I have several times, repeatedly dropped this game. When the game is frustrating, it is a nuisance. The early game is a thorough grind, the way that items feel esoteric in meaning even after going to the help menu make items odd. The fact that easier teleportation is gated ? The fact that teleporting for more than half the game requires a runway and you steering? It makes getting lost backtracking a CHORE. The grind that is in the dungeons is real, this is the first game where I avoided exploring the dungeon front to back because I didn’t want to lose progress and would thoroughly try my best to figure out the main path. I hated everything about the actual inventory system. The game can be annoying to all degrees. However most of these weak spots are built out of trying to charm the hell out of it’s player. And when Earthbound charms, it has the second best feeling of whimsy in the business (DQ still owns the title).
Like take for example that inventory system that is brutal, the game gives you so many damn progression items and knows it needs to give you storage approach. Now you could have a place to deposit items easily…. But instead to charm the player you have to call the Escargo delivery folk and after a little movement in the overworld they come to you. It makes you chuckle. Its silly but hella inefficient because of how limited storage is. However this charm can come in more effective ways, the rolling hp bar is so damn simple and brilliant but not something that makes clear sense until later game when you have more HP. When an ally got attacked and is about to lose HP, instead of immediately collapsing it takes a while for the hp to run out (being a rolling meter) and if you heal before then the HP restores based exactly on the number it shows. This even works thoughtfully that if you destroy an enemy , get major fatal blowback if you beat the battle first the HP roll won’t complete and thus you survive. The game even allows you to instantly kill weak enemies , you see those enemies on the overworld too . Earthbound forces you to try to read about its magic and systems because while the core impact from DQ is there the way that shields, psi etc all work, its all done to be odd . The status ailments are often unusual and esoteric. Being homesick, getting a cold , feeling weird having a heatstroke. It makes solving weird but also memorable and distinct.
This desire to charm is experienced in locations and set pieces. When I tell you I dropped the game for years but still remember the the moment on the dinosaur across the sea, the shopping mall incident, the happy village, the carnival, fourside? It means that amidst frustration that Earthbound was able to create what are some of the best one off moments. Magicant man, MAGICANT. That area alone might be a top 3 JRPG sequence for me. We won’t even discuss the fresh and immaculately surreal soundtrack.
The way I put it for every reason to love Earthbound there is a reason to dislike it (BY THE WAY THE MONKEYS DESERVE DEATH). It’s charm was a double edged sword and was a barrier to play it. However on the other hand I think my gaming life is thoroughly better off for it. I definitely believe that a game like this probably plays better upon replays, and when my life is open for that… best believe I will take it. I think I would love it more.
I will end with this, Earthbound is a must play experience, comical, charming and nearly spiritual experience. I have never had an ending like that, although the frustration interrupted it, it might be a dose of optimism that I am grateful that God gave me to experience. Itoi gave us something. Oh and use a guide for your own sanity.

This is a frenetic dose of adrenaline , a rollercoaster ride of a rail shooter. This game doesn’t know what breathing is. In true fashion your relationship to the levels change based on new and and fresh run throughs (and you will die, so you will see how you will breeze through levels that gave you challenges before).The way your familiarity develops with the levels simply because the continuous set pieces is just remarkable, I can see myself really remembering the main sequence of this journey one day . Every new boss , every new reaction needed, is just consistently amazing. The way the camera pans and swooped especially in the ship level for you to see the battlefield who’ll in all sorts of fashion? It enhanced the amount of action and effort the player did, you had full control of the coolest parts of what’s happening. And how the levels feel often seamless in terms of traversal? This is splendid level design. The three pronged mechanic of lock on, free and slashing is issued thoroughly throughout. I mostly did the lock on because my skillset wasn’t too high, but man the extra damage you get from free enticed me to switch on harder bosses once I got used to some of their patterns. And having the ability slash back big projectiles with the lock-on never ever stopped getting satisfying. The movement in this game feels immaculate. The only thing that hampered my experience? The second to last level where you had to traverse certain corridors with your jump, the jump to avoid bullet hell stuff is great, but not great for platforming, and I hated those moments. A wonderful game

