jademonkey
Yay, I've finally finished the wild ride of FF13! It's taken me just under 2 months of playing almost nothing else. I feel comfortable in saying that it's my second favorite experience with the Final Fantasy franchise, with only FF Tactics narrowly beating it out.
I don't really feel up to writing a proper review or a larger list of thoughts, so I'll just jot down a couple of things so I can look back and remember why I liked this rather divisive game.
The world built in this game is my favorite of all Final Fantasy games. I absolutely loved the exploration of what would happen if people stopped aging for 500 years and no new life could be born. Consequently, Lightning Returns was one of the rare JRPGs where I actually cared about doing the side quests. Which was good, since that's the way you level up lol. Also the voice acting was rather hit or miss.
The combat system is also excellent. Learning enemy patterns and jumping between costumes to pull out the right attacks or blocks/dodges/counters at the perfect time is very rewarding. Again, it's good that I felt this way, since you'll have to fight quite a lot if you want to continually freeze the timer.
Oh yeah, the timer. It was cool in that it gave you the sense of urgency you'd want with this type of story, but also a little annoying at times. In the end, I had more extra days that I just threw away than days I actually needed, though, so the negative aspects were largely mitigated.
You get to play dress up a lot and that's been a favorite thing of mine in video games since I played City of Heroes back in the day. RIP.
The main story was a little thin, but I liked it. None of the twists were particularly surprising, but it was what I was hoping for. It was also very cool to see how all of the main characters were affected by the horrible fever-dream of a world. The ending was completely over the top, but in the best and most thematically appropriate way possible. I loved it. I loved this game.
Edit: Oh yeah. Excellent music again. Not quite as striking and varied as XIII-2, but definitely something I'll turn throw on from time to time while I'm at my computer.
I don't really feel up to writing a proper review or a larger list of thoughts, so I'll just jot down a couple of things so I can look back and remember why I liked this rather divisive game.
The world built in this game is my favorite of all Final Fantasy games. I absolutely loved the exploration of what would happen if people stopped aging for 500 years and no new life could be born. Consequently, Lightning Returns was one of the rare JRPGs where I actually cared about doing the side quests. Which was good, since that's the way you level up lol. Also the voice acting was rather hit or miss.
The combat system is also excellent. Learning enemy patterns and jumping between costumes to pull out the right attacks or blocks/dodges/counters at the perfect time is very rewarding. Again, it's good that I felt this way, since you'll have to fight quite a lot if you want to continually freeze the timer.
Oh yeah, the timer. It was cool in that it gave you the sense of urgency you'd want with this type of story, but also a little annoying at times. In the end, I had more extra days that I just threw away than days I actually needed, though, so the negative aspects were largely mitigated.
You get to play dress up a lot and that's been a favorite thing of mine in video games since I played City of Heroes back in the day. RIP.
The main story was a little thin, but I liked it. None of the twists were particularly surprising, but it was what I was hoping for. It was also very cool to see how all of the main characters were affected by the horrible fever-dream of a world. The ending was completely over the top, but in the best and most thematically appropriate way possible. I loved it. I loved this game.
Edit: Oh yeah. Excellent music again. Not quite as striking and varied as XIII-2, but definitely something I'll turn throw on from time to time while I'm at my computer.
I wanted to like Ni No Kuni more than I did. The art was gorgeous, the music a cut above, and the story oozed charm. I genuinely loved the familiar design, and the puns in the names frequently made me smile. The games environments were consistently gorgeous and interesting.
Unfortunately, most of the gameplay just didn't work for me. It felt like I was fighting the game more than I was fighting the on-screen enemies. The basic combat UI was frustrating -- I don't want to be navigating a clunky ring to select an ability in real time! Allied AI was completely brain dead. It wasn't uncommon to issue an attack order to my currently controlled familiar only for that familiar to walk brainlessly into an ally who happened to walk between him and the enemy.
I found most of the progression systems to be tedious. Catching a new familiar was entirely down to luck and could take upwards of an hour when I was looking for a specific one. Evolving a familiar required resetting to level one, and then waiting for a few hours of gameplay until it caught back up with its previous stats. Loot pinata enemies did some to allay that issue, but it was too late for my enjoyment. The food system for boosting a familiars stats was straight up frustratingly slow to make use of. It was still beneficial to make partial use of and avoid some of the tedium, but left me feeling like I wasn't doing what I could to improve my team.
