Well_known_bear's recent activity
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Comment on What game is your personal "Silksong"? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentI'm actually not that far in either due to Silksong, but the story seems interesting so far. Once you get past the intro, the game lets you play different routes from each character's point of...I'm actually not that far in either due to Silksong, but the story seems interesting so far.
Once you get past the intro, the game lets you play different routes from each character's point of view using the usual VN flowchart interface, so there are a lot of 'aha, he's the guy they mentioned in that other route!' and 'oh, so that's why this person did that' moments as you see things from a different perspective. I kind of dig it.
Howlongtobeat says it's only around 10 hours long, so it sounds like it's decently paced as well. That certainly lines up with my experience so far with the individual routes being pretty short.
Gameplay-wise, it's pretty much your standard VN. The camera stuff is neat (and it's already gotten me with the jump scares), but really the bulk of it is just reading - especially the copious volume of notes that give the background about the characters, folklore and setting. I'm interested in all of that (particularly love the Showa-retro Japan setting) but I can imagine it being a bit much for someone who isn't.
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Comment on What game is your personal "Silksong"? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkSuper Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Back in ye olden days before the internet really took off, gaming news mostly came through a slow drip feed of reporting from monthly...Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Back in ye olden days before the internet really took off, gaming news mostly came through a slow drip feed of reporting from monthly gaming magazines that we'd repeatedly read cover to cover (despite most of it being ads), so it was easy to let your imagination run wild about what a game would be like just from a couple of grainy preview screenshots and sketchy rumours. Needless to say, the actual games frequently did not live up to those dreams!
These two games both had a lengthy development process (the latter often being cited as the origin of the 'delayed game' quote apocryphally attributed to Miyamoto, although I believe he did say something similar) which was closely reported on, and together with the hype for the launch of the Nintendo 64 (it's twice as big as the number for the PSX! It has to be good!) and the shift to 3D, expectations were very high.
You all know how the story turned out. Both turned out to be timeless classics that played like nothing else at the time, giving rise to mechanisms like the 3D camera and Z-targeting which are still used today.
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Comment on Will an AI actress really become ‘the next Scarlett Johansson’? in ~movies
Well_known_bear Link ParentIn the same vein, the AI vtuber Neuro-sama also has a following. Given how willing humans are to form attachments even to LLMs (see also all the recent stories of people confiding in and taking...In the same vein, the AI vtuber Neuro-sama also has a following.
Given how willing humans are to form attachments even to LLMs (see also all the recent stories of people confiding in and taking advice from ChatGPT), it definitely feels too early to rule out an AI actor also taking off.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkHollow Knight Decided to give this another try and got to the regular ending pretty quickly. The runbacks and maps were the reason I first bounced off years ago, and they remain the only things I...Hollow Knight
Decided to give this another try and got to the regular ending pretty quickly.
The runbacks and maps were the reason I first bounced off years ago, and they remain the only things I don't like about this game. Everything else is great.
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Boss runbacks aren't too bad. Once you pick up the basic mobility moves, it's generally pretty easy (albeit still dull) to get back to the boss at full health.
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Corpse runbacks are more annoying.
Unlike in Dark Souls, you can't just empty your pockets at every bonfire and ignore this mechanic. There are ways to mitigate loss / move your corpse, and in principle you could just keep running back to the shop as soon as you can afford something, but those all require you to leave whatever you're doing and go somewhere else, so it's really just a different kind of flow-breaking runback.
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I do understand what they were going for with the map system (i.e. making exploring with no guidance the default whenever you're in new territory), but the implementation just feels kind of clunky. If I missed a turn-off because the map didn't get updated in real time, I'm just going to come back once I get to a bench and the map does get updated. Hiding the map or my position on it does nothing to make the game more interesting or challenging other than the initial challenge of finding the map guy in each area (which I actually do like). Why not have the map / compass be automatic for the area once I've obtained the map? Heck, even an additional compass item per area like in Zelda to show my location and the other icons would be fine.
Other thoughts:
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The difficulty for the bosses felt very reasonable throughout. They all have a pretty limited moveset that is easy to read and punish, and none of them hit as hard as soulslike bosses. Being able to heal after getting a few good hits in also feels great and creates a nice risk/reward mechanism that fits right into the flow of the fight.
