games

ok, disclaimer, these criticisms are only refreshed as far as my last playthrough, which was late 2023, so they may be half-remembered

CrossCode's level graph very much assumes you're champing at the bit to do a good chunk of the quests in each area before you move on (or an annoying amount of grinding), which–especially in the early game–can be a bit of a slog due to the amount of backtracking and/or fetching you have to do. The justifications I've heard for this is that it's supposed to be a part of the general satire of MMOs–however, if you make something that drags on purpose and I have to play it, I may or may not feel the purpose but I definitely feel the drag.

The bit after Red Area^TM^ and before Japan^TM^ honestly drags a little. I see the vision but it feels like it ballooned in scope relative to its importance to the story. Don't get me wrong, after Red Area^TM^ you absolutely need to have downtime, but I remember a bit before you get to the temples feeling like we should either be getting back into the plot action or at least be in another area by now, and then there's two temples. Cool idea, a bit much, especially on replay.

I think the puzzles are a design strength of the game, especially the final puzzle, but it very much constitutes a barrier to entry, especially the very long puzzles (including the final puzzle) where sometimes I just want to get back into the combat (the most fun part for me). It's more in retrospect that I like some of those longer puzzles.

I don't like the stealth sections at all. They're insta-room resets (annoying), and Lea feels too floaty to work with it. Her fluidity is great for combat but it just doesn't do precision. I'm glad that there's like, two in total, but I think they should have nixed it. CrossCode is a very active game, and IMO it thrives most when it allows you Metal Gear Rising/Sekiro levels of pure activity in gameplay. It's like if you were mid-Titanfall and they hit you with turn-based menu combat (shoot at options)–funny bit, kills the momentum, frustrating to control.

Lastly, platforming is generally fine but there are some bits where the isometric layering is poorly communicated, and it's rather frustrating when that happens. Also, I'm generally not the biggest fan of auto-jump platforming (currently first-timing Ocarina of Time so this is rather fresh) but it's implemented well-enough to not be annoying in a way that I remember.

your turn