Note that I'll refraining from discussing the CDI zelda games too much just due to not having really experienced them beyond the cutscenes and ytp memes. With all that said:

While Arzette's initial appeal is its CDI Zelda aesthetic it seems to be (affectionately) parodying, it definitely ends up going beyond that to create its own identity (and just be a dang good time).

The gameplay is solid: Arzette immediately feels good to control and obtains several upgrades that, though nothing complex, add a little more flavour to the platforming and combat. If anything I kinda wish you got some of them earlier just to have more fun with a fully upgraded Arzette in the main game, but its no big deal.

Level progression isn't really linear (though I'm not sure if to call it a "metroidvania"); you'll often be backtracking between levels due to getting an upgrade or a sidequest that will only then allow you to fully progress through them. This initially sounded too tedious but the length of the levels as well speed of the gameplay feels just right enough that the backtracking never feels overbearing; you're also encouraged to find collectables so that added to some fun in trying to find any sort of secrets. Some levels do feel a bit too short compared to others, but it is what it is.

Having played on Normal Mode, the game is pretty easy. The main challenge more has to do with hitting some enemies with the correct coloured shots before being able to damage them at all, but through upgrades later on that process is also simplified. This does unfortunately mean the combat is probably the least interesting thing about the gameplay but its also part of the reason that allows you to play the game fast without any backtracking becoming a chore. I do wish bosses were a little more challenging though, they have really simple patterns (it's more of a shame cuz the boss music is so good honestly lol). I especially find the final boss disappointing in this regard but in fairness that might have been the intention. Not sure.

The 2d sprites all look great, I could eat those visuals up. They're very expressive and fun with pleasant colours. The music is just- mmmmm- I love it so much. It's so good. I'm listening to a track right now while writing this review. Even if you don't play this game please listen to the ost.

In its attempt to emulate the style of the CDI aesthetic, Arzette has really charming and humorous cutscenes. Every NPC was a delight to meet as I really enjoyed seeing the animation. I noticed they seem to have multiple people directing them due to the different artstyles at times, which I think is a plus. They don't necessarily feel as zany as the zelda cdi games' cutscenes, but I think what is there is still really pleasant and ends up feeling heartfelt.

The pacing of the story is pretty quick all things considered though that's also to do with the game being short as well. The ending especially bothers me a little as I felt it went by too fast, and one particular character's fate that concluded midway into the game also felt bizarrely placed I suppose.

Due to the cliffhanger as well as the intro cutscene I'm really hoping they're able to create another game, be it prequel or sequel. This game ended up being pretty fun but I think another installment would definitely be able to iron out any kinks this entry had. We'll see I suppose.

Overall I'd really recommend this game its a good short time. I ended up sounding like major yapping in this review LOL so I'll probably rewrite but also like cut me some slack I just finished the game and still feel pretty excited.

I tried to finish this game recent-ish but its liiiike

really fucking annoying lol.

You play as 5 characters and get through at least 3 (frustrating) stages per character. Each has their own gameplay style:

Spider-man's is probably the best, most quick and responsive controls with a fun swinging mechanic. The introductory level has you start off as him (and its also the best level in the game lol lmao). Besides getting you used to the controls it also utilizes his spider sense to track down and collect these item box thingies before you finally get to the captured x-men. Rest of his levels are just regular go from start to finish levels though that are extra difficult because of the amount of bottomless pits and aggressive shit and annoying boss fights and then later really obnoxious rain.

Cyclops is a slooog. You have to really time your jumps and shit because if you fall onto the train trucks you're one-shot to death, respawning enemies keep coming with projectiles, and the levels also just felt way longer than they should have. He's got a lame kick but you're largely gonna use cyclop's projectiles (albeit when you stand still, but you can shoot in all directions). He's got one cool sentry boss battle i guess.

Wolverine's arguably the worst one. He plays fine though with only really melee combat. SUCKS when fighting bosses, his first level's boss is some blue freak with long arms and he's annoying af and took several tries to kill. His 2nd level is definitely the worst in the game as it requires trying to kill juggernaut before he catches up to you and kills you. He has a LOT of health and you need to get him hit with every single fucking anvil and hit him with wolverine as much as possible WHILE avoiding ball pits of deaths AND random enemies AND juggernaut rushing into you. Its. blehgh. bleh. blegh.

