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I wouldn't worry about skirmishes being grinding if you're playing on Maddening. You get like two spawns ever, and they're a real risk if you're low enough level to be getting good exp. On lower difficulties, yeah they probably count.
I'm currently working through (non-ironman) runs where I can only use one unit type (and units mandatory on a given map, Alear needs to reclass to fit ASAP). Cavalry's almost done, Flyer's at Chapter 19, just started Armoured.
The new Fire Emblem titles that have been launched on the Switch console, along with the addition of Fire Emblem via the Nintendo Arcade have been weighing on me to get a Switch for so very long now -.-
I have also been playing some of the RPG's that are available on the PS5 when I have had time here and there lately. Maybe not as good or original as Phantasy Star, but the FFVII Remakes, along with FFXVI have been very satisfying for a long time RPG lover. I have my eyes set on some of the other RPG's that will be available within the PlayStation Network via the PS5.
Some new switch 2 news (yall have probably heard but maybe not). Apparently they're gonna be selling an additional screen and supposedly tomodachi life 2 is finally real. I hope they add gay people.
But realistically all this is gonna do is turn over a new leaf for jailbreakers since they have a functional 3ds emulator for games such as.
-Pokemon Sun/Moon
-New Super Mario Bros. 2
-Castlevania Advance Collection
-uhh
-fuck
-Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
-Kid Icarus Uprising?
And DS games as well including
-Dawn of Sorrow
-Mario Kart DS
-Pokemon Black 2/White 2
I'm participating in RetroAchievements's Achievement of the Week/Month, so I thought I'd start posting about the semi-to-not-at-all-obscure game experiences I've had. Achievements of the Week are intended to take 1-3 hours, while Months are 6-8. I will allocate my writing accordingly.
Game of the Month: Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) Achievement: Defeat Kaptain K. Rool in the Lost World
As a zillennial YouTube kid with way too much spare time, I spent my tween years absorbing video game opinions from 20-30 somethings at the boom of higher-production game review channels. One of those was the Completionist, and DKC2 was his favorite game: the golden standard and entwined with the channel's identity given the use of its bonus area music for the final segment every episode. It seemed like '2 is the best of the trilogy' was the prevailing thought overall; it smoothed out and expanded 1's foundation without suffering 3's oversaturation of Rareware weirdness. I was never in a hurry to play it since I was put off as a kid by the 1's weird mix of 'clever but hard and finicky' level design with the endurance dynamic brought on by limited lives and save points. Now that I've had to do all of the 'major' stuff in 2, I've concluded that it's a true Rare game in how it was probably awesome to grow up with, but a bit too hard to approach in 2025.
The idea and promise of DKC2 is phenomenal; you're setting sail to a hostile, unknown island home to the enemy Kremlings, who have adopted a pirate motif. The beautiful title screen, treasure map menu, and prosaic manual get you ready for a glorious treasure hunt. The opening levels have incredible atmosphere, with boats creaking in the waves and distant shanties echoing through the air as you climb the rigging. Once you're through the first world, however, this theming all but disappears and the game starts to reveal its true face: a brutal, white-knuckle climb to the top of Crocodile Isle. With the second world, Crocodile Cauldron, the game loses its coherent theme and becomes moreso about navigating various hostile environments filled with somewhat arbitrary mechanics and level lengths that will push your patience and skill to the limit. The atmosphere is strong as ever, but it's on a level-by-level basis instead of fitting well with the world it's part of, let alone the swashbuckling flavor of the whole game. While Rare did a phenomenal job making the most of their level assets and 'themes' - no two levels look or play the same - it's hard to get immersed when I'm supposed to be cooling down 'lava' that's just glowing water in a wooden ship hold or going straight from a roller coaster in the dead of a firework-lit night to an abstract mess of brambles in the dusky sky to, inexplicably, a giant beehive.
So in a word, DKC2 can only be described as hard. The visible screen space is small, you move very fast, you lose a Kong with a single hit, the checkpoint often feels like it comes a section too early, your life count is very limited if you don't go farming with every new session, and any skills built with the general platforming mechanics get overwritten more and more often by shallower, unforgiving gimmick levels. Past the first two worlds, every step you take is a potential 'gothcha' that will send you right back to the start. The learning curve is steep, and while mastering how Diddy and Dixie move will be an asset, beating levels is moreso trail and error than a test of raw skill. Once you beat a level, it's unlikely to slow you down much on revisits, but getting there can be grueling and not altogether rewarding. Long, semi-scripted sections where a single mistake puts you in an unwinnable position must be on the first page of the Rare playbook. It's all about knowing what's coming, not what you already know.
After coming away from Banjo-Kazooie in December with a negative impression, I've noticed that every major Rare title is designed to value longevity above all else. More stuff means more game means more good. That's what you gamers want, right? Never mind how much fun it is to actually get all that stuff. It contributes to the cynical vibe I've been getting from Rare games now. This is what I mean about growing up with DKC2; not only do you have dozens of harsh levels to sear into your kid brain, there's also several secrets and bonuses per level, sometimes eyebrow-raisingly hidden. Better play through these levels dozens more or shell out for a guide, eh? Don't want Cranky Kong to keep mocking you, right? I bothered to complete the Lost World but skipped some DK Coins and Cranky is STILL insisting I keep playing. Feels like I didn't beat the game at all despite demonstrating 95% of the necessary skill.
Other minor notes:
I enjoyed the Diddy-Dixie dynamics. Throwing each other around is a fun mechanic, and Dixie isn't that overpowered in practice; using her twirl is an extra cognitive load you don't want to make a habit in case you're stuck with Diddy, and her barrel hefting feels way worse. Diddy has far more momentum to his roll and is great for blasting through levels you're comfortable in.
Banana Coins are superfluous and form an extra unnecessary bottleneck for first-time players.
The bosses are pretty good considering they follow the 'can't hit me until i say so' formula. Engaging and well paced.
The animal buddies are cool when they're hidden powerups, inelegant when you staring turning into them because Rare didn't have enough ideas for level design around your base moveset I guess.
ARRGH
Week 1: Earthbound - Quest of Hat (SNES hack) Achievement: Defeat Pokey and win the game.
This is a ROM hack from 2005. While it's not the utter garbage you might expect from that description, its cute concept of playing as a Mr. Saturn trying to return Ness's hat is quickly forgotten for arbitrary adventure-game style problem solving. It's obtuse, tedious, and prone to softlocks. The only moment coming close to Earthbound's legendary bits is instantly killing Pokey by turning him red with tomato juice and hitting him with the Red Sword, which destroys anything red. Only to be played with a guide, and only if you have to or you're some niche video essayist covering Earthbound's hack scene history.
