Honestly, don't make the same mistake I did. I played over 3500 hours to tell you: Don't buy this game.
It's been around 6 years since I first supported this game. After silly management decisions (latest edition fiasco, arena standalone), weird game design choices (PVE mode always online), laggy servers despite constant improvements and rampant ignorance or incompetence regarding cheating, botting, exploiting and RMT leaves me with no choice but to give this 1 star, I do not recommend it: the experience is simply miserable and the game leans too much into being a second day job. Don't give them money unless you absolutely love having your wallet wrung and being ball busted.

Very unfortunate that EFT has some ideas that can really make it a good game on paper and maybe even in reality, but with it leaning heavily on all the negative aspects of MMOs, it simply isn't good currently.

What does make it good is getting SPT & FIKA. Funnily enough, Tarkov with mods (not even many, I've been running only realism and sain I think) is closer to the vision the game had initially. And you can play with friends as well, if you got any. I simply regret not trying this much, much earlier.

The devs have already asked for a lot and barely delivered what they promised: PMC faction karma missng, lockpicking still isn't in, you still can't escape Tarkov, 30% of skills still missing, game is wiping progress constantly and the biggest feature aka open world still out of reach.
Most of the community shelled over 100 bucks for their copy (me included...), asking for more is simply insulting. Don't trust their silver tongued con man; this game will most likely die shortly after release, along with its servers.

Solid sequel.

Having experienced La-Mulana 1, I wished I could do it again, but blind.
My wish was somewhat granted, by the fact that La-Mulana 2 existed.

Embarking on La-Mulana 2 I did what I should've done from the very start in the first La-Mulana: take notes. Boy does it pay off to do that from the beginning :D

Overall the game was very enjoyable, and had a lot of pluses over the first game, especially in the esoteric text department.
Lots of traversal options are available from pretty early on, especially coming from the first game, this is very much appreciated.
The puzzle difficulty overall was lower, not sure if because the text isn't as esoteric anymore (English text is now comprehensible!) or on purpose, especially with many NPCs literally telling you what to do this time around.
This game had considerably more bosses though, some of which were really damn annoying, and some platforming sections that really try to get on your nerves by kicking you back to the beginning from taking one hit or making one mistake.

The plot and dialogue is rather humorous, especially the crystal skull texts. I feel like this one went a bit too far into the wacky side compared to the first game, which kind of gave a bit of serious/solemn vibe from time to time.

In conclusion if you are looking to scratch the itch that La-Mulana gave you, the sequel is a solid choice.

!!! CURRY STANK !!!

Phenomenal visual novel.
Definitely yet another best-enjoyed-blind kind of game and I'm all in for it. "There are no wrong decisions, only fresh perspectives."

The narrative was really good. Very much enjoyed my moments with Him, and Her. Great characterization all over. Dialogue was all over like a roller coaster, in a truly good way: wham-y, serious, comedic, daunting; the voice-overs augment it well. Played it mostly on auto.
Really liked the ending sequence and was quite something I did not expect.

The art was simple, but that simplicity really served the delivery of the story very well. Some segments amused me, others deeply unsettled me while some really sold me on the gravity of the situation.

In conclusion, this is a great game. If you are into more nonstandard VNs or want an unique experience in gaming, definitely check this one out.

And don't forget: "You're on a path in the woods. At the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess. You're here to slay her."

Solid game.
Despite the story being super average, the cinematography was absolutely incredible. The fights were fun and the main campaign kept it varied enough to not make it super boring (except near the end).
Endgame is not really my thing since it's just grinding but it's fun to play with friends.

Definitely a game worth trying, I think releases like this should be the absolute minimum in terms of polish.

GREETINGS FINAL FANTASY ENJOYERS, JRPG lovers, gamers from all over the world!

After battling schizophrenia and defeating my inner demons in FF7, it's high time to apply for a position as a SeeD in Final Fantasy VIII (FF8)!