Gambit's first two stages are fast paced: the first one requires you to not get crushed by a spike ball and the other one is a vertical auto scroller (that's really bullshit and WILL trap you). Worst part about it is him having limited ammo so it forces you to get more and that can fuck with the fast pace leading to your doom. I found his bosses the most fun tho I guess. kinda.

Storm's the weirdest since hers are water based levels. They actually might even be the easiest ones since her health is her breath, which is easy to regenerate as long as you can get her out of water, you just need to be careful of your progress so you don't miss out on spaces for air. Also everything damages you um lol lmao. Both her levels are pretty much.

Everyone has a level leading up to the final boss that's shorter than their regular levels and also a little easier. Spider-man's is the one where he has to fight the final (while the 4 x-men help....sorta...kinda pathetically).
Who really stands out is Storm though because her third level isn't underwater based and she actually fucking kicks ass in a more regular gameplay style but god forbid we could have had that for more than 2 levels.

Visuals are a mess idk what else to say but the music is fucking fantasy (follin brothers, everyone)

just listen to the ost

Haven't really watched the show this game is based on but its pretty fun all things considered. The original was quick and responsive from what I remember, but there's a fastrom version out that makes the experience 100% smooth and makes everything feel so snappy, so I would recommend trying that if given the chance.

Major grievance is just have the roster being the power rangers' mechs. Doesn't sound bad initially but they all use the same stage and stage theme which is lame but whatever. it is what it is.

Biased admittedly since its the first one I shared my playthrough of with friends and also completed but regardless its really fun and good. Great roster and mechs, very fun writing.

Biggest grievance with it is how spongy enemies are, especially the super robot and OG ones by late-game. It's not necessarily difficult especially as you get a better handle on soul skills, combos e.t.c. but it does really drag out some maps.

Would recommend either way, I love it.

Still yet to finish it, will update this review if needed whenever that happens.

Might take a bit to get used to the controls initially but it ends up having a really interesting gameplay loop of trying to time your traps perfectly to kill your enemies, even go for a combo whammy. The camera might be the biggest obstacle in this regard though I admittedly don't remember how well it worked in this game, I don't remember getting too frustrated.

The story and aesthetic are pretty cool and is what drew me in the first time. More or less you start off as a puppet and as you progress some decisions you take can affect what you end up doing, who you may side with or if you go solo.

The story does like to present moral dilemmas, especially early on, but it doesn't feel like a major factor as most enemies end up being mercs or knights of some kind that may try to actively kill you. I suppose it enhances the rare moments where it really matters but, y'know.

Would recommend, its a fun time.

I intended to write a long review for this game but it keeps being put off. For now, it'll be a less in-depth review.

I'm already quite the fan of Dragon Quest ad IV was no exception in putting me in a chokehold until I finished the main game. I also just appreciate it more knowing the original incarnation was the first RPG that, to my knowledge, tried to put a bigger emphasis on story and character writing by creating fully established party members with their own motivations and backgrounds; this much is clear when you realize the first 4 chapters has you control the other party members and complete their starting journey before you start the protagonist's.

The gameplay is basic turn based gameplay and its top-notch as ever, as expected anyways. In tune with the emphasis on other characters through writing, the gameplay also makes each party member unique in their combat, from a martial arts fighter to a fire based magician, e.t.c. e.t.c. This isn't to say that DQ2 and DQ3 didn't also differentiate its party members based on class types, but DQ4 also makes sure to relate their combat uniqueness to their personality in some way. An easy example would be how both Ragnar and Alena are strength based characters but Ragnar is a more traditional knight that relies on equipment while Alena is more a martial artist who relies mainly on natural stats at the cost of limited equipment.

The story is fairly typical about the destined hero needing to stop the big bad from awakening. What makes the story stand out is, again, the character writing and exploration of other characters' backstories and motivations for how they set off on their journey and met you. It really helps to get you connected with them and honestly by the end of the journey I was teary-eyed, with everyone returning back to their homes but knowing we'll stick up for each other when the time comes. This all sounds pretty typical for jrpgs of course, but idk man knowing this was one of the first rpgs to do it and honestly I just really like the characters, I love it a lot. Should mention now too lol that definitely apply the party chat patch on the game, or play the phone version, I think it adds a lot of flavour to the characters throughout the journey.

The main iffy bit of the game for me was the post-game. I won't really dive into spoilers but I was a bit turned off by it just for its nature of seemingly implying its after the main story's events but also during the main story's events. It's weird and mainly a nitpick, I'm just not that interested in post games that don't make it clear they pick up after the main plot.

