fntm
2000
game has vibes for days. mainly due to the world created here with some help from a very cool dark ambient soundtrack. borderline visual novel with some gorgeous prerendered graphics. first person with adventure and rpg elements. you're an agent for the Church and you can read minds and have "mind battles." i can see why it was never localized (too much text and religious aspects and overall very obtuse).
I don't know if this was Game Freak's first game, but it has all the hallmarks of too much ambition. Some very cool ideas, from strategy based battles with action-rpg elements and platforming, to an overhead JRPG style outside of the action. I don't think it holds together super solidly, but it's a valiant effort, especially compared to a lot of simpler games for the SFC/SNES.
havent tried this yet. that cover art doh
I don't know how to compare this to anything as I've never played anything like it, but the simplest descriptor would be "government simulator." Of course, placing it in modern times would probably make it boring, so it's in some space colony in the future with a bunch of aliens/etc.
There's no town-building aspects that might save something like this from monotony, it's basically a bunch of screens with portraits where you decide the "policies" for the day, which really just ends up being who to bribe next or who to assassinate. It has a very board game quality, as you can play with up to four people taking turns.
I get some Dune vibes but I haven't actually read Dune, it just seems inspired by it coming from someone that has a cursory interest and has seen some of the movies, that's about it.
Ultimately, this just doesn't seem like my type of game and it feels archaic now. Might have been interesting in 92 to someone else however. Big shrug.
There's no town-building aspects that might save something like this from monotony, it's basically a bunch of screens with portraits where you decide the "policies" for the day, which really just ends up being who to bribe next or who to assassinate. It has a very board game quality, as you can play with up to four people taking turns.
I get some Dune vibes but I haven't actually read Dune, it just seems inspired by it coming from someone that has a cursory interest and has seen some of the movies, that's about it.
Ultimately, this just doesn't seem like my type of game and it feels archaic now. Might have been interesting in 92 to someone else however. Big shrug.
1998
I think it's time for me to give up on this one. I've tried it numerous times through the years and even got decently far into it once... but it's just not super compelling to me. For being a 3D game with 2D sprites it just doesn't look that great and all around it feels very... almost but not quite. Besides the OST, which may be my most listened to OST after Chrono Cross. It's like this inbetween of CT and CC (probably because it literally was made between them).
I've heard this was originally a FFVII pitch, and then a possible Chrono Trigger 2 at some point as well, and it does have a lot in common with CT, not just the the soundtrack composer.
Anyway, I think I'm going to abandon this as a game and watch a playthrough instead. Considering how inspired by Gnosticism I am in my own projects it seems like a necessity to at least know the whole plot.
Edit: Just collecting my thoughts here while I watch a play-through, but this very much feels like a game completely led by its narrative and everything about it is in support of that narrative. Basically, there are no overly frivolous gameplay aspects, they're all there for the story. This could very much just have been a novel. Not sure how I feel about that, but it is an interesting way to approach a game.
The pacing is also pretty slow and there's a lot of dialogue to not say so much. That feels like a pretty common Japanese poetic choice. A lot of battle scenes feel like 61 episodes of DBZ.
I've heard this was originally a FFVII pitch, and then a possible Chrono Trigger 2 at some point as well, and it does have a lot in common with CT, not just the the soundtrack composer.
Anyway, I think I'm going to abandon this as a game and watch a playthrough instead. Considering how inspired by Gnosticism I am in my own projects it seems like a necessity to at least know the whole plot.
Edit: Just collecting my thoughts here while I watch a play-through, but this very much feels like a game completely led by its narrative and everything about it is in support of that narrative. Basically, there are no overly frivolous gameplay aspects, they're all there for the story. This could very much just have been a novel. Not sure how I feel about that, but it is an interesting way to approach a game.
The pacing is also pretty slow and there's a lot of dialogue to not say so much. That feels like a pretty common Japanese poetic choice. A lot of battle scenes feel like 61 episodes of DBZ.
I get that this is supposed to feel like a more traditional Castlevania in its gameplay but that also means a level of rigidity that was better left in the past. It's basically added challenge based off the controls. This might be a skip.
f#$% medusa heads bro
this is the worst kind of direct sequel. gameplay loop is essentially identical but it has almost nothing to do with the previous game story/continuity-wise.
nintendo has always been allergic to lore but there is no time this has been more obvious than this time around.
they completely tapped out on what was good and what was bad about botw and just made the same game with some added crafting mechanics that can be fun but arent very practical to the core gameplay.
nintendo has always been allergic to lore but there is no time this has been more obvious than this time around.
they completely tapped out on what was good and what was bad about botw and just made the same game with some added crafting mechanics that can be fun but arent very practical to the core gameplay.
I was really getting into the groove of this and was this close to saying I might enjoy it more than Aria, then I proceeded to be stuck for 2 hours, being denied at every previous dead end with another dead end AFTER whatever item i got passed THAT dead end. Oh come on.
