Empathy incarnate. In spite of it's massive scope (or maybe a necessity due to it), Infinite Wealth is as personal and laid back as they come in terms of narratives for the series. A story about finding beauty in the small things in life and moving on from past regrets; we all deserve a second chance, it's just up to the individual to take that extra step. Kiryu's side of the story in particular resonates as a powerful coda for him, and his final moments are impactful and perfectly restrained.

Nice to see on a gameplay level this thing improved from 7 as well. That game already was in the upper tiers of JRPGs but I can't imagine going back to it after this - the simple introduction of movement during your turn changes how the entire game plays and makes combat even more fun. The endless sidequests are some of the best in the series as well, and while it lacks 7's tight, punchy narrative beats, it replaces it with excellent character driven drama. A must play and worth the wait.

Have you ever spent a long time hyping yourself up for the next entry in a series that's out in a different language, only to hype it up so much that you're inevitably disappointed when it actually comes out? Yeah... that's what happened to me with this game after playing through Justice for All and going through the wait for Trials and Tribulations to come out in English. It doesn't help that I really wanted to like Godot because look at him, he's so hot, but I ended up being really irritated with him by the end. Maybe it's just that I stuck to the guide instead of trying to figure it out for myself, so everything felt more like going through the motions. I don't know.

Anyway, despite my grumbling, this actually is a pretty great sendoff to the original trilogy. "Original trilogy," christ, I'm making it sound like Star Wars. I feel like this is a game I definitely need to replay at some point so I can reevaluate my opinion of it.

TLDR review: This is peak gaming.

Actual in depth review:
The story is completely unlike anything that came before it. The characters actually had unique goals and personalities. The story structure switched protags every few hours to get you accustomed to their tales and gameplay mechanics. Even the main antagonist had a reason behind his beliefs which was very uncommon in video games that were initially released before 1990.

Chapter 1 didn't particularly stand out to me but looking back it was a fine tutorial. It was there as a quick intro to teach players all the fundamentals before suddenly every single chapter that followed was a banger in every possible way. I can forgive an ok hour long tutorial when the rest of the game is nonstop peak gaming.

Chapter 2 introduced one of my favorite characters in the franchise, Alena. Think of any early video game that has anything even remotely close to a strong martial artist princess. There really weren't many even close. There were barely even woman leads in games back then, let alone princesses that were more than just kidnapped plot devices. But Alena? Nah she gonna punch those demon lords into oblivion. This is something I think Dragon Quest and especially this game shine at. The woman are actually super vital to the plot and I love that. Even the main hero can be a woman at the player's chice (kinda wish more DQ games had that option but that's besides the point). Kiryl was introduced in this chapter too and he grew on me quite aw bit too. Spin-offs like to build off his whack memes (his AI would cast that spell constantly in the original NES version) which is neat. Boyra is the only let down party member story wise but meh it's whatever. This chapter had a few surprises near the end that made me go "oh wait yeah this game might actually be pretty dark".

Chapter 3 blew all expectations away. What I mean by that is you play as merchant named Torneko whom has almost no good combat qualities. What you do for this chapter is try to make money and set up shops. You can even play a sell items mini game to make money, but it's definitely worth actually exploring for gold. I have to this day never played another RPG where you actually play as a merchant behind the counter selling items to heroes. There were quite a few neat discoveries I found in this chapter too like a town that only exists at a certain time of day. This chapter is also the first one where a setting is reoccurring which I think adds nice world building. So far each story felt semi standalone minus he main antag's schemes, but now you actually see things line up.

Chapters2 and 3 were good but 4 is where the ball really starts rolling. Two sibling protags trying to get revenge on their father's killer is a really good concept. Meena and Maya ae once again central woman in the story and they both have super fun move pools. Meena is a fortune teller and Maya is a spell casting dancer. Together they are powerful magic users, they add racial diversity to the cast, and they continue the family oriented kind of tales DQ likes to tell (1-3 all about a bloodline, 5 super family oriented, 6 has sibling party members, etc). Narratively and setting wise I really enjoyed chapter 4's revenge tale.

