ViridianMage
2022
Summary
An excellent sRPG that is influenced by past greats such as Final Fantasy tactics. It has a strong storyline, with alternate endings, and a memorable cast of characters. Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Gameplay
Battles take place on grid based maps. Positioning of units and terrain also affect outcomes of moves. For instance, if two of your units sandwich an enemy unit, your second unit commits a follow up attack, increasing damage. The enemies can also pull the same trick! Additionally, some tiles can be set on fire, frozen or conduct electricity. This makes spell casting a lot of fun.
There is no perma-death in this game.
Performance
It looks and sounds fantastic. Surely one of the best looking 2D-HD games to date. There were no performance issues at all when I played through on the switch.
An excellent sRPG that is influenced by past greats such as Final Fantasy tactics. It has a strong storyline, with alternate endings, and a memorable cast of characters. Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Gameplay
Battles take place on grid based maps. Positioning of units and terrain also affect outcomes of moves. For instance, if two of your units sandwich an enemy unit, your second unit commits a follow up attack, increasing damage. The enemies can also pull the same trick! Additionally, some tiles can be set on fire, frozen or conduct electricity. This makes spell casting a lot of fun.
There is no perma-death in this game.
Performance
It looks and sounds fantastic. Surely one of the best looking 2D-HD games to date. There were no performance issues at all when I played through on the switch.
2019
Summary
A solid new entry in the Pokémon franchise, adding fun new features such as raid battling for the first time. Quality of life features such as easier EV training compared to previous games are also appreciated and make it easier to jump into online battling than ever before.
Gameplay
It's Pokémon - you know what to expect! The battle gimmick "Dynamaxing" is my personal favourite of all the gimmicks introduced in recent years - I like that any Pokémon can use it, unlike something like Mega Evolution where only certain pre-determined ones can.
The main story game itself is on the easy side, a common criticism of recent Pokémon games. However, the atmosphere for gym, elite four, and online battles in the stadium is amazing. The way the crowd joins in singing the battle theme creates a great sense of spectacle.
The new Pokémon are varied and interesting, and I enjoyed hunting them all down to complete the Pokédex. The DLC is also a lot of fun, and adds more challenge to the base game.
Performance
The graphics are commonly criticised in this game, however I don't mind them so much. The town areas are well designed and atmospheric. The main characters are well animated, particularly in battle. The music is strong and memorable.
The performance when in the wild area leaves a bit to be desired, especially when connected to the internet. There is a lot of pop in, and a bit of lag if you're playing online. Outside the wild area, the game runs smoothly.
A solid new entry in the Pokémon franchise, adding fun new features such as raid battling for the first time. Quality of life features such as easier EV training compared to previous games are also appreciated and make it easier to jump into online battling than ever before.
Gameplay
It's Pokémon - you know what to expect! The battle gimmick "Dynamaxing" is my personal favourite of all the gimmicks introduced in recent years - I like that any Pokémon can use it, unlike something like Mega Evolution where only certain pre-determined ones can.
The main story game itself is on the easy side, a common criticism of recent Pokémon games. However, the atmosphere for gym, elite four, and online battles in the stadium is amazing. The way the crowd joins in singing the battle theme creates a great sense of spectacle.
The new Pokémon are varied and interesting, and I enjoyed hunting them all down to complete the Pokédex. The DLC is also a lot of fun, and adds more challenge to the base game.
Performance
The graphics are commonly criticised in this game, however I don't mind them so much. The town areas are well designed and atmospheric. The main characters are well animated, particularly in battle. The music is strong and memorable.
The performance when in the wild area leaves a bit to be desired, especially when connected to the internet. There is a lot of pop in, and a bit of lag if you're playing online. Outside the wild area, the game runs smoothly.
2000
Summary
A classic turn based RPG with a memorable cast of characters. Vivi is arguably one of the all time Final Fantasy greats, and there are some moving and poignant movements throughout. The storyline is decent although feels a bit rushed towards the end. Not my favourite Final Fantasy, but still had fun playing it.
Game Play
It uses a classic turn based ATB system. Characters must equip items and gain ATB to master the abilities from the items. However, as not every character can learn every ability, this system isn't quite as flexible as say the materia system from FFVII. There are too many status effects in my opinion, and it can be confusing as to what they all do and which spell or item can be used to heal them.
As usual with a Final Fantasy game, there are extra mini games, side quests, and secret bosses to get stuck into. I don't feel this element is as strong in FF IX as some others - there is nothing that will make me want to jump that rope 1000 times!!
Performance
The game runs fine on the Switch - the first battle in a new area takes a while to load, but no performance issues experienced aside from this. It looks good too, with the updated character models clear and colourful.
A classic turn based RPG with a memorable cast of characters. Vivi is arguably one of the all time Final Fantasy greats, and there are some moving and poignant movements throughout. The storyline is decent although feels a bit rushed towards the end. Not my favourite Final Fantasy, but still had fun playing it.
Game Play
It uses a classic turn based ATB system. Characters must equip items and gain ATB to master the abilities from the items. However, as not every character can learn every ability, this system isn't quite as flexible as say the materia system from FFVII. There are too many status effects in my opinion, and it can be confusing as to what they all do and which spell or item can be used to heal them.
As usual with a Final Fantasy game, there are extra mini games, side quests, and secret bosses to get stuck into. I don't feel this element is as strong in FF IX as some others - there is nothing that will make me want to jump that rope 1000 times!!
Performance
The game runs fine on the Switch - the first battle in a new area takes a while to load, but no performance issues experienced aside from this. It looks good too, with the updated character models clear and colourful.