Pain_Pies42
2005
Only got to ending A so far so take my writing here with a grain of salt for now. I like the cast and the gameplay but the story plays out way too predictably and one major twist at the end was kinda poorly executed. Still tho, like i said, i like the cast and the gameplay, they were hard-carrying the game so it's all good in the end in my book. Will update this after i get more endings
2003
Wildest 3 and a half star game i've ever played. And i mean it in a good way
2022
This game's hella cool. Kickass FPS Speedrunning gameplay, Stylish as all hell visuals, Bombass EDM for its OST, and a genuinely compelling story to lead all the action. It's a good fun time. Love it so much
2017
This review contains spoilers
It's been a long time since a JRPG have hooked me from start to finish. It's been even longer since a JRPG have touched me and resonated with me deeply as a whole package. This game manages to do both somehow quite effortlessly. Its storytelling makes great use of the things that only video games can do and yet somehow managed to retain the high-budget, cinematic direction that AAA JRPGs have always been going for. And it blends both to perfection. Weaving its themes through its narrative and more impressively, through its meta-narrative is another thing about the game that blew me away. Rarely have i ever seen a game completely achieve such a feat, barely any game ever tried to go that route and yet here it is doing so with such grace. Ngl, i'm still in awe with it. Coupled with it being accompanied by an incredible gameplay that is always compelling, haunting music that is so impressively implemented into every part of the action, and a gorgeous world comes to life through high fidelity graphics and beautiful visual art style. Every part of the game succeeds at drawing me in into everything that it has to offer, and while i do have a few criticisms in regards to certain parts of its story (Route B being rather redundant overall, the lacking exploration of A2 as an individual), everything else about it just keeps impressing me so much. I can't help but give it a 5 stars, anything less would be rather inaccurate
2023
This review contains spoilers
I wish i could like the game more
That's pretty much the sentiment that describes best my feeling on the game ye. It's got a lot going for it. Charming visual presentation in gorgeous 16-bit inspired pixel graphics, catchy tunes appropriately accompanying every action in the game, dungeon designs that is always fun to explore due to the clever puzzles, and a turn-based combat that just gets what makes this type of combat in the genre so fun. It's got all the stuffs that makes turnbased JRPGs so fun to play down pat.
But the story and characters. Man...
The main duo is so flat. Flat as a board. And that's a problem when they're the ones mainly driving the story along. Same goes with most of the main cast really. Barely any banter or flavor texts to really flesh out their personalities. And their main arcs are painfully dull in execution. The only one to get any semblance of depth is Garl, the best friend of the main duo. He's a big fun guy with charm oozing through his friendly nature and shows great personality and characterization. And his arc is pretty much the best piece of writing that the game has to offer. Which is sad because it's the only good writing i've seen in the game. And even then it gets somewhat undercut later in the story. Ngl, this lackluster writing and storytelling is very much why i was barely invested in the game by the 15-20 hour mark. Making a collectible be one of the mandatory conditions for the true ending is the final straw for me really. I ended up just leaving the game at its normal ending and just watch the true ending on youtube instead
I hope the dev team keeps making JRPGs tho. They really got the overall gameplay down. I just wish the well-crafted gameplay is wrapped by a better story
That's pretty much the sentiment that describes best my feeling on the game ye. It's got a lot going for it. Charming visual presentation in gorgeous 16-bit inspired pixel graphics, catchy tunes appropriately accompanying every action in the game, dungeon designs that is always fun to explore due to the clever puzzles, and a turn-based combat that just gets what makes this type of combat in the genre so fun. It's got all the stuffs that makes turnbased JRPGs so fun to play down pat.
But the story and characters. Man...
The main duo is so flat. Flat as a board. And that's a problem when they're the ones mainly driving the story along. Same goes with most of the main cast really. Barely any banter or flavor texts to really flesh out their personalities. And their main arcs are painfully dull in execution. The only one to get any semblance of depth is Garl, the best friend of the main duo. He's a big fun guy with charm oozing through his friendly nature and shows great personality and characterization. And his arc is pretty much the best piece of writing that the game has to offer. Which is sad because it's the only good writing i've seen in the game. And even then it gets somewhat undercut later in the story. Ngl, this lackluster writing and storytelling is very much why i was barely invested in the game by the 15-20 hour mark. Making a collectible be one of the mandatory conditions for the true ending is the final straw for me really. I ended up just leaving the game at its normal ending and just watch the true ending on youtube instead
I hope the dev team keeps making JRPGs tho. They really got the overall gameplay down. I just wish the well-crafted gameplay is wrapped by a better story
2006
It's a damn good JRPG ye. Its story and the gutpunches are all well-known and talked about for good reasons but i find myself particularly impressed with how it handles its combat, gameplay, and difficulty balancing as the game goes on. Lots of well-designed enemies and bosses that forces the players to make good use of every single tools, buffs, and debuffs they got which given how many JRPGs especially during this era skimp out on polishing their gameplay designs in favor of the story and audiovisual presentation, it's really impressive. It's why i enjoy the game a lot. well that and its acclaimed, unexpectedly dramatic story, and also the signature humor that the series is known for. Had a ton of fun with it ye, i can see why it inspired so many indie RPGs like Undertale and Omori
2011
I enjoy playing the game but outside of its cool visuals and art style, and its story presentation with the narrator, it's a rather ho-hum action RPG from a story and especially gameplay standpoint. The movement in this game is rather slow and clunky at least compared to Supergiant's other game Hades, and its progression system doesn't exactly excite me with its rather common RPG gameplay progression that i've come to expect from the genre.
