Shenobi
2021
I couldn't even remember this from when I played through it on the PSX, so what better time than now to give it another go?
...nope, there was never going to be a better time, because the negative impressions I had but couldn't remember came back tenfold this time around.
Encounter rates that make Suikoden IV's sailing segments seem reasonable, unintuitive directions at times for where to go next (often enough that it could get annoying), lack of combat-free travel until right near the end of the game (yes, the airship takes that long to get), and holy crap, the stat growth system is really THAT BAD.
I'm not sure if there was some kind of bugginess going on, but despite working on unarmed skills on Guy (the most generic Guy who ever Guy'ed), he stopped gaining skill points once he hit Weapon Skill Level 11 and the others slowly but surely passed him with a bow and swords. Even at endgame, he was never gaining points no matter how many enemies he'd kill. Weird stuff.
Also, I think it's safe to say that making a QoL change to create a quick autosave each time you enter an empty room in a dungeon is probably indicative of how bad the game design is when the later dungeons have long paths to traverse where you can just die to being ambushed and bad RNG. Mysidia Tower screams "FIX ME" at the top of its lungs, but FF2PR can't hear it over all the stun/stone-inflicting doom it's throwing at people while they're trying to cross a single hallway. I swear that I must have gotten ambushed about 33% of the time in this game, and in the late game areas, that sometimes equates to death or a lot of wasted resources.
So, yeah...unless you bought the collection, maybe consider skipping this game. And if you bought the collection...maybe consider skipping this game.
...nope, there was never going to be a better time, because the negative impressions I had but couldn't remember came back tenfold this time around.
Encounter rates that make Suikoden IV's sailing segments seem reasonable, unintuitive directions at times for where to go next (often enough that it could get annoying), lack of combat-free travel until right near the end of the game (yes, the airship takes that long to get), and holy crap, the stat growth system is really THAT BAD.
I'm not sure if there was some kind of bugginess going on, but despite working on unarmed skills on Guy (the most generic Guy who ever Guy'ed), he stopped gaining skill points once he hit Weapon Skill Level 11 and the others slowly but surely passed him with a bow and swords. Even at endgame, he was never gaining points no matter how many enemies he'd kill. Weird stuff.
Also, I think it's safe to say that making a QoL change to create a quick autosave each time you enter an empty room in a dungeon is probably indicative of how bad the game design is when the later dungeons have long paths to traverse where you can just die to being ambushed and bad RNG. Mysidia Tower screams "FIX ME" at the top of its lungs, but FF2PR can't hear it over all the stun/stone-inflicting doom it's throwing at people while they're trying to cross a single hallway. I swear that I must have gotten ambushed about 33% of the time in this game, and in the late game areas, that sometimes equates to death or a lot of wasted resources.
So, yeah...unless you bought the collection, maybe consider skipping this game. And if you bought the collection...maybe consider skipping this game.
2020
So, PS4 controller doesn't work with a game on PC that is listed as part of the "PlayStation Talents" program during the opening splash screens. Actual KB/M controls are pretty awful and unmappable, too. Hold RMB to aim with your gun, press LMB to shoot, but use WASD to aim. It's like they tried to replicate the authentic feel of bad controls with...bad controls. Great job, guys. No way I'm finishing this because it's an act of the gods to shoot an enemy in a remotely timely fashion. One star for atmosphere and nothing else.
Original review follows.
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Keeping this in the backlog for now and not giving it an actual rating yet, but I figured it's worth noting for anyone who is considering buying this on Steam -- PS4 controller's L and R triggers do not register with the game, which means you can't aim and fire your weapon without putting some extra work into reconfiguring stuff.
Will post a real review eventually when I get back to it and manage to actually kill an enemy (and hopefully play further).
Original review follows.
-------------------------
Keeping this in the backlog for now and not giving it an actual rating yet, but I figured it's worth noting for anyone who is considering buying this on Steam -- PS4 controller's L and R triggers do not register with the game, which means you can't aim and fire your weapon without putting some extra work into reconfiguring stuff.
Will post a real review eventually when I get back to it and manage to actually kill an enemy (and hopefully play further).