The game opens with an ominous chanting and a battle, blood gets spilled and then... you arrive at the real game: you are a japanese student in a japanese high school Squall, a student at Balamb Garden and a SeeD candidate. What the heck are SeeDs? Well, they're mercs. Sounds familiar?
In contrast to the previous entry, this entry focuses much more on our main character and his inner thoughts are often voiced. The cast is rather large as per FF tradition (~7 playable characters this time, 10 under some conditions), and their interactions are usually fun: Squall being teased by Quistis, Rinoa being a teenager girl, Selphie being a typical genki girl (or a ticking bomb for all I know). Laguna will always hold a special place in my heart with his goofyness. However, the characters feel a bit lackluster somehow and not very memorable when all is did and done.
Unfortunately, the plot suffers from the same issue, while it's going places and doing some crazy stuff (like dropping the most unexpected twists in the most unexpected places), it honestly feels very haphazardly put together and straight up incoherent at times. The ending particularly was a sequence weirder than multiple schizo moments from FF7 put together, lol.
So, plot and characters wise it was fine, but honestly it doesn't feel very memorable, maybe the Final Fantasy formula is starting to wear out? Maybe I'm just missing some greater piece here...

As far as gameplay goes this entry changes things up yet again! Materia is gone. The system seems to be more in place with FF6, where everyone can have a particular summon "junctioned" to them.
It honestly was the most mechanically dense game by far. At the beginning I was straight up put off by the sheer amount of jargon and stuff you could do with the junction system, but once you get the hang of it, it feels a lot like a system that really lets you experiment and abuse the game.
There's Triple Triad as well, but I didn't do it because I personally hate any card game minigame (screw you, Gwent!), dabbled only once or twice, but surely some people out there love this.
World map controls felt a bit wonky, especially in "free camera" mode, so I mostly stuck with the default.

Visually, the game is good. I played the remaster but I checked out some clips and screenshots from the original. I appreciate the fact I can actually see characters' faces proper outside of combat in the remaster, haha. Compared to FF7, the FMVs in this one are tens if not hundred times better. Cutscenes were a real feast for the eyes!
Characters are also very animated, very amusing seeing various cast members also act in the background.

Musically, as per usual, it's very good. I certainly enjoyed the ominous chanting song (Liberi Fatali), town tunes and battle tunes. It's all great stuff, although I feel like there's less impactful pieces but maybe that's just because I'm comparing to FF7. My favourite ones after learning their names: The Man with the Machine Gun, My Mind, SeeD, Premonition.

Overall I think that it's a decent game, pretty mid I'd say. Maybe there's some deeper meaning I'm missing out, not sure. I wouldn't recommend this as a first Final Fantasy entry though, but well if you're a masochist like me and want to see what this Final Fantasy is all about you'll play through it anyway, play 4, 6 or 7 first and maybe visit this one after, or if you're the type that saves best for last, playing this ahead would be better.

Well, I'll see you in Final Fantasy IX, time compressor.
[junctions this review]

GREETINGS FINAL FANTASY ENJOYERS, JRPG lovers and gamers from all over the world!

After finally defeating the impossibly evil war criminal in Final Fantasy VI, it was high time for me to ride the train to the modern classic that the masterpiece Final Fantasy VII (FF7) is said to be.
This is the first time I play a FF game "as-is", as the previous 6 entries I played are from the Pixel Remaster collection.

This time around, we transition into the 3D era, in a sci-fi fantasy setting as Cloud, a merc hired by some terrorist group called Avalanche. From here on we embark on a peculiar journey that still goes in the save the world direction again, but the approach is wildly different.
This time it feels a lot more character drama centric, much more than the previous entry. Clouds entire backstory, his dynamic with Tifa & Aeris, Barrets & Cait Siths character development; the entire cast is pretty endearing and always developed in a way or another (be it side quest, or main story progression). I really liked this story, it was wild, awesome, relatable, entertaining, endearing and sad all at once, a true roller coaster that I will probably never forget.

My main gripe with the game was mostly the shoddy translation. Specific moments in the game really confused me, and some times the dialogue was super weird, so I dug a bit into it. In my opinion, Tifa & Barret really got done dirty by the translation and sometimes feel like completely different characters, what a shame. It doesn't detract much from the story in the overall grand scheme of things, but it's still a shame to know this, as the "original character" was altered. Hopefully this isn't a problem in the Remake.

