#i have never played a jrpg i've liked unfortunately.

[styrmwb]

I beat Chrono Trigger

And I beat it like, nearly entirely unspoiled too. For the longest time Chrono Trigger was "The most Styrm game Styrm has never played" and I felt silly cause my super cool ADHD brain never decided it was gonna decide to play it until now (I also had to get it done before FFVII rebirth or it was NEVER gonna happen lmfao) So like, what are my onions?

The game's so fucking good, it stands up so incredibly well that I regret not getting to it sooner. The music, the story, the gameplay, the art (backgrounds and spritework), every single part of this game I absolutely adored. I can MAYBE think of like 2 things I would have changed about the game but they're so minor.

Characters

I loved every single party member. The ones with character felt so alive and enjoyable, and the ones that didn't really have much character were super fun to use in battle. Crono MIGHT be one of the most broken JRPG protags I've played as; I gave him a counter item for the whole game and he would constantly attack with high crits. Marle is one of my favorite characters; being all adventurous and shit, rejecting the stuffiness of royal society but like, not NOT caring? I like it. Plus she was instrumental in having me not die lmfao. Lucca had a really great character arc with Robo and her mother, and blowing shit up was super fun. Speaking of, Robo deserves the entire world; I would die for him. Unfortunately he didn't get as much use in my playthrough as I would have wanted, but I still dearly care for him. Ayla was a powerhouse even though i completely neglected her thief mechanic, and despite her caveman speak and relative lack of goal compared to the cast, I really appreciated her presence as I almost felt like she was a pillar For the rest of the cast. Magus was hype. I'll describe thoughts later down the list, but for his gameplay his magic annihilated battles, and the dude pretty much solo'd the Lavos boss rush. Finally; Frog. The absolute best character in the game. His design? Creative. His story? Heartbreaking yet heroic. His gameplay? Essential. I loved Frog from the moment I saw him and he was with me through thick and thin. Something I really appreciated was that HE got Masamune rather than Crono. Sure, Crono is the main character, but Frog is the hero. I love my amphibious mans.

Lavos is super cool to me. It's not really a character (but kinda is?) and more like a force of nature. I also think it's kinda conceptually funny that the main villain of this classic game is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. I don't think I FULLY understood what it truly was, but it's a concept that I very much enjoyed.

Overall, all of the characters in this game are great. Everyone has a role, everyone is enjoyable in their own way, and I really love seeing how the time travel aspect would let you see fates of characters and their role in history.

Gameplay

I loved the lack of random battles. Every battle felt planned and like its own individual puzzle, especially with the positioning gimmick; what enemies get hit by what abilities, how do I avoid hitting this enemy with the element that heals them with my super strong AoE ability. The idea of dual and triple techs enhanced this further: am I gonna use individual turns for heals or am I gonna just have Crono and Ayla fuckin decimate the entire area?

The aspect of time travel felt overall very well used. Past experiences affecting the future, but things in the future not affecting backwards; it feels like it should be obvious it works that way but it just felt like, well executed. this paragraph proves i need to get better at writing cause ultimately I just said I liked it

I also feel like the whole beginning section with the fair leading to the trial really makes you think harder about what to pay attention to and what matters: it teaches well without shoving it in your face. Might just be because I play a lot of RPGs and this is an older one, but I was able to discern the knowledge i needed easily.

Story

So to clarify here, I know there are multiple endings, but I got two; the Die To Lavos Ending not sure why i got this one nope and the real ending; I tried to do everything that I possibly could, so that was my experience.

It's great. I kinda loved how it was less a "party vs a bad time man" and more of a "party vs a natural calamity": I feel like that's not done often in games, there's usually a big bad (which I don't hate!) but it was a nice change of pace. I absolutely loved how each timeline had its own individual struggles, and the nature of time travel made them flow together very well in small ways (like defeating Magus makes Ozzie the worshipped one). Being able to go into it unspoiled really improved the huge moments, like Magus and Crono's big events (not gonna say in case there's someone like me out there), and I very much enjoyed guessing what would be next and what would affect what.

The Only Major issue I have is the 3 party limit, and character dialogue being locked to who you have. I feel like there would have been some really cool moments had everyone been there, like the campfire scene where everyone got their time.

Music

I mean, it's peak. I've already heard some of Mitsuda's work in later games, but hearing him here do (pretty much) the whole soundtrack was just a treat to my ears. The main theme is stuck playing in my head daily. The overworld and cutscene songs I think are where it shines, although I did really like the battle songs as well. and as always shoutouts to Uematsu we love that man.

Art

Again, a short section, but this game is beautiful, and I could tell that a lot of the techniques they used felt advanced for the time, like the time travel effect, or the car race; the spritework felt bouncy and alive, the backgrounds were beautifully detailed (Like Magus's Castle holy shit), and the entire game was a joy to look at.

