This game is exactly what I would call a love hate relationship; there’s just so much that I enjoyed and about an equal amount that flopped or straight up demotivated me from continuing.

For starters, this remaster of the original Star Ocean (Super Famicom) does wonders to the presentation of the game adding a sort of PS1-esque visual sense reminiscent of Star Ocean the Second Story. The pixelated character sprites set against prerendered backgrounds was neat, but the real shining factor was how the combat looked aka my favorite aspect of the game.

The battle system is fast paced with easy controls and a fun ability to choose a single character to control manually while the other three party members could have tactics set, altering the way the AI controlled their abilities and movement. It’s sort of a precursor to how FFVIIR handles its battle system and overall I looked forward to the battles… sometimes. Unfortunately the random encounter rate is astronomically high and gets extremely annoying while trying to traverse dungeons, so there’s that.

The skill point system is pretty innovative, but can also curse you if you don’t upgrade certain skills wisely. It’s easy to abuse how this system works by upgrading, for example, your Determination skill for each character, that way every single other skill they can learn requires less skill points to obtain. I restarted my first save because I blew all of my skill points up to level 10 or so unknown to the fact that Determination existed, so that was really fun…

Later on in the game when you get to the Silvalant Continent, the difficulty spike in random encounter enemies is INSANE. I was breezing my way through 15-20ish hours of gameplay and the instant I set foot outside I was getting demolished by the enemies. Through hours of level grinding and careful skill point distribution, I managed to get ahold of my party and continued on with the game, but that brutal jump in difficulty seriously made me question finishing the game or not.

Just before the end game stretch to the Demon World, I spent a whole day delving into Star Ocean’s specialty and super specialty system, which I slept on heavily throughout most of my playthrough. This is where I started to enjoy the overall experience more, and where the fun really began. Level up your main party’s skills so that they learn the abilities to play and compose music so you get Orchestra. Then make sure you level up more skills so your characters are proficient in customizing weapons and crafting new armor/accessories. With this you can have Orchestra play in the background to greatly increase the success rate of performing your specialties and completely break the game by obtaining ridiculously overpowered pieces of equipment.

With that, the remainder of Star Ocean FDR was a walk in the park and the final bosses all perished to me in mere seconds :)

If you couldn’t already tell, the gameplay systems and their implementation in battle is by far the best this game has to offer. Story wise it’s extraordinarily bland. I liked all the characters the game had and the ability to recruit certain ones while being locked out of others adds to the replayability. The Private Action scenes too were enjoyable and gave me lots of laughs with the interactions between party members, but main story wise it’s nothing to write home about.

At the end of it all, I’m still super glad I gave this title a shot. I tackled the learning curve of Star Ocean’s ingenuity and gained not just understanding for the importance of its series defining gameplay systems, but also a thirst to explore what other titles come after First Departure.

“FATE IS WRITTEN IN FIRE”

My hype for this game was already astronomical upon XVI’s initial reveal trailer, but it wasn’t until my hands-on experience with the demo when I knew this game was going to be special. Trying to leave my review of this game as spoiler free as possible will be tough, but here we go.

Simply for the fact that XVI has an M rating, the portrayal of realism and grounded tones leave a bitter and lasting impression throughout the story in ways that previous games in the Final Fantasy series struggled to tackle, let alone hint on. Slavery, torture, religion, politics, suicide, this game has it all! I personally found it really refreshing to play a game in the series that was so standalone in its attempt to make a dark, violent Final Fantasy game, and I felt XVI met the mark with flying colors.

The game’s wide cast of colorful heroes and villains paired gloriously with the narrative, adding a clash of elements (quite literally) that led to not only some of the most profound character writing I have witnessed in a work of fiction, but an attachment that I struggle to find anywhere else. I would argue that XVI has easily one of the best main protagonists and group of supporting roles in the series, but EASILY my favorite cast of antagonists. There are just way too many good characters to choose from, but I can easily say that each and every Dominant receives an impressively even amount of development and purpose throughout the entire narrative.

I personally am a turn based combat over action RPG guy, but the gameplay style that XVI went with takes Final Fantasy in a direction that didn’t bother me whatsoever. Swift, fast paced, and lots of player freedom and customization as far as your abilities go, but not so much on the equipment and especially status effects front. I definitely expected more role playing game staple elements to be prevalent in the gameplay, but there wasn’t much. Not a huge blunder on the experience, but other than limit breaking and being able to increase your attack and defense temporarily, XVI is pretty dry in terms of altering play styles and strategies in the wake of battle.

