Mysticallis Methadology for Scoring Video Games

This one's a simple post. For a long time I have continued to produce reviews and opinion pieces in writing at various platforms in different media in various time periods using various methods.

A large number of such analysis involved video games, a medium I enjoy to an incredible extent. 

After years of doing that, I was able to devise a simple solution to create an adequate scoring method.

Now let's be clear. A number does not represent a video game but a number helps you classify it in your opinion on various levels while comparing a product to its own prequels or similar products of the genre. It's more important to judge individual aspects of the product.

Moreso, a number also provides an easy way to communicate the quality of product to a layman or a friend or a person being invited to try it out. It's in my opinion completely fair to have such an outlook while not getting bitchy about it. 

So here's how at Mysticallis we are going to analyse the video games and build up the final number.

There will be in general these elements to discuss in the games. 

Graphics/art style 

Gameplay

Sound and Audio Score

Story & Characters

Replayability

Each shall carry 10 points in total. 

For certain games which focus on some particular aspects more than the other, the distribution of points may be fractionally distributed or a category omitted entirely and that will be notified and explained in that particular review.

As an example, if there is a game for example that has no story and its just a game where gameplay is important, there story category may be ommited entirely. 

After (to a certain degree) objectively analysing these categories, the final review score will be calculated.

To this calculation one more Set of 10 points will be added as a balancing out of how the reviewer overall subjectively estimates the score should be.

Thus all these scores are calculated by adding them up and taking an average out of them using the simple mean method. 

The Final Score is thus that Average.

Apart from this. If a game is good enough to achieve a 10 category. 

The Final review score will have a subjective grade attached to it as a mark of where does the author feels this 10 lie in brilliance.

These grades are as follows. 

Ruby 

Emerald

Diamond

Sapphire

Gold

Silver

More grades may be added to further categorize as the policy seems fit with time. 

Defining Guidelines of various Categories

This section discusses what will be generally discussed in each of the categories. 

Graphics/Artstyle: do not expect the reviewer to go into super technical details of new technologies and implementations of graphics. This isn't the kind of channel to do that and nor does the reviewer have right credentials for it unless otherwise. Go watch Digital Foundary or something for that stuff. 

A general evaluation will be given in terms of how pretty they look. Where they stand among current gen of games and possible longevity. 

Similarly the game does not need to have graphics that are triple A. Some games have less technical prowess but a brilliant art style. And the score may vary on how brilliant that art style is judged to be and its longevity and freshness. 

Gameplay: again an objective discussion may be done on the various aspects of gameplay and how the gameplay fits the game. 

Various systems involved or affecting the main gameplay may be commented on. 

A general performance analysis may be given. 

A general comparison to other similar kinds of gameplay in the genre or in previous similar games may be done. 

Sound /Musical Score: How well the musical score is perceived. How catchy it is or how it fits an atmosphere and how it has been utilized. All that may be discussed in conjunction to sound design and effects work. Again no necessary technical details unless a reviewer mentions credentials or sources for such a detail otherwise. 

Story/Characters: This may end up being the most detailed segments. With the reviewers interest in writing and Rpg, the plot may be analyzed in detail and compared to past examples and similar attempts on similar stories. 

How the characters are, how there arcs are and how strongly they present themselves and thus are written and the general note on writing may all be discussed. 

Replayability: Now this is only an estimate judging all other variables and again can be be subjectively biased to a degree. But opinions may be given judging various trends. This category may not be included in many games but will be a defining feature of a time tested classic. 

Hopefully this will be able to even out a fair number for an arbitrary score that's often used to judge and categorize a game. In the end again, what the general opinion is about the game in lieu of its goods and bads and its flaws, these are the most important factor to truly base a judgment in the game.

Good Luck & Enjoy. 

An Analysing Mystic 

Tales of Arise: Early Impressions

Tales of Arise

Oh how long have I waited for this game.

I remember my excitement at its reveal and my frustration counting the days till it would get a release date. 

Little did I know but that I would by the time of launch actually be able to pre order it and play it and have first impressions with everyone about what a solid game it is.

My history with Tales series goes back till Phantasia and this JRPG series is closer to my heart than any other. I have played almost all of the main ones, relished in their ups aswell as their downs and have been utterly addicted to the battle system everytime a new game came about trying to master its ins and outs.

Now while time due to various responsibilities at my age may be limited, I have literally struggled to make every minute to play this game and am enjoying every second of it. 

But what is my impression overall of this Tales game?

While it's too soon to say that where the game may stand in the list of my favorite Tales overall as well as gameplay and plot wise, It would also be going too far to call it an evolution. 

