13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

It’s pretty hard to classify this game within a singular genre, but I’ll use my regular metrics for this review. I don’t think people should be so close-minded for placing things in a specific genre either, but that is just my opinion. On that note, this is a very special game, so everyone should try it out, even just for the experience. The experience is so special that even I’d have a hard time spoiling this game in this review!

Gameplay – 9/10
+ Very unique battle system, and it is pretty fun even if it is not the main feature of the game so to speak. No one would really tell anyone to play this game for the battle system, but it does its job well.
+ Tower defense based gameplay where you’re forced to switch out your party members due to fatigue makes you adapt your strategy. Even though Sentry Guns are definitely overpowered, you still have to use the other members from time to time, and the difficulty does go up by the end so you need to learn the systems a little bit by the end, even if most of the fights are pretty simple.
= Outside of combat, it’s a typical side-scroller for story beats and text, but the atmosphere is always excellent.

Visuals – 9.5/10

+ This game is really nice to look at, the art style is stylized perfectly and the character art and backgrounds are so well made, as expected of a Vanillaware title.
+ The animations are also superb in the side-scroller sections, and there’s always enough weight to the each animation so you can experience the right sort of emotion for what each character is experiencing.
– In some of the fight sections, it’s not always too easy to see what’s going on due to mob designs blending into one another, but it’s a minor detail.

Story – 10/10

+ One of the best Sci-Fi stories we have, not only in gaming but in general. Once you start to piece things together it makes you feel great as the player too, as the storytelling isn’t linear at all. The non-linear story telling might feel confusing, but it is a great strength in this game as you can invest heavily into a character’s story or spread it out. Also, you can mix things up when you want different story beats.
+ All thirteen main characters were used quite well, and each story had a different feeling to them. It was always interesting to see the other characters being used in different ways than what you were used to when you played as them and trying to figure out how they get to that point.
+ Talking about the story more would take several pages for me, so it’s much better for me to say there’s something for everyone in this game.

Content – 8.5/10
+ Thirteen stories with thirteen fleshed out characters is an impressive feat. I didn’t feel like any of the characters were particularly underdeveloped either, even the NPCs.
+ Technically there are infinite battles in the postgame, if that’s your thing which is pretty neat.
= Definitely enough content to fit the game, but not a lot of side content at all, not that it’s necessary at all.

Music – 10/10

+ This game’s OST is just stellar. In terms of atmosphere, there’s a track to set the tone in every scene. For battles? Absolute bangers only, including (ISOLEUCINE) above which is definitely one of the most iconic tracks in the game. I even bought the official remix album because I couldn’t have enough of the music in this game. It definitely can feel like an OST for a cinematic movie experience, but the strong melodies are easy to find and the music can take the center stage at any time.
+ As an example of atmospheric: Impending Doom, you hear this and you know things are about to hit the fan. Or a personal favorite of mine, Halcyon Days— where you listen to it and you feel like everything is going to be fine.
+ Of course, I have to talk about Seaside Vacation. If you like city pop, this is a must listen, catchiest song ever. This song is just amazing on it’s own, but having the full context of it in game and realizing when it plays are always highlights of this game.
+ Other favorites include: Brat Overflow, (VALINE), (LEUCINE), (LYSINE), (PHENYLALANINE), Voyage to Tomorrow, (EDGE OF THE FUTURE)

Extra Notes
+ I just want to note how much this game takes advantage of gaming as a medium for storytelling, it would be hard to pull this sort of game off in any other media because of how you need to play each character from their perspective to get the most out of it. If someone were to tell me to find an example of gaming as an art form, I’d definitely pull this game up as an a fine example of it.