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The controls feel super tight. Your character has no inertia at all, so you can stop and start movements / jumps on a dime. My only complaint is that the magic button is the same as the heal button when they could have easily been split between RB and B, so you can accidentally use magic when you mean to heal during a busy fight. Not a major issue once you get used to it, though.
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Goes without saying, but the visual design is outstanding. The storytelling, while sparse, is also easy to follow (although like the rest of the game, it does crib from Dark Souls pretty hard).
Silksong
Not as big on this as many people, but enjoying it overall.
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Art, music and atmosphere are all still great.
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Still dislike the map system and the runbacks, which are only dialled up further in this game.
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Needing basically the whole silk bar to heal is rough. I'm not using the silk arts because being locked out of healing immediately doesn't feel like a worthwhile tradeoff.
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Bosses are pretty fun and none have felt cheap or unreadable so far. I especially enjoyed the 'duel' boss early on. In contrast, the gank gauntlets are just annoying due to the high enemy HP and feel like they should have been mini-bosses instead.
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I could take or leave the quests. They're not egregious, but I'm playing a Metroidvania to explore and find cool stuff / bosses to fight. Constantly checking quest boards so I don't miss out on useful upgrades puts a brake on that, and finally reaching an area only to find an NPC who wants me to grind for 10 rat tails, gather 5 herbs or deliver packages from A to B instead of a cool reward feels like a bummer.
PARANORMASIGHT
Horror VN / adventure game.
It starts out normally enough with the protagonist helping his friend investigate some local folklore in 70s downtown Tokyo, but it suddenly turns into
which is... a change in pace to say the least.spoilers
a supernatural battle royaleThe presentation is reminiscent of old adventure games like the Famicom Detective Club series, with the player being able to look around each scene and check / think / speak with other people. You can also move the camera around with a 360 degree field of view (kind of like Google street view), and this is often used as part of the gameplay - e.g. if you turn your back on someone, they might do something while you're not watching / things might appear, disappear or change when you look away.
Seems pretty interesting so far, although it has a fair number of jump scares which some might not like.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkHappy last week of the season! Reflections on this season's shows: CITY The humour is so offbeat that it's sometimes questionable whether it's humour at all, but the animation and music are a...Happy last week of the season!
Reflections on this season's shows:
CITY
The humour is so offbeat that it's sometimes questionable whether it's humour at all, but the animation and music are a delight even when the jokes don't land.I loved the theatre parts in particular - they're precisely the sort of scene where an anime adaptation can really outshine the original manga and they just nail it.
Ruri no Houseki
Textbook execution of the "4 girls hobby show".Great animation and visual design (there's even a specifically credited mineral designer), educational in an easy to understand way and a broad variety of content throughout the season.
Everything is so well done on a technical level that I can't quite put my finger on why I don't feel more strongly about it. It's a good show, but it feels like it's missing the warm heart of something like Do It Yourself!!
Gachiakuta
Possibly the slowest paced shounen fighting anime in history. The protagonist spends next to no time advancing the main plot or actually fighting, and by the end of this first cour, we've still barely been introduced to the good guys, let alone the antagonists.Osomatsu-san S4
Disappointing season. A few decent episodes here and there, but nothing like seasons 1-2 where you genuinely didn't know if it was going to be heartbreaking drama, some weird high-concept episode with a completely different animation style, a parody of an 80s American movie or baseball in space when you tuned in - it really felt like it could be anything. In this season, the protagonists are mostly just schlumping around town over the course of one summer and it's a lot less interesting.There's also an unfortunate tendency for jokes to go on for much longer than they should and then repeat with only minor variations, which is just torturous to watch.
New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
It feels like there's about a 3 in 4 chance of any given episode being bad, but occasionally it's genuinely good and I'm suddenly reminded that this show is made by people with actual talent who are just pretending to be clowns.I loved
in particular.spoilers
the Hanna-Barbera parody episode and the dark fantasy episodeMattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara
All of the main characters are total one-note jokes which does get old and makes the comedy a bit predictable after a while, but it's still a pretty entertaining show due to some absurd premises, funny one-shot characters and great comic performances.
