AllenVG
182 Reviews liked by AllenVG
Breaking my heart all over again in HD
Chocobo GP
2022
I waited 23 years for this... I think waiting is more fun than this crap
Planet Laika
1999
them white bois had me on crystal meth
asides from the pc-98 version this is probably the best way to play madou 1
A quiet, unassuming first act gingerly constructs an expertly-arranged cavalcade of narrative dominos which cascades forward with an unrelenting momentum all the way to the end of the game. This remake was released in 1996, but not much had to be done besides prettying it up (which has been done exquisitely); the original 1992 release was astonishingly forward-thinking, containing the exact gameplay and storytelling DNA that would serve as the foundation for games like Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire III to achieve their masterpiece statuses. If it wasn’t for a handful of truly horrendous dungeons and an admittedly monotonous battle system (which again, would later find its full potential in Chrono Trigger), this would easily be considered a similarly towering monument in the genre. Instead, Lunar is humbly content staying in the background and allowing its impact on the history of RPGs to manifest in spirit rather than in name. It’s just a few too many flaws short of a true masterpiece, but undeniably an all-timer. For fans of RPGs, this is your favorite game’s favorite game – or rather, a lavishly loving recreation of your favorite game’s favorite game.
Fire Emblem Engage
2023
This review contains spoilers
I'm mixed at best.
Overall, I think the gameplay is solid. I think Break is an excellent mechanic that encourages aggression on the part of the player and makes the game's combat player-phase focused. The Engage effects are really flashy, really cool and really interesting - if a bit overpowered (Sigurd's effect is pretty bonkers, especially combined with Chloe which gives her a ridiculous amount of movement). Whilst I don't think there's an astounding map in Engage akin to Conquest Chapter 10, many of the maps in the early and mid game are very good, with the highlight being Chapter 11 in my view.
That being said, though Engage's gameplay is an improvement over Echoes and Three Houses, I absolutely wouldn't say it has the best gameplay in the series. In particular, I think Conquest overall has better balance by virtue of not having the Engage effects be so powerful, and whilst the early and mid game's map designs are good, I think that outside of the (admittedly great) final boss, Engage's map design deteriorates significantly in the late game. Out of the last 10 maps, I think there are only two maps with meaningful side objectives (in Chapters 19 and 20) and one additional anti-turtling incentive (via a time limit in Chapter 24) - and many of the late game maps feel like open fields without much in the way of interesting terrain - to the point where I'd argue that if it wasn't for Engage's core mechanics, most of the late game maps aren't any better than those of Three Houses.
My biggest issue with Engage's plot is there is nothing that is at all compelling. There's nothing that is compelling enough to really hook players in and leave a lasting impression on them either. None of the game's emotional beats manage to hit particularly well and nothing the game presents has provoked any kind of thought. Whilst Fire Emblem has had its share of simple stories in the past, no story in the series has been this incredibly shallow. I would be perfectly fine with a simple story (Sacred Stones is one of my favorite games in the series because of how well it is executed) - but Engage isn't the next Sacred Stones. If anything, it's the next Birthright in how poor the story's execution is despite how little the story attempts to do.
The dialogue is abysmal - characters at times feel like they were written by aliens who read about how humans talk in a book. This, I would argue, worsens the game's incessant avatar pandering. Whilst avatar pandering has been an issue with every Fire Emblem game since Awakening, it has never been this blatant.
Another minor issue with Engage's plot that may have been forgivable if it was attached to a more interesting story is its tonal inconsistencies. Whilst I wouldn't have had that much of an issue if Engage had committed to being a more comedic Fire Emblem game (and the first few chapters are by far the best for this reason) - there are countless moments where the game wants me to take it seriously, and because of how jarring this is compared to the silly anime hijinks that fill the rest of Engage's plot, none of these moments land.
Whilst Engage is not supposed to be a groundbreaking plot, given that it is clearly an anniversary title, I also have to note the sheer unoriginality of Engage's plot - to the point where certain late-game plot points are flat out ripped from Fates.
Engage's plot really suffers in its pacing. Because it tries to rush players from plot point to plot point without giving the player time reflect upon events or actually showing the backstories of certain characters, nothing in Engage that resembles an emotional moment feels at all earned. Of particular note is Lumera's second death in Chapter 25 where she gets revived and dies in the span of one chapter just like Mikoto did in Revelation and which my response basically was "At least Mikoto had the decency to not drag out her death for five minutes". Compare this with Lyon where there are numerous cutscenes in Sacred Stones showing his backstory and humanizing him well before he is ever fought, or even Emmeryn or Jeralt's deaths, which occur far later in the plot that that of Lumera's and after the point where you've grown attached to these characters.
I haven't even gotten to the contrivances yet - and there's a lot of contrivances attached to Engage's plot. Key plot points seem to be driven by events that come out of completely nowhere. Most notable of which are the Chapter 10-11 sequence where Veyle magically steals your time crystal out of nowhere, or the Chapter 21-22 sequence where Sombron suddenly appears out of completely nowhere, only for Alear to begin fading despite the fact that the game never hints that Corrupted die after summoning Emblems only for Veyle to try to revive Alear and fail despite successfully doing so in the previous cutscene only for Alear to get revived out of nowhere by the other twelve Emblems revive them out of completely nowhere due to some sort of thousand year miracle (which they could have done the first time Alear got killed) that the writers were clearly making up as they went along - it's a contrivance on top of a contrivance on top of a contrivance.
