The general consensus is that City is the best Arkham game, and I do agree, but I don't think there was a perfect one because each one of them outshone the others in particular ways:

If I had to choose a favorite, it actually would be Asylum, even with all its defficiencies: Fighting mechanics were a fucking mess, and in reality there are just two bosses: Poison Ivy and everyone else mimicking Bane. However it's very different than the rest of the series, i.e. it leans more toward horror instead of action-adventure. The whole experience was claustrophobic and terrifying, a visceral feeling I never got from any of the others.

Origins is definitely the poorest-rated game, and for good reason. It comes after City, yet the graphics are terrible and simple things like grappling don't work right. However it had some of the best cut scenes of the entire series: discovering the identity of "Black Mask," Electrocutioner being thrown out the window, Joker talking to Harley after Batman saves him... And the boss fights were so amazing and plentiful: Deathstroke as an insane introduction, Firefly on the bridge, and needing to sneak around Bane with a time limit. I can't just dismiss it.

Honestly I would've said Knight was the best of the series if not for that damned Batmobile. Too much emphasis on that. Otherwise, really great to see all of Gotham, and it looks A-MA-ZING, with giant statues on bridges, beautiful gothic architecture, and very different feel on each of the islands. Although it didn't have as many dungeons as the other games, it had probably the best one in the series: the movie studio, where Batman reminisces about Jason, has a teamup with Tim, and having Joker serenade him.

So now we can add Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter to my collection of beaten Frogwares games. As I stated before, these games are supposed to be in the same universe, even though the model for Holmes and Watson seems to change completely with every installment. That being said, The Devil's Daughter starts with Holmes' adopted daughter, Kate, coming to stay with him, which competely shocked me because this takes place after Crime and Punishment and she was never mentioned.

Overall the gameplay is very similar to Crime and Punishment, with one exception: action sequences. In Crime and Punishment, it really was a point-and-click sort of adventure except at the end of the chapter when a possible QTE could appear upon apprehending the suspect. This time you suddenly can be dodging an archer, and I'll admit it's pretty jarring because 95% of the game isn't action-based and suddenly you're thrust into a life-or-death situation.

My biggest complaint though is this game is too fantastical. I'm not talking about the horror, spiritualist stuff that was peppered throughout, but rather the deductions Holmes made. In Crime and Punishment and Chapter One, I can see how he can come to the conclusion. I am sometimes incredulous that he was able to notice such minute pieces of evidence, but theoretically it's possible. That is not the case in The Devil's Daughter. At one point Holmes sits in front a globe and somehow imagines an entire trip into a Mayan temple or whatever, which includes intricate traps and puzzles. There is no way he could've could've figured that out.

Out of the three games I played, this one is at the bottom, but it's still an enjoyable game. You can beat it in a week easily, so if you want some fun, I say go for it.

When Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One went on sale, I got it and totally worth it. Should you get the DLC for this game, you'll feel like there's a new case every five feet (which makes you wonder what the murder rate is on that island). The premise is Sherlock lived on a fictional Mediterranean island for a year or two as a child until his mother died. Although he did not return with the intention of investigating her death, eventually he realized the circumstances surrounding it were suspicious. In between the major cases that help resolve the main plot, there are plenty of others that demonstrate life and culture of the island, like trying to assist the police force (and discovering its corruption) or discovering the tensions between the different ethnic groups. It's very immersive in that aspect.

What I did appreciate is the difficulty did raise from previous installments. Although you can still skip sequences, the game doesn't spoon feed you as thoroughly. There is still that "HEY! OVER HERE! USE YOUR INVESTIGATION MODE RIGHT HERE!" type of stuff, but it's much easier to miss clues. There are other added features, like it matters how you dress to make someone is willing to talk to you (and you also need to know which ethnic group and social class would know the answer to your question), reenacting crime scenes is fun because you need to pay really close attention to detail, and many cases didn't have any clear ending. The game itself also doesn't have a "true" conclusion. There are four possibilities, and what you choose greatly affects the final scenes.

I was somewhat confused about Sherlock and Mycroft. So frogwares has been making these games since the early 2000s and it seems they are all from the same universe. Because I've literally played two in the series I can't see how the brothers' relationship has developed, but it's very acrimonious here. I admittedly haven't read the books in maybe twenty years, but I remember they were very cordial toward each other. Mycroft I believed only showed up twice in all of Doyle's writings, and from what I remember he was somewhat lazy with not much ambition. So seeing Mycroft working behind the scenes as some sort of secret agent is really weird, as well as how much the two are fighting.

