I am really hoping the devs iterate on this in a future game. They already have a lot going right with this but god the level objective and boss variety is such a drawback for long-term replayability (such as clearing the Spire with every Weapon).

Even just one different objective type and an alternate final boss would've gone a long way.

At least they did something new and didn't just make another Splatformer with re-skinned Octarians again.

Overall, just likes the other Drayano hacks, the biggest appeal is the overall increased Trainer/Boss difficulty and significantly wider selection of catchable mons. The latter of which was always my least favourite part of GSC/HGSS - just how low the mon variety is (including several Johto lines!). Well, this fixed that. Thank You Drayano!

Though the level curve still raises my eyebrows. There were multiple times where I had to grind mons 10levels below my team for 10+mins, to keep up with some of the harder gym leaders (as well as a tricky fight with Giovanni).

I dropped this mainly bc Clair's Kingdra completely decimates my mono Rock team. Even my higher Sp Def. mons like Tyranitar and Omastar get 2 hit KO'd. My only solution was to bring Lileep and Shuckle out and grind them. But I didn't feel like doing that.

Whenever I want to experience Johto again, it'll be through this hack for sure. But maybe with a better rounded team lmao.

for the past year or two I've been increasingly more cynical of turn-based games from a gameplay perspective (ignore the Pokemon pfp). but it's nice now and then to play one that makes you try. it's nice now and then to play one where each of your party members and each of their moves and abilities really feel like they need to pull their weight. it's nice now and then to play one where there is actual level design and puzzles.

also at this point I've realized random encounters are 100x better if you have a meter telling you when you're about to encounter another ..encounter. it makes the pacing of exploration feel infinitely better.

EO5's overall polish, including being much less grindy and slow paced than the previous EOs I've tried, makes me feel comfortable in saying this is one of my absolute favourite Atlus games alongside SMT Strange Journey and SMT Nocturne

if you're interested in EO but aren't interested in playing all of them and just want to try the "best ones", I feel like a lot of fans including me would point to this one

Story beats were very underwhelming.

Gameplay loop is mostly good because of the difficulty of most trainer battles being higher than most of the entire series. However the Blueberry Quests are a really dumb and grindy system for those looking to 100% this.

Overall this DLC feels like some isolated diet version of the base game in both story and gameplay ideas. Teal Mask, while short, was at least more unique and sweet.

"Are you ready for your From Software tutorial boss lessons?"

Phalanx left.

Asylum Demon nodded.

The Last Giant gulped.

Iudex Gundyr shivered.

Margit, the Fell Omen, blinked nervously.

Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa collapsed.

"Yes, Father Gascoigne."

Seriously though, this replay gave me a much greater appreciation for him. Everything about the buildup to him, his related sidequest with his family, his arena, his design, his music. The pacing, spectacle, difficulty and teaching tools of his fight. It's all so beautiful and tragic but exhilirating and cool at the same time. There isn't quite another first/tutorial boss in video games that captures so many things like Father Gascoigne does to me (who cares about Camera Beast I'm not counting him). He's also got some of the most memorable entrance cutscenes, paired with some of the most memorable quotes, among any boss From Soft has made.

He's also just one of the most interesting stories within Bloodborne before the Lovecraft twist. Like nothing else in the early stages of the game elicits much of a reaction compared to him.

Before this replay I liked him a fair bit but seriously? I think he's one of my favourite bosses in video games now.

this was probably my favourite game I've beaten this year for a ton of reasons. but I just need to let out some brief grievances.

I just can't help but wonder. I feel like if the devs weren't so indulgent with the sidequest bloat and excessively unneccesary RPG mechanics that really don't complement what is a relatively short action game story - then they could have added more variety to the C/D route (playable Kaine?), they could've added some much needed enemy variety, they could've developed the many minibosses encounters a lot more. tbh I could go on, this game's combat is still pretty fun and especially because the animations are so well done I'd put this game's core gameplay feel above a lot of other action games. I just really feel as if this could've easily been a top 20 game of all time for me if the gameplay scenarios and bosses themselves weren't so consistently... rote and easy. a lot of the bullet hell parts for example are cool as hell but it's so easy to execute a way through or around them.

to the "RPGs I love but badly wish had better gameplay" list this game goes...

oh, and thank god I liked the arranged OST more than I thought I would. the string and vocal work on a lot of songs are more impactful than the original, especially in The Lost Forest. though I still prefer the original's OST for several of my favourite songs, such as Kaine (Escape) and Hills of Radiant Winds. but please devs just make it an option to choose between the original and arranged OSTs next time...

finally, why the fuck are there so many HP regenerating boars in the final dungeon. what did Yoko Taro mean by this.