Tales of Arise is rather a perfection.

The perfection of an evolution in style and design it introduced about a decade ago in Xillia.

For me I've felt the Zestiria DNA the most prominent in this game but that does not mean in a bad way considering how for many fans Zestiria remains a sore point of discussion. Yet it would simply be childish to deny that it had no potential! Rather Zestiria was taking up many challenges in scope and its finally here today that they are being fully realized.

The Battle system is literally Berseria's but much more improved in style and balance and after about 12h of gameplay and entering the land of green, Elde Menancia, it is quite clear that finally the boss battles have been turned many notches up and are really well crafted. 

Ofcourse the default controller scheme was a bit weird with the attack button on R1. But shifting dodge to R1 and jump to R2 and Attack to circle really made it click. It's fast,it's flashy and it's incredibly addictive even at 30fps that sadly I have to experience with being limited on the old generation of machines but honestly, the game is so well engineered that I don't miss it as much as when Zestiria had made that switch or when Symphonia on PC and PS3 had done that. Even in tense effect exploding moments the game manages to remain very stable. All in all they seem to have perfected the battle system changes they had been trying to make since Graces and Zestiria.

The music so far for me has been beautiful and grand and the orchestration really makes it shine but while there may be some solid bangers in there, I haven't yet found one that really remains in memory like many of the past Tales games. But it all comes together to make a very atmospheric experience.

The design of dungeons and zone fields behind the veneer of incredible graphics is still pretty much the same as what we've had in the past 5 mainline Tales. But atleast this time they made effort to introduce some forms of going back and forth and flicking switches like we did in Symphonia to Vesperia as a form of puzzle. But really the new openness there is very enjoyable. It keeps things incredibly comfortable. 

The skit system is something I still have incredible gripes with. I can appreciate what they are trying to do with the manga or visual novel style, something that Lost Odyssey had implemented a lot in its cutscenes but honestly I miss the old Tales style. This one I've personally found to be a little irritating, slow and stilted and it slows the game down loading in and out (an issue probably only on old gen of machines).

The characters are pretty great and well fleshed out and it's incredible how well their costumes are designed and how they gel with the art. Can't wait for the whole party to get together to have some banger comedy on the way to exterminate Renan Lords.

The Graphics and Art Style meanwhile are the greatest champion of this game. This one factor of the game is a genuine evolution that for many manages to hide the old design format of the previous games.

The painterly water color backdrop is always astounding to look at. Every texture looks great and it seems like the game with this kind of look will stand the rest of time much much better than the few past Tales games we've had. I cannot say if it will be as ever green as the cell shaded Vesperia though. But yes I cannot help snapping screens of this game every other minute. 

And here is where my greatest gripe exists. 

With a Game that looks this beautiful, and keeping in mind the trends for this whole generation, I'm amazed this game did not come with a dedicated Photo Mode. Honestly Bamco, I'll even pay for this photo mode, just make it happen somehow!

Similarly one of the biggest irritants on screen for me in the way of lush beauty of every area and taking in the atmosphere of this game is the minimap that just remains static as an ugly blip on the side of the screen and honestly I don't even make use of it here much. It's really just a squashed mosquito on the windshield here. I just press the Square to pop up the full map and voila for me that's enough to find my way.

BAMCO please introduce an option in the setting to turn this blip off.

But these are the only gripes I have in particular with this game. 

Thus with these overall first impressions I can only say that TALES OF ARISE is as much a Tales game as there can be. It retains its charms, it does not make any drastic changes to the formula to remove what was good about it. Its fun, addictive and really well plotted and it's a stunningly beautiful and incredibly addictive game that's a must play!

I cannot wait to finish this journey to the end and do it all over again!

THANK YOU BAMCO FOR THIS INCREDIBLE Experience. 

The Excited Mystic. 

The Perfect Endings: Fruits Basket

The perfect endings are the one that you expect but they still elude you on the margins of surety and they pierce through your hearts once unveiled and make the goodbye all the more unforgettable and difficult.

The Perfect endings are the ones that truly resolve everything the character and world had to offer and make you move forward in your own life along with its characters.

The Perfect endings are the ones that make the pain of parting stay in your heart making one unable to return to the journey once more from the beginning; all the while truly concluding every story the journey had to offer.

The Perfect endings in essence do not exist in isolation. They depend on each and every moment, the eb and flow of the plot and the conflicts within and between the characters. And thus it is why they teeter at the edge of the viewers imagination.

