While it's by no means perfect, I think Indigo Disk is a very solid DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The actual story is fun if simple, and I like how it directly carries on from the story of Teal Mask. The Blueberry Terrarium, while feeling artificial (since it literally is in-universe), is oddly a lot more satisfying to explore than Kitakami. I also really appreciate how challenging the trainer battles are in this DLC; they're all very well put together, so beating them may present a challenge even for those with extensive knowledge of Pokemon. There are also just tons of Pokemon to catch, which is always good, including several new ones. This does tie into my main complaint though, that being the amount of grinding for stuff is kind of grating. The new area has a side quest system, where you can do quests to earn BP, which can be used for all sorts of different upgrades. I love the idea on paper, and it can be fun in some regards, but to find every Pokemon in the DLC (namely the starters of past regions), you need to upgrade all four regions of the Terrarium, which takes a huge amount of BP. It took me somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes to grind enough for one upgrade, and that was playing with someone else, which allows for a MUCH faster grind since you can work on quests together. That all being said, grinding isn't at all necessary for the main story of Indigo Disk, and I do appreciate how full this DLC feels, especially compared to Teal Mask.
It is also worth mentioning that the new areas of the DLC suffer from all the same performance issues as the base game. I'm not sure that they're really any worse, but if you were bothered by the terrible frame rate and resolution of Scarlet and Violet then you are probably not going to have a good time here.
Overall, I think Indigo Disk is a really strong DLC. I'm not sure the whole DLC is worth the price given that Teal Mask was fairly middling and both run worse than a three legged dog, but if you don't mind the entry fee then and enjoyed the base game, Indigo Disk is definitely worth checking out.

Score: 80/100

Gameplay:
I should probably preface this review by mentioning that prior to this playthrough, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was already my favorite game. For that reason, I am coming at this from the perspective of someone who is already well-acquainted with the game’s quirks and general flow.
As is the case with most video games from the (relatively) early days, the gameplay is by far the main draw of A Link to the Past. As was the case in the original Legend of Zelda, the world is viewed from a top down perspective, with the player moving Link through it. Link’s main tools are his sword, shield, and items. The sword is a simple swing in front of him which deals damage, while the shield automatically blocks some ranged attacks. Items are obtained as the game goes on, allowing Link to do all sorts of things: bombs can break cracked walls, the lantern and fire rod can light torches, the bow can hit enemies from afar, and the boomerang can stun most enemies. Though Link’s moveset is relatively simple, the various items (and the ways they can be used in tandem) make for a character which is always satisfying to control, no matter the situation.
Good fundamentals are nothing without a good game to use them in, but luckily A Link to the Past provides just that. The overworld is filled to the brim with all manner of secrets, so it pays to explore just about everywhere. The meat of the game, however, are the dungeons. Each of them is wholly distinct, providing unique enemies and challenges that take advantage of certain items and mechanics. There is a lot that I like about them; for one, they are all relatively short, so they never get old, as is the case for some of the longer dungeons in other Zelda games. Another thing I really enjoy about them when compared to other titles in the series is that they do not tend to overuse one item. I understand the point of the idea—by making the player use the item they obtained in that dungeon (or sometimes that last one), it adds a sense of progression. But personally, I find that oftentimes Zelda dungeons will over rely on a new item for puzzle mechanics, to the point that it becomes too predictable. A Link to the Past does not fall into this trap, since most of the more complex puzzles require the player to consider the overall shape of the dungeon and how the rooms are layed out. The dungeons in this game feel very labyrinthine, which I think is how they should.
There is not much else to say on the gameplay side of things, though I would like to mention combat. It is not as developed as in other Zelda games, but I still think it can be fun due to Link’s large arsenal of items. Most regular enemies can be defeated in a variety of ways, so the player has plenty of room to experiment. The bosses are the main exception, since most can only be damaged in one or two ways, but I think this change in dynamic keeps the game more interesting. In a sense, the boss of each dungeon is the final puzzle the player must conquer before they have truly won.

Story:
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the gameplay is the main focus of A Link to the Past. Because of that, the game’s story is exceedingly sparse, though not non-existent. Rather than build a grand narrative, most of this game’s story comes in the occasional bit of lore mentioned by random characters. While I would have liked a more fully-fleshed out story, I do enjoy this approach as well; it gives the world a very lived-in feel, providing Hyrule with lots of history. Link and Ganon did not just suddenly appear to fight one another, rather their battle is the culmination of years of strife.
While not directly related to the story, I think I should also mention the writing in this section. It is not anything especially notable on its own, but I do appreciate how this game gives even random NPCs a lot of personality, more so than in even some of the recent games. Much like the lore I mentioned before, it just makes the world feel a little more alive.

Presentation:
The overall quality of the presentation here is excellent. To start with, the music is great. I would have liked if there was a little more (the whole soundtrack is less than an hour long), but what is there works great and always sets the mood wonderfully.
The visuals are the other main pillar of A Link to the Past’s presentation, and I think they have aged incredibly well. The pixel art still looks great, and though the animations are relatively simple, I think they have plenty of charm too. In fact, I would say this is still the second best looking 2D Zelda game, only beaten out by the beautiful art of The Minish Cap.
One other thing I should mention about the art is that it works very well to set the tone of the game. This is the first Zelda game to really use its art style to its advantage (mostly since it was on better hardware than the first two games), and it shows. Each dungeon has a unique look to it that really makes each feel distinct, and the contrast between the Light and Dark Worlds is just perfect.

Conclusion:
Rating games is a strange thing, because if someone were to read this review, they might not think it would warrant a perfect score. I'm not really sure myself what score it “deserves”, but ultimately, I just try to go by my gut feeling and explain my rationale after. There is so much to love about this game, from the sublime level design and fun items to the catchy music and gorgeous art. There is a very distinct flow to A Link to the Past that few other games have, and that is why I always have a great time whenever I play it. If you somehow have never touched this game, please give it a shot.

Score: 100/100

I don’t really have a good joke to start this review with, this game is just (basically) perfect.

