sinistral2099
2023
Total playtime: 103 hours.
There is nothing bad that I can say about Octopath Traveler II. The developers improved every criticism I had about the first game and delivered a truly remarkable gaming experience.
There is nothing bad that I can say about Octopath Traveler II. The developers improved every criticism I had about the first game and delivered a truly remarkable gaming experience.
2021
This game was originally localized for the NES but never released and that's a shame. It deviates hard from the JRPG formula that we know today, and really experimented in some neat and surprising ways. Not my favorite Final Fantasy, but definitely a worthy entry in the franchise.
Blossom Tales 2 improves upon almost every aspect of the original. The sprite art is more detailed, the cuteness is dialed up, the writing is sharper, the dungeons more finely tuned, nothing overstays its welcome. It is an ode to the childhood of someone who grew up in the 80's.
2002
Robot Alchemic Drive (RAD) is a love letter to giant robot fights, tokusatsu movies, and kaiju films. The voice acting is hilariously bad. The control scheme is atrocious. The plot line is nonsensical. In spite of all this, the game is one of my favorite games on the Playstation 2. I'd even go so far as to call it a hidden gem. The game is very self aware of how ridiculous it is and leans into that. The result is a game that will make you laugh and smile while you play it. It's not difficult, but it is fairly long at 15-20 hours. It's developed by Sandlot and published by Enix (prior to the Square-Enix merger), and this game's engine went on to power the Earth Defense Force games. Give this game a chance and it will work its way into your heart.
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.
1999
What if, when making a sequel, you took everything about the original that made it unique and discarded it? Then, you created a UI that was even less intuitive? Then you retconned the plot and made it confusing beyond all belief? That's Parasite Eve 2.
I hated every moment of this game.
I hated every moment of this game.
2003
A nice update to Final Fantasy Legend on the Gameboy.
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.
2021
Really cute homage to Minish Cap with some pretty rough edges. Overall a good first offering. Hope to see some of the kinks worked out in future sequels.
The game is a bit wordy for a Zelda-like, and the jokes don't always land. The difficulty curve needed to be smoothed out. That's really my biggest complaint about the whole experience. In the beginning you're always seemingly one hit away from death, but thankfully there is little to no penalty for death as it just starts you back at the beginning of the room you died in. Once you get enough health to survive, the game becomes trivial. Salt Candles are the ultimate weapon in this game. I overlooked them at first until I was forced to use them and then they became my weapon of choice for every boss fight.
The game is a bit wordy for a Zelda-like, and the jokes don't always land. The difficulty curve needed to be smoothed out. That's really my biggest complaint about the whole experience. In the beginning you're always seemingly one hit away from death, but thankfully there is little to no penalty for death as it just starts you back at the beginning of the room you died in. Once you get enough health to survive, the game becomes trivial. Salt Candles are the ultimate weapon in this game. I overlooked them at first until I was forced to use them and then they became my weapon of choice for every boss fight.
The control scheme for this is overly simplified due to the use of the wiimote and nunchuck. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into it.
2018
This game is really remarkable. The music, sprite art, and battle system are all second to none. The 2.5D world is absolutely gorgeous. The only thing holding this game back from being a 5-star game was the cliché storylines.
This is one of the best fighting games in existence. It does a remarkable job of bringing the play styles of both SNK fighting games and Capcom fighting games together.
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.
Not my favorite game in the franchise, but a solid entry. It does a lot to try and consolidate the series' scattered lore. This HD remaster does a lot to alleviate the complaints I had about the original (mostly related to the motion based controls).
This is my favorite SNK fighting game to date. Boasting a ridiculous roster size, the sprite art and soundtrack is gorgeous. It's such a well balanced fighting game.