My expectations, needless to day, were greatly exceeded. In short, this is one of the best outings Final Fantasy has had in nearly two decades. The combat is both stylish and substantive, granting an amount of ability customization, balance, and option-selecting that I did not anticipate, while also just being damn fun. The story, unlike most recent mainline FFs (especially 13 and 15), is fairly simple, but I found it very compelling, and the characters to be extremely likable and well-acted (this game's English dub is spectacular). Some of the best boss fights in any game I've ever played, too, with a great balance of substantive challenge and jaw-dropping spectacle.
There are flaws to be sure - the world design is fairly constrained, the frame rate is a bit inconsistent, and some side quests are decidedly dull - but the holistic experience is one I won't soon forget. Easily my favorite FF since the PS2 era.

It's hard to look at DMC1 objectively given that it essentially spawned an entire genre. It's such a nascent form of the stylish action game and thus lacks many of the expected features of the genre. Combos are pretty short and don't have much variety, and the fixed camera angles are frequently more intrusive than atmospheric. Despite that, DMC1 is still a decent time, especially the boss fights (despite the lack of variety and frequent re-fights).

The game is fine visually, it looks pretty standard for an early PS2 game, but there are some impressive graphical effects here and there. The soundtrack, though, is fantastic, especially the battle themes, and the sound design is punchy and satisfying.

A solid first entry that would be greatly expanded in the future into something truly great.

The peak of 2D Mega Man, in my opinion. This game strikes the perfect balance between style and control - even the simplest actions look and feel awesome. Creative level design, decent challenge without being unfair, and a great soundtrack. It's a refinement of everything that came before - a zenith for Mega Man.
Special praise should go to this game's sprite work. Incredibly detailed pixel animation is tremendously difficult and time-consuming, and X4 is another entry in Capcom's dominance in that field during the 1990s.
Yes, the English voice acting is atrocious. The Japanese VA is pretty solid, though.

1 step forward, 1.01 steps back. Ultimately Prime 2 is still an utterly fantastic game, but it just doesn't reach the same highs as Prime 1.
Like Prime, Echoes's atmosphere is top-notch. Rather than aiming for a lonely atmosphere like Prime, Echoes aims for a significantly more oppressive and terrifying feel, and it absolutely succeeds. The Dark Aether areas are genuinely unsettling at times, with their Silent Hill-esque music and body-horror visual design.
It's hard to really elucidate what makes Echoes a little less great than Prime, but I think it really comes down to the backtracking. I know "lmao Echoes backtracking" is a meme, but it really does drag the game out longer than it needs to. In particular, returning to the Temple Grounds after every main area and the Sky Temple key hunt during the endgame are the biggest culprits.
The much higher level of difficulty is also a point of contention in the community, but I always found Prime 1 to be a little too easy, to Echoes's greater challenge is welcome in my eyes. The final boss in particular was an excellent challenge.
Overall, Echoes is still an excellent game despite not being quite as good as Prime 1, and in my eyes is nonetheless a worthy sequel that adds almost as much as it subtracts from Prime 1.

This game makes me upset.
An RPG using the Sonic cast sounds like a great idea - a wide range of characters with distinct powers and personalities! A surprisingly deep lore and world-building! And, on the surface, Sonic Chronicles delivers.
The devil, however, lies in the details, or rather, everything aside from the concept. This game is utterly dreadful. It contains some of the absolute worst battle design in any RPG I've ever played - random battles are plagued by overly-defensive enemies and unnecessarily long timed-hit special attacks that drag the game out to a nearly comedic extent.
While the character writing and dialogue is surprisingly strong (as far as Sonic games go), the plot itself ultimately descends into the cliche RPG trappings of "evil overlord and his evil overlord army."
The game's production values are truly wretched. It's obviously unfinished in almost every area - the infamously awful music and sound design is only one facet of it. The game is riddled with slowdown, clunky animations, and poor graphic design.
If it were just a run-of-the-mill bad RPG, I probably wouldn't be upset. But it seems the utter failure of Sonic Chronicles has scared SEGA away from ever trying this concept again, which is a shame, because I really think that a Sonic RPG could be something special.

Almost exactly what I wanted after being disappointed by Three Houses. I prefer when FE games focus more on engaging (heh) tactical gameplay than being a Persona-style social sim, and Engage scratched that itch quite well. The plot is basic and cliche, but it was well-acted, and the characters, while being one-note, were still mostly charming and likable. The Engage Ring system adds tremendous gameplay depth and really helps to balance out the cast. Overall not perfect but a step in the right direction in my eyes after a few underwhelming FE entries.