Ritchie
This review contains spoilers
Incredible character illustration eclipse the quality the bland look of this world and its models bring. Clearly a lot of care was put into these drawings, but everything on the overworld looks half baked. I understand this is a budget game, but relying solely on one aspect of the art design to carry the game visually doesn't end up working in its favour, no matter the quality. I also didn't care for the music. I heard some tracks that were fine, but each track kind of overstays its welcome in each area, being the same for the overworld as well as encounters. It'll come down to personal taste in the end.
The combat is a blast, so long as you play on a higher difficulty. You become unstoppable much too quickly, leading to bosses going down after just one or two turns. When challenge is present it can be very satisfying to successfully pull off calculated juggles. Each character seems useful, adding their own unique ways to deal with enemies. This makes me worry less about adding one character to the active party over the other, knowing I can just change my strategy to work around them specifically, in a way that doesn't feel like I am burdened by certain combinations.
That resistance comes from the characters writing, and is why this game left such a sour impression.
This game is the embodiment of a backhanded compliment. You will uncover a character's trauma that led them to be hostile towards overweight people, as the victims "oink" at you sadly, moments after suffocating themselves with sweets. The writers are completely out of their depth with this subject matter. This world is supposed to contain the idealized version of oneself, yet we seem to see everything through the lense of what our supporting cast detests. It comes off as shallow and mean spirited. The game was created by former members of the Persona team, which becomes very apparent when you realize all of the cast embodies the worst traits of the worst Persona characters. Characters will all act like jackasses, but only one character per chapter will get called out on it, leading them to go through their respective arch. It's strange to witness. I'm definitely not opposed to characters being scumbags, given they have a sprinkling of nuance, but they opt for brevity in revelations of bad behavior, while dedicating 10 times that to being horrible people. It makes the writer's priorities uncomfortably clear. There are elements to this game that bother me where even mentioning them will probably make a bunch of weirdos mad. While trying to redeem the poor behavior of these characters, obvious errors are made, most notably being the pretty egregious transphobia. The writing is trying to pat itself on the back for being so brave and inclusive, failing to understand basic respect in regarding an entire group of people. It is very easy to dismiss this as just a difference in culture, but I've consumed media from Japan that does this sort of thing right in the modern era, so it's getting harder to excuse as time goes on. If you've played the game it's easy to pinpoint exactly where I checked out, so admittedly they could have turned it around somehow, but given the mediocre quality of the dialogue up to that point I find it hard to believe they would do it tactfully, if at all.
There were obviously talented folks working on this game, and I wish those people success in the future. I just hope that success isn't hindered by those who work alongside them.
The combat is a blast, so long as you play on a higher difficulty. You become unstoppable much too quickly, leading to bosses going down after just one or two turns. When challenge is present it can be very satisfying to successfully pull off calculated juggles. Each character seems useful, adding their own unique ways to deal with enemies. This makes me worry less about adding one character to the active party over the other, knowing I can just change my strategy to work around them specifically, in a way that doesn't feel like I am burdened by certain combinations.
That resistance comes from the characters writing, and is why this game left such a sour impression.
This game is the embodiment of a backhanded compliment. You will uncover a character's trauma that led them to be hostile towards overweight people, as the victims "oink" at you sadly, moments after suffocating themselves with sweets. The writers are completely out of their depth with this subject matter. This world is supposed to contain the idealized version of oneself, yet we seem to see everything through the lense of what our supporting cast detests. It comes off as shallow and mean spirited. The game was created by former members of the Persona team, which becomes very apparent when you realize all of the cast embodies the worst traits of the worst Persona characters. Characters will all act like jackasses, but only one character per chapter will get called out on it, leading them to go through their respective arch. It's strange to witness. I'm definitely not opposed to characters being scumbags, given they have a sprinkling of nuance, but they opt for brevity in revelations of bad behavior, while dedicating 10 times that to being horrible people. It makes the writer's priorities uncomfortably clear. There are elements to this game that bother me where even mentioning them will probably make a bunch of weirdos mad. While trying to redeem the poor behavior of these characters, obvious errors are made, most notably being the pretty egregious transphobia. The writing is trying to pat itself on the back for being so brave and inclusive, failing to understand basic respect in regarding an entire group of people. It is very easy to dismiss this as just a difference in culture, but I've consumed media from Japan that does this sort of thing right in the modern era, so it's getting harder to excuse as time goes on. If you've played the game it's easy to pinpoint exactly where I checked out, so admittedly they could have turned it around somehow, but given the mediocre quality of the dialogue up to that point I find it hard to believe they would do it tactfully, if at all.