Overall I'd absolutely recommend this game lol, its fun and I love it love it love it.

Might write a more detailed review once I finish the game (left it at the last dungeon and then got burnt out lol)

I'm pretty biased for this series admittedly, being obsessed with them back when I was kid going to flash websites all the time, 4 definitely being my fave. Having replayed it recently the nostalgia slammed into me and I could not just not vibe so hard.

Even putting aside that factor though this game is tons of fun. The turn based battle system is probably the main highlight, being easy to understand yet having enough complexity to its systems that allows you to make as much use of them as possible the more you progress. The 3/4 party members per battle can seem a little hard to handle but I found all 4 worth using at some point or another, and the game allows you to switch in and out who you need during battle as well. Combat is generally pretty fast paced but you can definitely come across particular annoying enemies and bosses that feel like they drag for too long, though I managed to do well for the most part. The other side of gameplay is mostly to do with overworld exploration; best part for me was just being able to get all the treasures available as rewards were often pretty good and the fast pace of exploration made backtracking at times for treasure not feel annoying.

Some might find the artstyle outdated but I'd honestly still eat it up, it's just too charming for me and also fits the game tonally. The music is also good though I do feel like it remains more in the background in my memory.

The writing is probably the most outdated thing about the game and one I'm most iffy about it. It's very of its time in its humour and though I feel nostalgic for it to some extent, I don't really find it all that funny; its not something I can just ignore either with how the game is largely comedic. Regardless, I don't blame the game much for it, its just how it was on the internet back then in my experience. I think the characters and npcs are still charming though and there's enough sweet moments here and there.

Overall I'd recommend the game. I think the gameplay is fun and even if you're not into the writing it can be viewed as an interesting relic of how internet spaces were like back then. This was also made by like one guy so that still impresses me lol, its awesome. I'm really interested to try out EBP5 sometime, seeing as its a 2018 game as well I wonder how much the writing in particular would get affected, if it does at all. EBP 1-3 are more outdated in their gameplay so its up to you if you want to try them, none of them take as long as 4 anyways.

Shining Force with like hotter characters mostly cuz I'm really hoe-ish like that.

Its been some years since I played this (so not too detailed review) but I found it to be an odd yet fun experience.

The story is fine, quite humorous though which makes me question if the comedy was a fan translation addition considering the lewdness to some of them. That's usually the giveaway, but the vibes that most of the characters give off are also like, really crass, goofy and/or blunt people. idk how else to say it really lol.

There's an alignment system whereby depending on how you play you either become a lawful person or a chaotic one. Its a neat system that largely affects the kind of party members and ending you get, but also something you need to keep check of to make sure you don't lose party members you already gained. I like how a little flavour is added to the alignment-dependent party members by giving them varying levels of tolerance on what tier of the alignments you're at. I also like that chaos characters arent inherently evil people, though you can still a clear distinction between the kind of vibes lawful units and chaotic units give.

The gameplay is mostly simple, but enjoying it largely relies on what alignment you're heading for. If you're going for lawful then you're to avoid optional battles and do the specific requirements a map asks you to do, adding some challenge and strategy. If you're going chaotic, you're gonna need to do optional battles and just go hog wild killing everyone regardless of what instructions you get. I found more fun trying to do the lawful alignment, so that's what I went for.

If I'm not misremembering the game actually has endless optional battles for you to do before the final map. Aside from grinding if you're having trouble, this mostly seemed to be for changing your alignment fast to see all endings more easily. I find it a lil funny, idk why lol.

The music is cool, fitting for how the game is tonally I suppose. Visually the overworld looks really simplistic, most of the more elaborate and detailed stuff you see is during combat sequences, its pretty cool.

I'd recommend this game, its a not too complicated but fun srpg.

There's apparently a saturn remake, I have no idea if its been fan translated or not, last time I checked it wasn't. No idea what changes its got other than like animated cutscenes.

Been some years since i played it, so I wont be going too into detail:

Its basically a personality test where you talk philosophy with this bookworm, your choices leading to different results.

The idle clicker gameplay unfortunately holds it back, drags it for longer than it should. Worse, to get to the true ending you do need to play the game a total of three times, so, yeahhhh. It can get agonizing and I dont blame anyone for losing interest as a result.

