+lovely clear pixel art that is legible even at the fast speeds this game requires. the game is good at presenting a lot of visual information without there being clutter
+the game has a surreal tone similar to games like hotline miami and killer7, and it dripfeeds its secrets over the course of the short running time. each thread is taken care of, it never feels drawn out, and it manages to walk the tightrope between complete surreality and having a cohesive narrative that you can follow
+the ending as well is very distinctive, with a pseudo-cliffhanger as the hidden elements of the main character's life come into focus. it doesn't wrap up the game in a bow but it sets up a sequel while also giving a fitting end to Zero's arc
+the time traveling elements are well incorporated both into the narrative and the gameplay; this is the real selling point of the game imo. the slow-down ability is very generous and applicable to a wide variety of situations, and certain bosses and cutscenes take advantage of it and the ability to see the future/move back in time to great effect. it's hard to go into details without getting into spoiler territory but in a game like this that wears its influences on its sleeve this is the one set of tricks that I think were very well presented

-I could have done without some of the stealth sections, as they don't have very deep mechanics and slow the pace down quite a bit. this is really only an issue in the middle though
-towards the end the game starts running out of steam a bit, with few new ideas, some pretty bare areas, and a couple instances of unadorned rooms with waves of enemies coming out of doors
-insane control nitpick but having a fast fall, a downward aerial slash, and a landing roll clutters up the options when approaching from the air... I only bring this up because there were multiple times I was attempting something from the air and ended up, say, fast falling and sliding when I was attempting to just slash at a downward diagonal

there are other games in this style that get the job done better but this game certainly holds its own. it's a quick game that could easily be beaten in a single sitting, and it packs a lot of great content into that runtime. I'm looking forward to seeing the dlc that eventually comes out plus further works... a longer, more developed game in this style could be a lot of fun.

Admittedly, this is how i decided to go through Megami Tensei II so I'll mostly focus on my thoughts on that vs the remake of MT1 that's also on this. I might actually go back to that one day through this however as I'm surprised by how much better 2 was over the 1st.
I'll def have to at least look at the original version of MT2 eventually to see if that version was also pretty busted but in the mean time, KMT is definitely the way to go to play either of the original Megami Tensei games (I'll admit to being an idiot for even considering the original Megami Tensei rather than the version here since this one at least has the terminal function).
I didn't think going with the Super Famicom version would be so much of a difference until I realized part way through that this came out after SMT1/2/if. At the very least I feel like the general structure and story are a lot better than 1's.
MT2 feels a lot more in-line with later games, exploring a ruined, blasted Tokyo with a more 'punk' aesthetic vs the weird religious with typical dungeon crawling fare that MT1 was. On top of that I think the story has some pretty cool moments and its somewhat clear to see where the next 'Shin' games might take inspiration from. On top of all this it just felt easier to make progression from dungeon to dungeon, get levels and for once it feels like my protagonists were the useful ones in a fight unlike the original MT. Also the Automapping skill (courtesy of th
That all said there are still quite a bit of issues I have overall, especially by the mid to late game. A lot of the late game dungeons are kinda rough, not just puzzle wise but regarding some of the demons. Its a shame a lot of these demons end up being either just really hard to recruit or unrecruitable at all (as far as i can tell at least) but also so many of them still have those level dropping spells, I have no idea why succubus appears so often. Also while this game's battle system does feel a tad bit more interesting than battling in 1, there's still not too much incentive to using spells other than healing/occasional support/teleports (by the way, bless Traesto+Trastart+Tranpa). Once the game started throwing demons that reflected Sword/Gun attacks i figured they weren't really worth fighting since I'd rather use what MP i had on heals. Also it really seems like they wanted you to do a bunch of gambling since updating your gear takes a lotta macca that i just never had. Thankfully through my immense (save) luck (states), it didnt matter too much and 'Big & Small' gives a good chunk of money for one max prize streak.
At the very least I do think the end game has some neat side stuff you can do like collecting some optional demons, armor and gear. Last thing I'll say though is I did find it really weird how a lot of the best protagonist armor (and one stat check early in the game) requires INT yet in early SMT the INT stat is pretty much (if not entirely) useless for the protag to put points in. At least the armor/sword with these checks can be fulfilled by other armor with stat boosts but still would have liked to not have spent 10 level points on INT for a character with no magic powers.
At the end of the day though this is a much better way to play the original two megami tenseis, by a long shot and also a pretty solid RPG on the SNES. This definitely retained my attention a bit more than SMT if did (although ill be beating that later) and I would like to see how it compares to SMT1 and potentially a replay of 2, but I did enjoy my time with this more than i expected after having played the original version of MT1.