Also watched Super Crooks, the Netflix-backed BONES adaptation of the Mark Millar / Leinil Francis Yu comic book about supervillains pulling heists.
It's pretty much what you'd expect. Millar brings his usual over the top violence and BONES the usual snappy superhero animation. None of it is particularly novel and some of the story developments don't make sense if you really think about them, but it's short and fine to watch just for the action.
Other minor gripes:
- Instead of one big heist, the story is broken up into a bunch of small arcs (presumably to match the original comics), which leaves it feeling a bit disjointed when the arcs only have tenuous connections or introduce elements which feels like they'll be developed later but never are - e.g.
spoilers
the island where all the superpowers originated and the identity of the protagonist's father-
The power levels of characters fluctuate all over the place as the plot demands. The same guys who can pull off feats that affect a whole city block will occasionally just get handled by random goons or a dude without super powers.
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As much as I like Tsuda Kenjirou, his trademark deep, dour voice is not a good fit for the whimsical protagonist at all.
The obvious comparison is to the Netflix / WIT Studio conman heist anime The Great Pretender, which had its own share of issues but which I ultimately liked better.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentI haven't started Elden Ring yet, but fully agree on this OP. It's really exactly the same thing as the Dark Souls OP, but the narrator goes so hard with the delivery. Will definitely pick this...I haven't started Elden Ring yet, but fully agree on this OP. It's really exactly the same thing as the Dark Souls OP, but the narrator goes so hard with the delivery.
Will definitely pick this one up when I have a spare 200 hours.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkFinished up Shuten Order. I think the problem with this game is that: if you don't like the underlying genres, you're not going to like this game; but if you do like the underlying genres, you're...Finished up Shuten Order.
I think the problem with this game is that:
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if you don't like the underlying genres, you're not going to like this game; but
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if you do like the underlying genres, you're just going to be wishing this was Ace Attorney or Zero Escape or whatever.
Each route is just too mechanically shallow and short to feel satisfying - e.g.
spoilers
The escape room route only has one escape room!The overarching story is fine, but:
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A lot of the clues that you pick up for it are actually the same across the routes - you just hear it from different people.
Therefore, if you play certain routes first, you'll already know everything needed to work out almost all of the major mysteries by around the third route and the remaining routes will feel like a drag because you know much more than the protagonist.
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The final chapter goes on for way too long. A lot of the content is either stuff the player should already have figured out, or plot points that didn't really need expanding and are less believable when it's shown exactly what happened.
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There are multiple endings, but you can't save in the final chapter, so you have to do a super long runback if you want to see all of them - and you can't just fast forward through it all either, since there's a ton of menuing and QTEs too. It's an unnecessarily user-hostile design decision, since there's no challenge after you've cleared it once.
Kind of difficult to recommend, even for people who enjoyed Kodaka's earlier games.
Lorn's Lure
Indie first person 3D platformer about a robot spelunking into the ruins of a deep underground facility.
There aren't any enemies, but you'll still die a lot since the platforming is pretty demanding. Like in Celeste, you'll just get sent back a little bit if that happens, so while the difficulty is high, it's not particularly punishing.
I liked the concept, but:
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It's often quite difficult to work out where you need to go next. There's no "trail of red" like in Mirror's Edge that functions as a visual guide, and due to the very brown/grey setting and low-fi visuals (feels a bit like the original Quake), you can get lost pretty easily - and when you do, the game won't tell you you're on the wrong track. It'll even set your checkpoints back to earlier ones if you inadvertently backtrack.
To alleviate this:
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The game does have a sprite that the protagonist is meant to be following as part of the story, but it's often either out of view or too far away to be a meaningful indicator of what your next step should be (and its design, a kind of random assortment of shapes, is also often hard to see).
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There's also a help mode you can toggle which shows the next waypoint, but again, it's usually really far away and unhelpful if you can't work out what the immediate next step is.
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I got serious motion sickness playing this after a while. The first person 3D platforming itself is OK, but some of the mobility tools / skills you get later on involve looking at a rapidly scrolling wall which my brain does not like at all.
It's rough, but it feels like the sort of game that will really appeal to a specific niche.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkHappy second-to-last week of the season! This is usually when I check out next season's lineup and decide what to watch: One Punch Man S3 Yeah, it's still JC Staff instead of Madhouse, so the...Happy second-to-last week of the season!