I remember enjoying the narrative and the talks with Es, and how your actions affect her fate as well. I wish I could comment on it more but replaying is kind of out of the option....the game made me care about Es to the point that resetting everything against her wishes just feels wrong. At the least, you can always view the recollections, but it doesn't feel the same y'know? I also believe my answers this time could be different, leading to different results, a better understanding of whats being talked about. Who knows.

I was pretty satisfied with the true ending considering how long it took thanks to the idle clicker stuff. After that point you mostly can just chit chat with Es or pay to unlock some extra discussuons. The most notable thing is probably being able to "lend books"; with the heavy book focus it already has, this feature I figure is mostly to encourage players to read different books and discuss them with Es. A little funny they made the time limit 2 hours though before the discussion is unlocked, god forbid I finish a book in even a day.

The art and aesthetic is good and fits the game well, and while there's only two music tracks, they're great, soothing and pleasing to listen to yet also dramatic in a way that fits the narrative.

The biggest obstacle is the idle clicker stuff, if you're fine with that then I definitely recommend this game a try.

Zelda-like Bomberman RPG sounds pretty cool in theory but ends up being mostly boring in this game.

It tries to incorporate the regular bomberman gameplay into an rpg overworld setting but ends up having the excitement of neither. Dungeons are probably the best part since they're more directly what regular bomberman gameplay is like.

There's a karabon feature as well, monster pet gameplay. It's fine. I didn't particularly care much. There's no evolution system but a fusion system instead, but this only really applies to certain karabon.

Visuals and music were fine. I don't remember much of the story at all nor really ever being that interested in it to begin with, so rip.

You can try and see if you vibe with it more, I didn't really unfortunately.

This isn't gonna really be a review as much as just sharing my thoughts on the characters for the most part, which I'll update the more routes I finish.

To get the "review" part out though, tokimeki generally has an addicting gameplay loop of strategically doing activities to increase your stats or for relationship purposes based on a schedule in order to get the love interest of your dreams, and the same goes for this game. Initial playthroughs can always feel a little daunting, but replays go by much faster and more successfully when you get a good grasp on how things work. Compared to Tokimeki 1 snes (my prior experience with the franchise before GS series), the game's more on the easy side but also slower paced due in part having more meat on it; it makes replaying a little more exhausting compared to toki 1 but it also fits my own pace more I suppose.

This game has a "skinship feature", where you try poking around a guy with the stylus to try and increase your intimacy. The game itself doesn't explain the full extent of this feature so I'd recommend checking on that, but basically you're trying to get more intimate by hand holding, cuddling, kissing e.t.c. Honestly, it's kind of uncomfortable (especially in the initial stages), so I'm really mixed on it.

There's a fashion feature where you buy and style yourself an outfit to impress your dates, often needing to follow trends or certain aesthetics. It's not all that nuanced, but I find it fun.

The visuals are good though some characters certainly have a case of "why the long face" (especially upon replaying after finishing gs2 and 3, where the art is noticeably improved). The music is banging, I constantly relisten to this game's ost from time to time, just so many catchy themes. The character themes also all fit the characters, sort of having a "surface-level" depiction of them yet clearly indicating a deeper naunce to them.

Based on those aspects, I'd definitely recommend giving the game a try.

What's likely going to be the biggest obstacle is whether you like the cast or not. That's largely what makes me feel conflicted about this game in particular, so the rest of this post is gonna be discussing the characters.

Love Interests:
Hazuki Kei: the main love interest, a princely type man who's good at everything. Comes off cold initially, but actually really sweet once you get to know him. I'm honestly not all that into Kei to ever finish a route with him, just don't really vibe with him and my first instinct was definitely to try pursuing some other guy lol. The main love interest usually requires fulfilling high stat requirements, but its not as difficult as with toki 1's Shiori. In fact, it's probably easier cuz you can also avoid rival mode (more on that later).

Morimura Sakuya: the nerdy guy that's pretty effeminate and gentle, a kind-hearted soul. I got a bone to pick with this guy. This guy goes bananas for you if you're doing academically well, you don't even need to pursue him actively to get him to really reallly like you. It's pretty annoying when trying to date other guys cuz I also actively try to get the top school ranking (which impresses most LIs too), so he just comes off as a persistent annoyance that can't take a hint....that's pretty mean of me, but its frustrating nonetheless. I think he's also kind of the most, "surface level" LI I guess; what you see is what you get. His theme is really good though.

