I like the story. It was good enough to prompt reflection upon how one of Fate's big strengths in the Master and Servant mechanic is that you get a narrative predominantly focused on two core characters getting to know each other. And although Hakunon probing into the mind and motivations of Gilgamesh in Fate/Extra CCC is still the gold standard in a way I doubt can be topped, Iori and this Saber are plenty enjoyable as well.

But compared to the other Fate branches this one feels way too much like an unapologetic retelling of Fate/Stay Night in a visually distinct setting, rather than some genuinely unique showing for the mechanics or lore. Iori admires his deceased master/father figure and after accidentally contracting Saber frequently holds her back from her combat potential for fear of collateral, making the pair feel too close to Emiya and F/SN Saber. Thinking about it, this might be the only time I've ever seen such an unambitious Fate. Which is a real testament to the franchise, but kinda ehhh for SR. The roster is posted with already popular servants like Jeanne Alter, Arjuna and Musashi, selected in a way that struggles to convey anything other than FGO fanservice. The musou combat is inadequate when the franchise has already shown off a much snappier and varied system in the Extella games, and the shell system makes enemies feel like HP sponges. Usually I'm a big fan of stagger mechanics (FFXIII or Blue Reflection's combat come to mind), but the implementation here irked me. Additionally the long, hand-holdy leyline grids that get instigated before every story mission are genuinely annoying enough that they make me want to end my session there every time. Those are my criticisms. They get lessened as the game progresses, particularly as you unlock Fire and Void stance, yet ultimately it's just decent. Samurai Remnant is a good enough game. But the franchise usually carries a prestige well above merely good.

Good game good game. It's no Mania 2 and idk if it shows up Sonic & the Fallen Star, but on the scale of actual-factual Sonic (2, 3, Mania, Advance 1 & 2) to rough-approximation-of-Sonic-sorta (4, Advance 3, Rush, Generations/Forces 2D stages), Superstars finds itself firmly in league with the former. This is a series which lives - and very easily dies - by its physics and handling. Especially in the 2D outings where that pinball-platformer gamefeel hangs in such delicate balance. You can't even begin to appreciate any good level design or gimmicks until the exact right physics are in place. Since here they more or less pulled the movement values out of Mania's engine they skip SEGA's displayed incompetence at recreating Classic Sonic physics and finally have a HD game where Sonic moves and controls like Sonic should! It's great. And because that's in place, I was able to really jive with the creative bosses and longer level design. Obviously the franchise philosophy means I won't truly be equipped to discuss Superstars until I've replayed it 10+ times over a few years, but nonetheless my impression is good game. It feels like a genuine, worthy addition to the revered classics. When Sonic is good, Sonic is good.

Super Sonic 2 cool. It was ultimately only a short segment but I thought it was sick how DBZ-esque the power up and aura boosts were. Finally getting to play as Tails, Knuckles and Amy again in a 3D game was awesome as well. And while yes their game-feel ultimately just kinda comes up short against their incarnations in SRB2, it's still vindicating to look at the screen and see them playable in a real, official modern-quality Sonic game. The game progression was otherwise a mixed bag though. Frontiers traversal is still quite awesome as you navigate between boost, spindash launches + bouncing, and the new towers really showed that off, but the boss rush trial was a chore and the new bout against The End was a glitchy mess.

Deceptively good game I reckon. Visual direction of the characters and landscapes were gorgeous, and I appreciated how large all the dungeons were. Music was great. Sidequests made me come to quite like the cast. The combat wasn't fantastic, but the effect animations were all quite flashy and I enjoyed having to navigate around the AOE attacks of bosses and larger enemies. Harvestella's heavy sidequest focus, boss design and its story revolving around the four Seaslight (crystals) are places where you can really feel that this was one major inspiration feeding into FFXVI. In that sense I suppose it was good I accidentally took a 7 month break on the game, since approaching it this side of FFXVI offers that new insight.

Additionally: Obligatory Xeno-posting. Thought I was signing up for an Atelier-lite, but actually received Square Enix's spiritual successor to Xenogears. I clued into it being as such pretty early after a vague inkling that Geist reminded me of Grahf, and then began noticing more similarities in the narrative. But near the end it really went all in on that with the plot recurrences and specific homage/parallels, such as "mother Sophia" of the church, Lost Gaia = the Zeboim ruins, another consciousness buried within Ein, and most excitingly the Gaia Defense System being visually modelled on Kadomony and its powers as an existence-altering perpetual motion machine mirroring the Zohar. Among a number of other things, and even some recurring Xenoblade iconography.

