Tried my hardest to enjoy this game on multiple occasions but it's just not going to happen. The visuals and music are all the same style as Middens and Gingiva, but this one simply doesn't click with me.

Making a beat-em-up in RPG Maker is a bad idea both in theory and in practice. Hitboxes are aligned to the center of the sprites and sprites are flat. That combined with the surreal environments makes it hard to even hit your opponent, and the choice to have a glossary in the game's manual instead of making it more accessible doesn't bode well now that battles are in real time. Like Middens it's impossible to tell if you're unprepared for a battle until you're almost dead, and the "just look at the enemy's colors to determine weakness" doesn't work with this art style.

The flow of play is broken further if you stop to look for items with the mouse, which I hear is necessary for the secret ending (don't quote me on that, I didn't get anywhere close to the end). As much as I like the kitty phone's interface, it's painfully slow to navigate. The hit list is confusing enough due to the lack of information, and it's even more of a chore if getting to that screen takes 5+ seconds of menuing.

Really didn't like this one. Abundant style isn't good when it makes the actual gameplay less enjoyable. Maybe I'll pick it up someday and enjoy it and change his review to match, but that certainly isn't anytime soon. At the very least the devs didn't run away with kickstarter backers' money, but that's the most praise I can give.

Also, the creator is still a creep.

The best out of all the Analgesic games. The 2D visuals retain the 16-bit quirkiness of the first Anodyne, and the 3D environments bring a nice PS1 feeling of loneliness and simplicity.

The story is a bit predictable, but the character interactions are what make it. The second half of the game is really strong, with the secret ending tying things up nicely and leaving you wanting for more.

My only critique is that, like the PS1 games it was inspired by, some of the environments feel kinda barren. This is somewhat fixed by metacoins on the second half (they even show up out of bounds!) but it's still not enough of an incentive in my opinion. Some spots just scream secret collectible, makes you wonder if something was cut out late in development.

I didn't really care for the Anodyne 1 references in the post game, but that's probably because I don't like the first Anodyne all that much to begin with. Maybe someone who enjoyed it more than me will find them at least neat.

Pretty simplistic for a platforming game, but the main attractive of this game is the story and the narration, which are on point. The story can get a bit too abstract at times and might be hard to track who did what and ended where towards the late game, but it still manages to make you feel for the characters despite all of them being just rectangles.

Would give 5 stars but they never fixed the glitch where if you go to the next arc (chapter?) without restarting the song from the last stage keeps playing on top of the new one.

My favorite game ever, but not even close to one of the best.

Negatives out of the way first: English dub bad, graphics a little overwhelming at times, story could use some more work. Having to use the wand to turn into enemies to get their attacks is really clumsy, especially since you'll probably want to play as your own creations most of the time. Game doesn't tell you at all what defines a creature's type or moves(although with moves you can sorta guess).

I think some N64DD or Dreamcast games (and Magic Pengel of course) already had the "model your own character" thing way before this game did it, but in my opinion Graffiti Kingdom does it best. 3D modeling with an analog stick sounds like a nightmare, but here it's easy to get something minimally close enough to what you want with varying amounts of effort.

I think the environments are really pretty. The arts and crafts theme might not shine through every level equally, but when it's there its very well done. Indoors are kind of janky, but most of the time they feel good to look at. The music is probably the best thing about this game, give it a listen even if you couldn't get through the whole thing!

It was okay.

The platforming was either pointless or neat at best, with new gimmicks making each power plant unique but not all that engaging. I was surprised that no part of the game strictly requires you to shift your energy balance to make it through obstacles. It might make it easier to do so, sure, but it feels unintended and kind of a hassle most of the time.

I wanted to say the story was the strong point, but I've got mixed feelings about it. The themes and how they're explored are good and interesting, but (in the full game mode at least) there's too much time before any major event happens. The ending twist was predictable and the ending was extremely depressing (in sort of a bad way) even if it makes sense from a thematical standpoint.

Neat at best and inconsistent at worst. Would still give it a try if you know what to expect.

Rune Factory's first (and second to last, for now) trip to the big screen looks gorgeous. The characters feel somewhat more alive than some other titles in the series, the combat is simple and satisfying, farming fine enough and the main story is interesting - though a bit short for my liking.

My only real complaint is that the runey sistem gets messy really fast if you're not playing attention, with most of your in-game days being dedicated to mantaining the ecosystem. And you don't even get the full rewards for it, since a bug makes you get no bonuses at all if you have all areas in balance. If emulating, I recommend looking up the cheat that keeps all areas balanced. You're not gonna get the growth time bonuses, but it makes the game way more relaxing and enjoyable.