Near unmatched style and presentation for a PS1 title. Parasite Eve boasts a stupid, out-there, and self-serious story paired with an insanely good OST. Combat is surprisingly fun, short, simple, and easy for the time, which makes exploration less of a chore than most JRPGs that came out around this time. If I had any gripes about this game it's the limited inventory space and sometimes confusing intractability.

Basically, Mitochondria Eve makes me feel hot.

Absolutely fucking immaculate. This game is far and away my favourite Ace Attorney experience so far and one of my favourite games ever, and I would be extremely surprised if something manages to top this.

For starters, almost everything is improved on from the original trilogy: The cases are more intriguing and there's hardly one that's not "good", the characters are so so much better (excluding maybe the prosecutor), the investigation periods are less tedious, it's funnier, and holy shit I thought Trials & Tribulations was well planned out, this game one-ups it in every single damn way, tying in practically every case in the outstanding culmination that is "The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo".

If that wasn't enough the plot twists are batshit crazy, genuinely stuff I'd never expect especially the one(s) in the final case that left me practically speechless. The time period allows for more insightful topics like Case 1 of TGAA2 although perhaps we could tone down on the slurs. For the characters, I LOVE Susato to death, she is so much more interesting than Maya (not to say that Maya is necessarily a bad character) and she doesn't explicitly give you answers and appear at the most random moments when you are about to lose (like a certain someone). Herlock Sholmes is the greatest character ever and there is no debate - I would honestly replay this game just to laugh at his antics and his stupid ass dialogue and faces. Barok Van Zieks is such a brilliant prosecutor, his reasoning for hating the Japanese is pretty ridiculous but putting that aside I love how he doesn't fuck around, he almost always has a reason to contradict what you might have found out during a summation examination or something and it feels so real, he doesn't pretend to get faked out like the prosecutors in the originals. I love Iris as well and the whole thing to do with her family is just so beautiful. The entire side cast is just so damn good it's honestly unreal that it obliterates the original trilogy, a game that already had a fantastic and endearing cast.

Ryunosuke is genuinely light years better than Phoenix as a character as well, his whole thing to do with resolve may come off as corny or uninspired at times but when it hits, it fucking HITS. When he just goes from being nervous to not giving a shit and doing anything possible to unravel the truth is so damn satisfying, especially with how quickly it tested his spirit and questioned a lawyer's morals in TGAA1.

For the gameplay it stays mostly the same although the new additions are mostly welcome, I do enjoy the summation examinations although sometimes the jury's reasonings are just complete bullshit like "Well he looks like a nice man"??? But obviously, the best addition here is the Logic and Deduction parts which are just so much fun, the music just gets you hyped up, and even though it's mostly simple it is so enjoyable to solve cases with Herlock.

The animations felt jarring at first, but once you get used to them they almost overshadow the goofy static ones from its predecessor, it allows for so much more expression from characters and makes certain parts a lot more memorable (Susato punching the air or Barok Van Zieks throwing a wine bottle for the 30th time). And god damn the music is such a banger, Kazuma's theme, Susato's, pursuing a contradiction, even indoors the music is so cozy, it's all so perfect.

It's so fitting that it's called the Great Ace Attorney since it truly is that, a game that just improves upon everything that made its predecessors so loveable.

The textbook definition of a flawed masterpiece.

It's no secret that the original Final Fantasy VII is a legendary game that changed the gaming landscape forever - would a remake ever be able to live up to it? Well, I'd say it depends on what you're looking for. I've only played the original FF7 up until the Shinra Building, so I can't really answer this question more in detail, but I can tell you the remake (and possibly the rest of the trilogy) is an exceptional experience, IF you're willing to accept something different. This might sound weird, so let me explain.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is not an 1:1 remake of the iconic original game. Without spoiling anything, it's trying something new in the already established world of Midgar in the hope of pleasing both fans of the original game and newcomers entirely new to the franchise or Final Fantasy VII in general. I'm not trying to give too much away, but basically, there are those new mysterious entities, and a common complaint is them being too involved in the plot. I wasn't a fan of those either for a long time, but after finishing the game and understanding their purpose, I reflected on their inclusion for a bit and then thought they were integrated fairly well actually. To sum things up, FF7R doesn't replace FF7 at all; they both have the same major plot beats, characters and everything, but are heading into different directions. This way there are new surprises in store for returning players, but it also brought out frustrations in others, since now will never be a "true" remake of the original game - and I can totally understand that sentiment.

The identity of 7R however wasn't the reason why I called it a flawed masterpiece in the opening sentence, instead it's some things that still could have been better. Even though I had a fantastic time with the game as a whole, I feel the need to still address those problems, as I'm not only writing those reviews for myself, but also to help others. With that out of the way, the most apparent flaw is the amount of filler content every now and then. A good example of this is near the end of the game, where the party backtracks to a previous dungeon as part of the story to retrieve an important item for another character. The issue at hand: a monster has stolen this key item! This results in a 30-minute segment of tracking down the monster by backtracking through the exact same segments of this dungeon used previously in the game. At least you get a sweet resolution for that character at the end, so it's not all for naught. But coming back to the dungeon/level design, that's a point I have mixed thoughts on. On one hand, Midgar in the original game was incredibly linear and the world only really opened up later, on the other hand, the remake could have fixed this - but this is where they decided to stay faithful! The Hallway Simulator™ complaints are entirely justified, however it never was that much of a problem for me, since those dungeons look pretty atleast and you get many fun conversations with your party members along the way, so it doesn't feel like the game is trying to waste your time.

