“...you’ll find the sea to be vast, deep…full of strength and energy, yet kind and gentle.”
- Fisherman at the docks of Arni Village
Early on in my blind playthrough, I encountered an NPC who uttered those words to me and as I sailed the calm seas and battled my way across countless biomes, the quote resonated in my mind again. Even as I landed the final blow on the final boss I still felt it. Only when the end credits rolled around, did I realize. If I were to replace the word “sea” with “Chrono Cross(CC)” I feel the statement would still work.
The game is vast, but not to the point of a barrel of filler content. Vast in the sense there is enough to explore off the beaten path to satisfy those who want to take a break in the story, but also enough to hold your satisfaction from the beginning, middle, and end of the narrative. Deep in the themes conjured both subtly in NPC conversations and by important characters, you meet. Evoking thoughtful provoking questions as well as nuggets of lore. Occasionally, you may find a clue to your next destination to progress the plot. Without being too complex to comprehend. Full of strength and energy permeates every inch of my playthrough. Environments are eye candy and have every color in the rainbow I could think of. Settings come alive from forests, beaches, caves, jungles, and more! Each monster is carefully designed to fit in their natural habitat. So you won’t find a lava monster in a desert ya know? Or let's say a robot in an underwater cave. Heck, you won’t see fairies or dwarves in cities or towns!
So much kindness and gentleness In the music. Often I would close my eyes, listening to a new track I haven’t heard, and let the melody fill my soul with tranquility. Ahhh… I have to give props once again to Yasunori Mitsuda and more for gracing me with a beautiful soundtrack. This man does not miss. If I were to describe the whole soundtrack in as few words as possible. I would say. Upbeat, soulful, and mesmerizing. Like, I have been transported into the world of the tropical archipelago El Nido and every track felt so pleasing to grace my ears. Especially one track I want to drop. But, best to experience it in-game since it feels almost magical to hear. But for a taste listen to a small part from Etude 1. Other tracks I love are Arni Village - Home and Termina - Another which brought to mind powerful emotions to me. I could gush pages, but I'll keep it short. Resonant Arc describes it better than me. In How Music Moves Us. Plus the soundtrack within the Radical Dreamers edition is a refined one & rpgsite clarifies Square Enix’s vague response here “These tracks are not arrangements, but instead, these are simply cleaned-up versions of the original music with small adjustments to noise compression, equalization, etc. This is the only soundtrack found when actually playing the game, and you cannot toggle it.”
Gameplay is a mix of standard JRPG turn-based battles and exploration. Except you don’t have any levels to grind for. A blessing. Since it eliminates the grind. So, your party will naturally grow stat-wise as you defeat enemies. The main bread and butter for combat are the elements. Each character comes equipped with them. Though, you need to start filling up the slots by attacking enemies with melee. They must hit as well to count. No point in missing attacks. I recommend attacking foes with the first option during fights. The second and third options have a lower chance to hit and therefore miss, wasting an action. So spamming the first option can quickly fill the elemental slots. You don't get a full tank of elements out the gate. Think of them, like consumable spells. You can equip various spells onto each ally like healing, buffs, debuffs, attack, and attack all spells. Designated by six colored elements: red, green, blue, yellow, black, and white. As you win battles you can slot more elements onto each party member, the caveat is each time you use one during combat you cannot use them again. So no spamming willy-nilly. Players must carefully equip the right amount of elements to manage future battles while contending against enemies who can alter the field effect. Each time you or the enemy cast an element during a fight. A circle will change to correspond to the use of the spell. Let's use three fire attacks. The field effect transforms accordingly and in effect, my attacks with fire will become stronger. So, players should keep that in mind if a monster constantly uses water attacks. Perhaps I should transmute the field or an opposite element to counter their strong attacks.
Plenty of awesome quality of life(QOL) features that make the remaster very appealing. Auto-battle, fast-speed mode, and slow-speed mode are available. I don’t see slow-speed mode very often in other JRPG ports, but I have to admit the inclusion of it is useful to admire animations. Or literally, embrace a very slow playthrough. No random battles & battle boosts. These are welcome additions. The former is self-explanatory, the latter gives your whole party invincibility, all enemy attacks miss and you will have filled elemental slots that will never deplete until you turn off the option. These enhancements are a godsend for quickly defeating enemy mobs. Allowing players to move at a turbo pace. Ever so often, I felt the natural speed of the game was slow. So the QOL features greatly enhanced my experience making the combat system faster and eliminating the process of actively avoiding enemies in your field of view. Thereby, not wasting your time and effort. In my case, I was able to finish the game quicker than I initially thought from CC's How Long to Beat(HLTB) time. At just a little over twenty-three hours completing a decent amount of sidequests and recruiting a lot of characters too.
In addition to exploring, you can enlist new party members throughout your journey. Some of which are missable and non-missable. Reminds me heavily of the Suikoden series except you don’t have to recruit over a hundred people. Instead, you have forty-five possible units to join your merry band. It is important to note, you cannot enlist everyone from the get-go. A few can only be gathered in a New Game+ playthrough or using the “Continue +” option with multiple save files. They can range from the story one’s, you’ll gain naturally as you progress the plot. And others are tucked away in sidequests. More often than not, they're pretty straightforward to get them to join your crew, but others may take extra steps depending on their requirements. Revisiting them later on, to give an important key item, defeating a monster, battling them, or helping with a small or large task. Usually, if you see a unique portrait when speaking. Most likely, a new ally that can join you in the near or far future.
Battles are fair and balanced. Enemies didn’t feel absurdly difficult with outrageous health points and even in the final act, they were reasonably challenging. Not to the extent, I was battling against a sponge every chance I encountered an enemy. And as a result, the narrative moved at a comfortable pace, since I could adjust the speed at my leisure. Item drops, shops, and upgrading my equipment felt painless and easy. Didn't feel the urge to meticulously arrange new elements for my new allies since an option exists to auto-fill or auto-remove them.