Mihara Shiki: my fancy art guy obssessed with beauty. Mihara is eccentric and flamboyant, and on first impressions he comes across as quite narcissistic and dramatic. That said, pursuing him reveals a very loving person who genuinely is very passionate about art and wants to make people smile through beauty. I'm a little biased admittedly because his theme is one of my faves, and in my most recent playthrough it felt like he went through a character arc of being rather insensitive in his artistic pursuits to eventually being more mindful of the protagonist's emotions, thanks to a few events.

Kijyou Madoka: stylish, social, and flirty, Madoka is pretty easygoing though seemingly with a trouble relationship with his family. I'm a bit conflicted on him, he was the first LI I tried going for but i soon realized he gets intimidated if you score well in tests, which kind of goes against my usual strategy. Also, he fucking cheated on me with my best friend despite all my efforts. Thanks!!! Augh. I plan to do his route again someday but he definitely feels like a person I'd have a crush on but eventually we could never work out.

Suzuka Kazuma: bareellly see this guy ever for some reason. He's the athletic type who's also pretty blunt initially from what I can tell so far. I'll have more to say on him whenever I do his route.

Hibiya Wataru: Your outgoing junior that's obsessed with Kei. Don't care for him, just kind of annoying. I do admire how they attempted to make a cute kouhai character that still largely is more masculine than the other LIs, but also he feels too young for me to like, try pursuing lol.

Himuro Reiichi: Mature and strict teacher. So, all the GS games have a problem of letting you date your teacher and while I can see the appeal its still icky to me. Himuro does seem to appear a little more dignified about it at least, and he also just seems like an interesting character to me.

Amanohashi Ikkaku: you'd think the teacher in his 20s would be the limit but then you have the what looks like a 40 something principal shoving a rose up your face. Genuinely a fucking insane option that I don't understand how it would appeal to a high school girl. And it really bothers me even more cuz Ikkaku is genuinely kind of a dandy gentle man that I personally would be all over but then he's just like, pursuing a 15-16 year old girl and giving her roses and car rides and inviting her out to different places. Just a fucking creep through and through even if context tries to say otherwise. Yuck.

I'm not the biggest fan of these LIs and two of them are already out of my zone for being too old for my high school protag. They can be endearing but y'know, I'm mostly gonna realize partway through a relationship with them.

Secret LIs:
Aoki Chiharu: marth descendant. He's an american who recently came to Japan for his studies, his route largely involves helping him learn to speak and write japanese better while communicating through email. In the process of trying to get his ending currently, he seems to be really cute and helping him out with his poor japanese is pretty endearing. As far as I can tell, his initial broken japanese isn't really conveyed in the english fan TL, so unless I'm misunderstanding that is a bit of a loss I suppose.

Tendou Jin: the "bad boy" LI. Kind of surprising base GS didn't have one already, but he's an addition to the DS port. He's a delinquent that gets into fights, but it becomes clear soon enough there's more to him than meets the eye. I'm very interested in doing his route at some point. Besides the bad boy appeal it seems like you're largely going to try to get him back on the right track of his life.

I'm admittedly more biased for the secret LIs than the regular ones. Something about them gives them more of a "fated to be" type deal and I just vibe with their whole thing more.

Besides the boys, you can make friends with 4 girls who can in certain instances can become your love interest rivals:

Arisawa Shiho: Hard-working studious type. Soft-spoken, yet mature and speaks her mind. My girl. Girls' girl. Lowkey, "they were roommates". I really like Shiho, she comes across as intimidating initially but she's a very genuine and intelligent friend who'll stick up for you. Hanging out with her increases your academics, so I am a little biased in that regard as well.

Sudou Mizuki: "Ojou-sama" archetype basically, rich and spoiled but an artsy type. I haven't really hung out with her much but while she can appear condescending, she seems to be generally a nice friend who just doesn't hold back on being blunt, a result of her spoiled upbringing it seems. Loveable either way I feel.

Fujii Natsumi: Energetic and super friendly, stylish and a knack for pranking Himuro. Fujii is a really fun person to be around, absolutely adore her and how upfront she is. I really didn't like it when I got into rival mode with her, she comes across a lot more aggressive and cold than the others and I just feel really bad about losing a friend like this.

Konno Tamami: A really, really sweet girl with unexpected interests and hobbies. I just adore her, she's just so sweet and thinks of the protagonist as an older sister. If there's one thing I absolutely want to avoid in this game, its getting into rival mode with her; my heart couldn't take it, and I don't think hers could either.

