The game is accessible and pleasant to look at. The level design is well mastered and technically convincing for an indie game (except for having to tinker with the vsync parameters to uncap the framerate above 120 fps).

However, the game doesn't seem to want to convey anything through its medium, and even the ending remains totally forgettable. The art direction takes no risks and remains for the most part fairly generic (with a special mention for the purple orb, which really stands out from the rest).

Around 1986-1987, a little company by the name of Squaresoft, or simply just Square, was in deep trouble. They were facing the threat of bankruptcy, and while they had previously made several previous titles that were somewhat noteworthy at the time, such as Rad Racer, King’s Knight, and The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner, none of those games were successful enough to keep the company afloat, coupled with plenty of other factors that would play a part in this. With a single spark of hope still remaining in them, they had decided to give it one last shot, to develop one final game that would decide the fate of their company. If it had succeeded, they would go about business as usual for the foreseeable future, but if it hadn’t, they would close their doors forever and become a forgotten studio of the past. It was quite a gamble, to be sure, but one that they were willing to take. And so, in 1987, Square would go onto release that game for the NES, known simply as Final Fantasy.

I’m sure we all know where the story goes from here: the game was a smash hit, it allowed Square to keep making games, and since then, the series has become the flagship franchise for Square, now Square Enix, and has been going strong all the way up to this day, with the latest title, Final Fantasy XVI, just releasing a few months prior to me typing this. The series has evolved in many ways over the years, both good and bad, and despite the many, MANY hurdles it went through, it is considered by many to be one of the best RPG series of all time, and even one of the greatest video game franchises of all time. But, with all that being said, how does the original Final Fantasy, from all the way back on the NES, hold up after all this time? Well… it is good… but it has definitely aged A TON since 1987. It did introduce a lot of elements that would be a staple in not just this series, but for RPGs in general, and it can be fun to go back and play every so often, but many will agree with me when I say this is definitely not the first title you would go back to when revisiting older Final Fantasy games, and even if you were to go back to this one, it wouldn’t be with this version.

The story is extremely basic for an RPG, about four chosen heroes on a quest to restore their respective crystals involving the four elements, and saving the land from the forces of evil, but I will give it some slack, seeing as it was the story for the first game in the series, the graphics are pretty good for the time, not being too impressive when compared to other titles, but providing that sense of wonder and adventure that visuals like this need to provide, so it works, the music is iconic, with plenty of main staple tracks of the series being introduced here, and many of these tracks are still great to listen to now, even if they have been made better in subsequent remakes, the control is… exactly what you would expect from an RPG, so no need to discuss it any further, and the gameplay is… also exactly what you would expect from an RPG, but it helped evolve it in ways not seen previously, and would help make the genre a mainstay in many players’ eyes.

The game is a classic role-playing-game, where you take control of four player characters that you give unique names to, as well as choose their own class of warrior for out of six choices, you travel around a large world filled with plenty of towns, dungeons, and more, talk to NPCs, buy items and equipment to give you an advantage in battle, gather plenty of other helpful items that will allow you to explore more of the world, and of course, get caught in a series of random battles, where you and your party take on a wide assortment of creatures, using main attacks, magic, items, and your own strategy to take down these monsters, gain gil + experience, and level up. Now, this is all stuff we have all seen in RPGs before, and plenty of other games before this, such as Dragon Quest, also did a lot of the stuff that this game does, but as any RPG fan knows, execution is one of the big factors that defines whether an RPG is good, and the original Final Fantasy has a pretty great execution.

The game does make it feel like you are going on an epic journey across this world, not only due to the many faces you meet and interact with, but also with the opening sequence seen after beating the first dungeon and setting off into the world. It may not seem like much for players nowadays, but I’m sure back in the day, this was more than enough to get a player sucked into what they were about to experience. What also helps is that the game still plays pretty well, having a basic RPG formula that many can understand and get a feel for pretty quickly, and with all the stuff that you can get not just from battles, but exploring more of the world laid out to you, it definitely keeps you wanting to move on and see what more you can find. This is also made better with the fact that, halfway through the game, your entire party is given a substantial upgrade, where you all now look much more badass, and have plenty more skills that you can dish out on monsters, giving a sense of progression that feels extremely satisfying, especially for someone like me who doesn’t typically play traditional RPGs all that much.