(Shelved for now, ~32hrs in, just beat Almeidrea/Mahag Saar)

I went into this game with an open mind - considering how divisive this game is and how much discourse I've watched from the sidelines over the years, I went into this very interested in finally experiencing this thing and seeing what I'd think about it myself.

turns out I came out on the side that frankly has a very low opinion of this thing.

I could go into a lot of detail with my gripes with the game's writing and pacing but I don't think I have that much new to add that probably hasn't been expressed by this site and many other RPG circles at large already. Arise's writing is just so abrupt, lacking momentum, lacking committment, and is just generally very shallow when it tries to say things. and even when it's not trying to be serious I just could not get invested in nearly everything about its plot, pacing and world. prologue was boring. the first 2 proper chapters had some of the most eyerolling twists and while I liked certain developments in the middle of the ch.3/the Mahag Saar chapter, the final scenes in that chapter just go back to being so stock and predictable and that's when I stopped caring to invest my time into this and shelve the game for now. Dohalim has probably the most interesting character story so far, but even then it feels like there's such an inorganic buildup to his climactic beats (and that's almost certainly the case with Law/Zephyr in Ch.1). and honestly I don't even mind most of the cast, they're likeable enough and I've enjoyed the skits overall so far. if the main party writing was a miss then god that would be utterly embarrasing considering this series' high standards and how mid every other aspect of the writing in Arise is. but thankfully our main cast is still good. not as attached to them as previous Tales casts, but I get something to love out of most of them. besides Alphen - I just get absolutely nothing out of him :). not gonna comment on the main villain since I haven't seen much of him yet. but I'll just put it out there, it's a shounen/JRPG sin to have both your main lead and main villain be boring - no matter how good or mid the rest of the supporting cast is.

while the core player-side combat systems are fun and fine, the boss fights (the most important gameplay thing in ARPGs to many people including myself) I've experienced so far were so utterly unsatisfying with how they barely ever stagger. since I'm only on Normal and I haven't tried experimenting as much as I did (and loved doing) with Vesperia, I'm not gonna pretend I have that much of an informed opinion on this aspect. but I just really have a hunch I'm still not gonna really enjoy the bosses on higher difficulties. Almeidrea and her dragon was honestly a miserable experience for me even if it was a cool spectacle. just like many things in life, a lot of the best action game bosses are as good as they are because there's an ebb and flow. bosses staggering and giving you a break is so important in a lot of ways and Arise is just very sparse with them. like boost combos are satisfying but most of them time they didn't down the boss or anything, it's just extra damage. Vesperia's equivalent actually downed the boss for a bit and that was a good thing. Vesperia's combo system was also just more satisfying to me in general but again I haven't engaged with Arise's systems that much yet to give the fairest take.

and I mean, Vesperia, the last Tales game I played about a year and a half ago, ended up being my favourite Tales experience I had so far and is fairly up there among my list of favourite RPGs. everything about the execution of that game's narrative, gameplay systems and presentation just jelled together so organically in a way that feels like an opposite to my experience playing Arise. that game appealed to my tastes pretty nicely. so while I'd like to say I went into Arise with an open mind, I suppose I can't deny a lot of the time I was comparing it to my experience with Vesperia and missing nearly everything about it. Yuri >>> Alphen. Vesperia's flawed but at least believable and endearing in their own ways cast of antagonists >>> Arise's clown circus lords. Vesperia's world and worldbuilding concepts slowly being built up organically >>> Arise just being extremely esoteric all the time and shoving in your face, what is rightfully criticized, a half-baked attempt at a fictional racism/slavery allegory. also, bringing out my VGM nerd for a bit: Shinji Tamura, the person who did a lot of fan favourite songs from Vesperia and overall a considerable amount of that game's OST, and his proficient melodic music writing >>> Motoi Sakuraba's aggressively boring and safe orchestral event/battle/environmental theme #3436. I miss Tamura so much.