Let start here: Exdeath and Gilgamesh are endless charismatic and memorable villains. Gilgamesh utterly silly writing and his squirming when losing is endlessly entertaining . It’s great that for the second half of the game that when you deal with the main villains , you are just getting great amusement. What makes Exdeath great is his interactions with the world in World 2 & 3.
These two are part of what’s mostly a silly lighthearted romp. Like an actual scene has Exdeath pop out of a twig and fight a sentient turtle. This game does not have much seriousness in its body. There is one boss fight that require the team to like Wiley Coyote create a rope across a cliff as part of the boss introduction . There’s a search in a library, and Barts looks up asses . This game is goofy. In general what this tone does is that it makes it hard to connect to the characters , but Faris , Galuf and Krile standout in great story flourishing moments .
The levity is paired with a job system that has barely aged. This job system has a legacy in some of my fave games and it’s impressive how it opens up strategies and fights. You raise job classes to learn skills which you can add to other jobs and switch around. It feels limiting at first especially because you can only carry one skill. The combos and synergy doesn’t feel wide ranging but man later on it just becomes impressive. Other games allow you to stack more skills so on face value , it feels weak but specifically how the freelancer class works in combination with this systems is where my eyes opened. The freelances gain both the passive skills of the class you mastered and the stats, which allows so much freedom in who your characters are at the endgame! It’s so dizzying . I wish there was a bit more class variety but I think the next time I play, I will challenge myself to seek more utility in the ones I avoided. This is the first time I really pushed my blue mage , and I was thoroughly impressed, speaks to the systems if I felt that learning the skills was truly worth it. I do wish that some bosses didn’t seem easier with magic too or that more physical attacks hit all enemies, battles with statues that can only be beaten by defeating simultaneously becomes a pain without magic.
What’s really holding this back though? Locations. Phantom Village is incredible, it’s lore driven and used brilliantly twice. The dungeons ? The other towns? They are nice and the game has different world visits to try to make them memorable through different versions. But I would say it didn’t accomplish making them memorable . Although, shout outs to the Library of the Ancients though!
Musically it’s great, but I’m only pulling two tracks from here into my personal pantheon of JRPG music (EXDEATH THEME IS BANGING). Also as an aside, if you love pets, this might be the best third best JRPG to really capture that feeling (DQV and the Pokémon franchise got it still). I was hyped to play this game as the ancestor to my fave games and I even see it in the non Bravely games, like FF 9 def has a lot from here, and while I am not confident in saying it has the chutzpah to dethrone my personal faves, I am enthusiastic about this experience. It’s great to see the fore-bearer hold up to its legacy games.

Movement, its clear that the Xenoblade X team was able to bless Aunoma with the core philosophy: traversal is the puzzle. The core loop around traversal and how that has improved combat in Zelda in terms of aerial bow slow down, using the stamina gauge while flying to land right to improve the strength of attack? Like so many things about traversal improve everything. Ultimately the sights are so compelling to see, and with meaningful elements added around collecting Koroks to improve the sense of reward to add more loot? It’s beautiful. Finding shrines feels like an accomplishment, and the literal in game non story elements in terms of the moment to moment narrative is incredible. Pair that with incredible set pieces that seem to emerge naturally ? I am in awe of this game. It is a lot, and can feel like not enough happens but the the story as told still pulls on heart strings and is tied to you getting to know the world more intimately? It really is a game that feels like the mesh of many great ideas.

So I booted this up to lose some time, and was marveled at the impeccable feel. I had played the first and didn’t like the controls, but this? The momentum based level design with the tiered up and down pathways? Its well executed. Lets talk about beautiful levels like Oil Ocean Zone, with some real neat details like the hovering fans and working with and around those. The vines in Mystic Cave Zone are a great gimmick that highlights the vines that emphasize verticality. Whats neat is how well that you innately figure out stuff in this game. Like the momentum jumps near the end of Metropolis Zone 1 where you have to use the barrel to build momentum to wall run and then time it perfectly to get to the moving platform. Up until that point the way those barrels were used/designed didn’t seem to really make a difference in the gameplay but because there no other way to hit that platform using the spin dash to a wall jump, it only made me curious as to why that element of the stage was there, and it felt like I figured out how this level works. I think the testament to this game is how things feels when you are on the wrong path, it’s more arduous but it’s like you are peeking for moments when you can break through to a more fun path. But it’s just visually appealing consistently that it doesn’t matter. I will admit my weak skills were an issue for the final few zones and did have to use save states. I do think the moment on Wing Fortress Zone with that sequence of times 5 jumps? Awfully treacherous. In addition I would even say the boss laser was probably even worse than metal Sonic in the next level. I also want to give props for some of the transitions at the end of this level and the previous to really build up to the end level! Each battle with Robotnik at the end of a zone is fantastic, they feel really great to figure out, and the leniency through the reclaiming lost rings allows you so room for mess ups. That battle with the arrows is just FUN. It was also great to hear tunes I heard throughout my life in the proper context of the levels, I won’t say that they blew me away in the contexts but they deserved a mention, particularly Sky Chase Zone, that’s some real music.