Speaking of which, the story starts with the player controlling Serge, Kid, and one random companion coming outside of an elevator in a large stone fort. Kid will remark about Lynx’s day of reckoning which sums it up best. Your group must defeat Lynx in the fort. Why? What? How? Questions don’t matter for now. Once you finish your task at the fort, important events steadily rise. Forming an interesting pace, full of twists and sailing by turbulent storms and tides. Whether or not we succeed in defeating Lynx is a major device, the plot cleverly hides until an opportune moment. Surely more is underneath the simple objective to kill one man right? Well…
Yes! Yet, to go into further detail on what happens is to delve deeper into spoilers. And this review is a non-spoiler one. So I’ll move on. I'll talk about my mixed feelings about the remaster. Not a positive or a negative. But for the sake of transparency, I'm noting them down.
There is a point in the game, where major revelations are told to the player, and quite frankly a lot of JRPGs like to do this to varying degrees. CC is weird in that respect. Whereas their predecessor Chrono Trigger(CT). A title I played years ago and think fondly of. Executes the revelations in a condensed and easily digestible form in such a way, I feel a majority of players understand. Hence the reception. Here that also exists, although Masato Kato(The director and writer for CC) tries to bite off more than he can chew. The executions of said revelations make the impact of a certain point, a bit shaky and as a result, it’s not as strong as CT in that regard. Be that as it may, to play a devil's advocate(DA). I do applaud the bold move to tip the scales a tad to make CC rise above CT in ways. If we consider, the topic of ‘time travel’ in its entirety with all its aspects and subcategories can be a daunting task to link each thread. Other titles take a stab at the topic: FFXIII-2 delved into a pothole of time periods. Radiant Historia refined the aspect of producing a fresh product and palatable to newcomers. And while I haven't played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim yet(Trust me, I'll get around to it someday). The countless praise I've heard deserves a spot here for time-travel stories worth looking into. So in a way, some parts could've been gently fed. Allowing the player to digest the revelations easily. Perhaps, less on lore dump, but further on the "show, don't tell" method.
As much as I’ve turned a 180 on the combat system long ago, I still have a small voice in my head saying it is possible newcomers will become confused. And I’ve consulted several friends of mine who had similar feelings. To this, I advise you to try it out first and experience it. If you’re having trouble, do what I did and undertake a tutorial battle against the chief in Arni Village. They explain all the terms, unique field effects, elemental usage, and attacks. Honestly, he did a good job explaining things and I can’t help wishing I had a machine to go back in time to slap my old self silly for quitting early on... Anyway, besides the combat, you can use QOL features to breeze fights and perhaps check out Before I Play on CC in case you want to know extra tips and maybe a spoiler-free missable guide for a first playthrough.
Some units' requirements to enlist them onto your party can be a bit vague on where to go or what to do. Perhaps a new location holds the key or clue to visit another location or converse with another NPC to progress further. I would scratch my head a bit and ponder my next course of action. Intermittently, I can take the loss and move on. The plot in the middle to the final act shares this dilemma as well. I only had to consult a walkthrough once since I became lost on where to go. But for the most part, important story characters will lead you in the right direction. Just try to remember what your next objective is. You may have an easier time than I did!
Usually, story units rather than the optional members, receive more spotlight in their backstory, relationships, and lore. And while I can understand this, I wish it was the same across the board. On the other hand, I did experience quite a decent chunk of noteworthy sidequests which delved deep into a couple of characters. Could be a "your mileage might vary" type of deal. Granted, if I were to play DA once again the added backstory, relationships, and quality sidequests would inflate the game's hours more. Maybe it's not a good idea to have every side character fleshed out... But the potential... Hmm…
Undoubtedly, the question of whether or not you need to play Chrono Trigger will spring up. Maybe. Chrono Cross plays safely enough without the knowledge of CT. Hell the director states it! However, playing the first entry, rewards players with important lore from their predecessor. Constructing a sort of foundation for players to settle upon and see once they play CC. Providing context as to how and why the events that occur. And perhaps enhance their experience. So I'm on both sides if you played CT or not before playing CC. Like their predecessor, there are multiple endings here. So if you were unable to earn the true ending in the first go. You can see it via youtube. So don't worry if the ending you obtained felt meh. I didn't see it in my blind first playthrough, so I searched for the true ending online. Literally ten times better than the garbage ending I got. I facepalmed so hard, once I saw the requirements to achieve it.
That’s it for my mixed feelings. Quite frankly, I mainly had a lot of upsides and hardly any downsides when playing. I didn’t have any crashes on my switch version. No serious or minor bugs either. I did come across the analog stick, rarely taking me out of engagements by accidentally pressing the "runaway option," nonetheless, I was able to restart the battle swiftly without much progress lost. The remaster performs as expected without any notable issues. The last update improved the fps and bug fixes. So I think I can safely say the Radical Dreamers edition is a safe recommendation to start your playthrough versus the old version. Even comes packaged with the never before released outside Japan until now. English visual novel(VN) called Radical Dreamers. A short side-story to CT and precursor to CC took me less than three hours to complete and while labeled as a non-canon. I greatly appreciate the extra backstory, and moments shared between Serge, Kid, and Magil. Though, I didn't like the random encounters during some sections. Seemed too forced to make it a bit of a struggle to fight against. Despite the troublesome encounters, I liked the music and the decisions you make. I also think it's a nice way for Chrono fans who want to experience it before/after playing CC. Since the remaster added a new hidden-post credits scene. Only activating once you finish both games and hit the credits option in the menu. The scene left me in a state of bewilderment and excitement. And as much as I want to delve more into that. It's time to end this review since it's getting too long.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. Is one of the finest JRPGs I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Masato Kato and his team have accomplished the impossible by bringing back a skeptical one who thought they could not top Chrono Trigger. Yet, it does in several ways. The mix of recruiting allies as you progress the narrative is a fascinating take from the Suikoden formula and my journey was full of laughter and seriousness to top it all. Succeeds in balancing an enjoyable gameplay mix of exploring, recruiting, and battling in aesthetically pleasing environments accompanied by a refined soundtrack from Mitsuda. And filled to the barrel full of charm, wit, and a likable cast. Worthwhile sidequests with plenty of optional content to fill your belly. A vibrant visual style makes full use of the color palette. Enriching every dungeon, town, overworld, creature, and the main cast. While the plot can make or break it for some. It holds steady in the sea due to the elements above holding the boat up high. So give it a shot and don’tcha be afraid of starting. A must-play for any JRPG fan or newcomer to the genre.