The music is in a realm of its own with this one. Spectacular through and through, not really any other way to put it. This title was my first experience with Soken’s work as a composer, and he carried the flame from Uematsu’s torch firm and proud. The range in his work is masterful and heartfelt, my favorite tracks by far being the various battle themes, particularly those when fighting the Dominants, and the entire final boss composition.

Zero competition, the BEST part of this entire game was its boss fights. Each and every one, specifically against the Dominants, is on a scale so grand they each could resemble that of a final boss battle. One after another, something even more badass is brought to the table in every phase of every fight. These moments in the game were always the ones I looked forward to the most, and they never failed to leave me in absolute awe with the visual and technical masterpiece of direction that was put into these world-shattering clashes. Culminating quick time events (that had massive windows for the sake of battle flow), the evolving music, banter between foes, and the ferocious animosity of Eikon against Eikon, Final Fantasy XVI breaks the fucking limit for what makes a boss fight in a video game carry so much weight.

From beginning to end, I was reeled into the mystery and intrigue of the world of Valisthea. Familiar settings, foes, and even some motifs in both dialogue and music strummed familiar cords seen in the earliest Final Fantasy games, while also breaking the chains that bound the series and went against everything we knew. I enjoyed the changes that were made to deviate XVI from the typical JRPG experience, but many of the things I enjoy in the genre such as fun side quests were either dumbed down to lots of hand holding, or lacking thereof. Regardless, the pros far outweigh the cons and I personally can say that XVI serves as the revival of the single player Final Fantasy experience.

“The only fantasy here is yours. And we shall be its final witness!”

“When the clash of swords echo, the journey chasing the past ends and the journey to know today begins.”

There is this really special feeling that I get when beginning a new PSX JRPG that I know personally, but putting it into words can prove to be troubling. Maybe it’s those gorgeous and blood pumping FMV sequences that tend to occur before the title screen, reflecting epic scenes that throughout the gaming journey you’ll encounter with full context, or the mysterious dialogue that reveals itself to the player, hinting at the overarching theme of the story you’re about to witness. Whatever that feeling is, The Legend of Dragoon captured me almost immediately during that initial bootup. As far as first impressions go, I was exhilarated and ready to dive into this journey that I was sure to enjoy.

LoD was Sony Interactive Entertainment’s answer to a Final Fantasy-esque title, one that attempts to capture that same sense of wonder and magic that Squaresoft’s hit series was praised so much for. I personally felt it succeeded in this, however much of my intrigue in LoD comes from how polarizing the game is among players who often feel like the combat system is too slow or challenging, or that the game either lacks substance or is even a Final Fantasy VII knock off. While certain scenarios throughout the game ring some major FFVII bells, the plot as a whole felt unique in its own right, and the characters especially I found to be much better rounded than most of the casts throughout the Final Fantasy series.

I want to begin first and foremost with the aspect of The Legend of Dragoon that clicked with me within minutes of playing the game, and that is the soundtrack. Composed between two groups of musicians primarily based in New York and Tokyo, the style and tone for the music featured in LoD is quite unlike any game I’ve ever played. It brilliantly captures the otherworldly vibe that I hunger for when playing high fantasy games such as these. Titles like Chrono Cross with its tropical, almost dreamlike aesthetic and Vagrant Story’s dark, atmospheric nature are captured phenomenally through their iconic scores, and dare I say The Legend of Dragoon competes on that same tier. Despite having a noticeably smaller tracklist than the PlayStation’s bigname JRPGs, LoD presents a wide range of foreign/ethnic inspired pieces that hit right in every aspect, from the exciting and groovy battle themes, melodic and soothing town themes, and ominously devoid atmospheric tracks.

Let’s talk about the characters. I seriously liked them all, even Kongol who is that one obligatory party member who has his brief moment in the spotlight and for the remainder of the game is cast aside until some endgame dialogue. Dart is the blonde, spiky haired, sword wielding protagonist who is thrown into an epic journey of revenge and self discovery after his home town is burned down… sounds kind of familiar. Along the way we meet the mysterious and brood Rose, the total bro and epic knight Lavitz, and Dart’s sisterly but also excessively implied love interest, Shana (it’s very forced and overall kind of weird but it gets better after the first disc). There are a few more main party members that join in along the journey who all struggle with past and personal demons that are resolved throughout the course of the game and it’s all done very well I’d say. The balance of character development is better here in LoD than most games of that time period.