All of these issues wouldn't be particularly problematic if they were attached to a more interesting story. The problem with Engage's plot is that very little works particularly well. It's an aggressively mediocre plot even on paper - and as such, all of these minor issues ultimately drags this story down from a serviceable plot to one that is barely better than Fates. Even Awakening, for all of the issues with its plot, managed to have some highlights in its story which Engage just doesn't have.
In my view, the character writing of Fire Emblem is arguably the most essential aspect of the series. In this stead, Engage's character writing isn't just a very noticeable step down from Three Houses (which admittedly was always going to be a very tough act to follow), but outright mediocre at best even when taken on its own merits.
On paper, Alear is a serviceable character. They're like Shez in that they're goofy and charming (albeit maybe a bit less charming), and their suggestion to run early on is a highlight of their character. The problem I have with them, however, are twofold: the constant avatar pandering which I mentioned above, and their presence in the story.
Alear has the same issue with Corrin in that they are the only protagonist in the game. In Awakening and Three Houses, having a bland avatar, whilst still problematic, wasn't as detrimental to the plot because there were other, far more compelling lords in these games which drove the plot. The problem with Engage, though, is that since Alear has no supporting protagonist, the story requires them to be a compelling character in their own right to hold up the story - and unfortunately, whilst Alear can be charming at times, they are not a compelling character at all. The only remotely interesting aspect to their characterization is the fact that they are Sombron's child - which gets resolved in Chapter 20 immediately after it gets brought up. It isn't even brought up in their supports despite the fact that Veyle being part Fell Dragon is brought up in her supports. It's a shame, especially coming off of the two most compelling lords in the series in Edelgard and Dimitri.
I don't like Sombron as an antagonist either. He has the same issue as the Agarthans in that whilst there's something to his character, it's let down completely by the fact that most of his presentation shows him doing generically evil things. Whilst the writers wanted him to be sympathetic to an extent given his motive rant in the final chapter and in his backstory, because he isn't humanized at all, it falls completely flat. Just a scene or two where he does do good things would have worked wonders for his character.
The side characters are a massive mixed bag at best. To its credit, I feel that Engage's cast has a little more to them than that of Awakening or Fates' casts, and there's no character that's quite as offensively awful as Peri or Camilla. That being said, I think Engage's cast is presented horribly. Almost all of the C supports and even most of the B supports revolve around each character's gimmicks or is needless fluff, and very little that is particularly enlightening is brought up at all. Whilst this wasn't something that was particularly noticeable when the game leaked and I first read the supports, it's feels outright grating when I'm actually playing the game and I can't just read all of the supports at once. The A supports are much better in this regard, but even these supports aren't at all exceptional. Even the more meaningful supports feel contradictory and incohesive - compare Diamant making a bit deal about how he has to be better than his predecessors and resist his people's temptation to wage war with his support with Framme and his support with Alfred where he all but admits that he will be willing to wage war if his people demand it, making him look downright cowardly. Or how Celine makes a big deal about doing anything to protect Firene but gleefully helping Mauvier without any hesitation despite the fact that Mauvier destroyed a city in Firene and never apologizes for it - apparently she only cares about named characters in Firene?
My biggest criticism of Engage's cast is that for one reason or another (i.e. maybe Engage's worldbuilding isn't particularly deep), many of the characters don't feel like they are grounded in the world they live in. As a result, many of the characters don't have a cohesive worldview that they can use in interactions with other characters, which I think the Tellius games and Three Houses did really well. For an example, Alfred trains a lot because according to his support with Celine, he has an old illness and he doesn't want his allies to see this weakness of his. Compare this to Jill from Path of Radiance, who initially is racist due to the systemic racism within Daein, or Dorothea from Three Houses, who is desperate to marry a rich noble due to her unstable childhood as a result of Fodlan's classism. The latter two are characters whose writing wouldn't make sense outside of the world they exist in - whereas Alfred (and most of Engage's cast, for that matter) feel like they could be in any other game in the series and not much would change.
The characters of Engage also feel far too idealized. While I don't think every character needs to be outwardly flawed, so many of Engage's cast feels generically nice that the cast begins to feel outright interchangeable. Almost every character interaction has the characters in question acting polite and friendly towards each other. Because of this, there is very little room for the drama, misunderstanding, character growth or ideological disagreements that are required to make a character compelling - and just because Engage's characters are nice people don't mean that there isn't any room for such drama or disagreements to occur (Dorothea's support with Ferdinand and Mercedes' support with Sylvain are excellent examples of this despite the fact that Dorothea and Mercedes are kind people). Hence, there is nothing in Engage's character writing that is nearly as memorable as Jill having to grapple with her racism, or Marianne finding her will to live, or Lysithea grappling with her own mortality, and that's simply a shame.
