sinistral2099
2023
Good puzzles. Incoherent story.
What an absolutely brilliant and absurd experience.
2003
A nice update to Final Fantasy Legend on the Gameboy.
A step up from Ara Fell in every regard, this retro-inspired RPG is really fun. The writing is witty, the sprite art is gorgeous. Definitely worth playing.
1987
I played the Sega Ages version of the game on the Nintendo Switch.
Phantasy Star is a relatively simple JRPG that combines a science fiction setting with multiple planets and first person dungeon exploration. This game can be completed without reading the manual, but I would advise against it as there are some game design choices that can leave you with an unbeatable game if you don't pick up an item out of a chest when the game asks you.
The single save state that you're allowed in the Sega Ages version is night, but I wish that the implementation was better. The UI does not give any good feedback as to when you save or load the save state. You just have to remember that exiting via the Home button or Pausing will save the state, and that continuing from the main Sega Ages start screen (not the ROM start screen) will load the last save state automatically.
The added dungeon auto mapper and party HP/MP display added to this version are incredibly useful and I would likely not have enjoyed the game as much without those.
The story is interesting. The characters are neat looking. Props for being one of the earliest female protagonist-lead JRPGs. I wish that the game had given us a little more insight into the motivations of the villains. The sprite work is good. The music slaps, but I do wish there had been a little more variety.
Fun overall. Would recommend playing it once just to see the origins of the franchise.
Phantasy Star is a relatively simple JRPG that combines a science fiction setting with multiple planets and first person dungeon exploration. This game can be completed without reading the manual, but I would advise against it as there are some game design choices that can leave you with an unbeatable game if you don't pick up an item out of a chest when the game asks you.
The single save state that you're allowed in the Sega Ages version is night, but I wish that the implementation was better. The UI does not give any good feedback as to when you save or load the save state. You just have to remember that exiting via the Home button or Pausing will save the state, and that continuing from the main Sega Ages start screen (not the ROM start screen) will load the last save state automatically.
The added dungeon auto mapper and party HP/MP display added to this version are incredibly useful and I would likely not have enjoyed the game as much without those.
The story is interesting. The characters are neat looking. Props for being one of the earliest female protagonist-lead JRPGs. I wish that the game had given us a little more insight into the motivations of the villains. The sprite work is good. The music slaps, but I do wish there had been a little more variety.
Fun overall. Would recommend playing it once just to see the origins of the franchise.
Lunar is a great example of a JRPG of its time. Originally released on the Sega CD, it has been remade three times (not remastered, remade). The game boasts quite a bit of voice acting and animated cutscenes. The soundtrack is memorable, if not a bit repetitive. The boss fights are challenging and will punish you if you don't go in prepared. The localization leaves a bit to be desired, with a lot of pop culture references and lewd jokes having been inserted that were not in the original text of the game. All in all worth playing, but go in with the knowledge that it is very much a game of its time.
1989
I played using the English Fan Translation 2.0 by JMN and TheSiege.
This is a really good JRPG and also a really good Survival Horror game. The translation could still use a little proof reading in a couple of spots, and two potential game breaking bugs are introduced because of it. As a result, I would recommend using a Save State along side the use of the in-game save function just to be sure that you don't end up having wasted hours of your time. One of the bugs in question has been reported to delete your save.
It takes a little bit to get a handle on the learning curve that this game presents. The story is simple, but impactful. The encounter rate is dialed up a little high, but that is typical of JRPGs of that era. The sprite work is great, and presents quite a bit of gore for a system as limited as the Famicom was. I especially thought the implementation of a proto-quick-time-event system was really neat.
Definitely surpassed my expectations.
This is a really good JRPG and also a really good Survival Horror game. The translation could still use a little proof reading in a couple of spots, and two potential game breaking bugs are introduced because of it. As a result, I would recommend using a Save State along side the use of the in-game save function just to be sure that you don't end up having wasted hours of your time. One of the bugs in question has been reported to delete your save.
It takes a little bit to get a handle on the learning curve that this game presents. The story is simple, but impactful. The encounter rate is dialed up a little high, but that is typical of JRPGs of that era. The sprite work is great, and presents quite a bit of gore for a system as limited as the Famicom was. I especially thought the implementation of a proto-quick-time-event system was really neat.
Definitely surpassed my expectations.
2019
Starts off as a fun adventure, but ultimately does not respect the player's time.
2018
I'm tired of single player games adopting MMO design elements and trying to build a single player experience around them. I don't want to go into the menu and send a party request to an NPC. Everything in this game is super bullet spongy. The sprite art is really great, but the story did not grab me in the slightest.
If you're looking for a traditional JRPG experience, you will not find it in this game. The puzzles are rudimentary, the writing is bland, and the story is unimaginative. The maximum party size never grows beyond two characters, and the second slot is reserved for a cast of rotating guest characters. The music is actually pretty solid, and the main character's sprite has a couple of well done animations, but that is the extent of positives that I can write about this game.
2021
Final Fantasy III was a game that was slated for a North American release but due to the release of the Super Nintendo, both Final Fantasy II and III never made it to our shores. It's really a shame. Where Final Fantasy II experimented with the formula in new and interesting ways, Final Fantasy III really honed it. Of the 8-bit era Final Fantasies, III really stands out as the best of them. The Pixel Remaster is faithful to the original (not the 3D remake that was released on later consoles).
My only complaint about the game is that the better jobs aren't unlocked until really late in the game, meaning that in order to fully take advantage of them you'll need to grind out job levels.
My only complaint about the game is that the better jobs aren't unlocked until really late in the game, meaning that in order to fully take advantage of them you'll need to grind out job levels.
When I'd read that Ara Fell (not the Enhanced Edition) was an RPG Maker game, I did not expect to enjoy Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition (which is not an RPG Maker game). I played this on the recommendation of a friend (and viewer) and I was not disappointed. The writing is sharp. The sprite work is fantastic. The music is great. It's just long enough and doesn't overstay it's welcome. The large character art needed a bit more polish, and I wish the character classes had more options beyond the two that each are given. Really looking forward to seeing future games from this developer.
I spent 300+ hours on Breath of the Wild, and I felt like there was a lot to do in that game. To say that Tears of the Kingdom has an overwhelming amount of content is an understatement. It uses the same map as Breath of the Wild but makes important changes to it that keep the sense of exploration fresh. If Breath of the Wild was a masterpiece, Tears of the Kingdom is a fully realized religious experience.
2021
A very interesting story with a lot of plot twists that I did not expect. If I had one major complaint it would be that the game throws a lot of huge changes at you in quick succession without really giving any of them time to breathe. Narrative whiplash is real in this one, and dialogue later in the game indicates that even the developers (or at the very least, the localization team) were fully aware of the meme-ified levels character deaths.
A short, and cute addendum to the Final Fantasy 4 story, but ultimately unsatisfying. The sprites in the PSP version are based on the mobile version of FF4 and FF4 The After Years and while the monsters look incredible, the party battle sprites look absolutely horrendous. Especially the ninja, Edge, as his face wrap covers the lower part of his eyeballs, which now take up 70% of his face.