Started out weak and finished strong. Lots of platforming at the start and the platforming was god awful. It felt akin to if Ocarina of Time tried to be a platformer - not good. The further into the game, the more it felt like the combat became more of a focus, and combat was where the game shone. I love a good hack 'n' slash style combat system. One of the things I appreciated about the game that differs from some other hack 'n' slash combat games I have played is that bosses and enemies do not have "cheap" moves or will not spam a move constantly. I struggled plenty with enemies and bosses, however there was always clearly things that I could have done to counter or mitigate damage that was reasonable. I appreciated that a lot and made going through fights more worthwhile. I'd say the start of the game was more like a low 5/10 but by the end had ramped up to a solid 8. Looking forward to the other games and see how they built off of this first game.

This was the first Sonic game I ever beat and it got really hairy (ha) for me at times. First off, I really did not enjoy most of the Sonic/day levels. I honestly think it is a me issue, that I find some parts of those levels to be too fast for me to make decisions on what to do. I'm not used to going fast. The werehog//night levels were way more my speed and I loved the combat. Werehog was 100% the highlight of the game for me. Some of the platforming in those sections could also be suspect (like why would some platforms no longer available to be grabbed onto if I jump closer?), but overall I looked forward to those levels. The final boss felt like an accomplishment to beat, as well as the entire game. I don't know if any other Sonic game will feel right to me after this, so this could also be the last I beat.

Battles are fun but definitely were improved upon in later iterations. The lack of * chips could definitely make it more of a hassle to put together a coherent folder. Additionally, I never ended up upgrading my chips for the most part. By the end of the game I was still packing regular Cannon chips because the program advance was useful and I wasn't running into Hi-Cannons.

The story feels like it could have been a bit more coherent, but also it's a GBA game from 2001, so I'm willing to give it some leniency there. Where I don't is that the translation for this was pretty crap. Spelling, punctuation, and general errors are pretty common.

The main gripe I actually have with the game is the "dungeons" and puzzles in them. The IceMan and ElecMan sections are both god awful. While things like the ColorMan portion was tedious, it never felt like it was unfairly bad. The fact that mini-areas based on those dungeons came back at the end of the game and they still were crap is honestly impressive. The only truly good thing about seeing those levels again was that the battery puzzles didn't return. With the high encounter rate and batteries only having enough charge for two attempts to make trial and error a pain in the butt, ElecMan's area is a really low part of the game.

The game starts out very rough with your only attack being the stomp which is annoyingly difficult to hit with and not be hit by an enemy. Plus you're immediately running into enemies that take 3 hits to kill. Additionally, the game lets you know the Forest Guardian is to the north east. It is actually not as straightforward as that, you need to venture south and make your way back up.

Once you have the slingshot the game is actually a lot more enjoyable. It's still challenging in ways, but not bad. I actually had a good time with Vultureville and its surrounding area. The addition of the scuba mask was neat. Krow's Keep wasn't a bad level either, although it is never explained in-game how to jump multiple tiles. Presumably that was in the manual, so not great, but understandable and I was honestly having a good time and rating at 6/10.

Then you hit the Mako Islands. First up was the coconut shooting game, which was pretty not great, but manageable. The hurdles became plain unfair though. I'm not sure if because I emulated it added time, but who in their right mind thought an alternating, vigorous, button mashing 36 second long minigame was a good idea? If you even slightly slow down, Honker pulls ahead of you. If you are slow to start, Honker is off the screen almost immediately and you've lost. I'm fine with a challenge, and even usually fine with a button masher, but if you aren't registering at full speed immediately, you lose. That's not a challenge, that's bullshit. I had to quit here because my hands couldn't handle the mashing any longer.

I apparently made the right choice because this was not the only race like this on Mako Islands and you cannot leave a level until you have all of its presents. This bumped the game down significantly for me. Button mashing being a requirement to progress through a game is just not good design in my opinion and I have no intention of returning to Pocket Tales now. I honestly can't believe that was a thing for a Game Boy Color game of all things as well.

This was my first Rune Factory game and while it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it was still fun. I actually enjoyed the combat way more than I thought I would and I also loved the monsters. The farming was lackluster and I wanted to blow through it as quickly as I could every day to get to doing the story, going through dungeons, and wooing my precious Lewdmila. I played on the Switch so the game didn't run super great, but it was manageable to me. Overall I liked it and am excited to try the other Rune Factory games.