47/50

Silverae Notes
– Ryoko is my favorite character by far, I just felt so bad for her.. I also really liked Nenji and Miura’s stories though, Nenji’s was a blast to play and the setting for Miura’s arc was so different from all of the other stories.
– Seaside Vacation was really stuck in my head for months even after I beat this game..
– It’s definitely one of those games you feel hollow after playing, but thankful you got to experience it. Also, the sort of game where you want to wipe your memory and play it again for the first time.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

Spoilers below, please play the Sky trilogy and the Crossbell duology as well as the three Cold Steel games for maximum enjoyment. They are all excellent games in their own right, so don’t treat it as a timesink and just enjoy yourself.

Gameplay – 10/10
+ Pretty much the same as Cold Steel III, but with a few changes. The biggest for me was probably the addition of sub-master quartz being available on multiple people, which opens build flexibiility a ton.
+ Party compositions in this game make for some wild fun, and some of the forced parties especially in the early sections really match the story thematic of struggling. Some of the best boss battles come out of this, looking at the Act I boss fights.
+ Arts come back into relevance after Cold Steel III, which also leads towards more battle strategies which I’m about.
+ Mech battles in this game actually are so fun and don’t feel as much like stat-checks from previous games.
= Not so much a complaint, but brave orders aren’t made equal in this game with break being severely nerfed and guest party members not being able to upgrade their brave orders so your party eventually outscales them.

Visuals – 8.5/10

+ The game looks essentially as clean as Cold Steel III, with some of the new characters having some nice craft animations. Some of the S-Craft animations are at the peak of the series, notably Vorpal Slayer and Breaking Dawn.

Story – 9.5/10
+ I really liked the story, thought it was a fitting end to the Erebonia arc and all the major villains were done justice in some way. The high points such as the Pantagruel intermission, as well as the Rivalries which had been built up for so long were really fun.
= The game suffers from cast bloat, but whether or not that matters to you is up to you ultimately. While this game didn’t do as much for character development, it did push the series forward and each of the characters had enough time to grow in prior games in my opinion, so it didn’t bother me much.
= Some parts of the game may feel slowed down (Act 2), or unnecessary (sidequests), although without the politics and side events, it wouldn’t really be a Trails game. I didn’t mind Act 2 at all, and thought some of the fights were pretty fun, considering you fight some characters you haven’t been able to for the past 3 games.
= I also didn’t really mind the curse of Erebonia, although I can understand why some people did.

Content – 9/10
+ This game is long and has a lot of content, although I didn’t feel put off by a lot of it. Rewards are nice as well for what you complete, and there is payoff. It felt like CS2 done right, imo.
+ I liked the new areas they added into the game, made the map of Erebonia feel complete. A nice breath of fresh air from CS2 where the only new area was Ymir too.
– Obviously there are some dud sidequests, but not everything can hit.

Music – 9/10
= Really interesting soundtrack, with some really really good songs, and some songs that fall really flat.
+ All of my favorite Sonoda tracks really fit with the circumstances they were in. Saint-Gral Labyrinth is one of my favorite starting dungeon openers. While I’m not the biggest fan of the CS4 theme, I appreciate how it appears as a leitmotif in songs like Seductive Shudder, which is probably Singa’s best work in this game. Unisuga is the GOAT, as usual. Burning Throb has to be one of the best battle themes in the series in a series with amazing battle themes. Constraint is a perfect follow-up to Law of the Battlefield. Bonds -Relations- is a really hard hitting title theme track that still has the Erebonia percussion feel at 1:30~. Rivalry of the Seven -Excellion Krieg-, has to be my favorite song in this OST though, it’s so perfect for the rivalries with Jindo’s grand composition style. I feel like I have to mention Majestic Roar for it’s excellent usage of the Heimdallr motif that has been in the series since Sky 3. Unisuga’s credits theme is probably my favorite credits theme of all time, I tear up everytime I hear it.
+ Sonoda: A Changing World -From the Depths of Darkness-, Eryn, the Hidden Village, Saint-Gral Labyrinth
+ Singa: Seductive Shudder, Synchronicity #23
+ Unisuga: Burning Throb, Constraint, Lyrical Amber, Bonds -Relations-, Finale -Radiant Hope-
+ Jindo: Rivalry of the Seven -Excellion Krieg-, To the Future.