It's not all bad, though. In particular, there are some standout characters that do have some compelling character interactions. In particular, Ivy is a real highlight because it feels like the worldbuilding of Elusia was very carefully considered when the writers were designing her character. The fact that she's a worshipper of the Divine Dragon makes sense because she's had poor experiences with the fact that Elusia worships the Fell Dragon, and as a result, she changed religions in secret. Similarly, the fact's that she's very distrustful can both be attributed by both her mistreatment within the Elusian court and her mistreatment at the hands of the Fell Dragon's worshippers. In this stead, she genuinely feels like a Tellius or Three Houses character in that her worldview and personality traits are informed by her place in the world. Similarly, whilst Veyle has a similar backstory to Alear in that she is part Fell Dragon, this fact is meaningfully brought up in her supports, and she is a far stronger character as a result.
Overall, it's exactly what I expected from all of the trailers - good gameplay, but really poor storytelling and characters.
Overall, I think the gameplay is solid. I think Break is an excellent mechanic that encourages aggression on the part of the player and makes the game's combat player-phase focused. The Engage effects are really flashy, really cool and really interesting - if a bit overpowered (Sigurd's effect is pretty bonkers, especially combined with Chloe which gives her a ridiculous amount of movement). Whilst I don't think there's an astounding map in Engage akin to Conquest Chapter 10, many of the maps in the early and mid game are very good, with the highlight being Chapter 11 in my view.
That being said, though Engage's gameplay is an improvement over Echoes and Three Houses, I absolutely wouldn't say it has the best gameplay in the series. In particular, I think Conquest overall has better balance by virtue of not having the Engage effects be so powerful, and whilst the early and mid game's map designs are good, I think that outside of the (admittedly great) final boss, Engage's map design deteriorates significantly in the late game. Out of the last 10 maps, I think there are only two maps with meaningful side objectives (in Chapters 19 and 20) and one additional anti-turtling incentive (via a time limit in Chapter 24) - and many of the late game maps feel like open fields without much in the way of interesting terrain - to the point where I'd argue that if it wasn't for Engage's core mechanics, most of the late game maps aren't any better than those of Three Houses.
My biggest issue with Engage's plot is there is nothing that is at all compelling. There's nothing that is compelling enough to really hook players in and leave a lasting impression on them either. None of the game's emotional beats manage to hit particularly well and nothing the game presents has provoked any kind of thought. Whilst Fire Emblem has had its share of simple stories in the past, no story in the series has been this incredibly shallow. I would be perfectly fine with a simple story (Sacred Stones is one of my favorite games in the series because of how well it is executed) - but Engage isn't the next Sacred Stones. If anything, it's the next Birthright in how poor the story's execution is despite how little the story attempts to do.
The dialogue is abysmal - characters at times feel like they were written by aliens who read about how humans talk in a book. This, I would argue, worsens the game's incessant avatar pandering. Whilst avatar pandering has been an issue with every Fire Emblem game since Awakening, it has never been this blatant.
Another minor issue with Engage's plot that may have been forgivable if it was attached to a more interesting story is its tonal inconsistencies. Whilst I wouldn't have had that much of an issue if Engage had committed to being a more comedic Fire Emblem game (and the first few chapters are by far the best for this reason) - there are countless moments where the game wants me to take it seriously, and because of how jarring this is compared to the silly anime hijinks that fill the rest of Engage's plot, none of these moments land.
Whilst Engage is not supposed to be a groundbreaking plot, given that it is clearly an anniversary title, I also have to note the sheer unoriginality of Engage's plot - to the point where certain late-game plot points are flat out ripped from Fates.
Engage's plot really suffers in its pacing. Because it tries to rush players from plot point to plot point without giving the player time reflect upon events or actually showing the backstories of certain characters, nothing in Engage that resembles an emotional moment feels at all earned. Of particular note is Lumera's second death in Chapter 25 where she gets revived and dies in the span of one chapter just like Mikoto did in Revelation and which my response basically was "At least Mikoto had the decency to not drag out her death for five minutes". Compare this with Lyon where there are numerous cutscenes in Sacred Stones showing his backstory and humanizing him well before he is ever fought, or even Emmeryn or Jeralt's deaths, which occur far later in the plot that that of Lumera's and after the point where you've grown attached to these characters.
I haven't even gotten to the contrivances yet - and there's a lot of contrivances attached to Engage's plot. Key plot points seem to be driven by events that come out of completely nowhere. Most notable of which are the Chapter 10-11 sequence where Veyle magically steals your time crystal out of nowhere, or the Chapter 21-22 sequence where Sombron suddenly appears out of completely nowhere, only for Alear to begin fading despite the fact that the game never hints that Corrupted die after summoning Emblems only for Veyle to try to revive Alear and fail despite successfully doing so in the previous cutscene only for Alear to get revived out of nowhere by the other twelve Emblems revive them out of completely nowhere due to some sort of thousand year miracle (which they could have done the first time Alear got killed) that the writers were clearly making up as they went along - it's a contrivance on top of a contrivance on top of a contrivance.
All of these issues wouldn't be particularly problematic if they were attached to a more interesting story. The problem with Engage's plot is that very little works particularly well. It's an aggressively mediocre plot even on paper - and as such, all of these minor issues ultimately drags this story down from a serviceable plot to one that is barely better than Fates. Even Awakening, for all of the issues with its plot, managed to have some highlights in its story which Engage just doesn't have.
In my view, the character writing of Fire Emblem is arguably the most essential aspect of the series. In this stead, Engage's character writing isn't just a very noticeable step down from Three Houses (which admittedly was always going to be a very tough act to follow), but outright mediocre at best even when taken on its own merits.