Week 2: Killer7 (GC) Achievement: Complete Target 00 [Angel] in Killer7 mode and on any difficulty
An avant-garde third party title if I ever saw one. Once you've read the manual and gotten used to the weird-but-logical controls (the in-game help isn't sufficient), you're in for a thought-provoking mix of survival shooter and adventure puzzle solving in an eye-catching 00s visual style. Learning the map and backtracking with the necessary items leads to a lot of repeat encounters, and death puts you in the (likely intentional) dilemma of spending a bunch of time retreading yet again to recover the Killer7 member or pushing on hoping you don't need their special abilities. The tedium kept me from wanting to keep playing, but I'm glad I played what I did.
Week 3: Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey and Donald (GBA) Achievement: Complete the Game as Donald Duck
An international port of a Japan-only Capcom SNES title. Like many forgettable 16-bit platformers, its level design feels lacking in intent, with objects placed haphazardly and excessive freedom to move vertically and horizontally. While the sprite work is excellent, it leads a lack of conveyance, particularly with background objects you can climb using the woodsman costume. There's an interesting passive charge dynamic with your main combat costume, but the safest strategy for many bosses is to stunlock and chip them down over several agonizing minutes. I've heard about items in shops to make combat easier and faster, but I found too few shops in my run, and currency resets on game over. You can brute force most of the game because game overs still save your checkpoint, but that's of course not true for the final level, so be ready for a grind to see the ending. Also, pick Mickey if you can, Donald's costumes work largely worse in some agonizing ways.
Week 4: Hexen (N64) Achievement: Enter the second hub Shadow Wood
I have minimal personal experience with DOOM-likes, and Hexen left me sickened but curious. It's an interpretation leaning into laughably bland dark fantasy, but it makes for some fun spell slinging and memorable, foreboding locales. Using a guide is mandatory, as progression is tied to cause-and-effect on easy-to-miss switches, and the game sure as hell isn't going to tell you about the effects. DOOM engine movement feels uncomfortably brisk and floaty to me, and the amateur-feeling cramped level design amplifies it. Enemies are boring damage sponges, but that means it's super gratifying when you pick up a new weapon and can clear a crowd in seconds. As someone currently fascinated with potential 3D Metroidvania design, Hexen gets remarkably close with its puzzle-based progression and thrilling upgrades. Just gotta toss out everything else.
Been awhile since I actually fully completed a game (let alone an RPG), so I figured I should post about it.
I definitely recommend Sea of Stars! It’s an RPG very much inspired by Chrono Trigger and I think the developers did a really good job at capturing that spirit in the game. Looks great (for the most part, some animated cutscenes seemed a bit off because of the difference in art style from the actual game but like I said mostly great), sounds great (def some earworms in the soundtrack). The combat is really good, and by the end of the game it really makes you think and you feel smart when you break the bosses’ “locks” and prevent them from getting their turn. I think the story is pretty compelling too, I def got a little lost once or twice because my reading comprehension isn’t great apparently lol but it’s definitely one that’ll stick with me.
As far as what it means to “complete” the game, I did all the content that is available on one file. Technically I did not 100% it, because there are some co-op only feats/achievements. There’s also one where you have to beat 10 bosses with a certain relic on, so many people think you need a new game + file to get this one but apparently if you do the true final boss ten times with the relic on you can still get it. And I ain’t doing a new game + run right away and I’m not doing the final boss ten times either. So yes, didn’t 100% the game but saw everything there is to see because there’s no extra reward for getting 100%, just the true ending (which is worth it, it’s a super cute wrap up to the story and I was very thorough before I got to the first ending so getting the true ending was only an extra three or so hours).
The other thing of note is that I guess I technically did a challenge run. I played on normal difficulty, one step below the hardest, but I realized when I was like ten hours in that I hadn’t used any items or relics that made the game easier. So I challenged myself to go the rest of the way itemless and relicless and I did it! My only regret is that I didn’t have a fully flawless run, I game overed four times on the true final boss before I made it on the fifth try. I was really kicking myself because each game over was absolutely my fault (healing the wrong character by accident, choosing the wrong special by accident, etc., little mistakes can sometimes snowball on the true final boss).
My biggest complaint is probably post-final boss actually (or you can consider it part of the final boss because for the true final boss it is part of it as well):
The whole game is a turn-based RPG with action/timing commands. But suddenly post-final boss (against the World Eater) and in the true final boss there’s random bullet hell sections? Felt very random to me and I actually died twice in these sections. Luckily the deaths in these sections don’t give you a game over but it comes out of nowhere and it’s not exactly clear what the controls are (you have a shield which I wasn’t aware of at first and would’ve probably prevented some deaths in the bullet hell sections).
Anyway, like I said, definitely recommend Sea of Stars. It’s worth getting the true ending and only took me 43 hours which is short for an RPG, though I was a bit slow at times (especially on one certain block puzzle lol) so if you play it to completion I’d probably expect 40-45 hours. If you want the true 100% experience obviously it’ll be a bit longer.
Finally, there’s free DLC coming soon! Idk if there’s an exact release date yet but I heard Spring 2025. So I’ll most likely be coming back to the game soon for that. Had lots of fun and I’m sure you will too.
This is the level where I give up... I have tried, and I cannot beat it. (BTW The screenshot is a youtube video I don't have 3 stars in every level not even close)
World 4 is just when the game just uses me like a dirty rag. The CPU's are omniscient and are able to detect the exact moment I make a chain so that they can make a 4 chain to counteract all the garbage puyos they might have gotten. I got a 5 Chain once and it was snuffed out instantly. HOW IS THIS FAIR!?
Anyway, this level has you beat the Dark prince in the worst mode in the entire game, The party mode.
It's basically puyo puyo with mario kart like items, but it is so bad. You have to play with tetrominos and the cpu the puyo player. The Puyo gets very good versions of debuffs to throw at you, while you get crap ones. The worst one to play around is the Pentomino debuff. Your board just gets Ruined instantly, all gaps.
The goal is to get the most points, but its impossible to keep up with the AI because he keeps making putting down 35 chains/second and you cannot keep up if you stop placing stuff for even a second. It also doesn't help that the power-ups are so much easier for a puyo player to open than a tetris player. The Item block is a 2x2 piece for tetris and it just gets in the way of everything. It is such a hassle to make a line for it, whereas the puyo player can just surround it with 4 matching puyos.
So goddamn awful. I can't do it. From what I hear, only puyopuyo/tetris gurus who spend 3 hours each day and can memorize entire board patterns before a game starts, even pass the adventure mode, much less world 4. I give up.
As a giant Tales of aficionado, the best intro to the series is either Symphonia or Arise. Arise jumps you into the modern feel of the series, is beautiful, and is one of the better battle systems and a good showcase of the series on the whole. Symphonia however is still widely regarded as the best in the series due to character and story development, depth of gameplay, puzzles and secrets, and really is the ultimate "classic" Tales experience (and did just get a remaster).
You really can't go wrong jumping in anywhere in the Tales series apart from the symphonia sequel (we don't talk about it), so if another entry catches your eye or is on sale (Vesperia is usually the cheapest) give it a go.