This is usually when I check out next season's lineup and decide what to watch:
Yeah, it's still JC Staff instead of Madhouse, so the animation is not going to be up to the stratospheric standards of S1. Still a good show to watch with your brain switched off.
Boku no Hero Academia Final Season
This final arc has dragged on for way longer than necessary, but I'm on board if they wrap it up for real this time.
Loved the first 2 seasons of this show. Truly weird and original character-driven fantasy which isn't just lifted straight from Tolkien and JRPGs.
For anyone on the fence, check out the first episode in S1. Really sets the mood for the series and had me hooked.
Gintama spin-off based on the dumb school skits. I have no doubt this will be unwatchable for anyone not already a fan of the original show.
Honorary mentions for stuff which will probably be good but which I won't be watching since I read the manga:
No idea where the anime is at, but the manga is still great.
Kind of surprising how few other series there are with a setting like post-WW2 spy vs spy Berlin. The closest I can think of is Princess Principal.
Hands down my favourite Takahashi series. Just the perfect blend of action, drama and comedy.
Slice of life series about a girl and her android companion who emerge from a shelter after an apocalyptic event and tour across a ruined Japan on a motorbike in search of survivors. Close to a travel / camping manga in terms of vibe (think Yuru Camp) and not grim at all.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentSeeing how the story turns out is still discovery to me, so I don't think it would if there was some form of story or even lore reward. If I got nothing from it except the satisfaction of...Seeing how the story turns out is still discovery to me, so I don't think it would if there was some form of story or even lore reward.
If I got nothing from it except the satisfaction of mastering the boss, though... yeah, I'd probably pass on that. For the same reason, I don't generally play challenge runs or boss rush modes.
It's an interesting question, though. I mean, there's nothing stopping me from just watching the ending on YouTube, right? So maybe there's an element of not wanting to be defeated by the game too.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentThanks! I definitely understand on the frustration and had to put it down a bit myself. I feel like maybe that's even the best way to enjoy these difficult games - just play a bit each day and...Thanks! I definitely understand on the frustration and had to put it down a bit myself. I feel like maybe that's even the best way to enjoy these difficult games - just play a bit each day and enjoy the moment to moment gameplay rather than the focus on progress or beating it within X tries.
All the recent debate about the difficulty in Silksong lately has definitely gotten me thinking more about difficulty vs punishment and mastery vs discovery in games. I consider myself a 'discovery' person at heart - I'm motivated by finding out what's in the cave behind the dragon, who the culprit is or how the puzzle is solved - but repeatedly going through the cycle of failure, analysis of what I did right and wrong and eventually becoming able to execute on the right approach in these 'mastery'-based souls games has kind of expanded my horizons!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkSekiro I beat the last boss! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I took a short break from the game after last week's post, then started practising in the evening after work. I don't think I...Sekiro
I beat the last boss! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement.
I took a short break from the game after last week's post, then started practising in the evening after work. I don't think I ever had any real "breakthrough" moment where I was suddenly Neo seeing the Matrix - it was just a gradual improvement in how well I played each day (although I did experience a kind of Tetris effect when trying to sleep where I could only think about attack patterns and deflection timings).
All up, I probably died on this fight 70+ times, which is a ton to be sure, but any defeat that I learned from is one I'm happy to own :P
Shuten Order
The newly released mystery VN from Tookyo Games. This is the 16th game in my playthrough of the Kodaka / Uchikoshi catalogue.
The basic premise is that the protagonist must obtain a murder confession from one of 5 suspects, but can only choose one of them to investigate. The route you choose then determines the genre of the game.
The genres are:
1. Mystery / deduction
2. Escape / death game
3. Multi-perspective / flowchart novel
4. Dating sim
5. Stealth / horrorI have to admit, I was worried when I heard that this game was going in so many different directions. This is a studio that's constantly short on funding, and it's easy to imagine the game becoming over scoped and ending up half-assed on all fronts.
So far:
The good
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The setting - a theocracy run by a doomsday cult - is pretty unique and gives the game a distinctly different vibe from any of their other games. The Danganronpa composer Takada Masafumi is also on board and his synth tracks are instantly recognisable.