I generally like the girls a lot more than the boys honestly lol?? They're all just really likeable and make for good friends. I wish there were more CGs with them and more of a full fledged route (even if not romantic), but ah well.

As referred prior, you can enter rival mode with a girl if you're pursuing the same guy they like, and the guy's relationship status with you is higher than the girl's is with yours. It's honestly kind of annoying, due in part I really like the girls and don't wanna get into a fight with them (over a boy at that). Resolving a fight usually means hanging out with a girl for a certain amount of times (which can be long and tedious, and muck up any other plans you had for your stat parameters), or ignoring her completely and just focus on getting your guy (leaving the fight unresolved, and i'm not fond of that).

I'm being a little nitpicky here too but each girl's favoured guy is also kind of basic? Shiho is into morimura (nerd is into fellow nerd), Sudou is into Mihara (narc artist is into narc artist, e.t.c. It's definitely more gameplay focused in relation to stat parameters and to make the chances of getting into rival mode higher, but mm, idk, I feel like the choices could be less based on archetypes. Konno and Suzuka are mostly the exception here due to their very contrasting personalities but it is what it is I guess.

There's also goro hanabatsuki (eccentric flamboyant man who's a fashion designing icon), and tsukushi, your lil bro who also gives you information on the LIs and your relationship status with others. Goro is funny but I don't particularly care about him, Tsukushi is pretty fun and displays a pretty good sibling dynamic of him being the snarky mischievous kid that does care for his older sis and wants her to get a boy of her dreams (he's also popular among the girls himself).

I'll update a little more as I do more routes but this is about what I firmly feel for the most part. It's a fine cast but, I definitely think GS2 and GS3 especially do much better.

Played with the frue lufia patch:

I'm putting the game on pause for now cuz I actually just lost the energy completely to finish it for the moment lol. You've likely heard of this game from discussions about snes rpgs, where its usually praised as one of the best on the system for its puzzle-focused gameplay and character focused writing. As a kid it was definitely one of the coolest ones I've played, and I was hoping to still love it as much in this current replay. Unfortunatelyyyy I was kind of disappointed with a lot of things about it.

The gameplay is easily the most excellent part about the game. While it has the regular jrpg presentation and turn based combat, all the dungeons have a very heavy emphasis on puzzles. It's all well-designed; a lot of interesting puzzles placed throughout the game that provide a decent challenge without feeling frustrating, with more difficult ones leading to usually quite useful treasure for the journey. Enemies are on-screen and their movement patterns depend entirely on how you move, which is sometimes incorporated into certain puzzles too; its a good way to let you fight enemies at your own pace (for the most part).

Combat is regular turn based just like its predecessors though with some new changes or features to make it more fresh. Most notably, spells are bought from stores rather than learnt, and a new meter, IP, fills up with more damage you get which lets you use skills your equipment has. IP especially adds a nice element to what equipment you want to prioritize for your characters to handle enemies more easily. Unfortunately I do feel attack magic at least is pretty meh especially when you can just rely on IP attacks, and though magic types are restricted to certain characters it largely diminishes any uniqueness a character would have from learning spells naturally or not having enough spells only specific to them (rip maxim). Speaking of, playable party members often switch in and out during the game, but generally the party structure has two physical type characters and two magic type characters.

Capsule Monsters are a new feature, they're basically pets you can find to help you in battle. This is one the features I loved a lot as a kid but now its just kind of weirdly frustrating and not so worth it. You need to feed them equipment to evolve them and that can take a lot of time and money to achieve, and some of them also don't have particularly helpful ai from what i noticed (hi blaze). Its just ok, idk.

Ancient Cave is another major feature where its like a game within a game, you explore 100 randomly generated floors fighting through monsters and getting various treasure. Its probably one of the most fun parts of the game and postgame lets you try it with any party team as well.

The game has amazing graphics and a fantastic ost. Love them to bits, definitely would say best of the system.

The story of the lufia series is typically pretty generic in that you're a chosen one that needs to defeat the evil beings to save the world yadda yadda and this much is true for lufia 2. It provides some extra lore details when it comes to its villains, the sinistrals, which is neat and makes me want to see it being expanded upon. The worst part is probably just how everything devolves into a fetch quest of some sort as you reach a new city, find out there's something wrong, go to next dungeon to retrieve something or find someone, blah blah. Its what made put the game on pause, I got really tired of it.

