Radd
74 Reviews liked by Radd
The first thing I will ever, wholly unironically, give a 5/5
Probably the single most enjoyable piece of fiction I've ever witnessed
It was all worth it, all the 370 - 380 or so hours that came before it (I played a new job each expac) and the
60 or so hours this expac took to beat
Damn.
UPDATE:
6.1 through 6.4 fucking sucked this game is ass
Probably the single most enjoyable piece of fiction I've ever witnessed
It was all worth it, all the 370 - 380 or so hours that came before it (I played a new job each expac) and the
60 or so hours this expac took to beat
Damn.
UPDATE:
6.1 through 6.4 fucking sucked this game is ass
I don't think I'd have enjoyed it nearly as much if it wasn't for the ability to play (most) missions with friends which made for one of my favorite gaming experiences this year.
Meanwhile the story appears confusing and nonsensical at first, only to weave an incredibly compelling tale that ties it very neatly to the first Final Fantasy.
It truly is Final Fantasy Origin.
Meanwhile the story appears confusing and nonsensical at first, only to weave an incredibly compelling tale that ties it very neatly to the first Final Fantasy.
It truly is Final Fantasy Origin.
Thank you for saving gaming Jack
This review contains spoilers
I played the mysterious trilogy only a few months ago and with Lydie and Suelle being the only super good game in that trilogy. I didn't really know what I was expected. Sophie 1 was ok. Firis was kinda bad honestly.
Annnnd holy crap this game is absolutely incredible from top to bottom.
Especially compared to the other games I've played, this alchemy system had so much more thinking involved. To actually plan out what I specifically want on my weapons was so much more important. I spent like 5 hours before the final dungeon just grinding out ultimate weapons and it honestly felt amazing after playing tetris for a while.
The combat has such a nice flow to it. The ultimates are so satisfying to pull off, especially on the bosses which it can do around a 3rd/4th to on hard mode (the review is based on hard mode, as that's what i've played the entire game) Basically every party member feels incredibly important, the debuff stacking also just makes the battles a lot more interesting to go through because a lot of the bosses have ways to absolutely cripple your stats.
The character writing kept it's charm from Lydie and Suelle. Except this time, since the story actually follows a linear storyline without having to focus on doing quest which can get really annoying sometimes especially for the L&S later exams.
Elvira's arc is honestly some of the more interesting writing I've seen from this series. I know the series isn't known for the most serious of writing but most of the writing is pretty touching and funny. The last scene with Sophie and Rami really hits well knowing the context of the trilogy and even just knowing the first game.
Seeing Sophie and Rami bond throughout the game and seeing Rami get influenced by her granddaughter's success is also a high point, it's just all so wholesome and warm it's hard not to get attached to what's going on.
Young Plachta is also incredibly well done, and basically every cutscene with her is pretty interesting, and the contrast between her and doll Plachta is pretty thoroughly explored throughout the game.
Also they finally realized that fast travel and dungeons from Atelier Shallie were a good idea. Good on them. A lot of variety with exploring and the third boss's arena caught me off guard with how interesting the surroundings were.
Also they just don't mention Luard at all asides from Young Plachta mentioning him a few times and that's probably a good thing.
Also the music is really good but that's a standard for this series.
From the combat, writing, and even just basic crafting this game had me reeled in from the start. Absolutely incredible. Would recommend (you don't even really need to play the 1st game because it has a recap button that covers all like 4 of the game's cutscenes just as a side note)
Annnnd holy crap this game is absolutely incredible from top to bottom.
Especially compared to the other games I've played, this alchemy system had so much more thinking involved. To actually plan out what I specifically want on my weapons was so much more important. I spent like 5 hours before the final dungeon just grinding out ultimate weapons and it honestly felt amazing after playing tetris for a while.
The combat has such a nice flow to it. The ultimates are so satisfying to pull off, especially on the bosses which it can do around a 3rd/4th to on hard mode (the review is based on hard mode, as that's what i've played the entire game) Basically every party member feels incredibly important, the debuff stacking also just makes the battles a lot more interesting to go through because a lot of the bosses have ways to absolutely cripple your stats.
The character writing kept it's charm from Lydie and Suelle. Except this time, since the story actually follows a linear storyline without having to focus on doing quest which can get really annoying sometimes especially for the L&S later exams.