Unspoiled

So yeah, I beat this game unspoiled somehow. I knew a couple characters like Crono and Lavos (the fact that they Existed), I've seen some backdrops like the campfire and Masamune in its sheath, and I've heard some songs; but other than that, I didn't know anything!

(warning for spoilers if you are like me and have gotten unspoiled don't read this)

Like I said in the story, it was really fun to figure out how things would be affected by the nature of time travel, naturally figuring out side quests like Fiona, and being hit by moments that I never would have expected. I didn't think my actions at the fair would affect anything until I saw the trial which made me question everything (I'm sorry old man for eating your lunch) (twice). I remember getting what i thought was the full party cause that's what the box art was, until I noticed what I thought was a 7th party member slot, leading me to wonder when this person would join and who it is; discovering Antiquity (also a surprise to me) convinced me that the person was here, and then that said person was Boy with cat that said I was gonna die, and lo and behold I was right! But not in the way that I thought. Seeing Magus be the final member was incredibly rewarding, and I probably wouldn't have gotten him if I didn't get reality checked by my actions mattering in the trial (although I do wish he had some more party interactions and dialogue). Also close to this: I did not know Crono STRAIGHT UP dies. Like, OBVIOUSLY he was gonna come back, right? But to have that happen to your main character? Felt revolutionary for the time. Didn't think Lavos was gonna be like, a humanoid creature, and I ESPECIALLY didn't think it was gonna have a phase 2.

(ok spoilers over)

Final

I could not be happier with my experience for this game. I can absolutely see why it is considered a masterpiece, and it's clearly going to stick with me for a good long while, the rest of my life, even. My negatives are incredibly minor, really only wanting more party dialogue and interactions (and to remove Golem FUCK that fight lmfao), and for that, I can probably consider it one of my favorite RPGs.

10/10, thanks for reading my ramblings if you did.

#chrono trigger #textpost #games I beat in 2024 #jared's game ramblings

[madamescarlette]

I'm feeling a tad bit too foggy to write up proper book reviews this month, so instead you're getting a list of Media I Particularly Enjoyed (In February)! for the audience of all two of you where these will all crossover, enjoy <3

Books:

Namesake by Kate Stradling (I also rec. The Heir and the Spare & Brine and Bone by her)

River Inside the River by Gregory Orr (I especially rec. this to anyone who is also a writer/poet, the last sequence was so lovely I had to stare at the wall every time I turned a page)

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (still makes me laugh to no end)

The Selected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay by, well, her (I love the simplicity and sharpness of her voice, two of the three long-form poems at the very beginning made me SOB and then the rest were just very solidly good and precious to me)

Movies:

Babette's Feast (beautiful luminous never been done before)

Ponyo (rewatched after many years, still brings me unending light)

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (what I consider the better of the two Ghibli docs on HBO, and it may only be dear to me because it covers the development of The Wind Rises, but it left me with a weird sorrowful achey peace in my heart)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (I saw this with friends and I very much think you should see this with a buddy, I had a great time cackling and gasping with them over it)

Games:

Crystal Project (an as-open-world-as-you-can-make-it spiritual-successor-to-classic-JRPGs game that I was enveloped by for the better part of January and the beginning of this month. It has a great deal of quality of life things that are great for me who just likes to climb cliffs and fly over the sea, and the story was just spare and sweet enough for my taste 4.5/5)

The Last Campfire (a short and sweet puzzle-y game about the process of letting go and learning to say goodbye that is very well suited to the state I'm in currently 3.9/5)

A Space for the Unbound (a little indie that's heavily story-based; I watched a playthrough of this and unfortunately was already miserable enough that it didn't quite devastate me as normally it would have but I truly have been thinking about it constantly ever since 3.75/5)

CrossCode (for full clarity, I'm still in the midst of playing this, but I adore the main character and I think the friendships in it are so so so sweet and the conversations that they have about the game they're in get to me because I'm like hey I'VE said that!!! Issa little ARPG about a fictional MMO and the players in it and the art is GREAT 4/5 so far I'm deeply invested in it)

Songs:

Staring Contest - James Ivy (quite frankly I can't tell you why I'm obsessed with this but the bit about laundry in the closet makes me feel so known idk)

You Let Me Down - Alessia Cara

I'll Call You Mine - girl in red (drums!)