Score: 9.5/10
For those curious. The fisherman did have some more lines to say which I find fascinating in contrast to what he said initially.
“But, once it becomes angry, it can turn into the most frightening monster you’ve ever seen, engulfing everything…”
“Close your eyes and prick up your ears.”
“Can you hear the cries of countless men swallowed by the sea? The hidden secret the sea whispers?”
“I recommend you learn to sense the mood of the sea. That’s if you don’t want to join the fellows already on the bottom.
- Fisherman at the docks of Arni Village
- Fisherman at the docks of Arni Village
Early on in my blind playthrough, I encountered an NPC who uttered those words to me and as I sailed the calm seas and battled my way across countless biomes, the quote resonated in my mind again. Even as I landed the final blow on the final boss I still felt it. Only when the end credits rolled around, did I realize. If I were to replace the word “sea” with “Chrono Cross(CC)” I feel the statement would still work.
The game is vast, but not to the point of a barrel of filler content. Vast in the sense there is enough to explore off the beaten path to satisfy those who want to take a break in the story, but also enough to hold your satisfaction from the beginning, middle, and end of the narrative. Deep in the themes conjured both subtly in NPC conversations and by important characters, you meet. Evoking thoughtful provoking questions as well as nuggets of lore. Occasionally, you may find a clue to your next destination to progress the plot. Without being too complex to comprehend. Full of strength and energy permeates every inch of my playthrough. Environments are eye candy and have every color in the rainbow I could think of. Settings come alive from forests, beaches, caves, jungles, and more! Each monster is carefully designed to fit in their natural habitat. So you won’t find a lava monster in a desert ya know? Or let's say a robot in an underwater cave. Heck, you won’t see fairies or dwarves in cities or towns!
So much kindness and gentleness In the music. Often I would close my eyes, listening to a new track I haven’t heard, and let the melody fill my soul with tranquility. Ahhh… I have to give props once again to Yasunori Mitsuda and more for gracing me with a beautiful soundtrack. This man does not miss. If I were to describe the whole soundtrack in as few words as possible. I would say. Upbeat, soulful, and mesmerizing. Like, I have been transported into the world of the tropical archipelago El Nido and every track felt so pleasing to grace my ears. Especially one track I want to drop. But, best to experience it in-game since it feels almost magical to hear. But for a taste listen to a small part from Etude 1. Other tracks I love are Arni Village - Home and Termina - Another which brought to mind powerful emotions to me. I could gush pages, but I'll keep it short. Resonant Arc describes it better than me. In How Music Moves Us. Plus the soundtrack within the Radical Dreamers edition is a refined one & rpgsite clarifies Square Enix’s vague response here “These tracks are not arrangements, but instead, these are simply cleaned-up versions of the original music with small adjustments to noise compression, equalization, etc. This is the only soundtrack found when actually playing the game, and you cannot toggle it.”
Gameplay is a mix of standard JRPG turn-based battles and exploration. Except you don’t have any levels to grind for. A blessing. Since it eliminates the grind. So, your party will naturally grow stat-wise as you defeat enemies. The main bread and butter for combat are the elements. Each character comes equipped with them. Though, you need to start filling up the slots by attacking enemies with melee. They must hit as well to count. No point in missing attacks. I recommend attacking foes with the first option during fights. The second and third options have a lower chance to hit and therefore miss, wasting an action. So spamming the first option can quickly fill the elemental slots. You don't get a full tank of elements out the gate. Think of them, like consumable spells. You can equip various spells onto each ally like healing, buffs, debuffs, attack, and attack all spells. Designated by six colored elements: red, green, blue, yellow, black, and white. As you win battles you can slot more elements onto each party member, the caveat is each time you use one during combat you cannot use them again. So no spamming willy-nilly. Players must carefully equip the right amount of elements to manage future battles while contending against enemies who can alter the field effect. Each time you or the enemy cast an element during a fight. A circle will change to correspond to the use of the spell. Let's use three fire attacks. The field effect transforms accordingly and in effect, my attacks with fire will become stronger. So, players should keep that in mind if a monster constantly uses water attacks. Perhaps I should transmute the field or an opposite element to counter their strong attacks.
Plenty of awesome quality of life(QOL) features that make the remaster very appealing. Auto-battle, fast-speed mode, and slow-speed mode are available. I don’t see slow-speed mode very often in other JRPG ports, but I have to admit the inclusion of it is useful to admire animations. Or literally, embrace a very slow playthrough. No random battles & battle boosts. These are welcome additions. The former is self-explanatory, the latter gives your whole party invincibility, all enemy attacks miss and you will have filled elemental slots that will never deplete until you turn off the option. These enhancements are a godsend for quickly defeating enemy mobs. Allowing players to move at a turbo pace. Ever so often, I felt the natural speed of the game was slow. So the QOL features greatly enhanced my experience making the combat system faster and eliminating the process of actively avoiding enemies in your field of view. Thereby, not wasting your time and effort. In my case, I was able to finish the game quicker than I initially thought from CC's How Long to Beat(HLTB) time. At just a little over twenty-three hours completing a decent amount of sidequests and recruiting a lot of characters too.