Extra Notes
+ Vantage Masters/Pom were both fun. I enjoyed the enhanced VM experience a lot! (+1)

47/50

Silverae Notes
– At the moment of writing this, I have finished Hajimari’s (or Reverie’s) main story, but this game still did a better job at making me miss C7 as the main focus. Listening to the credits theme with all the CGs made me super sad that it was all over, so thanks Falcom for the good times.
– Ending with Olivier and Schera’s marriage was perfect, a treat to witness after playing through 9 games. The way Falcom treats it’s side characters is so lovely.
– Really wish they made Estelle a bit better in combat 😦
– THANK GOD CROW IS PLAYABLE LIKE THE WHOEL GAME THANK U FALCOM ALSO THANK U FOR KLAUDIA

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

Played through the entire game on stream here.

Personally believe that this IS the definitive edition of the game, and should be played over Wii/3DS if possible.

Gameplay – 7.5/10

+ Really enjoyed the fact that they added the ability to see when your attacks were effective, considering some models are hard to read, aggro switches can be quick, and the camera can be a bit wonky.
= Combat still feels pretty barebones, nothing amazing about it but it doesn’t detract from the experience either.

Visuals – 9.5/10

+ This remake is beautiful, the cutscenes are still as good as ever, but are made even better. The environments are so pretty now, comparing Alcamoth in Wii/3DS to this was ridiculous, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Future Connected cutscene direction looked even better, and the Bionis Shoulder was also beautiful.
+ My favorite areas visually would be Satorl Marsh, Eryth Sea, and Mechonis Field.

Story – 9/10

+ Strong plot driven story, carried by some pretty big twists. Some parts are pretty linear, but the overall theme is carried the entire way through.
+ I really enjoyed the more slice of life stuff from Future Connected, as I believed the Fallen Arm segment of the main game was also very well done.

Content – 10/10

+ This game has such a ridiculous amount of things to do, it’d be a crime not to rate it so highly. Lots of things to collect, lots of things to do, hefty story content. The fact that I’ve played through the game this many times and am still noticing new things is a very good sign.
+ Addition of Future Connected and a very strong level in Bionis Shoulder just pushes it over the top for me, it’s so good.

Music – 10/10

+ Ability to choose between the Original OST and the Remastered one is such a nice option.
+ I really love the OST for this game, it’s so wonderful and all the composers did a great job.
+ Yoko Shimomura: Main Theme, Prologue B, Unfinished Business, Shulk and Fiora, Colony 9, Time to Fight!.
+ ACE+: Engage the Enemy (Original), Gaur Plain, An Obstacle in Our Path, Valak Mountain, Valak Mountain (Night), You Will Know Our Names, Mechonis Field, Mechanical Rhythm, Agniratha, Mechonis Capital, Time to Fight (Bionis’ Shoulder), Fog Beast Battle.
+ Manami Kiyota: In the Refugee Camp, Satorl Marsh, Satorl Marsh (Night), Forest of the Nopon, Eryth Sea, The Fallen Land.
+ Things I liked from the remastered tracks. Remastered Engage the Enemy is so beautiful from 2:40 onwards.. the new strings in the Colony 9 remaster are sublime as well. The Time to Fight! remaster actually made me enjoy the battle theme so much more than the original. I miss the kick drums from the original Gaur Plain, but the rest of the remastered version is better. The key change in Obstacle in Our Path was interesting, but I think the rest of the song got so much better. The added bass in Satorl Marsh (Day). The vocals in Eryth Sea boosted that song to one of my favorites. The instrument quality in Mechanical Rhythm..