Chapter 5 begins with one of the most icon scenes in the game. Wasn't what I was expecting at all and really proved the game was going for a dark tone but with a sense of "keep moving forward even in the darkest of times". From there you make your way around the world to gather all the previous major party members. This segment is really cool because everything you've worked for so far finally comes together. You meet many legendary characters in this game like the Zenith Dragon and Estark who continue to reappear and connect multiple games in the series together. You also start learning about the main antagonist Psaro. I will really surprised to see his motivation being to protect Rose from humans that constantly abuse her. DQ is very much a story about protecting those important to you and opening one's mind to different perspectives. Not everything is black and white. Even the real world is full of conflict where both sides thin they're doing the right thing, and I think this game portrays that excellently.

The final boss is actually raw the way it transforms throughout the boss fight. DQ1 was the first RPG where a final boss had a second phase and tis game cranks that up to so many more. This is a good time to talk about the fact that this is actually a remake review because oh gosh the remake has such good DS era pixel art, especially during that final boss phase. The remake is such a vast improvement on the original in nearly every way but unfortunately within the DS version a feature called Party Chat was cut from international releases. That's why the mobile version which this review is actually for is the very best version. It lets you talk to allies at any point and they will always have something neat to say about the setting or events that transpired. It adds additional personality and world building to a game that was already full of both.

The biggest addition these remake versions have is an entirely new chapter. After beating the final boss you typically go back to right before the fight when reloading the game, which is true still, but now a new dungeon is opened up. This dungeon is difficult and a bit weird but it adds a new duo boss that upon beating, gives you access to an entirely new storyline. The rawest party member in the franchise's history joins you as you go take down an evil mastermind that is the reason most of the conflict in game occurred in the first place. The actually post credits isn't too different besides a few more characters being alive but it's such a beautiful addition nonetheless. The best part is this new story direction doesn't even break the canon of later games in any way whatsoever so you can interpret either ending as canon.

Sequels and spin-offs have greatly expanded how much I love this game too. 5 and 6 reference and build connections to 4 in such fun and unique ways. Heroes and other games also love including 4 content due to how great and large its main cast is. The game that makes me appreciate 4 the most though is Monsters The Dark Prince due to it basically being D4 from Psaro's perspective. It actually adds new twists and lore even fans of 4 would not see coming at all. DQ4 was a timeless classic by itself but even today it continues to become better and better as its legacy impacts modern games in the series immensely. Heck its not even this game that it has a vast legacy in. Games like Live A Live were directly inspired by it and that had a domino effect leading to Chrono Trigger, Xeno, Trails, etc. This game is such an important part of RPG history. It truly is the Chapters of the Chosen.

PS: I love this game so much that I have a replica of the sword, my boyfriend made me bead art of multiple party members, and I talk about the game so actively I grew a modest sized social media following. DQ4 genuinely impacted my life for the better and I'm happy thinking about it. Such a beautiful game with a great legacy. Will always be one of my favorite games of all time and that has absolutely 0 nostalgia bias behind it. In fact, it was one of the last mainline DQ games I got into. It really was just the perfect game for me.

Constructive story prequel that could have been a masterpiece with more playtime dedicated to its actual narrative instead of obvious padding.
+ significantly better designed and more mature cast that retroactively enriches some old characters
+ engaging combat with the addition of a brilliant player switch mechanic
+ no more annoying gacha rolls and thus imbalanced skill checks
+ slightly expanded and still amazing soundtrack
+ welcoming eastern-themed city to explore
- relatively few and small areas ruining plot pacing and the sense of adventure
- lack of nuance in antagonists compared to the main game
- removal of specific difficulty options making inflated enemy health bars a real problem
- forced side quests that add up to at least 3-5 hours of uninteresting content (out of ~15 hours total)

Back in the day, I had this game on my Wii, and I desperately wanted to play it in coop with my older brother. Unfortunately he never wanted to, and as a result I never played the game... (I didn't want to play it in singleplayer at the time.)
I was so frustrated about it for so long, and I promised myself to play through it one day, even if it has to be in solo. And this day has finally come! Mind you, it doesn't mean my expectations for this game were really high.
Oh and btw I haven't played any other game in the PS2 trilogy. So I don't have any prior knowledge of the events that happened in A New Beginning & The Eternal Night.
The only other Spyro games I've played are the ones on the PS1.

As it's often the case with those PS2 games, the camera is janky and systematically decides to reposition itself without asking me. So it makes the overall camera movement unbearable.
It's a nightmare during combat. You'll always find yourself running in circles to try and get a better angle of the enemies.
And don't get me started on the enclosed/underground areas where the game doesn't allow you to move the camera freely, but always gives you the most horrendous camera angles.