will say though the art direction is on par with Vesperia and is easily the strongest thing about Arise for me. I was actually surprised. honestly I'd even say words can't really do Arise's art direction justice. there's actually a lot to appreciate about it. I appreciate the effort that went into the area designs (though the actual gameplay exploration is still very basic) and the colour usage and lighting of everything. Niez was a hauntingly beautiful town and lol I love that its theme song was basically just a Dark Souls 1/2 song. now and then Sakuraba hits for me if the context is cool, even if I'm meh on his outputs overall.

there were also many things I got out of Berseria and Abyss, the only other two Tales I've played, that I just barely ever got in Arise so far. Berseria was pretty flawed in a lot of aspects but you know what at least it's not something that's aggressively safe. I respect that game so much for being bold in a lot of ways. and Abyss, man that game's core story and cast of antagonists just.. worked. it worked so damn well and if you know, you know. it just had some bad pacing issues sadly with how much you have to move back and forth around different towns and the overworld so much. but honestly I'll take that town hopping to organically develop plot beats more over Arise having its formulaic chapter structure that feels incredibly limiting to its plot and expression of its ideas. monster + new party members of the week can work in some RPGs but it didn't work for me with Arise so far.

while I am shelving Arise I almost kiiiiiinda want to continue this game in bursts slowly now and then. I hear the 2nd half is the weaker part of the story to nearly everyone and honestly in a way that almost makes me curious again in a twisted way. maybe one day I'll see if I could possibly get something out of it again. but I'm not gonna force myself, I'll wait for stars to align.

the combat, enemy encounters and boss encounters carry this game for me. the positional elements and combo system in general is really satisfying. the character kits are balanced well, and are functionally varied between each of the party members. normal encounters are rote as they are in most RPGs. but I felt they were balanced enough to where making smart decisions i.e. killing enemies off with certain combos and moves and saving MP did feel rewarding area-by-area. mini bosses and bosses definitely fared pretty well for a turn-based RPG, I did feel I had to put some effort into figuring a handful of them out. I'm very glad I played on Hard because I could see myself falling asleep a lot of the time if I played on a lower difficulty. like even Hard wasn't really Megaten Hard or anything, and I kinda wish it was. if Atlus didn't put the effort they did into all this, and the combat system and enemy encounters were just another boring "throw the same moves/strategy at the enemy till you win" fanfare most turn-based RPGs come off to me as, I would've thought far less of this game honestly.

the weakest link in RH's gameplay sadly is just how absurdly slow it is for underlevelled party members to catch up. one on hand it is rather cool how much exp you get is based on your ability to perform long, satisfying combos; however the balancing and numbers behind this system feels so utterly unsatisfying. while I was grinding a bit in the final dungeon I was pulling off 25+ hit combos and party members in the lvl.40s were levelling up so slow (for reference endgame range is ~lvl.55-60). there could've been some really satisfying gameplay loop of getting HUGE amounts of rewards/money/exp/something for performing difficulty and long combos but sadly that just isn't there. I really just focused on mainly using Stocke/Raynie/Marco and got by the whole game. though I did use Gafka and Aht now and then. Rosch and Eruca I barely touched. also none of the side quests or optional objectives really push you that hard with the combo system either unfortunately.

the story has its powerful moments but ultimately the overall thing came off as a very standard fantasy trope-ridden RPG story to me. the worldbuilding, politics and tackling of human themes are pretty surface level. the clear winner of this game's writing, and the main selling point for most people probably is Stocke. he has a very satisfying, well-paced journey correcting the many varied accidents and disastrous climaxes throughout the narrative. the true ending conclusion was pretty well done as well, it hit hard and wrapped up Stocke's journey pretty satisfyingly. Stocke is very likeable as a whole and while I wish the game explored more of his flaws more, I would easily consider him to be one of my favourite RPG MCs. The cast otherwise is just solid but nothing amazing. Rosch has some powerful scenes in the first half, and Eruca in the second half, but overall everyone other than Stocke wasn't that compelling or entertaining to me. none of the antagonists either, even if the final one was well developed for what they were going for, I just wasn't that impressed by them sadly. they were just okay.

