These are some of the finest video games ever made, with no hyperbole. The storytelling is absolutely masterful, gripping and enthralling, filled with characters that the audience will fall in love with. Each title filled with magnificent cinematography and choreography, in not just the dramatic FMV sequences, but just as much so in the fights on the streets.
A true spiritual successor and sequel in one. Every little element is instilled with the same wit and comedy as the original, and the mechanics are polished to perfection. The constantly evolving needs of each stage, and the regular requests that pop up as little memos mean this never gets dull, and continually keeps players on their toes. There's easily 20 hours here, and plenty more on replays Anyone who loved Theme Hospital will find their new obsession here.
Arc of Alchemist feels so very dated, it could easily be confused for an early Idea Factory title getting its remaster on Switch… without anything actually remastered. Unremarkable and uninspired, it's a quintessential mindless dungeon-crawling RPG, with no real hook to set it apart. There are a million games out there that do exactly what Arc of Alchemist does, but better in every way.
While the idea of Big Pharma is interesting, and could have the potential to engage some players in many hours of gameplay, the implementation causes this to be not enjoyable. Text that is so small that it is hard to read, alongside with information disappearing and reappearing, are somewhat annoying, so much so that some may decide to give up before even exploring the title's full potential. That along with confusing tutorial instructions, make for a disappointing gameplay overall.
DISTRAINT certainly seems to understand that the things that go bump in the night are less scary than the deep-rooted horrors that you can inflict on yourselves. This surreal-meets-the-mundane short story about a man's descent to metaphorical - and maybe literal - hell will keep you invested in the two and a half hours that the journey will last. Just don't expect any decent gameplay.
Despite its age, obvious budget limitations, and, yeah, lack of popularity, CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE- is a surprisingly fun fighter, with a pretty varied (albeit typical) roster of characters that will to everyone needs.
Even one amongst the games included is very enjoyable to play through, and having two in the package makes it that much better. Despite the huge battles of so many characters, it actually goes quick and, gives a much more chaotic yet satisfying experience rather than the "perfect" style Fire Emblem requires to play. This lacks many newer conventions, like managing relationships, as an example, and feels somewhat aged, but despite all this, it is still fun to play. The bundle is just so polished, that it's hard not to recommend.
The new UI is ugly as sin, and the animation added to the boss sprites is laughably out of place. The new background art is a mixed bag of some decent work and a couple examples of soulless imitation that fails to capture the intent of the original. All of this applies for those who are familiar with the original Romancing SaGa 3. For everyone else, this is an excellent RPG that has a lot of content and replayability. A vast cast of weirdos and miscreants to recruit, and shenanigans to get into await in this saga.
Overpass is a double edged sword by design.
There are some really cool ideas here, and potentially a really good game hidden under a mess that seems like it needed several more months of playtesting and hammering things out. There are just too many things like a lack of polish, a mess of a UI, the camera is hard to control, and bugs/glitches make the experience frustrating. It is sad because, while there are some cool things in here, it simply is not ready for release at this point. It needed way more time actually making sure the core experience is enjoyable, rather than fighting through nearly everything except for enemies.