Adoruu
There's a lot of improvements from the first, there's even multiple iconic scenes of the series accompanied by the most iconic and one of Falcom's magnum opus soundtrack "Blue Destination"
The concept of the story itself is nice, going from a usual school setting to the middle of the war, though some moments are really "anime" and some parts (especially in chapter 2) is really dragged out, it's still really engaging at times, the high of this game is really high while the low can match the first game's pacing.
It's the culmination of the world building of the first, so it's much better than the first game at least.
The concept of the story itself is nice, going from a usual school setting to the middle of the war, though some moments are really "anime" and some parts (especially in chapter 2) is really dragged out, it's still really engaging at times, the high of this game is really high while the low can match the first game's pacing.
It's the culmination of the world building of the first, so it's much better than the first game at least.
It's a good start for the series, though some of the cases can be really simple compared to the later games.
2016
One of the most fun I've had in a JRPG, and this was before I played the Royal edition, I remember coming home from school as soon as possible just to play this game, gaining more than 100 hours before finally finishing it. It has one of the best gameplay mechanic in a JRPG along with a very unique UI, the story is a bit formulaic but it's still really good, it also has a unique cast of characters which I liked a bit more than some of the ones in the previous entries. The soundtrack is also easily 11/10.
The embodiment of a Flawed Masterpiece. But at the same time, it also reminds me why I love gaming so much.
2013
Decided to play this game to scratch a JRPG itch I had after playing Zelda. However, despite putting 60+ hours on this game, it still took me a longer while to actually sit down and finish it. Though it's not a bad game by any means. Before playing I decided to check what people thought of it, and nearly everyone mentioned a terrible "Endless 8" moment in the game that really drags it down. Despite this I decided to try out the game anyways to see for myself, if it is as bad as they say.
Firstly, I find the gameplay really unique, and a really nice change of pace from a slower turn based RPG. The brave system rewards "High Risk" gameplay and I absolutely loved it the most for the first couple of chapters. Later on though, when you've grown strong enough with a semi-/broken build, you'll find yourselves braving 4x every encounter for an instant win, which makes random encounters pretty weak. This also works with bosses early on, but later bosses will punish you for braving recklessly which is good unless you're running 3/4 DK with drain, then nothing's changed.
The story is where it's really at. It has one of, if not the best iteration of the "Warrior of Light/4 Crystal" storyline in any FF type games. It managed to turn a generic tale as old as time to a dark/epic/multiversal storyline. I thought it has a really fantastic start to it, with OK pacing, until I've reached the beginning of CH.5.
I do understand the need for the repetition plotline, In fact if done right It would've made the game incredibly good.
Though in defense of the game, I find people's complain about CH.5-8 somewhat exaggerated. Firstly, it's not exactly the same, with CH.6 and CH.7 lore dumping you with a really major revelation about the story. And secondly, it's not that long, especially if you don't play the side quests (which is mostly the same sidequests as the previous chapters, just slightly altered), CH.5-8 can be done in 45-50 min each, if you go straight to each objectives every time. Upon reaching CH.5 you're already around 70% of the game.
SPOILERS
My problem with this part lies in the fact that we can already know or at least have a clue of the major plot twist about the game as early as CH.4 If we've done the vampire subquest (which I did), and was later hinted more in CH.6 and outright shoved to your face in CH.7 even the title screen literally changed to spell it out for you. This means that as early as CH.4 you can already tell that what you've been doing is a mistake. But unfortunately, what has been lore dumped to your party fell to deaf ears, apart from their discussion when they're being lore dumped, it's not really acknowledged by the party at all outside of it. Even after reaching CH.7 Where the game outright tells you, that what you've been doing all this time is bad and one of you is a traitor, even Ringabel outright said who the traitor is, our objective (that would doom the whole multiverse) is still the same with little mention of doubt as we are awakening the crystals. I think the whole party has only acknowledged their mistake once outside of being lore dumped in the end of CH.7 where Agnes apologizes and the whole party said that they must "tough it out to reveal the true evil", at this point I thought "Finally, they do acknowledge it" and due to this, I also thought that the reason they still continued to follow the traitor's scheme is to root out the real evil in the end. Then CH.9 comes rolling and when the traitor finally outright betrayed them, they've all got the "surprised Pikachu face" reaction. As if the thought never once crossed their mind. In the end, they really outdid the whole repetition plotline, I feel like the only reason CH.8 even exist is so the numbers of crystal you've awakened is rounded up to the nearest ten (20), this is the part where there's nothing new in the story and the plot would still be the same regardless if it exists.
