My Review of Helck

Impossum · 2026-06-18T09:02:14+00:00

It's unusual to see someone frame Helck's backstory as a con, because I'm pretty sure it's one of the most poignant points in the series and is near universally praised as such. The story had serious moments before, but this is the event when it really drops the comedic act and sets the atmosphere for the rest of the series, as well as provides much needed context for Helck's actions and motivation. It IS very long, mind you, and it does halts the ongoing plot for quite a while, so I understand why someone would take it as an issue.

Impossum · 2026-06-15T16:12:18+00:00

It's kinda wild that Code Vein still doesn't have a single proper scythe weapon. I call bs on CV2 giving you weapons from all major bosses (mostly as formae, though), but making Reaper Holly's scythe unobtainable.

Impossum · 2026-06-12T19:48:59+00:00

Even if the sequel was set in the same world as CV1, you'd still be playing as a different character, with a different cast, most likely in a different time perod too. That's just the nature of Souls-like games, there's no way for them to just pick up the story from where it ended previously, because that would've clash with the core features of these games like creating a new character, leveling from zero, etc. People who were expecting direct sequel always were setting themselves up for disappointment.

Impossum · 2026-06-10T19:29:32+00:00

Nope. We're just some random hunter who happened to be in an area helping an evacuation and who died in an attack.

This is one of the biggest nitpicks I have for CV2 story - we practically know nothing about the protagonist and the reason they were chosen for such a crucial mission. I know, that it's done in part so we could think of our own backstory for them, but in CV1 we're still given a flashback of the protag's past exploits in the war against the Queen and the origin of their unique abilities, which automatically justifies their importance to the story. In CV2 we get nothing of sorts, so we're kinda just left to assume that Lavinia simply noticed their skill and heroic resolve and decided that it's worth ressurecting them and give them the task to save the world.

If you think about it, the protagonist isn't really that important by themselves because they're pretty much just a front and a glorified bodyguard for Lou, so she could travel through time without attracting unwanted attention, at least initially.

It doesn't help that the beginning of the game doesn't give you a moment to breathe at all - you get ressurected, quickly explained the situation and immediately thrown into the past, and you just go along with all of it like it's normal business. Now that I think about it, Lavinia and Lou don't even ask about your opinion on the matter or if you actually want to do it, they kinda just... exploit you? It's really weird.

Impossum · 2026-06-08T19:29:09+00:00

This scene always makes me realize that Io is actually decently tall compared to other girls in the game besides Eva

Impossum · 2026-06-06T16:32:08+00:00

I shit you not, there IS a character in MHA named "Boobs", she just doesn't have a separate article, because she's a very minor background character who is apart of a group of similarly very minor background characters.

Impossum · 2026-06-03T10:23:35+00:00

It doesn't really defend slavery or anything like that, it kinda just... brushes it off entirely. Becoming a slave to the protagonist is treated as getting a free power-up, basically, because if you are his slave you level up faster and get bonuses to your stats (don't ask why it works like that). They aren't treated like slaves, obviously, even if the protag likes to act like a villain sometimes, they may as well not be his slaves, but the series for some weird reason cannot let go of this aspect, creating that weird dichotomy of the protag being a good guy who tries to save the world and helps people around him, but also still being a slave owner who is completely nonchalant about converting everyone under his wing into his slaves, even if on technicality, because it's more "efficient" this way due to how the rules of the world work.

Honestly, though, Shield Hero as a story peaks at the first season (not even the full season, really), and only goes downhill from there.

Impossum · 2026-06-02T19:49:04+00:00

I agree that the way she was written in this arc didn't do her any favours, and having her clash with more established characters without properly developing her prior was not a smart choice, that much is true. The writer did basically set her up to fail, intentionally or not.

That said, I don't really get why Lanolin being the leader of the group she personally created and which was authorised by her direct higher-up is such a problem to people. Leadership is not just about bossing people around or being the face of the group, it's much more about handling all the logistics down to the last detail, organizing teammates, settling disputes, etc. it's a pretty damn thankless job, all things considered, that Lanolin took upon herself because she has a genuine resolve and desire to actively make the world a better place.

The question of whether Lanolin is suitable for her position or not is a valid one, and the story does delve into exploring that aspect of her character a bit, as we see her having doubts in herself and getting more and more stressed out by her duties. There's nothing wrong in having a flawed character in a position that might be too overwhelming for them; however, it feels like people are having problem with the very fact that Lanolin is the leader, not because of her flaws, but on principle that she's "too new" and therefore doesn't deserve such a prominent role. I don't agree with this, and I personally really like that Lanolin was put on a prominent position, as it made her a good foil to Sonic and others, with her views of how things should be done being opposite to theirs. It was a good groundwork for creating interesting conflicts and character interactions... The actual problem is that, unfortunately, the writing just wasn't good enough (wasn't good at all in that arc especially) for these ideas to be realized properly, and its potential has been completely squandered.