The three GBA games make clear strides in improving upon the last one. If you actually want to enjoy this I would suggest playing it before Aria of Sorrow and just completely skipping Circle of the Moon. This is basically if SOTN was on the GBA and for the time, SOTN on the GBA was cool. Really cool. But now that it's just another Castlevania game, that you can either emulate or play legally on your Switch, it's basically SOTN, but worse. You can probably play SOTN on your Switch if you try hard enough.
I do enjoy this game, my biggest gripe is not knowing what to do next. You can spend hours traversing the entire castle to find the one spot you need to be at. And this happens more than a few times. I never even knew you could teleport till I found a hint somewhere, so it was basically the end of the game when I finally did start teleporting.
This is relatively easy, probably moreso than Aria of Sorrow and I like that I'm not constantly killing enemies trying to get their abilities, as much as I found that aspect of Aria very cool, I like the simplicity of less FOMO. The bosses are just moving blocks that sometimes attack. There's a lot of them too. You'll need very little strategy for most of them and if you utilize your magic and special attacks, as well as maybe do a bit of grinding, you'll barely take a scratch.
By the time you reach the end of the game it's pretty hard not to be overpowered and by now if you don't know the best magic combos (or combo I should say, ahem, wind/cross) there might be something wrong with you.
Overall a solid game with a blah story, huge docking of points for constantly getting lost and having WAY too many dead ends that you can't pass till much much, much, later.
Oh yeah, just because they needed to place more random items to collect, there's a room that you can furnish. Weird side quest.
I do enjoy this game, my biggest gripe is not knowing what to do next. You can spend hours traversing the entire castle to find the one spot you need to be at. And this happens more than a few times. I never even knew you could teleport till I found a hint somewhere, so it was basically the end of the game when I finally did start teleporting.
This is relatively easy, probably moreso than Aria of Sorrow and I like that I'm not constantly killing enemies trying to get their abilities, as much as I found that aspect of Aria very cool, I like the simplicity of less FOMO. The bosses are just moving blocks that sometimes attack. There's a lot of them too. You'll need very little strategy for most of them and if you utilize your magic and special attacks, as well as maybe do a bit of grinding, you'll barely take a scratch.
By the time you reach the end of the game it's pretty hard not to be overpowered and by now if you don't know the best magic combos (or combo I should say, ahem, wind/cross) there might be something wrong with you.
Overall a solid game with a blah story, huge docking of points for constantly getting lost and having WAY too many dead ends that you can't pass till much much, much, later.
Oh yeah, just because they needed to place more random items to collect, there's a room that you can furnish. Weird side quest.
1992
Seems like a game I would have liked as a kid, had it released in NA. It was released after Kirby's Dreamland, but before Kirby's Adventure. So... may have been inspired by Kirby then proceeded to inspire Kirby? Who knows. It's very colorful and dreamlike in a similar way. It's hard for me to get into NES games anymore, but I try to rate them in comparison to the times.
I think this was a victim of being released too late into the Famicom's life to make an impact (same fate as Terranigma on SFC/SNES). It has a similar action/RPG set-up like Star Ocean. Kinda makes me think of what was originally intended for Zelda 3, as you have party members that attack on their own.
1994
MR. THOU!!!
1992
Not sure how I feel about this. The slow burn lead up to the reveal is superb, while the rest doesn't do much for me. This would have definitely creeped me out in '92 and it still kinda manages to; some older games are just like that without even trying, but this one is trying. I can see its influence on a lot of stuff, even though this is not really my genre (but I see it in Radical Dreamers which I only played bc Chrono Trigger Gaiden). Not sure what to rate it but it's worth checking out.
1994
This review contains spoilers
“On that day… the world was changed forever…”
And they made this game within the span of a year??
Most cinematic game on the SNES, no contest. I knew this game was influential but I never realized to what degree until I actually made it through myself. After watching my brother play it here and there as a kid, to attempting a half dozen times between now and then, I never fully grasped it. Till now.
This is by a team at the top of their game. If every Final Fantasy before it had growing pains, this was the full culmination of what a JRPG or a Final Fantasy meant, plus bonus points for pushing into new directions. IV had the focus on story but not as much on gameplay, whereas V was the opposite. VI manages to (almost) be the in-between. There’s still a huge focus on story, but I think the magicite system and relics allow some level of customization for your otherwise very distinct characters. You can’t really have IV and V within the same game, but this is a very strong effort to bridge the gap.
I grew up thinking this game was extremely dark and it is… at times. The Doma scene in particular still lives rent free in my mind, but there’s also a ton of goofball humor, possibly even moreso, that balances out all the death and dismay. In addition, there are a lot of fun story scenarios, such as the opera, a town full of liars that you have to deduce the truth from, switching between parties till they meet up at their destination, etc. This cycles through a ton of JRPG standards that every game since has based entire games around.