Holding Pattern - Nickel Creek (the circling chord pattern is so sparkly to me personally)

I Know the End - Phoebe Bridgers (you know the drill this song is my companion when I drive around town shout-singing at the top of my lungs)

Trying to Feel Alive - Porter Robinson (my song of this year maybe)

#also finally read the volumes of fma that were languishing on top of my shelf since december and they were GREAT #i've been having a hard time focusing on new stories with the state of my brain right now though #so even though i have both small spaces and the screaming staircase on my shelf i haven't been able to pay the right attention to them #i've been trying to come up with newer and more fun ways to document my seasons than just journalling though so may or may not keep this up #we'll see! #anyway love u all out there stay safe and warm <3

[zevfern]

I've got some more M!Byleth (named Rorann in my playthroughs) headcanons, thought I should share them:

AM Rorann:

Dedue is his best friend. They bonded over cooking duty and gardening while at the Officer's Academy. He's incredibly saddened when he hears of Dedue's apparent death during the timeskip. Only Dimitri is more overjoyed to see him again when he reappears at the Great Bridge of Myrddin, rescuing Flayn when she's ambushed on the north side of the bridge.

(Dedue's surprise return during that battle is a top 5 JRPG moment for me. Freaking out over his return with my best friend is still my favorite memory of playing this game.)

As previously mentioned in another of my posts, Rorann falls in love with Mercedes because of her cooking and baking, and pushes her to fight for her dreams, hoping he's part of them. Mercedes appreciates his support through the war and beyond, making sure to bake extra for him when she bakes for the children living at the monastery.

(The children eventually include their own two kids, named Sitri and Emile. The two grow up in the happy, loving environment Mercedes always wished for her and her brother, and Rorann is happy his kids got to have a mother.)

Rorann and Dimitri become close friends over the course of the school year. Because of Dimitri's awkward interactions with Edelgard, Rorann is convinced his student is in love with the Adrestrian princess. He's only further convinced when Dimitri tells him of the time he and Edelgard spent together in Fhirdiad during their youth, and the dagger he gifted her. Rorann would love to help Dimitri win El over, so imagine his surprise when the Flame Emperor is unmasked.

(Azure Moon was my first 3 Houses playthrough, so I was expecting something more mundane from the story, like the Flame Emperor fridging Edie and taking over the Adrestrian Empire, prompting Dimitri to declare war to avenge her. When she was revealed to be the Flame Emperor I was HEARTBROKEN, but in retrospect I probably would have never fallen in love with the game like I did otherwise.)

Post timeskip, Rorann is equally disheartened and disgusted by Dimitri's actions. He wonders if his newfound humanity was gained at the expense of his friend's. Rorann is convinced Dimitri will eventually die fighting for his vengeance, but Mercedes and Dedue help convince Rorann that Dimitri can be saved. It is their wishes for the future that propel Rorann to protect Dimitri, and help redeem him after Rodrigue's death.

Rorann initially hated Felix, as he thought the Fraldarius heir was too prideful and arrogant to be a good soldier, let alone an officer. The events during the school year and the Unification War allow Rorann to see him in a different light, especially when Felix tells Rorann about his relationship with his brother. Ultimately, Felix dies during the assault on the Imperial Palace, dying after a retaliatory attack by the Hegemon.

(I spent too many Divine Pulses trying to prevent Dedue and Seteth from dying to Myson during the battle, and then realized I ran out after Felix ate a crit from Edelgard. RIP in peace.)

This version of Rorann unfortunately wasn't able to recruit any students. There were quite a few different students Rorann really wanted to recruit, but none more than Ferdinand. The earnest noble won Rorann over easily, but despite his best efforts he could not convince him to join the Blue Lion house. Tragically, this would mean Ferdinand would die at the Great Bridge of Myrddin at the hands of the Boar.

(I headcanon Ferdithea happening in my AM routes with both M! and F!Byleth. Since she was unrecruited in that first playthrough, she had revenge on her mind when the Faerghus army entered Enbarr. Unfortunately, she ran into Annette and her dad before she could blast Dimitri with a Meteor spell)

Notable Endcards and Pairings from my first AM run:

Rorann/Mercedes (the clergy gets to marry in-universe)

Solo Dimitri (the only ending that mentions his government reforms other than his pairing with F!Byleth. I guess he never got over El.)

Dedue/Flayn (her hero! She also learns how to cook with him.)

Ashe/Annette (the smol kids, together forever)

Ingrid/Seteth (because I didn't know how supports worked during my first playthrough 😭)

Solo Sylvain (rip in peace, never stood a chance against a literal saint)

#fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe16 #blue lions #azure moon #dedue molinaro #mercedes von martritz #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #felix hugo fraldarius #ferdinand von aegir #m!byleth #fe byleth #rorann

[deebormzone]

Smashed

I've been playing a lot of Multiversus lately.

I'm very curious about how this game will turn out. It combines the ideal video game with the most loathsome one: It's online Smash Bros., but free-to-play.

I could ignore it if it were a bad game, but unfortunately it's not. So I am forced to spend several hours on it.