Seriously this game SMOKES the original, even when they do the evil enemy placement in Metropolis zone, it still felt impressively designed. It feels that if I am more patient and do multiple play throughs that there will be more for me to enjoy. It is a remarkable game.

Fluidity, Motion , Feel. Using dashes to get moves and inches in on characters with skate is just perfection. Honestly using Alex and Blaze without the dash feel like a step back. However the lack of reach from Skate is a detriment and everyone’s special moves feel different for different purposes , so different play styles are accommodated. I think the inches on screen to hit enemies or get hit is the prevailing detail. I think about the design of the factory with the moving tracks that affect you and your enemies where combos get dropped because of how they move you. Some solid level design there. Another level with a gimmick that changed how the core of the game felt would really raise this experience . From a visual standpoint it’s just a beauty to watch in motion, enemy designs are still great and obviously the beatem up design of the 90s has you beat bosses again as lackeys later. I am not sure which villains are all timers outside of Shiva, Mr X and Oehelits though . The baseball stage and that pirate stage visually are great to look at with some great backgrounds to stare at as you get chucked by an enemy. All in all this was a challenging play through much like the first one but it just feels great. Oh and obviously an OST that is gripping. It’s not surprising that this game endures in the memory of many.

High fantasy arcade beat ‘em was calling my name. This is beautiful, with subtle details including chopping big food to spread the wealth of health pickups. Being able to knock back projectiles is a nice touch. The level up system is a neat twist on seeing enemies grow in power by new color alts, so you increase power and get new outfits , but you don’t feel more power because of the enemies growing so quickly . With a minimal boost, it doesn’t feel like you get access to more, maybe an additional move would have made progression feel great. I couldn’t nail the block system but that’s just on me, part of me thinks given the swarming of enemies that a specific parry button rather than attack plus back would have been more effective since you are being swarmed. The Masamune boss is insane, that was truly remarkable. The other bosses were just fine, I was hoping there would be more here to remember . This was nice but not memorable .

Time is slipping away. You have made decisions that have you behind the 8 ball and with both your youth and the school closing in, what will you do? This game challenges you to bristle at every missed connection, every missed moment and what remaining opportunities are for you. I lost time to this game and I mean that. I invested time but this game often has you just watching your character progress, doing the menial task, it makes you think about how you use your own time. Your own time as a gamer is fleeting and the reflective nature of this game gets you to ponder what’s going on in your own life.
It does that through true emergent gameplay . The mechanics are barely told to you, progress is unclear. You need to read around to find the school schedule. You need to study the movement of your peer group. You need to create routines. There is no map, so you have to deepen your own relationship with the area to really feel like you are understanding. You can invest in books or a tv. You can invest in boxing or judo. You can skip classes to pick up a job or study . The thing is that how you get to these choices or how they occur feel idiosyncratic. You have to do things in certain ways to get these to happen. You have to happen upon chance encounters, this is a real world.
They take this into the brawling segments . There is a moment that I realized that I had a truce with a gang only because I never thought to fight them before. I hadn’t realized that starting a fight with them would cause a ruckus. There was a threat , a warning, a whole new story cutscene days later in my play after I started a random fight with them . This occurred strictly because I accidentally started a fight somewhere I never did before. It made me realize interactions were so subtle to convey connections. The gang members used to light my lighter . I didn’t think of that but it makes sense that they were peers, even if the game wouldn't tell you that explicitly.
That is how the stories unfold. You never know when the intermissions show up and derail your schedule. It feels like real human development. You lose dialogue options because of certain events, days later people ask about what happens. You feel heartened by what’s happening in your friends life. The moment I got into Kens house after the big incident that got him to stop boxing made me erupt in excitement. I made decisions in gameplay that were unneeded strictly because I was moved emotionally or wanted to see how things progressed. The Yuna conversations were the reason I invested so much in literature.
This game tells you nothing though. And a lot is waiting and watching time pass. The cryptic nature is a boon a weakness. It can feel like marvelous emergent design but sometimes a game that doesn’t want you to do anything . It’s thoroughly refreshing and accentuates wonderful writing with a poignant ending. I came for a brawler and mechanically it’s solid enough with options that open up based on your choices but this is a life sim , and if you want to see freedom in design and trusting that you can save the end of high school as a troubled gang leader? This will teach you about design and time. (Look up something very briefly, like 5 minutes for some basic mechanics, just to set sail and never look up anything again, it is vague enough that I must say that).

