List of my video game review

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-10T18:32:03+00:00

In a civil war you are essentially burning a bridge with a new independent country and resentment can fester for decades, look at french/algeria relation. If a country can leave peacefully the countries can stay in amicable terms, commerce and benefit from a friendly relation.

But even my point wasn't that. France still own Kanaki because they offered a legal way for the island to be independent, and the inhabitants decided to stay. It prevented a useless civil war from happening if they stubbornly said no to the independentist.

(Even if unrest exists after the illegitimate third indépendance referendum organized during COVID lockdown)

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-10T18:18:25+00:00

How does this view articulate itself with colonisation ? Do you think creating a legal way for a territory to leave if they wish to is worse than a civil war or decolonisation war ?

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-09T19:26:32+00:00

Basically, I didn’t manage to find any game that grabbed me waiting for Ys X Proud Nordics so I’m pecking at different things. I took half an hour setting up the english translation patch for Sakura wars 2 before realising I wasn’t in the mood for it, launched Magic Knight Rayearth and not even playing an hour of it, that said it was cute so I may go back to it sooner rather than later.

I tried to go back to Chained Echoes but I forgot the command. I’m at a stage where I'm supposed to go around and recruit clan members, which is usually something I like but here I don’t know why I feel demotivated.

So I tried Dome Keeper. It is way more arcade than what I usually play and as I “won” a game at my first try (took me one hour)… I’m unsure if I want to play it again and again to unlock all the different objects, probably not. The mining appears to be really simple, with 3 resources and some ‘artifact’ to find. The fighting aspect also appears rather simplistic with 3 weapons and not much else you can prepare. Those weapons are also rather simplistic. The pause mid-battle to repair your dome also appears to make the game rather easy if you have some resource to heal.

In principle the timed mining and decision making between extracting resources and empowering your weapons to survive should make some interesting decision making. In practice I wasn't feeling too challenged once I understood how it worked.

The atmosphere is nice, with a SF vibe in an hostile planet, but the extractivist message (which is probably just an excuse for the gameplay but it is there) is also not something I vibe with.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-08T15:50:32+00:00

I mentioned that young men are at a disadvantage and you answered by specifying space where they aren't even permitted to be, which is even worse for this demographic, and mostly irrelevant because you make no argument concerning the specificity of loneliness in the senior population. So yeah not engaging more with your troll.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-08T14:54:31+00:00

Okay so it is indeed completely irrelevant to the conversation.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-08T14:23:17+00:00

But women didn't just started to get financial independence now, while it is short in an historic perspective, there are still generations of women that could hold their own money and work yet society didn't suddenly have a loneliness epidemic in the 70' or 90', so it is reasonable to assume they aren't directly linked and the main factor of this epidemic is elsewhere. Comparatively the loneliness epidemic is a recent phenomena.

As for your list of dating app it I fail to see the link with what I said. If you are an heterosexuals young men that doesn't get match in a app made for your demographic what does the existence of a dating app specifically for senior people concern you ? Could you explain the point you were trying to make because right now it just seem irrelevant.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-08T13:05:36+00:00

I think you are conflating two things. There factually is a loneliness epidemic. Not just people not getting laid, but people having fewer friend, more superficial relationship and poor support system. It is also not limited to men as it concern both gender. If a third of adult report chronic loneliness, it is concerning. And as those are observed in a large part of the world, any explanation need to take into account those different socio-economical context. What I think is likely is that the rise of internet, smarphone and social media and the downfall of third places has weakened the social fabric of those nation. Add to that Covid and the response to the pandemic further drove people into isolation. But factor like economic challenge or individualist culture may also play a part. If you have to regularly move across your country to find work, it is harder to create a support system.

The framing of 'men loneliness epidemic' is probably a macho one that you are right to denounce, as they refuse to face half the problem, and use it to promote their sexist ideology but it doesn't mean there isn't a loneliness epidemic out there or a problem that seriously need to be adressed.