Extra Notes

46/50

Silverae Notes

– One of my favorite things ever about this game is the cutscene direction, the choreography with themes like Engage the Enemy is just so good.
– This is my 3rd time playing through this game, I’ve played all 3 versions and have 100%’d it twice, and I’m still grateful I got to play this version, thank you Monolith Soft so much.
– I used to actually not like Shulk & Fiora for the beginning string sounds, but 1:17 onwards gives me chills everytime, I love that section so much.
– Seeing Seven show up during Prison Island made me tear up so much, and Seven wasn’t even one of my favorite characters the first times I played through the game. Just couldn’t believe what I was playing, and they looked so good too.
– Favorite characters are Reyn, Dunban, Melia, Kallian! I really liked Kino and Nene too, I thought they were such cute additions.
– So happy FC existed to help Melia’s character arc and Tyrea’s as well. Seeing her mature so much in a year and get over Shulk to be her own strong character was so fulfilling. Too bad they didn’t explain the rift.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Please play the Sky trilogy before playing Zero, folks. Played with the great Geofront patch, please support those guys.

Gameplay – 9/10

+ Slot upgrading and opening slots means you start right from zero, but obtain progression quickly which is rare in a first entry in a Trails arc.
+ Both crafts and arts are utilized well, and boss battles are super fun.
= Something I found interesting was how little the ATS stat mattered as opposed to actually having the strongest spells in the game, so I can imagine people that didn’t understand the line system well might have struggled.
– Battles without preemptive strike take way too long and aren’t really a struggle either so it can feel a little annoying not getting the preemptive strike.

Visuals – 8/10

+ Sprite art is nice and cute, and crafts and S-Crafts have nice visuals.
+ You can tell they worked really hard on backgrounds this time around, Zero is a really pretty game looking at the backgrounds. Probably why you couldn’t change the camera angle in this game haha.
+ Animations were also quite impressive at times.. see the entire Arc-en-Ciel show.

Story – 10/10

+ The classic strength of a Legend of Heroes game, but Zero’s story is seriously phenomenal. I really like the detective/police angle they spin on the classic story, and it really feels like a high-stakes game at all times, even for the smaller missions.
+ All the characters are there for a reason, and the SSS is an unforgettable group of 4, even if I haven’t played Azure/Ao yet, it just makes me want to know more of their story.

Content – 9.5/10

+ There’s so much to do in this game, including little optional events that are just there for world building. The only pain about sidequests is how much walking you have to do, but it’s all worth it in the end.
+ Lots of quartz setups to try out for gameplay, and fishing and cooking are both rewarding if done. Small point is you kinda need to spec someone for field stuff though.

Music – 10/10

+ Falcom JDK really did an insane job with this game. The music sets the mood so well in all the scenes and adds a Crossbellan flair to the game, I would say.
+ Notable tracks include Scene of a Street Corner, C.S.P.D. – Crossbell State Police Department, Geofront, Get Over The Barrier!, Special Support Section, Arrest the Criminal!, St. Ursula Medical College, Crossing the Iron Bridge, Formidable Enemy, Someday Surely, and of course Zero no Kiseki.
+ Scene of a Street Corner made me so happy to walk around Crossbell City.. and everytime I saw a monster chest I got excited to hear Arrest the Criminal. CSPD and Special Support Section were perfect mood setters for me.
+ St. Ursula Medical College feels reminiscent of the past, which really fits Lloyd meeting Cecile after 3 long years. I’m pretty sure I teared up every time Someday Surely played. Zero no Kiseki is the perfect climax song, and also a great menu screen theme. It’s also such a great leitmotif, for other songs like Crossing the Iron Bridge.
+ If I type up something about the whole OST you and I would be here forever, so just do yourself a favor and play the game and listen to the tracks.

Extra Notes

46.5/50

Silverae Notes

– The thematic in this game was so strong.. I was really surprised at how competent the SSS and Lloyd were, but for each of them there were circumstances preventing them from moving forward even if they were talented and this game was all about them moving forward in their own ways. Even for the Sky cast that showed up in this game.
– I can’t believe Falcom was gonna skip Crossbell and go straight into Erebonia and they came up with a game this good honestly.
– Watching Arc-en-Ciel in game was kind of like how I felt watching a performance outside, that was pretty special honestly.
– This game was really good at making you feel like the SSS were in deep shit sometimes. A lot of games don’t make me feel like the events that happen in game was actually high stakes scenarios, so I thought that was pretty special.
– Still surprised Joshua fell for Randy’s trap in the chase sequence.
– Joshua looks pretty weird though, seriously.
– I really like the SSS, Noel, and Dudley.