Elvira's arc is honestly some of the more interesting writing I've seen from this series. I know the series isn't known for the most serious of writing but most of the writing is pretty touching and funny. The last scene with Sophie and Rami really hits well knowing the context of the trilogy and even just knowing the first game.
Seeing Sophie and Rami bond throughout the game and seeing Rami get influenced by her granddaughter's success is also a high point, it's just all so wholesome and warm it's hard not to get attached to what's going on.
Young Plachta is also incredibly well done, and basically every cutscene with her is pretty interesting, and the contrast between her and doll Plachta is pretty thoroughly explored throughout the game.
Also they finally realized that fast travel and dungeons from Atelier Shallie were a good idea. Good on them. A lot of variety with exploring and the third boss's arena caught me off guard with how interesting the surroundings were.
Also they just don't mention Luard at all asides from Young Plachta mentioning him a few times and that's probably a good thing.
Also the music is really good but that's a standard for this series.
From the combat, writing, and even just basic crafting this game had me reeled in from the start. Absolutely incredible. Would recommend (you don't even really need to play the 1st game because it has a recap button that covers all like 4 of the game's cutscenes just as a side note)
Full video review: https://youtu.be/lQTfwfo_P_Q
Another year, another Atelier game - this is now the 23rd entry in the series and it might just be the best yet.
Do I need to play the first game?
As someone that literally finished the first a couple weeks ago and then played through this sequel - I wouldn’t say it’s really all that necessary. Not that the first game is bad, but just that its story is particularly weak for an Atelier game and the fact that the entire thing can be summed up in a roughly four minute recap video tells you all you need to know about how complex the story was there.
So if you do want to jump in right here, it’s completely fine and the recap video will serve you well enough.
Crafting
The Tetris system makes its return and is somehow even better than it already was. Now, instead of having to swap cauldrons around to do things like rotate ingredients, you’re able to do that right off the bat and in its place you get some other neat features like link pieces, super successes, catalysts, and even an outright second alchemist to use.
It’s somehow much easier to understand and pick up than in the first game, yet maintains that same level of complexity - if not more so. The bulk of this is likely due to the new UI, which makes it much easier to identify ingredients, elements, etc. Whatever the case, I found myself really getting into it, trying to get the perfect ingredient spread to fill up all the spaces without overlapping, rotating the pieces just right to get the maximum number of links, and really just trying to min-max my way to some stupidly powerful items.
Honestly, it might be the best I’ve seen in the series yet and this is coming from someone that has played nine entries.
Gathering & Game World
Taking cues from Ryza, the game world is now this big, inter-connected thing. It’s not necessarily open world, but each area is large enough on its own that it kinda gives that impression. It’s not one of those “empty” open worlds though. There’s hills, forests, caves, ruins, and these are all flooded with enemies, items, treasure, and other stuff to find.
Ingredients are actually visible on the map this time and the combat now takes place without any loading screens. The game may have dropped some of the additional exploration tools introduced in the last Ryza game, but in its place introduced a new weather system.
The weather system was pretty cool at first, but I can’t deny that I became a bit iffy on it as the game went on. Having to cycle around the different weather settings to get to where I needed to go can be a bit tedious and it doesn’t help that the weather items have a set number of uses before being depleted.
The game does provide waypoints on the map that can be traveled to once activated, so it is not as annoying once you’ve explored an area, but I would say this new addition is okay at best.
Graphics
Compared to some other genres it might not be the best, but for an Atelier game the graphics are absolutely some good stuff and comparable to the quality we got in the past two Ryza games. Actual level geometry, buildings that aren’t just giant blocks, and the character models are noticeably more crisp. Great news, as Sophie might just be my favorite Atelier protagonist design-wise.
Combat
Combat is yet again another area of improvement and it feels really nice to finally get back to the tried and true turn-based formula of past Atelier games. For one, it’s fast-paced. Because entering combat requires no loading screens, you’re thrown right into it and can immediately start duking it out. Animations can be sped up to 2x and that was pretty much the default for me. The animations are already fast enough, but keeping it at 2x makes battles go significantly faster and you can easily get the materials you need from certain monsters within a matter of seconds.
