etria_girl
2022
Incredible game, had me completely enraptured the entire time I was playing and I've continued to think about it nigh-constantly since finishing it. The atmosphere is incredible, the areas are very well designed, and I couldn't stop thinking about the story, and each new unfolding of the story only brought me in further.
I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.
I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.
2021
ch 1 was very charming but ch 2 is a big step up and a lot of fun
2013
short and sweet
2013
expands on the original in every way you'd want, just a great time the whole way through
2022
a fun, clever game!
really well balanced, main routes are not too hard and no penalty for dying means optional challenge sections for collectibles don't feel punishing and terrible like in so many games. plot is nothing to speak of but who cares, it looks great and plays great! love how every stage looks, and each one has fun gimmicks
really well balanced, main routes are not too hard and no penalty for dying means optional challenge sections for collectibles don't feel punishing and terrible like in so many games. plot is nothing to speak of but who cares, it looks great and plays great! love how every stage looks, and each one has fun gimmicks
2002
a solid foundation for the rest of the series to build on. definitely too hard, and a little barebones, but that gives it a really unique atmosphere compared to any of the others.
Despite all I've heard over the years, I think this is the weakest "Arc Starter" game (e.g. Trails in the Sky FC, Cold Steel 1, etc.). Not to say that it's bad though, I had a great time in Crossbell! I think the main party is a little underbaked, Lloyd especially feels like proto-Rean in a way I didn't think he would. Randy and Tio are the standouts here, even if Randy is just chillin the whole game with not much to do. (Though that does match his vibe so 😆) I did grow to like everyone by the end though, Tio especially is my fav of the SSS.
But if the main four are a little underbaked, Crossbell city itself is a really fun, well developed setting. Unlike the on foot touring you do in Liberl and Erebonia, having the game based in one big city is just a fun way to reallllly flesh out the place, and talking to the same NPCs each time the story progressed was really fun. As always, there are a lot of fun side characters who show up regularly too, and they’re all very charming and are very integrated into the city in good ways. The slow opening of the surrounding areas and highways works too, and naturally folds into the “rounds” you do between story segments.
The music is solid as always, a couple of standouts and everything else just solid, very typicaly Trails-sound. The actual plot is Fine, I like the contrast of the SSS vs the Bracers, and the story eventually ramps up into some fun stuff that definitely made me excited for Azure. I definitely want more group development (especially poor Elie, please Aidios give her something, anything)
So yeah, a solid Trails game, but not particularly standout to me. Still quite enjoyed myself, because a decent Trails game (especially since this is done so similarly to the Sky style) is still more enjoyable to me than So many other things
ROT13: (Nyfb V pna’g oryvrir gurl qvq Gur Guvat NTNVA. Rira bar bs gur gernfher purfg zrffntrf wbxrf nobhg vg! V jnf va qvforyvrs sbe gur ragver ohvyqhc bs gur ynfg puncgref.)
But if the main four are a little underbaked, Crossbell city itself is a really fun, well developed setting. Unlike the on foot touring you do in Liberl and Erebonia, having the game based in one big city is just a fun way to reallllly flesh out the place, and talking to the same NPCs each time the story progressed was really fun. As always, there are a lot of fun side characters who show up regularly too, and they’re all very charming and are very integrated into the city in good ways. The slow opening of the surrounding areas and highways works too, and naturally folds into the “rounds” you do between story segments.
The music is solid as always, a couple of standouts and everything else just solid, very typicaly Trails-sound. The actual plot is Fine, I like the contrast of the SSS vs the Bracers, and the story eventually ramps up into some fun stuff that definitely made me excited for Azure. I definitely want more group development (especially poor Elie, please Aidios give her something, anything)
So yeah, a solid Trails game, but not particularly standout to me. Still quite enjoyed myself, because a decent Trails game (especially since this is done so similarly to the Sky style) is still more enjoyable to me than So many other things
ROT13: (Nyfb V pna’g oryvrir gurl qvq Gur Guvat NTNVA. Rira bar bs gur gernfher purfg zrffntrf wbxrf nobhg vg! V jnf va qvforyvrs sbe gur ragver ohvyqhc bs gur ynfg puncgref.)
2003
A huge improvement in every way. Level design is better, music is better, gameplay is better, plot, backgrounds, the list goes on. A way more solid game than I remembered it being. Still pretty hard though.
2005
this game starts well enough and then just falls down a flight of stairs the rest of the time
2022
great music by akira senju, okay but not amazing story, amateur voice acting, sometimes charmingly, sometimes distractingly. battles are super long
story mechanics below:
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(the story choices only kind of mattering and then always folding back into a main plotline was somewhat disappointing. i know anything else would be unrealistic from this scale of game, but still. it was at least fun seeing the different endings for each character's route, far more interesting than the 'golden route' ending.)
story mechanics below:
-
(the story choices only kind of mattering and then always folding back into a main plotline was somewhat disappointing. i know anything else would be unrealistic from this scale of game, but still. it was at least fun seeing the different endings for each character's route, far more interesting than the 'golden route' ending.)
