mystgourmet
1999
2018
2021
Without giving too much away, it has a very daring storyline and cast of characters. They feel very real and flawed in ways that a lot of media won't really touch. It really felt like what I wanted out of a certain other JRPG I won't name. Well worth it if you can get past the Vita jank. I'd also like to point out the incredible voice work.
It's more direct than the first one, and skips a good amount of the bloat. For instance, the open world is gone and it has shorter stages, resulting in getting to the action quicker. But it doesn't hit the same highs, so it pretty much comes down to patience and payoff vs instant gratification by comparison. Still had a good time with it, it never bored me and some of the later ranked fights were close to as good as some from the first.
1999
It soothed my craving for a childhood friend gf insanely well. The way they had the scenes from the past play into her story was amazing. In general it improves on the already great mechanics and visuals of the previous game, for an overall even better experience. My only complaint is that there seemed to be a lack of actual scenes on walks home, but there were more than enough events to make up for that overall.
2019
2013
2004