And if you do want to take it slow, there is a good bit of depth here. Twin actions, type matchups, skills, abilities, changing the weather mid-battle, and of course, all of the different items that can be crafted and then used in battle. It doesn’t go too out there in terms of complexity, but it’s not this dead simple thing either.
Game Loop
In the first Sophie, it felt like I was constantly doing the same basic process over and over - unlocking a new recipe, crafting it, then having to hunt down the next recipe to craft and so on. There was little actual story content until the end and a lot of the time I was doing guesswork trying to figure out which NPC, item, area, or whatever triggered the next recipe idea to allow me to progress.
Sophie 2 pretty much does away with this system entirely. Recipe ideas are still there and get triggered as you do stuff, but I hardly ever found myself locked behind some mystery gate for hours trying to figure out what to do. Instructions are not as vague, relevant NPCs, items, and monsters are marked on the map, and the game in general doesn’t waste your time grinding out recipes.
Story
The story this time is actually NOT terrible. Not only is the writing better, but the plot is weaved in and out of the gameplay in a manner that doesn’t require it to all be dropped at the end to wrap up in the time remaining. From the start you are constantly getting new cutscenes, character backgrounds, story events - the entire slate. There is much more dialogue this time around, but I also found it to be more interesting.
I won’t sit here and tell you that it’s the best around - I mean, Atelier games generally aren't known for their writing - but it was engaging enough that it didn’t feel like an interruption to the otherwise excellent gameplay.
PC Port
Running at max settings, 1440p and 144 fps on my 3080 Ti was fine and I didn’t have any stability issues there, but the UI has this weird bug (I assume it is a bug) where whenever certain menus open or close, the game dips to 30 fps for a split second, resulting in a visible slowdown.
This is best demonstrated when opening a recipe for crafting or opening your storage container to view ingredients. Doing so immediately dips the fps before climbing back up again once the menu is visible. However, I also noticed the issue when gathering items on the map. When doing so, items are listed on the left side of the screen for a few seconds before disappearing and, unfortunately, when they do vanish from the screen, the game microstutters.
Otherwise, the PC port is fine. Runs well, no crashes, and even has a good amount of settings to change - at least for a Koei Tecmo port. Controls on a controller are flawless, but the keyboard and mouse controls were practically unplayable for me. There is no mouse cursor for menus, the mouse is not locked to the game window when controlling the camera, and it jitters constantly. This is definitely not a game I would recommend if you do not have a controller to play it with.
Overall
Atelier Sophie 2 is the best in the series yet, combining the elements that made the first Sophie fun with the recent advancements in Ryza to deliver a familiar, yet modernized Atelier experience. In-depth crafting, fun turn-based combat, great graphics and music, a story that is actually not terrible - there’s a lot of good to say about this game even if it may have a few technical flaws and some iffy elements. For newcomers, it still might be best to start with Ryza, but Sophie 2 is an easy next best choice.
Another year, another Atelier game - this is now the 23rd entry in the series and it might just be the best yet.
Do I need to play the first game?
As someone that literally finished the first a couple weeks ago and then played through this sequel - I wouldn’t say it’s really all that necessary. Not that the first game is bad, but just that its story is particularly weak for an Atelier game and the fact that the entire thing can be summed up in a roughly four minute recap video tells you all you need to know about how complex the story was there.
So if you do want to jump in right here, it’s completely fine and the recap video will serve you well enough.
Crafting
The Tetris system makes its return and is somehow even better than it already was. Now, instead of having to swap cauldrons around to do things like rotate ingredients, you’re able to do that right off the bat and in its place you get some other neat features like link pieces, super successes, catalysts, and even an outright second alchemist to use.
It’s somehow much easier to understand and pick up than in the first game, yet maintains that same level of complexity - if not more so. The bulk of this is likely due to the new UI, which makes it much easier to identify ingredients, elements, etc. Whatever the case, I found myself really getting into it, trying to get the perfect ingredient spread to fill up all the spaces without overlapping, rotating the pieces just right to get the maximum number of links, and really just trying to min-max my way to some stupidly powerful items.
Honestly, it might be the best I’ve seen in the series yet and this is coming from someone that has played nine entries.
