This review is from the perspective of someone who NEVER PLAYED THE GENESIS ORIGINALS. I got into Sonic in the 2000's with Adventure 2, fell out of it after Generations, and got back into it with Frontiers. But I never played the games that started it all, and this collection happened to be on sale on Switch, so...

I'm going to review each game individually, the collection's score being the average of all of them.

Sonic 1: 2/5.

Sonic 1 is a classic case of "first game syndrome." SEGA had an amazing concept for a platformer protagonist, and pulled it off brilliantly. Sonic's speed, rolling gimmicks and fast-paced action were like nothing seen at the time. And Green Hill Zone was the PERFECT first level to showcase their new mascot's strengths: wide open areas to build up speed, loops to show the physics, multiple paths, enemies and bosses used perfectly to show off Sonic's skills...

And then someone thought: what if, for Level 2, we throw him into HIS WORST POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENT!!!

The jump from Green Hill to Marble Zone is one of the most jarring I've felt in a platformer. Marble is a slow, cramped, puzzle-based level that doesn't play to Sonic's strengths at all. I'm not against more methodical platforming in Sonic, but this isn't the way to do it. It's telling that even speedruns have to wait on some traps.

And then there's Labyrinth Zone. Which is at least more INTERESTING than Marble, but is still slow, frustrating... and you can drown due to bad bubble rng. (It's far more consistent in later 2D games) And it gets reskinned for the final level because of course.

Starlight and Green Hill are the only levels in Sonic 1 that feel "Sonic-like" to me. This is clearly a case of throwing things at the wall to see what stuck, and later games sure realized what did and, well, stuck to it. Worth playing to see where it all began, but I'd recommend cheesing this one with Tails or Amy.
There's a REASON not much in this game gets referenced except Green Hill.

Sonic CD: 4.5/5

The oddball of the original tetralogy, but you know me and underdogs. Is it any surprise I ended up loving it? What I love about CD is its levels work both for speed and exploration, letting you pick and choose which approach you prefer. Want to explore each area in all timelines, saving the past to create a Good Future? You can do that. Want to blaze through quickly? Just get enough rings for the Special Stages, having all the Time Stones will guarantee Good Futures for the rest of the game.

I was surprised at the variety in level gimmicks and concepts here. Wacky Workbench is my favourite, a level I love and hate in equal measure.

Sonic has new speed tech here, but this game benefits the most from the Origins Plus re-release, as it adds not only Amy but also Knuckles.

CD's presentation is also top-notch. The wacky, colorful environments may not be everyone, but they're beautiful, and the MUSIC is incredible, both the Jp/EU and US soundtracks. (Origins lets you swap between both)
Oh, and I see now why people love the Metal Sonic race. One of the series' greatest bosses.

My only gripe is the "pseudo-3D" special stages... aren't great. The hitboxes on the UFOs are endlessly frustrating.

Sonic 2: 5/5

Sonic 2 basically took the few good levels of Sonic 1 and made that the entire game. The moment I first played Chemical Plant, I knew I was going to LOVE this game. Going so fast you nearly outrun the camera... in 1992. And this game DOES have slower, more platform-focused levels, but they feel far more natural. Aquatic Ruin is what Labyrinth Zone should've been. Metropolis is EVIL but still decently fun. Wing Fortress is obtuse at first but really fun once you know where to go. The boss fights are more elaborate, dynamic, and fun, even the infamous final gauntlet that gives you no Rings. (Though I admit, that must've sucked without the infinite lives mode)

This game introduced Tails, but it's hard to judge him in this context as, apparently, playable Tails in the original version was just a Sonic clone with no flight. Origins backports in S3 Tails, along with Knuckles and Amy, adding replay value.

Sonic 2 has the perfect length for firing up a run on Switch on the go, and it's got an "elegant simplicity" to it that makes it imo the objective best of this collection. I DEFINITELY see why this game defined so many childhoods.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles: 4.5/5

The game so big, one cartridge couldn't contain it, they say. "Big" is the key word here, Sonic 3 really went all-out to end the tetralogy: more playable characters, more levels, LONGER levels, not just Super forms but HYPER forms, more dramatic boss fights, and a bigger focus on story with higher stakes.