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim

Gameplay – 8/10

+ Felt pretty straight forward for the most part, but bosses were fun besides Orjugan who I didn’t know how to fight properly, and even then I fought it incorrectly probably just by deflecting it’s missiles lmao.
= Additional sword techniques like the charge fire slash or the tornado comboes were nice, but it kinda felt like they weren’t really necessary to actually use most of the time.
+ Solid YS gameplay, but not enough skill expression imo for the system which is a little unfortunate, but still fun.
– Some stuff feels a little stat-checky based on your equipment/levels, I wish this game wouldn’t let you do 0 damage and let you do 1 or something.

Visuals – 6/10

+ Environments were nice.
= I feel like otherwise, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at.

Story – 5/10

+ Again, not a whole lot to talk about here, though it is nice to see the continuation of Adol’s story.
+ A short, simple story to round off the gameplay. Geis was an interesting character at the very least.

Content – 6/10

+ A couple of optional bosses and sidequests here and there. Dungeons had hidden passages and hidden stuff to see, some of it pretty hard to find.
= Game content wasn’t very long though itself, my Steam clocked in around 10-11 hours.

Music – 9.5/10

+ I really love Ys 6’s OST though. It’s a good mixture of fast paced energetic music, and good adventuring music.
+ The first song you hear on the island is Gratitude for Nature’s Blessings, and it’s just such a relaxing song.
+ Quatera Woods is the perfect exploration music as well, to me. It’s one of my favorite field themes in any game.
+ Other personal favorites from this soundtrack would include Mighty Obstacle, Ultramarine Deep, The Ruined City ‘Kishgal’, and of course Ernst.

Extra Notes

34.5/50

Silverae Notes

– Ernst fight was definitely the highlight of this game imo. For someone who comes in only near the end of the game, he sure knew how to make an entrance.
– Dash jumping was neat but it really was annoying to do platformer puzzles that you’d have to repeat if you fell off, not to mention the amount of hidden stuff locked behind dash jumping in-between like 4 pillars. Not really sure how one is supposed to figure that out without a guide.
– I didn’t play the PS2 version of this game, but I wanted to give a shoutout to Konami’s team for adding Alma’s Trials, I’ve always really loved this song and wanted to play Ys VI cause of it.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

Gameplay – 9/10

+ Brave Order system was really fun, albeit probably a little broken. Gave more usage to the BP the first two Cold Steel games introduced though, so you had to meter manage a little more instead of just mashing burst/rush.
+ Break system was neat, although using burst to rush break was a little broken. Still, it wouldn’t be Trails without seeing how broken you can make your party! Bosses should have recovered a lot faster, but other than that, the battle system felt really great compared to previous Cold Steel entries.
= Some of the monster fights felt like they dragged on due to high HP bars that you couldn’t get through without breaking them, and as a result I stopped doing every monster encounter.

Visuals – 8.5/10

+ Animation quality went up a huge amount since CS1 and 2, I’m proud to see Falcom working hard on touching stuff up.
+ The environments were pretty nice, honestly I loved a lot of it, but they could do a little more with their fields.
+ Some S-Crafts were really nice to watch–like Gaius’ Howling Heavens.

Story – 10/10

+ This game was fucking insane lmao. The amount of setup it had was pretty ridiculous, and the buildup from CS2 finally paid off considering how much filler it felt like CS2 had.
+ All the new characters they added were really lovely and the returning characters from the past series were treated quite well.
+ Seeing Rean as an instructor and seeing him not struggle in fights was such a good feeling after the first two games, he’s really grown up.
+ The way they finally tie all the arcs together is some huge fanservice, but all the characters feel like they’re there for a purpose.

