In spite of its design flaws, Nier Replicant offers a brilliantly executed narrative experience by devoting itself entirely to what it seeks to accomplish.

Our time with the game is dedicated to showing us that our meaning in the world derives from our connection to one another. Even if humanity is to perish, preserving that meaning is what we live for. This idea is established within the opening hour through Nier's monologue, claiming that, despite the world dying, his only goal is to ensure that he and his sister survive. What becomes of humanity is nothing more than a distraction to that objective. Replicant builds on this through the structure of its storytelling, subverting the archetypal hero's journey in favor of a more intimate goal. Emphasis is placed on this concept by utilizing perspective as a tool. We initially perceive events through a lens that portrays Nier and his companions as the heroes fighting against an unequivocally evil threat, Shades. Toward the end of our first playthrough, a twist reveals that the beings we've been mercilessly slaughtering are actually humans that currently exist in the form of 'Gestalts' and that we, 'Replicants', were conceived as nothing more than shells for them to survive in. With that knowledge in mind, the second playthrough builds on this by forcing us to revisit the same scenarios with newly added scenes that show us the Gestalts perspective, humanizing what was seemingly evil through familiar acts and motivations. This functions to recontextualize how we view our actions in this world and what changes once we're made aware of the harm we've brought to humanity.

Ultimately, none of this has an impact on how Nier proceeds toward his goal. The final battle with Shadowlord continues to drive this point when he is revealed to be the human version of Nier that we witnessed in the prologue, sharing the same goal of saving their respective versions of Yonah. Ignoring these parallels, Nier's response to this information remains abrasive. "You want me to understand your sadness? You think I'm gonna sympathize with you?" His only promise was to protect my sister, cutting down anyone that gets in the way of that. If there is a difference between Nier's goal at the beginning and ending of his journey, its the addition of people he holds dear in this world and resoleves himself to protect even if the circumstances involve existence itself. In defeating Shadowlord, an end was put to Project Gestalt, which effectively dooms humanity to an inevitable extinction. The consequences of this can be seen in another Yoko Taro works, further emphasizing what is being sacrificed for Nier's goal.

A knot is tied onto these themes through its implementation of metanarrative. Ending D, what was considered the true ending for 11 years, closes the game with Nier's sacrifice of his own existence to save Kainé's life, one of the people he swore to protect. The impact of this sacrifice is conveyed through the erasure of our save data, associating the player's personal experience to depict this. Exclusive to ver.1.22474487139... is Ending E, featuring a continuation of this ending where Kainé fights to undo what was lost through D, which restores our previously deleted save file. While this may seem to undo what was originally bold about the previous ending, it functions to provide a more thematically cohesive statement toward what Replicant has been attempting to tell us. Kainé's struggle to restore this world is pointless in the grander scheme as nothing will be fixed. Gestalt Nier and Yonah's deaths still lead to humanity's extinction and Replicants are no less of an errored existence than they were prior. Similarly, restoring our save file does not serve much purpose as our time with the game is still reaching its end without any change in the events that will follow. Instead, what Kainé's actions accomplish is bringing back the world where she experienced acceptance and learned the value of connecting with others. The game closes its narrative with one final scene that Kainé and Emil communicate to us as Nier's existence is returned to their world.

"Our journey may have been meaningless. Our past may have been a mistake. But... we're not going back. Even if this world... comes to an end. Because this... this is the world with the people we cherish."

The conceptual execution of Replicant's message is strengthened by extending itself onto other areas of the game's design, providing consistency that goes beyond the narrative itself. It shouldn't take long to notice that letters are strangely prominent throughout our experience. Symbolic of the themes surrounding human connection and intimacy, is is often depicted through various elements of its visual presentation, such as mailboxes serving as save points or the menu's UI being styled as a postcard. The loading screen comprises of letters written by Yonah, frequently reminding the player what they are fighting for. Several quests either feature or are centered around letters. One in particular plays into this concept by bringing us to an old lady whose happiness derives from receiving letters from her lover. Unbenounced to her is that this man is no longer alive and the person writing her has been the postman delivering the letters as a means of preserving that happiness. Offering consistency in this regard is a showing of how much thought goes into the themes.

Of course, this isn't the only aspect of its presentation that functions to provide a more effective experience. Accompanying all of this is the sound of Replicant, a facet of the game that is integral to the holistic execution of Taro's vision. From the haunting vocals opening the game in 'Snow in Summer' to the to the melancholic tone of 'Grandma', Replicant's ethereal atmosphere serves as one of the biggest contributors to its identity. Common collaborator Keiichi Okabe and his studio, Monaca, compose the OST with assistance in the form of Emi Evans's voice. Okabe's compositions allow for a distinct harmony to exist with her vocals, blending them into tracks as another layer to the production. This is partially accomplished through the utilization of Evans' Chaos language, which is made up of sounds that derive from 6 different languages, making the lyrics incomprehensible without being jarring. According to Taro, he wanted to avoid using recognizable lyrics to prevent distracting the player, serving more appropriately as background music. Track placement is also given emphasis to enhance immersion throughout the playthrough. Certain sections of the game splits tracks into multiple layers, introducing a new layer as the player continues to click through the dialogue. This is a technique that is utilized to synchronize a track's placement with what is being shown on screen more accurately without stripping away the player's agency.