Your ancestors create a world with harsh ramifications. Those older than you are chasing bygone eras and driven by legends before your time. What do you do with the heaviness of almost mythical proportions? The answer is to chart your own path and let the winds guide you. That is Wind Waker.
I can only imagine what it would have been like to play this upon release. The Zelda team breaking everything about Hyrule , new species and new visuals and a new over world.
The overworked, the sea is perfect. The core gameplay loop is perfection. You engage with fish via bait to hear about new island information and figure out what to do. You literally build ideas of the islands and they change as you get new dungeon items. The act of sailing, the act of just letting the sea guide you and you discovering the patterns? The ghost ship map and the treasure maps reward you for studying shapes on the map. The only thing that ruins sailing? Boat battles. Those are true drudgery.
The dungeons here are special. From Tower of Gods to the end every dungeon is a delight. Earth temple is now a benchmark for the series to me. The seams start to show at the Wind Dungeon. While a spectacular labyrinth, the finicky controls come to rear it’s ugly head.
The wear and tear of the age have started to show for this game, the finicky controls around jumping and precision. Controlling other characters? It can feel so betraying. Especially when battle controls are impeccable. Certain things to know for progression too can feel like eras ago.
But charm pairs with the message of charting a unique path. I just smiled at so many elements of the animation, I smiled at the triforce hunt. I couldn’t help but humm the tunes, I couldn’t help but be soothed on the ocean shores. Be satisfied in the puzzles. This game is a marvel. Also a spectacular Ganon!

This was a thrill ride, and once I engaged with the game on that terms I grew to enjoy the experience. The platforming, maneuvering game me thoughts of a rhythm mini game for inputs. I dug that a ton. I knew that it was clear telegraphing in terms of environmental traversal and linear guidance but I still felt the adrenaline anyways. The combat grew to be satisfying even if repetitive. As for the weaknesses? The game ends on a quick time event, like thats the double edge sword of a thrill ride, that it becomes less about you doing cool things vs seeing Lara in cutscenes do the cool things, and reminded me too much of the earlier times in the game where they removed your action to show action. The story and means of learning the story never intrigued me. I wish some of the puzzle rooms were neater in terms of layout , the environmental interaction is so simple its hard to brainstorm puzzles. I would know what to do, but the execution of doing what the game wants was a little bland but last puzzles did deliver. Overall the rush and thrill of the game was satisfying and well constructed, and def want to peep more in the series.

This is one of those short but potent experiences. What is a fully realized visual style and world makes you truly just enjoy the ismentric vistas that Super Giant designed. It also provided friction in terms of story telling. I loved hearing the narrator speak and provide context to the world, it never stopped making the small breaks in the world not be delightful. Whenever i would stop to interact in the environment and nothing happened but a quip from the narrator I was pleased. However telling the story that way felt less enthralling when I would read text in the computer screen/hear voices. I would no longer be immersed in the world , and I would see it as a hinderance .
The gameplay is rather neat. Combining real time and pause turn into a splendid hybrid. You get 4 different powers, which you can activate in real time or by pause turn. I found using pause turn was the most useful, there is satisfaction in planning attacks. The fact it monitors movement and that when you lose a life you lose an action, and they you collect more than 4 total, it means that you can’t get too attacked to certain moves. It means your strategy and plans evolve based on the new tools you get via levels, and how much health you lost and if your old actions regenerated yet to re-equip. Its a system that really expanded late game that felt restrictive at the beginning. The enemy types really prod you to try different actions and movement approaches to survive. Its a thoroughly engaging game, the only thing is that an action tied to this is the only evade technique. Running away is so fundamental and the dodge button being losable bothered me. There might have been a better in between for dodging being equipable and running being slow. It really turned out to be a real clear question in the final boss. I enjoyed the fight but def felt like things were happening than me controlling the reality perfectly. However my customization really is what won me that fight, and the fact you can subequip actions to each other to modify? Its a deep system.
Honestly because I didn’t really care for the story not involving Red and the narrator and that the gameplay only really felt like it opened at the end, I wasn’t sure if I really was as high on the experience. However that last 45 minutes, including the way the narrative ends ? It is among the most satisfying conclusions to a story, and feeds into my belief short stories can be stronger than long ones.

The right choice isn’t the one you want to make. Every choice comes with sacrifice, and each person will always be leaning towards things that vie for their heart. People are inevitably in conflict and choosing is never going to feel easy. Triangle Strategy mechanically make choices feel difficult. It will fill you with regret and show you the reminders of the path you have chosen? It’s wondrous.