Gameplay:
As is the case with most JRPGs, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has two main modes of gameplay; combat and exploration. However, in keeping with the gameplay of the rest of the series thus far, Xenoblade 3’s two types of gameplay transition into one another seamlessly. Combat is started by targeting an enemy in the overworld, drawing your weapons, and attacking. Once the battle has begun, there are a ton of options to choose from, more than in any Xenoblade game prior. First off, each character performs auto-attacks, which are the most simple way of dealing damage. Auto-attacks won’t usually do very much, and are actually more or less Xenoblade’s equivalent of the time-meter in Final Fantasy, or turns in other JRPGs. This is because each auto-attack will also fill up the meter for a character’s arts, which are their more powerful attacks. This only applies to three of the arts your character will use, though; the other three will recharge on a set time cooldown. Auto-attacks can only be done when your character is stationary, so time cooldown arts will be more useful if the player likes to reposition your character often. Three of your arts will come from your character’s class, selected from a pool of five total. These arts, and the class they are using, can be changed freely from the menu, although new classes must be unlocked by completing side quests. Depending on where the class’s original user comes from, the arts will either be recharged by time cooldown or auto-attacking. This adds a good deal of variety to how each class plays, in addition to the fact that each class has a whole set of unique arts, and unique passive skills. What really makes this combat system shine, however, are master arts and master skills. After using a class enough, a character can learn its master arts and master skills, which are taken from the class and can be used on any other class. So in addition to the three basic arts and four passive skills every class has, they will also get three master arts (only from the nation opposite the class’s), and three master skills. Because of this, every character can be customized to play completely differently, despite mostly having access to all the same abilities. And amazingly, there is still more to the combat system.
In Xenoblade 3, there are seven party members, six of which are static. They each form a pair, and each of those pairs can use an ability called Interlink to take on a powerful Ouroboros form. These mech-like forms become more powerful when Fusion Arts are used, which can be done by using a regular art and a master art at the same time (by either one of the two characters who form the Ouroboros pair). When Interlink is used, the two characters fuse into one Ouroboros, each of which has its own powerful arts and skills to take advantage of. While I do feel like the game does not necessarily incentivize the use of the Ouroboros forms as much as it could have, they are still loads of fun to use, and at the maximum Interlink level of 3, they can absolutely melt through enemies. The final critical element of combat is the Chain Attack, which takes on a radically different format compared to the first two games. They almost play like a turn-based JRPG, where each round the player can use their characters once to deal damage to the target. However, each character’s attack will add to the TP bar at the top of the screen, and once it goes over one-hundred percent, that round of the Chain Attack will end. The higher the percentage, the more of the characters which were used up will be reactivated for the next round. There are also other factors to consider, like which character’s order is used (which will add an extra buff to every attack for the rest of the chain), and if a character is an Attacker, Healer, or Tank. Each class falls into one of those three categories, generally describing how they play, and how their powerful Talent Arts (arts which can only be used during regular combat, not Chain Attacks) are charged. Additionally, the seventh, non-controllable member of your party, known as a Hero, will have entirely unique effects that your main party cannot do. Chain Attacks are super fun to execute because they allow the player to hit ridiculous damage numbers, and they also serve to switch up the gameplay a lot. All in all, the combat of this game is obviously very layered, but it is extremely satisfying once it comes together. Xenoblade 3 also does a pretty good job of explaining everything and introducing mechanics at a reasonable pace, so players are unlikely to feel overwhelmed or bored, even in the early game.
Combat is only half the experience, with the other portion all generally falling into the category of exploration. Xenoblade 3 is what I would consider a semi-open world game; there is a set path that has to be followed to progress the main story, but there are always optional paths to be taken, some of which lead to entirely optional towns and quest lines. In addition to fighting enemies, the party, which is led by whichever of the six main characters the player wishes to use, can pick up collectibles and interact with some objects to proceed. Exploring in and of itself is highly enjoyable, because the landscapes of this game are simply beautiful. There are always secrets to be found, whether it be an especially powerful Unique Monster, a Ferronis Hulk where treasure lies in wait, or even a new quest. Speaking of which, this game has three main types of quests. First, there are the main story ones, which have to be beaten to progress the main storyline. Then, there are side quests, which are more or less your standard JRPG fare. A requester will ask the party to kill some monsters, deliver them some items, go to a certain location, or some combination of the three. They are usually nothing too special, but I will say that these ones tend to have fairly interesting stories attached to them, making them among the best in the series. Finishing them also increases your affinity with the town (or as the game calls them, Colonies) that the quest comes from, unlocking more quests and passive exploration bonuses like increased running and swimming speed in the process.
The final and most interesting type of quest in Xenoblade 3 are Hero Quests. These are the quests that must be completed to unlock new Heroes to use, or improve their class’s rank to its maximum level. What makes these quests so great is that they are comparable to the main story in terms of quality; they get fully voice-acted cutscenes, and the missions are usually fairly unique too. Unlocking new Heroes and their classes is also awesome too, since it expands your combat options greatly, so I found myself always completing Hero Quests as soon as they became available.
In my opinion, Xenoblade 3 has a near-perfect gameplay loop. Complete quests to unlock more quests, Heroes, and classes, which in turn improves your combat, making that side of things even more fun, and making it possible to take on higher-level quests. The whole thing remains fun for the entire duration of the game, even if the player does every single one of them, like I did. It took over one-hundred and thirty hours, but I enjoyed every second of it. And perhaps most surprising of all, I still have not even touched on the phenomenal main story this game has to offer.

Story:
For many, the main appeal of Xenoblade as a series are the incredible stories each game has to offer (Xenoblade Chronicles X notwithstanding). This game is no different, with by far the darkest premise of any game in the series yet. Xenoblade 3 takes place in the world of Aionios, where two nations are locked in an endless war. Everyone in these nations has only ten years, or terms, to live (being born at what is the human equivalent of ten years old), although the vast majority of soldiers die long before they reach their final term. The main party is composed of six individuals, three from the nation of Keves, and three from the nation of Agnus. After initially fighting one another, they find that they must work together to reach a place called Swordmarch, freeing colonies from the endless war in the process. My intention is to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, so I will only talk about the story and characters in generalities.
In my opinion, the story of this game is absolutely fantastic. The strongest elements are the six main characters, all of whom feel very well-realized. Most JRPGs tend to leave at least one or two party members who never get as much development or screen time as the rest, but here, everyone feels like they were treated well. Although Noah, and to a lesser extent Mio, definitely get the most focus of the six, being the two main protagonists, Eunie, Taion, Lanz, and Sena all still feel well-served by the main story and the Hero Quests. Thematically, this game is also ridiculously well-made. The game goes well beyond the typical “war is bad” narrative, delivering a tale which not only highlights the absolute depravity of those who hold power in Aionios, but also a uniquely meta ending that feels like a direct commentary on the way we enjoy long-form media. The lore is also as deep and interesting as always, although some people may be put off by the fact that some notable questions are never directly answered. This game’s approach to lore is more in line with Xenogears and Xenosaga than the Xenoblade games, where some fairly big lore elements rely on the player making inferences in order to figure out the exact way it worked. There are no obvious plot holes or anything like that, but it does require the player to pay a lot of attention, and to think through most of what happens.
I already touched on Hero Quests before, but I will mention here that they also have a lot of great character moments, both for the main party members, and the Heroes who are the subject of them. Overall, the story remains compelling throughout its entire runtime, and in a few instances, delivers some of the most devastating moments I have ever witnessed in fiction. I still prefer the story of the original game a slight bit, but this one is also exceedingly well-crafted.