I have three complaints. The first is Jon, Sherlock's imaginary friend. Because the game takes place between Watson appears on the scene, the developers had to come up with someone who would be Sherlock's assistant. Jon is... a sort of coping mechanism for Sherlock that was born out of the death of his father at a very young age. Sherlock is perfectly aware Jon does not exist, yet he still insists on getting him his own bed or booking a hotel for two. Jon is a major component of the plot, but many times he didn't make sense. For example, he could see people attacking Sherlock from behind and warn him, which shouldn't happen.

The second is the game is trying to discuss injustice in the world whilst simultaneously being anachronistically fair. So for example, a black woman is the chief archivist at City Hall and I think a Turkish woman as the chief editor of the island's main newspaper. That probably would not happen in the late 1800s. I'm very positive it would not. But twice in the game you encounter crossdressing women who do so only because they say it's impossible for them to get ahead in the world due to their sex. (They also were horrible disguises because they made literally zero effort to hide their voice.) You can't really say women can't get anywhere and then also put them in positions of great power.

The last and biggest issue is the map. Here is a word for developers out there: I appreciate open worlds. They're fun. But they don't need to be so damned big. Although you can definitely feel the difference between the major districts on the island, whether it was the poor shacks in the miners' area or the Islamic architecture of the Old City, street to street was pretty the same thing. Every building and path looked almost alike and I was constantly pulling up the map to see if I had to go left or right. My advice is developers need to scale this down by a significant amount because instead of making a wide area with barely any noteworthy landmarks or detailing, you can spend your time on making every block look unique. Let me give a few good examples: Yakuza. Very small area, but holy shit did they jam everything in those few blocks. I memorized the layout very quickly so I wasn't constantly breaking my flow by pulling up a menu to see where I had to go. And it's not boring because there's so much in there. The advertisements on the walls, reading the menus, watching the idiot drunks... It's a very interesting place. Another great example is Arkham City or Arkham Knight. You can literally plop me down anywhere in those games and I would immediately know where I am because Rocksteady did not copy a single building in that place. Every single one had either a different awning, architectural style, or shops at the bottom floor. Arkham Knight encompassed the entirety of Gotham City, and honestly Gotham is probably about a fifth of the size of the island in Chapter One and still felt fucking humongous. Although it's great the developers want to show off how big the universe is they've created, in the end all it does is just make the player run longer to get from point A to point B. Unless you are willing to put the years into development like Breath of the Wild, the only game I've played that has a very large map that is still memorable, don't bother. Make it smaller but more interesting. It's possible.

There are other issues, like it's impossible to choose the right words from people gossiping, the battle system feels pretty clunky and there was no way to improve Sherlock's fighting, but those are minor. And honestly the other complaints I listed above were minor too. So I heartily recommend this game. It's quick and fun.

I saw some screenshots of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One on tumblr that looked interesting, and I decided to buy it. However it was mad expensive and Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishment was on sale, so I got that instead. My problem with a lot of investigative games is there are often times the player knows the solution, but has to go through the route the developers want. Or it's impossible to figure out and has to just try every option until something works. Games like Ace Attorney or L.A. Noire are good examples of that.

Crime and Punishment didn't really fall under that, perhaps because it was so damned easy. Literally everything can be skipped. Can't figure this puzzle out? Skip it. Don't know what you're supposed to say to a dude? Skip that. Hell, at the end you can press a button to see if your conclusion was right or not. And if you don't want to skip something, the game will literally take your hand and start pointing to what you're supposed to do. For example, Sherlock has a "investigation mode," which lets him see clues that most people cannot. Instead of you walking around with this mode on, trying to ascertain if you see anything (the Arkham games would have you do this), the game would pull up animations to indicate you need to use it in a certain location, so there's no real effort on the player's part.

Still, if you go through the motions, I find the cases to be interesting with some quite difficult to figure out. For example, in the case of the missing train, I literally could not tell whether it was the Mexicans or the Chileans and just guessed. Plus the method of deducing—changing suppositions in the Mind Palace, which looks like brain cells—was a nice design.

Overall, I think it was a good albeit quick game. Literally finished it in two days. If you've got some time, I recommend it.