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There's a lot of art. For most VNs, the text does the heavy lifting to describe what's happening and the player has to use their imagination, but in this game, anything beyond people just holding a conversation is specifically shown in panels like a comic book (even in the very text heavy flowchart novel route). All of the named characters are also given a good range of expressions (some of which are pretty funny/creative), which is no mean feat given each route has a different cast and many characters appear only briefly.
The bad
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The style of writing feels very 'to the point' and lacks a lot of the dark/silly humour and character back-and-forths that Danganronpa, Rain Code and The Hundred Line had so much of. I wouldn't have picked it out as something written by Kodaka at all if his name wasn't in the credits.
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The overarching plot is interesting, but the individual routes are pretty short, with the route-specific gameplay mechanisms never really being built upon to a point where they shine before the route is over. The degree to which the routes shed light on the main story also varies quite a bit, and on the routes which are only tangentially related, it can feel like you're just wasting time on something unrelated to your main objective.
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Not sure if it's the game or just my system, but I couldn't get my controller to work with it (I prefer a controller for VNs as it's easier on the fingers) - and yet, you can't play entirely with a mouse like most VNs either. It's not a big deal to play with mouse and keyboard, but kind of weird coming from devs with decades of experience in VNs. Maybe they're not used to using Unity?
Will keep playing, but keeping my expectations in check for this one.
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Comment on What can I do with my old Pixel 3 phone in 2025? in ~tech
Well_known_bear Link ParentI believe they're similar but not identical batteries, but it's more a general risk with continuing to use old batteries in general. I had the same issue with my Nexus 6P, PSP, etc. I keep all my...I believe they're similar but not identical batteries, but it's more a general risk with continuing to use old batteries in general. I had the same issue with my Nexus 6P, PSP, etc.
I keep all my old phones in a metal tea tin now so the damage is contained if they do decide to catch fire.
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Comment on What can I do with my old Pixel 3 phone in 2025? in ~tech
Well_known_bear LinkI upgraded to my current phone after the battery in my old Pixel 3a ballooned. Just wanted to flag that you should keep an eye on the battery or replace it if you plan to keep using it, especially...I upgraded to my current phone after the battery in my old Pixel 3a ballooned. Just wanted to flag that you should keep an eye on the battery or replace it if you plan to keep using it, especially if it'll be unsupervised by a human.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentAgree with @Monte_Kristo's comment. Although more is revealed about the backstory as you go and there's a ton of lore / cool references and homages / subtle subplots, the meat and potatoes of One...Agree with @Monte_Kristo's comment.
Although more is revealed about the backstory as you go and there's a ton of lore / cool references and homages / subtle subplots, the meat and potatoes of One Piece is the adventure and dudes fighting each other with superpowers and special techniques, and there's only more of that stuff as you go. Knowing more about the story (and even the more complex drama plots in the later arcs) won't turn it into a different kind of experience in my view.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentI definitely found the umbrella useful in the spear phase, but I would often get hit right after going for the projected force counter because he just doesn't stop attacking after I shield the...I definitely found the umbrella useful in the spear phase, but I would often get hit right after going for the projected force counter because he just doesn't stop attacking after I shield the initial couple of hits with the umbrella.
I feel like I could win if I learned the openings for safely doing that a bit better because the umbrella is very inexpensive to use.
Another part of me feels like maybe I'm just taking the long way around by relying on the umbrella and I should just grit my teeth and learn to deflect / mikiri his spear phase, with the umbrella only used to stay close during the charge attacks. It seems to me that the fight can actually end quite quickly if you can sustain the high-pressure posture damage focused approach, but this obviously:
- requires internalising all the deflections / mikiris, which is harder than the 'just whittle his vitality' approach; and
- puts you at risk of getting destroyed very quickly if you mess up the deflections and get your posture broken / eat the perilous spear attack after failing the mikiri.
On top of that, I haven't worked out when it's safe to heal when fighting close up, and running away to heal just resets his posture - but if I don't heal, my posture will just build that much faster!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentIt's definitely a challenging game, and they really use everything from the enemy design, the music and the SFX to the flashy attacks and dramatic camera angles to try and intimidate the player,...It's definitely a challenging game, and they really use everything from the enemy design, the music and the SFX to the flashy attacks and dramatic camera angles to try and intimidate the player, but in the end, the player has the ultimate advantage - being able to retry unlimited times and coming back more experienced each time!