There were obviously talented folks working on this game, and I wish those people success in the future. I just hope that success isn't hindered by those who work alongside them.
I think I lack a lot of appreciation that this game garners due to playing a lot of derivative titles before finally getting around to this one. It has a lot of great ideas that would be better if implemented more cogently. Getting to make your own party members would be fun if I could experiment with different class combinations without having to worry about leveling everyone up. This may seem like a weird complaint but you don't get a sense for how viable a character is going to be in your party until they are decently leveled up, especially when you add personalities into the mix. Getting random personality traits that dictate what stats increase on level up can kind of screw you if you don't know what you're working with. You can follow a guide to help you, but either way you are relying on either randomly getting a decent personality or finding an item that can change it as you play. It adds a layer that feels unbalanced. With all of that said it still plays like a Dragon Quest game so it was at least fun. Compared to earlier games there are a lot more spells at your disposal, which helps spice up combat quite a bit. The writing is so full of character, leading to me reading all of the tertiary text that I can find. I just wish there was more of it. Doing the task at hand takes up about 10% of playtime, while the rest was grinding to stand a chance against your foes. While I do find grinding in these games to be quite cathartic I don't remember it ever demanding this much out of me in previous entries. I can definitely see why this game was so beloved, so it's weird I feel like I'm doing it a disservice by merely just liking it.
This game claims a vague knowledge of the appeal of its predecessors in the series while failing to implement them competently into this sad attempt of relevancy, adopting all of the worst aspects of games releasing at the time. Runs poorly, with a rerelease on PC. Some of the worst level design I've had to deal with in some time. Mindless combat that doesn't always give you the courtesy of visibility. The only thing I'd say this game has going for it is that I did enjoy the aesthetic at times. It had some good enemy designs. But none of it was anything I couldn't find in a better piece of media, including better Castlevania games.
The pieces of something special are all there but they just don't come together in any meaningful way. Looking forward to check out how they build on the ideas this laid out throughout the series.
Nice arts tyle and music. The random nature of the survival gameplay just wasn't engaging enough for me without more of a narrative to push me along.
2011
I've been hearing nothing but praise for this game for quite some time now, and initially I was on board with it all. The music is wonderful and diverse. The aesthetic is very pleasing. A lot of the designs of the world and it's architecture are just cool to look at. But over time the quality begins to wane. Particularly with the writing.
This is really just an old school and simple Final Fantasy style story, for better or worse. The characters are likable enough without so much as scuffing the mold. The localization is very fun, giving the cast a variety of European accents and unique nomenclature. This livened up the otherwise standard JRPG events taking place. Some of which felt out of place and were clearly meant to be fun diversions, but only ended up feeling like a waste of time.
However, as a whole, this game does not waste any time, ending around a tight 30 hours with sidequests. In most cases I would praise it's brevity, but I really could have done with more to connect with the cast more. They seem to arbitrarily enter and exit the story, and few really get a chance to shine. I liked that the main character and the love interest actually had good chemistry together. A lot of my favorite scenes were just them being cute together.
The plot is, again, simple. That didn't stop me from being intrigued at the start. It never really blew my mind at any point, but I was enjoying myself well enough, up to a point. That point being around the start of the 70% mark, when our cast suddenly decides to forgo any common sense and actively work with an antagonist, despite the events immediately before giving reason as to why this should not be done. It was just a weird and frustrating moment that clearly only served to move the story along, logic be damned, but no one seems to even address that maybe this is something that they should not do. This one event made it hard to appreciate a story that wasn't doing a whole lot for me in the first place.