Initially I looked quite scathingly upon the direction the game took, as "what if we made X but rated M with blood and sex and swearing" is usually just a bad meme take, not something to be taken seriously. Heck, the earliest paragraphs I began writing in review liken it to parody. But despite that opposition it faced from me at the start, I think it made the case for its tone. It took its time getting there but by the end I am yet again made to say that Final Fantasy does not miss.

Final Fantasy is a franchise where I really enjoy seeing how its design precepts evolve from one entry to the next. XVI in particular feels like the realisation of an image that the franchise has been pursuing for years. It merges elements such as the dialogue and politicking of XII, the war focus and heavy death toll of Type-0 and the graphic design of XV. As well as some setting notes from Harvestella. While I found combat was fairly lacking, especially when weighed against FF's recent two releases VII:R and Stranger of Paradise, this was mitigated by the strong boss encounters and fun, active patterns to navigate around. Similarly, while it may be easy to scorn the apparent linearity of its level design, electing to engage with the sidequests and hunts absolutely alleviate this by taking you to all corners of the world map. This sentiment echoes throughout, that while parts of it may have been executed in a way that initially caused me hesitance, new mechanics or elements would be introduced to turn them into strengths. At times it was tough to avoid comparing it to FFXII, often to its detriment, as I would personally feel it coming up short in narrative, hunt system and politicking. Cid is a good character, but is he more charismatic than the leading man Balthier? Not a chance. The olde english dialogue in XII felt more like it had an actual place in the aesthetic. However the entire ensemble of Clive, Gav, Byron, Cid, Jill, Torgal, Charon? All well-realised characters explored through a number of sidequests, developing this into an absolutely stellar cast. I'm not sure a game has ever wrenched my heart as much as My Star creeping in over the ending watching Clive quietly die on the beach. Crisis Core and Type-0 don't even hold a candle to the agony. And the villains were awesome! As a huge fan of the Alien franchise I greatly enjoyed the Space Jockey-esque presentation of Ultima, and the amount of incredulous feats performed by Barnabas will surely see him held as a franchise great in the long run. 8/10. Very good game. I'm glad to have played it. To have spent so long playing it, in particular. Comparing it to recent arrivals, it took me 16 days to finish Tears of the Kingdom with a final time of about 54 hours, whereas for FFXVI the credits rolled with a final time of about 46 hours and a journey length of a month and a half. I didn't necessarily love the game, yet that sense of fighting upward against it at times and slowly coming to appreciate its stylistic decisions made it rewarding to fall so in love with the characters and narrative climax. And while it may ultimately then come up short compared to a different game which I love and feel is an exciting experience from the get-go, it's always these instances of fighting against the tide in games such as Breath of Fire 3 or Valkyrie Profile that end up becoming some of the most memorable gaming sessions for me.

Also obligatory Xeno bias points. Tales of Arise was Xenogears. Harvestella was Xenogears. Xenoblade 3 was Xenogears. Final Fantasy XVI is also very much Xenogears. JRPGs are just Xenogears nowadays it seems. This is the opposite of a problem.

The Shallies were both very compelling leads and it was great to finally see Ayesha, Keithgriff and Odelia return. fantastic finale which finally brings the Dusk saga's post-apocalyptic melancholia into full view. I didn't expect to hear a track as somber and twisted as Narcolepsist in a Gust game other than Blue Reflection, but it makes sense that if it were to be anywhere in Atelier it would be Shallie's final dungeon. Great game. I love Atelier.

It is downright unbelievable how lush they managed to make Crisis Core look, and it providing much-needed fixes to the DMW system instantly raise the game’s score. Beyond that, it’s near 1:1 to the original game so my previous review still stands. An awkward script leads the dialogue to suffer, the effect of which is heightened now that the graphics so heavily resemble Remake, but the main party of Zack, Sephiroth, Aerith and the Turks are charismatic enough to assuage those woes in the moment-to-moment cutscene experience. If I had any reservations about the Remake voice cast left this chapter surely quelled them. The new Zack honestly isn’t all that bad, so I’m able to appreciate without issue how the voice direction and models highlight Sephiroth’s old friendliness so much better than the original.