While I feel that this game is a very mixed bag of quality, it has so much charm, creativity, and variety that the occasionally weaker points don't hinder it too much for me. This remake looks great, and adds so much atmosphere and detail that it feels like a true evolution from the source material. The music is excellent, both in terms of composition and the rearrangement. This remake also adds quite a bit more information to make some confusing points of the original feel much better. The only thing I like less than what I've seen from the original is that each era has the same textboxes, instead of different fonts and cursors for each. Feels a bit lackluster in comparison. Overall though, as a remake, it's very successful. Now, for each chapter, in the order that I played it.
Prehistory: Probably my least favorite. I really like the simplistic story told without words, and crafting was kinda fun. But the pace is all over the place, with long bouts of combat or really long story segments. The difficulty also feels weird, and the gimmick of smelling enemies is just not that fun.
Wild West: Easily one of my favorites. The premise is great, it's really fun in execution, it feels tense, the balance of combat to exploration is great, excellent all around.
Near Future: Fun, but had a few weak spots. It felt overall too easy, and it had a few points where the player would have to run back and forth through the same area over and over. The plot is fun and the ending is really cool.
Distant Future: I like the more story focused direction this one takes. The mystery and horror elements elevate it a lot, but it could have made the monster that chases you more threatening. Gets a bit repetitive since a lot of the chapter is running back and forth, but once danger is added it's much less of an issue.
Edo Japan: Another excellent one. The combat here feels challenging and rewarding, and the game gives the player a lot of leniency for how they want to play it. The atmosphere is great, the tricks and traps of the dungeon are fun, great all around.
Imperial China: This one has a great idea, but I wish it was less repetitive. The goal is to find 3 apprentices and train them, before switching control to the strongest of them. This results in just fighting the same apprentice over and over, and there's no reason to train all 3. Still neat, and the beginning and end are quite cool. The middle's the only bit that drags.
Present: I like this one a lot. The tournament setup keeps things quick and varied, and trying to get your opponent to hit you to steal their moves is really fun. Another one of my favorites.
Middle Ages: It's cool, but goes on a bit long. Most of it feels somewhat standard, but the back half is really great and is super interesting for the overall story.
Final: This chapter rocks. It's all about exploring to recruit all of the previous protagonists, and then preparing yourself by doing mini dungeons that are all pretty varied and cool. Some are kind of annoying, but most are fun and unique. It reminded me a lot of ff6's second half, which grants you a lot of freedom with the ability to confront the final boss at any time. Also the evil version of the final chapter is super cool.
IN CONCLUSION: Yeah this game's sick. I do wish the remake was a bit harder across the board, since I didn't have much difficulty save a few bosses and the last chapter. Maybe some sort of scaling that makes each chapter harder the later you take it on? Anyways, game's cool. Might be more fitting to be a 7, but I dunno.
Prehistory: Probably my least favorite. I really like the simplistic story told without words, and crafting was kinda fun. But the pace is all over the place, with long bouts of combat or really long story segments. The difficulty also feels weird, and the gimmick of smelling enemies is just not that fun.
Wild West: Easily one of my favorites. The premise is great, it's really fun in execution, it feels tense, the balance of combat to exploration is great, excellent all around.
Near Future: Fun, but had a few weak spots. It felt overall too easy, and it had a few points where the player would have to run back and forth through the same area over and over. The plot is fun and the ending is really cool.
Distant Future: I like the more story focused direction this one takes. The mystery and horror elements elevate it a lot, but it could have made the monster that chases you more threatening. Gets a bit repetitive since a lot of the chapter is running back and forth, but once danger is added it's much less of an issue.
Edo Japan: Another excellent one. The combat here feels challenging and rewarding, and the game gives the player a lot of leniency for how they want to play it. The atmosphere is great, the tricks and traps of the dungeon are fun, great all around.
Imperial China: This one has a great idea, but I wish it was less repetitive. The goal is to find 3 apprentices and train them, before switching control to the strongest of them. This results in just fighting the same apprentice over and over, and there's no reason to train all 3. Still neat, and the beginning and end are quite cool. The middle's the only bit that drags.
Present: I like this one a lot. The tournament setup keeps things quick and varied, and trying to get your opponent to hit you to steal their moves is really fun. Another one of my favorites.
Middle Ages: It's cool, but goes on a bit long. Most of it feels somewhat standard, but the back half is really great and is super interesting for the overall story.
Final: This chapter rocks. It's all about exploring to recruit all of the previous protagonists, and then preparing yourself by doing mini dungeons that are all pretty varied and cool. Some are kind of annoying, but most are fun and unique. It reminded me a lot of ff6's second half, which grants you a lot of freedom with the ability to confront the final boss at any time. Also the evil version of the final chapter is super cool.
IN CONCLUSION: Yeah this game's sick. I do wish the remake was a bit harder across the board, since I didn't have much difficulty save a few bosses and the last chapter. Maybe some sort of scaling that makes each chapter harder the later you take it on? Anyways, game's cool. Might be more fitting to be a 7, but I dunno.