I do enjoy the feel of the combat, slashing and dicing and shooting and exploding enemies here feels fun but it's dime a dozen enjoyment i got from other action games so it fails to standout in this regard.
Side content was also rather bland. Most of it consists of extra challenges specific to the weapons in the game and hitting the increasingly difficult objectives of those challenges nets you better rewards with the reward for the hardest objective typically being a new special move exclusive to said weapon that varies in their utility/power. The rewards aren't exactly compelling enough to make me go through all these challenges and by the latter half of the game, i just started ignoring trials for the weapon i couldn't care for.
I've been harsh on the game throughout this writing but really, there are some fun to be had in the game. Like i said, the visual presentation is cool, the narration being the main exposition/storytelling device is a unique idea and it's executed pretty well. Helps that the narrator's performance is fantastic throughout. The music is gorgeous and the stages designs are solid. It's just all the goods the game does just don't stand out to me enough compared to its shortcomings. Hoping Transistor is a much better experience for me ye
I do enjoy the feel of the combat, slashing and dicing and shooting and exploding enemies here feels fun but it's dime a dozen enjoyment i got from other action games so it fails to standout in this regard.
Side content was also rather bland. Most of it consists of extra challenges specific to the weapons in the game and hitting the increasingly difficult objectives of those challenges nets you better rewards with the reward for the hardest objective typically being a new special move exclusive to said weapon that varies in their utility/power. The rewards aren't exactly compelling enough to make me go through all these challenges and by the latter half of the game, i just started ignoring trials for the weapon i couldn't care for.
I've been harsh on the game throughout this writing but really, there are some fun to be had in the game. Like i said, the visual presentation is cool, the narration being the main exposition/storytelling device is a unique idea and it's executed pretty well. Helps that the narrator's performance is fantastic throughout. The music is gorgeous and the stages designs are solid. It's just all the goods the game does just don't stand out to me enough compared to its shortcomings. Hoping Transistor is a much better experience for me ye
2017
It's a lot of fun ye. I think it's gameplay loops such as the fantasy basketball section with the progression/resource management systems being tied around it are all done incredibly well and the visual novel section that does the main bulk of the storytelling, lore and worldbuilding is also really engaging and does a good job at driving the stakes of the main basketball section. I hope a sequel would come out, i'm excited to see what they could do more on this gameplay premise.
This is just a fun (point-and-click?) game for the most part that builds up and crescendos into a highly emotional story that's incredibly gripping and compelling yeah. Its gameplay or rather its gameplay loop isn't exactly my thing but that's more a subjective thing i guess. That story is really what you should be checking out this game for. Topped off with a great pixel art and incredible ost/score by Masdito Bachtiar to accompany all the compelling drama and story beats of the game, it makes for quite the memorable experience. Do check it out ye
2018
It's a perfect package of immaculate gameplay and game design being framed perfectly around its well-told story and positively fun characters. I've spent perhaps 60-70+ hours of my time on it and every single one of them has been nothing but fun. Man i love this game so much
2019
Waiting with great excitement on that DLC/Sequel ye
2016
I enjoy this game a lot, particularly on the character writing and its music. Seriously that soundtrack. Perfection. Its combat is pretty slow and jank, but it's nothing that really turns me off. But man. True ending of the game is something i hold vehemently against it. It's just so story-breaking bad. End it on Normal Ending so you can leave with a higher impressions on it than i did
2015
Game fun ye. Bad online tho. Oh and also the single-player modes are practically nonexistant outside of Arcade and Treasure battle ye. And Tekken Bowl sucks so. Ye. Still again, it's still typical tekken goodness in the fighting and all that. So that's all good
2017
this game is incredible. I think what really impresses me about this game aside from the typical things that a great metroidvania game great (incredible game design, combat, atmosphere, exploration and unique way of storytelling) is just the combination of the sheer depth of the world and its lore, and also the things you can do within said world. The side things that you can do in this game felt significantly larger than any other metroidvania i've played ever. And each of them are as compelling as the others too. And then the lore and worldbuilding man. for a game that's all about a dead kingdom and stuff, it sure felt filled to the brim with many more tribes and civilization than most metroidvanias i've played. And a lot of these tribes have their own history that really adds to the scale and depth of the world. Let's not forget the individual NPCs unrelated to these tribes, cause they all have their own unique story/characteristic that really gives this game some nice charm/levity that provides a nice reprieve from all the deaths and despair that is abundant in the game ye. All that and also the other great metroidvania stuffs that it has is why it could perhaps be my favorite metroidvania ever. As clichè as that is. But eh, give it a shot ye? Highest rec
Love the game so much. It's prolly my favorite of the three metroid games i've played so far. It's got none of the jank control scheme that Super Metroid has, less of the railroaded nature of Fusion, and features all the things that made those two games great and more. Like its well-build world design and the trademark incredible atmosphere that has come to define these games. Plus, it's got a soundtrack i actually enjoy. Which is cool. Idk, i just think it's a really cool game ye