In addition to exploring, you can enlist new party members throughout your journey. Some of which are missable and non-missable. Reminds me heavily of the Suikoden series except you don’t have to recruit over a hundred people. Instead, you have forty-five possible units to join your merry band. It is important to note, you cannot enlist everyone from the get-go. A few can only be gathered in a New Game+ playthrough or using the “Continue +” option with multiple save files. They can range from the story one’s, you’ll gain naturally as you progress the plot. And others are tucked away in sidequests. More often than not, they're pretty straightforward to get them to join your crew, but others may take extra steps depending on their requirements. Revisiting them later on, to give an important key item, defeating a monster, battling them, or helping with a small or large task. Usually, if you see a unique portrait when speaking. Most likely, a new ally that can join you in the near or far future.
Battles are fair and balanced. Enemies didn’t feel absurdly difficult with outrageous health points and even in the final act, they were reasonably challenging. Not to the extent, I was battling against a sponge every chance I encountered an enemy. And as a result, the narrative moved at a comfortable pace, since I could adjust the speed at my leisure. Item drops, shops, and upgrading my equipment felt painless and easy. Didn't feel the urge to meticulously arrange new elements for my new allies since an option exists to auto-fill or auto-remove them.
Speaking of which, the story starts with the player controlling Serge, Kid, and one random companion coming outside of an elevator in a large stone fort. Kid will remark about Lynx’s day of reckoning which sums it up best. Your group must defeat Lynx in the fort. Why? What? How? Questions don’t matter for now. Once you finish your task at the fort, important events steadily rise. Forming an interesting pace, full of twists and sailing by turbulent storms and tides. Whether or not we succeed in defeating Lynx is a major device, the plot cleverly hides until an opportune moment. Surely more is underneath the simple objective to kill one man right? Well…
Yes! Yet, to go into further detail on what happens is to delve deeper into spoilers. And this review is a non-spoiler one. So I’ll move on. I'll talk about my mixed feelings about the remaster. Not a positive or a negative. But for the sake of transparency, I'm noting them down.
There is a point in the game, where major revelations are told to the player, and quite frankly a lot of JRPGs like to do this to varying degrees. CC is weird in that respect. Whereas their predecessor Chrono Trigger(CT). A title I played years ago and think fondly of. Executes the revelations in a condensed and easily digestible form in such a way, I feel a majority of players understand. Hence the reception. Here that also exists, although Masato Kato(The director and writer for CC) tries to bite off more than he can chew. The executions of said revelations make the impact of a certain point, a bit shaky and as a result, it’s not as strong as CT in that regard. Be that as it may, to play a devil's advocate(DA). I do applaud the bold move to tip the scales a tad to make CC rise above CT in ways. If we consider, the topic of ‘time travel’ in its entirety with all its aspects and subcategories can be a daunting task to link each thread. Other titles take a stab at the topic: FFXIII-2 delved into a pothole of time periods. Radiant Historia refined the aspect of producing a fresh product and palatable to newcomers. And while I haven't played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim yet(Trust me, I'll get around to it someday). The countless praise I've heard deserves a spot here for time-travel stories worth looking into. So in a way, some parts could've been gently fed. Allowing the player to digest the revelations easily. Perhaps, less on lore dump, but further on the "show, don't tell" method.
As much as I’ve turned a 180 on the combat system long ago, I still have a small voice in my head saying it is possible newcomers will become confused. And I’ve consulted several friends of mine who had similar feelings. To this, I advise you to try it out first and experience it. If you’re having trouble, do what I did and undertake a tutorial battle against the chief in Arni Village. They explain all the terms, unique field effects, elemental usage, and attacks. Honestly, he did a good job explaining things and I can’t help wishing I had a machine to go back in time to slap my old self silly for quitting early on... Anyway, besides the combat, you can use QOL features to breeze fights and perhaps check out Before I Play on CC in case you want to know extra tips and maybe a spoiler-free missable guide for a first playthrough.
Some units' requirements to enlist them onto your party can be a bit vague on where to go or what to do. Perhaps a new location holds the key or clue to visit another location or converse with another NPC to progress further. I would scratch my head a bit and ponder my next course of action. Intermittently, I can take the loss and move on. The plot in the middle to the final act shares this dilemma as well. I only had to consult a walkthrough once since I became lost on where to go. But for the most part, important story characters will lead you in the right direction. Just try to remember what your next objective is. You may have an easier time than I did!
Usually, story units rather than the optional members, receive more spotlight in their backstory, relationships, and lore. And while I can understand this, I wish it was the same across the board. On the other hand, I did experience quite a decent chunk of noteworthy sidequests which delved deep into a couple of characters. Could be a "your mileage might vary" type of deal. Granted, if I were to play DA once again the added backstory, relationships, and quality sidequests would inflate the game's hours more. Maybe it's not a good idea to have every side character fleshed out... But the potential... Hmm…
Undoubtedly, the question of whether or not you need to play Chrono Trigger will spring up. Maybe. Chrono Cross plays safely enough without the knowledge of CT. Hell the director states it! However, playing the first entry, rewards players with important lore from their predecessor. Constructing a sort of foundation for players to settle upon and see once they play CC. Providing context as to how and why the events that occur. And perhaps enhance their experience. So I'm on both sides if you played CT or not before playing CC. Like their predecessor, there are multiple endings here. So if you were unable to earn the true ending in the first go. You can see it via youtube. So don't worry if the ending you obtained felt meh. I didn't see it in my blind first playthrough, so I searched for the true ending online. Literally ten times better than the garbage ending I got. I facepalmed so hard, once I saw the requirements to achieve it.