The take heart and give heart mechanic was overused and struck me as lazy. It felt like the majority of the emotional conflicts in the game were just handled with magic, rather than the characters having to grow. That said, there were a few scenes end game that showed true growth in the characters outside of just using magic to solve problems.
The pacing was absolutely terrible. I almost quit the game multiple times at the start because I just wanted to be let loose. I think it took around 10 hours of play time to finally be able to even capture new familiars. The story failed to really capture my interest until the last couple of acts: almost 30 hours in for my pace. Part of this is probably my own fault: I did the vast majority of side quests as they became available. I usually enjoy playing a game that way, but it only increases frustration with pacing. It didn't help that the sidequests were frequently tedious (collect familiar or kill familiar with certain moves) or just uninspired fetch quests.
I think that wraps up most of my stronger feelings on why the game just didn't quite work for me. In the end, I don't regret playing it. The positives I mentioned at the start certainly carried me through the litany of issues I encountered along the way. That said, I don't plan to replay the game at any point.
Unfortunately, most of the gameplay just didn't work for me. It felt like I was fighting the game more than I was fighting the on-screen enemies. The basic combat UI was frustrating -- I don't want to be navigating a clunky ring to select an ability in real time! Allied AI was completely brain dead. It wasn't uncommon to issue an attack order to my currently controlled familiar only for that familiar to walk brainlessly into an ally who happened to walk between him and the enemy.
I found most of the progression systems to be tedious. Catching a new familiar was entirely down to luck and could take upwards of an hour when I was looking for a specific one. Evolving a familiar required resetting to level one, and then waiting for a few hours of gameplay until it caught back up with its previous stats. Loot pinata enemies did some to allay that issue, but it was too late for my enjoyment. The food system for boosting a familiars stats was straight up frustratingly slow to make use of. It was still beneficial to make partial use of and avoid some of the tedium, but left me feeling like I wasn't doing what I could to improve my team.
The take heart and give heart mechanic was overused and struck me as lazy. It felt like the majority of the emotional conflicts in the game were just handled with magic, rather than the characters having to grow. That said, there were a few scenes end game that showed true growth in the characters outside of just using magic to solve problems.
The pacing was absolutely terrible. I almost quit the game multiple times at the start because I just wanted to be let loose. I think it took around 10 hours of play time to finally be able to even capture new familiars. The story failed to really capture my interest until the last couple of acts: almost 30 hours in for my pace. Part of this is probably my own fault: I did the vast majority of side quests as they became available. I usually enjoy playing a game that way, but it only increases frustration with pacing. It didn't help that the sidequests were frequently tedious (collect familiar or kill familiar with certain moves) or just uninspired fetch quests.
I think that wraps up most of my stronger feelings on why the game just didn't quite work for me. In the end, I don't regret playing it. The positives I mentioned at the start certainly carried me through the litany of issues I encountered along the way. That said, I don't plan to replay the game at any point.
I’m astounded that Hat World was made in RPGmaker. Valkyrie Profile style exploration, with Romancing SaGa style combat, character progression, route structure, and more. There's tons of side content, customizable (and potentially very difficult) boss fight difficulty, and a surprisingly interesting story. There’s a fair amount of Madoka and Phillip K Dick going on in the story, and I love it.
A lot of the rough edges from the Romancing SaGa series are filed down – quests are more clear, encounter level increases when beating a boss instead of with all battles, etc. There’s a bit more room for grinding throughout the game than most of the Romancing SaGa series, but most means of character progression are gated by the current enemy difficulty, so you can only grind so far. There are a ton of optional end game bosses to fight, which tend to require specific strategies. There were several I found harder than any of the final SaGa bosses.
The game looks and sounds quite good for a solo RPGmaker project as well. The pixel art conveys a lot of character, and the music and sound effects were well chosen.