On paper, Alear is a serviceable character. They're like Shez in that they're goofy and charming (albeit maybe a bit less charming), and their suggestion to run early on is a highlight of their character. The problem I have with them, however, are twofold: the constant avatar pandering which I mentioned above, and their presence in the story.
Alear has the same issue with Corrin in that they are the only protagonist in the game. In Awakening and Three Houses, having a bland avatar, whilst still problematic, wasn't as detrimental to the plot because there were other, far more compelling lords in these games which drove the plot. The problem with Engage, though, is that since Alear has no supporting protagonist, the story requires them to be a compelling character in their own right to hold up the story - and unfortunately, whilst Alear can be charming at times, they are not a compelling character at all. The only remotely interesting aspect to their characterization is the fact that they are Sombron's child - which gets resolved in Chapter 20 immediately after it gets brought up. It isn't even brought up in their supports despite the fact that Veyle being part Fell Dragon is brought up in her supports. It's a shame, especially coming off of the two most compelling lords in the series in Edelgard and Dimitri.
I don't like Sombron as an antagonist either. He has the same issue as the Agarthans in that whilst there's something to his character, it's let down completely by the fact that most of his presentation shows him doing generically evil things. Whilst the writers wanted him to be sympathetic to an extent given his motive rant in the final chapter and in his backstory, because he isn't humanized at all, it falls completely flat. Just a scene or two where he does do good things would have worked wonders for his character.
The side characters are a massive mixed bag at best. To its credit, I feel that Engage's cast has a little more to them than that of Awakening or Fates' casts, and there's no character that's quite as offensively awful as Peri or Camilla. That being said, I think Engage's cast is presented horribly. Almost all of the C supports and even most of the B supports revolve around each character's gimmicks or is needless fluff, and very little that is particularly enlightening is brought up at all. Whilst this wasn't something that was particularly noticeable when the game leaked and I first read the supports, it's feels outright grating when I'm actually playing the game and I can't just read all of the supports at once. The A supports are much better in this regard, but even these supports aren't at all exceptional. Even the more meaningful supports feel contradictory and incohesive - compare Diamant making a bit deal about how he has to be better than his predecessors and resist his people's temptation to wage war with his support with Framme and his support with Alfred where he all but admits that he will be willing to wage war if his people demand it, making him look downright cowardly. Or how Celine makes a big deal about doing anything to protect Firene but gleefully helping Mauvier without any hesitation despite the fact that Mauvier destroyed a city in Firene and never apologizes for it - apparently she only cares about named characters in Firene?
My biggest criticism of Engage's cast is that for one reason or another (i.e. maybe Engage's worldbuilding isn't particularly deep), many of the characters don't feel like they are grounded in the world they live in. As a result, many of the characters don't have a cohesive worldview that they can use in interactions with other characters, which I think the Tellius games and Three Houses did really well. For an example, Alfred trains a lot because according to his support with Celine, he has an old illness and he doesn't want his allies to see this weakness of his. Compare this to Jill from Path of Radiance, who initially is racist due to the systemic racism within Daein, or Dorothea from Three Houses, who is desperate to marry a rich noble due to her unstable childhood as a result of Fodlan's classism. The latter two are characters whose writing wouldn't make sense outside of the world they exist in - whereas Alfred (and most of Engage's cast, for that matter) feel like they could be in any other game in the series and not much would change.
The characters of Engage also feel far too idealized. While I don't think every character needs to be outwardly flawed, so many of Engage's cast feels generically nice that the cast begins to feel outright interchangeable. Almost every character interaction has the characters in question acting polite and friendly towards each other. Because of this, there is very little room for the drama, misunderstanding, character growth or ideological disagreements that are required to make a character compelling - and just because Engage's characters are nice people don't mean that there isn't any room for such drama or disagreements to occur (Dorothea's support with Ferdinand and Mercedes' support with Sylvain are excellent examples of this despite the fact that Dorothea and Mercedes are kind people). Hence, there is nothing in Engage's character writing that is nearly as memorable as Jill having to grapple with her racism, or Marianne finding her will to live, or Lysithea grappling with her own mortality, and that's simply a shame.
It's not all bad, though. In particular, there are some standout characters that do have some compelling character interactions. In particular, Ivy is a real highlight because it feels like the worldbuilding of Elusia was very carefully considered when the writers were designing her character. The fact that she's a worshipper of the Divine Dragon makes sense because she's had poor experiences with the fact that Elusia worships the Fell Dragon, and as a result, she changed religions in secret. Similarly, the fact's that she's very distrustful can both be attributed by both her mistreatment within the Elusian court and her mistreatment at the hands of the Fell Dragon's worshippers. In this stead, she genuinely feels like a Tellius or Three Houses character in that her worldview and personality traits are informed by her place in the world. Similarly, whilst Veyle has a similar backstory to Alear in that she is part Fell Dragon, this fact is meaningfully brought up in her supports, and she is a far stronger character as a result.
Overall, it's exactly what I expected from all of the trailers - good gameplay, but really poor storytelling and characters.
Vanguard Bandits
1998
The gameplay of this one just didn't click with me. The AI is terrible, and the go to tactic seems to be exploiting said AI for all it's worth (like skipping enemy unit turns, kiting them from range).