That’s it for my mixed feelings. Quite frankly, I mainly had a lot of upsides and hardly any downsides when playing. I didn’t have any crashes on my switch version. No serious or minor bugs either. I did come across the analog stick, rarely taking me out of engagements by accidentally pressing the "runaway option," nonetheless, I was able to restart the battle swiftly without much progress lost. The remaster performs as expected without any notable issues. The last update improved the fps and bug fixes. So I think I can safely say the Radical Dreamers edition is a safe recommendation to start your playthrough versus the old version. Even comes packaged with the never before released outside Japan until now. English visual novel(VN) called Radical Dreamers. A short side-story to CT and precursor to CC took me less than three hours to complete and while labeled as a non-canon. I greatly appreciate the extra backstory, and moments shared between Serge, Kid, and Magil. Though, I didn't like the random encounters during some sections. Seemed too forced to make it a bit of a struggle to fight against. Despite the troublesome encounters, I liked the music and the decisions you make. I also think it's a nice way for Chrono fans who want to experience it before/after playing CC. Since the remaster added a new hidden-post credits scene. Only activating once you finish both games and hit the credits option in the menu. The scene left me in a state of bewilderment and excitement. And as much as I want to delve more into that. It's time to end this review since it's getting too long.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. Is one of the finest JRPGs I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Masato Kato and his team have accomplished the impossible by bringing back a skeptical one who thought they could not top Chrono Trigger. Yet, it does in several ways. The mix of recruiting allies as you progress the narrative is a fascinating take from the Suikoden formula and my journey was full of laughter and seriousness to top it all. Succeeds in balancing an enjoyable gameplay mix of exploring, recruiting, and battling in aesthetically pleasing environments accompanied by a refined soundtrack from Mitsuda. And filled to the barrel full of charm, wit, and a likable cast. Worthwhile sidequests with plenty of optional content to fill your belly. A vibrant visual style makes full use of the color palette. Enriching every dungeon, town, overworld, creature, and the main cast. While the plot can make or break it for some. It holds steady in the sea due to the elements above holding the boat up high. So give it a shot and don’tcha be afraid of starting. A must-play for any JRPG fan or newcomer to the genre.
Score: 9.5/10
For those curious. The fisherman did have some more lines to say which I find fascinating in contrast to what he said initially.
“But, once it becomes angry, it can turn into the most frightening monster you’ve ever seen, engulfing everything…”
“Close your eyes and prick up your ears.”
“Can you hear the cries of countless men swallowed by the sea? The hidden secret the sea whispers?”
“I recommend you learn to sense the mood of the sea. That’s if you don’t want to join the fellows already on the bottom.
- Fisherman at the docks of Arni Village
16 Comments
@FallenGrace Thank you! Ohhh didn't know it was never released in the UK(PSX version) before. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about it when you do play it. And yeah I wish Trigger was included.
Stellar writing. A JRPG without grinding, huh? I might have to check this out at some point then.
@TheQuietGamer Thanks! And yes please. Can't believe I slept so long on playing this.
Yeah we missed out on many back then as there was less confidence in global releases. Both Chrono games, Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics, Parasite Eve 1, Dragon Warrior VII among many others.
Seeing all those wonderful JRPG's excluded from a global release hurts my soul. Wish all of them are available globally.
This has been on my backlog ever since I heard the track "Dream of the Shore Near Another World". And speaking of music, I feel the weakest thing in my reviews is describing the OST, something you consistently excel at (as exemplified here). Any tips?
Great review as always, and thanks for the tips on the tutorial aspects. I feel too many older gamers indulge heavily in the trope "get gud" without acknowledging that perhaps some mechanics are harder to get into for newer players.
Great review as always, and thanks for the tips on the tutorial aspects. I feel too many older gamers indulge heavily in the trope "get gud" without acknowledging that perhaps some mechanics are harder to get into for newer players.
First my sincere apologies for the long write up.
Fantastic track "dream of the shore near another world" When I first heard it in-game I had to stop a minute and process it. Ah appreciate the kind words on the music. I actually think it could be better to be honest. Since I try not to follow a template. But anyway, back to tips for ya.
Um, I think being candid about your feelings for an OST is an important factor. It’s incredibly hard for me who doesn’t know much about music in general(Like know what precise instruments are being used or how to describe some tracks beyond tempo, rhythm or melody). Until I check out the development page about a game I like. Or I really love a game’s OST. I have to talk about it. And try to enrich others about it. Sometimes I like to add the voice actors(VA’s) and sounds like sfx: gunshots, animals sounds, physic sounds(slamming a door, running, walking etc.) outside of music to help talk about the sound design as well. And make a comment on that. Like if its pleasing to hear, dude/gal has insane range and more. Behind the voice actors website is a fantastic resource to pull from. For example Troy Baker has done a lot of voice overs on not just games but other media. And you’ll find a lot of VA’s working on other games. Fire Emblem Three houses VA’s is great to listen to not just in their support conversations, but they're AAA cast imo since they’ve gone off to work on other games. Like most of the cast are in Daemon X Machina(Basically a mecha game like Armored Core) So in case you feel you're short on words about OST you can add that. Oof just realized on the tangent my bad.
Years ago I started to read RPGfan’s videogame music(vgm) reviews to get an idea of how to talk about a soundtrack in a video game. They started back in 1999. So their library is quite large to peruse. But the content they have is worth noting since each vgm review is quite informative to say the least.