It leans too hard into anime tropes for my taste in general, but I'm not too horribly bothered by it. In particular, I’d really rather the game not have the one section with 'lolicon' jokes, but luckily it's a very small portion of the game and I’m fully capable of rolling my eyes and moving on. While the customization options are great, I do wish characters had more innate traits setting them apart, though that’s a fairly minor quibble.
I had an absolute blast with the game. It says a lot that I'm tempted to jump straight back into another route without taking a break first. I almost never replay games without at least a year or two in between.
A lot of the rough edges from the Romancing SaGa series are filed down – quests are more clear, encounter level increases when beating a boss instead of with all battles, etc. There’s a bit more room for grinding throughout the game than most of the Romancing SaGa series, but most means of character progression are gated by the current enemy difficulty, so you can only grind so far. There are a ton of optional end game bosses to fight, which tend to require specific strategies. There were several I found harder than any of the final SaGa bosses.
The game looks and sounds quite good for a solo RPGmaker project as well. The pixel art conveys a lot of character, and the music and sound effects were well chosen.
It leans too hard into anime tropes for my taste in general, but I'm not too horribly bothered by it. In particular, I’d really rather the game not have the one section with 'lolicon' jokes, but luckily it's a very small portion of the game and I’m fully capable of rolling my eyes and moving on. While the customization options are great, I do wish characters had more innate traits setting them apart, though that’s a fairly minor quibble.
I had an absolute blast with the game. It says a lot that I'm tempted to jump straight back into another route without taking a break first. I almost never replay games without at least a year or two in between.
2023
The style is great, the music is great, and there's an undeniable charm to the character interactions. I can see why a lot of people love it, but it never fully clicked with me. Not fully clicking with a game isn't a big problem though -- I can enjoy and appreciate art that isn't quite my thing and come away richer for it.
Unfortunately, I simply didn't enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. Most of the 'minigames' and interactions were just a bit clumsy and annoying to me. Towards the end of the game, you have to gather quite a bit of resources, and, even understanding how to do it well, it felt unnecessarily grindy. I would have enjoyed this more as a point and click or walking simulator, to be honest.
I really wanted to like the game and strung myself along for about 6 hours before deciding that it's just not for me. That said, I'm happy to have had the experience and given some money to an indie dev who made a passion project, and I'm glad that most people who play it seem to click strongly with it.
Unfortunately, I simply didn't enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. Most of the 'minigames' and interactions were just a bit clumsy and annoying to me. Towards the end of the game, you have to gather quite a bit of resources, and, even understanding how to do it well, it felt unnecessarily grindy. I would have enjoyed this more as a point and click or walking simulator, to be honest.
I really wanted to like the game and strung myself along for about 6 hours before deciding that it's just not for me. That said, I'm happy to have had the experience and given some money to an indie dev who made a passion project, and I'm glad that most people who play it seem to click strongly with it.
2024
Rad Codex delivers once again!
Kingsvein is most similar to Rad Codex's first game, Voidspire Tactics. It's a tactical RPG, but with a focus on exploration similar to a metroidvania and environmental manipulation with abilities reminiscent of Golden Sun. The exploration and combat are great. Simple, but effective. I also really dug the games unique setting of Graven. It's all pink and purple and black and very alien. The soundtrack is up there with the best bleeps and bloops produced on the SNES. Overall, it's a very solid 20 hour experience. Given how much I'd loved his previous games, I was hoping for this to be looking at the all time favorites list, but I'll settle for a game that is merely excellent.
Kingsvein is most similar to Rad Codex's first game, Voidspire Tactics. It's a tactical RPG, but with a focus on exploration similar to a metroidvania and environmental manipulation with abilities reminiscent of Golden Sun. The exploration and combat are great. Simple, but effective. I also really dug the games unique setting of Graven. It's all pink and purple and black and very alien. The soundtrack is up there with the best bleeps and bloops produced on the SNES. Overall, it's a very solid 20 hour experience. Given how much I'd loved his previous games, I was hoping for this to be looking at the all time favorites list, but I'll settle for a game that is merely excellent.