Presentation:
As a Nintendo Switch game, one would expect that this game’s scope would be somewhat limited by the hardware. However, that is not the case in any meaningful sense. Each of the game’s four main areas is massive, some of them larger than other game’s entire overworlds. Though the resolution sometimes takes a hit, the game almost always maintains thirty frames-per-second, and the astounding vistas tend to make up for the sometimes poor graphical fidelity (as is tradition at this point for the series). And while it is not directly related to graphics, I would also like to take a moment to appreciate the sheer scale of the world in this game. I was initially worried that a more normal world (compared to the first two games on a conceptual level) might limit how impressive the world was. One of my favorite aspects of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X is how massive they feel; the player can really get a good feel for how tiny they are compared to the overworld, especially in the first game, where Shulk and co. run around on the body of a colossal dead god. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 somewhat lacked that feeling, but luckily, Xenoblade 3 does not disappoint. The world just feels impossibly huge, especially when looking at the enormous Urayan Mountains, or the gigantic Sword of the Mechonis.
To the surprise of no one even slightly aware of the series, Xenoblade 3 has a godly soundtrack. The battle themes are as hype-inducing and epic as ever, and the cutscene music is always great at setting the tone of a scene. The biggest departure for the series in a stylistic sense is the overworld music, which tends to be much less bombastic than in previous games. However, I feel that the new style fits this game to a T. The world of Aionios is a tragic place, so generally somber and less-blood pumping music fits better. I will say that, at the moment, this soundtrack is probably my least favorite of the three main games, but I have listened to those other two soundtracks innumerable times by now. Even so, this soundtrack is still amazing, and among the best I have ever listened to.
The last thing I want to touch on is the voice acting. Xenoblade 2 rightfully received a lot of flak for its mixed voice acting. While a lot of the voice actors did a good job, it was clear with even the best performances that there was just not much direction given to anyone involved. Xenoblade 3 remedies this issue completely, providing some of the best voice acting I have ever heard. Every single one of the main characters sounds great, and Noah in particular has some simply sublime moments, especially during the end of Chapter 5 and the start of Chapter 6. It has a few odd deliveries here and there, but overall, it sounds great and marks a huge improvement over its predecessor. And as always, the nice mix of accents from the United Kingdom really makes the world feel more unique and alive than your average JRPG.

Conclusion:
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has what I think may be the best gameplay of any JRPG I have ever played, and one of my favorite stories to boot. I can understand why not everyone would like it: the combat may seem off putting, the lore is not always explained directly, and there are not a lot of direct connections to the first two games (something which many existing fans were hoping for). In my opinion though, this game is a must-play for pretty much anyone who enjoys massive RPGs and compelling stories. It’s dense, action-packed, emotional, and perhaps most impressively, it manages to surpass its excellent predecessors in a number of ways.

Score: 95/100

Full o’ beans and good gameplay

Gameplay:
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed is a DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, so it will come as no surprise that the base of Future Redeemed is taken straight from the original game. Combat and exploration work the same on a fundamental level as the original game, with the party being made up of six characters who each have six arts (strong attacks basically) to choose from, three of which recharge on a timer while the other three recharge from characters performing auto-attacks (which they will do when they are not moving). During battle the Chain Attack Gauge slowly charges, and once it has been filled the player can unleash a Chain Attack, which multiplies the damage dealt by the whole team hundreds of times over. One particularly important part of combat is the combo system, which has been simplified a bit in Future Redeemed. The combo has four parts, Break into Topple into Launch into Smash or Burst, and by utilizing it fully the player can deal even more damage. Of particular importance in Future Redeemed is Launch, which increases all damage an enemy takes. Not only is this relevant since it can be stacked on top of the bonus present from Chain Attacks, but it also ties into Future Redeemed’s main change to the base game’s combat. Replacing Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Ouroboros forms is the Unity system, wherein two characters team up to deal massive damage. The three Unity pairs are determined outside of battle, with each offering both a unique skill for the pair and a special finishing attack that can be charged up, or automatically used at the end of a Chain Attack once certain conditions are met. In Future Redeemed, the only method of inflicting Smash and Burst, which are both immensely powerful, is through Unity Combos, which happen when a Unity attack occurs while a combo is at the launch stage. Setting it all up can take some work, but it makes battles immensely satisfying to work through.
Battles may be the core of Xenoblade, but exploration is also an important element, and this is where Future Redeemed takes the series to new heights. The basics are mostly the same: items can be found on the ground, enemies can be fought in seamless overworld battles, and quests can be undertaken for EXP and rewards. However, where this DLC shines is in the addition of the new Affinity system. Basically, doing anything in the overworld will reward the player with Affinity Points, which can then be spent on a character’s skill tree. Defeating a certain number of one type of enemy will give some, as will collecting x number of items off the ground, discovering new landmarks, meeting new NPCs, and more. It makes all the side content feel more meaningful than in any Xenoblade game prior to this one without ever coming across as busy work, and I can only hope that future Xenoblade games implement this system.
If I have any gripes with the gameplay of Future Redeemed, they only come from how character progression works. I really enjoyed how Affinity Points allowed me to choose who and what to invest in, but those are not the only thing needed to improve characters. Further levels of the skill tree, art slots, gems, and accessories (the latter two of which give extra stats and effects) all have to be unlocked by finding expansion kits in the overworld. While I appreciate the attempt to make progression less linear, I feel that this system ended up making the game more frustrating at times, since I would go hours without finding any of one type. I suppose it might work better with some fine tuning, but I think I would have preferred if those extra slots were just unlocked with Affinity Points instead. To be fair, this certainly isn’t a game-ruining issue, more just an annoying wrinkle in an otherwise fantastic gameplay experience.

Story/Characters:
Xenoblade is the sort of series where the story and characters are one of the main appeals, which left Future Redeemed with a daunting task. As the conclusion to the first main trilogy of Xenoblade, it had to build up a new party while also including far more nods to past games than any other Xenoblade game, all in a much shorter run time than a full game. Perhaps I should not be surprised, but Future Redeemed somehow manages to pull it off in spectacular fashion. The party is made up of new and returning characters from past games, but all feel relatively fleshed out. I think the new protagonist, Matthew, deserves a special mention for being very interesting but simultaneously very amusing to watch. He’s definitely the brashest Xenoblade protagonist yet (probably the brashest Xeno protagonist period), yet he never got annoying or felt stupid. The return of Shulk and Rex is also great, with both feeling like very natural evolutions of where their characters left off. The enigmatic A is excellent too, and though I feel the final two party members, Glimmer and Nikol, were perhaps a tad underbaked, I liked them nonetheless. The villains are interesting too, and though I will not elaborate on that too much for the sake of spoilers, I would like to mention that the use of N is especially cool because Future Redeemed shows him before he has fully gone off the deep end.
Though the story is fun all the way through, I feel that special credit must be awarded to the ending for two big reasons. First, the game manages to cram in several references to the other main Xeno series (Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade Chronicles X). Xenosaga particularly gets two overt references which suggest it might even be canon to Xenoblade, but I don’t want to get into specifics for those who have not played the game. I also won’t comment directly on what happens at the end, but I will say that I felt it was the perfect thematic conclusion to both Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and the series as a whole so far.
If I had to critique the story, beyond wishing it was a bit longer, I think it is fair to say that it is nowhere near as accessible as any of the other Xenoblade games. My recommendation would 100% be to wait until having played Xenoblade Chronicles, Future Connected, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Torna - The Golden Country (though this one isn’t as necessary), and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 before getting to Future Redeemed. Knowing everything makes the payoff here all the sweeter. Playing Xenosaga (and to a much much lesser extent Xenogears and Xenoblade Chronicles X) will also improve one’s appreciation for this DLC, but none of them are anywhere near as necessary to enjoy it.