The author goes in-depth on who composed the ost and if they have any collaborators. A lot of JRPG’s have multiple composers. Or sometimes just one. They talk about their personal experience with past games with the same composer to bring a frame of reference then bring it to the present. Demonstrating their somewhat familiarity with the one who made the OST. From there they describe their experience using some tracks from the soundtrack to point out some comments. Then end it with a conclusion on the whole OST as a whole. I like their format tbh. But I don't want to copy it too closely to my reviews to prevent plagiarism. Best to use it as a reference or inspiration I feel is the best way to go. Though sometimes I feel if one follows their template I think that's fine too lol. Since imitation is the highest form of flattery and all lmao.
I think experience with a series helps in knowing the composer/s to help bridge the link to your audience as well. For example Motoi Sakuraba is known for composing much of the OST in the Tales series. But, I think not a lot of people know he also composed the OST for dark souls I,II,III. With Yuka Kitamura helping him on the third entry. But he’s absent for Bloodborne(BB), Sekiro and Elden Ring. With Yuka Kitamura doing much of the work for BB. And new composers for Elden Ring(Although she still works there too). By contrast I also think having no experience with a series helps too. Jet Set Radio Future & Burnout 3 Takedown are just some examples of games I tried without prior knowledge of their past entries. And have a varied amount of tracks to choose from with different styles. The former is a goldmine Jukebox. And the latter is the same except for utilizing various licensed rock bands.
Oh god didn’t mean to type out so much. So here’s a TL: DR answer
1 - Be honest about your review. I think readers will appreciate that
2 - Any personal connections to the OST. Can be anything connected. If you love it. Or had experience listening to the composer/s from past entries or new entries.
3 - This might be a hot take. But keep it short. Sometimes I feel some readers don’t care about a long pages of music and care more about other aspects to know about.
4 - Make it interesting. I could list pages about why I love so and so music, but if the words used make it sound boring then not a whole lot of people will read about it. I’ll use my high-school English teacher's advice here. “Sometimes simple is best.” Which I guess goes hand in hand with what I said in point 4 lol.
I could add more, but I should cut back already lmao.
Moving on,
@RedBackLoggd Thank you! & Glad to help on the tips. I agree 100%. I try to think about other players beyond just my experience. Especially if my friends or fellow reviewers had similar or dissimilar experiences. I don’t really like the “get gud” mentality either since like you said “perhaps some mechanics are harder to get into for newer players.” I feel its important to recognize that. And help newcomers into the genre especially if they never played a [insert genre here] before.
Hope this helps!
Fantastic track "dream of the shore near another world" When I first heard it in-game I had to stop a minute and process it. Ah appreciate the kind words on the music. I actually think it could be better to be honest. Since I try not to follow a template. But anyway, back to tips for ya.
Um, I think being candid about your feelings for an OST is an important factor. It’s incredibly hard for me who doesn’t know much about music in general(Like know what precise instruments are being used or how to describe some tracks beyond tempo, rhythm or melody). Until I check out the development page about a game I like. Or I really love a game’s OST. I have to talk about it. And try to enrich others about it. Sometimes I like to add the voice actors(VA’s) and sounds like sfx: gunshots, animals sounds, physic sounds(slamming a door, running, walking etc.) outside of music to help talk about the sound design as well. And make a comment on that. Like if its pleasing to hear, dude/gal has insane range and more. Behind the voice actors website is a fantastic resource to pull from. For example Troy Baker has done a lot of voice overs on not just games but other media. And you’ll find a lot of VA’s working on other games. Fire Emblem Three houses VA’s is great to listen to not just in their support conversations, but they're AAA cast imo since they’ve gone off to work on other games. Like most of the cast are in Daemon X Machina(Basically a mecha game like Armored Core) So in case you feel you're short on words about OST you can add that. Oof just realized on the tangent my bad.
Years ago I started to read RPGfan’s videogame music(vgm) reviews to get an idea of how to talk about a soundtrack in a video game. They started back in 1999. So their library is quite large to peruse. But the content they have is worth noting since each vgm review is quite informative to say the least.
The author goes in-depth on who composed the ost and if they have any collaborators. A lot of JRPG’s have multiple composers. Or sometimes just one. They talk about their personal experience with past games with the same composer to bring a frame of reference then bring it to the present. Demonstrating their somewhat familiarity with the one who made the OST. From there they describe their experience using some tracks from the soundtrack to point out some comments. Then end it with a conclusion on the whole OST as a whole. I like their format tbh. But I don't want to copy it too closely to my reviews to prevent plagiarism. Best to use it as a reference or inspiration I feel is the best way to go. Though sometimes I feel if one follows their template I think that's fine too lol. Since imitation is the highest form of flattery and all lmao.
I think experience with a series helps in knowing the composer/s to help bridge the link to your audience as well. For example Motoi Sakuraba is known for composing much of the OST in the Tales series. But, I think not a lot of people know he also composed the OST for dark souls I,II,III. With Yuka Kitamura helping him on the third entry. But he’s absent for Bloodborne(BB), Sekiro and Elden Ring. With Yuka Kitamura doing much of the work for BB. And new composers for Elden Ring(Although she still works there too). By contrast I also think having no experience with a series helps too. Jet Set Radio Future & Burnout 3 Takedown are just some examples of games I tried without prior knowledge of their past entries. And have a varied amount of tracks to choose from with different styles. The former is a goldmine Jukebox. And the latter is the same except for utilizing various licensed rock bands.
Oh god didn’t mean to type out so much. So here’s a TL: DR answer
1 - Be honest about your review. I think readers will appreciate that
2 - Any personal connections to the OST. Can be anything connected. If you love it. Or had experience listening to the composer/s from past entries or new entries.
3 - This might be a hot take. But keep it short. Sometimes I feel some readers don’t care about a long pages of music and care more about other aspects to know about.
