if after 7 hours it doesn't really hit I should stop trying to get into this series, right? idk, maybe. I think I gave them a chance, I've played multiple of these for a few hours, I don't think I'm being unfair. Because I don't want to be unfair.

I think the gameplay loop these games offer is fundamentally not for me, every time I hunt a big monster I think "that was really really tiring, please not again", and I also don't know what I'm doing half of the time. I'm considering the possibility that I'm simply too stupid for these games, and it's probably that.

I know this game's structure and pacing is not to everyone's taste, being a fairly divisive game as far as DQ games go, but I do think it is for me. It has an oddly melancholic feel to it permeating most of the stories surrounding the regions you explore, maybe I like it because the seeing the passing of time as something that affects people and places in such a direct way is a theme that always affects me, either way, I vibe with this game. I used to like it fine enough but this replay made me like it a lot more and yes, I do prefer the PS1 version mostly due to the graphical style.

I have never been into Pokémon, I was the person who was mystified by other people's obsession with it as a kid, as everyone around me grew up playing Pokémon Crystal and Emerald, I simply watched. I got into RPGs through games like Dragon Quest VIII on the Playstation 2 so by the time I tried to play them later in life I wasn't impressed, Pokémon's brand of monster collecting RPGs wasn't for me, I thought, and I'd rather be playing Dragon Quest Monsters or SMT if I wanted a fix of that.

Not that long ago I gave Pokémon Red a shot and I found it interesting from a historical perspective, as it's a game that heavily borrows from older RPGs in terms of structure, you can see games like DQ3 influencing how it was designed, but I found it that, mearly interesting, as a game it was just fine. I felt similar with Emerald when I played it last year, it's a fine game that I didn't actually connect with on a personal level any deeper than "it's kinda fun in the moment to moment".

This game, Pokémon Violet, is the first time I have actually connected with a game on this franchise on any level deeper than that. Not only is the gameplay much improved but I actually like the cast of characters and exploration that the more open formula gives it. The game is buggy but I didn't really care aside from the occasional funny visual glitch. I was invested and I was having fun, meeting all these characters and building my team, which is something I seldom engaged with in previous games, I just didn't feel the games were compelling enough to bother. I know some older fans may disagree but since I've never liked Pokemon mostly 1 vs 1 combat system (I thought it was something we better left as an archaic remnant in games like Dragon Quest 1) I think sharing experience with your entire team is a really good move that the newer games do, it incentivizes me to actually use all my Pokémon more, and since I can't have a "in battle party" like in most RPGs, I see my entire team as my "active party" and as such all of them gaining experince feels fair to me.

Anyway. I don't actually have that much to say about it, it was more of a catalogue of my personal story with these games than a review. Good game. I love Penny.

For the longest time I used to write off this game as something only nostalgic boomers liked and because I associated it with people who say things like "I hate Turn Based RPGs... but I do like Mario RPG and Paper Mario!" and that annoyed me to no end. I'm not a petty teenager anymore though and I wanted to examine the game for myself (not counting that I played until the mid point of the story like a decade ago, I forgot everything about it so it doesn't really count).

What I found here was a charming little RPG, that takes the usual Square trappings from the Super Nintendo era and recontextualizes them into Mario's world and style. It's no wonder that some of the same team here also worked on "Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest", another attempt at an easy and approachable RPG which was FAR less successful to this goal. Mario RPG still offers much of what makes the genre appealing: exploring dungeons, buying and finding equipment to keep your characters strong, leveling up and leaning new abilities, boss fights that force you to use your best skills, multiple characters for different party formations... it actually has it all, just in an easier and more streamlined version.

The story is very straightforward and I actually don't have much to say about it. I like Bowser's characterization here a lot and Mallow was the absolute highlight of the entire plot for me, it almost feels like this is his story on an emotional level.

Anyway, pretty decent little RPG, I get why it's remembered so fondly now.