For more info check out my old thread here in Cong about it
As a giant Tales of aficionado, the best intro to the series is either Symphonia or Arise. Arise jumps you into the modern feel of the series, is beautiful, and is one of the better battle systems and a good showcase of the series on the whole. Symphonia however is still widely regarded as the best in the series due to character and story development, depth of gameplay, puzzles and secrets, and really is the ultimate "classic" Tales experience (and did just get a remaster).
You really can't go wrong jumping in anywhere in the Tales series apart from the symphonia sequel (we don't talk about it), so if another entry catches your eye or is on sale (Vesperia is usually the cheapest) give it a go.
For more info check out my old thread here in Cong about it
I think I might have already copped Vesperia on sale on Switch I wanna say when I still had disposable income to hoard games on eshop sales lol.
Maybe I'll start there... I usually watch people like Davidvinc on youtube for classic shit I mightve missed growing up cus i legit didnt even know what rpgs even were to tell my parents "i like this type game" to ask at stores till I was like... 10 since we never had internet to define stuff till like mid 2000s for us with easy to discern labels for genres like everyone uses now lol.
The Suikoden and Lunar remasters are 2 i'm interested in possibly getting too.
I think I might have already copped Vesperia on sale on Switch I wanna say when I still had disposable income to hoard games on eshop sales lol.
Maybe I'll start there... I usually watch people like Davidvinc on youtube for classic shit I mightve missed growing up cus i legit didnt even know what rpgs even were to tell my parents "i like this type game" to ask at stores till I was like... 10 since we never had internet to define stuff till like mid 2000s for us with easy to discern labels for genres like everyone uses now lol.
The Suikoden and Lunar remasters are 2 i'm interested in possibly getting too.
I will say that if you intend to play symphonia you should be aware of its quirks. Symphonia has a weird history with ports. The original GC version runs at 60 fps. The game was later rereleased on ps2 exclusively in japan with added stuff, but it had worse framerate. When the game was remastered for ps3, they used the ps2 port so it still ran poorly. And even to this day, with the ps4/switch release of the game, they're still using the bad ps2 port. So if you want performance, play on gamecube. If you want extra content, play a modern release
Hey whoever decides to read this. I'm back with another game review. To preface this one I must be transparent, I did not beat the game nor do I intend to due to various reasons, but I did play through roughly 80% of the game so I think it's fair to share my thoughts.
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
OVERALL RANK: C+
THE GOOD: To be transparent, I did not enjoy this game. Because of that I feel I should point out the things I did enjoy with this title. As a big Ocarina of Time fan, I really enjoyed the ties to it. The moment I walked into the temple of time and heard the original soundtrack my face was beaming lol I also enjoyed specific fights. Particularly the fight with the Death Sword, and the fight on The Bridge. Lastly, you can't go wrong with Midna. I love mischievous and spunky characters so naturally I find her enjoyable.
THE BAD: Unfortunately that's where I run out of good things to say. I was really hoping to enjoy this game. Overall I feel the game is drawn out longer than it probably needed to. The start of the game is so incredibly slow, and farther down the game they send you on a long fetch quest all over the map. I'd have thought they'd have learned from Wind Waker and the triforce pieces that segments like that aren't fun for players. I found most of the music to be lackluster. I didn't really hear any music in dungeons, and if there was any it was so quiet I couldn't hear it. I also felt that the items were a let down. I tried using so many different things in combat but every time found myself having to resort to the hookshot or the bow in most situations. I also just didn't find the characters or the story to be all that interesting. Overall the game just felt incredibly bland.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I played through up until after the air temple. I turned it off for the night and did some thinking. As someone that didn't enjoy Breath of the Wild and what it did to the game, I thought this game would be enjoyable because it would be the old formula. I can point out specific gripes with the game, but the formula was the classic zelda formula so regardless I should be enjoying it in some way, or so I thought. I realize that as much as it dismays me to say, I think the Zelda formula just isn't my thing anymore. I love traditional RPGs that involve leveling up and buying upgrades. In Zelda, the enemies don't really scale with you, money is virtually worthless and you don't really upgrade in any interesting way. At the time of writing I am now currently 60 hours into Metaphor ReFantazio and am enjoying it much more. Excited to write about it! Thanks for reading!
Skyward Sword is the one known as a suffocating 'Zelda formula' iteration, but TP laid the foundation. Overbearing cutscenes and tutorialization, needless item collection popups, undercooked overworld, divisive minigames. TP feels like a spiteful response to WW hate, a lot like how Pokemon BW was a bold revision that the developers wanted but the narrow-minded fans weren't ready for. Couldn't get over the cartoon style? Alright, here's realism to a fault with an emotionally dead story. The crucial element to OoT as a 'formula game' people don't talk about is that it's concise. The longer stuff takes, the more glaring Zelda's limited progression system becomes. There are only a handful of particularly lengthy cutscenes, matching the amount of stuff the game actually has to say. SS actually did a lot to address some other formula issues, with more involved combat and upgrade systems. TP did next to nothing, it was made explicitly to give people what they thought they wanted.
I've never thought of Skyward Sword as frustrating because of its adherence to the OoT-derived formula. I found it tedious and samey because the sword was always the primary puzzle tool and it doesn't meaningfully change over the course of the game. These are similar complaints to what I have with BotW and TotK, not OoT/MM/WW/TP.
I beat another game already! Crazy. This one was Pokemon Conquest, a game I have been meaning to play for years but just never got around to. As someone who has really enjoyed the side games over the years like PMD, Colo/XD, and even Ranger back in the day I was excited to try this one out. Never played a Nobunaga’s Ambition game before (tbh I still don’t know much about the series at all), but I heard it was essentially Fire Emblem with Pokemon, all wrapped up in a feudal Japan coating so I was like hey, let’s go for it. I love Fire Emblem, I love Pokemon, know nothing about feudal Japan but that’s okay.
I had a fun time with the game overall! Like I said, Fire Emblem-esque gameplay and Pokemon was something I was super excited for and it mostly delivered. I do think it fell a little flat in some places but it was mostly good. The strategy elements were there and hit on pretty well, it just didn’t feel as fleshed out as I wanted it to at times. For example, I’m used to Pokemon having four moves so only being limited to one with no “coverage option” felt limiting. Like yes, my Jolteon is more useless against Ground-types than normal because it literally only has Thunderbolt. I thought the Warrior skills were nice though, even if some of them were essentially the same with a different name (I’m thinking all the attack/defense booster ones). It added some variety.
Speaking of variety, it was very cool to see some Pokemon that I’ve hardly thought about actually be good. Like there was a Simipour on my team for the final main story battle, and Carnivine put in work through the early/midgame. I tried to use a varied team for the story battles as much as I could, since your starter Eevee/Eeveelution and sidekick’s Jigglypuff are required for story battles. It gives you four slots to play with, and even the good stuff that you get for pretty little investment (namely Rhyperior and Gallade) aren’t always the correct choices.