2017
Neofeud is a mostly-solo-project point-and-click cyberpunk anti-capitalist anti-fascist 80s-inspired B-movie hand-drawn fever dream of a game. As ridiculous as Neofeud can be, I had a great time with it. It was made with a lot of heart, and it is entertaining and interesting the whole way through. My only real complaints are the overabundance of in-your-face real world references (e.g., "It's like that creature from 'The Thing'!") and the clunky old adventure game studios controls.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song - Minstrel Song has some cool things going on. The combat is very solid – I’d put it a step or two behind Scarlet Grace, right alongside the SaGa 3 remake. That is to say, I think it’s better than the substantial majority of JRPGs, but not quite up there with my absolute favorites. The sound track is excellent. I particularly enjoyed the flamenco guitar and wild vocals of Passionate Rhythm, one of the boss battle themes. Outside of the strange chibi proportions of the characters, I really like the art direction as well.
Despite the positive qualities, I initially dropped the game about ⅔ of the way in. The combination of fixed cameras, far too many enemies, mazelike dungeons that don't always have maps quickly available, battle rank increasing as you try to explore, the whole proficiency system (why can’t I just have them all equipped??? do I forget how to jump?), and the overly vague or even non-existent quest directions really took a toll on me. After a little break from the game and listening to Passionate Rhythm again, I decided to come back and finish the game out. I stopped worrying about event rank/battle rank and just used a guide to find the quests I had left. Turns out, I really only needed the guide to point me to a couple of things – I was at the point where I’d already missed the quests I was going to miss anyway.
In the end, I have fairly mixed feelings about the game. It’s definitely in the bottom half of the SaGa games for me, having all of the annoyances of the series, but not having quite enough qualities that stand out to me. I’m glad I came back to finish my playthrough, but I doubt I’ll come back to try out another route.
Despite the positive qualities, I initially dropped the game about ⅔ of the way in. The combination of fixed cameras, far too many enemies, mazelike dungeons that don't always have maps quickly available, battle rank increasing as you try to explore, the whole proficiency system (why can’t I just have them all equipped??? do I forget how to jump?), and the overly vague or even non-existent quest directions really took a toll on me. After a little break from the game and listening to Passionate Rhythm again, I decided to come back and finish the game out. I stopped worrying about event rank/battle rank and just used a guide to find the quests I had left. Turns out, I really only needed the guide to point me to a couple of things – I was at the point where I’d already missed the quests I was going to miss anyway.
In the end, I have fairly mixed feelings about the game. It’s definitely in the bottom half of the SaGa games for me, having all of the annoyances of the series, but not having quite enough qualities that stand out to me. I’m glad I came back to finish my playthrough, but I doubt I’ll come back to try out another route.
Gorgeous experience. Great scenery, beautiful sound track, and I very much enjoyed the use of language. They leaned a bit too hard into metaphor and letting every player have their own interpretation for my tastes. I think the game would have benefited from a little less ambiguity, at least towards the end. I didn't quite get the emotional payoff I was hoping for. Still, I enjoyed my time with Dear Esther and would recommend it.
2022
Tinyfolks takes the Darkest Dungeons formula and condenses it down to a bite-size 4 hour package, maintaining most of the fun and losing all of the tedium. Despite the small form factor, there are enough options to explore to warrant a couple of playthroughs, which is exactly what I'd look for in this sort of release. It may not have Wayne June delivering banger lines one-after-another, but the audio and visual design manages to be very charming nonetheless. Highly recommended - it's a great way to spend an afternoon or two.
1993
After finishing the game, my thoughts on Romancing SaGa 2 haven't changed much from the status I made the other day.
There is very little story. There are tons of mechanics, but none of them are explained. There were quite a few instances in quests where I'm sure I would have gotten stuck for hours if I didn't consult a guide due to the old school lack of reasonable clues. The combat could be unfairly brutal on a regular basis. While there were no random encounters, screens were frequently flooded with far too many enemies, making some dungeons an absolute slog. The PC port controlled and ran rather poorly, having strange input issues that would cause the game to register many extra button presses at times.