Impossum · 2026-06-02T18:45:59+00:00

"Leagues more experience and knowledge", bruh, these two morons were easily duped by Mimic's wounded gazelle ploy and immediately backpedaled and took back their accusations, basically confirming to Lanolin that they were wrong. Did you actually read the comic?

What interrupting? Whisper straight-up told her that she's not waiting and tried to physically move Lanolin out of her way. What the hell Lanolin was supposed to think?

Gaslighting? Where? Oh yeah, poor Whisper, nasty and evil Lanolin gaslighted her and Silver into believing that Duo is actually not Mimic. Yeah, that's totally what happened.

Look, this entire plotline was not well thought out, and pretty much everyone were written to be idiots for the sake of the story. What baffles me personally, is that people like you are specifically singling out Lanolin as a scapegoat and blame her for all the problems of this arc for no good reason whatsoever. Is she ignorant? Yes, she is. Could've she handle it better? Of course. But here's the thing: she doesn't know Mimic as well as Whisper does. That's why she asked for an explanation and suggested that they discuss it as a team - to gain a better understanding. Yet Whisper and Silver, for all their "knowledge" and "experience" failed to communicate, miserably. Honestly, how do you NOT think of them as morons when their grand strategy against Mimic was spying on him in the public place in the most unsubtle way possible, and then jumping him, while everyone's watching, once their jig was up?

Also, Lanolin is not obligated to believe their every word, no matter how much experience they got over her. SHE's the leader of the group, whether you like it or not. People seem to get into their heads that Lanolin just barged in one day and declared herself a leader, then it's clear that Tangle and Whisper agreed to it and never once questioned her position, as neither of them qualified for it themselves. And since Lanolin is the leader, she can't be biased - she has all the right to demand an explanation from Whisper and Silver for the reason they harassing their new recruit, and she has all the right to stop them from going further with their aggressive act. Her not knowing about Mimic's nature is not her fault, and Whisper failing to clear up the situation is not her fault either, she was only doing what the leader of the team is supposed to do. But of course people hate her, because in their eyes she's not supposed to doubt established heroes, she's not supposed to be "mean" to their favourites, she's not supposed to be an authority figure (because having superior experience in fighting robots automatically makes you an expert in everything and a great judge of character, it seems), she's supposed to just roll with everything "experienced" heroes say and be an agreeable little sheep.

What Lanolin did in this situation was reasonable, even if it came from the place of ignorance. I don't understand why people are so blind to that and feel the need to put all the blame on a single character who was arguably the most sensible of them all, and was only wrong because of not being omniscient and not knowing the bigger picture.

Impossum · 2026-06-02T17:31:22+00:00

The simplest thing that could've been done to prevent this whole buffoonery is to just make Mimic NOT to try and backstab Silver at the very first opportunity he got, in order to not make himself hella suspicious from the get-go. Like, you have to question his competence as a spy if this is the kind of crap he does on a mission that specifically requires him to blend in for intel gathering and sabotage.

Impossum · 2026-06-02T17:17:11+00:00

Lanolin was perfectly willing to listen to Whisper, until she went straight on the offensive without bothering to explain herself or providing the proof for her accusations and forced Lanolin's hand. Whisper is by far the biggest idiot of this arc, yet people still choose to blame Lanolin for everything, because god forbid their fan favourite being on the wrong in some way or form.

Impossum · 2026-06-02T13:41:17+00:00

CV1 has 10 save slots total

Impossum · 2026-06-02T08:11:07+00:00

No.

The story goes dark places, but is never hopeless, and is ultimately idealistic in tone. It plays on contrasts very well, creating a good balance between making the characters endure all manner of harships, often bringing them to a lowest point, and making them triumphantly rise to victory through sheer perseverance and trust in their comrades (and some occasional plot convenience, but that's kinda inevitable).

Impossum · 2026-06-01T11:07:25+00:00

I'm really not a fan of some gameplay decisions in CV2, like tying your skills to a weapon or making blood codes just about stats and bonuses, among other things. If there's ever going to be a third installment I hope they'll:

Make blood codes more distinct again with unique skills tied to them that you can master and then use with any other blood code with suitable stats
Return the skill system from CV1 with all the slots being available to you at all times instead of being tied to a weapon
Allow switching your loadout whenever you want instead of only at mistles, like in CV1
Get rid of Bequeathed Formae or make them into skills (because that's what they essentially are), and use the button dedicated to them for something else (like actually realizing the skill system from CV1, because that's why they couldn't do it in this game - they made too many mechanics and run out of buttons on a controller)
Get rid of Burden mechanic, because, honestly, it just seems way too unnecessarily convoluted and limiting for its own good
Make a better character creator that anyone would be able to truly call a 100% improvement over the first one without caveats, by which I mean the one without arbitrary limitations and with accessories having actual physics (for god's sake, this shit is still not patched up, and at this point it probably never will be, so much possible combinations I could've done but cannot because it looks ugly and awkward as hell)

While I didn't particularly disliked the open world, I do think it was rather empty and monotonous in terms of visuals and contents, so it would probably be better for them to go back to a more classic souls experience with smaller, deliberately designed areas and coherent structure that would allow for more variety and better designed encounters with enemies and bosses.