I also liked the variety in the battlefields in each typed kingdom overall. Some were pretty cool, like the Fighting-type kingdom having a ring that you could push opponents out of and have a king of the hill style kind of battle in. Some were annoying, like Dark having a roulette that teleports you or the opponent away or Ice having ice physics (who thought that was a good idea??) but overall I liked the variety. As for objectives, most were just defeat all opponents, the next most common was claiming all banners. The only one that stuck out really was the Fighting type one since it was “hold all banners for five turns” which combined with the style of the battleground made for a neat experience. Wish there was a little more variety there but overall pretty good.
I also don’t really know if I was playing the game “correctly” tbh, like I would do a story battle every chance I could with my two MCs and a squad to fill out the rest of the slots. But it seems like you’re meant to take your time a bit more. In the early/midgame I went out of my way to recruit new team members which was fun for awhile, but once I hit a certain point everything I could recruit wasn’t going to be any stronger than anything already had, so by the late game I basically just did story battles which made the game fly by. I didn’t find the shops too useful, I had a surplus of gold and spent it on a few items that I would just rotate between whichever six Pokemon I was using in the latest story battle. I was looking for evolution stones (especially a Moon Stone for Jigglypuff since that was story required) but didn’t find any. Maybe I just missed them. I did google it though and apparently a “traveling merchant” shows up sometimes but maybe I beat the game too fast before I got the luck for them to show up. As I said the gameplay loop of story battle then recruit new warriors/mons to your side was fun at first but seemed like kind of a waste of time after.
Actually speaking of, the way you get new Pokemon is kind of interesting. You have to defeat warriors in four turns or less in the side battles to recruit them, or you can “link” with wild Pokemon to recruit them as well. Defeating the warriors is simple enough if you bring the right team. Linking with the wild Pokemon is a bit different in that you basically play a little rhythm game with them (you just tap A in time with the balls of light that come across the screen like you would in guitar hero). But as I mentioned after the very start of the game to maybe the midgame it didn’t seem worth it. Would’ve liked to have recruited some of the other warlords outside the ones the story gives you, but despite beating them in four turns or less I could never get them on my side. I heard this is because you need the MC present during these battles but I always had him doing story battles. Wish this was made clearer.
Now for the story… it was fine. Nothing too crazy going on here. You go around invading other kingdoms and once you take them over you move on to the next set. I was only invaded myself one time… I think if you take too long to invade kingdoms they probably invade you but the one time I was invaded it seemed like it was a required story thing so after that I sped up the pace to avoid being caught off guard and losing a battle. I think my biggest criticism is that right near the beginning there are these kind of random kid characters that show up and it seems like they’re going to be important to the story but… they kind of just show up to annoy you once every like four battles and don’t really make a difference. But they’re there in the end credits? I don’t know, at least the final battle (part 1 and part 2) was cool, even if how Nobunaga managed to get a Zekrom and a (REDACTED) wasn’t really explained at all.
Apparently there is a very lengthy postgame. I haven’t touched it yet. I’ll probably explore it at least a little bit but there looks like there’s more than double the content of the main story in the postgame. I wish they could’ve added this stuff into the main story because after I see credits roll I’m less inclined to do other stuff. But maybe it’s stuff that would truly only work outside the main story. We’ll see… speaking of the main story took me 13 hours to complete. I was really thorough with recruiting in the early stages though so if you wanted to breeze through in maybe 10 hours you probably could.
Overall I liked Pokemon Conquest. I didn’t like it as much as any Fire Emblem game I’ve played, but I did like it better than some Pokemon side games that I’ve played. Will I try another game in the Nobunaga’s Ambition series? Probably not. But will I explore the postgame at least a bit in Conquest? Definitely yes. I’m just happy I got this game for cheap instead of paying the full price for it, because the main story content isn’t much before credits roll. Like I said though maybe the postgame will have more to offer.
(almost) Final Verdict: 6.5/10 (maybe a 7 if the postgame ends up being really good)
Pokemon Conquest is my favourite game ever since it combines two things I like (feudal japan & pokemon) so I will be taking this chance to talk about it a bit
I also don’t really know if I was playing the game “correctly” tbh, like I would do a story battle every chance I could with my two MCs and a squad to fill out the rest of the slots.
When I first played it (I was like 8) I chose to only use Pokemon with type advantages and would only attack when my power exceeded whatever my opponents did, but recently I've been using the same 6 to plow through kingdom after kingdom, since those battles raise Power a lot.
I'm replaying it and spending a lot of time on the main story because I'm trying to grind for as many warrior's perfect link as possible before I move onto the post game to get the rest.
Would’ve liked to have recruited some of the other warlords outside the ones the story gives you, but despite beating them in four turns or less I could never get them on my side. I heard this is because you need the MC present during these battles but I always had him doing story battles. Wish this was made clearer.
In order to recruit a warlord you have to fulfil one of the normal conditions (within 4 turns, super effective move, defeat them without letting them damage any teammates), AND it must be a warlord who lands the final hit*. The main character doesn't have to be present in the battle, or even in the kingdom.
think if you take too long to invade kingdoms they probably invade you but the one time I was invaded it seemed like it was a required story thing so after that I sped up the pace to avoid being caught off guard and losing a battle.
In the main story they only invade if your Kingdom a low amount of power. In the post-game, they don't invade any kingdoms until May or June of the first year. You'll know when the time comes because it's super peaceful and then all of a sudden there's like 4 battles within one month. You can wait until then in order to have a "harder" game, or get an early advantage and basically just steamroll everyone. Ultimately up to you. Also, in the postgame it's worth mentioning that you can invade kingdoms while bringing 0 warlords.
*in the initial story, none of the warlords or warriors in the eastern kingdoms can be recruited from their kingdom, and none of the warlords will ever spawn
Skyward Sword is the one known as a suffocating 'Zelda formula' iteration, but TP laid the foundation. Overbearing cutscenes and tutorialization, needless item collection popups, undercooked overworld, divisive minigames. TP feels like a spiteful response to WW hate, a lot like how Pokemon BW was a bold revision that the developers wanted but the narrow-minded fans weren't ready for. Couldn't get over the cartoon style? Alright, here's realism to a fault with an emotionally dead story. The crucial element to OoT as a 'formula game' people don't talk about is that it's concise. The longer stuff takes, the more glaring Zelda's limited progression system becomes. There are only a handful of particularly lengthy cutscenes, matching the amount of stuff the game actually has to say. SS actually did a lot to address some other formula issues, with more involved combat and upgrade systems. TP did next to nothing, it was made explicitly to give people what they thought they wanted.