Triangle Strategy as a tactical RPG is FRESH. A SRPG in the way of Final Fantasy Tactics, I just want to first give adoration to its class systems. The recharge of actions and how that affects abilities ( a little bit of cribbing from the Bravely actions) is something that affects the entire combat. In some ways it limits you, to get great use out of mages, you can’t spam magic, you have to plan its use. While many times it felt like I underused elements, they create unique items (such as ones that add action points upon a kill) or unique support units, that can give away their actions or manipulate the actions of other enemies. These actions in game are called TP, technique points. I think so much about Julio and how he ruins enemy units and expands others because all his actions are about changing yours and enemies. In many ways the magicians get to really be the unique component of this game. The effects of their magic affect the map and are dynamic. If enemies are on metal train tracks or in water, thunder magic (and items that work like them) are exploitable. You can freeze walls around you to affect how enemies will try to engage with you. You can throw oil on the floor and burn them to create fire walls that enemies will avoid to lose health. You can manipulate so much. They even can work together, melting ice with fire to create puddles you can electrify. I just wish that the magic was just a bit more powerful and doled out a bit more . That when getting to use the magic or plan in terms of environment synergy , that I would really gain an advantage and feel powerful. When I talk about a mechanically amazing system, I want to even mention Jen! He was an MVP, a blacksmith who was a trap setter is so unique, I have never used a character like him. He has ladders he can create that make scaling walls different and he can lay traps on the floor that will fling enemies into differs parts of the map or even to each other. As a game very much with the format of individual movement moment to moment rather than army to army, it just feels like you have an assortment of options and this ignores that I didn’t use everyone.


I think what stands out with Triangle Strategy is how that choice making affects how you maneuver the story. At key junctures you have choices with he core story cast. You have 7 characters that judge to make decisions that are not clear cut. They vote on the decisions and you ahem dialogue trees to see where people will vote. However you have to convince them based on who they are as a character. What values do they have, and can you pick choices that lean them towards what you care about. It makes all these characters feel alive. It’s been heart wrenching at moments to disappoint some with the path you have chosen or seethe your conversation with them couldn’t sway them. You can’t always get your way. 
In order to have the upper hands in some of the conversations the other part of the game come into play, exploration of the maps.

At most junctures you can enter the surrounding area to talk to player characters and npc and find items. This was so effective, you got the opportunity to try to get more information from the world, and use them in your deliberations with teammates. In the world you see and learn different elements of the maps. It makes these maps feel like real places, and you even see these places return for future cutscenes or even totally different maps. What this really has done is create a sense of place. Norzelia: with the Aesfrost, Glenbrook and Hyzante countries feel real, lived in and you play battles where people truly breathe.

I think the weakest part of this game is that you never feel powerful and that can affect how the pacing of this game can feel. On one hand never feeling truly more powerful even at higher levels sometimes, means that often when you win a map, you truly feel like it is your wit at work. The satisfaction that you were able to get he best on your opponent is great. Strategies of unit placement , team composition, being aggressive or patter truly radically affect the outcomes. Maps like Chapter 16 and 20 for Frederica’s route demonstrate the unique predicaments and gimmicks that challenge your thinking. From a map design it’s great. But feeling weak with such detailed customization (but low numbers) can feel disheartening. It means often in games after several turns of great plays, that if you make one mistake , it’s unlikely you will recover. There were many moments where the minute the other team gets more units than me alive, that my wits couldn’t out do the lack of offensive power. It also makes it feel peculiar about how to upgrade units when the improvement is so minimal on defense and attack. Again it makes for feeling you are smart but I think of a time where it ended up being a map ending at a one on one at the very end with one of the strongest units and grunt enemy and I couldn’t beat them without consistent use of health items. It makes battles feel a tad longer and feel like you are behind.


These issues are minor when great that the cast and story is on display. People have lamented that this is a talky game but I can’t imagine what people would have wanted them to truncate. The game circles Benedict, Frederica and Roland primarily and they are a sensational trio. It makes decisions that let some of them down feel like heartbreaks. Benedict in particular as a machiavellian schemer is the best character in this game and adds so much to the feeling of decision making here. No one is completely right and you can’t always win. I love that you can always look at the bio of who is speaking, it means for later you can always catch up on the story if you leave it BUT even better seeing characters bios change because of choices you made, feels like the world is evolving.
This game really does ask you: do you courage to stick to your convictions? I appreciate that it asked me that both in and out of battle. Special game.