I gotta admit, I was a little burnt out on XBC3 when I went into this, so I was a little worried once I started it. Imagine my surprise when not even 20 minutes in, I was already incredibly invested, and by the end, I didn't want it to be over. Future Redeemed takes every system that works from XBC3 and builds upon them in such a fun and satisfying way that it makes the gameplay loop maybe the most enjoyable in the entire series. Playing as Rex is quite possibly the most fun I've had in a JRPG, Double Spinning Edge is one hell of a drug. In terms of story, I gotta hand it to FR for being able to weave bits and pieces from all 3 XBC games, alongside nods to Xenosaga and Xenogears, and do it all so coheasively, its an enjoyable tale all the way through. FR doesn't add too much new music, but the pieces it does have all stand out extremely well, with the Final Boss theme in particular being absolutely insane. My last big praise for FR is its length, because it genuinely feels like the perfect length, its not too long nor too short, I never felt like my interest was fading, it really nailed that sweet spot. In conclusion, I'm feeling full of beans and I need XBC4 stat.

It only took 200ish hours but I finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and to nobody's surprise, its my favourite of the bunch. There are plenty of things that XBC3 improves upon within the franchise, but I think it's biggest strong suit is the story this time around. It might have some of the best twists and overall storytelling I've seen in a piece of media. The gameplay is likely at its peak, with the new party size, chain attacks, and class switching making combat feel extremely enjoyable. The music goes without saying, to be honest, its a Xenoblade game, of course the music is gonna go absolutely crazy. XBC3 isn't without some minor faults, things like the Chain Attack music interrupting the OST, some side quests feeling like a chore, and just the overall lack of solid tank classes, but even with those gripes, I can't deny that the pros definitely outweigh the cons on every level.
All hail the commander of Colony 11

I make no secret in other reviews of how highly I think of knowledge-based investigation games, with Her Story being one of the early examples that really kicked off the popularity of this interesting little genre. Not only is this game another work from the very same director, but conceptually it blows the original out of the water with a massively expanded scope - you've got the plots of three movies, the fates of several actors, and a little something extra special all to keep track of. The amount of work it must have taken to put this all together is staggering.

Unfortunately, on the gameplay side of things, I do have a couple of qualms. While the mysteries are compelling once you've got more context, at the start before you really know what you're looking for, things can feel very aimless, making it hard to figure out what amongst the information overload is important to note. Conversely, while jumping between clips with shared objects is a novel idea that helps broaden your search early on, later when you're trying to find the last few new clips, the lack of control and inability to try specific things, as with Her Story's keywords, can be really frustrating, especially when trying to hunt down the secrets. By the end of the game I was pretty frustrated with the pace of progress, and when the credits rolled I felt a sense of relief more than anything, which isn't a great sign. Maybe this was just a skill issue on my end? But that took me out of the experience and made it harder to emotionally connect to the themes the game wanted to explore. It also left me missing some crucial scenes that I only found about later, despite the game declaring itself to be over.

Oh shit. Now I remember I actually played this one. Not immediately right away but it's still one of my first SNES emulated games I have ever seen alongside FF V.

Visuals for this one were awesome for the times. Gameplay is whatever: card game, random encounter too frustratingly high and poor orientation of what to do next. Awesome that you could explore the overworld by flying it, but man if it is ruined by that factor just mentioned.

The soundtrack is ridiculously memorable for almost all the wrong reasons..