The gist of it is: WB put as many characters as they could into a Smash-like. There's Wonder Woman, Finn and Jake, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Arya Stark, LeBron James, and others. The roster is totally screwed up, which is nice, and they even have character-specific taunts. Garnet really hates Batman for some reason, which is funny.

It does some important stuff differently from Smash, too. There's no ledge grab (which I never liked), and there's no blocking, just a versatile dodge. It's also designed for 2v2, and every character has a weird support ability. Even the Tazmanian Devil can heal allies with a helpful lick.

It's weird but compelling, and my ten billion hours of Smash Bros lets me beat most players, but I'm deeply distrustful of free-to-play games. I haven't spent any money on it yet. All the characters are free, but you have to grind for them. It's achievable, and my theory is that they can't release new characters faster than I can grind for them, but it's a little annoying.

I main Superman and Velma. Superman is the most basic bitch of all time but he punch good, and Velma spends the whole match searching for evidence to prove that the opponent is Old Man Jenkins, at which point the police arrest them and drive off the edge of the stage for the kill (not a joke) (real).

It's worth trying, but I don't know if I can really recommend it yet because it's free-to-play. I'm not playing Smash at the moment 'cause the netplay sucks, and Multiversus has it beat in that area, but maybe it'll get old?

We'll see. They're launching a battlepass on the 8th, so we'll see how nasty the pricing can get. That's also when Morty becomes playable for some reason. Personally, I'm waiting for Gandalf (who was leaked, along with an MLG Hobbiton battle arena).

Also, I beat the Live A Live remake. Excellent game but I don't enjoy the turn-based gameplay. Must-play for JRPG fans. Also I saved during the Trail of Time and got softlocked. Make sure not to do that.

#live a live #multiversus

[confusions-shed-of-ideas]

So the Octopath Traveler 2 demo trailer came out and I am screaming /pos

(Spoilers for the trailer! no I don't have the demo downloaded unfortunately I don't have the time to play it)

I have so much to talk about

Characters

I love them all so much. Gently holds. They just make me so happy

It's so cool knowing that they'll have connected storyline things with each other because now they'll get more interaction and that's what we were missing in the first game. Pretty excited for that :) I'm really looking forward to exploring all the characters' stories because they all seem really cool so far

The voice acting for all of them is just incredible. All the VAs did such a good job and I'm in awe because the voices just fit the characters really well

If I had to pick one or two characters to start with it would have to be Hikari or Throné because they were the two that have caught my attention in the beginning lmao

Music

THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD??? HOW??

I expected nothing less since the music in the first game was absolutely god tier as well but damn??? The character themes were stunning and I think that was one of the battle tracks we heard as well

I love music so much this is going to be so great ahdhgjdjdhjfkd

Can't wait for the spotify album to come out as well because you bet I'll be adding a ton of tracks in my playlist

Gameplay

It looks like the original game but cooler. I don't really know how to describe it lol

I've never played a JRPG before octopath and I found the battle system really cool so it's nice to see that they've managed to go above and beyond for this game. The concept of latent powers seem awesome and I can't wait to see what they're all about in game

I've been looking at the sprites throughout the video and the different job sprites look cool as well! I think I may have spotted a few advanced job sprites but I'll have to double check lmao

Also can I just say that I didn't know I needed to see a super cool angle change in this game because DAMN THOSE ARE SO. COOL HGJDJJF

Scenery/Backdrop idk I'll edit this later because I Cannot think of the right word for some reason

Gorgeous as expected. Each location has its own unique vibe and I really really love that. It's just so cool seeing so many different biomes

And the fact that there are mini canoes??? AND A SHIP?? HELLO?? I'm so excited I live little boats. Each traveler will get their own little boat as they travel through the rivers oh my god

I like how these regions look different in comparison to the first game so it just highlights that this is a whole new world to explore. I think that's neat. Also I'm liking the steampunk thing Paritio's hometown has going on. Locomotive trains?? In octopath traveler?? Who would've thought?

Extra bonus detail

I've noticed they've kind of already established the OCTOPATH order for this game in the thumbnail of the trailer (shown below)

From left to right: Osvald, Castti, Temenos, Ochette, Paritio, Agnea, Throné, Hikari

So that confirms Osval being the first O, Ochette being the second O, Temenos being the first T and Throné being the second T

Pretty neat if you ask me

Okay that's it lmao if you've watched the demo as well feel free to talk to be about your thoughts!! :))

#from now on i'm going to tag any official octopath 2 related discussions with #octopath traveler 2 spoilers #all incorrect quotes/miscellaneous stuff regarding them that i made up will not be tagged as spoilers #UNLESS it includes in game content e.g. character stories #anyways i'm so hyped for this game aaa #octopath traveler #octopath traveler 2 #octopath traveler ii #confusion rambles a bit #Youtube

[eirikrjs]

heyo Erikir! I know you're not as fond of Nu-sona as you are of most other Megaten things, but even so, would you agree that they're a major cut above the vast majority of JRPGs out there?

