If you're like me and thought "wait, I thought Granblue was a fighting game" then you're right at home here. The more I saw trailers and presentations related to this game, the more it appealed to me as a fairly big RPG fan. What I got was a game that feels like Ys and Monster Hunter had an extremely anime-inspired kid with a hint of musou spice thrown in there for good measure.

The combat in this game is very smooth. Each playable character has their own skills with alternative unlockable ones, giving the player to tailor their chosen character(s) to the playstyle they enjoy the most. Things like perfect dodges, combo attacks with teammates (known as "Link Attacks"), and staggering foes all work in tandem to make fighting easily the biggest selling point of Relink. The story of the game is pretty bog-standard as far as JRPGs are concerned with a fairly short runtime and side content mixed in if that's something you're interested in. Doing said side content rewards the player with skill points, materials, weapons, etc. that all contribute to the growth of their characters.

Once you finish the story, the game effectively shifts to a checklist of quests (which can be completed either solo with AI party members or in online co-op) which feature objectives ranging from defeating a boss to clearing out a given area as quickly as possible. The rewards here are again, character-focused and therefore a lot of your enjoyment of the postgame will hinge on whether or not you enjoy building your favorites up through material grinding in order to face the hardest content the game has to offer.

All in all, I found Granblue Fantasy Relink to be a solid action JRPG that features plenty of nods for existing Granblue fans while also being a relatively easy jumping-on point for those who aren't (like myself). It may not give you $60 worth of content based on whether you choose to engage in the postgame content, but it's certainly worth it for any JRPG fan if you can find it on a sale sometime.

This is one of those games I can’t help but have a ton of respect for after finishing it. As a relatively new Vanillaware fan (Unicorn Overlord was my first title from them) it’s no wonder this game is beloved by so many and I’d say it’s more than earned it’s passionate fanbase.

The prospect of weaving together a narrative of 13 different protagonists to create a cohesive story isn’t something I would’ve ever thought could work as well as it does here, and the fact that it does is extremely impressive. With that said, there are some hiccups with the overall story presented here which frankly was always going to be the case given how ambitious this method of storytelling is.

Most if not all of the protagonists are endearing and have their own standout moments from their own stories, and being able to gradually piece things together in varying orders depending on whose stories you focus on was overall a fun experience that does a great job of getting you attached to the characters themselves. Some were more interesting than others (Minami and Ogata were particularly great) but I’d argue everyone at least had something going for them that kept their respective narratives interesting. I had a few qualms with the ending of the overall plot and felt some aspects were rather convoluted but at the end of the day it’s more than serviceable and accomplishes what it sets out to do.

The combat sections are…fine. You assign members of the team weapons and abilities to fight in squads through strategic mech battles fighting off waves of machines, and its clear that while these sections serve the plot, it isn’t the focus of 13 Sentinels. It works well enough and can thankfully be taken care of relatively quickly if you know what you’re doing, especially given that the battles themselves aren’t particularly difficult.

Overall, Vanillaware made something special here and it’s no wonder that this game has developed such a dedicated following. It isn’t perfect, but the scope of the game combined with its endearing cast of characters makes this a title I’d recommend to just about anyone into narrative-heavy titles.

I had never played a Star Ocean game before this, and needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. I knew of the series but wasn’t sure where to start and this remake gave me a perfect entry point.

First of all, the game is just gorgeous. Everything about the HD-2D style employed here combined with the diorama-esque environments easily make this one of the best looking games to come out of 2023 and arguably the last decade depending on your feelings on the style. The lighting is great, and exploring the world is just a treat knowing every time you find a new area you can see how the art brings it and its inhabitants to life.

The combat is enjoyable, with the game striking a good balance between casters and melee units all wrapped in a fun, action packed bundle. Every character has a unique playstyle giving the player plenty of options on how they want to tackle fights. It feels very Tales-like in the way battles play out with everyone having unique arts and attacks as well as gear to customize them.

I found the story to be decent, but the game really tries to sell its characters to you and mostly succeeds. You’re able to recruit various characters you find in your travels through interactions (most of which are missable), and doing so will often lock you out of recruiting others allowing for replay ability in the future. In theory, you could have a completely different party than another player barring the protagonists which I find to be a neat idea. The cast all has unique personalities and goals that make the game a fun time in in its reasonable 20ish hour runtime (give or take some hours depending on how much side content you do).