Thing is, bigger doesn't always mean better. Sometimes I feel 3&K is too ambitious for its own good.

Take the story, for example. People complain about excessive story in some modern Sonic games, and I think the seeds of that started here. While I love how each Act and Zone seamlessly transitions into the next, many levels have sequences that essentially amount to unskippable cutscenes. See the airship bombing run before Angel Island Act 2's boss, for example. These are nice at first, but you have to sit through them on every replay, and every time you die.

And while there's some GREAT levels here (Hydrocity, Ice Cap, Mushroom Hill, Flying Battery, Lava Reef, to name a few), several are too long to the point of overstaying their welcome. Case in point: the Time Bonus scoring doesn't seem changed from Sonic 1, CD and 2, so beating a level in over 5 minutes is considered "too slow". This was reasonable there. But hitting 5 minutes is a legit challenge in a lot of 3&K levels, and in some the original game's 10 minute death timer was a real threat. (Looking at you, Sandopolis Act 2, the second coming of Marble Zone...)

Then there's the Special Stages, Blue Sphere. Probably the most mechanically solid of the 2D games, but man are the Super Emerald ones BRUTAL. The reward is worth it, but yikes.

The boss fights are a real highlight though (my jaw dropped when I saw Marble Garden's boss, which has you carried by Tails the whole time to fight in the sky), and Knuckles having his own campaign with slightly different levels and a new final boss was a cool touch. (That'd influence the series' approach to characters in the future)

So Sonic 3 & Knuckles isn't my favourite of these games, but it's still excellent.

As for Origins' own additions, besides 4 playable characters in all 4 games (which is amazing), there's Boss Rushes, Mirror Mode, and short challenges remixing content. (Oh, there's also 12 Game Gear games in Plus, I haven't tried most of them yet) They also added amazing new cutscenes to start and end each of the 4 games, tying them together. And that last one, unlocked by beating all 4... man, I nearly teared up as it framed the collection as the story of how these 4 best friends met.

The collection gets a LOT of negative press online and experiencing it in a vacuum I'm not sure why. Maybe its issues are more noticeable if you played the originals, or people hate the DLC pricing scheme or delisting of old versions. But as someone who just wanted to experience some old games he missed, and see where Sonic began... I don't regret my purchase. (I'd recommend waiting for a sale on the Plus bundle though) And I'm going to continue enjoying these classics for years to come. (Maybe not Sonic 1 though...)

Hi-Fi Rush is an excellent game (that shadowdropped!) that I'm just not built for. Definitely one of the best to come out in 2023, which is saying something.

The game is... actually, if you're interested, I highly recommend watching a video of the first level, it does an EXCELENT job of summing up when you're in for, both gameplay and atmosphere.

Essentially it's a 3D rhythm action game split between a lite 3D platformer and "stylish-action" combat. (Chai would make a great Smash Bros character) Everything in the world, from platforms to enemy attacks to your battle moves to the UI is synced up to the music, and you're encouraged to time your actions to the beat. If you aren't used to rhythm games I'd recommend turning on the Rhythm Assist to get an unintrusive visual representation of the BPM.

The combat is surprisingly complex, with the first stage ALONE introducing light and heavy attacks, beat-timed combo finishers, super moves, air combos, "rest" combos (don't press attack for 1 beat mid-combo), timed dodges, collectibles in levels to raise your max health and super meter and a scoring system.
Later ones adding an upgrade system, a whole slew of buyable extra combos, a grappling hook, partner assists, parrying, counters, partner combo finishers...