Gameplay sees yet more changes from the previous entry: the Summon system is gone, relics are also gone and the party size is reduced to 3. Instead of the summon system we get the Materia system. Now each piece of gear can have materia attached to it and each materia adds skills, spells or buffs. Yet another fun mix and match system that encourages experimentation :) anyone in your party could be the tank, or the summoner, or the healer.

Visually the game is really good. In this 3D era instead of pixel backgrounds, we get prerendered backgrounds and instead of sprites we have characters with three dimensional models, made of polygons!
The environments are really impressive and very varied ranging from sci-fi steampunk-y cities to simple fantasy towns, gorgeous nature vistas to whatever the heck the ancient city is. They look really good and set a really nice mood, much more than similar games of the era like Resident Evil which used more or less the same techniques (I believe).
Despite the game being over 25 years old now the low poly models, still have a lot of charm. I initially found them rather cutesy and wonky but with time I got really attached to how they looked. The monsters however sometimes look downright terrifying, sheesh, thank goodness they're only some polygons on a screen!
There's a few animated movies/cutscenes (FMVs) and they look really good, my guess is that where all the budget really went to. If I'd see these back in the day I'd probably have my mind blown.

As far as music goes, I think this might be one of Nobuo Uematsu's greatest works. I completed the game in a little over 33 hours and somehow I still didn't get burned out by the battle theme (which in some entries got really grating even though it was remastered). Some pieces are eerily captivating, despite invoking some intense feeling of dread when hearing them, there's still something that draws me to listen more. Really good overall!
Favourite pieces in no particular order: Let the Battles Begin!, Cid's Theme, One-Winged Angel, From the Edge of Despair, JENOVA COMPLETE.

Overall, this is a great game, I think the story beats will be enjoyed the most by JRPG veterans as they're done really well. It can be definitely enjoyed as a first entry too, however as the plot doesn't stray that much from the essence of Final Fantasy. A great game throughout, 10/10 pls give it a shot, or play the remake idk if it's good I'll get to play that one day too.

I'll see you in Final Fantasy VIII - REMASTERED, friend.
[Boost Jumps out of frame]

GREETINGS FINAL FANTASY ENJOYERS, JRPG lovers, gamers from all around the world!

Having finally beat the evil tin can man and saved a merged world in Final Fantasy V; it is time to embark on the next iteration of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VI (FF6)!

Boy, what an absolutely phenomenal game this is.
I think this story is best experienced firsthand as it's got very interesting beats and points that shouldn't fail to entertain or immerse. The first scene of the game starts with a dark and brooding cutscene, setting the appropriate tone for this entry, quite similar to FF4. My initial impression is that it's FF2 but more expanded, but I was proven wrong early on. It also has a lot of drama and/or dramatic influences and it's very blunt about it.

Unlike the previous entry, the cast is rather large! If you do all the quests your cast should top at 13 characters I think (at least that's how many I had). Each of them is rather unique and they even have their personal backstories integrated into the story or via some sidequest when you acquire them, all neat stuff. They're all great characters, I love them all dearly :)
Rather early on you unlock quite a lot of them and you can mix and match your party however you see fit, which is great but also kind of a bog as you still need to level everyone, as the game requires multiple parties to progress sometimes.

As far as gameplay goes... Once again, FF6 departs from FF5 job system, with each character having a predetermined job specific to them.
Cross job skills are no more, and instead relics make an appearance, which are basically accessories that add abilities, statuses or enhance your already present abilities, like turning Steal to Mug or granting 100% accuracy.
Another new addition is the summon system, which now everyone has access to. Depending on the summon equipped, levelup stats are influenced and the character can unlock that summons spells. Basically everyone can be a healer now, which is neat!
Additionally, every character has their own unique mechanic such as: Terra's trance which powers her magic, Celes' runic which absorbs spells for healing or Sabin's martial arts that require button inputs. This more or less makes each character different in playstyle and how you approach the summon system.