Even with the roughest edges smoothed out, Battle Network 1 is still the earliest attempt they made for this style of RPG, and it shows.
The internet (world map) design is so labyrinthine and same-y that without the bottom screen maps in the DS version I'd probably have spent several hours more wandering aimlessly than I already did.
Each dungeon having a unique gimmick is fun, but because this is their first attempt, weird things like diagonal movement ice sliding and invisible multi-layered paths make dungeons much more of a pain than they needed to be (but the fixing of several elements in the ElecMan dungeon is a huge help, and makes me feel for all the kids in 2001 playing the most ridiculous version of it.)
While the DS version has spruced up some parts of the combat, even looking back at the GBA version they’ve set up a great base to build from, all the basics that make the combat so fun are here. Each new chip type is fun to try and incorporate, and building MegaMan up with each upgrade is satisfying too. The addition of playable MM Starforce really makes the endgame easy and fun, the lockon+teleport move truly is 200 years in the future tech :p
Story and music are quite barebones in this one, but fine for what they are, and while the Starforce side story is very short and shoehorned in, it does lead to some cute banter between the boys, and I was charmed by it.
Overall glad to check this one off my list! I’d been curious about BN 1 since I was a kid, but I can’t say it’s particularly worth going back to, especially with how much of an improvement even BN 2 is.
Standout track: Fire Field
The internet (world map) design is so labyrinthine and same-y that without the bottom screen maps in the DS version I'd probably have spent several hours more wandering aimlessly than I already did.
Each dungeon having a unique gimmick is fun, but because this is their first attempt, weird things like diagonal movement ice sliding and invisible multi-layered paths make dungeons much more of a pain than they needed to be (but the fixing of several elements in the ElecMan dungeon is a huge help, and makes me feel for all the kids in 2001 playing the most ridiculous version of it.)
While the DS version has spruced up some parts of the combat, even looking back at the GBA version they’ve set up a great base to build from, all the basics that make the combat so fun are here. Each new chip type is fun to try and incorporate, and building MegaMan up with each upgrade is satisfying too. The addition of playable MM Starforce really makes the endgame easy and fun, the lockon+teleport move truly is 200 years in the future tech :p
Story and music are quite barebones in this one, but fine for what they are, and while the Starforce side story is very short and shoehorned in, it does lead to some cute banter between the boys, and I was charmed by it.
Overall glad to check this one off my list! I’d been curious about BN 1 since I was a kid, but I can’t say it’s particularly worth going back to, especially with how much of an improvement even BN 2 is.
Standout track: Fire Field
1989
all videogames should strive to be this good, lesser though they are
fukami getting he/himmed at the end ruined my life
i am so mixed on this.
-setting and music do nothing for me but its so clearly supposed to be a lot of this experience
-enemies hit quite hard, which makes exploring sometimes tense and fun, and other times a complete slog
-platforming is pretty fun once you get a few movement abilities but they are So Spaced Out
-equippable souls are varied and interesting, but i never liked having to level them up, it made trying new ones less fun
in the end i dunno man, i never want to feel that i have to grind to fight a boss when im playing castlevania, and certainly not at the slow rate you level up in this game
-setting and music do nothing for me but its so clearly supposed to be a lot of this experience
-enemies hit quite hard, which makes exploring sometimes tense and fun, and other times a complete slog
-platforming is pretty fun once you get a few movement abilities but they are So Spaced Out
-equippable souls are varied and interesting, but i never liked having to level them up, it made trying new ones less fun
in the end i dunno man, i never want to feel that i have to grind to fight a boss when im playing castlevania, and certainly not at the slow rate you level up in this game
1999
probably the best final fantasy ive played/seen???
fun (if underused) cast, interesting story, great setting, gorgeous backgrounds filled with a ton of detail, incredibly charming and characterful animations, great music, weird and engaging systems, and many classic moments. i was in love with this game nearly my entire time with it.
the game doesn't explain itself very well, the story is oddly told at times, and most of the party isn't used nearly as much as you'd want, but what is here is still just excellent, absolutely recommended.
(selphie's blog and the credits video are just two of the best things in final fantasy)
fun (if underused) cast, interesting story, great setting, gorgeous backgrounds filled with a ton of detail, incredibly charming and characterful animations, great music, weird and engaging systems, and many classic moments. i was in love with this game nearly my entire time with it.
the game doesn't explain itself very well, the story is oddly told at times, and most of the party isn't used nearly as much as you'd want, but what is here is still just excellent, absolutely recommended.
(selphie's blog and the credits video are just two of the best things in final fantasy)