where I stopped: right after beating xeno'jiiva. sort of straightforward... but I haven't done anything past that as of the time of this review. I'll come back for sure, though maybe not until I buy iceborne

+the overall changes to the feel of combat and esp the movesets of the weapons are much appreciated. the added fluidity makes aggressive (well, sloppy aggressive) play more viable, and from the few weapons I've used the updates are well-thought out for how they affect playstyles
+I have divided opinions on the changes to the quest progression but I really do appreciate that high rank is fully incorporated into the storyline. the game is very smart about how it gently nudges you towards building your equipment to match whatever the current main quests demand as well
+investigations are an absolute godsend for the grind, they're extremely handy. combined with the lucky vouchers, it makes building armor sets and weapon lines feel like less of a chore
+there's still a nice chunk of people playing this online on ps4, and it seems very easy to hop into a session or respond to an SOS call. it's still best to play with friends, but jumping in with random people isn't bad at all
+incredibly animation on the monsters... not new to this game, but it really shines here I think. the hitboxes are also much more reasonable than previous games, and rolling between a monster's legs never gets old here
+as I've played p3rd high rank, it's become increasingly apparent to me how annoying non-target large monsters are in a hunt. here monsters will properly fight each other and can deal some massive damage; leading your target hunt to another monster that can soften it up for you is a legit mechanic here, and nets you nice research points as well
+I really appreciate all of the QoL tweaks they made here, specifically with how items work. there's no way they could lock you down when using items since you can't run to a different area to take a break, so I appreciate them making that change. removing pickaxes/nets is a relief as well as making whetstone infinite: those items were easy to come by past the intro of the other games already, so having to manage them was more of a formality than anything in previous games
+vigorwasps are a great mechanic imo. I don't mind just getting free heals in the older games ofc, but making the heals items that you have to actually reach in the field gives a nice risk/reward bent to it
+the difficulty scaling for quests based on the amount of players was desperately needed imo, soloing guild quests in older games felt great but I also like knowing I can jump into a random quest solo and my damage output will be appropriate for the difficulty. this is esp true now that patches have added a two-player autobalancing option instead of just solo/multi balancing

-the camera is horrid, especially when locked-on. the monster movement is simply too dynamic and the lock-on is too choppy to use
-compounding the above, whenever you're stuck in a tight space with a monster the game becomes very frustrating. the game has the capability to zoom out the action when a turf war happens... why can't it do it in normal battle as well? I would rather my character be small then have to sit with my shield up indefinitely while I wait to find an angle where the camera isn't stuck inside the monster
-the reason for these tight spaces is ofc the level design, which can be very very confusing at first thanks to how big each of the areas are and how many tiny pathways, hallways, and dead ends there are. the worst offender is ancient forest for sure; as the starting area they probably should have made the layout cleaner, as I got lost there many many times even late into the game (I couldn't even find the camp at the top of the area until a tailrider led me there)
-there's a lot of random running around that I'm not really a fan of, especially early on when you don't have a good grasp on where monsters spawn and your research level isn't high enough to instantly spot them on the map. feels like typical open-world padding... esp since it's built into the main story. why not just tell me what monster I'm going to need to fight instead of making me go on an expedition, run into a cutscene trigger, and then get the quest to deal with the monster
-the multiplayer is unbearable when trying to do the story missions. my gf and I attempted this for a bit and got tired fast, as you have to first enter the quest individually, each play until you hit the cutscene trigger, return from quest, and then post the quest again so you can both join (or one person uses an SOS request and the other person leaves and hops into their game). way too much of a pain
-scoutflies are useful when they work but are far too persnickety. it's very frustrating for them to disappear when small monsters aggro you (esp since it takes a while for the state to wear off even after you run away), as it can be near-impossible to tell where to go without them.
-I lauded the animation earlier but there's definitely some odd characteristics here and there with how the monsters move and attack. even in offline monsters will occasionally jerk around or suddenly feel like they're moving at double speed for no reason. there's also some other odd things, like barroth's mud just appearing next to it when it shakes it off instead of having an animation of flying off and adhering to the ground like in the older games

