With Violet's recent release, it's easy to let this game get overshadowed by recency bias, but when I go back and remind myself of the unique things this game did, it really was an incredible breath of fresh air.

A stellar new example in an classic style of SRPG, but as someone who hasn't played Tactics Ogre I feel underqualified to comment on that part in detail. The real stand-out feature of TriStrat for me is the narrative - its branching structure and, well, sheer amount of text, feel like a successful integration of a visual novel into a fully interactive game. Visual novels have developed a lot of really interesting storytelling techniques in their time as a medium for nothing but, and I'm excited to see more mainstream games learn from their successes.

While the interactive gameplay is lacking, the writing chops of 428's Koichiro Ito still shine through, and in Japanese the live-action performances are a stand-out element. While slightly more grounded than average for the genre, the game still deserves a chance from fans of mystery VNs.

Going into the year, I really expected this to be my GOTY, but when the game finally released, it turned out to be somewhat divisive. Don't get me wrong, I still love the game - it's my second-favourite this year - but it focuses on different things from what made the first game uniquely great. And honestly, I'm really glad for that, the different things this game does are really cool, it just means that the first remains my favourite for the unique things it did.

The original was always fantastic, but being trapped in Japan, and overshadowed by FF6 and Chrono Trigger, condemned it to obscurity. With this fantastic remake, faithful where it matters and improving what it ought to, the rest of the world can finally experience it. I was happy when it was announced, and when I finished playing it, I was even happier - that's when I knew it was my GOTY.

As I said in my main review, I really don't care about the technical issues. With PLA being quite its own thing, Violet is my favourite core Pokemon experience by a decent margin. The open world, the compelling characters and the exciting climax all make for an experience to treasure.