In addition to this, while it doesn’t do too much different when compared to other RPGs at the time, what it does change up does make the game feel more enjoyable. Pretty much every other RPG before this always had battles take place in a first-person-view, which was cool and all, but it does leave a lot to be desired in terms of how battles can be shown. In this game though, battles now take place from a side view, where you can not only see your opponents, but also your entire party at once. Again, it may not seem like much, but it does add that little extra bit of flavor to make it more exciting, seeing these characters that you made and helped get more powerful take on these fearsome foes, and feeling satisfied whenever they do gain experience from these fights, while doing their victory dance after every fight. And finally, this game does have plenty of replayability, with the previously mentioned selection of classes that you can give to your four warriors upon starting the game. This makes it so that you can make whatever kind of team you want, whether it be a varied team with four different classes brought together, or maybe even a team full of people of only one class. It is neat seeing what kind of combinations you can make, how they will fair in battle, and also finding the right set of characters that suit your playstyle.

With all that being said though, any fan of both Final Fantasy and RPGs in general can all agree with me when I say this game has issues. While this game did a lot of things to benefit and popularize the RPG genre, nowadays, it is pretty bland in comparison to plenty of other games not just in the genre, but in later sequels. That is to be expected, of course, but it can make going back to the original game more difficult for those curious about the series. In addition, this game can be pretty fucking brutal at times. There will be plenty of instances where you will be bombarded by a whole gang of enemies, even up to 9 of them, and they can easily take you down if you aren’t careful, with there being plenty of times where they can gang up on one party member, and kill them immediately. And speaking of which, whenever a character dies, you can’t just simply revive them with a Phoenix Down like in other titles in this series. The only way you can revive them is by going to churches in the towns of the game. So, basically, if you are deep into a dungeon, and one of your party members happens to die in a battle, you have to go alllllllllll the way back to a town just to revive them. That pretty much means you will be FUCKED, as it is pretty difficult to get back to a town when you are caught in this scenario, let alone get out of the battle you are currently in unscathed if the dead party member just so happens to be your strongest one.

And finally, I must stress this: if you are planning on checking out the original Final Fantasy at any point in the future, don't play the NES version. That’s not to say that the original version is a bad version, as it is still perfectly playable, but anyone who has played it compared to any other version knows that it is pretty busted. For example, a lot of the magic spells and stats just straight up don’t work, such as the case of intelligence doing nothing whatsoever, and some spells do the exactly opposite of what they are supposed to do, which can be bad when you use them on a tough foe. In addition to this, some of the classes in the game are completely useless compared to others, such as the case with the Thief class. Not only does the class not have the ability to steal anything, making the class’s entire existence a fucking joke, but it also has no access to magic in the first half of the game, and while it is supposed to make running from battles easier, OOPS, that doesn’t work either! So yeah, needless to say, if you are going to play the original Final Fantasy, play one of the remakes, preferably the Pixel Remaster, since it is the most accessible. Trust me, you will have a much better time with it.

Overall, despite having plenty of issues that hold it back from true greatness, as well as there being plenty of updated remakes that make this version obsolete, the original Final Fantasy for the NES is still a good time, and I did enjoy my time with it when revisiting it, even if I will never be touching it ever again after this review, and sticking to other versions of it. I would recommend checking it out for hardcore fans of not just Final Fantasy or hardcore fans of the original game, but also for major RPG nuts as well, but for those who are just casual fans of Final Fantasy or RPGs, then there are definitely much better versions out there. But hey, at least we can appreciate the game for saving Square in their time of need and allowing them to still develop not just this series, but plenty of other games all the way up to this day. Let’s just hope they can keep up this level of quality and increase it further with the next game to come after this. I mean, they couldn’t POSSIBLY screw that one up, right?