Yeah man I have to agree. Skyward Sword is the game people dog on the most, but having played it before TP I was shocked to realize how similar they were in some of the mechanics, but overall felt that Skyward Sword improved on a lot of what TP tried to do. Money in SS feels a lot more valuable with all the upgrades you can make to stuff. It also gives you a legitimate reason to return to town other than to just carry the plot. Reading your statement about needless item popups made me laugh; I have no clue why they felt the need to explain to me what a blue rupee was every time I went to a new area lol
I was watching a video with some of my fav (j)RPG youtubers talking about Remakes and i agreed with some like Final Fantasy 6 (would add 8 & 9). Dark Cloud series (yes please god), and Legend of Dragoon (obv a classic)
Golden Sun series remake (KEY) & Shadow of the Colossus is key for me. Wild Arms would be third "Top three" entry outside the obvious games in a modern sense... (i know pokemon overuses kanto (and i grew up as a gen-1er but we still aint see aint seen gen 1 open world, dont think that won't happen? lol)
I was watching a video with some of my fav (j)RPG youtubers talking about Remakes and i agreed with some like Final Fantasy 6 (would add 8 & 9). Dark Cloud series (yes please god), and Legend of Dragoon (obv a classic)
Golden Sun series remake (KEY) & Shadow of the Colossus is key for me. Wild Arms would be third "Top three" entry outside the obvious games in a modern sense... (i know pokemon overuses kanto (and i grew up as a gen-1er but we still aint see aint seen gen 1 open world, dont think that won't happen? lol)
I'm honestly conflicted on whether or not I like remakes or remasters to be honest. My biggest issue with these types of things is I'd rather see new games released that I enjoy just as much as the stuff I played years prior. I enjoy the fact that HD Remasters allow older games to be brought to modern consoles as old games just continue to grow in price, but I'd argue that just releasing such games on a shop with no HD enhancements is probably better as they can't find reasons to sell at full retail price.
A preamble on the Sega Genesis (to give some context on the upcoming Sega Genesis reviews I've got cooking up)
The Sega Genesis is a really underrated system, which sucks since it ends up getting easily buried in greater gaming discourse, but it results in the Genesis being IMO the best retro system to collect for when it comes to price vs game quality. All of the "really desirable games that didn't sell millions of copies" are in that somewhat reasonable $45-70 range, any Sega published game outside that group (of which there are a LOT) is like $10-30, and there's maybe 10 games that go for $100+ (all of which you can live without) while the SNES has like 60 of them (which includes Lufia 2, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and every Mega Man besides X1).
The Genesis was very much a console in the right place at the right time. With arcades still booming, the Genesis tried to focus more on bringing the Arcade experience home, a philosophy that also reflected in the kinds of games on the system. While the SNES focused more on making more expansive and content-rich games, which obviously aged better consider how gaming tastes have developed since then, the Genesis was the cheaper console that focused on shorter games that were much flashier, intense, and often harder; many of the killer apps on the Genesis don't even have unlimited continues, let alone a save system.
Sure, the SNES was the stronger system in most aspects: Colors, music that used samples, and complex graphical effects possible through Mode 7, but the Genesis had a much faster processor, hence the slogan "Blast Processing". This actually worked well to the Genesis ideologies: They want fast, hard, and flashy games, and a fast processor that minimizes slowdown is extremely helpful to have. A prime example of the Genesis's advantage can be seen in Shmups. The limited scope of these games already makes them a poor fit for the types of games that fit the SNES ideologies, but then you combine it with a much slower processor that resulted in far slower and laggier gameplay. Meanwhile, Shmups absolutely flourished on the Genesis. Similar stuff happened with Run n Guns and arguably even sports games. Hell, even the Genesis sound chip fit into this ideology. It was far less intuitive than the SNES's, but when used properly, it could actually do rock and electronic music a lot better than the SNES; genres that, surprise surprise, go really well with intense action games.
Conversely, while the SNES is considered one of the greatest systems ever made for RPGs, the genre just did not fit the style of game and audience the Genesis was looking for. This meant that the Genesis actually floundered in Japan while the SNES got new games as late as 2000, years after anyone in the West cared. Combine these factors together, and pretty much every RPG on the Genesis and Sega CD got localized for the US; while the SNES has a laundry list of JP-only RPGs (most of which came out in 1995 or later), the only really noteworthy ones we missed on Genesis were Langrisser 2, Rent a Hero, and Monster World IV (which actually got an official localization by Sega in 2012 lol). Hell, many of the RPGs on the Genesis were published or developed by Sega themselves, and even the SRPGs like the Shining Force games and Warsong (Langrisser 1) got localized, a genre that was pretty much absent from any console in the West until Final Fantasy Tactics.
But the question is...were these games any good? The Genesis doesn't have the wide colors or graphical effects that allow for the stunning look of most SNES RPGs. Their sound chip doesn't really work well for the orchestral sounds found in most SNES RPGs. And Sega's gameplay philosophy don't really align with games that are long, expansive, and story-heavy. How can Sega even make an RPG that competes with the SNES, especially one without action elements?
It's simple, you don't. Sega made an RPG that played to their strengths.
"And the world continued for thousands of years..."
Phantasy Star IV (1993 / 1995) Developer / Publisher: Sega System: Genesis. Lotsa ports but most of modern system ports got delisted (it's on NSO Expansion tho). I'm playing on an original Genesis cart Completion Notes: P sure I did every sidequest. Didn't play the other Phantasy Star games (you don't need to but there are some references to past games throughout)
Immediately upon booting up Phantasy Star IV, before even the Sega logo finishes fadeing in, it becomes clear that this game is gonna be...different from your typical 16-bit RPG.
Almost every 16-bit RPG begins with an orchestral piece, either a calm and beautiful orchestral piece to set the mood right, something more sweeping and epic to impress upon you the epic scale of the journey you are about to embark upon, or even sometimes both. Sure, plenty of Genesis games try to compete and do very admirable jobs but...come on, stay in your lane, you're not outdoing the Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI openings lol.
So instead, when you boot up Phantasy Star IV, the game hits you with THIS.
Phantasy Star IV has a bit of an odd reputation. It seems to be hailed as one of the greatest games ever made, and a game that could apparently "compete alongside the best the SNES had to offer." And yet, it's not a game that really gets discussed much in RPG discourse, even Shining Force 2 gets a lot more attention. I think, more importantly, I've never really gotten a good explanation as to why Phantasy Star IV is good. The general impression I've gotten is that it was a cleanly executed JRPG with a strong scope that happened to be on Genesis (a system not known for RPGs), therefore, it is one of the all-time greats ("It's Final Fantasy for the Genesis!!!!"). God knows, the SNES has plenty of those kinds of games, but you don't see Lufia II or even Super Mario RPG on Wikipedia's greatest games ever list.
Having played it myself, while I wouldn't call Phantasy Star IV a masterpiece...I do think it is very, very good, and definitely a game that is worth checking out as a nice, A-tier 16-bit RPG (if S-tier is considered to include the likes of Final Fantasy VI).