I don't mind choosing your own stats while leveling up (SMT games do that as well), but why are a lot of abilities tied to having specific stats? The game doesn't tell you much about it, so without a guide i was already screwed.
The story is just your average run of the mill empire vs kingdom setting, with a general budget mech anime plot with all the corresponding tropes, and over the top villains. The humor is in it''s own time bubble, but really good regardless. If you don't expect anything deep and want to have fun, it's an enjoyable ride.
There is a support system, but your teammates utter but a single sentence when you talk to him before a mission, and it's not easy to see what the moral of your forces exactly is. Feels a bit tacked on, and it's only useful to prevent a single bad ending.
I give the game credits for having 3 routes (although one of them is completely ridiculous), and even an alternate opening cinematic. The battles are actually decently animated for being 3d in 1998, and there are those fancy looking text balloons while fighting. A lot of lazy animation in the in between scenes (no sprite ever moves a muscle in the talking scenes).
I'm sure it can be a great hidden gem SPRG, but like i said the combat didn't click with me, and that's important in a game like this.
I don't mind choosing your own stats while leveling up (SMT games do that as well), but why are a lot of abilities tied to having specific stats? The game doesn't tell you much about it, so without a guide i was already screwed.
The story is just your average run of the mill empire vs kingdom setting, with a general budget mech anime plot with all the corresponding tropes, and over the top villains. The humor is in it''s own time bubble, but really good regardless. If you don't expect anything deep and want to have fun, it's an enjoyable ride.
There is a support system, but your teammates utter but a single sentence when you talk to him before a mission, and it's not easy to see what the moral of your forces exactly is. Feels a bit tacked on, and it's only useful to prevent a single bad ending.
I give the game credits for having 3 routes (although one of them is completely ridiculous), and even an alternate opening cinematic. The battles are actually decently animated for being 3d in 1998, and there are those fancy looking text balloons while fighting. A lot of lazy animation in the in between scenes (no sprite ever moves a muscle in the talking scenes).
I'm sure it can be a great hidden gem SPRG, but like i said the combat didn't click with me, and that's important in a game like this.
Vandal Hearts II
1999
Vandal Hearts II marked a darker followup to the original. This work is an almost entirely different beast, shifting focus to heavier political scenarios/world-building and exploring topics such as corruption and class divide more intimately than the series' first effort, not to mention a greater dose of shock value and multiple different endings. Its strong writing employs numerous poignant moments in its blend of political and occult themes, that gives the overall plot a truly disturbing, bleak feel. It may lack the degree of character building that makes Suikoden II's emotional firepower so devastating, or Tactics Ogre's unnervingly cold philosophy, but its grim depiction of war is just as powerful.
Combat - however, lags behind the rest. A strange 'dual-turn system' favors strictly defensive play and prediction with a lack of helpful mechanics like a visible turn order to compensate, and the previous game's eclectic mission variety is non-existent here. Despite this, its RPG aspects are surprisingly diverse, as the introduction of repeatable battles, equipment-dependent character 'classes', unlockable secrets and a transferable weapon skills system points towards greater customization. This clever evolution makes battler parties truly malleable and encourages much experimentation.
Combat - however, lags behind the rest. A strange 'dual-turn system' favors strictly defensive play and prediction with a lack of helpful mechanics like a visible turn order to compensate, and the previous game's eclectic mission variety is non-existent here. Despite this, its RPG aspects are surprisingly diverse, as the introduction of repeatable battles, equipment-dependent character 'classes', unlockable secrets and a transferable weapon skills system points towards greater customization. This clever evolution makes battler parties truly malleable and encourages much experimentation.
As some may know, I have completed Star Ocean 6: The Divine Force within 87 hours and generally speaking, it feels like a return of form from the series' fan-favorite elements such as split routes and duel protagonists as seen from The Second Story/Second Evolution, the strong blend of sci-fi and fantasy and recruitable characters while improving from the instant blend of gameplay and story as seen from the previous game, Integrity and Faithlessness. Star Ocean 6 made a few changes that I don't like as much but overall, The Divine Force feels like the right direction in the series as the series celebrate its 25th anniversary.
First let's talk about the visuals since that is the very first thing that is notable, the game is gorgeous and lush from deep forests, massive kingdoms and high techno landscapes. The Divine Force's visuals pop extremely well especially on the PS5 version with higher textures and resolution. Tri-Ace was always cutting-edge with graphics so it's very pleasing to see them continue to excel.
This is more of a personal improvement for me but I think the series finally nail its artstyle down since the transition to full 3D. For a while, I always just felt so put off by how some of the characters (especially the younger girls) looked very "doll like", which added a lot of uncanny valley. The doll-like appearance get reduced with each entry but I feel like Star Ocean 6 finally managed to find a natural-looking balance with the series' artstyle.
The music...sadly it's a bit of a downgrade compared to past titles. While some of the tracks are fitting for the environments and the battle music isn't bad. composer Motoi Sakuraba just never reaches the progressive rock greatness he had achieved in Til the End of Time and The Last Hope. However, there are a few tracks I greatly enjoy such as the final boss theme which was very symphonic.