Now try not only memorizing the button combos for each of these, and which moves are tactically best for which situation. AND THEN DOING IT ALL IN TIME TO THE BEAT. (And the varied soundtrack means learning different timing for each stage and boss)

Admittedly, if you're only concerned with beating the game, it doesn't demand that much of you. But the postgame will require at least some mastery of the systems, and even more if you want 100% achievements. This gives the game unexpected replay value despite a relatively short storyline. (12 stages, each about an hour on a first time through)

On the subject of storyline, it's a perfect showing of why simple isn't always bad. "There's an evil megacorp trying to kill you, team up with a band of outcasts and defeat their cartoon villain executives." But said "outcasts", and ESPECIALLY "cartoon villain executives", are amazingly fun characters. Well-acted and well-written. Combined with a colourful artstyle, amazing comic-book cutscenes (which often seamlessly transition into and out of gameplay) and an obviously killer soundtrack (both in licensed and "streamer mode") and you've got a fun time.

I'm probably not good enough to 100% this, but from beating both the story and postgame, I'm don't regret my purchase. This should've won more Game Awards.

Tactica has been called a lot of things. The spinoff no-one asked for. The milking of Persona 5. Overshadowed by P3 Reload. And... a surprisingly really good game?

I was always hoping this would be good, but even I was blown away by how FUN the core gameplay ended up being. It's simple: getting extra moves in a strategy game is always a dopamine rush (see: dancers in Fire Emblem). Tactica brings in the main series' One More mechanic, making extra moves a REWARD for good tactical plays. It's amazing how natural this feels, and that they've never tried it before.

How these tactical plays work is also simple. Enemies in cover aren't vulnerable to One Mores. Enemies out of cover are. And like most Atlus RPGs, the same rules apply to you. While the cover system isn't as deep as it could be (cover/no cover is a binary, so flanking won't do anything), the core loop of using skills or melee to knock enemies out of cover and set up your teammates to One More and move further is straight-up addictive.

Don't believe me? Play the Quests. These are short "puzzle" missions often tasking you with using the One More system to find a set of moves to win in one turn. Aiding in this is...

Another option for your One Mores: if you make a triangle around a downed enemy with your 3 allies you can perform an All Out Attack that hits everything inside. The trade-off is this cannot trigger another One More, so that'll end the initiator's actions for the turn. But you can swap to your other allies and move them without locking in their action, so keeping a few people active to "widen" the triangle before triggering is also addictive. Once switches are introduced, this "you can move as much as you like until you use an action" system gets even more fun. A character can contribute a LOT in a turn without even attacking.

Here's the catch though: the gameplay is very, very easy. After testing multiple modes I was only ever at risk of losing party members on Merciless, and even then I never lost a non-Quest battle.
But strangely... being easy didn't make the game any less fun. It still takes a lot of tactical thinking to find the smoothest way through each map, you can't just blindly throw units at the closest target.

Speaking of units, while I admit the Phantom Thieves don't feel as distinct as in other P5 games, each has their own role and some get to shine in unexpected areas. E.g you'd expect Mona and Yusuke to have high Move, but Ryuji does too due to his track background. You level up as a party rather than individually, letting you experiment with whatever combination you want for each map. The skill tree system is also interesting. While you spend skill points gained from levels to learn skills, you're free to "take back" purchases and re-allocate your points at any time, letting you swap around skillsets on the fly.

Sub-Personas return from the Q games, but fusion didn't feel as impactful here as in other games, as each Persona only has one fixed skill and one inheritable slot. Having extra skills on party members felt more useful early on, before they were deep into their personal skill trees.

There's also a weapon fusion system, but it has several downsides. Their random chance of ailments is at odds with an otherwise RNG-less experience, and they can be DETRIMENTAL sometimes (e.g freezing an enemy you'd rather lure forward). They also force you to use Personas on-hand as material where possible, even if a weaker option is available from the Compendium. In general I find range beats everything else when looking at a weapon.

Another aspect of this game that surprisingly blew me away? I was NOT expecting the OST to go this hard. And there's a good variety too as each Kingdom has its own set of tracks, including bosses. There's also 7 brand-new Lyn vocal tracks, and "Truth or Dare" is my favourite one of hers to date.