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention how much the game encourages you to completely break it with its crafting and talent systems. Characters earn points doing things like battling and completing quests which you can funnel into different skills like Art, Writing, Cooking, etc. Some of these can allow players who know what they’re doing (and honestly those who just mess around with the systems enough) to acquire high level gear, power level their characters and their talents, and plenty of other things that can completely trivialize the experience which most players recognize as a Star Ocean staple.

Overall, whether you’re a fan of the series or not, I’d urge any RPG fans to check this one out. It’s a solid game and one that I think is gonna be considered a modern classic in the coming years.

I’m not a huge fan of tactical RPGs, so I was pretty taken back by how much I enjoyed this game. I was drawn to the art style and decided pretty quickly after trying the demo that I wanted to give the full game a shot.

The visuals in typical Vanillaware fashion are stunning and make watching battles and traversing the map a great time. The characters are wonderfully designed and it makes building your army and viewing their interactions a real treat to behold. The 2D style combined with the detailed environments and settings make the game feel both classic and modern simultaneously which is pretty impressive.

The combat is set up in a way that your units and their formations are the key. Each squad designates a leader and can hold up to 5 units by the endgame, and each of these units interact with one another by utilizing various classes each with their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, you have plenty of your standard archetypes like soldiers, cavalry, archers, mages, clerics, etc. as well as some more advanced ones like flying units, shamans, beasts, and plenty others. The battles play out when squads come in contact with those of your enemies, and the outcome is decided before the fight begins allowing you to strategize which of your squads you send to which locations depending on what you’re facing. It’s very intricate and there’s a lot I won’t go into, but just know it’s a good time and there is a lot of room for skill expression and team building that keep things interesting.

It’s a story about liberation and camaraderie with Alain, a prince setting out to free the kingdoms from an opposing force. You’ll visit a bunch of areas and recruit characters from these nations to join your cause and ultimately face the threat, so the story is pretty bog standard as far as that goes. It’s fun and the characters are mostly well written and keep things moving, but it’s not really the biggest strength here if I’m being honest.

If you enjoy RPGs and beautiful visuals I urge you to give this one a shot, even if you’re like me and generally don’t gravitate toward strategic gameplay. It’s accessible enough to where you shouldn’t have a hard time and features difficulty settings you can switch between at any given time.

A competent, if not repetitive adventure that leaves me wanting more after the great experience that was Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7). Being a spinoff of the main Yakuza series, characters often resemble those from those titles albeit with some occasional spins that fans would likely get enjoyment out of. Combat is standard action fare, with a few options for stances that unfortunately weren't enough to keep me interested. Ultimately, I'm sure I could have pressed on and finished the title but I wasn't quite having enough fun to justify doing so.

Right off the bat, this game is phenomenal. As someone who was originally a Breath of the Wild critic, I finally managed to get into that title shortly before the release of TotK which convinced me to give this one a purchase. Little did I know it would end up being the reigning frontrunner for GOTY in my eyes. Everything in this game from the enormous overworld (which manages to stay fresh and interesting despite reusing the map from its predecessor) to the sheer level of creativity the player is encouraged to employ at nearly every turn makes this a title that will be remembered for years to come just like BotW has been since its release. The expanded narrative coupled with the seemingly endless amount of content packed into this make it not only worth of its $70 price tag, but a game I would consider a must own for any Switch owner, even those unfamiliar with the series (although playing BotW would likely a be a good idea beforehand).

Rebirth
There’s a lot I could say about this game. I’ll get this out of the way now though: it didn’t disappoint. They managed to take the Remake formula that was already given high praise and improve it in just about every way. Having more room to play around with game mechanics and story beats solely due to us being free of Midgar adds so much to the experience, and while I think there were some hiccups here and there in the transition to a semi-open world format, it really does feel like they’ve made something special here.

Let’s start with what works. The regions themselves are all diverse and I think they managed to capture all the locations in this part of the story from the original very well. Some standouts were Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon which both felt a lot livelier than they did in 7. The combat in this game just feels like it got a face lift from Remake that I didn’t even realize it needed until I played it. The introduction of Synergy attacks/abilities and the addition of things like aerial and (limited) ranged options coupled with the new party members was very refreshing and makes Remake feel almost ancient in some ways even though it’s no slouch in that regard.