Also just gotta say man, you and Soren have been helping me plough through some heavy ass shit with your streams, I can't interact on chat unfortunately but "hanging out" with you guys is always nice

Hey, that's the best kind of compliment we could receive. Glad we can be there. Soren says, "sorry you're going through some shit, but glad to help."

About Persona, you know, I played 3 and 4 a TON. I was just thinking about how FES released in English around this time in 2008 and I was there day one, a day I remember because it was sticky hot out and I started playing it on a CRT just sitting on my bed. This was when a new Persona game was just a new Atlus/Megami Tensei release.

But no, I don't really think the new Persona games are a cut above because most of their unique traits I would now find to be hindrances at best. I'd say modern Persona's greatest talent is in the way it manipulates its players. Now, of course all (fictional) media manipulates its audience any time you feel any sort of emotion or engagement with something that never happened. Persona's manipulation, though, is in its whole structure.

Obviously, I'm mostly talking about the calendar system, which creates the illusion of time passing. In reality, it masks a repetitive structure of ~250 in-game days (with the same number of pace-killing load times to match), sometimes only 5 or so minutes apart from one another if there's nothing to do, or even with short S-link sessions. But if the calendar system were stripped away for a more standard RPG structure, well, not only might it cut playtimes in half, the series would lose a chunk of its identity. So in that sense, a deliberate "artificialness" is baked into these games.

Next, it's the characters I have the most issue with, and much of that is also an effect of the calendar system, which makes it seem like the characters are deeper than they are because you've spent those artificial "days/months" with them even if they are in their development at best dramatically two-dimensional characters (i.e., they don't act like real humans but do have a distinct personality trait or moral issue to juggle just like most pop culture characters).

It's crazy to me to see the laser-focus they receive from the fanbase, to the point that it seems a not-insignificant segment of the fans would be okay if Persona excised the actual gameplay portions entirely, despite them not being anything truly exceptional in fiction. That said, I still like some of the characters, particularly Kanji, Chie, or Akihiko.

So while I used to enjoy Persona a lot, I've found that once you look behind its curtain, there's just not much there besides a mean spirit, regressive themes, and oddly conservative views about the relationship of teenagers to Japanese society.

#streaming knowledge #persona

[linawritestwst]

congrats on 100 followers! i love your blog so much! may i please request something for the match up event? i use she/her pronouns and if it’s helpful at all my personality type is infp. i’m a biology student who absolutely adores all sorts of animals and wildlife! i try to work hard at my studies but unfortunately i have pretty bad anxiety and depression so my motivation is killed a lot of the time, i struggle to leave the house sometimes as well bc of social phobia… i really love anime and gaming and it’s most of what i do in my spare time, i like shounen/seinen/horror anime and jrpg/story heavy mobile gacha lol. i also really enjoy art and try to draw a fair bit, i like making up characters and pretending i have my own manga series sometimes 😭 i get told i am quite empathetic and get emotional really easily if someone isn’t happy, i always try to treat people with understanding and kindness bc that’s what i would want for myself and i know how awful it feels to be made fun of and hurt by other people. i cry very, very easily and people call me childish a lot because of that + the fact that i like giving hugs to people all the time and i’m really fond of plushies still and take them everywhere with me… i’m pretty bad at cheering people up when they’re sad bc i’m so awkward and bad at vocalising my feelings, but i really do try my best! i spend a lot of time seeing the world through a depression-coloured fog, but i do believe that there’s a lot of beauty out there that i just can’t see yet! it might be scary, but i want to keep working my hardest so i can appreciate how amazing the world i was born into is, because when i become aware of how pretty nature is, i become a lot happier.

a first matchup request, yay!! thank you so much for sending a request and i'm happy to hear that you love my blog <3

now, let's see which character i think you would be most compatible with, shall we?

and i think it would be..

malleus draconia!

i'll explain why i think you two would be a really cute couple!

let's start with your mbti type. you're an infp and according to most websites and articles, infps have the best compatibility with entjs, enfjs and people that have "nf" in their mbti type. malleus (according to personality database) is an intj, but i've looked at some mbti compatibility charts and intjs get along surprisingly well with infps! (they definitely have their differences, but i think it's more interesting that way and some websites say that it's actually better for "perceiving" types to be with "judging" types)

malleus would love to listen to you talk about animals and nature. he may know some information already, but it's much more interesting to hear it from you than anyone else. he thinks it's adorable how passionate you are about such topics. he also will totally mention what he learned from you while talking to lilia and others, saying how smart you are for knowing that.

malleus admires you for trying to study even though you suffer from anxiety and depression. if you need any help, please let him know, okay? he will always be glad to listen, he may not know everything you're going through, but he still wants to help you and give you some advice.

please talk to him about anime and games. he wants to know more. also malleus should try playing something other than "gao-gao dragon-kun" for a change. (not like it's bad or anything, but trying something new is always good) i think he would enjoy some story-heavy games as well! (no complicated gameplay, just reading text, malleus is doing his best and playing visual novels) also he would love if you talked to him about your characters! you may not have your own manga now, but you may have one in the future!