Presentation:
Future Redeemed’s presentation matches up to the rest of the game quite well. Visually speaking it is quite impressive for the Switch, with its massive world (which has no loading screen) looking nice all the way through. The game also maintains 30fps, even when there are a number of enemies involved in a battle. It’s really just more of what was already present in the base game, but I cannot complain about that.
Even more standout is the new music. Having incredible music is the name of the game when it comes to Xenoblade, so Future Redeemed having an incredible soundtrack is hardly a surprise, but still very much worth bringing up. I really do not have anything to criticize on that front beyond it being relatively short, but that is to be expected with a DLC. If anyone reading needs proof that this game’s music bangs, just listen to this song: https://youtu.be/DeBG1g1BRMA

Conclusion:
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed is without a doubt a celebration of the series as it prepares to move on to a new main story arc, but it never feels like the developers are resting on their laurels. The writing is as good as ever, the combat is maybe even more fun than the base game’s, the music is fantastic, and the core gameplay loop of acquiring Affinity Points is one of the most addictive I have ever come across in a game. As much as this DLC is reminiscing on the past, it also offers a look at what the future of the series may look like. If it is anything like Future Redeemed, then I am certain it will be as excellent as always.

Score: 92/100

Fire Emblem x SMT if it was good (no, I haven't actually played TMS)

Gameplay:
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked consists of two main types of gameplay. First are the visual novel-esque sections which take place in the overworld. The player is presented with a list of locations they can travel to, some of which have other characters in them. Most of the time, this will result in a short scene where the character that is there will talk with the party about something. The quality of these is almost entirely determined by the quality of the writing, so I will delve a little deeper into that later on. The only other main thing to mention here is that some activities in the overworld take in-game time to complete. Each in-game day only lasts for a set amount of hours, so it is important to talk to the right people. As the story progresses, talking to one person and not another can result in the deaths of characters and potential party members, so who the player speaks with does have a major influence on the elements of the story.
The other half of Devil Survivor Overclocked is combat. Like the previously mentioned visual novel sections, all combats that are not for the sole purpose of grinding use up time, so choosing when to fight can be important in and of itself. Each battle takes place on a grid, like in Fire Emblem or XCOM. The main thing that sets the gameplay apart from other SRPGs and tactics games is the party system. The party consists of four human characters, each of which are assigned two demons. Only the humans are on the map, but when they attack an enemy (or are attacked) they are drawn into a short turn-based encounter with their demons (which can be fused like in mainline Shin Megami Tensei or bought, both during the overworld sections). Each of the characters in the battle gets a chance to attack, and then the combat ends. However, both player-controlled characters and enemies can get one extra attack per combat by hitting an opponent’s weak point, being hit by an attack they resist, or landing a critical hit. This opens up a ton of strategy, making the gameplay almost like a breezier version of mainline Shin Megami Tensei. To be fair though, one map of Devil Survivor Overclocked does last significantly longer than one combat in mainline, since any given map will have at least four or five enemies on it at minimum. Speaking of the map, demons on the player’s side can also contribute there. Although only the humans on the player side move around, they and their demons can use non-combat spells outside of combat, allowing for healing, as well as demon-specific abilities like decreasing an enemies movement to one or switching places with a distant ally. The enemies also have access to these abilities, so the player side does not usually feel too overpowered.
As I said before, the gameplay has a lot of strategy, both on the map and in combat encounters. I also really appreciated the diverse range of goals for each battle. I don’t know the exact number, but I would guess that less than half of all the story maps require the player to defeat all the enemies. It may sound like a small thing, but it really does help the gameplay from getting too stale.
Unfortunately, I do have some gripes with the combat. My biggest problem by far is that I found grinding to essentially be mandatory in a few spots throughout the game. It was especially bad right at the end, where I had to grind around ten levels on my party in order to be ready for the final boss. My guess is that the player is supposed to do a free battle every now and then so that the party stays around the same level as the enemies, but my avatar character was a magical nuke and managed to carry me through any rough patches for almost all of the game. Grinding is not necessarily the end of the world, but I found it disappointing since one of my favorite things about mainline Shin Megami Tensei is how grinding is never required. The game always gives you ways to get around the enemies, even if the party is somewhat underpowered. It is possible that I just do not have the game knowledge required for that in Devil Survivor Overclocked, but from what I saw it seemed like grinding was more or less required to complete the final missions of the ending route I took. Another problem I had was that the animations for attacks and movement sometimes just felt slightly too long. They are not painfully bad at all, and this potentially just stems from my being relatively impatient when it comes to games, but I would have liked it if the game moved a bit faster. And on a similar note, my last main complaint is that the game felt a bit dragged out towards the end on the gameplay side of things. I think that is partially because of the grinding I had to do, but I would have preferred if the game was more in the thirty to thirty-five hour range, as opposed to the forty-five hours I clocked (pun not intended). The core gameplay of Devil Survivor Overclocked is extremely solid, but I think it could be a little more player-friendly.

Story:
There is a lot of story to cover in Devil Survivor Overclocked; I would estimate nearly half of the game is taken up by characters talking. Thankfully, the story and characters are generally pretty good. The basic premise is that one section of Tokyo is quarantined from the rest by the military. Right around the same time, demons begin to show up in the city. As one might guess, chaos quickly spreads throughout the quarantine, leaving the protagonists to pick up the mess. The game features a relatively small cast, with only three initial main characters: Atsuro, Yuzu, and the silent protagonist. However, more party members can be recruited as the story goes. Although I would have preferred a non-silent protagonist, I do think that the dynamic between the three main characters is good. Atsuro and Yuzu in particular have a fun, sibling sort vibe, and both make the other more interesting. The side characters are also good across the board; there isn’t really anyone I disliked or didn’t want to learn more about. If I had to praise one thing about the writing, it’s the realism of it. The characters and people in the quarantine react like real people would, mostly with panic and despair. The way the events of the plot unfold feels extremely well-thought out too. Even relatively minor ideas are explored, and the city itself does not immediately collapse. Instead, the player gets to watch all the horror spread, as demon tamers become more and more prevalent, terrorizing regular people while the military only sits back and watches.
Though I said the realism of the story was its biggest strength, I cannot help but feel that it might also be the source of its largest weakness—repetitive writing. The reason why I say this is realistic is because I feel that it makes sense people would say a lot of the same things in a situation like this. Yuzu keeps complaining about how she wants to escape the lockdown because she’s panicking, and Honda continuously brings up needing to get to his son’s surgery because he’s being eaten up by the thought of not being there. The problem is that this isn’t especially engaging; I’m fine with some repetition to remind the player what someone is about, but it feels very excessive at some points in the game. Sometimes entire talks with other characters would just feel rehashed, which I found to be frustrating given the limited time in the day to talk with people. It does not ruin the dialogue or story, but the game would have been much better had it been more concise.

