Platinumed in 58 hours.

Octopath Traveler II is a good, but not great, JRPG romp. A marginal improvement over the first entry, this sequel offers slightly better stories and improved combat. The pacing's great: I completed all 8 stories in under 50 hours, meaning each story was a little shy of 8 hours. There's plenty of side content to go around as well, with over 60 sidequests and around a dozen optional dungeons.

On the flip side, most of the stories were predictable or even forgettable, and the balancing is extremely wonky. It'll either be quite difficult or incredibly easy, all depending on what jobs you use. While the mechanics allow for a wealth of creativity in how you strategize, you're only rewarded if you play each character a certain way. The worst of it comes from the secret boss. I hate when JRPGs force you to make specific playstyle choices to beat the superboss, so I was beyond frustrated when I found out that this game had that sort of superboss. Not only that, it's among the worst offenders. You can beat it in 4 turns if you use a certain cheese strategy, or you can struggle for 6 hours like I did before switching to said cheese strat. At least beating it was a massive relief. Finally, while the stories intertwine better than in the first game, it's still an inferior endgame to that of its influence: Live a Live.

If you enjoyed Octopath Traveler, play this sequel. It's far better. However, if you felt mixed on it, be wary. You will either find this a worthwhile game or be let down yet again. I, personally, enjoyed my journey a lot despite its flaws.

Platinum trophy earned in 39 hours.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion is one of the strangest games I've had the pleasure of completing. The writing is bizarre, quirky and angsty. The voice acting is hit-or-miss. The soundtrack is forgettable. The plot is good when it's adapting things canon to the original game, and not-so-good when introducing new elements. And yet, despite everything else being so mediocre, the gameplay is so, so good.

I grew up with Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, so I have a lot of nostalgia for the Final Fantasy VII extended universe. This was the first time I actually got to play Crisis Core, so my expectations were limited to what I've read online: "the gameplay is annoying", "the story is cringe", etc. I consider this a blessing because these expectations were far exceeded! While, yes, the story is rather cringe, it's also endearing. The gameplay is fun as hell, too. The RNG-wheel has minimal impact on combat, since you're usually able to get by spamming magic or jumping around like a lunatic. The game is also visually beautiful.

What brings Crisis Core Reunion down from a 4/5 to a 3.5/5 is the lack of balancing and the reliance on bland side content. First of all, the main story has virtually no difficulty if you even glance at the 300 missions. Second of all, who asked for THREE HUNDRED missions where all you do is run around praying you don't get into a pointless battle on your way to your target who, 95% of the time, is just another goomba-wannabe. No, Square Enix, I did not ask for 200+ missions where all I do is fight a Shinra Trooper, with each one taking up to 3-5 minutes! These missions alone took me well over 10 hours, probably close to 20. Worst of all, almost every combat upgrade is locked behind these missions, hence why the main story lacks difficulty if you complete them. All of Crisis Core's balancing lies in these missions. At some point I developed Stockholm Syndrome and began to enjoy them. After all, these are the only times where the game's fun combat is fully utilized. Finally, the superboss can kiss my ass. It's very difficult, but not in a particularly fun way. Especially not in a game here everything else is so, so easy.

If I had to put a number score on this game, it'd be a 70/100. It's good, but far from the best this series has to offer.

Platinum trophy earned in 40 hours.

The Legend of Dragoon is an all time classic. When I saw it was being added to the classic catalogue with trophy support, I knew I needed to pick it up. See, I grew up with this game and probably put hundreds of hours in as a kid. Not only is LoD one of my favorite ps1-era JRPGs, it's one of my favorite JRPGs of all time.

It's hard to explain what exactly makes this such a solid game - the visuals offer a unique blend of models on pre-rendered backgrounds, akin to Chrono Cross, the battle system is an interesting blend of turn based combat and... a rhythm game, and the music slaps. The plot, too, is noteworthy. It's memorable and has lors of creative twists, but the mediocre localization holds it down marginally. This one gripe aside, Legend of Dragoon is a game I think everybody should experience at least once. The platinum's also really easy to earn.

90/100.

Throughout the entire last act of Sons of Liberty I was constantly thinking that I am willing to call this the most essential video game of the century so far. This may be a bold claim in the eyes of some, but this was what MGS2 was able to make me feel. Hideo Kojima tests and challenges the medium of video games in a way I feel hasn't been replicated since. The fact that this game came out in 2001, a mere few months after 9/11, quite frankly blows my mind. It was ahead of its time back then and its ahead of our time now. Its themes of our governments relation to digital information, individuality, free will, truth, and our relation to video games. These themes are already daring on their own, but the way Sons of Liberty is able to cohesively piece them together is nothing short of masterful. However even in the situation, there were brief moments of tranquility and beauty that will still be cherished. Such as climbing down the ladder with Emma with the sunset in focus and the final minutes of the game. Kojima believes in a better future, and we all should too.