Something else it did really well was the characterization and making previously lacking or uninteresting characters feel truly alive with how they’re portrayed here. I continuously sing the praises of one character as the poster child for that, Yuffie, as compared to her original portrayal she’s just so much more of a presence here. Going from optional party member in the original to not only being a staple of the gang, but one who is both full of personality and has a ton of relevance to the overall story just feels so amazing. She had arguably some of my favorite scenes in the game and her combat style made her a mainstay in my party at basically all times. Plenty of other characters got more attention than OG 7 gave them also and I hope to see that carry over into the finale.

The story here is probably going to be the most divisive aspect, particularly the final few chapters and how the narrative was handled to set up the third game. There were plenty of things throughout the game that either played out differently than the original or were added/removed and I would imagine purists would probably hate that about Rebirth but I personally found most of the changes to be positive. There were a few things about the ending specifically I’ve gone back and forth on but for spoiler reasons I’ll leave that for another day I think. Overall though I’d say the narrative did a great job of capturing most if not all of the iconic moments from this middle section of OG 7 and I’m excited to see where they’re going with all of this given what the implications of this and Remake seem to be hinting at.

As for the bad, there wasn’t a ton but I did have some gripes. A big one for me was the pacing. It wasn’t bad necessarily but I’d be lying if I said some of the chapters in this game felt like they dragged on just a bit too long and had certain aspects of padding like chapter specific mechanics and some forced crawling segments (which those last couple chapters were particularly bad about). Another thing was the sometime bloated-feeling open world. I did effectively all of the optional content found in the regions and while I didn’t mind doing it most of the time, there were moments when I realized the sheer amount would be a turnoff for a lot of people who just wanted to experience the story and that’s fine. I’d say overall it’s worth doing but there were a few times when my completionist brain made it hard to justify doing anything main story related before I was done with map exploration in a given chapter. As a side note though, Queens Blood was a great addition and that’s coming from someone who rarely interacts with in-universe board games in most titles like this.

A few other nitpicks I have exist like a few characters feeling somewhat shoehorned in as nonplayable party members near the end of the game, having a bunch of repeated weapon abilities that required mastering again, and some bosses in the latter half of the game having some frustrating attacks to deal with that I’m sure will be a pain and a half to deal with when into Hard mode.

That was a lot I know, and honestly I could keep going but I’m still kind of marinating on my thoughts since beating it last night, but for now I think that about covers it. All in all, a great game I’m glad I got to experience at launch without spoilers and with the collective excitement of others playing it and I’m more than ready to see what they’re cooking for the finale (of which I shudder to consider the scale of given how massive this one was).

If you know anything about Kazutaka Kodaka's previous work, you can probably guess what this one's like. Unlike the Danganronpa series (which I'm a big fan of) though, this story moves away from the death game angle in favor of a detective story in which the protagonist solves mysteries with the help of an overbearing death god and other Master Detectives, each with their own unique abilities. The game is serviceable and will hit a lot of the notes fans of Kodaka's past titles are used to, however the highlights don't quite hit the same peaks as the Danganronpa series. I found the latter half of the story to be much more engaging than the former, and the "Mystery Labyrinth" (which is this game's version of trials) left a lot to be desired at times. The switch also struggles to keep up sometimes which is a shame due to how gorgeous the art style looks in a fully 3D setting. The city the game takes place in is always raining, and really is a looker that I could definitely see being a spectacle on stronger hardware. Overall, if you're a DR fan (or just a fan of mysteries in general), this is a solid pickup.

I knew this game had a fairly mixed reputation going in, but I had heard enough good surrounding it to justify giving it a whirl. What I found was a game that, despite being rough around the edges in plenty of areas, has a lot of heart and soul baked into it. I played the Royal edition which featured DLCs that weren't a part of the base game, and frankly I can imagine the experience feeling incomplete without them. On top of that I know there are multiple pieces of supplemental content such as a movie and a short anime series that provide some insight on the plot which likely make the experience far more coherent than having just played through the story.