If I can pinpoint the main thing that makes Phantasy Star IV standout, it's the INCREDIBLE pacing. Sega Genesis games were excellent at this stuff and holy SHIT does Phantasy Star IV do a great job of maintaining momentum. The game starts right away, you're right in the first town, introduced to the main leads Alys and Chaz, who both have some fun personality, you're told about a mysterious monster outbreak, you recruit a new party member, and then within the first 5-10 min you're off into the first dungeon. Within my first 45-60 minute playsession, I had recruited another party member, gone through two more dungeons (including a couple boss fights), visited four more towns, and a few story-only locations. Compare this to Final Fantasy VI; as incredible as the start of the game is, that equivalent amount of time is spent entirely in Narshe. It's not really a matter one game being better than the other, it's moreso that Phantasy Star IV is a refreshing change of pace.
This pacing keeps going throughout the whole game. Dungeons are mazes and endurance tests (more on that later), but they're still pretty short. There's a good number of optional dungeons that are sprinkled throughout the entire playthrough on top of sidequests that get unlocked as you explore the world. So if you do need a quick distraction from the story, they're there for you, which is honestly a nice change of pace from Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI that have great sidequests (especially FFVI), but they're mostly relegated to endgame material that impact the ending. In PSIV, you just waltz into a bird cave you found for shits and giggles, find a cool piece of equipment that you'll use for the next hour or two, and then be on your way.
Battles also move incredibly fast thanks to quick but effective animations, and the Macro system which lets you automatically run through your character's actions from a preset you made outside of battle, drastically cutting down time needed for decision making. Menu movement and text is instantaneous too, maybe even a little too fast since I often skip over things lol, and there's very little pausing during battles from text boxes, animations, waiting for the run action to resolve, etc etc. I've timed some of my battles, I think the average random encounter in this game takes like 20 seconds from loading on the overworld to returning to the overworld.
Oh yeah, you can actually run from battles fairly easily, which is a big accomplishment considering the run button never fucking worked in Earthbound and takes 9 million years to finish in Final Fantasy VI. Phantasy Star IV gets rather tough as it goes on, not to the point where you need to grind (as long as you're like me and don't consider "backing out of a dungeon when you nab a bunch of items or if you need to heal before returning to fight the boss" grinding), but those dungeons and boss fights can get very stressful, being filled with late-game bosses or enemies capable of 2 or 3 shotting your entire party.
Now, in most JRPGs, bosses with strong attacks aren't really a big deal on their own. But in a move that seems annoying on paper but is actually really smart in practice, PSIV has pretty much no way to recover magic (outside of inns) and your inventory space is pretty tight, only holding about 48 items including Key Items. In fact, revive items and full healing items in general are hard to come by. You get them dotted through the dungeons, but you can only buy them in the final third of the game, and even then, a single one costs about as much as a piece of mid/late-game equipment (I didn't even know there was a store lol, I was just working off of the items I found on the field). As a result, you can't mindlessly mash your way through dungeons or bosses, you have to be mindful of the resources you're working with if you want to survive. This actually makes the run button a strategic decision: Do I trust my ability to cleanly finish this fight? Or should I run away because even if I survive, I will exhaust too many resources? You need to fight some amount of battles after all, you need that EXP for bosses!
I will note that at the end of the day, PSIV is actually a very simple JRPG. There's pretty much no unique mechanics, it's just your usual attacks and spell slinging. There are special attacks, but they basically operate as limited use "magic-like" attacks (similar to the PP system in Pokemon). There's also an equivalent to Chrono Trigger's Dual and Triple Techs, but they're very finicky to trigger and honestly not all that necessary to beating the game. But this also means that, again, there's really not much you can do to trivialize the game. Yeah, being overpowered is fun and all, but I sometimes wonder if Chrono Trigger would be better if the solution to the entire second half of the game wasn't to spam Gold Stud Luminaire and whatever AoE magic I had on my characters. The final boss has 23,000 HP, and you best believe you are not hitting close to the 999 damage cap; there's no X-Fight or Ultima shenanigans like in FFVI, you are dealing 1,000 damage per turn (assuming you don't need to heal, which you will do a lot!), you are stomaching the occasional attack that will 2HKO your whole party, and you WILL have to battle your way through (it's actually not that bad considering I won first try, but damn I used up all of my items and barely survived)
Phantasy Star IV's story is actually pretty simple, "kill the evil darkness threatening the entire world" stuff, although it takes place in a setting that mixes fantasy and space sci-fi. The characters don't have a ton of depth and most of them don't develop a lot. But what makes the story work is how it's presented to the player. Since the Genesis can't do fancy Mode 7 stuff with a million bajillion colors like the SNES, Phantasy Star IV's overworld is pretty bland and archaic looking by late 1993 and especially early 1995 standards. However, Sega decided to tell the game's story primarily through cutscenes structured like manga, and they work really nicely! Not just at visualizing the story, but also injecting a lot more personality into the cast.
On that note, Phantasy Star IV, has really damn good writing and localization, which makes sense considering Sega likely had a strong localization department given their foothold in NA. Dare I say, it's one of the very best localizations of the 16-bit era (Super Mario RPG, Earthbound, and Snatcher are really the only games that come to mind that best it). Characters talk in a way that feels incredibly natural, there's no odd stiltedness that sometimes exists in FFVI (as much as I adore that game's story and characters). There's a sense of fun to it all, seeing Alys instantly try to get Hahn to pay her for escorting him through the first dungeon, Rune constantly trolling the shit out of Chaz (though gradually become more of a cheeky big brother as the game goes on), Kyra being go-getter cool girl. Since this is Sega, they're a bit more relaxed on censorship. For example, while there's no explicit mention of alcohol, there are bars and they certainly suggest that some characters are drunk. There's even a few mildly risqué moments (mild enough and delivered in such a way that it's admittedly pretty fun/funny rather than weird) such as learning certain things about the main heroine Alys. It was actually kinda surprising to find out that some of the lines in this game were mistranslated, because the writing is so tight that it just works regardless (i.e. see below)
I'll note that while you're not getting a story filled with iconic moments that deeply explores some rather introspective themes (ala FFVI and grief-based depression), there are some noteworthy highlights through the game.
There's a particular boss fight about a third of the way through the game that is easily one of the best "forced-loss" fights I've ever seen, the way he doesn't attack you at all for two turns straight while all of your attacks miss, the way his first attack just summons a dark figure ala Kefka's Goner attack in FFVI, and when he finally decides to attack a character, the attack animation flashes the screen like CRAZY. It's almost like he's so strong, that the game itself is breaking when he uses it.
The ending, as well as an endgame sidequest, I think hammer in what the game's main theme was: the balance between connections / friendships with others, and the acceptance that we all move on with our lives as time passes so we must have an independent strength too
Phantasy Star IV has about 10 or so playable characters, and the vast majority will leave the party after joining for at least some amount of time. It feels great to be able to see them again during the endgame, but I will concede that the ending did sting a bit when everyone had to go their own separate ways. This theme is reflected in Chaz's arc as he sees these characters he came to know come and go, many being characters he will likely never see again. Over the course of the game, he goes from being a weak apprentice to the strongest member of your party in a natural ludonarrative. So when everyone has to leave, he now, like everyone else has the strength to keep living on his own terms. Again, it's nothing deep and his character is still pretty basic, but like everything else in this game, the execution is simple but very clean
One last thing I can touch on is the game's soundtrack. The Genesis is pretty infamous for its soundchip producing a lot of bad music, but truthfully there is plenty of great Genesis music, and Phantasy Star IV is one such case. The Genesis soundchip is particularly good at harder rock and metal music as well as electronic, and much like the game's intro, the best in Phantasy Star IV reflect this.