Of course, of the biggest defining points of Star Ocean is the combat. The areas are vast and combat is very fast, free form and fluid thanks to D.U.M.A and the new VA system. It allows characters to zip around and perform attacks. Mechanics from The Last Hope such as chain combos and blindsiding also make a return to give the player an advantage in combat.
Skill Points make a return as they are featured in the previous games. You can use SP to spend on each character's skill set, from new attacks to active and passive skills to other series outside of combat such as the series' well-renowned item creation (which I will get to later). However, despite the quicker approach to gameplay, I was not a fan of all of the combat changes.
There is an AP system that functions based on the more AP you have, the more attacks you can perform. This serves as a replacement for the series' MP system. However, I just found the AP system to be quite an annoyance and sometimes abruptly stop the flow of combat. You start off with 5AP and it can add or decrease between 5-15AP.
The issue is, for me at least, chain combos can eat up AP fast and the only way to recharge it is to wait for a few seconds instead of continuing to dish out attacks with no stopping. People may not have an issue with this and in the end, even I have gotten used to the AP system. However, it's a system I do not prefer at all.
Also, I found the cast to be very unbalanced gameplay-wise. The emphasis on Semiomancy (the Divine's Force version of the series Symbology) just felt unsatisfying. Midas is the only true caster and he's fine for the most part while Albaird and Malyka are hybrid fighters with a stronger focus on physical attacks.
However, the lack of healing options was a big complaint for me. Nina is the only capable character out of everyone that could heal and even then, she was more of a buffer than a pure healer. Therefore a lot of the series' healing spells were ultimately missing such as long-range simultaneous healing rather than the characters needing to be in range to get healed.
Also, performance issues during combat. I have experience frame drops on both PS4 and PS5 with the "favor resolution" mode. PS4 can drop as long as 15-20fps when you are battling multiple enemies. PS5 is much more consistent with staying around 60fps but I felt like the game has dropped around 45-50fps a few times. Thankfully the game runs at 60fps at all times on both consoles outside of combat.
Item Creation, another essential staple in the Star Ocean makes a return with the very charming Welch Vineyard teaching either Raymond or Laeticia the ways of the Vineyard family craftsmanship while trying to restore her family's name and wealth. I really enjoy this version of Welch since all of her past iterations of her just in general annoyed me. I really enjoy this more "himedere" version of Welch.
As for the Item Creation itself, it's a mechanic I enjoy a lot in past Star Ocean games. But I found it hard to really care for it save for a few times I needed it to complete side quests. Despite the number of items you could create with the 7 ways you can create an item. The lack of recipes that will guarantee the new item if you have every required material just made the process completely RNG and a time sucker if you want rare items. Even if you spend a lot of SP to increase the IC skills for a character, it's still quite the grind.
I'm sure Item Creation is a great tool in this game to obtain stronger weapons and armor beyond what you could buy in stores. But it just wasn't engaging to me, unfortunately. It had its usage early on but in the end, I just depended on stores to buy the equipment I needed.
Speaking of side quests, The Divine Force has quite a healthy amount of them and I am impressed every single NPC is fully voiced, a rarity for a JRPG! The quests themselves may be bland kill/fetch quests and they are never overly difficult as long you have a guide on hand. But the fact is there is a tiny bit of story attached to each side quest.
From the son that wanted to send a letter to his sick mother, to the umaibo-obsessed man who wanted to eat more of them, and of course, there is plenty of cat-finding mini adventures to discover. These side quests just make the in-game world much more livelier and vivid with personality. And personally, if there is even a bit of story to be experienced, it just gives me the motivation to complete these side quests.
While I have some quips about the combat and item creation, anyone that played a Star Ocean, or really any RPG, should know there's more to the games than combat and crafting and The Divine Force makes no exception.
Within the first hour of the game (so this shouldn't be considered spoilers), Raymond Lawrance, a transporter got his ship shot down by a Federation ship and ended up stranded on the plant Aster IV while getting separated by his crew. Then almost immediately he met Laeticia Aucerius, a princess on a mission to mend two countries on the verge of war.
As Raymond and Laeticia progress in thier journey for Raymond to leave Aster IV with his crew and Laeticia to find certain key members from her country, they met various people along the way. While I initially thought the sci-fi elements were fairly low and the plot points were seemingly unconnected with each other in the early parts.
Eventually, everything bonded together into an epic sci-fi-heavy story unraveling the cautions of forced evolution (a theme that was heavily explored in The Last Hope) and the potential dangers of share networking. The story goes through a lot of emotional moments as well as the thin line between hard sci-fi and medieval fantasy gets tipped toed multiple times.
Of course, what is a Star Ocean game without Private Actions, the series' defining character bonding element that will allow the protagonist to get closer to the cast. Private Actions was never bad in any Star Ocean game and it's always one of the strongest points of the games. From fun and silly ones like learning Albarid is a sugar addict, seeing how Marielle struggle with heat and Elena try her hardest to intimate other people's mannerism. From more serious ones that reflect on thier character development and changing viewpoints throughout the plot.
Private Actions add to the livelihood of each character with thier own personality, thoughts, and feelings. And the best part is each protagonist has thier own set of Private Actions. I haven't even seen nearly any of the Raymond PAs yet!