Content – 10/10

+ This game had so much in it actually, from the main story to sidequests to just collection stuff. I also found that the content in the game didn’t drag on at all like how I feel sometimes with longer games, and that most of the content added to the game universe in some way.

Music – 9.5/10

+ Falcom JDK does it again, although I don’t think this is their strongest OST, it’s still a Falcom OST.
+ Singa is definitely not up to par with the other two composers, but I’m not that nitpicky. His work on Beyond the Journey, Step Ahead, Cheap Trap, Brilliant Escape.
+ Sonoda seemed to do a lot of field themes, personal favorites are Briefing Time, Power or Technique, Hamel -Remains-, The Caged Crossbell, Raquel, the Amusement Town.
+ Unisuga’s a god. Anything this guy makes is literally amazing. Favorites include Einhel Keep, Brave Steel, Start Line, Endless Possibilities, Saint-Arkh, the Old Capital, Lift-off!, Erosion of Madness, Ordis, the Azure Port Town, Spiral of Erebos.
+ Brave Steel might be my favorite regular battle theme in the series. It’s definitely up there with Determination of Fight.
+ I usually don’t stay on title screens very long anymore, but Start Line was so good it kept me there.
+ Every time Power or Technique came on I’d get pretty hyped ngl. I’m happy they got a chance to work with saxophones on stuff like the Raquel theme as well.
+ The chase scenes with Brilliant Escape were so funny, but also fun to watch.

Extra Notes

= Quartz usage was minimal, I didn’t have to craft a single quartz the entire game. I guess it’s for people who don’t do sidequests or don’t hunt all the treasure like me though.
+ The game was quite optimized, it was really nice to enter an encounter and have it instantly swap to a battle screen.

47/50

Silverae Notes

– Having Machias, Juna, and Sara in the same party was hilarious for accel chains. Sara’s Brave Order wasn’t balanced for sure.
– It’s crazy how important the Hundred Days War and the Hamel incident still are even this late into the series, it really makes me wonder how they had all of this setup since the start. Also it’s a huge treat to us Sky fans.
– I had a huuuuuuge smile on my face when Blue Destination started playing.
– Randy’s a bro.
– Visiting Hamel was a crazy throwback with the Hamel theme playing.. I tripped out crazy hard having Agate in the party too.
– The cuts to black fucking ended me, so I can’t believe they did it to me twice.. Kondo pls.
– I ended up liking the new Class VII more than I thought. I thought going in that I’d like Kurt, Musse, and Altina the most, but Juna and Ash grew on me so much. I hope Kurt gets to punch Cedric in the face though.
– Voice work on this game was splendid.
– The fade to black with shudder sound during CH4 gave me a heart attack honestly, it was so well done.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

Gameplay – 8/10

The opening cutscene is super cool imo.

+ Had a lot of fun with this entry in battle sequences.
+ Anyone can learn any skill tree, allows for a lot of flexibility. I especially liked how Void options were just party nulls but you can only apply one at a time.
+ Lots of strategies for fights, and you can’t cheese your way to an early power charge or good attack all the time.
– I enjoy 4 press turn sequences more than 3, but only a minor nitpick.
– Lategame ailments were pretty bad in this game.

Visuals – 8/10

+ Cutscene fluidity was actually super cool in this game. The opening cutscene was one of my favorite parts of the game actually.
+ Standard SMT fare locales and demon designs.
+ Battle animations are fast so even if you get into a lot of encounters the game speeds by pretty quickly.

Story – 8/10

+ The story had an interesting premise for sure, but it was pretty barebones as well.
+ The characters were quite interesting and had their own motivations.
= Fighting each faction is pretty standard RPG fare.
– A lot of setup and unanswered questions so the story feels unfinished until DDS2.

Content – 7.5/10

+ Game was the perfect length to me, had enough content and ended before it’d get boring.
+ Skill progression was neat and tidy.
– Some sidequests and bosses were a little annoying or felt a little uninspired.

