wingXblade
2010
Fucking horrible writing and cast (maybe the state of the translation) but holy shit is this one of my favorite action games ever. Tales walking away from how expansive and open-ended this combat system is one may be kusoge's greatest loss.
Very very good and very very charming in the ways that it is slight and rigorous. Also really interesting for assuming an impending fail state vs how the modern games contextualize failing deadlines.
Dull and shuddering port for a game that doesn't recontextualize its predecessor Rorona very well. I want to like it more for still having hard-ish deadlines but I can't come around in this.
2017
A fine social sim hybrid JRPG that wears the reactionary trad-wife trappings of GUST too loudly. The moment to moment is fine but this game has a leery and disingenuous interest in the daily lives of teenage girls that I'm just so fucking over.
A really great middle ground between the modern Atelier model and classic stuff, Ayesha uses character beats and world events along with a time system to simulates the urgency of pass-fail deadlines that litter the franchise's origin. Learning about the world is tender and brutal, magical and frightening, and Ayesha gets that part of the fantasy "nothing happens, play for a bit every day" game down so sublimely.
2002
An absolutely wretched port for a very average game. Maybe my relationship to Lunar would be different if I didn't start here, but I think very little of this franchise, what its world is focused on, and what it has to say.
Very pretty game that overstates it's risk-reward-permaloss system. Oscillates around a het harem without really committing and has no interesting through line to completion.
Good small brain fantasy politics plot with a really demanding tactics game system. Couldn't tell you a damn thing that happens but it was fun enough and certainly delivers on the Dept. Heaven flair.
What if we put more systems on your systems heavy tactics game, and then what if the interface to simply move and command units was a touch input bullet hell? Completely nonsensical as is the trademark of Dept. Heaven project, but damn did they finally get excess right. Delirious and intensely hard, at least watch some high level game play because commercial games will likely never circle back around to whatever the fuck is going on here. Also, sorry to my undergrad roommate if you're reading this, but you're never getting your copy back.
2019
A fucking amazing puzzle game completely overshadowed by, (this is a huge statement considering early SMT) the absolute worst writing ever produced by Atlus.
2010
I like how unconcerned this game is with weaving together a discernable, legible, or dramatic narrative thread at any moment.
Sonic X Ouendan RPG, thanks BioWare
This is maybe mostly exposure but I think Arcade P Diva is extremely weighed down by still using the damn Dualshock button icons. The learning curve isn't particularly hard and I can generally hop into the EXs that I'm comfortable with on console without much warm up, but it's a strange and unecessary move. Diva will always be great though, so it's not a huge hurt to the formula.
I like a lot of what PSO2 brings to the franchise, but it really misreads the sensations of loneliness and solitude that are a huge part of PSO1. But also I like having digi-idols and it fucking rules hanging out on the ship.
The purchase model is fucked but it's just so many damn songs.