Presentation:
Devil Survivor Overclocked has good graphics for a DS game. They were not notably touched up for the 3DS version from what I can tell, but the pixel art all looks fine to me. The demon art is also good on the whole, though the mix of art styles can be kind of jarring sometimes. The human characters were all designed by Suzuhito Yasuda, who I was already familiar with through the anime Durarara. I think all his designs here were strong, and I would be happy to see him involved with more Devil Survivor games, assuming a third one ever gets made.
The voice acting is also fairly strong. Every named character sounds at least good, and there are a couple of standout performances too. The faceless characters were more hit or miss, but I only recall a handful of noticeably bad ones. The only part of the voice acting I can complain about was the demon voices, which only play on the map when a demon talks. This happens infrequently, but it gets annoying for demons who talk a lot because the dialogue is not voiced; rather, the demons just make one noise, which gets repeated a lot when they have a lot of text boxes. That’s ultimately a very minor issue though, and not one I would dock the game major points for.
The last part of the presentation to discuss is the music. On the whole, I would say it is fine in a vacuum, but I would have loved for there to be more songs on the soundtrack. As is, the player is going to end up hearing the same ten or so songs for what may literally be hours, since there’s just hardly any diversity in the music. Add on the fact the songs are mostly just alright, and it makes the game’s music feel quite middling. That’s fine on its own, but it certainly is a bit disappointing when compared to mainline Shin Megami Tensei or Persona.

Conclusion:
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is a good game that could have been great with some more polishing. Some problems (like the dragged out late-game) are not simple to fix, but I honestly think that a lot of this game’s issues could have been ironed out in this re-release. I would recommend this game to people who enjoy Shin Megami Tensei and/or SRPGs, but it does have a few foibles that bring down the experience somewhat.

Score: 83/100

I'm not sure if it was just because I was feeling kind of bleh when I played it, but I just have few strong feelings about this DLC. The new area is fun to explore but still plagued with the same technical issues of the base game, despite being a much smaller area. The new story and characters were not bad but I can't say I absolutely loved them either, though I did quite like Ogerpon in both design and personality. And I feel like the level scaling was also a bit off, although that might just be because I decided to make a new team using the Pokemon I caught in Kitakami and didn't end up leveling them up that much. On the whole it was decent but I'm not sure it's really worth getting into at the moment if you are not sure you want to play the second wave and/or don't care about catching Pokemon after finishing the main storyline.

Score: 60/100

Pirates and Link are both cool, but it would have been even cooler if Link was a pirate

Gameplay:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is very much a follow-up to Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask as far as core gameplay is concerned. Link controls much like he does in those games, but feels a tad more “natural” to control in a way that is hard to explain (perhaps because his animations were improved?). Like in those games, Link is able to run around and interact with the environment, primarily via his sword, shield, and items. The sword and shield gameplay is about what one would expect, similar to the two previous games but with a new element—a sort of quick-time-event where the player must press A at just the right moment to make Link counter an enemy attack. While cool-looking I feel that the addition of reactions arguably makes the combat worse than other 3D Zelda games since it can feel like a waiting game with little between. Not every enemy operates on this system, but I find it somewhat disappointing that most of the more challenging ones do. There is not much to be said about the shield, it allows Link to block attacks when held up. Items are rather varied in Wind Waker, and while I would not say it is the absolute strongest selection in the franchise it still feels quite solid to me. I would have liked if some of them were utilized more but even as is none of them feel like they drop by the wayside too greatly.
One last main feature of Wind Waker is sailing, a new addition. Since the world of Wind Waker is a vast ocean spotted with small islands, Link must sail to get between them. Wind Waker HD also adds in the Swift Sail, which makes the boat move several times faster than the normal sail. I am sort of split on this addition; in an objective sense it is good because it cuts down on the unnecessary downtime that comes with sailing, a task which is not very engaging. However, the Swift Sail does expose just how short Wind Waker feels. The game is rather small compared to other 3D Zelda games, and in some ways it is quite noticeable. I think this topic would be better saved until I have gone over other elements of the game, so I will shelve it for the time being.
The meat of Wind Waker, as with most Zelda games, is its dungeons. Unfortunately for Wind Waker, it has without a doubt the weakest selection of the 3D games in the series. That is not to say they are bad. Generally speaking, they are fun to progress through and feel rewarding to complete. The atmosphere is great as always, doing a lot of work to sell the unique vibe of each one. The problem for me is that they really do not feel like they offer any real challenge, which makes them a bit dull at times. Barring the last main dungeon none of them are remotely non-linear, and the puzzles and battles present require little-to-no thought on the players part. I can appreciate trying to warm the player up to the game slowly but when it takes until the last dungeon for the game to pose any sort of legitimate challenge, I feel there is a problem. I fully recognize that I am probably a much more experienced Zelda player than most, but even for someone less versed in the series I think a better difficulty curve would have been appreciated. As I said before, the dungeons are enjoyable even with their flaws, but I believe the game could have greatly benefited from having just a bit more complexity. Additionally, though I would not say it is as big a problem, the game definitely feels like it is missing a dungeon or two (which we know is in fact the case based on developer interviews). There are only five main dungeons, plus two shorter segments that are probably best categorized as semi-dungeons (the Forsaken Fortress and Ganon’s Castle). I am all for shorter, high-quality games, but Wind Waker does feel a bit strangely paced and I imagine having another dungeon or two in the mix would have helped.
Despite being somewhat negative in this section, I do think that Wind Waker has pretty good gameplay. The combat is enjoyable and the dungeons are fun to explore. Ultimately, it is just missing depth. If there was a little more to it all I think the game could be even better, but as is it feels unfair to fault it too greatly.

Story/Characters:
Wind Waker leans into having a story more than any prior Zelda game, and while it is nothing complex, I thoroughly enjoy it. Link’s motivation to become a hero is rescuing his sister, making the adventure feel more personal than maybe any other game in the series from the start. Link has a ton of personality in this game, in large part thanks to how expressive his face and animations are. That goes for just about everyone else too, though they also have the benefit of being able to talk. The pirates are all fun, Tetra is a delightful character, and Ganondorf is suitably menacing even with the characterization he receives. It’s just a very solid story overall, and one with a lot for the player to chew on as well as far as subtext goes (which, as I have mentioned in my other Zelda reviews, is one of my favorite parts of the series).