Nevertheless, I feel like the True Final Chapter somewhat made up for it. The whole chapter, apart from the mid dungeon, is fantastic. Especially the True Final Boss Fight. I love how crazy and epic the whole sequence is. Not to mention, upon getting the true ending, you're rewarded with an actually important and touching end credit scenes accompanied by a masterpiece of a song. If it weren't for the well done finale, I would've gave this game a way lower score.
Overall, Characters are alright, Ringabel and Edea is my favourite. Music is definitely top tier, and I don't mean this lightly. It was a fantastic journey in the beginning with a really steep landslide in the middle but managed to come back in it's full glory in the end. This was a rollercoaster of storytelling.
Firstly, I find the gameplay really unique, and a really nice change of pace from a slower turn based RPG. The brave system rewards "High Risk" gameplay and I absolutely loved it the most for the first couple of chapters. Later on though, when you've grown strong enough with a semi-/broken build, you'll find yourselves braving 4x every encounter for an instant win, which makes random encounters pretty weak. This also works with bosses early on, but later bosses will punish you for braving recklessly which is good unless you're running 3/4 DK with drain, then nothing's changed.
The story is where it's really at. It has one of, if not the best iteration of the "Warrior of Light/4 Crystal" storyline in any FF type games. It managed to turn a generic tale as old as time to a dark/epic/multiversal storyline. I thought it has a really fantastic start to it, with OK pacing, until I've reached the beginning of CH.5.
I do understand the need for the repetition plotline, In fact if done right It would've made the game incredibly good.
Though in defense of the game, I find people's complain about CH.5-8 somewhat exaggerated. Firstly, it's not exactly the same, with CH.6 and CH.7 lore dumping you with a really major revelation about the story. And secondly, it's not that long, especially if you don't play the side quests (which is mostly the same sidequests as the previous chapters, just slightly altered), CH.5-8 can be done in 45-50 min each, if you go straight to each objectives every time. Upon reaching CH.5 you're already around 70% of the game.
SPOILERS
My problem with this part lies in the fact that we can already know or at least have a clue of the major plot twist about the game as early as CH.4 If we've done the vampire subquest (which I did), and was later hinted more in CH.6 and outright shoved to your face in CH.7 even the title screen literally changed to spell it out for you. This means that as early as CH.4 you can already tell that what you've been doing is a mistake. But unfortunately, what has been lore dumped to your party fell to deaf ears, apart from their discussion when they're being lore dumped, it's not really acknowledged by the party at all outside of it. Even after reaching CH.7 Where the game outright tells you, that what you've been doing all this time is bad and one of you is a traitor, even Ringabel outright said who the traitor is, our objective (that would doom the whole multiverse) is still the same with little mention of doubt as we are awakening the crystals. I think the whole party has only acknowledged their mistake once outside of being lore dumped in the end of CH.7 where Agnes apologizes and the whole party said that they must "tough it out to reveal the true evil", at this point I thought "Finally, they do acknowledge it" and due to this, I also thought that the reason they still continued to follow the traitor's scheme is to root out the real evil in the end. Then CH.9 comes rolling and when the traitor finally outright betrayed them, they've all got the "surprised Pikachu face" reaction. As if the thought never once crossed their mind. In the end, they really outdid the whole repetition plotline, I feel like the only reason CH.8 even exist is so the numbers of crystal you've awakened is rounded up to the nearest ten (20), this is the part where there's nothing new in the story and the plot would still be the same regardless if it exists.
Nevertheless, I feel like the True Final Chapter somewhat made up for it. The whole chapter, apart from the mid dungeon, is fantastic. Especially the True Final Boss Fight. I love how crazy and epic the whole sequence is. Not to mention, upon getting the true ending, you're rewarded with an actually important and touching end credit scenes accompanied by a masterpiece of a song. If it weren't for the well done finale, I would've gave this game a way lower score.