The plot for LoD is super good, and it’s backed up with a massive amount of ingame lore. The story starts with Dart’s hometown being destroyed by the evil Serdian emperor Doel’s army, and his childhood friend Shana is taken prisoner. Dart, being the nobel lad he is, rushes head first into the prison fortress of Hellena to rescue her, and during the rescue joins forces with Lavitz, head of the knighthood of Bale. Upon her rescue, Dart finds himself wrapped up into the Serdio War that ravages across the country, and it’s through these events that he awakens the dormant power of the Dragoon. What starts off very focused on a single main objective soon branches off to reveal many mysteries about the world of Endiness and the intentions of the game’s antagonists. Without giving away too much, the story for LoD is up there with the likes of FFVII (afterall it served as the biggest piece of inspiration) and is filled with jaw dropping reveals, bittersweet discoveries, and a rollercoaster of twists and turns.

The combat system in The Legend of Dragoon is awesome, I personally find it to be one of the most fun and addictive battle systems of any turn based game I’ve played. The highlight here is the use of the game’s addition system, which are increasingly complex combos utilizing quick-time events that occur during a character’s attack animation. Nailing the proper button presses during an addition can lead to devastating damage, and each addition can be leveled up to increase damage output. The most similar thing to it is the deathblow mechanic from Xenogears and how more combos can be unlocked through repetition and leveling up, but it has that extra layer of interactivity with the timed button presses. Longer additions can be interrupted by an enemy counterattack, so you have to press a different button in order to continue the addition.

Then we have the Dragoon transformation, an ability that can also be leveled up to increase the amount of magic spells and turns that can be used while in this form. Fully maxed out late game additions have higher damage output and are generally a safer option as opposed to transforming into a Dragoon due to the fact that you cannot use items while in Dragoon form, but damn the battle animations are truly incredible. For the people who don’t like the lengthy summon and attack animations from the Final Fantasy games on PS1, LoD answers this with a menu option to shorten the duration of these sorts of occurrences. I personally loved them so I kept this option off, and that’s another thing I wanted to mention again, the battle animations and additions in this game are fluid as fuck, satisfying, and generally impressive.

As much as I could go further in depth into my review for LoD, I think I’ll save further thoughts for a replay review when the time comes. It hasn’t even been two weeks since I finished the game and my mind is constantly wandering off to the spectacular time I had playing through it. My expectations were met, if not exceeded by pretty much every single aspect LoD had to offer. While I don’t think this title would click with most people the way it did with me, I am truly glad that I had such a sensational time with it. More than ever, The Legend of Dragoon deserves as much recognition as it can get, and I implore any reader of this who has a sliver of interest to do themselves a favor and play this underrated gem.

“Farewell…. People who confront the fate of Soa….”

I am not crazy! I know he swapped those numbers! I knew it was 1216. One after Magna Carta. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just – I just couldn't prove it. He – he covered his tracks, he got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? He's done worse. That billboard! Are you telling me that a man just happens to fall like that? No! He orchestrated it! Jimmy! He defecated through a sunroof! And I saved him! And I shouldn't have. I took him into my own firm! What was I thinking? He'll never change. He'll never change! Ever since he was 9, always the same! Couldn't keep his hands out of the cash drawer! But not our Jimmy! Couldn't be precious Jimmy! Stealing them blind! And he gets to be a lawyer!? What a sick joke! I should've stopped him when I had the chance! And you – you have to stop him! You-

Simply incredible. The gameplay was some of the most fun I’ve had with a Switch title in years. With such an extensive lineup of unique characters, swapping through them each chapter never got repetitive. There’s something extremely rewarding about clearing a chapter and watching closely as your units become more and more powerful. I knew I was untouchable once Merrin was avoiding nearly every attack and hitting a critical almost every turn. That satisfaction continued to be engaging until the final moments. While the story isn’t the greatest written narrative in gaming, its overall messages were clear and captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed watching over Alear and the rest of the cast and look forward to seeing what the DLC adds to this installment.

May 9th: I updated my score. Roughly two months later and the flaws are starting to come back to me. Not that the game is bad, it’s still very good and one I would recommend to any SRPG fan, but the gameplay being the sole carrier of an RPG is not a good look. Hopefully since this was supposed to be more of an anniversary title it was meant to be lighter on everything else, but we need the next game to outshine in every single way.

Legitimately one of the best action RPGs I've ever played, and I doubt anything will top it in terms of being an all around solid experience, aka having a decent story and fantastic gameplay that's honestly some of the best in the entire medium. As much as I love Tales of the Abyss, I have to admit that's more of on story merits moreso than gameplay, 2 Final Mix has it beat for me in terms of having a good balance in both asepcts.

