u/Inkspells

Thoughts on this video?

I played quite a bit of New Horizons when it first came out, when the new update dropped I decided to check it out again. The new update finally solidfied my biggest issue when it comes to New Horizons compared to older titles in the series. It's not necessarily extreme customization that we have now or anything like that that is causing me to not having much love for this game as I do for many others in the series.

What it's missing is it's grungy factor. When the new hotel update dropped, it felt like Tom Nooks corporation was taking over my beloved characters in the Kappas/ that I had realized that I was secretly working for Corporation this whole time. Which just kind of feels like it goes against the spirit of the series but also the spirit of what was originally within these games there was always a bit of grunginess or a little bit of old timey feeling. The realism feeling. Thats whynthe villagers are boring, they are corporate drones now.

I don't know how to describe the specific charm older Animal Crossing games had, a charm like a bit of a small town, we don't got to have money kind vibe, within the actual designs of buildings and things like that. While Everything in New Horizons feel too clean, too new, carbon copy vibe like a company town, which is what it is I guess, its Nook's company town. It's weird because some of the critiques I have with modern movies are now within the Animal Crossing game, too sanitized too corporate, too clean. It just feels off and it's off in a way that I have trouble describing but I just miss the kind of like grungy imperfect feeling of all the buildings and characters, just the grounded feeling the older titles having is completely absent from New Horizons it has been since the beginning.

I haven't really been able to articulate that until now. I'm not sure if it's really makes sense but let me know your thoughts. There is a lot of features I like from New Horizons, but it feels like its soul is missing.

I started my Fire Emblem journey years ago with Three Houses. I have played since Awakening, Fates, Echoes, Sacred Stones, and Genealogy of the Holy War. I played a few hrs of Engage before dropping it because it was boring. I didn't find the gameplay special at all and no Map has wowed me like Genealogy of Holy Wars's maps do. Maybe its because im not a tryhard who wants to play 700hrs on maps to prove i'm a "ultra-good gamer". I thought the rings were stupid af and I don't find the addition of the weapon triangle again to be anything special.

The story of Engage is abysmal and I don't understand how people say its a return to classic Fire Emblem, because every older title I play has a better story, more engaging characters and setting than anything Engage offers. I don't get how Engage seems to dodge criticism because everyone LOVES to shit on Three Houses for some reason. People say oh the story is not as bad as Fates, which I disagree because I actually remember characters from Fates unlike with Engage, and its story is on Par with most Fire Emblem games (then again I wasn't in the community when it felt like a bait and switch). I don't know, it just seems like Engage doesn't get the criticism it deserves because some people are gaga over the maps. Maybe its because I actually need to be invested to want to continue playing a game, and others can play a boring ass game for one element of it.

I don't know why, I wish I could like Engage but I just find it so mediocre in every metric. I found everything that Three Houses, Awakening, Fates, Echoes, Sacred Stones, and Genealogy of the Holy War to be better than anything Engage has to offer.