I think I had a worse time than I should've with this game thanks to how long I convinced myself to play longsword. I think sunk cost fallacy kept me going far past the point where I should've stopped, and I ended up having to switch to gunlance at the back quarter of the game after already beating nergigante when I realized that I'm so much worse at this game playing a dodge-heavy weapon like that. I'm really grateful this game exists to help ease new players in, as I would have struggled tremendously hopping into the old ones without the knowledge I gained here. on the other hand, there's a lot of growing pains here from the switch to a new engine, and it's a detriment to the experience in some ways. still, it's a next-gen monster hunter, and it's so cheap now too; I definitely think I made the right choice by picking this up at a whim

No I don't like games where you have to backtravel to warp points to get to the one of two recovery locations in the game no sir.
Or games that have spells that level you down (in a game where levels matter quite a lot).
Or games that disorient me way too fucking often.
Or games that constantly stunlock my entire party.
Or games where I feel like my stat distribution means jack shit because the two primary protagonists do almost nothing compared to demons.
Or games with the wimpiest spells I've ever seen. I swear to christ I maxed out Yumiko's wisdom straightaway and any spell she cast did jack shit.
I'll admit the first hour/dungeon were pretty neat and mechanically this is pretty impressive for the famicom of all things, but by Mizurka path I was pretty fed up. Hoping the Super Famicom version is better but im not keeping my hopes up entirely.
By the time i finished the second dungeon I had seen that playing it as though you explored every nook and cranny as though you were completing the maps on your own would help with your levels. Yet even after doing so, in the next dungeon (Valhalla Corridor) I finished that area fine (by the by, boss exp drops in this are the most flaccid thing, i know boss fights in this are generally pretty easy but god the exp/money drop is so flaccid you make about as much exp going through 3 mook fights than some of the big bads) about 8 levels behind what the recommended level range was which i guess means a lot in Mizurka since my party members got rinsed constantly and bombarded by stoning the one party member with a portable status healing move (which she only gets after 25+ levels of this fucking game) on top of enemies that constantly wanted to drop my already low levels multiple times in one fight. To be quite honest I'd rather not spend another hour or so just running back and forth between the same two doors to spawn enemies that'll give me somewhere between a 1/20th to 1/40th of the exp i need to my next level depending on what rng.
Even with as rough as a game Dragon Warrior is on the original NES I at least feel like its simplicity led to more digestible experience that sated my curiosity on what was my first game ever and the progenitor of an entire type of RPG. Here it feels less like im playing the roots of the Megami Tensei franchise and more like I'm playing some weird demake of a megaten game and while I think SHIN Megami Tensei 1 is rough at points I can see where that game becomes more than just another 3D dungeon crawler, with a pretty cool scenario, good environment/world and a simple yet intriguing alignment system with demon/character designs that have stylistically held up fairly well.
This game doesn't have Jack Frost though so, like, it's pretty much less of a megaten game than Tokyo Mirage Session tbh.

just a note, I put down my completion date as when I beat the jhen mohran village quest. in terms of guild quests I'm pretty early on in high rank still, so I have yet to encounter deviljho, amatsu, or any of the hidden mhfu monsters. I'm at over 60 hours now tho so I feel like my opinion on the game isn't gonna change much from here on out