YOU BEING KIND TO HIM... HE'S SOFT. he just wants someone to not be afraid of him and he would appreciate your support and kindness greatly! even if it's just an awkward attempt to comfort him, it's still important him. also he would never make fun of you for crying often, maybe it can be a little bit sudden for him, like?? why are you crying, oh no, did he do something wrong? but he will do anything to help you calm down. also he loves your hugs.

he doesn't mind you being clingy at all, in fact, he may even kinda like that. come on, this guy is so lonely, him having a girlfriend that likes to spend a lot of time with him makes him so soft ;w; he may get a little nervous if you suddenly stop talking to him for some time (what if you were afraid of him from the start and decided to leave him?), but once he learns the reason why, he will understand.

he thinks it's beautiful how no matter what happens and despite how scared you are, you still think that this world is amazing and you try to hope for the best. he feels like he could learn a lot from you.

while i was writing notes about who could be the good match for you, i also thought of lilia as the other candidate, i actually almost chose him!

i hope i've done well and this matchup is okay!

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted wonderland matchups #twst matchup

[chaosstar290]

Reasons try out Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore.

Nintendo's been pretty casual with porting Wii U games over to the Switch, and for good reasons. Normally, I'm not all into porting games that I've already played, but my personal favorite games on the system that lack good marketing and advertising are now getting the attention and love they deserve.

Take Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for example, one of my favorite 2D platfomers. The game originally sold 1.72 million copies worldwide on the Wii U. Not very good numbers, huh? However, the Switch port managed to beat those sales numbers with 2.25 million units sold worldwide by the end of March 2019.

So while this could be seen as a way for Big N to earn more $$$, this is also a way for those who never owned a Wii U and missed out on some of the system's best titles to give these games a shot. Now we just need a port of Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Wonderful 101...and Star Fox Zero, I guess.

But that's a topic for another time. This post is specifically for my favorite JRPG on the Wii U only to be tied with Xenoblade Chronicles X....Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.

This'll be a long one, so here's hoping you'll stick with it until the end.

Development

Before I get into the reasons, lemme educate you guys a bit. Back in January 2013, both Atlus and Intelligent Systems made a teaser trailer for a potential Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover for the Wii U.

The trailer was mostly just a slideshow with various character artwork. Despite this, there was a decent amount of hype surrounding it. But development around the game was pretty silent. That is, until we fast forward to the Nintendo Direct in April 1, 2015. We got a trailer of the ambitious SMT x FE crossover that fans were waiting for...but this was the final product.

Needless to say...neither SMT nor FE fans were happy about this. The fandoms were incredibly salty and foaming at the mouths, basically calling it a Person 4 Lite with a hint of FE. Heck, they're probably still posts on this site from 5 years ago that'll show that.

Fast forward to the games initial release, and you'll see quite a few positive reviews and thoughts about TMS. Unfortunately, the sale numbers were not all that great for the game. Obvious reasons being that it was a Wii U game, and many fans of both SMT x FE were not happy with how it turned out.

And to be honest, I wasn't feeling the game myself at first. It seemed too lighthearted and upbeat, and the J-Pop, anime-ish aesthetics were very off-putting. However, the more I saw about the game, the more I was drawn into it. Somehow all that disappointment I had about TMS originally just washed away. And considering it was a new IP, I decided to give it a chance. And hoo boy...I was generally pleased.

With that outta the way, let's get into why I'm excited for the Switch port of game, and hoping people will give it a fairer chance.

The Setting

The plot of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is mostly simple. You start out as high schooler Itsuki Aoi, the main character of the game encountering his childhood friend Tsubasa Oribe at an audition event to become a idol. It isn't until moments later in the game that the area gets overruned by shadowy creatures known as Mirages that suck out the creative energy known as Perso-- ah I mean Performa from the other idols and audience.

Poor girl doesn't know what's gonna happen next.

Despite our main characters seeming unharmed by the effect, the Mirages drag Tsubasa into their world known as the Idolsphere. And of course, courageous Itsuki takes action to follow and rescue her.

After trying to make a daring rescue, Itsuki gets bombarded by a Mirage, but somehow manages to awaken it. Taking the form of Fire Emblem Awakening's protagonist Chrom. Itsuki does the same with the Mirage that captured Tsubasa that takes the form of Cedea from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon. The two awakaned Mirages, however, suffer from a bit of amnesia and can't quite remember who and what they are.