Presentation:
To the surprise of few, Wind Waker HD has excellent presentation across the board. The visuals are somewhat contentious from what I have seen online, but I think they look great for the most part and make the world pop quite a bit. New textures would have been appreciated in some areas, but I cannot say they seem at all necessary to me.
The music is a similar boat (pardon the pun). It establishes an immaculate atmosphere, especially in conjunction with the visuals. The world of Wind Waker feels vast and ready to be explored, like it is just waiting for Link to plunder its lost treasures. Though I would not say it is the absolute best music the series, Wind Waker’s soundtrack goes a long way in creating the game’s distinct personality.

Conclusion:
My biggest criticisms of Wind Waker are all about what the game lacks. I wish there was more complexity in the combat, puzzles, and dungeon layouts, I wish the ocean was a little more fun to navigate, and I wish the game were longer. But personally, I find it hard to fault a game for lacking things too much when what is present is already good. Wind Waker is my least favorite 3D Zelda game having now replayed all of them, but I can safely say that it’s still great and worth the time of anyone who enjoys the series. Personally I prefer the HD remaster, but I know some like the original more, and either way I think most will have a good time with it.

Score: 81/100

I hate Lubba.

Gameplay:
Super Mario Galaxy 2 marked a shift for the 3D Mario games, as it was the very first direct sequel to any of them. This meant that it felt much more similar to its predecessor than past 3D Mario games had to theirs’. Mario controls in pretty much the exact same way as in the original here, and the graphics are also quite similar. As it turned out though, this merely meant that the developers had an already good base to build off, allowing them to create a fantastic game bursting at the seams with creativity.
Galaxy 2’s gameplay is really the main selling point of the game, and it does disappoint in any sense. As I said before, this game is absurdly creative. Every level (or galaxy, as they are called) introduces at least one entirely new (and usually exclusive) mechanic, and the ideas built around those concepts are nothing short of incredible. I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that this is the single most creative game I have ever played, if such a thing can even be quantified.
I do think that some credit here should go to the original game; Mario’s physics are just about the same from what I recall, and some of the mechanics on display here were created for the first game originally. But I do not think that either of these points take away from this game. Mario already controlled excellently in the original, so tweaks were unnecessary, and the returning mechanics from the first game are not only used in new ways here, but were generally used as well if not better than in their debut game.
One other important point to mention is Yoshi, who is playable in a fair number of levels. This is my favorite implementation of the green dinosaur in any Mario game I have played so far, for a few reasons. He feels neither overused nor underutilized, appearing in just enough levels to keep me interested in using him. Additionally, his normal controls are just as tight as Mario’s, meaning it is fun just to run around and jump when controlling him. Most importantly however, Yoshi has a number of unique mechanics relating to him, namely the different fruits that he can eat. Each affects him in a different way, providing an entirely new dynamic to each level they are used in.
The way players travel between levels is also different in this game, and in my opinion it is an improvement over the original. This game uses a world map to travel to levels, as compared to the hub world of the first three 3D Mario games. While I enjoyed the hubs to varying degrees in all of those games, I think getting to levels is just easier and more convenient here. There is still a small hub to play around in, though it might have been interesting were it a little larger.
All in all, Galaxy 2 is a masterpiece of game design. Unlike the original, which I feel comes off as unfocused at times, this game’s level design always keeps the player interested. Losing the element of freedom more present in earlier 3D Mario games may turn off some, but personally I feel that it allowed for a much more well-made game, at least in this case.

Story:
This is the only area where this game is a clear downgrade from the original Super Mario Galaxy. In that game, there was a subtle storyline which explained the backstory of Rosalina, which did make the game mildly more interesting. That is gone here, replaced with nothing in particular. The only character that really talks is the Luma captain Lubba, and while this should be saved for my next section, I must say that I really do not like his design at all. I would go so far as to say that it is comically bad.
That being said, the lackluster story of this game does not bother me in any significant way. As is the case for most (I assume), Mario is a series that I play almost entirely for the gameplay. A little bit of backstory can be fun, but I cannot say I was crushed by its absence here.

Presentation:
Super Mario Galaxy 2 has some of the best, if not the best, presentation of the entire library on the Wii. Visually, it is a great looking game with a beautiful art style. The low resolution is obviously not great, but I think this is a classic Nintendo example of having art direction and style so good that it makes the lack of a higher resolution mostly a non-issue.
My favorite part of the presentation has to be the music. This game’s prequel already had a great soundtrack, but this one is even better. It might sound weird, but the music of this game is best described as epic. It perfectly conveys the majesty and uniqueness of each galaxy, always elevating the atmosphere far beyond what visuals alone could achieve.
This game does technically have some voice acting, but it's just the usual Mario character noises; nothing to get too excited about, but nothing out right bad either.

Conclusion:
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is an impressively good game, and one of the best direct sequels I’ve ever played. It improves on the first game in nearly every conceivable way, culminating in an undeniably magical gameplay experience. The difficulty is not especially high most of the time, but there is enough pushback that it does not feel as though the game is handing you everything. In the presentation department, everything that matters for a Mario game is spot on, and were it not for the existence of Lubba, this would be a perfect game.
In all seriousness, this game is excellent and worth checking out for any platformer enjoyers who haven’t tried it already. Hopefully we can get a modern port of it one of these days, since it didn’t make it into 3D All Stars for whatever reason.

Score 91/100

Gameplay:
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth’s gameplay is primarily dungeon-crawling. The player will traverse through various dungeons, slowly mapping out their progress by hand as they proceed. During these crawls, the player’s party can be attacked by enemies via random encounters, and that is basically all there is to Persona Q2. Of course, both of these two components have a fair amount of depth. Dungeon maps are drawn by hand, with only floor tiles being filled out automatically. This means that the player will need to pay attention to their surroundings, which is important since each floor contains a powerful item which can only be accessed once that floor’s map is filled out. While this system of manually drawing the map can be fun, I feel that more often than not I was simply looking at the map instead of my surroundings, which I think is generally a sign of poor game design. But the dungeon floors themselves tended to look somewhat samey. While each dungeon was distinct in of itself, only one of them presented any major design changes to its floors part way through. I found the dungeon crawling to be decently fun early into the game, but by the end it got to be a slog. I think this issue could have been avoided if the game was a lot shorter, or if the dungeons had contained more involved puzzles to contend with. They all have some kind of gimmick, but the only one I found particularly interesting was the fourth dungeon’s mechanic, which involves the raising and lowering of pillars to make or block a path.
The combat of Persona Q2 is actually very fun, at least in a vacuum. Each character only has one main Persona, which learns a set of skills as the character levels up. However, every character can also equip a sub-persona, which can be won from some battles and fused together to create new sub-personas with different combinations of skills. This allows for a party in which every character plays a distinct role, but also can be customized as much as the player wants, which is great since the player can already pick from every playable character in Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4, and Persona 5 (not Royal, however). I would go so far as to say that this system is superior to what the main Persona games currently have; I would love to see something like this in Persona 6. All-out attacks return from the main series as well, occurring when the party has knocked down all of the enemies (which can be done with a critical hit or by hitting the enemy with an attack it is weak to). And the last main mechanic to mention is boost. This happens to a character when they land a critical hit or attack an enemy’s weakness, allowing them to use a skill on their next turn at no cost. However, they will lose the boost if they take damage before their next attack. Boost is fun to use, but I cannot say that I felt like it added too much to the gameplay. There was never a situation when I felt like I had to use boost in order to win. Overall the core combat is quite fun, but it is brought down quite a bit by other factors. For one, the random encounter rate is annoyingly high. It seemed like I was always being interrupted in my dungeon crawling, making battle more of a distraction than anything else. Additionally, the game requires a lot of grinding in order for the party to stand a chance against the dungeon bosses. This can be alleviated for the most part by the use of a DLC item that grants 3 times the EXP to all party members in battle, but that item also breaks a lot of the game’s balancing in other areas (such as persona fusion). Overall, the gameplay of Persona Q2 is fun many times, but some frustrating design choices waste a lot of the player’s time, unfortunately.