+great monster variety. you get the virtually all the new additions from tri, a couple new monsters (zinogre and duramboros in particular are great fights, fuck nibelsnarf), and some good returning wyverns like nargacuda and tigrex
+the feudal japan theme that yukumo village has is so gorgeous, it's a nice area to look around in. obviously it doesn't affect the gameplay very much but it's lovely, with great music as well
+the hot spring is a nice touch to streamline quest preparation... since its benefits are also shared between hunters, it's extremely handy when playing online, esp when trying to grind through low rank
+online is still bustling through hunsterverse, I think I usually see about 50-60 people online at any given time. obviously it's difficult to play this game ad hoc now, but the fanbase has done an amazing job keeping online play for this going
+getting to play the hd version on emulator is such a treat, for one because it runs extremely well (psp emulation is very mature) but also because the original textures have been replaced with hi-res or touched-up variants, making this game look just as good as entries like mhgu or mh3u
+I never played far enough in mh3u to get to underwater combat but regardless I'm glad there's a 3rd gen game that doesn't have it at all, it doesn't seem fun
+cross-promotional free dlc with metal gear solid where you can unlock big boss and the boss costumes....
+overall it's hard for me to list off exactly I like about this game so much since it's just monster hunter, but something about this one really sucked me in. I'm glad this has been the first old-school MH game I've sunken time into as everything so is streamlined while still retaining a wide variety of weapons, monsters, and hunts.
+there's a lot of QoL upgrades here that I can't really speak to since I never played tri or mhfu, but I'll list them off here: the farm is streamlined (though still a bit of a chore), weapon classes that weren't in tri like bow and GL got brought back, and you can now send a load of items back to the village once per quest, just to name a few

-village quests are annoying to prepare for, as there's no hot springs or item box accessible after you've accepted a quest. you have to run into the guild hall, use the hot springs, switch out your items, and then finally exit to go accept the village quest. very annoying
-since this is pre-mh4 the areas are rather flat. not something that really detracts from the experience too much but it does make the game a little less dynamic
-why is it so hard to uncrouch.....
-the small monsters can really be a pain in this one, I know they aggro less than in the super old ones but they're still a nuisance here, esp ones that can bowl you over from behind

mhw was the first one I played and the one that helped me understand how this series should be played, but this game has been where I actually can't stop playing it and want to keep getting better and better stuff. thanks to the (partial) english translation, the HD version rip, ppsspp, and hunsterverse, this game is honestly even better to play now with right-stick camera controls, free online play, high-resolution rendering, and so much more; thank god for preservationists. the gameplay loop is so addicting here and everything seems to fall into place just perfectly. I'll definitely be playing this one for quite a while longer, hopefully to the point where I can face amatsu, or even further beyond that.

my girlfriend is a big fan of this series and after trying out a few of the PSP songs, I figured I'd give this one a try. it's got the quality you would expct for an internally-developed sega title and a suprisingly fun selection of songs, even for someone like me who hadn't been into vocaloid before playing this game. the game is played primarily with the playstation face buttons, though you can use the d-pad for the same inputs as well (and are virtually required to for alternating patterns on extreme-level tracks). it's very easy to pick up, and has a solid amount of songs for a game of this era.

what I realized made vocaloids more apt for a game of this nature is the sheer variety in composers, and the freeform nature of how these songs came to be popular. since the vocaloids are just instruments, their sound can be harnassed in a wide variety of genres and moods, and with most of these songs achieving success on niconico, which songs actually blow up is entirely dependent on the fanbase without producers and record labels in the way (as much, anyway). while there's plenty of up-beat pop tracks, there's an eclectic mix of genres here, and songs with unsettling themes that could only be here thanks to the fanbase show up as well.

as for what this game adds over the previous ones: the grading system has been refined, making this a good entry for beginners to try. the percentage cleared needed to pass a song has been lowered, and you can now get percent bonuses from technical zones and the returning chance time sections. the former yields a bonus if a certain section is completed flawlessly, and the latter now can trigger a special event in the PV while also giving a bonus of its own if enough notes are hit. this allows the designers to make it clear which parts you should practice in order to pass or get a Great/Excellent rating. many of the technical zones are played by flicking the joysticks, which is imprecise and yet accounted for by a much more generous timing window than the regular notes.

besides the rhythm game, there's a small life sim mode where you can play with each vocaloid and give them gifts. this is a rather shallow mode, with no emergent interaction with the vocaloids and no point beyond getting trophies tied to the mode. there's also an edit mode like the previous games, and a few other knick-knacks to play around with (live studio mode, a little arcade shooter, etc.). other than for getting trophies, I spent most of my time plowing through songs in the actual game, as there's no instant unlock for the higher levels.

overall this really hooked me on the series thanks to how easy it is to pick-up-and-play on console while also offering enough depth and difficulty. not all of the songs are winners for sure, but there's some insanely fun ones to play in here: remote controller, negaposi*continues, urbandonment, and mmorpg addict's anthem were all ones I've grinded endlessly to get excellents and perfects. would def recommend to those looking to try a new rhythm game series with good song variety.

