If you like hybridized management sims/RPG's, this is one of the better ones I've played. Certainly hasn't aged very well and coming into it after playing future games can definitely damage the fun, but as a starting point it's excellent (Especially if you can immerse yourself in the time it was created) . Biggest downsides are a weak new game plus system that doesn't carry over nearly enough and a lousy system for endings. Can't say I'd recommend playing it more than twice as a single game as it takes awhile to get to the end and the variance in endings leaves something to be desired. If you love crafting and classic RPG's though, you'll feel right at home playing this and it's fun to master the systems of the game and see how much you can optimize a playthrough.

What can I say about Omori? It hits all the high notes in the areas that matter and it probably the most you can hope to do with the RPG maker engine. Excellent art with a lot of visual pop and a surprisingly deep combat system on top of that. Loads of side things to do and lots of flavor text make being thorough with this game a real treat. If I had to say one thing that really holds it back is, like so many other story driven games, Omori lacks in replay value. While there are technically two routes to the game and a random variable that modifies various things in the game, by and large Omori is the same to play every time and the two routes only diverge in a meaningful way in the last quarter of the game. Still, if you're a fan of this style of RPG, this is definitely one of the better ones you could look into. Light horror elements in the vein of Yumi Nikki make it a surprisingly diverse experience as well.

The game that brought the party format to the series. Obviously being the first it's got some rough edges compared to the follow up games, but it still holds up remarkably well. The PC port in particular allows this game to shine much better than the PSP could hope to.

Pros: -Extremely fast and frenetic gameplay which feels great and looks awesome once you get the hang of it.
-7 characters to use all with their distinct strengths that can be swapped between quickly and freely give you many options to mix up your gameplay
-Does not waste your time, is a very quick and tightly paced experience that is constantly giving you new and better tools to play around with
-Excellent boss fights that challenge you to learn their patterns or get pummeled into the ground.
Cons: -Despite being a relatively short RPG, it is remarkably grindy. Material gathering doesn't take long overall, but it is much slower and much more boring than anything else you could do in the game and on the higher difficulties you WANT to do it unless you want a bunch of headaches. Skills are even worse, taking far too long to level up and having a needlessly high level cap for getting the most bang for your buck. Sequels would improve on this a lot.
-While the gameplay is engaging, lack of enemy variety can make it a little repetitive if you resolve to fight everything on the way.
-Despite the variety of characters, balancing is not great. Each character has a passive effect on your party and some are just undeniably superior. As well certain characters just have better skills on top of that and Adol being forced in the party limits your composition choices at times.

Overall, while the sequels generally do everything better this game still has its own unique aspects that make it interesting in comparison. Since it's not terribly demanding and only takes about 20 hours to complete, I'd definitely recommend at least a playthrough if you're curious to see how the party focused Ys games started out.

A great follow up to the entries on the 3DS, boosting far better presentation, tightened up game mechanics and a very flexible system for upgrading both your demons and protagonist allowing you excellent controls over battles the whole way. Major cons include rather poor visual presentation due to the graphical limitations of the Switch. The story is also a little anemic by the standards of the series, even compared to the games from the SNES days. Overall I'd still say Nocturne is the better game, but this is much easier to get into and is a total blast once you have a grasp of the games own systems. Strong recommend for anyone who loves traditional RPG's but also likes having modern conveniences at their disposal.

If you're a fan of classic beat em ups, particularly from the SNES era, then this one... won't exactly light the world on fire. Speaking from a strictly objective point of view, it's more of a 2.5 stars but I can put myself in the era pretty well. The pros of the game are good music and sound design, plus pretty decent visuals. It has an actual plot, which is a novelty for the genre. The game is also not overly difficult on the whole, generally enemies only come 2 at a time. On the downside, the controls are a little stiff and combat relies heavily on knowing which moves can loop the enemies. As well, while the game is not too hard, there are sections that WILL kill you a lot until you figure them out, particularly the bike sections and the final bosses. Still, it's cool to see a game of yesteryear that never got a chance in America officially finally see the light of day on Western shores. The framing story tying in to River City Girls 2 and the retro style themed music are a nice treat on top. If you're eager to scratch an itch for more River City Girls while waiting for 2, then give it a shot. If you're not that desperate, I'd definitely wait for a sale instead or get it at a reduced price via Switch gold coins.

The follow up to Milk Inside of bag of milk inside a bag of milk! On the whole, it looks much better than the first game and much better captures the feel it was shooting for. On the whole though, it still feels more like a proof of concept for a game rather than a full package, being only 45 minutes to an hour long and only 5 endings to shoot for.

It has a greater degree of interactivity than Milk Inside, though funnily enough the game lacks any kind of failure state in contrast with the first game. There's only one room to explore but a variety of ways to interact with it that contribute to one of 5 endings. After Milk Inside more or less outright stated why the girl was he way she is, Milk Outside delves deeper into her back story and raises more questions about the exact nature of her psychosis. The game ends abruptly on one of the dream endings, each one offering different insight to the girl's past, her fears or her isolation. Don't expect a happy ending of any sort with this game, it's all depression through the lens of esotericism.

While I can't say this is a great adventure game, the visuals and atmosphere grabbed me much more than Milk Inside and I'd love to see if this goes anywhere with another follow up. If you like surrealist horror, give this one a shot!

A nice little horror game to kill a couple hours. Not the most inspired thing I've ever played but it has a suitably disquieting atmosphere a couple decent surprise scares here and there. The looping nature of the game can be a little tedious, particularly since there are some tasks that remain done in one playthrough while others have to be done again and again. The game probably could have stood to implement more environmental changes as you progress to spice things up. The price is right though, so it doesn't hurt anything to give it a shot! Not for those who squirm extra hard at the idea of violence against children.

The third game in the Erebonia arc, and it's... well made with interesting mechanics but also suffers from some of the more persistent weaknesses of Cold Steel in the writing department. It does well creating a new cast of distinct characters that serve as foils to the previous Class VII but the expansive cast makes it tough for anyone outside the new group to get much focus. The game can also be extremely aimless unfortunately and there is much padding to be had in developing the ongoing plot until it collapses in a massive cliff hanger. The new Brave Order system is cool but the impact it had on gameplay has also made the game very much slanted in the player's favor resulting in an extremely easy experience. Even on Nightmare mode, end game Quartz setups and Wind Blade let me tear through the final bosses without much trouble.

On the whole, I'd say this game is weaker than the two before it but far from a bad game and the plot had a little more focus to it than Cold Steel 2 did. In the series as a whole, the Quality of Life updates make it a better game that Sky FC but I can't say I like it better than anything else in the series. Far from a bad game though and its undemanding gameplay makes it perfect if you're more in for the story than the combat.