Conversely, however strong a boss is, they are defeated for good if they lose even once.
When you think of it that way, you could even say that these games are easier than those old NES games with limited lives / continues.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentAbsolutely. I also appreciate that the checkpoint is right outside the boss door, so there's no runback and really no friction to just practising until you learn every part of the fight inside...Absolutely. I also appreciate that the checkpoint is right outside the boss door, so there's no runback and really no friction to just practising until you learn every part of the fight inside out.
Might work out better for me to just practice a few runs every day rather than bang my head against it for long periods on end.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkSekiro I'm at the last boss!* ...but I need a break from this game. I've enjoyed the game so far and beaten most of the optional bosses, but even the hardest bosses so far have only taken a couple...Sekiro
I'm at the last boss!*
...but I need a break from this game.
I've enjoyed the game so far and beaten most of the optional bosses, but even the hardest bosses so far have only taken a couple of hours to beat. In the case of this last boss:
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My skill level is not where it needs to be to beat this guy, and it's going to take a substantial time investment to get it there - significantly more than just a couple of hours.
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I'm burned out. Although I'm still making progress when practising, it's starting to feel like studying for an exam rather than fun. I can't be spending my limited gaming time like that, and it doesn't feel like a mindset conducive to winning either.
To be clear, though:
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I don't consider this last boss to be a BS difficulty spike and he hasn't soured me on the game at all - I still think it's great. The fact that I'm struggling on him is on me for not having completely mastered consistent deflection and perilous attack responses, both of which the game has been teaching since the tutorial. If you can pull those off instinctively and on demand, there's no doubt in my mind that he is totally beatable - but conversely, he is tuned to basically 2-shot you from full health if you screw up, and this is a long, unforgiving fight with many opportunities to screw up if you haven't mastered those skills (unless you cheese him with AI exploits, but I'm not going to do that just to say I 'beat' him :P).
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I definitely haven't given up. I will come back when I'm in a more receptive frame of mind, do the Rocky training montage and beat this guy. I just need to mix it up for a bit with something other than just playing this fight.
*I know you can potentially get a different last boss. This is
Spoiler
Isshin, the Sword Saint -
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentDefinitely agree that a lot of the routes would have benefitted greatly from a shorter day count / removal of the 'free time' padding days (I guess this is in there for you to grind social links /...Definitely agree that a lot of the routes would have benefitted greatly from a shorter day count / removal of the 'free time' padding days (I guess this is in there for you to grind social links / resources, but you can just repeat days so it's totally unnecessary). Sometimes they even do a 'we did X for Y days' timeskip without you necessarily passing out - I wish they'd used that way more.
It's such a major contrast to the main route where you're constantly dealing with some kind of major problem (sometimes multiple problems) and there's very little waiting around.
I came to the game through the DE and I'm in the camp that dislikes the epilogue.
The original story has this somewhat hard sci-fi vibe, with a pretty 'real robot' approach to the mechs (e.g. they constantly get trashed and need repair; they have to go to a huge amount of effort to get them to fly, etc) and a general absence of magic / supernatural elements in favour of gritty tech often cobbled from scraps - I thought this was great and tied in perfectly with the theme of rebuilding humanity!
Then you have the post-credits scene that overturns all of the story in the main game. All of the drama and sacrifices made by the good guys - was it all meaningless? Find out in the sequel! OK, it's a big cheque to write, but I can accept it if they actually cash it.
The problem with the epilogue is that in my view, it doesn't!
Spoilers
The answer is that all the souls were stored in the dimensional cloud! Also, there's a multiverse!I appreciate that there was only so much they could do with the scope they were given, but it just feels so unsatisfying! I can't imagine that this is what the original vision for the story was because it feels so out of tune with the bulk of the main game (particularly the build up to the big bad antagonists who you don't even see in the main game).
Also, I couldn't stand Al, but that might just be me :P He's built up so much in the main story as this legend and he just turns out to be a pretty uninteresting guy with an annoying catch phrase.
The actual main game is great, though. Even the extra area in the epilogue is fun.