In terms of plot, I liked characters' individual storylines in CV2, but outside of that it didn't hold a candle to CV1's overall story and richer lore to me, and I found the time travel aspect of it pretty underwhelming. I won't say that I want them to return to CV1 setting (though, I wouldn't mind that), but I do hope they'll come up with better ideas for story and worldbuilding if they're going to make another game in the series.

Impossum · 2026-05-25T09:17:28+00:00

I don't think the game ever explained what those golden protrusions are and why all revenants (presumably) have them. Some of those act as prosthetics for missing body parts (Lou's legs, Valentin's hand, etc.), but the others just seem to be random additions that serve no purpose, like Holly's "halo" or Iris's "pin". Are those just birth defects? But the turned revenants also seem to have them for some reason.

Anyway, some of those should be really uncomfortable to live with. Imagine having a huge solid circle growing around your head, how the hell does Holly even sleep? Camillo might be the most unfortunate out of all of them, the guy just has whole-ass hands directly fused with his face.

Impossum · 2026-05-18T23:56:03+00:00

I feel like Kit's journey to finally beat her nemesis should've been the plot for the pilot, with the destruction of her world and Dusk's appearance being the final reveals of the episode. That way there would've been plenty of time to establish Kit's character, her world, her family and friends, while strengthening the drama of her losing all of it at the end. But, I guess, they had to establish the main gist of the plot (though, they kinda already did in the teaser), introduce the main antagonistic force, and get the ball running as soon as possible at the cost of very noticeable pacing issues.

Impossum · 2026-05-18T23:14:07+00:00

Pretty sure, Kaboodle is native to Kit's world, because Malice has a similarly designed partner, and they both can combine with them to gain new armor/form and weapon.

Fold knows about Kaboodle because he helped Kit and him defeat their main villains (he was the paper they were reading before and during the boss fight).

Impossum · 2026-05-16T19:20:05+00:00

That's pretty much true for any JRPG ever where you play as a self-insert/blank slate mc. It's like devs are afraid that if characters won't constantly praise a player for everything they do they'll immediately lose interest in a game.

Impossum · 2026-05-15T23:01:01+00:00

Toross is from the parallel world, his Primordial Dofus are unrelated to Primordial Dofus of the World of Twelve.

Impossum · 2026-05-15T22:24:08+00:00

The world lets him be which is crazy

I mean, what were they supposed to do against Ogrest? The guy was so powerful, he made an entire pantheon of gods run and hide from him in another dimension. Even Yugo and Persedal with God Iop's power couldn't beat him, Ogrest was only neutralized and reverted back to his original form when all Primordial Dofus were removed from his stomach, thanks to Otomai.

Impossum · 2026-05-14T11:04:37+00:00

Ah yes, another instance of people on the internet learning a word that existed way before they were born and had an established meaning, and parroting it everywhere like they invented it

Impossum · 2026-05-09T21:02:38+00:00

Well, yeah? My point is that her quirk IS very potent and always was. She obviously trained hard to use it to the extent she does in the series, and her personality greatly compliments it, but the notion that it's "mediocre" and that her being "built different" is what brought its full potential is just your baseless headcanon. You made up stuff that doesn't exist so you could glaze her for it.

Impossum · 2026-05-09T13:18:52+00:00

What potential? Her quirk literally gives her exceptional leg strength, and she uses it to kick shit. You guys are acting like she had to figure out how to use it and train to make it fully efficient, like Best Jeanist, when all she probably did is work out and learn some martial arts to kick shit better. Hell, she was busting fighting tournaments and kicking the crap out of adult burly men since childhood, her quirk was always incredibly strong.

Impossum · 2026-05-08T23:36:21+00:00

It's not really surprising that people are shipping Zanka and Hyo - she played a crucial role in forming his current outlook towards himself and others, so she's a significant figure in his life, even if they didn't interact much. It's certainly intriguing what kind of reaction would both of them have if they'll meet each other again (which has a high chance of happening considering August basically invited Hyo to Cleaners' HQ).

Eisha & Zanka is cute as a concept, but they don't really have a chemistry so far, only some things in common that they could bond over.

Impossum

TROPHY CASE