I know people give Kingdom Hearts' story crap, and I won't deny that it has its flaws and dumb writing decisions, especially in the entries following this game specifically, but I still will defend the story of 2 itself, because while the Disney worlds don't really have much cohesion for the plot, the actual meat of the plot involving Roxas' dilemma and Sora trying so hard to save the worlds for good and find his missing friends is done so well and has such good payoff from what KH1 and Chain of Memories set up that I can forgive that.

As for the gameplay, the Final Mix version improves upon everything the original version was lacking in terms of challenge and flexibility in combat, as 2 already was a major step up from 1 in terms of that as is. Critical Mode is balanced incredibly well to provide a strong but fair challenge, and all the new abilities given in this game contribute to that well. Manuevering around enemies and platforming has never felt better, and 2 Final Mix honestly feels like one of the few games I've played where the playable character actually feels like his abilities and power are on par with the insanity you'd expect from JRPG bosses, and it's incredibly thrilling and exciting. The satisfaction I got from beating the secret bosses of this game is something I've rarely felt in most games I've played.

2 Final Mix isn't perfect of course, the story has some shortcomings as I've said before and it does take awhile for you to get all of the flexibility in combat that makes the 2nd half of the game so fun, but the payoff both in story and gameplay is just so worth it that I can easily forgive it. It's very much a game that I'd recommend anyone to give a shot, whether it's for fun or for something a little more. KH2FM is one of the best games I've ever played, and I will die on that hill.

Turn the dial on my words

Playing video games for a long time, you already know the spiel about how the modern AAA video game industry is. It's easy to understand why considering making video games keep getting more expensive the more ambitious they get to the point that taking a risk feels like a waste of money to the corporate entities of the world. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the hobby and whatever new comes out for the most part but it all what makes Hi-Fi Rush even more special in this regard. The comparison to it with titles from the sixth generation has been done ad nauseam and in a completely positive light and for good reason. Out of left field, a pure passion project inspired by the games of almost twenty years ago with unique graphical design and heart.

We're introduced to our less than bright protagonist, Chai at the very start of the game entering a campus in hopes of getting an easy way into accomplishing his dream of being a rockstar. Things somehow go wrong and now labeled as a defect, must fight his way through in hopes of keeping that dream alive and eventually with the help of his friends, find out what's really going on with Project Armstrong. The game does an amazing job bringing into this colorful and vibrant world where you can hear and see the beat of the soundtrack of your life. Trees vibrate, your own steps fall into the beat along even standing feels synchronized to the world. The overall tale that's told is one that doesn't make you think hard but it's one with a lot of meaningful messages and a heartwarming penultimate track that really brings it all together that made me tear up at that point, Hi-Fi Rush truly earned that moment then and there as one of the best games of the year for me but there's so much to unpack. The characters themselves bring something unique and charming to the table not just in the gameplay sense but how the dynamic between them works and how even weak by themselves but together are worth more than the sum of its parts. The writing comes off as something from a very mature Cartoon Network show to a really mild Adult Swim 15 minute run bordering on the TV-PG rating mostly due to the language as it is. It doesn't take itself seriously and ironically that's how I feel I can take the game seriously in everything else, it feels intentional because it was intentional.


Chai by definition is a "loser with nothing going for him" but his true calling is hitting things with a guitar and he's really good at it. The combat will feel immediately recognizable to fans of the character action genre with exploratory segments followed by arenas where it's time to fight it out. The rule of the game, more like rule of the world really is everything is on the beat and they really mean it. Chai attacks on the beat regardless of the timing of the button press and enemies act accordingly to the beat too creating this predictable ebb and flow that makes combat surprisingly more easy to understand compared to a lot more complex character action games. The best thing is you don't even need to attack on the beat to do damage as Chai will just attack when the beat comes but attacking on beat is more of a want than a need here. I think this is great as it makes the game a bit easier to get into and doesn't punish people for not hitting the beat. There is reason to hit on beat though as you'll do more damage and it's one of the requirements for getting a good rank. You can totally beat the game playing it like a regular action game but don't expect to get a high score which I think is a fair compromise. Another facet of combat is the assist system, Chai can go solo but he's nothing with his bandmates. Each one provides a solution and a unique element to Chai's moveset. The only annoying thing is when enemies have armor or shields that are only able to be destroyed with the assists and sometimes you'll need multiple summons to be able to finally attack, these moments can kill the pacing of fighting a bit but it's not that bad. The few moments where the action stops in a 1v1 scenario having to do a mini rhythm minigame in the form of parrying is actually fun too especially just feeling the beat. It took me a bit to get into the literal rhythm but once it clicks, it's like vintage video games at its best. Exploratory segments between the arenas feel right at home with me due to the games from the era in where you can try to find secrets in the level right before a big fight. There's also platforming that I think is just average and you can jump and dash to the beat too if you find yourself in that zone but it's never that huge of a focus despite doing it a fair bit throughout the game. The platforming is okay at best and you can jump and air dash to the beat as well but it's never really required here. I do wish there was a few more fights in the game but I think all things considered, they probably ran out of budget at some point and wanted to make the most polished experience they can and they really succeeded.