While the story takes its time to annoy me, the combat did that right from the get go. Having your character automatically attack when you approach an enemy isn't inherently poor combat, but when quarters are tight and all you want to do is move past an enemy but end up swinging instead is frustrating. For a game that is supposed to be tactical, your options are very limited. You can command your party to do things… sometimes. Even when they need to do things that are crucial the the fight at hand. It can take a while before you can control them to do anything, and once you do that once, you must wait again while they get absolutely pummeled. Luckily your playable character had the power gifted by the gods to draw aggro. While the actions you can take are not varied, the ways the enemies make you use them can be. I just wish the whole experience was smoother.
Any charm this game has is dulled by the act of experiencing the whole of it. I had a pleasant time with a lot of this game, but by the end I was glad it was over so quickly.
This is really just an old school and simple Final Fantasy style story, for better or worse. The characters are likable enough without so much as scuffing the mold. The localization is very fun, giving the cast a variety of European accents and unique nomenclature. This livened up the otherwise standard JRPG events taking place. Some of which felt out of place and were clearly meant to be fun diversions, but only ended up feeling like a waste of time.
However, as a whole, this game does not waste any time, ending around a tight 30 hours with sidequests. In most cases I would praise it's brevity, but I really could have done with more to connect with the cast more. They seem to arbitrarily enter and exit the story, and few really get a chance to shine. I liked that the main character and the love interest actually had good chemistry together. A lot of my favorite scenes were just them being cute together.
The plot is, again, simple. That didn't stop me from being intrigued at the start. It never really blew my mind at any point, but I was enjoying myself well enough, up to a point. That point being around the start of the 70% mark, when our cast suddenly decides to forgo any common sense and actively work with an antagonist, despite the events immediately before giving reason as to why this should not be done. It was just a weird and frustrating moment that clearly only served to move the story along, logic be damned, but no one seems to even address that maybe this is something that they should not do. This one event made it hard to appreciate a story that wasn't doing a whole lot for me in the first place.
While the story takes its time to annoy me, the combat did that right from the get go. Having your character automatically attack when you approach an enemy isn't inherently poor combat, but when quarters are tight and all you want to do is move past an enemy but end up swinging instead is frustrating. For a game that is supposed to be tactical, your options are very limited. You can command your party to do things… sometimes. Even when they need to do things that are crucial the the fight at hand. It can take a while before you can control them to do anything, and once you do that once, you must wait again while they get absolutely pummeled. Luckily your playable character had the power gifted by the gods to draw aggro. While the actions you can take are not varied, the ways the enemies make you use them can be. I just wish the whole experience was smoother.
Any charm this game has is dulled by the act of experiencing the whole of it. I had a pleasant time with a lot of this game, but by the end I was glad it was over so quickly.
I've been chasing the high Stardew Valley left with whatever I have laying around the house, of which consisted of this and a few other Harvest Moon games. So far this was the closest one to scratch that itch.
I developed a routine with my farm work and my social life that was relaxing. Slowly building up your farm makes every little moment feel like a triumph. Story threads would come about somewhat regularly which was welcome. Eventually I had quite a few of them ongoing at once.
What I failed to understand was the finished state of this game only needed one of these story threads to wrap up to occur. So when I finally completed one of the many tasks to "save the homeland", the game resets and incentivizes you to give it another go. I was doing something completely unrelated to the event, and before I knew it credits were rolling. I understand the design philosophy behind this, incentivizing players to seek out multiple endings. The problem is while I didn't care too much about which ending I had gotten, to just remove all progress from the stories I was trying to get through for a story thread that left so little impact that I had forgotten that it even happened leaves me with a very bitter feeling. I wasn't even halfway through the year yet!
This style of completion will definitely appeal to some folks. But it left what should have been a nice little romp with instead a feeling of being robbed of the time I put into maintaining these friendships. That coupled with a lack of any marriage options, this felt more experimental, which held it back.
I developed a routine with my farm work and my social life that was relaxing. Slowly building up your farm makes every little moment feel like a triumph. Story threads would come about somewhat regularly which was welcome. Eventually I had quite a few of them ongoing at once.
What I failed to understand was the finished state of this game only needed one of these story threads to wrap up to occur. So when I finally completed one of the many tasks to "save the homeland", the game resets and incentivizes you to give it another go. I was doing something completely unrelated to the event, and before I knew it credits were rolling. I understand the design philosophy behind this, incentivizing players to seek out multiple endings. The problem is while I didn't care too much about which ending I had gotten, to just remove all progress from the stories I was trying to get through for a story thread that left so little impact that I had forgotten that it even happened leaves me with a very bitter feeling. I wasn't even halfway through the year yet!