One thing that has been emphasized by Tri-Ace is how The Divine Force is the series' 25th anniversary. While I have caught on to some past nods from previous games, with the most explicit one is the game takes place 46 years after the previous game Integrity and Faithlessness and there are some direct references from that game. However, a very clear way the company is celebrating Star Ocean as a whole is the Es'owa strategy minigame.
Es'owa is somewhat of a mix between Othello and Chess when you use different types of pieces with various roles and each piece adds on damage to the player. Whoever gets rid of a player's HP wins. The cool part about this is the higher-level pieces are Star Ocean characters from past games and they are all fully modeled as if it's a digital figure. Plus you can use them as accessories to give characters stat boots during combat!
I wasn't a fan at first, I found it frustrating but by the end, I wanted more opponents to battle. I just found this to be a very neat minigame that plays tribute to the Star Ocean series over the last 25 years.
Star Ocean 6: The Divine Force may fumble a bit with some of its combat and item creation mechanics as well as performance issues but with an engaging sci-fi plot and likable, enjoyable, and well-thought-out characters in a vibrant and colorful world, and a very fun minigame that nodes into the Star Ocean franchise. The Divine Force is a great direction in the series and it did a lot of right ultimately. In the end, I can safely say this is one of the better games I have played in 2022, perhaps even top 5. All and all, whether you're a newcomer or a series veteran, The Divine Force captures the essence of Star Ocean well and it's a worthy game to play for any RPG fan, especally if you're a sci-fi and ARPG fan.
First let's talk about the visuals since that is the very first thing that is notable, the game is gorgeous and lush from deep forests, massive kingdoms and high techno landscapes. The Divine Force's visuals pop extremely well especially on the PS5 version with higher textures and resolution. Tri-Ace was always cutting-edge with graphics so it's very pleasing to see them continue to excel.
This is more of a personal improvement for me but I think the series finally nail its artstyle down since the transition to full 3D. For a while, I always just felt so put off by how some of the characters (especially the younger girls) looked very "doll like", which added a lot of uncanny valley. The doll-like appearance get reduced with each entry but I feel like Star Ocean 6 finally managed to find a natural-looking balance with the series' artstyle.
The music...sadly it's a bit of a downgrade compared to past titles. While some of the tracks are fitting for the environments and the battle music isn't bad. composer Motoi Sakuraba just never reaches the progressive rock greatness he had achieved in Til the End of Time and The Last Hope. However, there are a few tracks I greatly enjoy such as the final boss theme which was very symphonic.
Of course, of the biggest defining points of Star Ocean is the combat. The areas are vast and combat is very fast, free form and fluid thanks to D.U.M.A and the new VA system. It allows characters to zip around and perform attacks. Mechanics from The Last Hope such as chain combos and blindsiding also make a return to give the player an advantage in combat.
Skill Points make a return as they are featured in the previous games. You can use SP to spend on each character's skill set, from new attacks to active and passive skills to other series outside of combat such as the series' well-renowned item creation (which I will get to later). However, despite the quicker approach to gameplay, I was not a fan of all of the combat changes.
There is an AP system that functions based on the more AP you have, the more attacks you can perform. This serves as a replacement for the series' MP system. However, I just found the AP system to be quite an annoyance and sometimes abruptly stop the flow of combat. You start off with 5AP and it can add or decrease between 5-15AP.
The issue is, for me at least, chain combos can eat up AP fast and the only way to recharge it is to wait for a few seconds instead of continuing to dish out attacks with no stopping. People may not have an issue with this and in the end, even I have gotten used to the AP system. However, it's a system I do not prefer at all.
Also, I found the cast to be very unbalanced gameplay-wise. The emphasis on Semiomancy (the Divine's Force version of the series Symbology) just felt unsatisfying. Midas is the only true caster and he's fine for the most part while Albaird and Malyka are hybrid fighters with a stronger focus on physical attacks.
However, the lack of healing options was a big complaint for me. Nina is the only capable character out of everyone that could heal and even then, she was more of a buffer than a pure healer. Therefore a lot of the series' healing spells were ultimately missing such as long-range simultaneous healing rather than the characters needing to be in range to get healed.
Also, performance issues during combat. I have experience frame drops on both PS4 and PS5 with the "favor resolution" mode. PS4 can drop as long as 15-20fps when you are battling multiple enemies. PS5 is much more consistent with staying around 60fps but I felt like the game has dropped around 45-50fps a few times. Thankfully the game runs at 60fps at all times on both consoles outside of combat.
Item Creation, another essential staple in the Star Ocean makes a return with the very charming Welch Vineyard teaching either Raymond or Laeticia the ways of the Vineyard family craftsmanship while trying to restore her family's name and wealth. I really enjoy this version of Welch since all of her past iterations of her just in general annoyed me. I really enjoy this more "himedere" version of Welch.
As for the Item Creation itself, it's a mechanic I enjoy a lot in past Star Ocean games. But I found it hard to really care for it save for a few times I needed it to complete side quests. Despite the number of items you could create with the 7 ways you can create an item. The lack of recipes that will guarantee the new item if you have every required material just made the process completely RNG and a time sucker if you want rare items. Even if you spend a lot of SP to increase the IC skills for a character, it's still quite the grind.
I'm sure Item Creation is a great tool in this game to obtain stronger weapons and armor beyond what you could buy in stores. But it just wasn't engaging to me, unfortunately. It had its usage early on but in the end, I just depended on stores to buy the equipment I needed.