4 - Make it interesting. I could list pages about why I love so and so music, but if the words used make it sound boring then not a whole lot of people will read about it. I’ll use my high-school English teacher's advice here. “Sometimes simple is best.” Which I guess goes hand in hand with what I said in point 4 lol.
I could add more, but I should cut back already lmao.
Moving on,
@RedBackLoggd Thank you! & Glad to help on the tips. I agree 100%. I try to think about other players beyond just my experience. Especially if my friends or fellow reviewers had similar or dissimilar experiences. I don’t really like the “get gud” mentality either since like you said “perhaps some mechanics are harder to get into for newer players.” I feel its important to recognize that. And help newcomers into the genre especially if they never played a [insert genre here] before.
Hope this helps!
Good to see someone saying good things about this remake/remaster.
Yeah, I remember reading/watching some reviews on launch where the remaster wasn't that good. Particularly about the FPS which is a major concern of mine. So I'm glad I waited until that got patched lol. The recent patches fixed some minor bugs too. I think its more than enough to be in an acceptable/optimal state. Perhaps even preferred versus the old version. But not taking a dig at the old version. If players want to play that one that's fine.
Hey man, apologies for the delay in response. Was dealing with a lot of drama on my Celeste review.
First off, never apologize for giving a passionate response. It shows you genuinely care about a product.
Hey man, the worst critic is yourself as the old saying goes.
Thank you SO much for that resources, as well as Behind the VG, as that will definitely better inform my opinion. I'm actually surprised to hear you don't know much about music since you do such a good job conveying why an OST or track is good haha. I definitely don't have the same passion as you do (I love music, don't get me wrong, but not the same way I do about stories), so that's probably an impeding factor I just gotta get over.
Yeah, but his method sounds more personal than a more conventional review of a video game which should be more objective, at least as far as the technical facets are concerned (though I understand music will be inherently subjective).
Honestly man, should familiarity with a composer matter? I know you advocated for both takes as fine avenues, but at the end of the day, the product should be independently analyzed regardless of what they did for some other game. I have an analysis of AC Valhalla that'll probably come out next month, and I do wonder if I was unduly harsh on the music due to me being familiar with the composer (Jesper Kyd's) prior work.
And yeah man, I actually kind of experienced that mentality, but in the opposite situation with a game I reviewed recently called RiME. It's a very simple puzzle game, but I refrained from docking points completely because I realized it could probably find a good audience with younger gamers trying to get into the genre or parents wanting to play something with their children.
First off, never apologize for giving a passionate response. It shows you genuinely care about a product.
Hey man, the worst critic is yourself as the old saying goes.
Thank you SO much for that resources, as well as Behind the VG, as that will definitely better inform my opinion. I'm actually surprised to hear you don't know much about music since you do such a good job conveying why an OST or track is good haha. I definitely don't have the same passion as you do (I love music, don't get me wrong, but not the same way I do about stories), so that's probably an impeding factor I just gotta get over.
Yeah, but his method sounds more personal than a more conventional review of a video game which should be more objective, at least as far as the technical facets are concerned (though I understand music will be inherently subjective).
Honestly man, should familiarity with a composer matter? I know you advocated for both takes as fine avenues, but at the end of the day, the product should be independently analyzed regardless of what they did for some other game. I have an analysis of AC Valhalla that'll probably come out next month, and I do wonder if I was unduly harsh on the music due to me being familiar with the composer (Jesper Kyd's) prior work.
And yeah man, I actually kind of experienced that mentality, but in the opposite situation with a game I reviewed recently called RiME. It's a very simple puzzle game, but I refrained from docking points completely because I realized it could probably find a good audience with younger gamers trying to get into the genre or parents wanting to play something with their children.
All good! Understandable considering what you went through. Sorry you had to go through all that.
And yeah that’s true - regarding the “....critic is yourself.”
My pleasure! I just feel sometimes when I love a track, sometimes others may not love a game’s OST and I think that’s fair to experience. The world would be pretty boring imo if we all loved the same things without differing opinions on what we love, like, neutral, dislike, hate lol.
In regards to “the product should be independently analyzed regardless of what they did for some other game.”I do agree to some extent. But ultimately I sit on both sides(in some cases even the middle lol) whether reviewers know the composer or not. I don’t think there's a set rule for it. At least so far as I have been reviewing games. But I respect those who follow it. If there is one.
Personally, its difficult for me to break away from my bias on my favorite composers when I review games. Yasunori Mitsuda being one of them lol. But I connect with him because it allows me to reach fans of not just the games he composed for, but those who follow him, have been inspired by and perhaps all the above. Its certainly fine in my books reviewing a game while talking about a composer's work on it and not talking about their previous experience. But imo I also find it equally as great for reviews to show familiarity with a composer. Allowing me to see whether or not the person loves/likes the OST to the point they are familiar with the musical style of their composition. Which may help in understanding the whole OST of a videogame. And in effect allow understanding of why they are used at key points in the game. I’ll use the composer Keiichi Okabe from Nier(2010) as an example. He’s not alone in composing the game I mentioned. He has other members to help. Okabe-san’s composition in regards to Nier if I were to describe it in one word without hyperbole would be to me: breathtaking. Not in the sense how Keanu Reeves said it for Cyberpunk 2077 before release. But in the way the music was heard to listeners. He wasn’t alone in composing the OST. He had help regarding the vocals done by Emi Evans. Who created Chaos Language of lyrics based on utilizing different languages during a track called “Song of the Ancients” among others which elevated the quality of the OST to fantastic heights and allowed the richness of the world of Nier to flourish. if I were to hypothetically make a review on Nier Automata. I strongly feel the need to mention her yet again, but also inform readers(new or old) if they don’t know about her. Through this method I’m educating newcomers who have never played Nier Automata and Nier(2010). While for the older readers who are familiar it allows them to agree or disagree with my review or offer other comments in general. I think Alex Makoukala can go deeper on why Nier is a masterpiece I should’ve linked this guy in my earlier comment, but only realized now lol. I think he could help ya for music tips as well. Been a fan of his vgm ost analyses for several years.