Regardless, the real strength of the series' writing normally lies in its character writing. Both lufia 1, 2 and ruins of lore have a good chunk of dialogue of characters chiming in on the story or having banter with each other, and from what little I played of lufia 3, it does so as well. It's pretty charming and keeps me engaged with the story.

But, well.

On this replay I really wasn't all that into the character writing lol. While some characters were always a joy to see and ended up being great, others would just frustrated or annoy me. Since the character writing is primarily with the playable ones, I'll go over them briefly to show what I liked and didn't like:

Tia: the best character for me, easily. She's somewhat of a pitiful and even pathetic character who's deeply devoted to her childhood crush, Maxim, to the point that she joins his journey and tries to keep up with him with all the fighting and danger, despite her love being unrequited. Ultimately, she has her character growth in realizing that she just isn't cut out for battle, that she needs to move on from her unrequited love and live her own life, while Maxim continues his own. I always was moved by her story and still am now; to some extent i resonate with the theme of eventually losing contact with childhood friends as well as the importance of not forcing yourself to do something you know you cant do, and realize life has more than one possibility. Maybe I'm overthinking it? Idk, but I really like Tia.

Artea: This guy is a weird one for me cuz I was for no apparent reason obsessed with him. I really don't understand why, but I do still quite like him even if he's not particularly that interesting.

Dekar: Funny and boisterous. He ends up being very entertaining with interesting banter to boot with Guy. I dont really have much else to add, lol. He's a fun guy. Also love how strong he is, even if he's the slowest in gameplay.

Guy: He's kind of boring, especially when he doesn't really have anyone to banter with like Dekar or Artea. He also displays a chauvinistic attitude at times which bugs me, even if expected. He also starts feeling underwhelming in gameplay too, especially when compared to Dekar even though both characters present themselves as the hard hitting types.

Lexis: he's. there. Lexis is an eccentric inventor who can be kinda funny but he doesn't really have much of a presence for most of the time he's in your party. He prevents pollution, i guess.

Maxim and Selan are the two characters I have the most beef with so expect this part to be even longer. Maxim is kind of just bare bones in general that I can't really describe his personality other than hero dude that has a talent for fighting loves to fight and has a strong sense of justice yadda yadda. What particularly annoys me about him is how dense he seems to be to Tia's advances and ultimately doesn't really have any sort of final talk with her or anything (and seemingly may have just lost contact with her entirely). This is great for tia's character but also manages to make Maxim worse in my eyes. The dense male character that doesn't understand a female character is in love with him is a pretty regular trope, i just don't like it much in this case. Another annoying trait he displays is his chauvinistic attitude, particularly at an important point in the story, where he refuses to take Tia and Selan with him to fight Gades with seemingly vague reasoning of wanting them to not risk their lives and help the citizens of Parcelyte evacuate. While I can understand saying this to Tia, it's particularly bad with Selan (more on that later) considering we're to believe she's an incredible warrior despite her gender, according to the story, so not wanting her to accompany him just comes across weird. IDK. I had more thoughts on this before but now im just like this dude kinda sucks when it comes to women and pretty blank otherwise.

Selan is pretty disappointing, especially for the latter half of the game as well as how her performance in gameplay contradicts how the writing shows and describes her in the story. She's depicted as the leader of her kingdom's army as well as its best warrior, and we see her being physically strong as well. Her gameplay does not reflect this at all besides letting her equip swords, as she's primarily a magic-focused character whose battle sprite depicts her signature weapon as a staff. It ends up making it hard to believe how the writing presents her at all as a result because in action she is nothing like that. Her character arc is about accepting the help of others which is fine and all but the attempt at it makes it feel more like her role as a capable leader and fighter gets diminished the more she journeys with Maxim (insert scene where she's asked to not accompany him to fight gades womp womp). The worse is that after she marries Maxim, her role almost entirely reduced to being Maxim's wife. She's there for him and supports him all the way and then Guy makes a joke calling her the "Magical Wife'' and I'm just like are u ok? are we just not gonna acknowledge her previous feats or her skills are we just gonna consider her the mage that is the wife of the protag its eujbnkrgnkfgn I'm very annoyed. I used to really like Selan and now it just feels like she was an interesting character that ultimately got reduced into one specific role catering to her romantic partner. Ugh idk

Idk when I'll continue but I don't think most of this review will change, I'll update regardless for anything else worth mentioning. I'd still recommend giving this game a try, overall its still a fun jrpg to play.