Music – 7.5/10

+ Meguro at it again with another quite good OST. Track list is a bit on the smaller spectrum though.
= Dungeon themes were pretty standard, but battle themes were great.
+ Standouts in this OST to me were Muladhara, Hunting, Hunting – Comrades.
+ I love Hunting so much that for being the games only standard battle theme it never got old. It’s so mellow for a battle theme it makes me feel right at home.

Extra Notes

39/50

Silverae Notes

– I really hate how status effects are balanced in this game. I’d sometimes just get stunned on purpose and not cure it because it was better to be stunned than to have any other status ailment.
– I liked Gale and Cielo the most for characters. I found it interesting how Gale wasn’t part of the “main” group that was in the alternate universe.
– Favorite dungeon was the castle with the story about the Evil and Good Prince. It felt so strange for a SMT game but it set the tone for that area very well with Heat and Serph’s dynamic at that point.

Ys I & II Chronicles

Gameplay – 5/10

+ YS1 Bump system was quite fun. Dark Fact was a challenging boss and every run of it is different.
– YS1 felt a little level gated with how much damage you gain per level and the HP you get.
– YS2 magic was overwhelmingly strong and broke the game for sure, as soon as you get the homing upgrades there’s not much of a point to fighting things normally.

Visuals – 4/10

+ Environments looked pretty nice.
– A lot of the samey areas or areas that felt similar.
= Not many animations as you basically just run into things.

Story – 3/10

= The books of YS and their descendants were an interesting concept at least.
+ Reah and Feena being recurring and seeing the faces from YS1 in YS2 again was cool.
– Nothing really interesting about it though.

Content – 5/10

– Very short games.
+ Some neat sidequests that are hidden here and there or items you can get.
= Low level caps mean you can’t grind yourself out of an undesirable situation. Some fights can remain hard if you aren’t prepared.

Music – 8/10

+ Not Falcom’s best work, but definitely has some good tracks. Bless JDK.
+ Notable tracks include First Step Towards Wars, Tower of the Shadow of Death, Dreaming, Tender People.

Extra Notes

= Some funny stuff in this game, like sleeping in other girl’s beds or sizing them up. Adol is quite the guy, even way back.

25/50

Silverae Notes

– I actually wanted to play this entry eventually especially because of the Zanmai version of First Step Towards Wars.

Tales of the Abyss

Gameplay – 7.5/10

+ This game is considered the blueprint for future Tales of games, sporting free run and the HP/TP system. AI isn’t too challenging with free run though, and the game does just have better artes for certain characters (Void Tempest, Rending Thrust, etc).
+ Boss battles were fun, especially the six God Generals, All 6 characters were pretty fun to play at times as well.
– Higher difficulties can be statchecky at times, see Unknown mode Liger Queen.

Visuals – 7.5/10

– Bad framerate makes things look choppy.
+ Some artes/FOFs are pretty cool looking, but overall leave a lot to be expired. Jade’s spells are a highlight.
– Models and animations outside of battle seem choppy or slow.
+ General art assets are fine.

Story – 9.5/10

+ I really enjoyed all the characters in this game, they all have their own motivations for what they do, including the antagonists.
+ Sidequests bolster the amount of lore and backstory between characters like Tear and Legretta, or even minor characters.
+ The world is pretty well built, Auldrant has some really neat lore behind it.
+ I really think life being bound to prophecy and religion was an interesting concept and it was executed well in this game. It was really interesting how the characters fell into the prophecy and the decisions they took regarding their own destinies.

Content – 8/10

= There is always a lot to do in the story, although it doesn’t always feel fulfilling.
+ A lot of sidequests that are meaningful. Jewel of Gardios, Cecile/Frings, and various costumes are nice to have. I like how every playable character has their own artes sidequest line as well.
– Lots of backtracking.

Music – 4/10

= Standard Motoi Sakuraba fare of music. Some really boring music like the Baticul sewers but some pretty good music at times. Motoo Fujiwara’s contributions to the game are very enjoyable though.
+ Standouts include mirrors, finish the promise, abyss.