Visuals this time have a lot more details, showing how FF6 was a late SNES era game. This time around Pixel Remaster actually has some noticeable additions: most striking being the Opera scene, completely different from the original game! It was really good!
Another yay is that character portraits are back, yet again by yours truly Amano Yoshitaka! WOO!
The game overall is very pretty and I think for any 2D JRPG the level of beauty FF6 achieved should be their baseline.


Music is great, absolutely banging in fact! A lot of the music, similar to the story, is more "fine arts" in my opinion. My favourite pieces are the Opera song, Terra's theme, Cyan's theme, Celes' theme and the train area song.

Overall, if FF4 is too old for you, FF6 is a must play if you want to at least experience the Final Fantasy series at one of its apexes.

"X Y down up!" [meteor strikes this review] I'll see you in Final Fantasy VII, soldier.

WHY HELLO THERE, my fellow Final Fantasy enjoyers, JRPG consumers, FF IV conquerors and gamers from all around the world

Upon defeating the spirit of raw hatred itself in Final Fantasy IV, I embark on my newest journey: sailing the Final Fantasy V seas as a Freelancer!
As the before installments, FF V is completely standalone and isolated from the previous Final Fantasy games.
As per the now established formula, some concepts are recurring: Chocobos, elemental Crystals, that one guy named Cid who really likes airships yada yada, you know the drill.

Yet again, we have a named cast, starting with our traveling protagonist Bartz and his chocobo companion Boko. Throughout the game you meet other charming characters like Galuf, Lena, Faris and Krile to build up your party. Their interactions are fun, and throughout the game a rather charming and endearing tone is set, much less grave, sad and melancholic like FF IV was. A welcome change, imo, after such a heavy game, a lighthearted one definitely works. Our new villain is a man in a tin suit that laughs in an exaggerated way and mocks the party at all times, unlike the practical Golbez of few words from IV. By the end you truly believe the Final Fantasy was the friends we made along the way with how charming Bartz being a doofus is, how Galuf breaks some tropes, how Gilgamesh keeps appearing (ARGH!), or how Faris' secret is revealed.
That doesn't mean the game is devoid of serious or sad moments, however. These moments are even more accentuated due to the lighthearted tone of the game, so when shit goes down, it really does. I think it is a good example of good storytelling and setting moods.

Gameplay & mechanics! The job system returns from FF III, along with the ATB system from FF IV. Personally, I rolled my eyes the moment I saw the job system but that feeling was quickly tossed aside: this time around, the system is much more improved, less gimmicky and more useful. The penalties for switching jobs are basically nonexistent so it feels a lot like the game encourages you to experiment with various jobs. Some abilities that you obtain by leveling up the job, can be used in the ability slot to use it outside the job, leading to wacky, practical or downright broken setups (Dualcast Summoner, looking at you). Rarely did I feel the need to use a specific job to progress, unlike FF III where some parts of the game were gated by using specific jobs for the boss battle or area.

As far as graphics go, FF V seems more colorful and vibrant compared to FF IV, most likely because the tone is lighter as well. The spritework is also good as expected of a Pixel Remaster entry. Every character has a different outfit for each job (which is very neat), ranging from cool to cute and some even being wacky. As usual, effects are the wildest and flashy.
Not much to say in this department that hasn't been said in previous entries, although it's a shame our protagonists this time around don't have portraits in the party menu.

Music! As usual, FF V gets a really neat soundtrack, remade with real instruments and fully faithful to the original SNES soundtrack. Some absolute bangers present in this entry. In no particular order, my favourites are: Battle at the Big Bridge, The Dawn Warriors, Reminiscence, Beyond the Deep Blue Sea, Sorrows of Parting, Slumber of Ancient Earth and very close to being my top favourite is The Final Battle, what a banger.

I personally recommend this entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. It was probably at this point where they finally nailed a perfect balance between wackiness and serious storytelling, with compelling character interactions and not just a melancholic story that you are looking forward to see unfold like IV along with a job system that encourages the players to experiment and find their own playstyle.
Give it a shot, it's fun.

[job changes to Monk and slices the review with Katana] see you in Final Fantasy VI, adventurer.

