A pretty compelling detective story. The mechanics kind of drag—there's a lot of randomly selecting and reselecting menu options just to try to get the exact set the game wants in the exact order it expects, and I can't imagine doing that without a walkthrough to get yourself unstuck periodically. But the plot itself really picks up in the latter half of the game once you start to see enough of the facts that you can start piecing together theories, and it even asks the player to make deductions without handholding a few times. A good balance of making me feel clever without making the entire thing obvious.

i think a lesson that anyone involved with media should learn whether they consume or create is that not all questions need to be answered, and that it's sometimes more satisfying when they aren't.

i went into radiant dawn not expecting much as someone who thought path of radiance worked just fine as a standalone title, and i cant say i was disappointed but i cant say i was that pleasantly surprised either.
micaiah is an incredibly boring lord, bordering on insufferable during some chapters and i think that hampered my enjoyment a lot. the dawn brigade themselves arent that great either, and sothe isnt a character i liked even in path of radiance so i dont really care about him. meg is probably the standout character from the dawn brigade but i just like what meg/brom/nephenee have going on. the game didn't really "start" for me until the end of act 2 when the greil mercenaries show up, and when the greil mercenaries are on screen the game is a solid 7/10 but otherwise it's just ehhh. maps are just as forgettable as path of radiance but even worse when you aren't playing as the greil mercenaries (and even then it's a step down from path of radiance).
story wise the game overall is also a downgrade. blood pacts are a meaningless and annoying plot contrivance, most of the major players are insufferable or boring, and the villains are so bad. they all look and act like they twirl their mustaches and hide behind their capes and go "mwahahaha! try and stop me now, heroes!" it's like they just forgot how to write any villains with any semblance of nuance or depth. unironically when talking about the villains the games writing is fates tier until maybe act 4, it's so bad

on the topic of act 4, pretty much every issue with the game is amplified. boring character interactions outside of the greil mercenaries and some of the laguz, boring maps, and the narrative still isn't that great. the villains are a lot less cartoonish, but still far from the most compelling. act 4 also likes to go out of its way to make multiple characters less interesting or important which is annoying when the game tries to shill the still uninteresting sothe and micaiah even harder. the elaboration on a few specific characters from path of radiance at the 11th hour is definitely an interesting choice, but immediately after this new lore about them you fight them on a very boring and tedious map and then they just kinda die and you're off to the final boss. i don't have much to say about the final boss since it's just another boring and tedious map, but i'd be lying if i said it was even close to being my least favorite.

i think the single most annoying part of radiant dawn though is how much story content you miss out on if you're on your first playthrough. i wouldn't say most of it is too major, but if you want to use your own radiant dawn save you're going to spend the next half hour after you finish the game watching this video just to get the full experience. doesn't help that the localization only did the easy mode version of the japanese script but that's neither here nor there.

after finally playing radiant dawn, i really think they should've just made a game starring the greil mercenaries and the laguz because the game kinda sucks when it isnt about them. radiant dawn is certainly an interesting fire emblem title, but its ambition is its downfall and i don't think it succeeds in being a compelling sequel to path of radiance. if you just want more ike or plan on playing the entire series i'd say play this game, but otherwise it's hardly essential unless you're the type who absolutely needs answers to the questions that media leaves unanswered.

This was my introduction to both of these wonderful games.

I originally borrowed this from a friend in 7th grade, to play Final Fantasy IV at his request. Funnily enough, I got distracted by Chrono Trigger and played that through to completion first. I did get to FFIV though eventually. :)

Ironically though, this is by far the worst version of Chrono Trigger you can play anywhere. The load times are absurd when comparing them to any other version on the market.

From what I recall, Final Fantasy IV on the PS1 still holds up though, and didn't have the insane load times that CT had.

At the end of the day, this still contains 2 amazing JRPGs, albeit with all the other remasters in the last 20 years, you should play them elsewhere now.