This style of completion will definitely appeal to some folks. But it left what should have been a nice little romp with instead a feeling of being robbed of the time I put into maintaining these friendships. That coupled with a lack of any marriage options, this felt more experimental, which held it back.
A safe retread of the same themes as the first game. I didn't realize how much the novelty would fade after a second go, but it really wasn't able to surprise me like the first game did. If it wasn't so derivative it would have made more of an impression. Even in this fictional world it was hard to take the exaggerated nature of the characters seriously, a problem I also had in the first game. They were caricatures of the kind of people Facebook grandma's describe when they think of "internet terrorists". If I hadn't played the first one maybe I would get more out of this experience, but it just makes me think that this is a one trick pony sort of scenario.
Literally paved the way for an entire genre of fantastic games. I feel like I lost something in experiencing SotN after it's many derivitives. I breezed through it pretty effortlessly, save for a few brief stretches of arduous fights, which I can't say for most Castlevania games I've played. Despite that, it does not feel like it has aged at all. The combat is tight and responsive. Traversing the castle was always engaging. The bosses were especially a fun time, even when they were pretty grotesque. The only real problem I have with it is the generally low difficulty and even then it made me feel cool and strong so who's to say if that's bad at all. It's no surprise that this was so revered.
2013
Very unique in many aspects. I'm always fascinated when menial jobs are game-ified. The stress of working as a border inspector is part of the puzzle itself. Just when you think you are getting the rhythm of the job down, new mechanics are introduced and it feels like your own personal workflow is annihilated. You know... Like a real job.
This game is a tight 4 hours, and yet has a highly engaging narrative. I won't go into specifics since the draw of this game is a moment that should be experienced blind. The perpetual threat of not being able to provide for your family is enough of an incentive for whatever task needs to be done.
The purposefully grisly art style enhances the dreariness of this universe. Everything and everyone is colourless, providing an oppressive atmosphere that is not undermined by a fair bit of welcome humour.
I haven't played anything that left me with such a specific sense of anxiety mixed with a yearning for more. Maybe this is what people who love their jobs feel like.
This game is a tight 4 hours, and yet has a highly engaging narrative. I won't go into specifics since the draw of this game is a moment that should be experienced blind. The perpetual threat of not being able to provide for your family is enough of an incentive for whatever task needs to be done.
The purposefully grisly art style enhances the dreariness of this universe. Everything and everyone is colourless, providing an oppressive atmosphere that is not undermined by a fair bit of welcome humour.
I haven't played anything that left me with such a specific sense of anxiety mixed with a yearning for more. Maybe this is what people who love their jobs feel like.
2002
Really pops off at the 80 hour mark.
With three different types of combat, the only one that really stood out was the standard overworld random encounters. I dig the more tabletop-esque system of spell slots rather than an MP system. However, the other two styles, the "war" and "duels", didn't really challenge me in any significant way. The war battles never really evolve until much later in the game, introducing bigger boards to battle on, which involved more strategic thinking. The duels on the other hand just aren't very good. A game of rock, paper, scissors isn't really fun if your opponent says something to the effect of "I'm going to choose paper now."
Having four playable protagonist isn't an inherently bad idea, but it doesn't do much to move the game along in an organic way, especially when you can choose whether or not to just blast through one character's story or do each one chapter at a time. This leads to events occurring in one characters chapter that spoil that moment in what would seem to be the ideal time to experience said event. Of the four heroes, I really only enjoyed Hugo and Chris. Their stories just compliment eachother in a way that worked. Meanwhile, Geddoe didn't feel as involved as he could have, and was overshadowed by his supporting cast who, while I enjoyed them, didn't serve the narrative in any meaningful way. Thomas, the optional character, also had a good gaggle of folks, but they are wasted on a quaint little side story that doesn't really add any value to the experience. The more politically fueled conflict was intriguing, but a lot of the plot was just meandering and dull. The real meat of the whole experience is seeing these story threads come together, or rather, the events that follow their meeting. That is when the main cast shines.