GREETINGS GAMERS, Final Fantasy enjoyers, JRPG aficionados and FF II finishers!

No major spoilers but still some spoilers, I guess.

After finishing Final Fantasy II, I return! This time having finished Final Fantasy III.
After dealing with the emperor in Final Fantasy II, it's time to embark on a new adventure in the unnamed world of Final Fantasy III, also a standalone entry in the series with no relation with the previous 2 games aside from few things such as: spell names, specific character names or concepts (Cid, Warrior of Light), chocobos, and the classic airship/boat/canoe combo to name a few!
Small disclaimer: I only played the Pixel Remaster versions so I'm only comparing to that.

Starting with the story and characters! In my opinion the weakest point of the game by far. Coming from a named cast with various interactions in FF II, we are thrown back to the FF I times with an unnamed quartet of orphaned heroes that you will have to name yourself. This time compared to FF I though, our characters do more than just be yes-men and have proper dialogue lines (usually spoken as a single unit)! The characters are very fun and often times amusing, but this game suffers from a lack of attachment to these characters, they come and go very quickly, often times leaving you unattached; by the end you might even forget who some were. The story itself is played as straight as possible: you are the chosen ones and you must save the world. The tone overall feels very wacky with a lot of whiplashes however I very much enjoyed these tone shifts, especially the many amusing situations (napping in Sara's bed, Cid being a goofball, Uneis spunkyness).

GAMEPLAY! This time around, the proficiency system is no more. Instead of predetermined characters with their specialisations, our quartet has a multitude of Jobs they can equip, changing their affinity with spells and equipment. While this job system encourages making more tactical decisions (i.e. switching to Scholar to see enemy weakness & HP) it isn't without flaw, with jobs unlocked later on being far more powerful than earlier jobs and their gimmick (Ninja, which is one of the last jobs unlocked, turns the game into a joke and makes all other melee jobs redundant). I appreciated the fact the game often has you switching jobs around in order to counter a boss or segment gimmick but it's often times not mandatory. MP is no more and we are back to a D&D spell slot system from FF I with improvements. This time spell slots increase with level which is a godsent, but still a bummer only Elixirs restore MP, and they're RARE! Items also play a more important role, early game offering you quite an advantage by using items that cast spells. This time around, the game actually proved to be difficult for little brainlet me. In FF I it all was a walk in the park and you were usually overlevelled by the time you reached any major plot boss, in FF II making everyone fisticuffs monsters to death turned the game into a joke. Unfortunately for me in FF III there was no major cheese for many fights or plot relevant bosses. I found myself witnessing the game over screen quite often, and even had to dedicate extra time to grind more levels so I was ready for the fight, especially the final one (PLEASE STOP TWO SHOTTING MY HEALER), even with 2 Ninjas! I do admit I did kind of rush the last segments of the game, so that might be a factor. Many times I had to switch jobs around and try to synergise them so I don't have to go back to heal or worse, die to bad RNG (OH YEAH, YOU GONNA KEEP SPAMMING LIGHTNING? LAMEASS)

Visually the game retains its beautiful pixel art style similar to FF I & II. The backdrops this time around were less impressive or I already just got used to them by the third entry. Monsters & bosses look nice (CoD lookin kinda HOT?!) but that one duo turned monster probably have the weirdest designs in my opinion. Shame we have no portraits for the main characters anymore but the jobs themselves each has its unique sprite and some of them look really nice (uwu Devout so cute). As per usual, battle effects take the cake and summons effects are amazingly over the top, very enjoyable to fire off Hyper; SUCH WEIGHT, MUCH WOW, MANY ORA ORA!

The music BANGER as heck seems to be a recurring thing in this series. The first overworld theme is absolutely gorgeous, and while it's not my first time being exposed to it (thanks to FF XIV), I still appreciate this version greatly. Some soundtracks are super wacky and only add to the mood whiplash you get sometimes, and others sound really good. Personal favourite BGMs: crystal tower & final area, overworld, doga manor and eureka.