This isn't to say that the game is flawless. It continues to function off one of Taro's most infamous quirks in forcing redundancy on the player in order to experience all of the content. At least three playthroughs of the game's second half are required for this, the third barely adding anything prior to reaching Endings C and D, which may result in a fourth playthrough if the player neglects to save before the final area. As the most criticized aspect of the experience, its reasonable to understand why several people may not come off Replicant with a positive impression. However, those who can tolerate these inconveniences will find themselves experiencing one of the most carefully crafted experiences the medium has to offer.

Before anything else, I believe its appropriate to briefly discuss the soundtrack and what it accomplishes. From lighthearted moments shared between the cousins to the tense air surrounding the family’s inheritance affairs, EP1’s OST serves as the ideal companion to the story’s gradually shifting atmosphere, with goldenslaughter executing the episodes tone shift just as effectively as the first time I read it. It may not have the tracks Umineko is most remembered for, but it achieves what it sets out to do to perfection.

Moving onto the actual writing, its important to acknowledge what first impressions mean in Umineko. The airport scene is the audience’s first encounter with most of the Ushiromiya family, who make up a large portion of Umineko’s cast. More importantly, it is the last time Eva, Rudolf and Rosa will collectively be portrayed as the ‘likable’ siblings. Rosa is a charitable woman and the ideal mother. Eva/Rudolf are a fun, playful pair that a number of brothers and sisters will likely find themselves identifying with. The more chapters we progress through, the more we understand our first impression deceived us. Once the story moves onto mansion, a different face appears on these characters. We soon find one of those playful siblings repeatedly tormenting an already sympathetic Natsuhi for reasons the audience are not yet aware of. Shortly after, Maria's loving mother is seen mercilessly beating her daughter in front of the cousins. However, the episode continues to dig into their characters by giving us a small portion of their depth that would later be expanded on in the following episodes.

Perhaps the single most fascinating character showcased in EP1 is somebody we meet in the story’s very first scene, the family head himself: Kinzo Ushiromiya. There is virtually no consistency within Kinzo's characterization. In his first appearance, we see a sympathetic old man breaking down under past regrets, wanting nothing but to see a certain woman’s smile. A similar scene is shown a few chapters after, however, there is a notable difference. Rather than portraying him sympathetically, the words beneath his weeping hold a far more possessive, disturbing implication behind them. Unless we’re to pay close attention, this difference is very easy to overlook. Few chapters later, this is no longer the case. Kinzo's weeping is replaced by optimism and his fascination with magic finally makes itself known. This is built on in our next meeting with him as he shows a more competitive persona that is confident in his capability to snatch the aforementioned woman’s smile. Before his death, we’re shown Kinzo one last time with arguably the most jarring portrayal of his character yet. In front of Natsuhi, Kinzo is shown as the proud head of the Ushiromiya family. While his stance toward the siblings is unchanging, the tone of his speech is far more composed. We see his first act of kindness as he allows the suffering Natsuhi to regain her lost self-esteem with the implication that she, more so than any of his children, is worthy of becoming head of the family. Based off these scenes, making out who Kinzo is meant to be is nigh impossible. It is only at the very end of EP1 that we receive more insight on his character through his servants and the cousin's interpretation of their words.

The significance behind these scenes not only forces us to contemplate who Kinzo is, but it also adds intrigue behind the woman whose smile he yearned for, Beatrice. Until the tea party, Beatrice is not a character. We have no idea who or what Beatrice is supposed to be. The cousins theorize who this Beatrice could possibly, with guesses ranging all over the place. That in itself is the force that drives the narrative forward.

Along with Kinzo and Beatrice, a third character who heavily contributes to the plot of EP1 is Maria. Unlike the former two names mentioned, she is consistently present throughout the episode. What distinguishes her from the rest of the cast is she does not abide by conventional logic. Early on, her belief in magic is viewed innocently as something several girls her age might be interested in. It is not long after when we’re reminded yet again that first impressions in Umineko are not reliable. We begin to see the nature of how Maria operates as she stubbornly stands outside in the middle of a harsh rainstorm after being abandoned by Rosa. Her fixation on a single rose seen earlier that day tells us that they (Battler and the cousins) are not dealing with a regular girl, and that becomes even more apparent directly after the first twilight when the first 6 victims are killed. Fortunately, George gives the cousins, as well as the audience, an understanding for Maria’s disturbing speech and indifference to everyone’s deaths. We’re led to believe that this knowledge in mind would protect her strange behavior from their judgement. It is because of this belief that the slowly growing intolerance toward her becomes especially effective in showcasing how their predicament is impacting them. Despite how conflicted the cousin’s feel at the sight of Rosa beating Maria, they begin to share in her frustration after a certain point. Maria’s stubbornness and inability to cooperate with others drives the remaining cast into madness as everybody in the mansion is dying. until the boiling point is reached when Natsuhi points her gun at Maria and she’s forced outside, where its presumed the killer is waiting for them. Oh yeah and Natsuhi is pretty good here too I guess.