You've got the electronic vibes of Behind the Circuit, one of the primary dungeon themes. There's the sinisterness of Laughter, which is basically the equivalent of the Magus battle theme (beware spoilers!!). The more general RPG stuff is great too, here's another more traditional dungeon theme that is catchy and energetic as hell. And of course, there is the INCREDIBLE Ooze, a straight-up metal song for the final battle that is equal parts sinister/intense and motivating/exciting (yes, it's absolutely better than Porky Means Business), it's probably my favorite song in the game. And yes, GaMetal has a great cover of it (and Laughter too).
If you're looking for a 16-bit JRPG not named Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG that's simple, fast-paced / not very long (maybe 20 hours tops if you do every sidequest?), has a straightforward plot that would have fit right at home on late 90s/early 00s Toonami, and is, above all, a lot of fun (unlike FF Mystic Quest), I'd highly recommend Phantasy Star IV. Just maybe don't go in expecting complex gameplay or a particularly deep story-driven masterpiece.
If you're super lazy when it comes to emulation or just like portability, this game is on NSO. The Genesis selection on NSO is pretty fire in general tbh. Got a bunch of cool and rare games on there like Crusader of Centy (good 2D Zelda clone), Pulseman (platformer done by Game Freak that inspired Rotom's design) and Castlevania: Bloodlines (one of the best Classicvanias with an exceptionally good soundtrack).
I'm honestly conflicted on whether or not I like remakes or remasters to be honest. My biggest issue with these types of things is I'd rather see new games released that I enjoy just as much as the stuff I played years prior. I enjoy the fact that HD Remasters allow older games to be brought to modern consoles as old games just continue to grow in price, but I'd argue that just releasing such games on a shop with no HD enhancements is probably better as they can't find reasons to sell at full retail price.
I agree some are def obvious cash grabs -- but i will say it is fun seeing some that have been or tryna be rejuvenated lately, i think we all have been scorned by least 1, sure lol - but hell a lot have unfound and unfulfilled memories to fill within their stories so im for that with IDs that deserve it.
That said - just IMO i think these companies (Esp RPG and legacy type franchise realms) are using classics to test interest in things cus like for example all the Chrono Trigger talks it's been loved for essentially 30 years now - that makes sense lol. Both for remasters and if those remasters sell well maybe new games within those realms lol.
Why you think SMT/Persona been pumping out new stuff (remakes/spin offs/etc) for years? They've had big success recently.
Meanwhile Elder Scrolls fans... (lol)
Edit: I also (just using Final Fantasy for example) why wouldn't a company use lore that still reeks of unfinished business for new games for example? Esp for the gamers who have grown now and love the nostalgia and maybe have kids. It's smart business. lol
I know if i had a kid atm id had them sitting there like "lemme show ya how it was when i was you vs you watching this now" to yes try and share it with em, would do the same with pro wrestling lol
Just make it a labor of love - not a course for the cash.
A remake should be approached with respect cus you're remaking it for a reason. (How many times has Pokemon remade Kanto?) - That's why I enjoyed the 7 Remakes, I know some like turn based more.
I can go for whatever Im playing atm and i lowkey was eager to see the world in that sense and loved it lol.
I got the assassins creed preorder, pretty excited. Only campaign games I played by myself before were the pokemon franchise, red dead, and Indiana Jones. Bought Elden Ring 2 years ago but kinda gave up (not beginner friendly). My older brother loved all the assassins creed games, and while I didn't play them I love how they incorporated history and had great attention to detail to the source content. This one looks really good. Even if its not at least it'll still be another beautiful game.
I'm back with another casual "game review." This one is interesting as my opinions surrounding it had some ups and downs. I apologize in advance for my lack of consistent formatting, I haven't really found the best way to go about writing these yet lol
Game: Metaphor ReFantazio
Overall Ranking: B
The Good: To start I'd like to talk about a few of the characters. Hands down Strohl and Basilio were my favorites. Say what you will about playing these types of games on English, but I found their respective voice actors did a tremendous job. Along with that, they were just written incredibly well. My brother and I were joking the whole playthrough that Strohl was the true main character haha. I ultimately enjoyed the combat system in this game. It reminded me a bit of Digital Devil Saga with how skills were learned. I enjoyed the villain of Louis too. I think some of the best villains are the ones that are interacting with the player a lot. I enjoyed that we got to see a good chunk of him and even interact with him before the end game fight. Lastly I enjoyed the setting and music. Immensely loved how the Human monsters almost resembled something out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. The world ultimately had a weird mix of Italian renaissance and fantasy, which I found intriguing.
The Bad:
Where do I start here? The best way to put it is the game left me feeling immensely disappointed. To start, I'd like to poke at the combat. I did praise it, but that's only at a surface level. A lot of the job classes honestly suck, and I ultimately found myself dumping xp into the same jobs for a lot of my characters just to get the same skills. I also am not a fan of the Theurgy things Atlus is adding to their games. I played through on Hard mode and found it fairly simple and boring because of how good and spammable the theurgy thing was. My biggest gripe with the game though comes from the end game writing. I know Atlus loves to include edgy things into their games, but how this game chose to do so was just laughable. Throughout the entire game there is no mention of "anxiety." However in the last chapter the game decides to put a huge emphasis on how everyone is letting anxiety rule them and how anxiety is the cause of a lot of problems. Now, it's hard for me to explain and you'd really have to play the game to see for yourself, but the way they implement this doesn't make a lot of sense in the context it's applied, and the randomness of the topic being discussed made the whole thing feel shoehorned in. I feel the game would have felt a lot better in its writing if it took itself a little more seriously and was strictly a political plot. I enjoyed the concept of fighting for the crown, but I feel the concept could have been expanded so much more. All the other candidates have political points so stupid that they obviously aren't gonna be considered, so right away it's clear it's just a battle between you and Louis. The end moment where your team makes a final stand and is saved from death by a broken airplane is incredibly corny and expected, and left me feeling annoyed that the game constantly refused to take itself seriously.
Afterthoughts: This game left me feeling very conflicted. In an attempt to give my life more structure and fullfillment, I've been playing through solo player games with some of my free time. All my life I've enjoyed rpgs and I was going into this game expecting to love it, especially after not enjoying the Zelda formula I thought I used to love. While I did mostly enjoy the combat mechanics, the writing of the game was driving me up a wall. At 28 I'm wondering if I've outgrown rpgs or even video games in general. It's weird, because when I played through Chrono Trigger a while back I immensely enjoyed it. I'm still trying to pinpoint what in a game I enjoy these days.