Story:
To be honest, I feel like the story of this game missed most of its potential. The only character from the main series who actually gets any large amount of development is the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable. She is a fun character who does have some pretty interesting ideas explored, but her story is spread pretty far apart by the dungeon crawling. The only other character with any significant development is Hikari, who is an original character. I enjoyed her arc, which focuses on how she feels trapped when she tries to be herself, but it was hardly anything profound. The other problem I have with it is that she barely gets any focus until the fourth dungeon. In fact, it feels like hardly anything of note happens prior to that dungeon; the party is mostly just focused on escaping, with a few character interactions being mixed in. However, even those felt like missed opportunities. Most of the inter-game character interactions are saved for the side quests, but because of the annoying nature of dungeon crawling in this game, I didn’t want to do any of them. The story and character interactions had a lot of cool directions to potentially go in, but overall this story mostly missed the mark for me.

Visuals and Music:
Visually, I actually liked this game more than I expected. The chibi characters look much better than I’d anticipated, and the environments look good too, though they get a bit repetitive after exploring them for hours on end. The music here is also fantastic, with some of the best battle themes in the entire Persona series. Even if you have no interest in this game, I’d recommend checking some of them out.

Conclusion:
This game feels like it was really close to being something great, only to fall apart a bit in a few key areas. The music, visuals, and combat are all great, and work fine as is. I think that if the story had been consolidated, then expanded a little bit, and the dungeon crawling had been greatly reworked to be less time-wasting, this game could have been more like twenty-five or thirty hours, and much better for it. As of now, it is a fifty hour game that has a lot of good and a bit of bad in it. I feel pretty conflicted on it overall, and I would not recommend it unless you think the dungeon crawling sounds up your alley.

Score: 60/100

Berserk the Video Game

Gameplay:
I should probably mention for context that Elden Ring is the first FromSoftware game I’ve played any real amount of. I played about an hour of Dark Souls Remastered before realizing that I was not enjoying it at all, and I’ve never even touched the others. I wasn’t sure about Elden Ring going in, but I’d heard a lot of good things about it so I gave it a shot. As it turns out, it’s really good.
Elden Ring features a massive open world to explore on par with the best of the best. There are multiple points of interest no matter what direction the player is looking, and that means there’s always something to work towards. Moreover, every one of those places has something to find or do. It really felt like the world was never going to end for a while, and I mean that in the best way possible. Another thing I really like about the world design of Elden Ring is that there is always more than one way to get somewhere (for the most part). It makes the world feel much more realistic, and is just more fun than being railroaded down one path or having to look up a guide to get somewhere specific. My only real complaint with the game design are the catacombs and mines that are spread throughout the world. They are not too bad or anything, but I just felt like sometimes they were more annoying than they needed to be, often spamming enemies in confined spaces. Luckily they are a relatively small part of the game, so they don’t drag it down much. Overall, Elden Ring’s world is incredible. It’s easily in the top three open worlds for me, along with Breath of the Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles X.
The other main part of the gameplay is the combat. Elden Ring’s combat is highly strategic, with plenty of room for different playstyles. Every enemy has different attack patterns that can be learned with some patience, and by exploiting them, the player can take enemies down without even getting hit. Every hit matters for the player and the opponent, and even weak overworld enemies can kill the Tarnished if the player is careless. The bosses in this game can be brutal, but even if they are too strong, there is another option: running away. Since Elden Ring is an open world game, the player has the benefit of being able to simply ignore a boss they cannot beat and do something else, then come back when they are stronger. Alternatively, they can also change around their playstyle by using a different weapon. There are more than a dozen types of weapons to try, and tons of different options within each category.
That said, the weapon system does have some problems in my opinion. Switching weapons is easier said than done once the game is further along because weapons can be forged to increase their power. Forging costs smithing stones, a relatively limited resource, so realistically the player is only going to have a few weapons they can get anything done with in the mid-to-late game. This ties into another problem, which is weapons as rewards. Unique weapons and spells (which are cast using certain types of magical weapons) are commonly given as rewards for beating bosses and mini-dungeons. I like this idea on paper, but when taking into account the relatively limited number of weapons the player can actually use (both because of the limited ability to forge and the fact that weapons require minimums in certain stats), it’s extremely rare to find a new weapon that will actually fit into a preexisting build. I literally used the starting sword that came with my class for the entire game because I had already invested a lot into it by the time I was finding alternatives that were arguably better. While that’s mostly a criticism, I will say that I like how pretty much any weapon is usable, even the starting sword. Weapons can be granted different affinities (which change how damage is calculated and add other effects) and skills using Ashes of War, which is a fun feature. There’s no penalty for switching around which Ash of War is equipped, so I had fun experimenting (my favorite ended up being the Bloody Slash).
The only other thing I want to touch on with Elden Ring’s combat are Ashes. These items can be used to summon spirits during boss battles, helping the player deal with the enemies by tanking and/or dealing damage. Sometimes they make bosses feel a little bit too easy, but they also make other extremely powerful enemies much more manageable. They are probably the best feature for new players, making fights that would have been almost impossible much easier to deal with. Despite its weapon issues, I still think that the core gameplay of Elden Ring is phenomenal. It’s without a doubt one of the hardest, most strategic games I have ever played, while also having plenty of room for experimentation and gimmick builds.

Story:
Like most people who play Elden Ring, I cannot say that I fully understood Elden Ring’s story/lore, or even came close to understanding it. That said, I still think it is pretty great. The Lands Between have so much history, and getting to slowly piece things together is highly satisfying. I certainly would not have minded more meat to the main story, but it’s still fun to see to completion, especially since there are different endings available depending on which optional quest lines have been completed.
The character writing is also quite good. The game’s NPCs have tons of personality despite not getting much time to talk, and a lot of them are quite funny. It certainly is not my favorite story of 2022, but I think Elden Ring’s story is great.