The game's story is ALSO surprisingly good, it's just not about the Phantom Thieves and I know that'll be a deal-breaker for some. It's more like the Q games in that the dungeons and bosses are symbolic of the new characters' mental struggles, but it also feels different from those on a way that's hard to describe. It might be because Toshiro is an adult, and therefore approaches his problems differently. Toshiro and Erina are both incredible characters, but I can't explain why without spoilers. I'll just say their relationship is very unique among spinoff characters and adds a lot of re-watch value once you know the full story.

The Phantom Thieves do feel under-used here though, and much of their dialogue doesn't even really "feel" like themselves. They're not ludicrously exaggerated to the extent of Chie and Akihiko in earlier spinoffs, they're just... sort of bland. There's the occasional exception though: Futaba and Haru have some very good moments later on, as they're the ones who relate the most to Toshiro due to their own issues, and Ryuji has some decent points too.

But even putting the characters aside, the core story is actually pretty decent? I was surprised at how invested I got in saving the helium-voiced cartoon people of each Kingdom. Yes, a concept that ridiculous could be genuinely moving at times, which is an achievement in itself.

To sum up, Persona 5 Tactica is a bundle of pleasant surprises. It's not a very long game for its genre (around 30 hours) so I'd still recommend picking it up on sale. But definitely give it a shot, it's one of the better spinoffs.

I never want to play this game again and every time I see people arguing about it I actively regret ever associating with the fanbase just a bit.

The first playthrough was pretty fun, though. The world is pretty intriguing until you realize that what you saw on your first run was basically exactly what you get for the rest of them. I like the overall cast a lot, mainly the Golden Deer, even though Marianne as a character has been permanently ruined for me by weebs on one of those meme subs.

Overall it's kind of a weird game to rate because it feels like it's both deserving and undeserving of its accolades if that makes any sense. But I appreciate the scope so whatever. I would have liked it more anyways if I didn't cram 2.5 playthroughs in expecting they'd actually do something interesting with the multiple perspectives.

Often lauded by long-time FF fans or oldschool JRPG connoisseurs as the peak of the series, I've been wanting to play this game for a LONG time but happening upon a copy in a retro game story finally gave me that chance.

In many ways, FFIV is the template on which modern JRPGs are built. It was one of the first with a big, sweeping story with high stakes, multiple "worlds", and a party of characters who, gasp, have actual personality and development! While the plot and character arcs are hardly ground-breaking these days, I'd imagine they were amazing for their time, featuring themes of redemption, overcoming trauma and even a few major deaths.

This is all aided by an excellent re-translated script by Tom Slattery. In fact this script is why I chose to experience this version first, as it lacks the censorship and rampant mistranslations of the SNES version (where characters "swoon" or "fall down" instead of die, I wish I was making that up) or the awkward pop-culture references of the GBA/PSP version. It's very flowery, think Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.

Gameplay-wise, it's interesting. The DS version is the most difficult iteration of FFIV by far, to the point where the iOS and Steam ports made its default difficulty the "Hard Mode". And I admit, there were many, many times the game kicked my teeth in: as just one example this version turns the first Golbez battle from effectively an interactive cutscene into a brutal fight you actually have to win, that comes DIRECTLY AFTER ANOTHER BOSS. (And starts with 3/5 of your party KO'd) And the enemies in the final and optional dungeons are... something else.

At the same time, this is a rare old-school FF where strategy actually matters and buffs and debuffs are vital. The best tip I can give is Slow works on every boss. Always, always use it. For many dungeons or bosses, I'd get wrecked the first time, but come back the next day with a new strategy and find they weren't so bad.

The core party members all have clearly defined roles and are very good in said roles, the White and Black Mages feeling especially fun later on. The DS version's main addition to the gameplay is "Augments" but... I'll cover that in the negatives section.

Something great about this game that I've missed in modern JPRGs is it goes for "quality over quantity" in its sidequests. I'd estimate there's no more than 10 total sidequests in the game, but all (besides the ongoing Namingway meetings) involve a new area or dungeon, end with a unique boss fight, and give a VERY worthwhile reward. Either a strong item, a new skill for a character (such as a powerful summon) or closure on the fate of a guest party member. I'd take this over a hundred "gather 20 bear skins" missions any day.