I have a couple of games in my backlog that I'm thinking of playing next. If anyone actually reads this, feel free to share what you think I should play next out of these games:
Kingdom Hearts 3
Devil Summoner: Raidou vs. the Soulless Army
Visions of Mana
Tales of Legendia
I'm back with another casual "game review." This one is interesting as my opinions surrounding it had some ups and downs. I apologize in advance for my lack of consistent formatting, I haven't really found the best way to go about writing these yet lol
Game: Metaphor ReFantazio
Overall Ranking: B
The Good: To start I'd like to talk about a few of the characters. Hands down Strohl and Basilio were my favorites. Say what you will about playing these types of games on English, but I found their respective voice actors did a tremendous job. Along with that, they were just written incredibly well. My brother and I were joking the whole playthrough that Strohl was the true main character haha. I ultimately enjoyed the combat system in this game. It reminded me a bit of Digital Devil Saga with how skills were learned. I enjoyed the villain of Louis too. I think some of the best villains are the ones that are interacting with the player a lot. I enjoyed that we got to see a good chunk of him and even interact with him before the end game fight. Lastly I enjoyed the setting and music. Immensely loved how the Human monsters almost resembled something out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. The world ultimately had a weird mix of Italian renaissance and fantasy, which I found intriguing.
The Bad:
Where do I start here? The best way to put it is the game left me feeling immensely disappointed. To start, I'd like to poke at the combat. I did praise it, but that's only at a surface level. A lot of the job classes honestly suck, and I ultimately found myself dumping xp into the same jobs for a lot of my characters just to get the same skills. I also am not a fan of the Theurgy things Atlus is adding to their games. I played through on Hard mode and found it fairly simple and boring because of how good and spammable the theurgy thing was. My biggest gripe with the game though comes from the end game writing. I know Atlus loves to include edgy things into their games, but how this game chose to do so was just laughable. Throughout the entire game there is no mention of "anxiety." However in the last chapter the game decides to put a huge emphasis on how everyone is letting anxiety rule them and how anxiety is the cause of a lot of problems. Now, it's hard for me to explain and you'd really have to play the game to see for yourself, but the way they implement this doesn't make a lot of sense in the context it's applied, and the randomness of the topic being discussed made the whole thing feel shoehorned in. I feel the game would have felt a lot better in its writing if it took itself a little more seriously and was strictly a political plot. I enjoyed the concept of fighting for the crown, but I feel the concept could have been expanded so much more. All the other candidates have political points so stupid that they obviously aren't gonna be considered, so right away it's clear it's just a battle between you and Louis. The end moment where your team makes a final stand and is saved from death by a broken airplane is incredibly corny and expected, and left me feeling annoyed that the game constantly refused to take itself seriously.
Afterthoughts: This game left me feeling very conflicted. In an attempt to give my life more structure and fullfillment, I've been playing through solo player games with some of my free time. All my life I've enjoyed rpgs and I was going into this game expecting to love it, especially after not enjoying the Zelda formula I thought I used to love. While I did mostly enjoy the combat mechanics, the writing of the game was driving me up a wall. At 28 I'm wondering if I've outgrown rpgs or even video games in general. It's weird, because when I played through Chrono Trigger a while back I immensely enjoyed it. I'm still trying to pinpoint what in a game I enjoy these days.
I have a couple of games in my backlog that I'm thinking of playing next. If anyone actually reads this, feel free to share what you think I should play next out of these games:
Kingdom Hearts 3
Devil Summoner: Raidou vs. the Soulless Army
Visions of Mana
Tales of Legendia
Feel you on this, Atlus (at least the Persona series which this game clearly branches off of) has always been a bit shaky with writing IMO. They always have a few characters they hit out the park, but the overall plot and also the worldbuilding always leaves a bit to be desired. For me the villains (not just Louis but pretty much all the plot-relevant ones) are a huge highlight of this game, and I wasn't expecting that much from the plot so I guess that helped me stomach the issues you highlighted.
I'm not much of an RPG-head but I can't remember playing one where the writing *really* impressed me. Which is why I enjoyed branching off into more narrative-focused games as I aged I suppose. I think in this "I'm not sure what I even enjoy anymore" endeavor it might help you to go into new things, things that you're not necessarily expecting to enjoy. You're probably putting a lot of pressure and expectations on your next game to be "the one that reignites the passion" which I think probably dooms any game! If you have anything else that sparks your curiosity that is *not* an RPG - it could even be a movie or a TV series or something - I would suggest you go do that and come back to RPGs when you have less expectation baggage attached
If you want a good Atlas game you should try Radiant Historia. It has a time travel focus like Chrono Trigger but on a smaller and more intimate scale. Combat is really fun, too, since you can mess around with turn order at the cost of defense debuffs, fuck up enemy turns, or shuffle their positions (mobs are on a 3x3 grid) to maximize damage. Easily one of my top 3 RPGs ever.
Oh and Yoko Shimomura did the soundtrack so you know it's peak.
Feel you on this, Atlus (at least the Persona series which this game clearly branches off of) has always been a bit shaky with writing IMO. They always have a few characters they hit out the park, but the overall plot and also the worldbuilding always leaves a bit to be desired. For me the villains (not just Louis but pretty much all the plot-relevant ones) are a huge highlight of this game, and I wasn't expecting that much from the plot so I guess that helped me stomach the issues you highlighted.
I'm not much of an RPG-head but I can't remember playing one where the writing *really* impressed me. Which is why I enjoyed branching off into more narrative-focused games as I aged I suppose. I think in this "I'm not sure what I even enjoy anymore" endeavor it might help you to go into new things, things that you're not necessarily expecting to enjoy. You're probably putting a lot of pressure and expectations on your next game to be "the one that reignites the passion" which I think probably dooms any game! If you have anything else that sparks your curiosity that is *not* an RPG - it could even be a movie or a TV series or something - I would suggest you go do that and come back to RPGs when you have less expectation baggage attached
Yeah to be honest the writing in rpgs tends to lean pretty corny. A while back I played through the Trials of Mana remake, and while it had flaws related to voice acting the game overall was very simple in its story, it put an emphasis on casual, fun gameplay. Ultimately I enjoyed it so much because at no point was it trying to take itself seriously. A lot of rpgs I've found try to take themselves seriously, but then flounder because of corny writing. I like your input on "reigniting passion." I admittedly have been setting myself up for failure with the mindset I've been having going into some of these. I think I'll take you up on your suggestion of putting a pause on rpgs. Mario Galaxy 2 is one that passed me by and I've always thought of trying. Might have to look into that!
If you want a good Atlas game you should try Radiant Historia. It has a time travel focus like Chrono Trigger but on a smaller and more intimate scale. Combat is really fun, too, since you can mess around with turn order at the cost of defense debuffs, fuck up enemy turns, or shuffle their positions (mobs are on a 3x3 grid) to maximize damage. Easily one of my top 3 RPGs ever.
Oh and Yoko Shimomura did the soundtrack so you know it's peak.