the music is consistently solid but frankly few songs knocked me on my ass that much. Mechanical Kingdom is easily my favourite song but otherwise the OST is sadly some of Shimomura's safest work honestly. there's a lot more breadth and depth to her output in Kingdom Hearts and Mario RPG OSTs. there's also unfortunately not many songs for a 30-40hr journey - you'll be hearing several of the same themes a LOT. it's a similar problem older lengthy RPGs like Xenogears and Xenosaga ep.1 had, but it really stings more because this game is from like 2010. if Square developed this they'd probably be more willing to pay Shimomura to do at least a few more area themes which would've gone a long way; and I guess Atlus and/or Shimomura thought it was just fine enough as is. idk I don't want to think too hard on it. I just really didn't want to hear that boring desert town theme so much in the 2nd half at least.

the other element of the game's presentation that underwhelmed me is every town, field and area/dungeon just looks really stock. as good as the colour usage and art style is, I was really hoping for some gorgeous floating islands and the like but yeah - dooon't expect any of that here. perhaps the typical grounded environments are a boon to the game's overall consistency and classic feel, but I can't get rid of the part of me that really wanted some more crazy environments and more in-depth worldbuilding, so I'll just say it doesn't work for me. the areas and dungeon design themselves are also small, basic and there's basically only one type of puzzle with the barrel bombs - but I mean I expect most turn-based RPGs to barely put much effort in that department as is. you also repeat some areas and dungeons a few times but that's a given with the time travelling structure of the game.

cool Atlus take on a medieval time travel story, I ultimately liked it.

My first game in the series and it's more or less what I expected and totally fine and fun for what it is. However I don't feel obligated to finish this because looking at hltb, every game in this series seems long as hell for a minimal-story, gameplay driven series. And with my limited time I want to at least shelve this one for now because I'm honestly just more curious about the later entries based on things I hear (e.g. gameplay refinements, stronger music). I might come back to this first game eventually but for now I think I'll just try Untold 2.

Whenever this game's remake is coming out, I felt like making a wishlist of things I'd like to see fixed and/or changed. I understand FE4 fans may not agree with everything here but hopefully this wishlist ultimately gets across a lot of how I felt about the original overall:
(also keep in mind I have only beaten this game once years ago, a lot of what I remember stems from me just being in the fanbase and hearing discussions about the game)
(also I'll probably edit this list now and then as I might think of more stuff or need to edit current points)

Writing changes I'd like to see
- while the character writing of the original is overall pretty solid, half the characters don't really have much characterization and Supports feel like an inevitable thing for the remake. hopefully they are consistently solid and well written, and there's no bad eggs; but I have no expectations, just hopes.
- Shadows of Valentia quality localization overall
- the main plot should be unchanged for the most part but it may be worth fixing some of the less tactful parts such as a certain two scenarios that have to do with Manfroy
- develop Miletos as a country somehow. like seriously it's just some place where important main story stuff happens but it itself is hardly compelling as the other nations.
- some of the love pairing choices in the original were questionable or problematic. get rid of them.
- no avatar pls

Gameplay changes I'd like to see
- (by far my biggest wish) add rescue-drop as the most elegant solution to making footed units more viable and just generally fix this game's issue of there being way too many turns spent tediously moving your army around. please if nothing else I hope they fix these two crippling issues however they do it.
- fix how bad axes and lances are. they were way too heavy and insanely outclassed by swords.
- make flyers stronger somehow. they're usually one of the best unit types in the series but they don't really stand out in this game much.
- add a battalion mechanic of sorts since it fits the narrative. just don't make it super busted or anything.
- keep all the secret events, but do hint at some better.
- tone down some of the maps where there are a stupid amount of filler enemies and reinforcements. less enemies in more interesting scenarios/formations = better. I'm sure they can pull that off while retaining the macro war-epic feel of the original game.
- tone down sleep staves in the late game. or at least provide more status effect healers or something. I think the sleep status spam felt tedious for many players.
- get rid of Pavise on bosses. it's stupid in every Fire Emblem.
- get rid of same turn reinforcements. it's stupid in every FIre Emblem.
- get rid of being able to save every turn. only should be able to save at Castles. that + Sigurd's OP-ness were the two things that made this game one of the easiest games in the series. (keep Sigurd's OP-ness though)
- make Dew/thieves at least somewhat stronger and easier to use. that alone feels like an elegant solution to solve some of the issues a lot of people have with the money system. but do please keep the money system at least because it was unique.
- 2rn or Fates/SoV/Engage quirky rn. 1rn sucks.
- explorable castles feel inevitable. hopefully they don't have the Monastery/Somniel issue of 30-50mins of preparation bloat and optional-but-helpful activities everyone feels obligated to do. I have no expectations though.
- also lighten the arena experience. I think FE4 arena in concept is cool, needing everyone to train a little before going out, but sometimes I think it leaned towards tedious in practice.

