i feel like i would ramble on for ages if i started to write paragraphs of text for this game, so i'll go with a List Format This Time.

so here are the top [however many things i end up listing] reasons why this game felt laser-focused to appeal to me:
- a realm-spanning, grounded narrative with actual honest-to-god focus on geopolitics, tough choices and tastefully done magical and fantastical elements, with zero late-game surprise demon king shit to ruin it
- a big, well-rounded cast of characters that not only have interesting and fun personal stories unto themselves, but whose ideals are well examined through the game, and who work as effective lens in interrogating, contrasting and comparing the mechanisms of the various societal systems of the three states of norzelia
- dialogue and character writing that hits a very good balance of dry and serious, and human and humorous, with very well done economical script. just a bit more of joe abercrombie-like sassiness would not have been amiss, but overall very good and fitting for the game
- tactically rigorous gameplay design that moves the focus significantly from out-of-battle preparation and character building to in-battle decision making, which makes the fights themselves feel much more balanced and fair and, most of all, FUN
-- as a bit of a sidenote, i must say that i've always looooved sprawling and involved character progression systems where you can break the game wide open with some good planning and execution, but i've also come to realize that i like them specifically in crpgs and your more standard jrpgs with quick battles and lots of trash mobs to sic your busted ass party at, with trpgs i massively prefer the more chess-like approach that tristrat has
- combat system that gives you all the information you would ever need to plan out your tactics, with basically no bullshit surprises. again, kinda like chess!
- the overall progression philosophy: you're always making at least some in-game progression, even when you face complete defeat, and you never LOSE shit, there's no character permadeath or anything of the sort. in truth the retained experience and kudos from lost fights didn't make a very big impact on the pacing of the game for me (because there were only a few battles i ended up losing once or twice before i emerged victorious), but the psychological effect of knowing you'll always progress in some ways even if you fuck up royally cannot be understated for me--i take more risks, i try out more varied strategies, i generally poke the systems more and as a result, tend to have a lot more fun with the game. with a harsher save/checkpoint system, i tend to play much more conservatively, which always has a negative effect on my enjoyment.
- if it wasn't obvious from the above point, i've never clicked with games that derive a lot of their difficulty or challenge from long-term attrition of resources, so let me just say that i fucking LOVE the tp system. the item system being your standard fare was a good balancing weight for the tp system (though, again, i supremely appreciated the fact that you get used items back if you lose a fight)
- the 3d diorama presentation of the exploration and combat scenarios was just absolutely adorable

all that said, there were certainly a few things i was hoping to see. MORE LISTS!
- a bit more variety across the board would have been appreciated. a few more enemy types and some optional (hard) bonus objectives per fight would have gone a loong way for me. right now the 35 hours i spent with the game feels just right, as much as i'd like to know how the golden route goes, i don't think starting ng+ right away is a good idea. maybe in a year or two, though.
- almost all of the positive status effects feel bizarrely weak compared to the negative ones. proccing immobility or paralysis in particular on a key enemy unit remained incredibly exhilarating all the way to the end, and i really wish positive effects were as impactful.
- some of the scales of justice decisions could have been harder. the setup of every option starting out with equal amount of supporters avoids the potential issue of the game accidentally implying some options are better or more desirable than the others, but i got my will in every one and it felt just a tad too easy.
- while i adored the presentation overall, i'm not a big fan of the super contrasty colors of the 2d-hd games. you definitely get used to it, though, and playing the pc version with higher res and framerate than on the switch made the graphics more palatable for me.
- the material and character skill "tree" systems felt a bit tacked on, the vast majority of upgrades you could get seemed pretty inconsequential. would have preferred less materials overall (and the game being stingier with them) and tighter skill trees with just the skills that make a genuine difference--you get the tiny stat boosts from level ups.

---

i have never played a game that made me feel more like i was playing an epic fantasy novel trilogy. it is in many ways the trpg genre absolutely perfected for my particular tastes. it's not the very best in every single thing--when i want to enjoy some of the most colorful dialogue of the genre i'll boot up fft or to:luct, and when i want a different kind of satisfaction found in building gamebreaking characters i'll boot up troubleshooter (or, tbf, fft or to:luct lol), etc.--but as a whole package, it is one of the best trpgs i've ever played and likely my overall favorite. just an incredible game through and through and god do i hope we get a triangle strategy 2 some day, that takes place in the same world but maybe 100 years in the future--the ending i got certainly made it clear norzelia is just entering a new era of true innovation, so there's a lot of potential there.

four and a half difficult multifaceted realm-changing decisions forced to be made out of sheer necessity out of five

dnf @ the ~50% mark

not for me. i found the open world content uninspired, the everything but the kitchen sink approach to mini games fun on paper but annoying in execution and most of the plot and characters and banter--as someone who liked but didn't love ffvii--okay at best.

combat was definitely the highlight here. i never clicked with remake's combat system, but with rebirth they've done the thing i've always found really fun in jrpgs: they just pile mechanics on mechanics, turning the whole thing into a bit of an unfocused mess of endless things to progress and level and try and tinker with. it has a good weight to it too, and deleting groups of enemies in a flash with carefully orchestrated party-wide combos is always very satisfying. if there's something about the game that might make me come back and finish it and some point (and play the last part of the remake trilogy when it comes out), it's the combat.

feeling blessed on this day.

i like juggling short run-based roguelites/likes with my big games and isaac has for a very long time been my go-to, but i've been playing it a LOT in the last 6 months so i was starting to feel just a bit burned out, and just as i was thinking i'd have to focus solely on the big ass big games, balatro enters my life.

digital crack. there's your review. i'm afraid my yakuza 8 playthrough will actually go on ice because of this, the one that was supposed to be the secondary game when i'm too tired to focus on the primary one.

oh well, it's not like i'm on a time limit here or anything. now then... back to being the jokah, baby. or whatever. release serotonin, please.