But no game is perfect, and I've got a few clear negatives to discuss. The first pertains to both story and gameplay: FFIV REALLY loves temporary party members. I guess it was a limitation of the old party systems, but you'll be meeting a ton of playable characters who don't stick around, and most get enough development that you'll wish they did. There's a few who were so developed I was shocked and saddened to find they were temporary. And not in a good way (see FFVII), I mean I would've vastly preferred them in both story and gameplay to...

Edge. Edge is the one party member I never "clicked" with and him being part of the "final five" felt like a waste to me. His relevance to the plot is over after one dungeon, his gameplay role isn't much beyond "he's really fast and has some ailments I guess", and he's clearly meant to be a comic relief character but that's hard to tell when he gets next to no scenes. It's telling that most of his pause screen dialogue boils down to "I have no idea what's going on but I guess I'm stuck with these guys." Out of everyone, THIS is the guy who gets to stay?

For gameplay, there's the Augment system, which lets you assign new skills to party members (and also influences their stat growth, not that the game ever tells you this...). Giving up to 2 Augments to temporary party members rewards you with more augments when they leave. On paper, this is supposed to ensure you aren't punished for giving Augments to someone you didn't know was temporary... the problem is that all the best skills in the game are locked behind doing this, meaning you have to carefully "ration" your Augments to avoid missing them, and it can be VERY tight. For example, missing ONE optional Augment early on prevented me from getting the amazing Dualcast. Also, every Augment uses up one of your character's menu slots, even passive skills like MP +50%. It's a great idea in theory but... it shouldn't be this easy to miss out on the best tactical options in such a difficult game.

And as I mentioned, the difficulty can be frustrating. It's usually well-designed, but there's one or two enemy types (looking at you Red Dragons) that feel unfair, mostly summed up as "if they decide to spam their AoE attack you're DEAD, if they don't they're no problem."

Overall, I can see why this game is held in such high regard, and the DS version is a great way to experience it, provided you're okay with the difficulty.

We've been waiting literal years for a new Mario game and now that the movie's out, now was the perfect time. And the game we got is, well, WONDERFUL! Really this is a game you have to experience for yourself. Words don't do it justice but I guess I'll try.

Wonder's greatest strength is innovation. Unlike the "New" games which often re-used level concepts (although NSMB U felt a little different at least), every level in Wonder feels like a unique experience, whether by gameplay gimmick, Wonder effect or enemy type. I'm sure every single level is somebody's favourite, which is saying something.

The enemies are the real highlight. This game introduces a huge variety of new creatures (take notes, modern Paper Mario...) that not only look unique, but have clearly-defined, and FUN, game mechanics. Levels are typically built around one of these enemies.

The world also experiments with non-linearity, with multiple levels accessible at the same time, each graded on a difficulty scale from 1 to 5 stars. There are 4-star levels even in the first world so you're always on your toes, though I never came close to running out of lives. The game struck a good balance between satisfying challenge and not feeling frustrating, with... one exception I'll get to later.

While not an essentially part of a Mario game imo, the soundtrack is also excellent, with very few repeated tunes, making each level even MORE unique.

Speaking of unique, every level has a Wonder Flower effect. Some are worked into the main path while others are more hidden, and they're typically an exaggeration of or twist on the level's core gimmick. (The "ten" in the "ki-sho-ten-ketsu" structure) Outside of the Special World they're all optional, ensuring they don't bog down replays of the level if you missed a collectible.

My criticisms are mostly nitpicks, but there's a few. Firstly, despite letting you tackle a few levels out of order, the game only opens into true non-linearity for Worlds 4 through 6, while the Petal Isles could've easily served as a hub granting access to ALL worlds after the first.

Despite all the crazy Wonder effects, every boss besides the final one is Bowser Jr, and while each fight is completely unique, it would've been nice to see more characters. Not every world has a boss, either. The final fight with Bowser was a cool setpiece but am I the only one who found it disappointingly easy?