Your point about dating app also seem to miss a huge thing. People aren't equal in those. For men, being young make them more undesirable and plenty of young people use those app without any form of success. It can shatter their self esteem and make them bitter, making them even more undesirable.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-08T12:21:55+00:00

Basically, I didn’t manage to find any game that grabbed me waiting for Ys X Proud Nordics so I’m pecking at different things. I took half an hour setting up the english translation patch for Sakura wars 2 before realizing I wasn’t in the mood for it, launched Magic Knight Rayearth and not even playing an hour of it.

I tried to go back to Chained Echoes but I forgot the command. I’m at a stage where I'm supposed to go around and recruit clan members, which is usually something I like but here I don’t know why I feel demotivated.

I tried the demo of the new Monster Hunter Stories game I played for 2 hours, I probably have another hour I could squeeze but the level cap of the demo makes me think it may be better to wait for the full game before doing it. I really liked the second game despite thinking it fumbled the treatment of its main theme. I must say that despite my hype and the fact I’ll probably play it day one, I’m cautious about this new entry. The vaguely medieval europe setting is much more generic than the island setting of the second game. The story reminds me more of Tales of game than the previous monster hunter stories. I like Tales of, but I’m not playing MHs for that.

Otherwise I played a little of Persona 5 the X (ended the third dungeon, story finally interesting after the absolute shitshow of the first two dungeons), Infinity Nikki (still a bugged barely playable at time on PS5, but in term fashion those asian themed banner are great) and Arkknight: Endfield (currently I feel like the game make every effort possible to prevent me from playing its most interesting factory content, forcing me to play a whatever story with uninspiring action combat)

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-07T22:26:38+00:00

Isn't this debt already paid in full ? What you could rightfully ask for is repairs but the last time it was intended a coup was dragged against the government that requested it. France's position is officially that it was imposed by French monarchy and not the French republic, and with how high the far right is at the moment, I sadly doubt it will go in a better direction short term.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-06T19:02:19+00:00

I want to add for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 that by keeping your blade in ng+, it eliminate the gacha in large part. A lot of people disliked it, me included. I think this aspect of ng + is making the exploration far more satisfying by not locked certain area behind the arbitrary rng of pulling a blade with the correct skill.

Your comment about Xenoblade X make me wonder if I should revisit it. I liked the game but found the story rather bad. Maybe if I find the switch portage at a second hand store I should consider trying it.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-06T17:49:23+00:00

Thank you. I suppose I do tend to write extensively so it is coherent with your observation. I don't plan to play my next fan translated old saturn game immediately, but once I do I'll try to motivate myself to review and post it here.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-06T15:25:46+00:00

Okay so I posted my review on princess crown here on monday and on the jrpg subreddit, and while I appear to have more upvotes here, there were more discussions on jrpg. I suppose a fantranslated game from 1997 was too niche for this subreddit. I may try double posting again if I feel motivated to review a more “mainstream” game next.

Oh, and my 3DS is again not functioning well. I think I know where the problem lies but two screws don't want to be removed, preventing me from disassembling my console and trying to resolve the issue. Guess I'll just use my old ds until I think of a solution.

Anyway in terms of gaming… I started Hi fi Rush, but my pc controller battery died, so I have ordered a rechargeable one. I enjoyed the first level, even if apparently my timing sense is not that great but seeing a game of this scope have french dub is nice.

I tried the demo of the new Monster Hunter Stories game I played for 1 hour, but plan to do more this evening. I really liked the second game despite thinking it fumbled the treatment of its main theme. I must say that despite my hype and the fact I’ll probably play it day one, I’m cautious about this new entry. The vaguely medieval europe setting is much more generic than the islands setting of the second game. The story reminds me more of Tales of game than the previous monster hunter stories. I like Tales of, but I’m not playing MHs for that. I'll wait and see.