From there on, Itsuki and Tsubasa form a partnership with Chrom and Cedea, encountering various characters trying to reach their way to stardom while trying to draw back the opposing forces from taking over Tokyo and the world. Typical RPG stuff, am I right?

It's a fairly standard and slightly cliche plot with some common anime tropes, but for this game...it works. It's a plot that's incredibly silly, upbeat, and over-the-top, but again...it works for this game. And I love it. It may not be original, deep, or complex, but the story does its best to not take itself too seriously, and it doesn't fail to keep a smile in my face.

Aside from the vanilla cookie-cutter MC Itsuki, the various casts that you meet are incredibly charming, and go through their own personal growth as celebrities. Though you mileage may vary on this.

The Gameplay

The combat is the real star of Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Basically, it's your standard turn-based combat system...but with a few twists. If you've ever played a SMT or Persona game, then don't be surprised that elemental weaknesses make an appearance here. Along with that, the Triangle Weapon system from Fire Emblem also makes an appearance in the game.

But if you're not familiar with either franchise then give you a basic example how this works. Say that you've encountered an armored Mirage wielding an axe. The weaknesses on that enemy are both lightning and swords, and Itsuki just so happens to have both the necessary element and weapon equipped.

In case you're wondering...how the Triangle Weapon mechanic works in FE is that Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Lances, and Lances beat Swords.

The interesting thing about this is that once you exploit an enemy's weakness, other characters will jump in and combo extra attacks. These are called Sessions, and their not only powerful...but also flashy as all hell and it's glorious. Not only that, but there's also Duo Arts where two certain characters will sometimes perform a song that unleashes a powerful attack...which also strings up more Sessions. As broken as this sounds, it actually is pretty strategic for taking down harder enemies, and they can also form Sessions...so be careful.

There's more to the gameplay like roaming Tokyo, exploring dungeons, and upgrading your characters and Mirages by Tiki from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon as well.

There's mixed opinions on the dungeon aspects of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but...I personally enjoyed them. Aside from the first one. Once you get past the first dungeon, they get better as the game progresses. From exploring a darker version of Shibuya where you have to avoid giant cameras from sending you back to the entrance of the of the room you currently entered, to venturing through a maze-like TV studio.

There's also side-missions that you can do with your main cast that'll help them grow and develop even further. You'll be rewarded with either a special cutscene or a special attack. Or maybe both.

The Visuals

Go go...Persona Rangers?

If it wasn't obvious from the amount of images I'm posting, Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a very colorful game. Fitting with it's lighthearted theme, the amount of colors the game throws at you makes visuals aesthetically pleasing. Heck, you could make these your personal wallpaper on your phone or something.

Sure, Tokyo Mirage Sessions isn't nearly as strong as Persona 5 graphically or even artistically, but like most Nintendo games...what their games lack in terms of detailed ultra-hyper graphics, they make up for it with giving their games gorgeous artstyles.

Also, this game has some reeeeeally good artwork.

The Music

J-Pop plays a pretty big role in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, so expect a lot of vocal tracks. If you're not into this kind of genre of music, then you might wanna stray away from this game. If you are (or if it doesn't bother you), then you're in for a treat. As someone who really isn't into J-Pop myself, the songs in this game are incredible and catchy followed by some beautiful cutscenes. Reincarnation from Kiria Kurono and Feel from Tsubasa Oribe are some of my personal favorites.

The music from outside the vocal tracks are pretty good too. The normal battle theme and the Illusion Shibuya dungeon theme are just to name a couple.

What's New?

Like I said before, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is a port of the Wii U version, but with added content. Any DLC that was added in the original game will part of the base game in the Switch version. But let's talk about the new stuff.

EX Story and Songs

The EX Story is basically a dungeon that you explore in short bursts. Here you'll find new costumes such as a Joker outfit from Persona 5 for Itsuki, or an Annette outfit from Fire Emblem Three Houses for Mamori Minamoto. Or you can have a much easier time grinding for EXP. Also, much like the side-stories, this dungeon will also explore the main casts' issues and help them grow.

New songs will also be added in this port. A duo song called "She is..." sung by Tsubasa and Kiria is one of them.

Sessions

By making Sessions even more powerful and ridiculous, unplayable characters like Tiki, Maiko Shimazaki, and Barry Goodman will also join in Sessions.

In addition, a Quick Session option will be added. Which is a major upgrade in my book. One of the big issues the Wii U version had was while the Sessions were fun to watch, they took forever to get through with the more characters that joined your party. There are also smaller improvements like the Switch version having faster loading times.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this long as hell post will spark some interest into those who'll give the game a shot. I know there's small nitpicks like the lack of English voice acting and censorship, but the latter is a topic I'd rather not delve deep into.