Although, looking back there is a fine line to not be too biased without going too deep at the risk of losing your readers attention I think.
Its funny you brought about Jesper Kyd. Since I love the AC series(Assassin’s Creed) back when I was younger. And still do to uhh varying degrees lets just say.Ezio trilogy is peak for me lol I honestly think Ubisoft needs to lay off on using Ezio's family theme constantly in later entries of the series. It’s old, tiring and copy pasta of the Ubisoft formula. Granted I LOVE his rendition of ezio’s family back in the trilogy since it was first introduced, so idm hearing newer ones too ... But eh. I feel its fine if you're harsh with him if you can back it up with evidence. If you’re familiar with his prior work and its relative in your review then I think its fine to say so. Haven’t played Odyssey or Valhalla. I stopped after finishing Origins. Lorne Balfe’s work on AC3 I like. Which turns out he was mentored/worked with by Hans Zimmer who’s work on Interstellar was absolutely Stellar LOL.
Its good you thought about the younger audience. Quite frankly I sometimes forget to think about the other person behind the monitor/mobile phone when creating my reviews since I get tunnel vision on a lot of other aspects. Rime is a game I actually tried for less than an hour on ps plus years ago. But quit for some reason. Idk the reason why. But I still plan on playing it. Just a low priority for now haha.
TL:DR of your question(should familiarity with a composer matter?) Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Basically boils down to if you can connect the composer’s previous work into the current game you're reviewing and its relative to w/e you’re talking about. And you can back it up with evidence. Then I think its fine. Shows your knowledgeable about the composer, his/her style and perhaps offers insight that sets you apart from other reviewers maybe. If you cannot, then its fine to review it without talking about the composer’s previous work. I think there's value in both accounts.
And yeah that’s true - regarding the “....critic is yourself.”
My pleasure! I just feel sometimes when I love a track, sometimes others may not love a game’s OST and I think that’s fair to experience. The world would be pretty boring imo if we all loved the same things without differing opinions on what we love, like, neutral, dislike, hate lol.
In regards to “the product should be independently analyzed regardless of what they did for some other game.”I do agree to some extent. But ultimately I sit on both sides(in some cases even the middle lol) whether reviewers know the composer or not. I don’t think there's a set rule for it. At least so far as I have been reviewing games. But I respect those who follow it. If there is one.
Personally, its difficult for me to break away from my bias on my favorite composers when I review games. Yasunori Mitsuda being one of them lol. But I connect with him because it allows me to reach fans of not just the games he composed for, but those who follow him, have been inspired by and perhaps all the above. Its certainly fine in my books reviewing a game while talking about a composer's work on it and not talking about their previous experience. But imo I also find it equally as great for reviews to show familiarity with a composer. Allowing me to see whether or not the person loves/likes the OST to the point they are familiar with the musical style of their composition. Which may help in understanding the whole OST of a videogame. And in effect allow understanding of why they are used at key points in the game. I’ll use the composer Keiichi Okabe from Nier(2010) as an example. He’s not alone in composing the game I mentioned. He has other members to help. Okabe-san’s composition in regards to Nier if I were to describe it in one word without hyperbole would be to me: breathtaking. Not in the sense how Keanu Reeves said it for Cyberpunk 2077 before release. But in the way the music was heard to listeners. He wasn’t alone in composing the OST. He had help regarding the vocals done by Emi Evans. Who created Chaos Language of lyrics based on utilizing different languages during a track called “Song of the Ancients” among others which elevated the quality of the OST to fantastic heights and allowed the richness of the world of Nier to flourish. if I were to hypothetically make a review on Nier Automata. I strongly feel the need to mention her yet again, but also inform readers(new or old) if they don’t know about her. Through this method I’m educating newcomers who have never played Nier Automata and Nier(2010). While for the older readers who are familiar it allows them to agree or disagree with my review or offer other comments in general. I think Alex Makoukala can go deeper on why Nier is a masterpiece I should’ve linked this guy in my earlier comment, but only realized now lol. I think he could help ya for music tips as well. Been a fan of his vgm ost analyses for several years.
Although, looking back there is a fine line to not be too biased without going too deep at the risk of losing your readers attention I think.
Its funny you brought about Jesper Kyd. Since I love the AC series(Assassin’s Creed) back when I was younger. And still do to uhh varying degrees lets just say.
Its good you thought about the younger audience. Quite frankly I sometimes forget to think about the other person behind the monitor/mobile phone when creating my reviews since I get tunnel vision on a lot of other aspects. Rime is a game I actually tried for less than an hour on ps plus years ago. But quit for some reason. Idk the reason why. But I still plan on playing it. Just a low priority for now haha.
TL:DR of your question(should familiarity with a composer matter?) Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Basically boils down to if you can connect the composer’s previous work into the current game you're reviewing and its relative to w/e you’re talking about. And you can back it up with evidence. Then I think its fine. Shows your knowledgeable about the composer, his/her style and perhaps offers insight that sets you apart from other reviewers maybe. If you cannot, then its fine to review it without talking about the composer’s previous work. I think there's value in both accounts.
You are very correct! I guess it's time to go through this game once more. And this time I will clear the Radical Dreamers too.
@DragonaSnek Nice! Hope you like it. Radical Dreamers is pretty short to complete. Just make sure to save constantly and perhaps have a walkthrough on hand so you can breeze through it.
I need to give this another try sometime
@Poet - Its worth a playthrough! Though it took me several tries before everything clicked.
FallenGrace
1 year ago