- unique map changes (could probably say a lot more about this but again I haven't played this game in years):
- Ch.1 and Ch.2: condense these. they feel way too long and tedious honestly. I know many fans consider these to be some of the worst maps at least.
- Ch.4: maybe re-design the whole thing (same scenarios, different execution). I know I didn't enjoy this one and I know FE4 fans generally don't either.
- Ch.5: make the desert less tedious to go through.
- rest of the layouts I don't mind being mostly the same. at least don't change Prologue and Ch.3 because they're arguably the most well designed maps in the game.

Presentation changes I'd like to see
- artist: Rika Suzuki or Mitsuki Oosawa (the FE4 manga artist). please.
- ost: Yuka Tsujiyoko's original compositions + modern IntSys sound team arrangements + bring back Rei Kondoh for some arrangements too pls = goat raw fire peak
- more detailed and varied map aesthetics. please don't bore the player with the same looking grass and mountains which comprised most of the original game. add more detailed things a country with good worldbuilding would have, within reason. add more colours too. make it look as visually great as SoV and Fates.
- Shadows of Valentia or Tellius tier character designs.

If the remake has at least a majority of the above, I'd be happy, and it could potentially be one of my favourites in the series.

(scattered thoughts)

Well fans of this game weren't kidding, this game does have some of the best art direction, combat/enemy scenarios, set pieces and especially level design and optional level objectives among Falcom's action rpgs. Consistenly so I'd even say.

In terms of art direction: the colour usage is pretty on point, the gear motif is pretty cool, and it's clear Falcom put a good amount of effort in how each region looks and feels different as the seasons change (same with Remnant Island as the story progresses).

Much of the level design being arguably as good as some of the most acclaimed from Falcom's dungeon design (Ys Origin, Oath in Felghana and some parts of Xanadu Next) comes from how much this games borrows from platformers. There's just a lot of platforming scenarios and set pieces compared to most Action RPG's I've played so far and while it never develops and varies its concepts in depth as an actual platformer would, I just really appreciated the extent Nayuta went with these elements to begin with. I feel like the other 3D Action RPGs onwards like Ys 8 and 9 didn't have quite as much in their core levels/dungeons (besides the solo Dana/Adol sections).

Unfortunately Nayuta has a rather toothless and uninteresting story to accompany the well above average art direction and gameplay.

Having played most of Falcom's ARPGs by now, I feel the story and vibes can be split between: the humurous, light-hearted, almost children's cartoon-like games like Gurumin and the Zwei series; and the more serious, adventurous, exploration focused games like the Ys series and Xanadu Next (and probably older Falcom ARPG's I've yet to play).

Nayuta certainly fits the latter, though with less focus on exploration than Ys because there's selectable levels instead of a realized world. Sadly I felt like I cared about the characters and plot of Nayuta as much as I cared for Ys IV/Celceta's, in other words very little (and even Ys1-3's stories are meh for me but I think most people relate to IV/Celceta's as being The Meh One). Similar to Ys Seven I feel like there's way too much McGuffin hunting and less time dedicated to developing the proper main story, though honestly I'd still say Ys Seven is worse in this regard (but that game's main story itself is still cooler than Nayuta's).