Speaking of side quests, The Divine Force has quite a healthy amount of them and I am impressed every single NPC is fully voiced, a rarity for a JRPG! The quests themselves may be bland kill/fetch quests and they are never overly difficult as long you have a guide on hand. But the fact is there is a tiny bit of story attached to each side quest.
From the son that wanted to send a letter to his sick mother, to the umaibo-obsessed man who wanted to eat more of them, and of course, there is plenty of cat-finding mini adventures to discover. These side quests just make the in-game world much more livelier and vivid with personality. And personally, if there is even a bit of story to be experienced, it just gives me the motivation to complete these side quests.
While I have some quips about the combat and item creation, anyone that played a Star Ocean, or really any RPG, should know there's more to the games than combat and crafting and The Divine Force makes no exception.
Within the first hour of the game (so this shouldn't be considered spoilers), Raymond Lawrance, a transporter got his ship shot down by a Federation ship and ended up stranded on the plant Aster IV while getting separated by his crew. Then almost immediately he met Laeticia Aucerius, a princess on a mission to mend two countries on the verge of war.
As Raymond and Laeticia progress in thier journey for Raymond to leave Aster IV with his crew and Laeticia to find certain key members from her country, they met various people along the way. While I initially thought the sci-fi elements were fairly low and the plot points were seemingly unconnected with each other in the early parts.
Eventually, everything bonded together into an epic sci-fi-heavy story unraveling the cautions of forced evolution (a theme that was heavily explored in The Last Hope) and the potential dangers of share networking. The story goes through a lot of emotional moments as well as the thin line between hard sci-fi and medieval fantasy gets tipped toed multiple times.
Of course, what is a Star Ocean game without Private Actions, the series' defining character bonding element that will allow the protagonist to get closer to the cast. Private Actions was never bad in any Star Ocean game and it's always one of the strongest points of the games. From fun and silly ones like learning Albarid is a sugar addict, seeing how Marielle struggle with heat and Elena try her hardest to intimate other people's mannerism. From more serious ones that reflect on thier character development and changing viewpoints throughout the plot.
Private Actions add to the livelihood of each character with thier own personality, thoughts, and feelings. And the best part is each protagonist has thier own set of Private Actions. I haven't even seen nearly any of the Raymond PAs yet!
One thing that has been emphasized by Tri-Ace is how The Divine Force is the series' 25th anniversary. While I have caught on to some past nods from previous games, with the most explicit one is the game takes place 46 years after the previous game Integrity and Faithlessness and there are some direct references from that game. However, a very clear way the company is celebrating Star Ocean as a whole is the Es'owa strategy minigame.
Es'owa is somewhat of a mix between Othello and Chess when you use different types of pieces with various roles and each piece adds on damage to the player. Whoever gets rid of a player's HP wins. The cool part about this is the higher-level pieces are Star Ocean characters from past games and they are all fully modeled as if it's a digital figure. Plus you can use them as accessories to give characters stat boots during combat!
I wasn't a fan at first, I found it frustrating but by the end, I wanted more opponents to battle. I just found this to be a very neat minigame that plays tribute to the Star Ocean series over the last 25 years.
Star Ocean 6: The Divine Force may fumble a bit with some of its combat and item creation mechanics as well as performance issues but with an engaging sci-fi plot and likable, enjoyable, and well-thought-out characters in a vibrant and colorful world, and a very fun minigame that nodes into the Star Ocean franchise. The Divine Force is a great direction in the series and it did a lot of right ultimately. In the end, I can safely say this is one of the better games I have played in 2022, perhaps even top 5. All and all, whether you're a newcomer or a series veteran, The Divine Force captures the essence of Star Ocean well and it's a worthy game to play for any RPG fan, especally if you're a sci-fi and ARPG fan.
Crisis Core is a poorly aged game with a real messy script. I was not high in expectations, but I expected at least a steady narrative, given the reputation of the game's story. Sadly, it looks like they did not show any effort to improve any part of it after all. Besides the story, also the animations in cutscenes(?), and controls are nothing more than a disappointment. It is harder to overlook the mistakes of a game when the graphics are renewed entirely while the controls and animations play clunky as hell. What this game needed was not a remaster, but a remake.
SaGa Frontier
1997
young man, you are not allowed to leave this table until you finish your unfinished freeform experimental jrpg and you like it
random fact: asellus was the first queer video game character i ever encountered, so that's cool
random fact: asellus was the first queer video game character i ever encountered, so that's cool
Gungnir
2011
Gungnir is.... an odd duck to say the least. At one playthrough it's kind of hard to say how much I like it but I think I could appreciate it more given a second run on a higher difficulty. It's a very unique kind of strategy game, much like its predecessors, but also very daunting to take on. If you'd like a game that plays like the original FF Tactics but has many elements lifted from RTS type games and more complex elements from Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre, definitely give this one a look.
i would take a bullet for masaharu kaito
Lost Judgment
2021
That finale was out of this world. Genuinely amazed me. One of my favorite antagonists ever, with an unrivaled dynamic with Yagami. That final fight is where my life peaked its all downhill from here
Lost Judgment
2021
I can't believe this game is over i am in shambles it was so good :(