC improve the experience and I’m sure if developers had not been forced to do multiplayer and had another year of development, maybe even waiting until PS4/Xbox One generation… then the game would have been perfect.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

GameCube

Metroid Prime​

Metroid Prime​ 2

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Pikmin​

Pikmin​ 2

Soulcalibur II

Nintendo 64

Yoshi's Story

Paper Mario 64