The last thing I’ll mention is how well this sets up the mysteries for the rest of the story. As Ryukishi dubs it, the concept of Anti-Mystery vs Anti-Fantasy is an innovative approach to the genre that is fascinating off its premise alone. The EP1 tea party only solidifies this as we’re given a new layer of depth to look at when determining what kind of mystery story Umineko truly is.

tl;dr EP1 is good as fuck

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC is basically a guide to rehabilitating serial killers. That statement will make absolutely no sense until the last 30 or so minutes of the game and that fact is particularly what makes FC is good.

Up until the ending, the plot primarily concerns itself with the impact Cassius Bright had on the Liberl army by leaving them to become a bracer. If we consider there to be 4 major twists throughout the course of the story, that was the first one. The second occurs when it is revealed that Colonel Richard, one of Cassius' "worshipers", is behind the series of events that disrupt the harmony in what is otherwise a lighthearted adventure. This wasn't difficult to predict since he was introduced mere scenes apart from when the story brought up the idea of there being a rat in the army. It’s not the most compelling motive, but it makes sense. For now, that’s all it needs to do so there's no issues in that department. We get the 3rd of our 4 major twists at the end of the final dungeon. This can be summarized in 3 words: Ancient fucking robots. For some reason, introducing a less relevant final boss that undermines the main antagonist is more common in JRPGs than you'd imagine. However, this doesn't impact the story negatively. After the final twist, its implied that this will factor into SC, serving as a set up above an epic climax that giving finality to the overarching storyline. Much like everything else introduced in FC, how the 2nd installment in this series follows through with these developments will largely influence how well these twists hold up.

Structurally, FC is solid. The bulk of the game comprises of Estelle and Joshua running around Liberl to collect recommendations from the 5 bracer guilds. Accordingly, this allows the game to be broken up into 5 separate parts, each getting their own chapter. From here, they can be broken down further with a slice of life section and a heavier section that builds toward the chapter’s climax, intertwining with the story’s political intrigue. For all intents and purposes, this structure is perfect for what FC sought to accomplish. Despite slowing the plot’s progression, the former section for these chapters holds just as much, if not more value than the latter. Though, it’s not difficult to determine that the slice of life has value early on. Estelle is actively developing throughout the story as she’s realizing her non-blood related feelings for her non-blood related brother. Through her relationship with Joshua, we’re seeing Estelle grow as a person altogether. Much like their quest for bracer recommendations, the stages of Estelle’s development can be divided within those same 5 chapters.

Of course, this isn’t the sole purpose for those slice of life sections. The 4th twist that I left out earlier recontextualizes everything we thought we knew about the game we were playing. FC is clever in masking that fact until those final 30 or so minutes. Unlike Estelle, we’re not witnessing growth from Joshua. Naturally, this makes the audience feel less involved with his side of the relationship. All Joshua has going for him at this point in time is the promise he made to Estelle about revealing his backstory. Prolonging this reveal until the very end proves to effective in how the twist impacts the story by adding an entirely new layer of depth to the slice of life. This is capitalized on immediately afterward. FC uses its closing video to take a look inside Estelle’s picture book, using photographs to show us glimpses of what happened during that 5 year time skip after Joshua’s failed assassination attempt on Cassius Bright. What was once a distant, cynical look in Joshua’s eyes gradually transformed into the warm gaze of a brother who found his place in the world growing up beside Estelle. It would be no stretch to say that the plot twist IS Trails in the Sky FC as it is not only the perfect knot on a well-constructed narrative, but a fantastic set up for the next chapter in the Sky trilogy.

There's far more to say about this game’s writing than what goes on in the story itself. It’s impossible to talk about FC without mentioning the sheer amount of effort put into the NPC dialogue. This is most prominent in the prologue chapter where just about every NPC has some sort of relationship with Estelle. This leads to many interesting conversations that are far lengthier than you’d expect from non-story related dialogue. Many of these NPCs even update their dialogue after certain events that are relevant to that area pass by. This extra effort can also be seen through other quirks, such as every treasure chest providing additional text after being emptied. It is a testament to how much these writers love the world that they crafted.

