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I know from all of this it sounds like I don’t care much for Ys: The Oath in Felghana, but that’s not really the case. It firmly exists within the Ys series, and just as last year brought us that magnificent remake of Dragon Quest III, here’s an old-timey classic within the action JRPG genre for the people who appreciate it. Not everything needs to be deep and meaningful, and Felghana certainly isn’t that. But it’s easy to appreciate its place within one of the longest-running and most enduring JRPG properties of all time.
I don’t think anyone who looks at Tokyo Clanpool will be under any illusions about whether it’s for them or not. The game wears its charms on its sleeve and delivers a quality and consistently amusing, if somewhat mechanically standard, dungeon crawler behind it. It’s unfortunate that the “censorship” of a small part of it will cost it within the small niche audience for the game, but just know that it’s a far better game than you might see in the user reviews. They’re upset about the removed elements. What’s left there is highly enjoyable if you’re there for a frivolous, silly, charming and funny dungeon-crawling JRPG, rather than the touch-em-up minigame.
Basically, Xuan-Yuan Sword: The Gate of Firmament, is an older game and suffers from a poor localisation, but there’s a heart and soul in it that is so earnest and honest that it’s very easy to forgive the game its transgressions. Whether it’s the mixing of fantasy, spiritual philosophy and some of the most ancient recorded history, or the engaging combat system and stunning art direction it’s easy to get lost in this adventure, and full credit to EastAsiaSoft for giving us a second chance to play it.
The long-and-short of Fairy Tail 2 is that it’s a perfectly competent JRPG by one of the true specialists of the genre. It’s not going to be remembered as Gust’s finest work, and is more of a play-and-forget experience. This is a year that has given us everything from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to Metaphor, a mind-blowingly good remake of Romancing SaGa 2 and, arguably, the finest Yakuza game yet with Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth. In comparison to all of that Fairy Tail’s by-the-numbers approach will seem routine. But it’s also got all the hallmarks we come to expect from Gust – this is comfort food gaming for JRPG enthusiasts, using strong material well. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
For my mind, though, aside from difficulties in trying to make a mouse-only interface from yesteryear work with a modern controller layout, this is the finest simulator available on the Nintendo Switch.
No video game about collecting dresses is worth more than it would cost to buy the actual dresses in the real world.
IronFall Invasion never needed to leave the 3DS. It was bad enough there thanks to its totally worthless storytelling and generic, bland gameplay. With the Switch it doesn’t even have the distinction of being one of the more technically impressive tech demos on the console. It truly has nothing going for it.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Fantasian was a project designed to give several legends of the JRPG genre closure. By revising their great classic and both modernising and paying homage to it in equal measures, they can look back at their careers with the satisfaction of having completed a full journey of their own. For people that clearly love storytelling so much it’s hard to imagine a better way to finish up.
Farming Simulator remains an excellent experience. It’s educational, in that you’ll walk away with it with an appreciation for what farmers go through so you can eat.
The Devil’s Whisper is so niche that as far as I can tell I’m the first one that’s reviewed it, anywhere. Including user reviews on Steam. It’s a pity that it’s going to fly under the radar like that, because it’s a fun blend of a homage to B-horror movies with its own unique identity. It is also clearly a work that the developers cared about a lot, given the effort that went into designing the narrative and the voice acting. I do think the art has let it down and made it difficult to convert people on the Steam page into buyers, but I recommend looking past that, because this is a decent VN worth your time.
To be frank, here, I don’t think enough was done to make Planet Coaster 2 enough of a sequel. Adding water parks and slides, and more rides in general, were all perfectly rational ways to expand on the Planet Coaster experience, but we’re in an era now where DLC is getting Game of the Year nominations, and I do think that this feels more like a massive DLC drop at 50% of the price of a base game than a new, full-priced game.
Goblin Slayer is a perfectly adequate tactics JRPG that people who have nostalgia for the genre back on the PlayStation will have a particular fondness for. Mileage may be slightly better for the fans of the anime, but even then I think the big problem this game has is that it’s very superficial and shows very little interest in making any kind of statement or point. In other words, it plays exactly like an ‘anime tie-in’ game, and nothing more or less than that.
To fully appreciate it you’ve got to be comfortable with glacial pacing and an earnest attempt to take something that looks like it should be fanservicey and give you something to think about instead. Calibrate your expectations just right and SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky may just surprise you.
Dragon Quest III was a pioneer and was very far ahead of its time. The first Final Fantasy had only been released shortly before this game, yet in terms of storytelling, worldbuilding, and themes, Dragon Quest III was much more sophisticated than Square’s inaugural title. The HD-2D engine is just the cherry on top. Thanks to that, this is one of the best retro remakes I’ve ever played.
If you’re looking, specifically, for a game of Tetris to play then Tetris Forever is probably not the game for you. As certain negative reviews from the gamers have also noted there’s no online multiplayer or leaderboards, which for score attack games is a pretty big issue.
I guess now we need to hope and pray that SEGA, firstly, is rewarded with enough unit sales and, secondly, isn’t put off by the relatively muted response this port got. Yakuza Kiwami is an excellent game, and if this is the start of the entire series making its way to the Switch 2 then it’s still worth having it on the device in the interest of completion. It’s a solid 5-star game that unfortunately is just a bit too much for the Switch to do full justice to.
So, yeah, sure. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an objectively well-made product that is perfectly playable and it’s both empowering and entertaining. But it’s also nothing more than a product, finely tuned for passive consumption, right off the content mill.
To finish with a comparison: A game like Light de Deux highlights what can be achieved when an indie developer properly scopes out their resourcing limitations and works within that. No AI, no case of scope overwhelming the capabilities of the developer. It was a smaller-scale game, but a complete, lovely little thing to actually experience. Lovecraft wrote many smaller-scoped stories and the developers of Innsmouth 22 could have retold. It might have been a better idea for them to work towards Innsmouth 22 over a period of time after first starting with some smaller efforts that would get their creative processes, art assets, and cash flow working first. Sadly first impressions count, and no matter how intriguing the game project, if this developer makes a second I’m going to be much more wary about giving it my time.
I don’t quite think Shin Chan is that bad as Matt makes out, but the tone is jarring, and I do kind of feel that I’d get on just a little better with the core game that’s here without him present – though I’ve little doubt that his presence probably helped shift more than a few copies when Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town first debuted in Japan earlier this year.
Hidden in my Paradise is an exceptional hidden object game that captured my attention for several hours. (And trust me, that is not an easy feat.) You can play whether you have two minutes or two hours to spare. Yes, I have major beef with the controller optimisation or lack thereof, but there is so much to make up for that. The snap aspect, the fine details in the items, the amount of layering of items in the paradises, the art style, the freedom to create levels, and the sheer number of objects have made Hidden in my Paradise a shining example of the genre. I have collected every item and created every snap in every paradise. I have collected every item available. I did the same for the content of the Halloween update. The only thing to do for now is begin anew and hope for more extras!