Regardless, these small cons are greatly outweighed by the large pros this charming game has. If you're an Atlus fan, a lover of JRPGs, or wanting to play something that'll ease the wait for Persona 5 Royal, I highly recommend you give Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE encore a shot.

If you're also waiting for Persona 5 to actually come to the Switch like me, this game is next best thing we've got for the time being.

This is one of the most stylish menu screens ever.

#tokyo mirage sessions fe #tokyo mirage sessions fe encore #atlus #intelligent systems #nintendo switch #wii u #persona #persona 5 #fire emblem #shin megami tensei

[fridge-reviews]

Children of Zodiarcs

Developer: Cardboard Utopia Publisher: Square Enix Rrp: £13.59 (Steam and Humblebundle), $17.99 (Gog.com) Released: 18th July 2018 Available on: Steam, Humblebundle and Gog.com Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad Approximate game length: 20 Hours

I think this game has got to have one of the most complicated genre descriptions I've ever heard, it's a deck and dice building jrpg tactics game. Sometimes I swear that developers are just trying to see how many genres they can blend... still if it results in unique and interesting games why not. It was also a Kickstarter success and had support (of the non-monetary variety) from the Square Enix Collective.

Children of Zodiarcs is a tactics game where you build a deck of cards to suit your playstyle and customise the dice to try and maximise the results. Through most of the game you'll control a young thief by the name of Nahmi and her team as they battle their way through the city of Torus.

As its a tactics style game combat is of course a major focus. Where and how you decide to strike can make as much of a difference as what cards you play and what the dice roll. An attack upon an enemies unprotected back will always cause more damage and giving a character with a ranged ability a high vantage point is always advantageous. There isn't a set battle order, on your turn you get to pick anyone on your team to move and perform actions. However you have to move that specific character and then perform their action, you can't choose to move one of your characters and postpone taking an action to move another. Once you perform an action, such as healing or attacking, that specific characters turn will be over (apart from selecting a direction to defend in). There is one exception to this, which is earning yourself a free action which allows you to perform another action but not move. The game is quite forgiving in that it allows you to move and even select an card to perform and still allow you to back out and try something different, just so long as you haven't rolled any dice or drawn cards.

The cards you play dictate what move you make and the dice rolls determine its effectiveness plus other bonus effects. Your hand limit is seven, if you go over that at any point excess cards will be discarded immediately. These discarded cards are always taken from the leftmost side. Each time you roll the die you get the opportunity to reroll two of them, however they must be rolled at the same time, so you can't reroll one and then another. Dice that are being re-rolling can knock into other previously rolled die, if this knock causes that die to change its face then that new face is now the one that gets counted toward your final result.

Every action your character performs (with exception of moving) earns them XP which in turn levels up your characters. As your characters level not only do their stats increase but so do their cards. Sometimes new ones will be unlocked but more often existing cards will become more effective or gain new special abilities. Another thing that occasionally occurs when you level is that new 'dice slots' become available. This increases the number of die you can roll when you perform actions.

The die you roll are D6 (meaning they have six sides), however there are far more than six types of 'face' available. The shard face increases the amount of damage your card will perform, shields grant protection from counter attacks, stars grant access to special abilities, lightning bolts give a free action, cards draw extra cards and hearts heal. However that isn't all the types of faces, there are bad faces that can be inflicted that will remove damage, stars, cards or health. All of these also have their 'numbered' version that is more potent than the standard one. As you play and increase in level you get to use better dice, that have more favorable faces. You can also alter the dice, meaning that you can change the faces of the die for different ones. This comes at the cost of using up other die as crafting components. This means that if you wanted to create a single die that will nearly always roll the 'free action' face you can, although it might be a bit expensive. I also say almost because all the die I have encountered have at least one of their faces with a small lock upon them meaning that that specific face can't be changed.

You can go back to previously completed missions and replay them as 'Skirmishes'. This is very useful as it allows you to grind for levels, cards and better dice because unfortunately grinding is a necessary evil of this game. I played on the 'normal' difficulty (as I do for most games to get a feel for its balancing) and this game doesn't mess around. By the fifth or sixth mission I had lost no less than seven times. Thankfully you can manually save mid battle meaning that I was able to reload the game and reroll again and again until I got the results I wanted.

So my overall thoughts? I quite like this game, its story isn't really anything to write home about and is quite short, however its very challenging and I never found myself actually bored while playing. The AI very much kept me on my toes and I had a lot of close calls, and that's with me abusing the save system. If you're looking for a good tactical game I dare say you could do much worse than this.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Armello Guild of Dungeoneering Wargroove

#children of zodiarcs #cardboard utopia #square enix #crowdfunded #kickstarter #square enix collective #tactics game #deck building #dice drafting #jrpg #rpg #video game #video games #video gaming #game review #games review #games reviews #game reviews