Ranking on this one is a bit bias as to my original experience - for a more comprehensive review of CT/FF4, see my SNES reviews for them.

(Score: 8/10) Even 14 years after its release, this is still the most atmospheric Soulsborne game (BB comes close but it doesn't quite reach this game's heights), and it also features more unique boss fights that don't boil down to the "roll boss move --> spam r1" loop that unfortunately plagues a lot of the more recent games. Level design is also excellent, and in general DeS is brimming with creativity, both in sound and creature design (the OST is also deliciously restrained and subtle, and I will never forgive the Remake for butchering it and turning it into generic bombastic orchestral noise). Unfortunately, DeS falls short in the gameplay department, which is what I value the most, and thus loses a lot of points when it comes to moment-to-moment enjoyment; while part of its charm in a way, the limited healing grass and the inventory weight mechanics are ultimately just annoyances that don't really generate meaningful decision-making, and adding that to some other outdated mechanics (primitive AI from enemies and bosses which is really bad in some instances like the Maneaters fight, four-directional rolling when locked on) makes the gameplay more of a chore than a fun experience. Still, the fact that an almost failed experiment manages to hold up as a worthwhile experience today is remarkable, and I would still recommend playing DeS (og, not the Remake) to any Soulsborne fans.

this was the first smt game i have ever beaten fully (not counting persona) and it will probably remain one of my favorite smt games ever, as a fan of strategy rpgs already the gameplay appealed to me. the objectives for maps are diverse and fun, despite the maps being fairly simple the variety of objectives and layouts made it fun anyways. the games difficulty was fine, though there are some fights i dislike. the story is fantastic. the scenario is immediately interesting and a lot of things happen very quickly which gets you hooked. the characters are all enjoyable and i felt bad when i missed a chance to talk to one of them. the time management system is pretty neat too. i have only finished amanes route but the characters are all compelling and the best part of the game to me is that when it came down to the point of picking my route, i saw equal merit in all choices (except yuzus sorry yuzu youre still the number 1). usually in smt games there is a true ending, and when theres not, it usually seems like chaos is always the better option, but in devil survivor i truly had trouble deciding which route i agreed with. the game also makes your choices matter, not thinking ahead with your dialogue options and actions will result in the deaths of multiple characters, and i like that. it made it feel like your decisions each day had weight. as for the parts of the game i dont like, its beldr. he is basically the minotaur of devil survivor but beldr doesnt teach the player anything. he can only be killed by the protagonist with 1 specific physical move (physical being the worst attacking type in the game by far). the only thing i could say it teaches the player is to focus on objectives, but still thats a stretch. other than that all the fights were fun the mechanics are fun. the auction system being the only way of getting demons is a bit annoying, but overclocked fixes this. i would say this is a must play if you are a fan of smt and strategy rpgs (FUCK SHARP FE THIS IS THE REAL SMT X FE CROSSOVER)
(also play overclocked i played the ds version but im sure overclocked improves on the game wholly)

Pokemon Scarlet was one of 2022's highly anticipated JRPGs for Nintendo, as it was an open world Pokemon adventure expanding from what Legends: Arceus did. And it delivered extremely well.

The gameplay of this journey was absolutely fun to do with the Paldea region being the biggest region to date. The battles are just like regular battles, but now with the Tera gimmick, it has got to be one of my favourite features; changing your Pokemon's type mid battle and boosting other attacks while countering weaknesses too. The music is top notch, and the story is superb. Already exceeds gen 8 & PLA.

However, the biggest criticisms are unavoidable. Of course, the performance issues is the biggest problem. Yes, I'm aware it had to be released before all the merch comes out and the anime, but this was rather noticeable. Despite the frame rate drops and the occasional freeze or two, I had 0 issues with this game.
The other thing is that the Pokemon aren't scaled to match your level. Despite being an open world game, some of the Pokemon you'd find aren't balanced in levels. Just goes to show that there is a built-in pathway for the intended route. But hey, at least I got to fight Iono.