Alphadia Genesis
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Alphadia Genesis
Alphadia Genesis never strays too far off the beaten path. Keeping in mind that this is a budget eShop title, it's actually quite charming and worthy of its price tag for anyone who considers themselves a fan of old-school, 16-bit JRPGs. Play Pier Solar HD first if you're wanting to fully get that throwback feel, but once that's come and gone, Genesis fills the role quite well. Its biggest issue is how safe it plays everything, but anyone wanting a straightforward approach to the JRPG genre will leave more than likely impressed by Alphadia's endearing simplicity and nostalgic allure.
If you can put up with Alphadia Genesis' liberal use of tired cliches, poor localization, and dissonant presentation, you'll find a fun little JRPG with fast-paced combat and a refreshingly simple customization system. A little more effort on the part of the writers would have gone a long way toward making the narrative and characters less insufferable, but as-is most JRPG fans should be well-versed enough in this banality to look past it and enjoy the game for what it is.
There are a few stumbles here and there, but Alphadia Genesis reflects many smart choices. The story is strong, the characters leave an impression, and the battling has depth. If you're a genre fan looking for a slice of RPG nostalgia, this game has both quantity and quality.
Dear script writers: If your party's reaction to a terrifying building appearing out of nowhere is for all the ladies to dogpile on the main character for fun, you're doing something wrong.
Simple, classic JPG style, fairly generic, developing characters, and with solid non-gamepad controls.
The comfort food of JRPGs, Alphadia Genesis is worth checking out for some classic genre conventions, but not really much else.
Yet despite its weaknesses, Alphadia Genesis doesn't do anything outwardly wrong. It sets out to offer a nostalgic JRPG experience, and it achieves that. It might lack the style and substance of a truly good game, but I can think of worse ways for JRPG veterans to eat away a lazy Sunday or two than this.
There's little reason to recommend 'Alphadia Genesis' to anyone. While both the Wii U and Steam are a bit lacking in JRPG content at the moment, 'Alphadia Genesis skews to close towards mediocre and frustrating to safely scratch the JRPG itch. More and more JRPGS are being released on the Steam platform every week, while the Wii U is getting a nice backlog of classic games with the Virtual Console. With so many other, better options available, 'Alphadia Genesis isn't worth your time or your money.