Presentation:
Elden Ring also boasts fantastic presentation. The game is not necessarily the most graphically complex thing I have ever played, but it looks fantastic all the way through, in large part thanks to its art design. The diverse color palette helps to make each of the world’s regions feel highly distinct, and the huge structures scattered throughout the Lands Between are almost Xenoblade-esque in how overwhelming they are to look at. Elden Ring is the first full single-player game I have completed on my PS5, and it looked and ran great the entire time (I used performance mode). I think it’s safe to say that Elden Ring has my favorite visuals of any 2022 game.
The voice acting, while relatively minimal, is also great. A few characters in particular stood out as being especially good, like Ranni. It’s a solid cast all around, even if there is not too much of it.

Conclusion:
Having played Elden Ring, I can easily see why it’s been lauded as a generation-defining game. Few games have ever attempted to create a world as huge and detailed as Elden Ring, and fewer still manage to match its sheer quality. In many ways, Elden Ring feels like the successor to Breath of the Wild that people have been anticipating since that game’s release. While I still slightly prefer Breath of the Wild, that is by no means a slight against Elden Ring; Breath of the Wild is among my favorite games ever made. Even if you have tried a FromSoftware game before and hated it, if you have any interest at all in Elden Ring, I highly recommend that you give it a shot. It’s without a doubt one of the most impressive games I’ve ever played and a great deal of fun, even after more than 90 hours.

Score: 91/100

Gameplay:
Fire Emblem is known for its strategic combat as well as some social aspects, the latter of which have been focused on much more in the newer games. Since Path of Radiance is fairly old by now, most of the gameplay takes place on the battlefield, which personally is what I prefer. As for the gameplay itself, I think it’s fun but a bit too easy. I’ve played a majority of the Fire Emblems games, and since I had heard this one was rather easy, I tried playing on the hardest difficulty. Even then, I found that very few of the maps presented much of a challenge. Some of the early maps might be a little bit tough, especially since on some of them you don’t get access to Titania, but once you get her as a permanent character, the game becomes very easy. Titania is a mounted unit with ridiculous stats, so she can handle most enemies thrown at her, even on the highest difficulty. She falls off a bit later on but is still good even in the endgame, and by then Ike and potentially some others will have replaced her as your new broken unit. Ike could solo every map by the time he got promoted in my playthrough, which occurs about two-thirds of the way through the game.
All that being said, the game itself is still pretty fun. There aren’t a ton of standout maps but I didn’t have many I outright hated either, and the majority definitely were enjoyable in my opinion. The combat between individual units is not as interesting as it is in the newer games, but it’s still enjoyable. I also appreciate that this game features an enemy range toggle, though I’m not sure why they didn’t think to include an option to enable it for every enemy as opposed to making the player turn it on for each one individually. The Laguz (people who can transform into animals) are also a cool addition, but I felt like using them was usually not worth it since they cannot fight unless transformed. The one exception which I used extensively is this game’s equivalent to the dancer you normally get in Fire Emblem, who can give another action to a unit when untransformed, and gives another action to all adjacent allies when he is transformed. Skills are also present in this game and are fun, but a lot of them don’t seem to do much, and I wish that units didn’t have to permanently lose a skill in order to make space for a new one. The only other thing that I think is worth mentioning about the battles are the atrociously long enemy phases. The animations in this game are generally just way too long, and there not being an option to speed them up is really unfortunate. You can always turn them off, but as someone that does like to see the animations it seems like there’s no good option.
Outside of battle, the player’s time is mostly spent in the preparations menu, which is quite a bit more involved than in most of the FE games prior to this one. This is where you can access the weapon and item shops, the convoy, your characters’ supports, as well as some other features. One particular thing I really enjoyed about this part is the information tab, which lets you talk with a couple different characters between chapters. Sometimes there are rewards for doing so, but either way it provides some more context and characterization, which I’m always in favor of. Supports are also present in this game, and I liked the ones I saw. I wouldn’t say any of them were truly ground-breaking, but they were all at least decent. My only complaint with them is that they have the five supports per character limit in this game. I understand why it’s there for balancing purposes, but the support bonuses are already really strong as is if you’re getting all of the ones available, and if nothing else they could at least let players view the other supports in game and just not give extra stats for them. One feature in this game that I really like is the Bonus Experience. Maps will give you some Bonus Experience for beating them, and some will give you a bunch extra if you fulfill certain objectives, such as not killing certain enemies. When you return to the preparations menu, you can give some of that Bonus Experience to your units to level them up. It makes it much easier to invest in someone who you want to use but that you haven’t used before, or even just to get someone up to speed if you had to bench them for a chapter.

Story:
The story and characters of Path of Radiance are probably the best part of the game. While my personal favorite story in Fire Emblem still remains that of Genealogy of the Holy War, this one is a contender for second place. Ike is a fantastic protagonist with a lot of personality and growth. His story focuses primarily on him becoming a leader, which is not exactly the most original premise, but it’s executed very well. He’s capable of feeling multiple emotions too, rather than simply being one note; he wants revenge, but he also wants to protect his friends, and he wants to prevent the Laguz and Beorc (an in-game term for humans) from continuing to fight. And Ike is just one of many interesting characters in the game. Soren and Elincia also have similarly compelling growth, and other members of the main cast like Titania, Nasir, and Reyson are great too. The game has a lot of plot threads and themes, and aside from one or two things, almost everything is resolved. The topic of antagonism between ethnic groups is hugely important in this game, and honestly I think it’s handled pretty well, which is especially surprising considering that there are some physical differences between them. One last element of the story that I’d like to highlight is the world-building, which is far better than most games in the series. There are tons of little details thrown in now and then that really make the continent of Tellius feel real, and none of it ever feels forced.

Visuals and Music:
Objectively speaking, this game looks pretty bad. Despite being a late GameCube release, the visuals look more like a less blurry PS1 game to me. That being said, for some reason I actually like how it looks. I don’t know why, and I don’t have any nostalgia for PS1 games since I never played any when I was younger, but something about it is charming to me. The character art is really good too and definitely up there with the best in the series for me. On the music side of things, I think that it is pretty good. Not my favorite in the series by any means, but it works for the game itself. The midi quality seemed bad from what I could tell, but I’m not an expert by any means on that stuff so I can’t say for sure.

Conclusion:
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance is a good game with some problems here and there. The animations are way too slow, the game is too easy, and it’s visuals have not held up well by any stretch. However, the core Fire Emblem gameplay is still plenty fun here, and the story and characters are some of the absolute best the series has to offer. I think this game would be good for people who are only starting to get into Fire Emblem as a series, though it is missing a lot of the quality of life features present in the games that came after.

Score: 86/100