Nayuta and Noi are maybe the only main characters I cared for because we experience the story through their lens and we experience their struggles and interactions the most. Though Nayuta himself though I don't find as interesting or compelling as Adol or Ragna (Zwei 2) as a kid who's out for adventure type-thing.
Cygna and Creha I just found pretty underwhelming and the character interactions from them towards eachother and to other characters like Nayuta/Noi/Zext leave a lot to be desired - they just feel like plot devices honestly.
NPCs are fine but they don't quite have the charm as many in Gurumin/Zwei 2 did for me. They're more comparable to Ys NPCs, in other words they exist.
Some of the story beats in the After Story are kind of touching, and the true final boss is pretty cool I'd even say one of the best Falcom final bosses atmospherically and artistically.

There's maybe a lot more I could say but I'll just leave these thoughts here.

It is an effective, well-paced conclusion to the series thematically.

I like that exploration is rewarded because you get really useful combat skills/arts and various satisfying fills to your Affinity Goals. The exploration overall is solid enough as it was in the base game; in combination with the DLC's short length this is really the only time I felt like near-completing a Xenoblade game (I'll pass on the superbosses and final Enemypedia entries for now, but I 100%ed everything else).

My biggest gripe with the DLC is that it leans way too much into Xenoblade 1 fanservice for me, and as a result I wish more of the areas (and the final boss) had more of a unique identity visually and atmospherically. At least writing wise it's still very much Xenoblade 3 throughout which is a good thing.

I also wish Aurora Shelf's music wasn't re-used for Ragmos Desolation. It's a nice theme but you hear it a lot throughout the 20-30hrs.

Playing this DLC also kind of just finalized my general stance towards the series as a whole - I like the writing and a lot of the ideas, I love a lot of the presentation elements, but a lot of the gameplay and combat elements just were never my thing since I played Xenoblade 1 years ago. Particularly for similar reasons I dislike ATB combat from the Squaresoft-era: there isn't much slow, methodical strategy (i.e. learning enemy/boss patterns) and combat is more just wailing attacks at the enemy, occasionally scrambling to heal and regroup, and then Chain Attacking for overkills. Most of the fun in gameplay comes from making builds and finding more effective (and broken) ways to put down an enemy before they can fuck you up hard. That is appealing to many fans, and while I had my own share of fun with that in Xenoblade 2 and 3 especially, it's just not my main action game gameplay vibe ultimately.

I could probably say a lot more, such as what I feel about the characters, but I'll leave these thoughts here for now.

(Bunch of scattered, generalized thoughts)

I ultimately enjoyed this a fair bit - the levels, challenges, music and especially art direction are fairly well done for what they were going for.

I normally hate this kind of saying but while it's a great Kirby game.. it doesn't stand out that much as a 3D platformer overall. Like many others here, I agree it would have been nice if HAL went the extra mile using 3D space and the camera. It felt like half the levels were as good as Kirby 2.5D platforming could get. The other half, while they were actual proper 3D levels, none were quite up to the level of interesting design, identity, mechanics, challenge and building up of concepts that games like Super Mario 3D World achieved (or even Odyssey's peaks as much as I'm not into that game). The Kirby devs already perfected 2D platforming for the kind of charm the series is going for. They just need to do more next time to define what 3D Kirby can really be. Forgotten Land while clearly solid, is also clearly something of a stepping stone or beta of something that could be much cooler.

Minor issues I'm sure most others have are:
- The ability level up system is just meh and an odd choice in this kind of game. Most of the upgrades feel fairly identical to the base one and are just "more powerful". The main story and time trials don't really make the most use out of some abilities, though for the most part they fare well.
- Scoring high on the time trials should net you more than 50 coins honestly. At least give a 100 coins considering getting good times on these is like the hardest challenge in the game. Unless something I've yet to see is harder.
- The (not true) final boss while great was rather easy and not nearly as mechanically interesting as Robobot's final boss (or even the two bosses right before it honestly..).

I'm currently tackling post-game which is fairly fun. Overall I feel somewhat comfortable saying this is my 2nd fav Kirby I've played so far (behind Robobot). Despite all the improvements that can be made I would honestly say I still enjoyed and appreciated this more than RTDL, Superstar Ultra and the rest. I think that can be attributed to how I just generally prefer 3D games to 2D games in general.

Edit: Post-game thoughts. Bosses are generally great. I don't like the repeat levels much though. It feels like padding, I think a few short new tough areas would have been better, especially to roughly match the difficulty of the Phantom bosses.

I'm excited for the future of the series I think.