Some might find the art style ugly but I think it hits the era perfectly. The art style reminds me of mid 2000's Cartoon Network era cartoon shows bordering on those also found during an early Saturday morning. It gives more credence to the fact it tries to really hone in on that specific time in video game history where people wanted to experiment more and purely thought about how fun an experience is before meeting some quota for content. The intended soundtrack (including the licensed tracks) are extremely amazing and used almost perfectly especially during the penultimate track, I won't even link the music because experiencing it for yourself is the one of the best parts of the game. You gotta earn that shit because Hi-Fi Rush did. Mixing regular rock and fortunately changing things up with a little bit of Jazz, electronic, and even a bit of classical makes you feel surprised what you can do with a guitar.


There's always something seeing someone with self worth issues fixing everyone's and their own problems with a guitar. There's no easy way to achieving your dreams and there's nothing you can't do as long as you got people that care for you in your corner. Hi-Fi Rush is truly a pleasant surprise in every meaning of the word and priced perfectly that it feels much more compelling to try it out for yourself. It's a nice change of pace from seriousness of adult life and going back to when watching cartoons after finishing your math homework was a luxury. I hope the positive reception of the game sends a message that the market for experimental small scale titles in the AAA space never truly left, companies and publishers just felt so risk averse to the point this title should have never came out but it did and I'm grateful for that. You can always go solo and make some decent music but if you team up and make a cool ass band, you can change the world.

What a game! Hi-Fi Rush is a short, linear action game, aka my type of video game. The cast, combat, music, platforming and level design is perfect. The cast interactions are so charming and the dialogue fits the pleasing to look at art style perfectly. The story feels like a cartoon which I love. The platforming is consistently great and constantly introduces new mechanics to keep itself fresh. The levels also stay fresh as every level has a different theme. The combat is the strength of this game. The rhythm aspect of the combat is mostly optional, but I don’t recommend ignoring the beat. My only issue with this game is the lack of a lot enemy variety but the game is so short it almost isn’t noticeable. Outside of that Hi-Fi Rush is masterful. Tango Gameworks shadow dropped an all timer 💯

Do you like Genshin? Do you like Vtubers? Do you like FEH? Here’s all of that!

So this is the supposedly latest "mainline" game in this franchise. I know Engage is allegedly a game celebrating
the 30th anniversary of FE, but that's even worse. Bold move celebrating the 30th anniversary of FE with a game that doesn't look like FE at all.

FE always looked like anime and followed the latest trends in artstyle etc, but all character designs still had a coherent theme. The medieval europe aesthetic was always a big influence. Even in a horny game like Fates (even the Hoshido desgins were coherent for the aesthetics of the nation). Ignoring the fanservice most designs looked decent (though there were some stinkers like Peri).

But Engage looks like it has no theme at all. It's just "fantasy" and goofy. The character designs are all over the place like they're all from different fantasy gacha games.
These designs seem like a perfect blend of every currrent day anime design trope and it just looks soulless as a result.
This artstyle is by far the worst the series has ever seen, and it makes me appreciate Three Houses, SoV, Path of Radiance etc. all the more. You know what actually bothers me the most, more than just disliking the aesthetics of the designs? All the women I see look like goddamn kids and suffer from same face syndrome. And my god, the 3D models in general look absolutely atrocious. Even the past lords look like shit in this game's style. Engage is certainly more colorful, but that's honestly it. The textures in Engage are another problem, they're mostly not there. The textures on everything are so flat. Everything looks so artificial because of it. FE3H was not a good looking game but I expected more from a game that released nearly 4 years later.

This game looks like a dollar store genshin that collabs with FE, but at least the Genshin characters look coherent for the themes and aesthetics of the nation they come from.
Colgate and friends look like a travelling circus. I remember when some pictures of this game leaked some time ago and people were 100% convinced that this was a chinese bootleg FE gacha, because of course they would.

