guiltyparty
While it sports more grounded conflict than the high fantasy of Ishgard, Stormblood's excellent compositions and enjoyable raids are a treat in their own right.
2014
Two puzzle titans at some of their finest, married near-seamlessly; Puyo Puyo Tetris is a novel crossover concept executed with great finesse, featuring utterly delightful presentation to match. Puyo's endearing characters and sugary-sweet aesthetic are the icing on top of the cake.
2020
A relatively bare-bones expansion of the first game, that offers precious little in the way of new content. Though the fresh coat of paint is sweet enough on an aesthetic level, slightly increased handling and additional line-clear delay hinder high-speed gameplay — especially when playing against opponents who have the flashy new cut-ins turned off. From a gameplay standpoint, there's not much reason to spring for the sequel unless you're looking to mess around with the janky Skill Battle mode, or you're itching to play as Sonic, for some reason.
A clever story with creative tone shifts and a unique "switch-based" flowchart system. While the main story is enjoyable enough, the true highlight is in one of the guest scenarios: an over-the-top tiff between rival assassins penned by TYPE-MOON's Kinoko Nasu, with art by his partner-in-crime Takeuchi.
"Planned chaos" at its best. A treat for the eyes and a feast for the ears.
Soken's radiant score punctuates an engaging story and some of the game's best dungeons yet. Astoundingly, Natsuko Ishikawa manages to spin some of the franchise's least interesting antagonists into, quite possibly, its finest.
Pokemon at its strongest, boldest, and most visually impressive. The franchise's crown jewel.
2020
Kodaka's FMV experiment is a cute two-hour adventure with fine cinematography, but not a particularly intuitive one. Ultimately not too memorable.
Despite being the sole playable character, venturing with the rambunctious Yuffie feels both rich and satisfying, thanks to her unique ninjutsu and her synergy — to say nothing of her chemistry — with the newly introduced Sonon. It's a fairly short romp, especially if you're not going out of your way to play Fort Condor, but it has all of the bits and bobs that made the base game so exhilarating: a spectacular soundtrack, dynamic cutscenes with clean gameplay transitions, and truly remarkable character writing.
A challenging game with highly entertaining patterns and visual cues, set to some of ZUN's strongest tracks. Not for the faint of heart.
1992
Lots of avenues for experimentation through the job system. Pretty straightforward plot, but the gameplay here is some of the franchise's most robust.
1994
One of the franchise's most beloved entries, and for good reason. Featuring an astoundingly diverse cast, a rich setting that blends magic and machinery, an intricate plot, groundbreaking cinematic tricks, and one of Uematsu's finest scores, Final Fantasy VI has withstood the test of time.
A great entry point to the franchise, despite how unforgiving the patterns can be. Good for getting the gist of the fundamentals, and some solid tunes to boot.
A brilliantly-paced mystery game with exceptionally solid writing and remarkable swerves. Vibrant faces, fluid animation, engaging mechanics and plenty of narrative hooks — nothing short of a delight on all fronts.
With a striking genre shift, Kinoko Nasu plays with expectations and pens a poignant finale, capping off his study of heroism with an exploration of villainy and victimhood.