People told me not to worry about this being a tactic game and they were right. This is barely one, its closer to a jrpg with limited attack ranges. This game was also WAY shorter than I expected, not that I weight game length in my rankings. I though this would at least take me into the next day but I beat this in a sitting. Anyway this was a generally solid all around experience the whole way through. The sprite art and animations were well done. Also this game is a literal musical. I know its called "Rhapsody: A musical adventure" but I thought it was just music related. There were like 8 different songs and you could even choose if they were sung in english or japanese. If I have one complaint, its that the game liked to have me return to places I literally just came from for progression. Most of the areas aren't too big but its still annoying to come from the forest only to be told I gotta go back.

I'm looking forward to playing the other 2 once I get a hold of that collection

I was honestly surprised by this. I had the played the original moemon a bit back when it first released and I didn't think it would be getting new variants now. This hack was more competent than I thought it would be as its not just a sprite swap despite otherwise just being firered again. If anyone cares my team was Tyranitar, Garchomp, Metagross, Venusaur, Staraptor, Gyarados

What it does well:
The sprites were great, I didn't see a single bad one in my whole run
The mons you can find on routes were varied and many
New areas were added to find mons in (one of which let me get a Larvitar as soon as getting cut so that gives this bonus points)
The gym leaders and elite 4 have ample coverage and use strategies but not to the extent where you'll need to waste your time EV training (I even beat the elite 4 before any of my party was level 60, while the champion and lance are in said 60's to 70)
TMs are infinite use
The move reminder is free
Shows the stats effected by a mons nature for those of us who can't be bothered to memorize the table
You can buy all evolution stones and items at the Celedon department store including the link cable item for trade evos
Mega evolutions are in (to me this isn't a plus but to most it is)
Fairy type, physical special split and pokemon at least up to gen 6 are in

What it does bad
Opening the national dex in this version (the most recent as of July 2023) crashes the game
Mega evolution does not work in double battles
Mega stone selection is limited (despite 5/6 of my team being capable of mega evolving only 2 of the stones were in the game)
The level jumps in the back half were a bit steep for my liking. (Basically just added almost 10 levels to everyone in the back half and not much to allow for faster leveling outside of the usual lucky egg grinding)

So while it has some kinks to work out, I had my fun with it. I'm glad it wasn't a tryhard hack cuz I would rather buy a rope for myself than spend any amount of time EV training. The sprites were well done and it asked you to strategize more than just run a team of sweepers without being frustrating to do so.

Do you like a good and compelling story with fantastic music to accompany it? Do you like good and/or eccentric characters? How about a very good boi? Do you like puzzles with interesting mechanics and solutions? Do you enjoy Shu Takumi's work? If you don't know who that is, its the man who made Ace Attorney also worked on Dino Crisis 1 and 2. While I think this remaster is really great in all regards I did see some weird stuttering in animations with a certain character on screen.

I love this game so much. This game is a cult classic a reason. Don't sleep on this game people!

Another great entry to the indie metroidvania Souls-like genre. Has more of a focus on action than on exploration. The level design is nothing to write home about, but the combat system allows for a lot of customization and variety. On top of that, the atmosphere, while very reminiscent of Hollow Knight, is hauntingly beautiful. The bosses are great, enemy variety/design is good and the difficulty curve is pretty spot on. Challenging enough while rarely being frustrating. It's not quite up there with the best of the genre like Hollow Knight and Ori, but it's most definitely above average and well worth your time if you're into this stuff.

"These are our lives here, they aren't just some toys you can play with!"

After almost ten years, and two disappointing follow-ups, Xenoblade 3 manages to succeed as a proper sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles. It uses the more powerful console and many lessons learned from development to bring a deeply rich experience. The combat system is flexible, yet not overly cumbersome, taking queues from both mainline games before it. The cast is as thoroughly characterized as anything in the genre period. The incredible scope and music that has always been present, show up once again with absolute splendor. This game almost transcends and overtakes its predecessors in almost every single category from visual fidelity to side quest depth. The world of Aionisis is rich with lore, history, and struggle, and all of it sets a bleak yet riveting tone from the initial moments of the narrative's start.

Unfortunately, the only thing this game does not manage to stick to is the landing at the very end. After a tremendous build-up that capitalizes on every core component, the story then stumbles and never quite finds a solution to this. Mostly at fault are two things of note. The first is the exposition required to truly grasp all the missing details from key story characters you work so hard to reach. Their moments are brief, almost for cameo's sake rather than blissful fusion of everything into one incredible sweeping motion. The latter problem is the ending takes away what is the hope of the players. It may give back the future to its denizens but it takes away the time invested into this world, the people we came to so closely align ourselves with, and all of those cherished memories built through those relationships. I love this game in most regards and would say it manages to do almost everything correctly, and the ending while it doesn't betray the themes and ideas presented beforehand, just leaves a notion of regret onto me. If you've ever seen the series Crash Landing onto You, this reminds me heavily of that journey. An uncertain beginning that forms into a spectacular ride, that leaves me absolutely gobsmacked by conflicted feelings as the credits roll.

I can say with certainty this game is utterly engrossing with a dense massive world of interest and charming characters that feel so real you want to be friends with them yourself. I can't quite ignore my own struggle with the lasting effect the final choices made and how they left me at three in the morning feeling troubled. I shan't forget my time, and will look forward to what the future holds with this series, the DLC, and of course my own path that I will decide upon.


We hereby award: Platinum Seal of Transcendence