Extra Notes

+ FOF circles were the gimmick in this game, they actually make the game way more enjoyable in combat. (+1)
+ Multiplayer was good in this game, the camera zooms out further the more players you have. Doing the Arena Team Exhibition Battle with my sister was really a highlight of my younger years. (+1)

38.5/50

Silverae Notes

– Loading times are pretty bad.
– I love this game despite the lower score, I played it a ton with my sister and I have a lot of nostalgia for this game, but replaying it kinda let me see it’s flaws as well. It’s really fun to play with someone.
– Sunlight Chamber on Guy is super fun.
– I like Jade, Guy, and Tear a lot.

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology

Gameplay – 8.5/10

+ This game has a pretty unique grid based battle system, and it’s pretty enjoyable.
+ Endgame combat has some really big highs, like 10 turns in a row with turn break and crazy damage multipliers from Rosch’s 7 hit/Gafka’s 9 hit combo. I had a lot of fun with this system, the highs are super high but the lows are pretty low too. Stacking enemies with positionals is pretty fun though.
+ Character usability is great in this game, every character has a niche they perform, and even Stocke doesn’t have the most amazing MC privilege like some MCs do, but he is still very strong.
– Party experience isn’t quite split evenly which always bothers me.
– It doesn’t teach you the system or what combos do very efficiently, and fighting mobs without AoE/speed/all positionals at the start of the game is kinda not good (Sand Fortress).

Visuals – 7.5/10

+ Nice sprites all with distinct animations. It’s funny how Raynie and Marco use similar animations to regular mercs, but I guess they are regular mercs but a bit stronger. Stocke’s sword flashing and Eruca’s gun animations standout quite well.
= Pretty regular portrait art and map design.

Story – 10/10

+ Honestly? I had such a good time with the writing and characters in this game. Time travel plots are really enjoyable to me if done well, and this wasn’t any exception.
+ The characters are all written very well and aren’t one dimensional and have their own lives apart from the MC, including NPCs. They all have their own reasons for doing the things they do, and I found that pretty refreshing.
+ There was always something interesting keeping me in the story, even if one timeline was boring at a time, the other one was interesting during that timespan, and the ending is easily one of the best I’ve seen to a JRPG.

Content – 9/10

– I’m a little iffy on the stuff they added in the Perfect Chronology version… especially the extra ending.. (Hugo? Protea? ????) but it is more content, I just don’t know if it’s actually good content.
+ The base game has a plethora of content, and some of the sidequests contribute to a true ending which is nice, they don’t feel just like fetch quests. Everything you do feels rewarding.
+ Each character has a sidequest that nets them more abilities which is nice, no character is valued over the other.

Music – 7/10

= A lot of music that is just befitting to the area that isn’t too memorable.
+ That being said, Shimomura did make some bangers this game, notably Mechanical Kingdom, Blue Radiance, The Edge of Green, and The Garden Where the Celestite Lies.

Extra Notes

+1 for that ending, jeez.

43/50

Silverae Notes

– Master Vainqueur has to be one of the worst optional boss fights I’ve ever played.. please don’t have optional bosses you do 1 damage to even at endgame.
– I find it interesting how they updated the portrait art from the original DS game..
– I didn’t actually learn combos increased combo damage significantly until the final chapter lmao.
– I wanted to fight Dias and Selvan so badly..
– Stocke, Rosch, and Raul are the boys. I love Rosch’s relationship dynamic with Sonja. I really appreciate Raul’s cynicism, he’s the sort of character I can really appreciate since it’s not easy to notice what you’re doing wrong is actually wrong in the moment and regress.
– Really enjoyed the atmosphere in this game, some games that include war don’t feel like there are actual battles taking place, but this game has good pacing.
– Funny how Raynie and Marco have the same VA as Io and Daichi from Devil Survivor 2, I got deja-vu right away since I came off of that.