This game has a buttload of characters, capping off at 108 recruitable characters. I like the ideas of building up an army of sorts. While the characters you recruit really don't carry any weight in the narrative, they were still fun little diversions. The characters are all well designed and distinct from one another. The non-human enemies on the other hand were quite bland. If you're going to opt for more basic JRPG enemies, I'd appreciate some flare, rather than just a rabbit with an axe or a somewhat large boar. I did appreciate the simplicity of the general aesthetic. This game isn't exactly going for the highest form of fantasy, which made going through the world familiar but fascinating. It would have been nice if I didn't have to wait 70 some odd hours for a fast travel feature.
With a fair amount of trimming this game could have been something better. It definitely seems like kind of wet fart for an otherwise renowned franchise. If your a fan of the series, you might get something out of it that I just didn't.
With three different types of combat, the only one that really stood out was the standard overworld random encounters. I dig the more tabletop-esque system of spell slots rather than an MP system. However, the other two styles, the "war" and "duels", didn't really challenge me in any significant way. The war battles never really evolve until much later in the game, introducing bigger boards to battle on, which involved more strategic thinking. The duels on the other hand just aren't very good. A game of rock, paper, scissors isn't really fun if your opponent says something to the effect of "I'm going to choose paper now."
Having four playable protagonist isn't an inherently bad idea, but it doesn't do much to move the game along in an organic way, especially when you can choose whether or not to just blast through one character's story or do each one chapter at a time. This leads to events occurring in one characters chapter that spoil that moment in what would seem to be the ideal time to experience said event. Of the four heroes, I really only enjoyed Hugo and Chris. Their stories just compliment eachother in a way that worked. Meanwhile, Geddoe didn't feel as involved as he could have, and was overshadowed by his supporting cast who, while I enjoyed them, didn't serve the narrative in any meaningful way. Thomas, the optional character, also had a good gaggle of folks, but they are wasted on a quaint little side story that doesn't really add any value to the experience. The more politically fueled conflict was intriguing, but a lot of the plot was just meandering and dull. The real meat of the whole experience is seeing these story threads come together, or rather, the events that follow their meeting. That is when the main cast shines.
This game has a buttload of characters, capping off at 108 recruitable characters. I like the ideas of building up an army of sorts. While the characters you recruit really don't carry any weight in the narrative, they were still fun little diversions. The characters are all well designed and distinct from one another. The non-human enemies on the other hand were quite bland. If you're going to opt for more basic JRPG enemies, I'd appreciate some flare, rather than just a rabbit with an axe or a somewhat large boar. I did appreciate the simplicity of the general aesthetic. This game isn't exactly going for the highest form of fantasy, which made going through the world familiar but fascinating. It would have been nice if I didn't have to wait 70 some odd hours for a fast travel feature.
With a fair amount of trimming this game could have been something better. It definitely seems like kind of wet fart for an otherwise renowned franchise. If your a fan of the series, you might get something out of it that I just didn't.
This game manages to remain completely similar to those before it while standing out as something more realized. It is a culmination of the less entwined story threads of the first two games put at the focus of this one that really makes the whole of the experience something more special. It embraces it's zaniness while removing none of the heart or impact of the narrative. It even manages to be profound at times, most notably making commentary on the nature of these kinds of games for a brief moment. The cast is as lovable as ever, and a lot of the returning characters get moments to really shine in a way they didn't previously. Every positive feeling I had about the first two games carry over to this one, and then some. This game filled me with a lot of joy and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to see more.
Essential
Not quite as consistently good throughout as the first one but has a few great new ideas that keep it from being inferior. The psyche-lock mechanic helps the flow of the game, preventing from feeling too stagnant. The new characters were all delightful, as expected. I feel the most notable thing about this game is the final chapter, or more specifically the gimmick revolving around it. It uses it own gameplay in a way that recontextualizes the familiar mechanics in a very interesting way. I would say the biggest knock against this game is the lateral thinking you need to do in order to progress. It's not uncommon that you would need to think outside the box, but more often than ever did it feel like I would never have figured things out without some help. That said the punishment is never severe enough to be too much of a bother.
2017
Not a very good port of some pretty good games. A lot of enjoyment was impeded by boredom due to repetition, bugs, or both. None of these games are bad, but they suffer from issues that could easily be remedied.