The game really shines in the way it portrays the bonds between the four leads and their adventure to fulfill what is ultimately Noctis' destiny. As you play through the game you start to realize these are more than just friends, they're brothers that will do anything for one another no matter how rough things get along the way. The story could've certainly been told better if the aforementioned additional content was all found within the game itself, but what the main plot lacks in substance is made up for in the interactions between the main cast as you drive across landscapes and work through hunts or assisting the locals with whatever tasks they need help with. The DLC episodes also help to strengthen your connection to the characters even more by giving you a deeper look into how each of them feels and what their motivations look like in relation to the others and themselves.

As for some negatives however, there are two big ones that come to mind: Combat and Side Content. In terms of combat, despite a seemingly in-depth skill tree and the ability to swap to the characters not named Noctis (which apparently wasn't in the base game), many of the enemies you face often feel far healthier than they should and many don't experience the level of hitstun you would expect from other games in the action genre. Gear is a bit underwhelming as it's usually just stat-related and doesn't change how you play (barring the absurdly broken Ragnarok DLC weapon that for some reason is given to you immediately), and it leads to combat feeling overall just decent and nothing more.

My issues with side content largely come from the nature of the quests themselves as well as the sheer amount of it thrown at you consistently throughout the game. It's sort of a Catch-22 scenario where not only does a lot of the side content feel like busy work with a somewhat inconsistent fast-travel system being your main mode of transportation, but doing TOO MUCH of the plethora of side content you're offered will frequently cause you to feel overlevelled for the story content. Also, many of the game's most wholesome and fun interactions between the boys come from said side content so you're basically forced to artificially limit your experience at times if the experience boost is something you'd like to avoid. There are ways to circumvent this (such as an accessory that prevents use of EXP, or avoiding using mutlipliers for said EXP as much as possible) but I feel as if this could've been avoided by changing the way side content was handled.

I could probably go on further with both positives and negatives here, but I'll cut it short and just say that even with its issues I would recommend at least giving it a shot at some point if you're even remotely interested. As someone who has recently started gaining more of an interest in Final Fantasy as a franchise I'm glad I experienced it and see just what made it the talking point it is today.

Full disclosure: I've never played Jet Set Radio. I was familiar with it before now through a playthrough years ago that I don't remember well and could recognize it when I saw it, but never got my hands on it despite owning it for a while now on PC. Fast forward to last year I heard about a spiritual successor releasing that looked remarkably similar to the source material. I saw a subset of people very excited and enjoying themselves, but it wasn't until now that I got around to it myself.

First off, the movement in this game is why you play it. Yes, the art style is unique and the soundtrack has more than a few bangers (albeit with some that definitely aren't in there), but the draw here is being able to grind, flip, and spray graffiti while racking up combos and completing whatever goofy events the story has planned for you. And it's a good thing it works because when you manage to land a set of tricks while timing your boosts just right to ensure you don't run out, a pretty satisfying feeling. You have a wide range of characters to choose from (with most being unlockable in the postgame) and most of them have pretty compelling designs that really make you feel like you're playing something from the Dreamcast era reminiscent of the first game.

The story of BRC is pretty out there. Half the time I couldn't help but laugh at what I was reading, and the other half was just going through the motions waiting to see what areas opened up for me to grind around in. It wasn't bad necessarily, but frankly this isn't the kind of game i would fault someone for skipping cutscenes in either. The areas themselves are kind of a mixed bag with some being very enjoyable to both build combos in and take in the sights of, while others weren't anything to write home about. The fast travel system wasn't my favorite either, as sometimes the points you were allowed to travel between weren't very convenient especially when doing cleanup.

Some small things like not having a quick turn option when grinding on rails and none of the characters being unique gameplay-wise were also slightly offputting, but weren't enough to hurt my opinion of the overall experience too much.

I may sound like I'm coming off as overly negative here, but realistically most of the positive aspects of the game kind of speak for themselves in the core gameplay which I think is exactly what it sets out to do. I enjoyed my time with BRC and would definitely be open to playing a sequel in the future, although with SEGA's recent announcements it looks like I might have something else to play to scratch that itch instead whenever it shows up. Hats off to Team Reptile for their work here and I'm excited to see whatever it is they pump out next.

P.S. If you're a completionist, have fun with the basketball achievement.