Square really could have just made the World of Balance and everyone would have considered it a good if not great game, but they added an entire second half (back third?) just because they were ahead of schedule. Damn. And it’s not just some addendum, it’s an entirely new open world to explore and there are still tons of things to do in it (most of it being optional). I think this is what cements it in its place as an all-time classic. It essentially functions like FF IV: The After Years, except you didn’t beat the boss, the boss won.
Almost every dungeon has some weird or goofy gimmick going on, it’s not just run around and grind, there’s probably a puzzle of some kind or some other way to mix things up.
Back to the cinematic feel, this definitely feels like a stage play itself, as I’ve noticed a lot of JRPGs do, but it literally has one within it (okay opera). But there’s also a bunch of on-rails moments (one quite literally) which lends to a sense of urgency and scale.
I can feel the influence on a series like Suikoden, with a rogue band of marauders, some of which you might recruit optionally. If FF VII was “the” JRPG of all time (at least culturally), then this was the game that gave them the chutz pah to make that one as cinematic and as memorable as it was. But this one was still more ambitious. Don’t even get me into all the RPG Maker projects I’ve played that shamelessly ape elements from this game. Every single weird little nuance you can explore within a top-down JRPG was done here. This thoroughly wrote the book on all of it. How do you even follow that up? Well I guess with Chrono Trigger (arguably an even better game?!) and then move to 3D afterward. Square really was IT by the end of the SNES life cycle.
The graphics didn’t age amazingly, but it’s still one of the better looking games on the SNES and utilizes every sort of trick to achieve a cinematic feel on a system that could barely handle it. My only complaint is that some of the character animations could be more fluid, or the occasional crappy tile placement here and there. Honestly it’s just a nitpick and doesn’t bother me, but it’s proof this game isn’t perfect. It’s just pretty close.
And they made this game within the span of a year??
Most cinematic game on the SNES, no contest. I knew this game was influential but I never realized to what degree until I actually made it through myself. After watching my brother play it here and there as a kid, to attempting a half dozen times between now and then, I never fully grasped it. Till now.
This is by a team at the top of their game. If every Final Fantasy before it had growing pains, this was the full culmination of what a JRPG or a Final Fantasy meant, plus bonus points for pushing into new directions. IV had the focus on story but not as much on gameplay, whereas V was the opposite. VI manages to (almost) be the in-between. There’s still a huge focus on story, but I think the magicite system and relics allow some level of customization for your otherwise very distinct characters. You can’t really have IV and V within the same game, but this is a very strong effort to bridge the gap.
I grew up thinking this game was extremely dark and it is… at times. The Doma scene in particular still lives rent free in my mind, but there’s also a ton of goofball humor, possibly even moreso, that balances out all the death and dismay. In addition, there are a lot of fun story scenarios, such as the opera, a town full of liars that you have to deduce the truth from, switching between parties till they meet up at their destination, etc. This cycles through a ton of JRPG standards that every game since has based entire games around.
Square really could have just made the World of Balance and everyone would have considered it a good if not great game, but they added an entire second half (back third?) just because they were ahead of schedule. Damn. And it’s not just some addendum, it’s an entirely new open world to explore and there are still tons of things to do in it (most of it being optional). I think this is what cements it in its place as an all-time classic. It essentially functions like FF IV: The After Years, except you didn’t beat the boss, the boss won.
Almost every dungeon has some weird or goofy gimmick going on, it’s not just run around and grind, there’s probably a puzzle of some kind or some other way to mix things up.
Back to the cinematic feel, this definitely feels like a stage play itself, as I’ve noticed a lot of JRPGs do, but it literally has one within it (okay opera). But there’s also a bunch of on-rails moments (one quite literally) which lends to a sense of urgency and scale.
I can feel the influence on a series like Suikoden, with a rogue band of marauders, some of which you might recruit optionally. If FF VII was “the” JRPG of all time (at least culturally), then this was the game that gave them the chutz pah to make that one as cinematic and as memorable as it was. But this one was still more ambitious. Don’t even get me into all the RPG Maker projects I’ve played that shamelessly ape elements from this game. Every single weird little nuance you can explore within a top-down JRPG was done here. This thoroughly wrote the book on all of it. How do you even follow that up? Well I guess with Chrono Trigger (arguably an even better game?!) and then move to 3D afterward. Square really was IT by the end of the SNES life cycle.
The graphics didn’t age amazingly, but it’s still one of the better looking games on the SNES and utilizes every sort of trick to achieve a cinematic feel on a system that could barely handle it. My only complaint is that some of the character animations could be more fluid, or the occasional crappy tile placement here and there. Honestly it’s just a nitpick and doesn’t bother me, but it’s proof this game isn’t perfect. It’s just pretty close.