Goddamn now i understand why everyone wont shut up about this game, always played it for a bit but never had the patience to sit down and play it to the end, till now.
After recently playing aria of sorrow and harmony of dissonance i expected the same mechanics and feeling but damn i can clearly see where literally all of the enemies came from its actually insane the variety of enemies in this game and all makes sense for the most part, and way better suited for this game then in the future gba titles. The art style is top of the line, one of the best pixel art games and the little details with the 3D models brings so much style, the flying books some details in the bosses being 3D, this game really used the ps1 in a creative way, not to mention the lava zone being an actual 3D model peak design tbh. The Ost is so good, its crazy, pretty much every track is a banger, so much i feel sad the transitions are so abrupt. The familiar system is quite a nice idea, a bit sad it didn't make it to gba generation.
I would honestly say this is one of the best games ever, that is if the game ended at the half waypoint, even if great the reverse castle portion of the game feels very creative at first but soon it begins to crack you explore the zones you already know but in "reverse" going from top to down is all fun and games at first but soon you realize half the time you need to be using the bat transformation which is fine but not the best way to move in the game, the enemy placement starts to be a bit chaotic as well, with rooms filled with 20 enemies that push you outside the area, and the ost is not as good as in the normal castle.
That is of course comparing it to one of the best first half game ever, it still is an amazing game but if not for this flaws in the latter game this would be an easy 5/5 game, and honestly i can see myself change my mind later and give this the 5 stars because this game trully is something special
After recently playing aria of sorrow and harmony of dissonance i expected the same mechanics and feeling but damn i can clearly see where literally all of the enemies came from its actually insane the variety of enemies in this game and all makes sense for the most part, and way better suited for this game then in the future gba titles. The art style is top of the line, one of the best pixel art games and the little details with the 3D models brings so much style, the flying books some details in the bosses being 3D, this game really used the ps1 in a creative way, not to mention the lava zone being an actual 3D model peak design tbh. The Ost is so good, its crazy, pretty much every track is a banger, so much i feel sad the transitions are so abrupt. The familiar system is quite a nice idea, a bit sad it didn't make it to gba generation.
I would honestly say this is one of the best games ever, that is if the game ended at the half waypoint, even if great the reverse castle portion of the game feels very creative at first but soon it begins to crack you explore the zones you already know but in "reverse" going from top to down is all fun and games at first but soon you realize half the time you need to be using the bat transformation which is fine but not the best way to move in the game, the enemy placement starts to be a bit chaotic as well, with rooms filled with 20 enemies that push you outside the area, and the ost is not as good as in the normal castle.
That is of course comparing it to one of the best first half game ever, it still is an amazing game but if not for this flaws in the latter game this would be an easy 5/5 game, and honestly i can see myself change my mind later and give this the 5 stars because this game trully is something special