38 Reviews liked by edvtrigger1


Gaiden is a fantastic segway into Infinite Wealth. What a refreshing game, short and sweet.

One of the most disappointing games I've played in a while.

Every area is either a series of hallways or just plain tiny. Exploration is almost non-existent.

Quests make the game drag. You can tell the devs are too used to working on MMOs, cause this is fetch quest galore. They really made a character named Mid who sends you on a mandatory hour long fetch quest.

The game is only about 30 hours long yet 17 hours are cutscenes, and many of which add little to the story. The writing itself is nothing to write home about, either. The ending in particular is comedically bad.

The boss fights and combat are the one thing the game does right. It can be fun, but only when the game actually lets you play it.

30/100

Stranger of Paradise is actually kino, plain and simple. Don't let all of the memes fool you, this game does so much right. The plot is okay, and maybe even a little predictable at times, but it serves its purpose in regards to FF1's story. The real treasure here lies in the gameplay, music, and aesthetic. Many times the game will feel like a cheesy classic action film, much to its benefit, as you gameplay is exactly that. While you might initially think this is either a hack n' slash, or a soulsborne kind of game, it's actually neither. Stranger of Paradise's job system adds a much needed layer of depth as your playstyle will depend upon it, while also requiring you to master timing blocks well. I would give this a full 5/5 if the budget was slightly higher and it looked a bit more polished, but it's overall an excellent game and an enjoyable one to master/platinum.

The RPG that revolutionized the Job system even moreso than Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy V is a behemoth of a game. Sporting more technical depth than 4 or 6, thanks to the insane job combos you can pull off with your party, a great plot, and a nostalgic OST, this game is truly worth of the 'classic' moniker.

A great start to a fantastic series, though I wouldn't recommend it as anybody's first Star Ocean game.

Just got the platinum on this game and wow I'm disappointed. Might as well call this series Camidgula Effect because everything about this game is mediocre at best. With the depth of a seasonal anime every character feels like they have one or two quirks and that's their entire character, the plot is way too similar to 1 and feels like a rehash at times, the combat can be neat but is way too slow, dialogue is awkward, and even the OST is worse than the first game. Do not play this game unless you're a masochist who enjoys awfully dull games.

Legend of Dragoon is a game very near to my heart. While the game has many pitfalls, like the bad translation for us westerners or the bad invetory system, the game excels at having an excellent plot, extreme amounts of worldbuildinf and lore, a battle system that constantly makes you feel like you're improving and a badass, an OST where almost every song slaps, and lastly one of my favorite aesthetics of all time. LoD has a similar style to many PS1 era JRPGs, with the way backgrounds are handled and how janky models look, but it feels like it absolutely masters it in a way alike to how Chrono Cross did. The intro to this game, and especially when Dart enters his village, is perhaps my favorite opening to any game. Absolutely give this game a shot if you enjoy classic JRPGs, you likely won't regret it.

The open world is nice and provides countless hours of exploration, but the lack of a good plot, dungeons or enemy variety really spoil the game for me. Hoping the sequel is an improvement.

Soulless, an unnecessary sequel to Earthbound with even more sad attempts at quirky humor. While Earthbound improved the gameplay of Mother 1 but had worse writing, Mother 3 is a step backwards in both regards. Sure the combat is fun sometimes, but I feel it's not worth dealing with the cringe inducing attempt at comedy. Also wannabe intellectuals will tell you this game is some deep message about capitalism and politics but it's really just juvenile drivel about greed in general. This game's not worth it unless you're dead set on playing all 3 games.

Kino, XC2 is the second best game in the franchise, only beaten by Xenogears. What makes XC2 so good are its character-driven plot, its addictive soundtrack, its top notch world and worldbuilding and its battle system. However it should be noted that the game is held back by a needless gacha system and some pretty awful character designs, which hold it back from reaching the level of perfection that Xenogears accomplished. These are minor criticisms though as the gacha can be ignored and the truly awful character designs are found in that system. I recommend this game to any JRPG fans with a Switch.