+the combat feels so tactile on a touch-screen in a way that transforms the usual square enix action rpg mashing into something more interesting thanks to the many different gestures involved in each ability you acquire. neku also automatically pulls towards whatever you're attacking (for melee attacks anyway), which makes his movement much more fluid
+I'm not going to pretend like the story makes complete sense but it's really good overall! the characters are relatively nuanced and develop as the game goes on, and the pacing is quick enough that you never feel trapped in a sequence you don't care about. mysteries unfold at a nice clip over the course of the game, up until literally the final minutes
+art design is tremendous overall, both for the characters and the world. I love how shibuya's buildings seem to flex and bend as you move; the whole game has a weird super scaler type feel
+music as well, it almost all has vocals shockingly enough and has a great shibuya-kei bent to it, much like jet set radio. in fact, if there was a "jet set radio" rpg it would probably feel like this
+I went back and forth on how I felt about the top-screen fighter, and ultimately I think it's an overall plus for the game. it knows well enough that in most cases you're just going to ignore the top screen, and so you get a selection of AI choices that get the job done. however, you can attack much faster than the AI can, and the AI tends not to block, so in certain battles it's good to handle some of the inputs yourself while letting neku dash-dodge like crazy on the bottom screen. where the game really succeeds is once you finally get enough moves for the partner to do their own thing while you handle jumping and blocking, as well as certain boss fights that make it clear when to shift your focus between the two screens. effectively pulling off a fight like that feels so good
+obv there's some kingdom hearts-esque grinding at play, but the game handles this rather nicely. you can switch your difficulty in the menu at any time, which effects not only damage output/exp gain/pin point gain but also changes the drop rates for given materials, meaning you can use easy to grind for certain materials you need (while also chaining battles together to speed up the process) and then switch to a harder difficulty to grind levels
+since each shop is persistent in the world, you can grow your relationship with each clerk as the game goes on and expand the shop selections more and more, while also gaining new abilities for your wearables. a couple of them are even involved in the plot
+the reaper design rules, it's def got org xiii similiarities but everyone gets their own costume and you get to fight plenty of them as the game goes on. I also like how the walls to new areas are set up by reapers that you interact with, rather than in chain of memories where accessing new rooms was just a door.
+on that tangent, unlike in chain of memories there's virtually no real grinding to get past doors, since all of the requirements can be met in a matter of minutes easily. by the end of the game there's nothing blocking your progression between areas at all beyond random inescapable battles here and there
+enemy design is excellent. virtually every enemy has a unique set of abilities unshared by the rest that fall squarely outside of the usual archetypes for rpg baddies. it does a great job encouraging diversifying your deck in order to deal with any set of enemies that comes your way. boss design is also nearly uniformly interesting, with multiple making excellent use of the two screens and few of them feeling cookie-cutter in any way

-there's some QoL stuff that really could've been useful. a big one is that when you're buying clothes you're not able to see your stats (or if there was an option, I didn't see it), so it can be difficult to figure out if a particular thing is worth wearing
-the map is not great... like it looks cool but each area is labeled based on what brand is big there and not what the area is actually called. it also gives no indication of how to get to each place, which can be annoying at a few points in the game where you aren't basically on-rails
-I'd say the game is overall pretty evenly fun, but there definitely is a bit of a sag in the middle where you aren't fighting many new bosses and your goals are unclear. it's not that big of a deal, but it made me worry that the game had shoved all of its good ideas in the beginning, up until the back quarter where a lot happens pretty quickly and there's a lot of good boss fights

when I first started playing this I got a sinking feeling in my stomach... it quickly occurred to me that this was in many ways a spiritual successor to kingdom hearts chain of memories, a game I really really don't like. however, so much changed between that game and this one that while there's a lot of KH influence overall, this brings a lot of great ideas to the forefront and discards much of the poor design of those. I could keep listing things I loved playing this; it's such a rich concept for a video game and they really nailed the execution against all odds. I haven't dug into the post-game yet but plan to do so, and I'm really happy I played this in anticipation of the sequel coming out in just a few months.