This isn’t to say that FC featured masterclass writing throughout. While the overall package is an undeniable success, there are still times where the quality of the writing is questionable. Story conveniences and illogical actions from the characters are still very present. One of the most notable instances of this is when Mayor Dalmore is ready to shoot a frozen Joshua with the intent to kill. During the period that the Mayor notices Joshua breaking out of this state, rather than shooting while he still has the opportunity, he chooses to run away with his gun instead. This allows Estelle and Joshua to chase him down, ultimately resulting in his arrest. We see a similar sight earlier that chapter when the mysterious men covered in black fail to kill the party. In order to ensure their escape, they take out guns, forcing everyone to stay back while they run away. Maybe there was a reason for them wanting the party to live that will be revealed in SC. I'd reserve my judgement until then, but seeing as a similar instance was already pointed out with Mayor Dalmore, I'm not too confident about that happening. It can’t be said that this has a substantial impact on the storytelling, but these issues should be acknowledged regardless.

Due to FC's dedication toward developing Estelle and Joshua's relationship, there is not too much to say about the supporting cast. Schera and Olivier would be the obvious standouts in an otherwise forgettable set of party members. Again, this is not an issue since it is merely the first installment in a trilogy. Yeah. That's really all I have to say about this.

To be honest, I do not care to expand on other aspects of the game either since my reason for jumping into this series was to experience the story. It doesn't help that the gameplay as a whole could use a lot of refinement. That said, I'll be brief about expanding on this. FC's magic system can be likened to FF7's materia, both in world building and the freedom to assign whatever skills to whatever party members. Since there are no unique skills or quartz among party members, they are instead distinguished by an assigned element that they are forced to equip, with the exception of Estelle. This was a poor approach in offering variety since it only serves to limit, rather than actually show distinct qualities from each party member. Fortunately, S-Breaks do a better job at accomplishing this since everyone has their own unique set. The grid-based combat is a refreshing approach in a standard JRPG. My stance on this is conflicted since it heavily relies on magic to make the gameplay not feel tedious. Not only does magic require a wait time before casting, but it's the only means of attacking from across the grid if you're too far from the enemy. I find myself in multiple occasions relying purely on magic and S-Breaks to attack because I'm still going to be wasting 2 turns doing nothing but moving in a standard encounter regardless. Simply put, it’s a system that likes to make you wait. There's also the other distinct quality of not wanting you to see the math involved in the combat. Perhaps Falcom knew that people only cared about the story, so they purposely dumbed down certain aspects of the gameplay, such as seeing numerical values assigned to damage. Being one of those people that Falcom accounted for, I didn't really care, but it’s also difficult to say that it makes gameplay feel as strategic as it should. That wasn’t as brief as I anticipated. Oh well.

Trails in the Sky FC is good. I’m going to publish this and then play SC.

Ghost Trick is well crafted with a clear realization of what it wanted to be. The way the gameplay mechanics are integrated into the narrative makes for a very cohesive storytelling experience. I enjoyed seeing the plot unfold with its multiple twists, which would build up to an appropriate climax and very satisfying conclusion. Nothing major against it, though ideally I would have preferred if the “10 years ago” conflict was either mentioned sooner or there was more time between its introduction and the reveals about the incident. The supporting cast is solid with a good number of memorable personalities whose motivations I felt were mostly understandable. I say mostly because Jowd wanting to be executed over putting Lynne in a dangerous situation multiple years ago feels a bit much, but he's still a good character nonetheless. The animations add a lot to the expressiveness and idiosyncratic nature of the cast as well. It also made moments like Yomiel springing back to life feel much more impactful than they otherwise would have. The gameplay itself was also fun with several unique and well designed puzzles. They force you to pay attention to how every ghost trick interacts with the environment by utilizing each element in creative ways. Fuck that dark room escort mission though. That aside, I enjoyed being a cat and this gave me a good impression of games where you're a cat. Shu Takumi seems like the kind of guy who knows how to make video games.

the best way to describe remember11 is fuck you. it is as unorthodox as it is complex with no desire to tell you what you are even reading. you are instead taunted into figuring it out on your own. however, it does not actually care if you understand it as its only goal is to guilt the player. by understanding what remember11 is, you understand that you're a terrible person for reading it in the first place. you are purposely denied any sense of fulfillment for completing it that is inherent to conventional storytelling. there are no rewards waiting for you at the finish line, only infinite loops. consequently, this raises several questions toward the nature of its creation. there are misconceptions going around that claim it is 'unfinished' or was hindered from 'troubled development'. many people choose to subscribe to this notion as these claims primarily stem from the creator himself. however, this is clearly false as the story is told in the only fashion appropriate to its own themes. remember11 was never meant to be a visual novel created by humans. remember11 is a visual novel that created itself by tricking humans into believing they were ever in control. in willing itself to existence, remember11 stands as both the best and worst experience you'll have with visual novels.