Game #366

This game can be described pretty easily…

It’s far from the DISMAL past entries (least from what I hear) creating a new beginning for the series, and arguably the best starting point for beginners. It’s how I did so, anyway.

And my god, this game looks CRAZY good! I played it on PC and it not only holds a consistent frame rate and resolution, but it just has so much going on and so much creativity in each layer of its visuals! The RE Engine never looked better!

The soundtrack is absolutely BADASS, having you feel exactly how the characters do, partying with Nero, chanting with V, Rocking out with Dante…or just gaining pure absolute motivation with Vergil!

While not as punishing as DMC3, the game still has difficulties that can feel APOCALYPTIC and it’s so fun to do so! The game is paced just right that replaying it was something I wanted to do multiple times! …which I did.

And then of course…the gameplay is just stellar. I couldn’t get into many other games like this cause they often feel so unforgiving or loose that I just don’t want to keep going, but even as a newcomer I felt that satisfaction of ripping through enemies in a SAVAGE way! Once I got used to how the game worked, I could play as any of the characters and keep enemies guessing with my SICK SKILLS! And my god, the moment I get good enough to get that fabled SSS rank…it’s unreal.

DMC5 was such an amazing experience and made me deadset on at least playing the other games in this series, making me a blooming fan of this series. If you want some SMOKIN SEXY STYLE…then go ahead and play DMC5.

Now that I beat the main story, I feel like I can finally review this. After the feeling of wonder and awe that I felt with Breath of the Wild, I had high expectations for this game. For the most part, this exceeded my expectations in more ways than one. But I must say, this game didn't give me the same feeling when I began it, it was a good feeling but very different. Maybe it was the beginning sky island or the vibe of the story but it didn't feel the same and that may be no fault of the game; in all honesty, I don't think any game will make me feel the way that BOTW felt. But besides that impossible expectation, this game is near perfect. It is everything I would want in a sequel game. The controls frustrated me to no-end at the beginning but after awhile of playing, it became very familiar. I applaud the amount of new content this game gave with the addition of the sky islands and the depths (it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to discover the depths by the way) and even the new content and flow of the surface. They left a good amount to discover with the additions of the caves and wells. I loved the sages and their powers. They all proved to be very helpful at times, I mostly had Tulin and Yonobo out at all times. As for the story, while it wasn't perfect, I feel satisfied with it. I don't feel like there were any loose ends and there were no questions that went unanswered. I'm planning on returning it to 100% it, I'm at about 70% as of finishing it. (Just need to finish side quests).

Fortuna, beloved

Using tarot-like readings as a mechanism to nudge countless elements of the story in different directions is a stroke of genius that I never tired of. There’s a strong sense of context developed for the characters and events here, and it’s used to great effect as it managed to whirlwindishly stir up all sorts of feelings in me. The resolution of my story was more chaotic and messy than I’d hoped, but it feels like there’s such a kaleidoscopic range of possibilities for where this game ends up that this isn’t actually a shortcoming in my book. A huge leap forward from Red Strings Club

this was my first approach to Baldur's Gate and I was a little scared I wasn't going to enjoy it much or be very confused throughout the game, but I was wrong. I enjoyed this game so much I kept hoping for it to never end! took me 90-100 hours of playtime since I wanted to explore as much as I could and grow friendships with different NPCs, and it was so worth it I'd do it again. definitely my 2023 GOTY and i recommed everyone to play this game for how good and how big its replayability value is!

sure it can be a little buggy here and there, especially between act 2 and 3 but it wasn't a big deal that stopped me from playing the game, and some of those bugs were kinda fun, I'm sure the devs are taking notice as they're slowly patching so much stuff. big thumbs up for me <: !!