And speaking of difficulty, the Special World, while meant to be super-hard optional challenges, places one of their hardest levels FAR too early. "Climb to the Beat" is only World 2's Special level, and it's so brutal my first attempt (which capped off my very first play session of Wonder) made me take a week-long break from the game for the sake of my actual health. None of the later Special World stages caused this much pain, so I feel this one should've come later.

Overall, Wonder is an excellent return for 2D Mario, and I hope its new enemies set a precedent for future entries.

The entire middle part of the story until the 8th Investigation Team member joins (and even a bit past that) is frequently decried as filler.

...I mean, I like that these guys get to goof off, but like, would it have killed these guys to goof off for less than sixty hours?

Either way, it's still a Persona game. When P4 hits, it's above P3 and P5 in many ways. Like Kanji existing.

Hearing so much bashing from the internet going into this, I was pleasantly surprised at how well-designed most of these maps felt, but I played on Hard not Maddening. I actually enjoyed Fell Xenologue 5, a lot. The story is also pretty decent and Nel and Nil are alright characters.

However, I have to dock this a few points for one main issue: the Four Winds being force deployed for every map except 5 (which is exactly WHY I like 5 the most) and being stuck at Bond Lv 1 with every Emblem. This makes them a huge liability, and I'm not even talking about Nil, whose intentionally bad. Zelestia was just an objectively worse Ivy that I was forced to use, and the others felt the same.

Fell Xenologue 6 is also way too long, to the point of getting tedious. I had to turn animations off for the first time all game, and it STILL took me about 3 hours. (And my first failed attempt was even longer!) A non-Genealogy map should not be that long.

It's not as good as Torna, but then again what is?

A really nice DLC overall. I LOVE how they integrated exploration into character building and am amazed Xenoblade has never tried that before. You get a decent amount of world to explore, only one town but I got attached to all its NPCs, and all the best parts of the main game's battle system with some improvements and some of the fat trimmed out.

Story wise, it's again, not as good as Torna, but it still did a decent job of answering lingering questions in the main game and feeling self-contained. Rex and Shulk were handled well, and I felt Xenoblade 1 and 2 nostalgia was evenly-represented while not overwhelming the stand-alone narrative.

The main negatives are Shulk kinda sucks as a party member, he tried to be Dunban 2.0 but has limited aggro-drawing Arts, which is even worse when Rex is such an aggro-hogging death machine, along with a few slight hiccups narratively that I won't mention due to spoilers. It also didn't make me totally re-evaluate any main game characters like Torna did for my view of Mythra.

Overall, very worth buying if you like XB3, and some of Nintendo's best DLC. But again, it's no Torna.

SMT Nocturne is the JRPG from Hell. At times it feels like the game is sentient and hates you. Once you accept this, however, it's surprisingly fun.

So yes, this game is difficult. But now that I've actually PLAYED it rather than just watched boss fights and consumed memes, I realize it's also surprisingly well-designed. Yes, you will die a lot. But save points are fairly frequent and reasonably-placed, as are heal points. I rarely lost enough progress from dying to be frustrated. Dungeons are also fairly short, so tend not to overstay their welcome. And it's not ALL dungeons, there some towns with NPCs to speak to, and said NPC dialogue is pretty good at giving gameplay tips to newcomers along with guidance on where to go next.

Speaking of newcomers, this was the first Shin Megami Tensei game to introduce the now-standard (and beloved) Press Turn system. Hitting an enemy weakness turns one of your turns into a half-turn, effectively granting you another action. (You can also "pass" your turn for the same effect) While hitting an immunity or missing an attack consumes 2 tuns. And in classic SMT fashion, mechanics work the exact same way for both sides. Minus Beast Eye and Dragon Eye, anything the enemy can do, you can do too.

If you haven't played a Shin Megami Tensei game before, you'll quickly find that buffs and debuffs are your friend. Status ailments are deadly, but they're also part of the element system, letting you punish the enemy for using them with the right Demon allies.