It's a shame because the combat system is quite fun. It's a Beat'em up where you fight with 2 characters, Spyro & Cynder.
And you can switch between the two whenever you want.
Each of them has 4 different elements that you can upgrade throughout your adventure, and some enemies are only vulnerable to specific elements, which means you'll have to choose your spells adequately.
So the combat can be enjoyable, but it's spoiled by this one very annoying issue with the camera.

I was pleasantly surprised with the area themes and the environment aesthetics. Twilight Falls and Valley of Avalar have that mystical vibe that was really appealing to me. And the music always hit right.

I'm not a fan of the chara designs, whether it's Spyro, Sparx, or all the cheetahs. The only one I liked was Cynder's, she looks so stylish. She was the only cool character in the game to be honest.
The voice acting is really goofy at times, and Sparx is one of the most insufferable characters I've ever seen. All his lines are attempts to be funny, but it fails miserably everytime. I wish he was silent like in the PS1 games..

Flying was so-so. They did a decent job with the controls, but the invisible walls and the fact that you can't change your altitude made flying very clumsy. It's also very slow whenever you try to land, which was quite irritating.
There are some platforming segments that were really unintuitive aswell. Using the boulder spell mid-air to destroy those walls in Ruins of Warfang was so annoying.

The game had a lot of interesting puzzles with enjoyable game design. I liked the ones where you need to get one of the protagonists on a platform, and then pull it with the other dragon, thank to the chain that is shackling Spyro & Cynder together.
There's also that puzzle in Ruins of Warfang where you need to swing yourself with the chain to light the flames around the wheel. Pretty clever!
More over, the game expects you to experiment & figure out some mechanics by yourself. For example, you can get through iron gates using Cynder's shadow spell. It was satisfying to find this out without help!

If I had to summarize this game in one sentence: It's sprinkled with good ideas but bad execution.
The game is usually well paced, except on some occasions when the beat'em up parts drag on for too long (whether because there are too many enemies to defeat in a row, or because an enemy is too tanky).
The part on the Destroyer was a cool idea, when you need to break all the crystals one by one, and then go inside the beast to destroy its core crystals and escape before it implodes. But since flying is so inconvenient & clumsy, it makes this part a bit tedious, which is quite unfortunate.

The game ended on a bright note, with the Final Boss fight being very fun.
The story was really cliché but it didn't bother me. Like I said earlier, what bothered me were the cheap voice acting & bad chara designs. It looks like the Elder Dragons are ALWAYS smiling in any situation. It's kinda eerie.
And if I could throw Sparx in the volcano myself, I would do it without hesitation.

Anyway, flawed game but I had a good time nonetheless. I'm glad I finally played it!

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Started on December 30th & finished on December 31st 2023]
Playtime: 13 hours
Main story complete.

It's a Collectathon game with very basic platforming & combat. You control Scrat and pursue acorns as you progress your way through the icy plains & mountaintops.
The game is based on the movie of the same name.

I played this game purely for nostalgia reasons! It's one of those games that I got during my childhood, and I never thought much of it despite getting all the way to the end when I was a kid.
It recently popped up in my mind after I had forgotten about it for over 15 years, so I was intrigued to replay it to relive my childhood.

The game is really holding your hand at all times. There are tutorials signs for the most basic actions, such as jumping, climbing vines, attacking enemies, etc... And you see some of those tutos multiple times. I guess they really wanted the 4 years old to be able to beat the game.

The camera was bad, I was annoyed that you couldn't increase its speed. It's so slow when you need to look around you. And the camera starts panicking when you're close to a wall. But honestly it's a PS2 game, so I'll forgive it on that.

I didn't pay too much attention to the soundtrack. I did enjoy the one inside the volcano when you have to save Sid, but the rest wasn't memorable.

The short cutscenes that tell the events of the movie feel so disconnected from the gameplay segments with Scrat, it was kinda weird.
The ending was bland. You just go through your last platforming section that isn't any different from the rest of the game, then there is a 30 seconds cutscene to show you that the characters are finally safe from the meltdown, and voila... It felt a bit lazy.

There isn't much else to say about this game. It was never bad or frustrating, but it was never good either. It's a really forgettable adventure. But at least it was short !
I'm still happy I played it, but I doubt I'll look back too much on it in the future.

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played on 29th December 2023]
Playtime: 4 hours
I got all the way to the end. No bonus or side content in this game.