Overall, this entry is so far the quirkiest one. It's also the most difficult one, as I actually had to use my brain and strategize how to fight some bosses. I think it's worth a shot, as the previous entry, it's different enough to offer a fresh breath of air if you just finished a prior FF game, be it FF I or II.

[Draw Attacks] See you in Final Fantasy IV, fellow enjoyer and thank you for reading.

GREETINGS FELLOW ZOOMERS, JRPG LOVERS or Final Fantasy enjoyers!

Maybe spoilers, depends on what you consider spoilers.

After finishing Final Fantasy I (that's 1), I return! Now having finished Final Fantasy II !!!
Are you worrying that you need to finish FF1 to understand or even play II?! Worry NOT! For FF2 is a standalone story not related to the first one in any way. If the first game proved to be too confusing, hard or just too lacking in direction and enjoyment, the second one will get your hopes up (I hope, haha!).

The story is a great improvement over the first game. FF1 managed to be a very confusing, vague game with a wild story thrown in (time travel shenanigans that early?!). Fortunately, FF2 improves on that aspect by having a proper setting, a named main cast with some degree of personality and a direction beyond "you must save the world guys pls". Although the story while simple is still rather wild with many moments where a modern gamer would think "bad writing/storytelling" it still proved to be a very entertaining one! Firions special encounter with a certain entity and then Hilda, Guy speaking an unexpected language and Cid having an abrupt moment all proved to be very charming and memorable.

The gameplay, although still the classic JRPG formula with lots of dialogue, dungeon crawling and menu navigation, has the combat and levelling system take a different turn from FF1: instead of having spell slots, we get the classic MP! But something strange happened... There are no levels. Your characters level up through mastery of the skills, actions and weapons they use. This system was more intriguing and fun to use than the standard levelling system, but it is quite a different system compared to the previous game.
The addition of a dialogue system via keywords proved to be interesting, as the player is left with some agency to learn more about the setting, or mix and match to get pointers on how to progress the story.

The visuals continue to be very pleasing, and often times it felt like an improvement over FF1; the battlemaps seem more varied, vivid; characters now have defining features and the main cast even has portraits; monsters still remain very detailed, and bosses look very intricate at times although I'm not sure if there is any particular improvement here, I liked all boss designs; but the effects do take the cake, very well animated and flashy.

Music is absolutely banging, after completing the game I gave the original soundtrack (NES) a listen and I'm very glad all the music is still quite the same, only augmented with classical instruments. World theme is my favourite, with the final area theme coming to a close second.

Overall, if you are like me and trying to work throughout over 30 years of Final Fantasy and enjoyed the first one... I can confidently say you will also enjoy this one.
Fists OP

See you in Final Fantasy III, fellow enjoyer

GREETINGS FELLOW ZOOMERS.
Slight disclaimer I haven't touched a JRPG in ages if not decades.

Did you play Stranger of Paradise, A Realm Reborn/Endwalker or XV and want to get into the series?
Are you too young to know what a NES is? Or how to emulate it?
Did the original prove to be too much of a CBT session with your least favourite dominatrix and you wish for something better?

Then, fear not: the pixel remaster is the choice for you! With ground breaking QoL features such as a minimap, easier levelling and an auto battle function you can now enjoy the first entry of a classic franchise without much hassle while detracting little from the original experience.

The spritework is good and easy on the eyes. I liked the effects a lot, some were really flashy and cool.
The music is great, a lot of rather melodic pieces that really give an "old jrpg vibe" such as Chaos Temple, boss battle themes and the overworld theme.
The story is initially played straight and it only gets weirder as you progress. The dialogue of some NPCs and interactables is rather amusing and some NPCs even give hints on how to progress the story.
The gameplay might prove lackluster for some as the difficulty was definitely lowered, but it's perfect for someone who wants to get into the series and not suffer reloading saves every other battle and crafting complex strategies. The random battles might be slightly annoying but I'll just say it's a product of its time :D
Personally, I enjoyed it at a casual pace and definitely recommend to anyone who is like me and wants to get into the Final Fantasy franchise and enjoy the story without grinding endlessly or following intricate walkthroughs.

See you in FFII