Even with all of the fairly major issues, I ended up getting absolutely sucked into the stupid game. The story telling for the scenarios was quite basic, but had a charm to it that resonated with me. Combat was difficult, but had a surprising amount to offer for an RPG from 1993. I've always enjoyed SaGa style character progression, and RS2 was no exception. Building the empire through projects, research, and recruiting new units was very cool, despite the limited depth to the individual systems. Playing a string of successive emperors, each inheriting the powers of the past was really neat and led to a feeling of playing as the empire, rather than individual characters. That said, I accidentally chose a lady rogue named Beaver as my emperor due to the input issues and she went on to found the most important institution in the land -- the magic university. That's a character I'll never forget!
I actually had more fun with Romancing SaGa 2 than I did any of its SNES Final Fantasy contemporaries, including 6. Actually, to throw out a real hot take -- it might just be my favorite SNES JRPG now.
There is very little story. There are tons of mechanics, but none of them are explained. There were quite a few instances in quests where I'm sure I would have gotten stuck for hours if I didn't consult a guide due to the old school lack of reasonable clues. The combat could be unfairly brutal on a regular basis. While there were no random encounters, screens were frequently flooded with far too many enemies, making some dungeons an absolute slog. The PC port controlled and ran rather poorly, having strange input issues that would cause the game to register many extra button presses at times.
Even with all of the fairly major issues, I ended up getting absolutely sucked into the stupid game. The story telling for the scenarios was quite basic, but had a charm to it that resonated with me. Combat was difficult, but had a surprising amount to offer for an RPG from 1993. I've always enjoyed SaGa style character progression, and RS2 was no exception. Building the empire through projects, research, and recruiting new units was very cool, despite the limited depth to the individual systems. Playing a string of successive emperors, each inheriting the powers of the past was really neat and led to a feeling of playing as the empire, rather than individual characters. That said, I accidentally chose a lady rogue named Beaver as my emperor due to the input issues and she went on to found the most important institution in the land -- the magic university. That's a character I'll never forget!
I actually had more fun with Romancing SaGa 2 than I did any of its SNES Final Fantasy contemporaries, including 6. Actually, to throw out a real hot take -- it might just be my favorite SNES JRPG now.
Well, it does what it says on the tin. It's a single floor of Wizardry-style blobber dungeon RPG, with a wide variety of classes and races you don't get to manually choose from. That was probably a couple words too long for the title, so they kept it succinct.
Anyway, it took me three tries and about 1.5 hours to get a victory. First try I didn't understand how to deal with attrition from random encounters. Second try I didn't realize how dangerous the boss was. Third try I understand what was needed and got a Fairy Druid who could heal and naturally regened MP, so he gave me enough time to find good enough weapons/skills/consumables to tackle the boss.
Not a whole lot else to say. I think this will be a nice one to keep installed when I have the itch for a dungeon RPG without wanting to commit to playing a full game.
Anyway, it took me three tries and about 1.5 hours to get a victory. First try I didn't understand how to deal with attrition from random encounters. Second try I didn't realize how dangerous the boss was. Third try I understand what was needed and got a Fairy Druid who could heal and naturally regened MP, so he gave me enough time to find good enough weapons/skills/consumables to tackle the boss.
Not a whole lot else to say. I think this will be a nice one to keep installed when I have the itch for a dungeon RPG without wanting to commit to playing a full game.
2020
Sci-fi JRPG roguelite. Very cool neon pixel art graphics and solid electronic music. Excellent turn-based gameplay focusing heavily on manipulating a timeline and controlling the flow of battle. It's fairly similar to SaGa Scarlet Grace, but quite a bit less complicated and a fair deal easier -- I was able to win on my first run on normal without ever catching a whiff of danger. It still took me 7ish hours, though, so quite hefty for a roguelite. The characters say a lot of goofy sci fi things that are dumb but make me smile and plot was some interdimensional nonsense, but I'm a fan of that too. I'll come back to try out higher difficulties and new characters at some point, but I have other games calling to me for now.
2002
For my money, it’s only worth playing if you have a historical curiosity or made the bizarre life decision to play every SaGa game like me. It’s a simpler and worse version of SaGa 2 all the way around – game structure, narrative, game mechanics, even music imho. It definitely feels like a prototype, given the gift of hindsight.