Generally the setpieces are more lively than ever before, the little details everywhere and the new third-person camera make for a so much more immersive experience than the top-down view of the original game. My favorite example is the Wall Market chapter in the remake, the lighting and bustling streets really sold me on the festive vibe the devs were going for. The entire segment was a real joy to play through and it is a prime example of extending the overall playtime in a meaningful way. This also applies for the Collapsed Expressway and Train Graveyard in the remake for me, for fans of the original game those areas might be too long (as they were only one to two screens long in the original game), but I loved how the devs expanded on those already established locations, it adds to the sense of scale in the massive dystopian city of Midgar. In general, I believe this "sense of scale" is exceptionally well done throughout the game, there are several occasions where you can just gaze in awe upon the towering buildings of the city from below or some other parts where you can look from a high point into the far distance and see all the detailed infrastructure on the horizon, it's genuinely impressive how they handled it.

You know what else is genuinely impressive? The combat in 7R. It still follows the same rules as the original ATB system, but with more player agency. Instead of just waiting for some bar to fill, you can block and dodge enemy attacks (ironically, blocking is better 90% of the time, as the dodge has no i-frames!) or deal some physical damage by yourself. All of this is accompanied by intuitive switching between characters in the middle of a fight in order to exploit enemy weakness with certain Materia or gain access to different skills and movesets. With the return of the Materia system, every party member can be individually built to one's likings - you may turn someone into an Electric AoE damage dealer or give everyone in the group an Ice Materia for some reason, there's a lot of different combinations! Summons are also back and they look just as cool here as you would expect. Unfortunately they're not available too often, but on the flip side this means their appearances against hard bosses are even more satisfying.

Now, I don't think anything has to be said about the soundtrack. It's a Final Fantasy game, so obviously it's near perfection. Uematsu and the crew put a lot of heart into the new songs and remixes and it shows. There are so many good tracks and it's hard to choose favorites, but one overworld song that particularly stands out to me for being surprisingly captivating is the theme of the Collapsed Expressway. In terms of battle themes, the Ghoul fight is an incredible new composition and if we're talking about remixed songs, [this video contains spoilers!] the iconic One-Winged Angel got an utterly fantastic orchestral rendition in the remake. They really went all out in remaking an already superb soundtrack and certainly didn't miss.

So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to playing Rebirth eventually, but I'll probably play through the original FF7 first (hopefully in the near future). I love those characters and this world so much and I can't wait to see where their adventure is going next!

Definitely has its problems in the dungeon and world design departments but its charm is irresistible. Awesome soundtrack and art style, one of the best Zelda stories, and good characters. While Ocarina of Time was about growing up, Wind Waker is about being forced to grow up. You aren't "the chosen one", you aren't inhabiting some kind of magical fairytale world, and your call to action wasn't from a talking tree. Your sister was captured, the world is flooding, and your grandmother is spiraling. What's left of Hyrule has gone to absolute shit (and you didn't even need to set foot in a temple of time), and now it's your job to fix the colossal mess that the older generation created? You had to prove your worth as a hero not because it was your destiny, but because nobody else would step up. It's graphical style was seen as unpleasant when the original game released in 2002. And I think that reaction mirrors the way Wind Waker attempts to unlearn generational patterns of selfish inaction and mediocrity. We've come to appreciate this game's artstyle nowadays, and applaud Aonuma and co.'s progressiveness and willingness to bring change. And I believe those lessons can be applied to our own lives. The kids are alright - you don't need to be the "chosen one" to change the world.

Also, I'm gonna say it. The final scene in this game where link kills ganondorf is cooler than the one in twilight princess. Rawest moment in video games.

Cold Steel I is a game that almost doesn't feel like Trails. It's 3D now, the MC is more anime than all the others (the entire female cast wants him + Persona dating social links), a vast majority of the plot is episodic city exploration that bloats the narrative more than the previous games ever did. But the high points, especially the last part, redeem it.

The music is great (an obvious statement about a Trails game, but noteworthy nonetheless), the combat system is a step up from Crossbell's, and it just feels fun to play, with even its duller moments being pretty comfy. It doesn't have Sky's comfortable and homely vibe, it doesn't have Sky 3rd's level of themes and character writing, it doesn't have Crossbell's consistency and high points overall writing wise, but it does have one thing that it crushes the previous games in — the rule of cool.

Rean (as of this game) is no Kevin, but his struggles are quite compelling, and more importantly, he has a katana, which is the coolest weapon a Trails MC has had yet. He is a cool swordsman. And Cold Steel is very cool when it wants to be. The last act some real hype moments that rarely work for me in videogames, and they were done creatively. I immediately booted up the beginning of CS2 because I just couldn't wait.

Despite at times looking like an obvious lower budget JRPG (why replace 2D character portraits with 3D models..? it took some time to get used to), and having a worse (IMO) art style than Crossbell, CS1 definitely has a nice visual style. Despite being the first 3D Trails game, once you get used to how it looks, it's really nice seeing environments that would have been previously seen from a 2.5D, top-down view in their full glory.

Overall, it's a heavily flawed, inconsistent, almost messy (you could even say it sucks sometimes) game, but when it hits, it's very exciting, and leaves you wanting more. I can't wait to see more of this journey.