Gathering & Game World
Taking cues from Ryza, the game world is now this big, inter-connected thing. It’s not necessarily open world, but each area is large enough on its own that it kinda gives that impression. It’s not one of those “empty” open worlds though. There’s hills, forests, caves, ruins, and these are all flooded with enemies, items, treasure, and other stuff to find.
Ingredients are actually visible on the map this time and the combat now takes place without any loading screens. The game may have dropped some of the additional exploration tools introduced in the last Ryza game, but in its place introduced a new weather system.
The weather system was pretty cool at first, but I can’t deny that I became a bit iffy on it as the game went on. Having to cycle around the different weather settings to get to where I needed to go can be a bit tedious and it doesn’t help that the weather items have a set number of uses before being depleted.
The game does provide waypoints on the map that can be traveled to once activated, so it is not as annoying once you’ve explored an area, but I would say this new addition is okay at best.
Graphics
Compared to some other genres it might not be the best, but for an Atelier game the graphics are absolutely some good stuff and comparable to the quality we got in the past two Ryza games. Actual level geometry, buildings that aren’t just giant blocks, and the character models are noticeably more crisp. Great news, as Sophie might just be my favorite Atelier protagonist design-wise.
Combat
Combat is yet again another area of improvement and it feels really nice to finally get back to the tried and true turn-based formula of past Atelier games. For one, it’s fast-paced. Because entering combat requires no loading screens, you’re thrown right into it and can immediately start duking it out. Animations can be sped up to 2x and that was pretty much the default for me. The animations are already fast enough, but keeping it at 2x makes battles go significantly faster and you can easily get the materials you need from certain monsters within a matter of seconds.
And if you do want to take it slow, there is a good bit of depth here. Twin actions, type matchups, skills, abilities, changing the weather mid-battle, and of course, all of the different items that can be crafted and then used in battle. It doesn’t go too out there in terms of complexity, but it’s not this dead simple thing either.
Game Loop
In the first Sophie, it felt like I was constantly doing the same basic process over and over - unlocking a new recipe, crafting it, then having to hunt down the next recipe to craft and so on. There was little actual story content until the end and a lot of the time I was doing guesswork trying to figure out which NPC, item, area, or whatever triggered the next recipe idea to allow me to progress.
Sophie 2 pretty much does away with this system entirely. Recipe ideas are still there and get triggered as you do stuff, but I hardly ever found myself locked behind some mystery gate for hours trying to figure out what to do. Instructions are not as vague, relevant NPCs, items, and monsters are marked on the map, and the game in general doesn’t waste your time grinding out recipes.
Story
The story this time is actually NOT terrible. Not only is the writing better, but the plot is weaved in and out of the gameplay in a manner that doesn’t require it to all be dropped at the end to wrap up in the time remaining. From the start you are constantly getting new cutscenes, character backgrounds, story events - the entire slate. There is much more dialogue this time around, but I also found it to be more interesting.
I won’t sit here and tell you that it’s the best around - I mean, Atelier games generally aren't known for their writing - but it was engaging enough that it didn’t feel like an interruption to the otherwise excellent gameplay.
PC Port
Running at max settings, 1440p and 144 fps on my 3080 Ti was fine and I didn’t have any stability issues there, but the UI has this weird bug (I assume it is a bug) where whenever certain menus open or close, the game dips to 30 fps for a split second, resulting in a visible slowdown.
This is best demonstrated when opening a recipe for crafting or opening your storage container to view ingredients. Doing so immediately dips the fps before climbing back up again once the menu is visible. However, I also noticed the issue when gathering items on the map. When doing so, items are listed on the left side of the screen for a few seconds before disappearing and, unfortunately, when they do vanish from the screen, the game microstutters.
Otherwise, the PC port is fine. Runs well, no crashes, and even has a good amount of settings to change - at least for a Koei Tecmo port. Controls on a controller are flawless, but the keyboard and mouse controls were practically unplayable for me. There is no mouse cursor for menus, the mouse is not locked to the game window when controlling the camera, and it jitters constantly. This is definitely not a game I would recommend if you do not have a controller to play it with.