Well, let's talk about the gameplay. It's FE so the gameplay was bound to be fun. People say that Engage is going back to its roots because the game "focuses more on the
tactical gameplay than the story, lore and characters". While it's true that Engage offers more variety in the tactical side of things, it still falls flat since the game is lacking some kind of balance. Thanks to the rings units are broken from the start. The problem is, to balance against this, you’d need to have absurdly difficult enemy units, who would invalidate all non-ring using characters and they didn't do that. Though, there are units/classes that are broken in general, so clearing maps wasn't really challenging. Engage offers average FE gameplay with some neat battle animation updates. There are some improvements, but also some step backs. But hey, at least we got weapon triangle back, right?
This is by far one of the easiest FE game I've played. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is fun but it's not "more challenging" than the past games in that regard. Also, Engage got new game modes and mechanics that are straight up from FEH and I'm not a fan.

The story...exists. Most FE stories aren't really all that unique but can still be enjoyed as political dramas on surface level for most of the time (I greatly enjoyed PoR, Thracia and 3H)
Engage's plot is the most vanilla, over the top anime story in this franchise and I mean this in a bad way. Yeah, it's even more "anime" than Fates. The story simply does not live up to previous installments in the series writing-wise.
Oh and Emblem heroes don't factor much into the plot at all, even Marth.

Also, I hate the "but FE was always anime!!!" argument. Yeah, no shit. Anime can have different genres, artstyle and a difference in tone and groundedness. Not every modern anime has to look like a generic moe harem isekai. Because you know, even "anime" can be serious. And it's not like the series cannot try to do that these days - see SoV and 3H. Now, I'm not against lighthearted plots in this franchise, but Engage's plot is just a joke that overstays its welcome way too long. It's been a while since I cringed so many times while playing a game.

The cast is also the most forgettable one. None of the characters felt unique or interesting in any way. Everyone here is meant to either be a laugh, a bland stereotype, or combination of the two. So, tiresome one-note gimmicks whose character profile never left the draft drawer but was put into the game anyway. Supports heavily focus on the character's gimmicks, which got annoying very fast. The supports are not engaging in any way. It's quantity over quality. All of them are very short, but I appreciate that they fully voiced all of them.

Honestly, the only reason I played this game is because I love Fire Emblem and wanted to give this game a chance. I enjoy FE gameplay, but even good gameplay can get tedious and boring if I don't care about the rest of the game. After finishing a map, I got rewarded with more over the top anime crap and meh characters. I was just not invested enough because of that and hated my time with it as a result. See, I love plenty of gameplay-focused games. The issue is that Engage isn't structured like a gameplay-focused game, it's structured like a game with a shit story featuring shitty characters. Does it give you a rough outline of a story to then let you play freely with no distraction? No. It's not a dungeon crawler, it's not XCOM, it's a very classic FE game with tons of character introductions and interactions that are wasting your time, they're just bad. I can't just admit the game's writing is so shit that it's better to skip every cutscene and call that "gameplay-focused", it's clearly a failure and not the intended experience. That was the worst experience I had with a FE game.

The only interesting thing about Engage are the past lords but if I want to see them I just play their games, where they look decent and not like...this. They're also not even able to
interact with each other or are all that relevant in the story, so whats the point of this "celebration"? That you'll point at your favorite lords and clap? That's what FEH is for. This game that shoves in generic anime designs, gags, lines, acting, same baby face women, and non fitting outfits and other elements is for me the worst FE game. I hope the next one will be better, because this was very disappointing after FE3H's big success. I understand that Engage is supposed to be a goofy and lighthearted "celebration" of this franchise, but why is it mainline? And why is it done so bad? There are many other and better ways to celebrate this franchise that I came to really love. But not like this. It's nothing more than a soulless cashgrab.

(The game leaked a few days ago, so I had the chance to play it early.)

This game is a rushed response from gamefreak to the many Pokemon fans who were demanding a botw like/open world Pokemon game and it somehow turned out pretty good. The open world is fantastic and doesn't get repetitive due to the many different biomes in the world. There is a lot to do in the world and the side content is great. The traversal could be better but it's pretty good and lowkey a strength of the game. It's fun! In comparison to traversal in other Nintendo games like Xenoblade, it is far better. The game's story isn't deep or anything but it's good compared to what Pokemon stories have been recently. The cast is good with Arven being a standout. Anyways this game is good, go play it if you grew up with Pokemon