Overall, Characters are alright, Ringabel and Edea is my favourite. Music is definitely top tier, and I don't mean this lightly. It was a fantastic journey in the beginning with a really steep landslide in the middle but managed to come back in it's full glory in the end. This was a rollercoaster of storytelling.
2018
It feels outdated, but it's definitely not as bad as they say. Enemies do block yes, but that's only if you keep spamming attacks, there's a lot of ways to get around that, so i never really see this "enemies block a lot" thing as a problem in at least most of my playthrough. Combat is rough early on but once you get to a certain point in the story, you will have an arsenal of moves you can use to make combat much easier and smoother, (especially Komaki's moves) Also enemies or bosses that keeps strafing/dodging are 100x more annoying than enemies that keeps blocking. The final bosses of the Hitman side mission are more annoying than the final boss of the game itself. At the very least you can cheese the very final boss.
Another problem is the fact that enemies do attack together, at least when you're fighting a crowd (Which you will A LOT) because the moment you turn your back to attack one guy, 2 or 3 will instantly attack you from behind.
Story is alright, It's pacing is bad and there's a lot of filler but it's still Ok.
Honestly, it's not that bad. It's an alright game which is just dragged down by being outdated in a lot of ways but I could definitely see how this game worked back then. I think if it gets the Kiwami treatment, it could be one of the higher ones in the series.
Another problem is the fact that enemies do attack together, at least when you're fighting a crowd (Which you will A LOT) because the moment you turn your back to attack one guy, 2 or 3 will instantly attack you from behind.
Story is alright, It's pacing is bad and there's a lot of filler but it's still Ok.
Honestly, it's not that bad. It's an alright game which is just dragged down by being outdated in a lot of ways but I could definitely see how this game worked back then. I think if it gets the Kiwami treatment, it could be one of the higher ones in the series.
And i thought FC was slow. This game not only has a huge pacing issue but also a huge cast which means only a handful will eventually be fleshed out. Regardless, I really like the idea and I think it has a good premise as the beginning of an arc, it's just accompanied with a very poor execution. The ending though really sets up the 2nd game well with the cliffhanger.
The story is where it truly shines, it doesn't follow the usual anime tropes, where everyone is op and somehow survives fighting everyone else in a war but instead isn't afraid to kill off a character. The gameplay is also different than other tactical RPG, which is nice.
My only complaint is the RNG aspect of the battles, I've seen people defend it by saying that "if you plan well, it won't matter" but sometimes you may plan things really well only for it to be ruined because an enemy managed to win the evasion skill check and ducked to then perhaps counter-kill you, or you completely missing a shot from your tank because you failed your accuracy skill check causing you to then waste your command point/s, all these can really force you to save scum.
My only complaint is the RNG aspect of the battles, I've seen people defend it by saying that "if you plan well, it won't matter" but sometimes you may plan things really well only for it to be ruined because an enemy managed to win the evasion skill check and ducked to then perhaps counter-kill you, or you completely missing a shot from your tank because you failed your accuracy skill check causing you to then waste your command point/s, all these can really force you to save scum.
2006
This and Oath in Felghana are peak old YS, the story is really good. The characters (especially Feena and Reah) is based. Sets up the first two YS game perfectly.
2013
I really love this game, it can be frustrating at times but it's a huge step up from the first game in many ways. Plus the Shrine of Solomon is a beautiful place despite it's questionable design.
The early part is very dragged out, but honestly everything else is great. Kreia turns out to be one of my favourite character later on, and they really turn the whole light/dark side to something philosophical, creating this gray area where you can see some sense in the dark side and the bad in the light.
Unironically based.
The first Uchikoshi game that start squeezing your brain dry.
2012
The story is really dragged out by that I mean you can't actually be an assassin until sequence 6 and even then there's still some restriction to gameplay. The pacing is definitely a huge problem in this game. It's like you really have to grind the bad gameplay to finally reach the good ones.
2009
My very first persona game, I remember playing this when I was younger and not understanding the ending, looking back I can see why. This game handles underlying complex themes dealing with depression and losses, and masked it as some kind of JRPG with a highschool/dating sim. The gameplay can get repetitive as you basically need to fight through all floors of this tall structure with little changes, the story is definitely where it shines, and the ending still surprises me when I finally understood what happened.