It is rare to find such painfully happy yet sweetly grim endings. A unity in existence; an infinity ; a perfection.

Personally I am at a loss of words as for days my mind mulls in memory and my heart throbs in dull pain that tightens my chest in dyspneac exacerbations from anxiety and depression of the loss while my amygdala & accumbens rejoice in the hormonal release of pleasure at such a perfection as Fruits Basket has provided me with.

The new Fruits Basket show is almost always on rising streak of triumph with every passing moment as it never fails to create the perfect contrast in its darkest moments with light and vice versa. It's characters are themes themselves that can span pages of discussions. But what perhaps  most successfully it pulls off is the ending.

My mind delves into the emotional web I have left behind and leaves me with few words even though I delve now into a spoiler heavy territory of discussion.
The shows most important theme is likely coming to terms with the fragility and vincibility of bonds that connect one to the past and moving on refreshing those bonds in newer ways. In shape of Akito, it presented that perfectly; a child not ready to move on and thus ending up driving everyone  around them into a pit of emotional abuse, regret, depression & loneliness turning those bonds into chains of imprisonment and torment.

 

Contrasting with her was Tohru who ended up providing the guiding light to all the twelve zodiac members helping them finding comfort and grow up from what held them back even though they had desperately tried before and lost hope of all odds of ever being able to. Tohru ends up as a character who despite her own weaknesses provides a hand of companionship and relief for those lost in their darkness.

Perhaps the pinnacle of this was Kyo who had even lost hope of dreaming a future or escaping a terrible fate. Plaguing Kyo was not just the despair and loneliness but loss of self worth from the constant rejection of the world and the only people he could place his trust on. Coupled with that was the self blaming attitude that had become a poison in even accepting anything good when it came his way. Kyo's tale highlights the terrible fate the world passes on those it rejects and shame them for being different despite having no control over it. There is much more than this in the philosophy that highlights how sensitively the show handles Kyo's character. It is definitely an ugly truth how many in the world when oppressed try to find those even more oppressed just to sate their inner worth.

Saving Kyo from this cruel punishment of the world was definitely a nigh impossible job.

But it is not a tale that ends as simply as that.
Each character of Fruits Basket is a larger than life theme on itself. Weather it be Yuki hiding his fragile emotions & weaknesses in the burden of perfection the world built on him for his outward appearance and status or Momiji or many of the other zodiac children rejected by their parents unable to deal with the pain and horror of having a child possessed by a soul of another spirit.

Apart from them were the other characters in Tohru's life such as the wave girl Hanajima or the gangster girl Arusa Uotani, each with their own past and thus each with their own fitting resolutions.

Not to make this inadequate discussion any longer, it is afterall simply to impress upon a very slight impression of how strongly and carefully Fruits Basket handles each of its character threads and brings a fitting end to the overarching narrative. With a cast this complex, most tales fall short of achieving the grand promises they start off with yet Fruits Basket goes from triumph to triumph.

It might be fitting to say that Fruits Basket is one of the greatest Shows ever made and one of the finest stories ever told and that its a conundrum that its difficult and yet easy at the same time to say goodbye to the world & characters that inhabited my very soul for a few days of its marathon run.

Thus the greatest credit indeed goes to its masterfully concluded ending.
Indeed while there is much to say and it's very bittersweet but it is a fitting time to say.

Sayonara.

The weeping Mystic.

Edited on September 12th of 2021: Fixed Kyo's spelling mistake. 

In the Wind: A Lonely Whisper

A wind rose one day from a place. Not all winds are beginnings of Wheel of Time. Yet this was certainly a beginning.

The wind rushed through empty shores and whistled through crowded cities and rumbled in the huge clouds of dust in scorching deserts of ice as well as sand.

The wind heard many whispers as it whisked through many a hair or ruffled through many leaves hanging young on the trees or lying crumpled on abandoned paths. 

Still there was something very particularly strange. There was a whisper lonely in its passage. It was a lonely among the lonely and it was indeed very strangely lonely. Perhaps one would not understand it. It is after all the tongue of a mystic and many whispers are not for all minds to conceive and comprehend. 

It's as cliche a fact as saying every blade has two sides.

Yet whichever has the edge will bite.

A heart needs a heart. A word needs a word of reply. A day needs a night. Every thing has a unity in pairs. 

Yet this was a lonely whisper.

What was its tale?

Indeed it is time. 

Time to be begin the search of that reason and that unity.

Time to hear the strange tales and ponder the secrets revealed in this whisper. 

Only once u have the question will u understand the answer.

Sayonara! 

A mystic around your heart