Overall
Atelier Sophie 2 is the best in the series yet, combining the elements that made the first Sophie fun with the recent advancements in Ryza to deliver a familiar, yet modernized Atelier experience. In-depth crafting, fun turn-based combat, great graphics and music, a story that is actually not terrible - there’s a lot of good to say about this game even if it may have a few technical flaws and some iffy elements. For newcomers, it still might be best to start with Ryza, but Sophie 2 is an easy next best choice.
Elden Ring looking kinda different
the elden ring killer
100% Orange Juice
2009
Oomfie war crime
Fourfold Shackles.
i'm spider-man
The gameplay is way better than the sky games but the story isnt as good as FC. It's missing the sense of adventure that game had, moves MUCH slower, and a lot of the story beats kinda feel like rehashes of Sky. I already felt kinda burned out on Crossbell City by the 2nd chapter and found myself really missing the structure of going from city to city, exploring new areas and meeting new people. There are a handful of really great moments though, and the game plays its small scale to its strengths by allowing you to get very close to the main party and the city's inhabitants. It's also probably due to the lower amount of overworld maps that the dungeons have MUCH better design and feel like proper JRPG dungeons for the first time in the series, but sadly there aren't very many of them.
The combat is fantastic but it is an absolute shame how little it's used. The dialogue:gameplay ratio is WHACK compared to the Sky games, and theres a lot of time spent where nothing is really happening. For reference of how much time is spent out of combat this time around, in my FC playthrough (50 hours) I fought 720 battles, and in Zero (70 hours) I fought 690 battles. Like always, exploring and talking to every npc, keeping up with their stories and getting to know them is a blast and one of my favorite parts of these games, but it was made a good bit more tedious now that they're all centered in one big city.
Despite my grievances, I still had a lot of fun playing it and never really felt bored despite feeling underwhelmed sometimes. The best part of this game is the main cast, Lloyd, Randy, and Tio. There's also some boring girl that follows them around but we don't have to talk about her. Supporting cast doesn't really live up to Sky's (Grace is far less fun than Nial and Dorothy for example), but there are some really fun characters like Ilya and Lechter. Excited for Azure and hope it has better pacing/more interesting things happening.
(Btw this would prolly be a 7.5 rather than a 7 but ya know 5 star rating system)
The combat is fantastic but it is an absolute shame how little it's used. The dialogue:gameplay ratio is WHACK compared to the Sky games, and theres a lot of time spent where nothing is really happening. For reference of how much time is spent out of combat this time around, in my FC playthrough (50 hours) I fought 720 battles, and in Zero (70 hours) I fought 690 battles. Like always, exploring and talking to every npc, keeping up with their stories and getting to know them is a blast and one of my favorite parts of these games, but it was made a good bit more tedious now that they're all centered in one big city.
Despite my grievances, I still had a lot of fun playing it and never really felt bored despite feeling underwhelmed sometimes. The best part of this game is the main cast, Lloyd, Randy, and Tio. There's also some boring girl that follows them around but we don't have to talk about her. Supporting cast doesn't really live up to Sky's (Grace is far less fun than Nial and Dorothy for example), but there are some really fun characters like Ilya and Lechter. Excited for Azure and hope it has better pacing/more interesting things happening.
(Btw this would prolly be a 7.5 rather than a 7 but ya know 5 star rating system)
BLACK SOULS
TBD
This game was a lot of fun, from the charming environments to the simple yet enjoyable battle system, the game has a lot of 'soul' and the true ending really made me interested in playing the second game soon.
Fuck Dorothy btw.
Fuck Dorothy btw.
Library of Ruina
2021
That's that, and this is one of the best games ever made.
That, I can't deny.
Gluttons for punishment, rejoice, because once it gets rolling, there are no brakes on this pain train. It’ll test your limits, challenge your worldview, and by the time it’s all over, you’ll be so emotionally spent that it’ll be weeks before you can fully process the implications of what you’ve just witnessed. Fair warning, though: common side effects include feelings of emptiness, PTSD, and unrealistic expectations for any and all other visual novels.
Playtime's over. Time for despair. Experience the definitive version of a masterpiece in the When They Cry trilogy's thrilling conclusion. Note: therapy not included.
Playtime's over. Time for despair. Experience the definitive version of a masterpiece in the When They Cry trilogy's thrilling conclusion. Note: therapy not included.