To say the Dothack community was excited when a fourth game was included with Last Recode would be an understatement. However the reaction to playing it was a bit more divisive among fans then I expected. Many people criticize Reconnection for not having enough substance and being too short in general, but I'd argue that the "lack of content" is one of its strongest features. While Volume 1-3 are bloated with added content to pluck hours away at, Volume 4 is pure delight. Volume 4 is all quality with no mid to be found. In a way this is a natural progression of Volume 3, as I found Volume 3 to be the least bloated and also the most well paced of the original, so the length of Reconnection isn't exactly a shocker. Aside from the all killer no filler appeal of Volume 4, you also get access to the coolest weapon type, some great new cutscenes, and all the loose ends from Volume 3 are finally tied up. The question is, what's the next step in the Dothack franchise?

A slog of a VN that markets itself heavily on the SRPG combat, but it's so poorly paced it's not even funny. I'd often go several hours without a new battle, to the point I felt a constant urge to skip the boring, irrelevant filler text to get to the decent strategy battles. It's sad, too, because the gameplay that's here is actually pretty good and gets a little challenging in the post-game, but the VN itself is very mediocre and filled with harem trash. In fact, this game also features a lot of loli bait, throwing it right into the trash pile. A star and a half for the combat, that's all I can give it.

A great VN with okay SRPG battles mixed in. What makes Survive stand out, however, is how it uses the Digimon property to propel itself in unexpected directions. While gamers were marketed a gritty Digimon game meant for a "mature" audience, I don't think many were expecting it to be quite as dark as this story is. On the gameplay side, Survive has everything it needs to be just enough. Players have access to over 100 digimon, an alignment system taken straight out of SMT (the game files even refer to them as Law, Neutral and Chaos), alignment reps, and decently challenging battles on hard difficulty. The pacing of the gameplay and the VN segments are improved by how much the game encourages you to do extra free battles, where it be to collect new Digimon companions or to grind. I've only done one route so far with 3 more left to go and I'm very excited to fully master this gem.

A platinum two and a half years in the making, with over 250 hours playtime. Digimon World: Next Order is a deeply flawed yet oddly addictive experience. It's obvious from right out of the gate that Next Order had very little budget, as there are small glitches that happen frequently. Some of these glitches even negatively impact your battles, which becomes quite tiresome. Another glaring issue for many players will be how oddly grindy it is, as I'd say at least 50 of my 250 hours were spent grinding to a brain numbing degree. The story mode and post-game will constantly require you to have very high stats, which force you do battle after battle after battle with minor stat gains every time. For example, Next Order expects you to have 9999 stats on your Digimon in the post-game, and you can only reliably get +26 to your stats from each battle. Since your Digimon die after a set period of days, you can already see how the limited lifespan would work against how much time it takes to grind...

However, while this all looks like an uphill battle, there's plenty to enjoy. The V-pet feel of the game is special, as very few Digimon games have tried this style of gameplay. I would argue that the game does a good job of actually feeling like a Digivice turned into a console game, as you have to take care of your digital pets in all manner of things. Not to mention the grinding pays off in dividends as your Digimon grow and turn into bigger, cooler monsters. I enjoyed seeing the over-200 monsters this game had to offer.

To put it simply, Next Order is a game I would recommend to anybody wanting to experience something like Digimon World 1 all over again, with a strong recommendation to avoid going for the platinum trophy unless you absolutely feel up to the task.

Platinum trophy earned on September 9th, 2022, after 78 in-game hours.

Soul Hackers 2 impressed me in more ways than one. Sporting a solid cast, a plot with genuinely surprising twists, the best demon models in the entire franchiss, and solid dungeon designs in the second half, Soul Hackers 2 is a big step up from the original. After the massive disappointment that was SMTV, I can safely say I have hope in future Atlus titles.