Aside from the customizable "Demi-Fiend" protagonist, you'll be making your party out of the Demons you battle, like a twisted version of Pokemon. Demons always have the same weaknesses and resistances on your side as they do as enemies, and this is... a little hit-or-miss in Nocturne. A surprising number of Demons, even early ones, have no weaknesses at all, forcing you to rely on physical critical hits to gain turn advantage. And then these same Demons, once recruited, essentially let you forget about enemies gaining turns off YOUR weaknesses, which kinda saps some of the fun. The Fiends are especially notable here. Optional bosses added in the "Maniax" version, they all lack weaknesses and nullify ailments (therefor robbing the enemy of turns for attempting them), AND tend to have overpowered skills, so can trivialize gameplay once you unlock them.

Most Demons are obtained via Fusion (which should be familiar to those who played Persona) or the dreaded negotiation. Some Demons can also evolve, Pokemon-style, though this is left as a fun "easter egg" to discover. I was surprised at how little I minded negotiation though. As long as you're not too stingy with money and items, you'll get the demons you want eventually through sheer persistence. There are skills that make it easier, but I was fine embracing the randomness most of the time. Once you unlock the Compendium you can re-summon any Demon you've had before, which helps.

Having played through the whole game, even the difficult optional dungeon, my main criticism is Evasion buffs and debuffs are actually pretty broken. As missing means you take no damage AND the enemy loses turns, Fog Breath on the foe and some Sukukajas on the party can make you practically invincible. Only late-game bosses carry buff/debuff cancel skills, and some don't even have both.

Being an older SMT game, Nocturne has its fair share of jank you'll have to live with. The protagonist learns skills from Magatamas (think equipped armour), but if you refuse a skill you never get a chance to re-learn it, and only the next skill a Magatama learns is visible, meaning it's easy to give up skills you later realize you need if you don't have a guide, or give up on a Magatama too soon.
Hard Mode is what the bosses are designed around (Normal is secretly an Easy mode, halving damage taken), but it also triples shop prices and prevents running from random encounters. If that sounds annoying to you, I'd recommend playing on Normal for exploration, and switching to Hard for bosses. (Difficulty can be changed from the menu at any time, at least in the remaster) The HD Remaster at least lets you select inherited skills in fusion (after a patch), while keeping the option of randomized inheritance if you prefer that.

I haven't even talked about the story yet. If you're playing Nocturne, you're likely doing it for the gameplay. It has less "story" and more "lore" and "atmosphere", but both are very good. You'll be exploring some of the most unique and creative-looking locations in any JPRG, with an excellent soundtrack by the legendary Shoji Meguro setting the mood. The difficult gameplay enhances the atmosphere, making you feel like you're struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where everything wants you dead. The characters are all varying degrees of unlikable, but that's kind of the point.

My only real criticism isn't to do with the plot itself, but how one of the Maniax additions impacts it. The original story had multiple endings, all shades of grey, but Maniax added a new ending with far more content that essentially invalidates all the others. As a result, you don't see the original 5 (yes, FIVE) endings discussed or considered much, which is a shame as they're all conceptually interesting.

Overall, do not go into Nocturne unless you have some experience with Shin Megami Tensei and/or Persona already and are looking for a challenge. But if you do, you'll find some of the best gameplay, boss fights and atmosphere in the JRPG genre.

This game does so many good things to improve the Fire Emblem format. The boss fights, which were always a weak point for FE are actually incredible, high stakes, and thrilling challenges. I love that they have many health bars and are aggressive against you. The somniel is some of the best hangin’ out time. The cast is vibrant and likable, but very much blank slates for you to customize. Gone are the days of anime chess, and instead we have insane amounts of choice for better or worse. The DLC however is terribly unbalanced and poorly integrated.

Never played a game that made me go, "I love fire emblem!" until I played this one. Great map design, unlike 3Houses.
For context on what the story is like, there is a shot in the prologue of the castle below the Somniel that looks like one of the default title screens for an RPGMaker game. Thankfully, character interactions within supports are consistently entertaining, even though they lack the potential to illustrate a legitimate sense of growth through the means of a time skip like they did in 3Houses, that's obviously not what they're going for. I also really liked Mika Pikazo's illustrations for the overall art direction the game has. Just looks gorgeous when viewing in full.