Vuvuzela
2024
Amazing game with a lot of combat depth. On lower difficulties, the game doesn't really force you to go TOO in-depth, but even on the standard difficulty the game definitely slowed down a LOT for me once I got past the first 3 areas just because there was so much to do with my units to organize and customize them as they got more skills and more AP/PP to use them. Unfortunately, you can kinda tell where they ran out of money (because Vanillaware) starting in the last main area, and the unfortunate lack of post-game shows it. But, at least there's some online PvP, even if you can only fight so many times per day.
That said, 2 legit flaws
1. While the character-writing is solid and way-less obnoxiously trope-y than Fire Emblem, especially the modern FE, the main character and his closest friends are utter cardboard. You can kinda forget how boring they are and get absorbed in the game, but come endgame the story sequences drag, being generic and predictable as possible.
2. Cavaliers not being the leaders of most of your units is almost always a mistake. Even when facing units that counter Cavs, they're still strong characters, and as leaders they're just twice as fast as any other unit. Which you can make up for with a skill that boosts movement speed, that makes the Cavs even just that much faster than the units that are on-foot. You don't really need to do this, but it's such a stupid advantage (especially with how it removes the time limit from ever being something you have to consider) and navigating the battle maps ends up feeling so slow without them. This removes a lot of the interesting decision-making around which character leads your units.
That said, 2 legit flaws
1. While the character-writing is solid and way-less obnoxiously trope-y than Fire Emblem, especially the modern FE, the main character and his closest friends are utter cardboard. You can kinda forget how boring they are and get absorbed in the game, but come endgame the story sequences drag, being generic and predictable as possible.
2. Cavaliers not being the leaders of most of your units is almost always a mistake. Even when facing units that counter Cavs, they're still strong characters, and as leaders they're just twice as fast as any other unit. Which you can make up for with a skill that boosts movement speed, that makes the Cavs even just that much faster than the units that are on-foot. You don't really need to do this, but it's such a stupid advantage (especially with how it removes the time limit from ever being something you have to consider) and navigating the battle maps ends up feeling so slow without them. This removes a lot of the interesting decision-making around which character leads your units.
2010
Very sluggish, even if you're used to games like FFTA with very little QoL.
My friends and I got to vote pictures we took of each other with our 3DSes onto the megatron at Safeco Field. And I think we could see strike zone data for each at-bat too, long before they were making that nearly as available on the big screen? Shame it's retired now.
10/10
10/10
2019
Really solid opening but you can tell about 1/3rd through the game where they ran out of time and balancing the game was thrown out the window, with a town of soldiers that are incredibly tough, then the rest of the game being almost entirely pushovers.
Funny but they still haven't made the combat worth really engaging in as opposed to a punishment, bosses are obnoxiously long, and it generally goes on too long and is a little bit too-tuned toward early-childhood humor that's not as funny for an adult.
FUNKY MODE
The rare time that spending $15 on a DLC for a game I paid $10 for actually felt worth it. Amazing way to send the trilogy off than the actual ending (and, obviously better than the normal way by default).
Would be higher if it didn't have such awful performance issues when launched (when I played it).
So much better on the Switch since for whatever reason they made you run like 33% faster than on Wii U.
2020
Great arcade game for mobile, but does get repetitive.
2016
Cheap way to waste some time and not be too frustrating, too simple to really keep your attention for long though.
2019
Not a ton of replay value compared to other rogue-likes, as it's mostly just about the puzzle of figuring out how to beat some, and the harder ones are usually just hard because of less-fun impositions on the player. Very fun experience to run through that first time though.
2017
Only significant downside is the quality of translation. It's overall easier than most games in this genre, but it's very reasonable for more-casual fans, with well-priced extra content.
Not a bad DLC; it basically functions as you'd expect for an MMO's expansion to work--max level is increased on everything, here's a new area, and here's some max-level content that's good to tackle with friends. Unfortunately, unlike the base game, you do feel the "gear grind" start to set in here, where you realize the only reason you're still playing is to get better gear so you can do the content you just did more effectively, while I felt like the base game had things better entwined. If you like the game enough to get to the end and max out most of the jobs, getting this is a no-brainer.
The Mario version is absurdly unforgiving in its difficulty, while the P&DZ part actually holds your hand and has a pretty reasonable difficulty curve. You'd expect the opposite, so that people new to the franchise who were lured in by the Mario tie-in would find it more accessible. Still a fun game and overall solid way to play a series that is otherwise primarily F2P.