That said, it introduced one of my favorite race systems ever. You have humans who gain stats through buying potions, mutants who randomly gain stats and abilities (including losing abilities) after each battle, and monsters that change into enemies through eating their flesh. The most enjoyable part of this game was a 15 minute period where I lucked into a series of monster forms that took my monster from the weakest member of my party to the most powerful by a noticeable margin.
Other than that, you’re climbing a tower and going to different worlds with a fairly thin storyline tying everything together. Oh, and you can only hold 8 items, which is extremely annoying since you need items to cure status effects, you want to carry healing, and all of your weapons have durability that can never be repaired. Annoying, but manageable.
What’s not manageable is the absolutely atrocious late game section where you get attacked by an immortal phoenix every 1-3 steps while you try to figure out where to go. Running away seems to be a set 50/50 chance, so you get to spend a lot of time failing to run and having status effects dumped on your characters or just having them take massive damage. I was finding the game chill, if not particularly inspiring, up until that point. From that point on, though, I only finished out the game because I'm stubborn and my goal is to beat every game in the series.
Speeding through the final portion of the game left me with a very difficult final boss fight. That actually ended up being a good thing -- barely scraping by on my third try added some weight to the twist and the end and was actually a nice way to finish my time with the game.
While I love the human/mutant/monster system and appreciate the foundation Makai Toushi SaGa laid, I just can’t get past how miserable I found such a large chunk of the game. It’s the only game in the series I have absolutely no interest in returning to in the future.
That said, it introduced one of my favorite race systems ever. You have humans who gain stats through buying potions, mutants who randomly gain stats and abilities (including losing abilities) after each battle, and monsters that change into enemies through eating their flesh. The most enjoyable part of this game was a 15 minute period where I lucked into a series of monster forms that took my monster from the weakest member of my party to the most powerful by a noticeable margin.
Other than that, you’re climbing a tower and going to different worlds with a fairly thin storyline tying everything together. Oh, and you can only hold 8 items, which is extremely annoying since you need items to cure status effects, you want to carry healing, and all of your weapons have durability that can never be repaired. Annoying, but manageable.
What’s not manageable is the absolutely atrocious late game section where you get attacked by an immortal phoenix every 1-3 steps while you try to figure out where to go. Running away seems to be a set 50/50 chance, so you get to spend a lot of time failing to run and having status effects dumped on your characters or just having them take massive damage. I was finding the game chill, if not particularly inspiring, up until that point. From that point on, though, I only finished out the game because I'm stubborn and my goal is to beat every game in the series.
Speeding through the final portion of the game left me with a very difficult final boss fight. That actually ended up being a good thing -- barely scraping by on my third try added some weight to the twist and the end and was actually a nice way to finish my time with the game.
While I love the human/mutant/monster system and appreciate the foundation Makai Toushi SaGa laid, I just can’t get past how miserable I found such a large chunk of the game. It’s the only game in the series I have absolutely no interest in returning to in the future.
2021
Psychedelic dungeon crawling trip through the tower Samsara. The combat will bore you straight into enlightenment on the Noble Truth of dukkha, but that's not the reason to play Disillusion. The avantgarde minimalistic tracks and garishly psychedelic visuals are the real attraction, along with the crazy lore. Lots of Buddhist, Hindu, Greek, Egyptian and (if you find some fake walls to walk through in a secret library on accident) Abrahamic influences come together (in roughly that order of importance) to build a surprisingly interesting world. You also get a lot of nonsense from the poor souls trapped in the tower experiencing the loss of ego to amp up the bizarre indie vibes.
Definitely a neat way to spend 5 hours.
Definitely a neat way to spend 5 hours.
2021
Well, this was a fun little RPGmaker experience. Great visuals and audio. I loved the color choices and enemy design. The story felt more like an abstract set of ideas to set a mood than anything completely coherent, but the broad strokes still painted enough of a picture to avoid feeling like nonsense. The combat, stats, and equipment systems were odd, but held together well enough for a 12 hour game. With most stats governing both offense and defense of a certain type, it felt a bit difficult to specialize. Luckily, there were enough intricacies between the variety of passive abilities and the equipment providing both stats and active abilities to keep me engaged for the short run time.
Overall, it was a good time all about the spooky vibes, and I'm down for that.
Overall, it was a good time all about the spooky vibes, and I'm down for that.