If I had to describe Arise's problem in one word, it would be pacing. The first chapter in Calaglia was amazing, and if they were able to expand from there I would be satisfied. I think Arise suffers from the same issue as Final Fantasy XV: There was a solid foundation, but the presentation was awful. The overall plot and usual Tales twist was there, but because we never spent a long time in any area, it felt like rushed and unsatisfactory. Which is hilarious because the characters can't stop talking, but it's usually either things the player already has figured out or just empty, vapid conversations.

The best example of bad is probably Law: When you first meet him, he's brimming with anger for Zephyr because of his abandonment issues. Then literally the next scene with him he's crying that Zephyr is going to be executed. I need a couple of scenes in between to soften this emotional turnaround.

I had the misfortune of replaying Vesperia concurrently with this, and it just made it emphasized how much better Arise could be. Not that Vesperia didn't have its own problems, but you can see how much effort the developers tried in sewing the seeds of Alexei's machinations and plots everywhere in the first half. That's good planning on their part, which Arise just doesn't have.

Other than that, I disliked the final bosses. One thing I appreciate about Tales games is you usually understand on some level what the boss is doing. Like in Symphonia Mithos' solution to racism is to wipe out everyone except one race. Or in Abyss how Van is trying to destroy the world and replace it with clones to end the cycle of prophecy. They're very extreme but you get where they're coming from.

Both the Great Astral Spirit and Vholran are... eh. You never have a conversation with the Great Astral Spirit so you don't have that same emotional connection, and I feel it was just wrong: It's trying to save Rena but at the same time was responsible for its destruction? Like what's that about? Vholran is very bland. Dude wants to control everything out of anger for his past. Whatever. There's no depth to him.

I disliked a good portion of the party too. I wouldn’t say they're as shallow as Zestiria's characters, but some were annoying. The older I get, the less patience I have for tsundere shit, so Shionne's nonsense got old fast. Kirasa pulled the same thing as Law, first hating her brother and then suddenly never shutting up about how amazing he was, and Rinwell was fucking obnoxious, first jumping on Dohalim for not knowing about Dahnan burial practices and then she herself didn't know later. Really I think only Alphen and Dohalim were the only reasonable people in the whole party.

Sakuraba Matoi continues to do the music and I he they didn’t. Dude clearly ran out of energy and steam starting the PS2 era. I heard the OST for this is 133 tracks on seven CDs. I don't know how because I literally can only remember one song from the whole game. Really they should just get Go Shiina on board permanently. It's a shame because I think the Phantasia and Destiny tracks were on fire, but Sakuraba hasn't been of that caliber in a long, long time.

I still wouldn't say it's the worst Tales out there―I think that goes to Legendia and the developers have to work hard to beat that in shittiness―and there are some really positive parts. For example, this is a very, very visually appealing game. I remember when they first switched to 3D in Xillia instead of fixed-angle camera and I complained how everything either had right angles (in a cave!) or looked exactly the same. With the different environments in every area, you get a really different taste of what they can do. I had to actually stop and take in the beauty when I saw the frozen waterfall under the night sky in Cyslodia. Or the castle looming in the background behind the lakes in Ganath Haros. Or the solarpunk-esque style of Dohalim’s house. They did a great job.

They also had some memorable scenes. Migal turning into liquid and realizing that whole lake was dead people. Or Almeidrea being taken to the town square but then everyone else dying. Or when you find out the truth about Rena and how it's all just a mirage. Props to them for that.

The battle system is also nicely streamlined. Starting with Graces they've been experimenting (well, they did also revamped fighting in Rebirth but that was shitty) and with the basic attack and dodge buttons moved to R1 and R2, it frees up circle, square, etc. for moves without affecting the joystick, i.e. in previous games it would be right + square to pull Demon Fang or whatever. What did really fucking annoy me was the CP part, although toward the end of the game finally I acquired enough that I wasn't peeing my pants about healing. Also annoying is how the gel now aren't percentage based. I liked that about Tales over other series because that meant I was still using the same healing items even at the end, but now I'm never touching an apple gel after the first chapter.

Overall I feel Arise was a step back. I still have hope for the next game―Zestiria wasn't very good but Beseria was amazing―but I'm surprised at how poor this game was considering how long ago the previous installment was. Perhaps the pandemic really messed them up?

Also, was anyone else confused why the Vesper Rift in the postgame dungeon featured Xillia 2? Really weird. I did love how they kept that butterfly puzzle in the Symphony Rift. That was a nice, nostalgic touch.