What an absolute treat this game was. Played the game with HD textures, and it honestly felt like playing a remastered game. The characters were (mostly) great, especially the character growth of some. The combat felt really good, especially once you got the hang of the FoF system. The story was an absolute banger, and I felt invested in the world they crafted and the consequences of everyone's actions. The last arc kept this from being a masterpiece - while traveling back and forth from place to place might make sense in terms of a grand story, it makes for some terrible pacing in terms of gameplay - but it might be the best game I've played this year, and I would recommend it heartily.

This game looks fantastic, the music is charming and catchy, and it comes with an overall laid-back vibe that I found comforting and adorable.

The combat involves auto-targeting (i.e. you don't get any say in who your characters attack), and that is going to turn a lot of people off right away. There also is no MP in this game; instead, you operate with five "Action Points" that determine what type of attack/ability/spell you can use, and each action takes a specific amount of action points depending on the strength of the attack. Spells are determined by tomes that are kept in your frustratingly tiny inventory, along with your equipment and accessories. These two things greatly simplify the strategy, until you start messing around with crowns. Crowns are this games version of job classes, and they're very important for boss battles. Buffing and debuffing are extremely important in this game, as are equipping your characters with armor that has specific element resistances. You can easily get wiped by common scrub enemies at the beginning of the game if you're not careful, and some of the bosses can be downright nasty for the same reason.

There is a ton of backtracking in this game (basically every dungeon), and while the story beats at least attempted to try and mix things up when you revisited towns, it did nothing for having to traipse through full dungeons again. This, along with a certain boss sequence at the end of the game, left it feeling very repetitive. There's a lot of fun character interactions and party dropping/swapping/moving, but as someone else mentioned your party basically becomes mute halfway through the game and all of those fun interactions just vanish. It takes a lot of the life out of what was already a mediocre story, and I wish they'd kept those interactions going.

I don't regret my playthrough of this game, but a middling story and tedious re-treading of areas ultimately kept it from being anything memorable.

Second GOTM finished for November 2023. What a charming little mech-controlling platforming adventure game! Fun (if a little cheesy or flat) voiced dialogue for much of the game, interesting movement and gameplay mechanics, and a warm and wholesome cast of characters. The overall movement of the mech can be a little over-sensitive, but still had some weight to it and felt like you were piloting a large hunk of metal. The camera control is the weakest part of this game, as it is basically nonexistent (the only options you have are using L1/L2 to raise and lower the camera angle ever so slightly) and is unfortunately highlighted pretty extensively on two important levels in the game. I have a soft spot for 3D platformers of this era, and thus am used to plenty of terrible camera controls, but it was still frustrating. Some of the boss battles could feel a bit drug out, as you only really have two methods of attack and one doesn't do much damage. A good game that is weighed down by some long boss battles and an annoying camera, but it's quite charming and doesn't outstay it's welcome. Recommended little gem!

First GOTM finished for November 2023. Better version to Cybernator due to better dialogue and character portraits. The music is so good in this game, it looks nice, the weapon variety is fun and upgradeable, and the movement has some weight to it (making it feel more like a proper mecha game). However, the decision to make your gun aim wherever you are moving is absolutely dreadful, and lends itself to my biggest issue with the game - it's stupid hard. Were it not for save states, I highly doubt I would've beaten this one. Certainly a skill issue, but my enjoyment of a game tends to drop precipitously the more I have to constantly replay, replay, and replay a section of a level (or, potentially in this case, the entire game). I'd recommend it for sure, but know it might kick your ass.

Decided to try and sneak one more spooky game in for October, and this one did not disappoint. NES-era JRPG horror game, so while there isn't any real fear present due to the age of the system it is certainly creepy. Several unique mechanics I haven't really seen in other games come through here - mainly the party and team system - makes for an overall unique gameplay experience. Story isn't profound, but it helps move the gameplay along and is serviceable. Pacing is a little off, especially in terms of the difficulty, and there is a steep learning curve at the beginning - as you learn the characters, their key items, and the team-up system - but once you get trucking this one is quite fun!

Resident Evil ain't got nothin' on inventory management compared to this game!

Third GOTM finished for October 2023. This game would've been downright miserable without a guide, as the mansion is easily the most difficult monster in the game. This building was designed by a lunatic. I genuinely disliked the constant back and forth traipsing through this terrible building, but the atmosphere definitely felt like a proper horror game. Playing this in October for "spooky season" felt appropriate. The alternate control style is definitely appreciated, as are the stunning visuals and redone environments. While I think it has plenty of flaws, I can see why this defined a genre.

Fortieth GOTW finished for 2023. This game has no right to be as good as it is for a licensed game, and yet still falls a little flat. The controls are actually buttery-smooth for a game where you're controlling a spider-tank, especially considering you can scale practically any surface in the game. There's also a surprising amount of variety in the level types and boss battles. However, this game's biggest downfall is that the short playing time has it feeling...empty. Like a lot of ambitious ideas that weren't quite realized fully, and one of the best-handling PSX games I've ever played that didn't really get a chance to fully stretch its legs. That and the terrible timed mission.