+given how limited the wii controls are they really nailed the amount of options the player has. granted, some of them tied to motion controls aren't precise (differentiating between vertical and horizontal slash is very poor) but these moves are optional anyway, and you still have plenty of both melee and chainsaw movies to pull off, as well as jumping attacks, a dodge (with a perfect dodge ability) and plenty of new weapons strewn throughout the stages.
+the score attack setting is perfect from a gameplay perspective to squeeze as much fun as you can out of each arena, and the drip feed of weapons, items, stage hazards, and bloodbath challenges give enough direction beyond just "kill until the boss appears." it helps that the stages have plenty of nooks and crannies as well
+bloodbath challenges are very satisfying; it was smart of them to lean into the minigame-friendly aspects of the wii to get huge score bonuses and further increase the carnage
+the overall difficulty is not anywhere near as high as a typical platinum game, which I imagine was done on purpose both to pull new players in as well as smooth over the wii's deficiencies as an action game platform. the dodge's i-frames are generous and deaths instantly respawn you right where you died (tho you only get a couple lives per stage)
+the game somehow leans into insanely-crass 00s culture in a way that isn't off-putting while also centering the story around themes of America's craving for violence and the decadence of the ruling classes. it helps that jrpg yasumi matsuno wrote the plot; I never expect much from action games like this but he really nailed it

-some of the QTEs are way too physically demanding, specifically the ones where you have to shake the wiimote and nunchuck. it really put me off of playing this game too often
-I don't necessarily mind the announcers but there isn't enough dialog for them to be always talking. you can easily hear the same exchange twice within two minutes
-this game really hurts from lack of camera control. the only option is a recenter button, which is also shared for lock-on (the lock-on is very poor)
-using in-game time this took me less than 3 hours to beat. I wasn't expecting a long game by any means, but it's really short
-the boss design is actually good but the main way of dealing damage to most of them is just executing a QTE sequence, and you generally have to do it a few times. would rather just fight the boss normally, maybe with a QTE sequence at the end

this game's framing and combat makes me imagine if no more heroes hadn't been a very small-scale project by a team not accustomed to action games. it's purposefully more relaxed than some of platinum's other output and was honestly a great debut for such a new developer, even if the sales didn't end up being great. the content has not aged well for a mainstream audience and the motion controls would need to be mapped to a controller somehow, but it would still be very cool if this got rereleased on modern platforms

It's got some neat ideas and worlds, but it also has a lot of really rough aspects that feel trickled down from earlier games. Going from the command deck in Birth by Sleep, which I thought was fine, to this was kind of weird in my opinion. That coupled with the main gameplay mechanic being a weird pokemon/smt/ buddy sim, this felt like the kingdom hearts where I really stopped thinking about combat and just mashed. Birth by Sleep using the command deck to make themed decks that turn into different command styles is a pretty fun feature. Here its just kinda slapped in with little payoff and any duplicate spells you get go into a creature creation process I didn't pay much attention to and didn't feel too much of a need to do so playing on normal mode. Also flowmotion is a super fun to use mechanic, too bad it almost feels like it just shits on any attempt at level design since you can just do stuff like infinite wall jump up to high up locations and disregard any rails or other platforms leading up to it. It was incredibly funny getting glide 80% of the way in despite the fact there's so little need for it when you just have the most insanely implemented movement mechanic in kingdom hearts right from the first world.
Story wise its still that kingdom hearts brand stupid-fun-enjoyable-cheesy amalgam the other games are but this game did make me have an epiphany. I no longer care about any prospects of Sora getting into smash. I want Riku instead that guy's pretty cool. Really glad this game gives you the chance to play as him in a game that isn't Re:CoM. (sidenote: it didn't take me until I was almost done finishing this review that I remembered twewy characters were in this, really odd they're here for like <10% of the game ngl)
Also a lot of the post-game completion just seems really redundant. Probably one of the easier games to 100% skill wise but takes a lot of time with regards to how skills work, special portal drop chances, buddy raising, etc.
Lastly, fuck flick rush.
It's still a pretty enjoyable time with some good fan service thrown about, but a lot of the new mechanics charm wore off after the first few worlds or so, leaving me kinda disappointed.