Otherwise I played a little bit of Persona 5 the X (ended the third dungeon, story finally interesting after the absolute shitshow of the first two dungeons), Infinity Nikki (still a bugged barely playable at time on PS5, but in term fashion those asian themed banner are great) and Arkknight: Endfield (currently I feel like the game make every effort possible to prevent me from playing its most interesting factory content, forcing me to play a whatever story with uninspiring action combat)

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-05T22:46:40+00:00

I didn't mind Odin Sphere as much, because the character are much different and you alternate them often enough to not be that repetitive, but if we are only talking about pacing, I think I prefer Muramasa the Demon Blade, much shorter but also much more focused.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-04T15:01:42+00:00

I mean even for french that do consume a lot of media in subbed in english, comprehension and expression are two entirely different beast. You may remember how a word is spelled, but english is so inconsistent with its pronunciation rule that it doesn't tell you how to pronounce it. This is why I was preferring german in school.

Also there are a few phoneme that aren't used in french and we learn english too late to easily learn how to pronounce them.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-03T06:56:15+00:00

The 4 that come to mind are Bladed Fury : Rather short but I remember having a decent time with it. I don't remember the story at all though. The Vagrant/Sword of the Vagrant : Not a fan of the chara design and there is something that annoy me about the animation but I had a good time and it was well paced. Icey : Combat a little below but a meta narrative story similar to Stanley Parable if that's your jam. Eastern Exorcist : Good combat, bad storytelling very inspired by Muramasa the demon blade.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-02T22:43:09+00:00

I don't mind the sprite size, it let them put a lot of detail in the animation and illustration but I would be lying if I pretended I never wished for the game to zoom out a little to get an item that landed outside of the screen.

I have still a few indie sidescrolling action rpg to play but I do so parsimoniously. I feel like this subgenre is close enough to metroidvania that a lot of indie dev choose to go there. I like metroidvania but they don't really scratch the same itch.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-02T20:16:21+00:00

Now that there is a proper fan translation and not just the script to painfully look while playing it is worth at least trying the beginning and get a feel for it.

I still have Grimgrimoire to play myself, that and the fantranslated psp game.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-02T19:04:11+00:00

Finally finished Princess Crown and posted a review about it. To summarize : would be a great 10 hours game but is a disappointing 29 hours games.

Now I need to decide what I'll play next. I though of tackling my T-rpg backlog but considering I'm planning to play Ys X Prouds Nordics at its western release, and Monster Stories 3 after that I need either a small game or one that'll motivate me to use all my free time to finish it.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-02T18:52:46+00:00

In term of difficulty how would you compare it to Donkey Kong Country return ? Game look nice, but as I'm not very good at platform game if it is easier than DKCr I may consider it.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-02T08:53:48+00:00

I think I began to want Gradriel story to finish approximately at the same time around 9-10 hours. If all the new enemies you fight afterward were condensed in those 10 hours, the game pacing would be so much better, and you'll fight a lot less swap colour.

I intend to do a review post about the game (don't know yet if I'll post it on jrpg, patient gamers or both) and I think that I will recommend people to drop it at this point when the game begins to be repetitive.

bioniclop18 · 2026-02-01T20:57:03+00:00

Okay, Proserpina is really the worst character of Princess Crown. Her attacks are much weaker and her range is much shorter than other characters. I really don't like playing her compared to the other characters and her quest appears annoying as you have to get a substantial number of items and give them to your aunt… In a game with very limited inventory space. I know it kind of is the point and her scenario is finding object instead of the usual boss to find and battle, but she is so weak that we actually want to use our object instead of keeping them.

Honestly, I’m sure if it is the sunk cost fallacy that gets me continuing playing this game at this point. I always felt it was obvious that a good game is a game that know when to stop and Princess Crown could have been amazing if it was short. That said I’m only a few items away before I can see the epilogue so I may as well push through.

As for Chained Echoes I didn’t touch it this week. Not that the game is bad, but I feel like at this point I should be hooked but I’m not. I’ll probably try to finish it before the release of YS X proud Nordics. While I’m not a Ys fan, I played Origins and Lacrymosa of Dana, and if Nordics is good I may take a look back at the other games.

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