Like a Dragon: Ishin!

A non-canon offshoot of the Like a Dragon franchise set in the Bakumatsu era of Japan, it reimagines most of the central class as samurai and the central conflict becomes a plan to overthrow the oppressive class system of the era.  It utilizes action-based gameplay of the old games rather than the turn-based style of the most recent mainline entry, but changes things up to utilize four appropriate combat styles for the era.  Brawler is most similar to general series fare, emphasizing quick strikes and throws for crowd control; Swordsman has Ryoma wield a sword to do slower but high-damage attacks; Gunman has him use a revolver for ranged combat and elemental shots, and Wild Dancer simultaneously uses sword and gun, focusing on quick attacks and evasion but unable to block.  Leveling up is handled in a similar fashion to the Kiwami games, earning generic orbs that can be placed to unlock abilities on any the four style grids, or style-specific ones that can be swapped in once earned to allocate generic ones elsewhere.  Of course the series' staple of side content is here in full force too, with a lot of side missions to complete, Virtue to collect by fulfilling certain tasks and milestones, and minigames like fishing, singing, chopping wood and even a few anachronistic ones like Mahjong and Texas Hold-Em (and even a top-down shmup).  The feel of the game and most of its story beats and characters are largely familiar (borderline retreads) despite the change in time period, but if you want a decent non-canon tale in the Like a Dragon universe with some creative gameplay change-ups, Ishin is another fun game to spend your time with.

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: Sega
Released: 2023
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, XBox Series

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

A spinoff of the Rune Factory franchise, which is in turn an offshoot of the Story of Seasons franchise, Guardians of Azuma blends action-RPG, town building and farming sim elements into a single experience.  But does it prove to be a compelling experience, or does its odd blend of elements just become a mess?

Story of Seasons (formerly known as Harvest Moon) is a series I'm familiar with, though not overly; it began as a late-era release on the SNES, and after finding success there, has since had a long string of sequels and spinoff games, mostly on handheld platforms.  Once Marvelous took over localization for the series in 2014 they rebranded it to Story of Seasons, which is the title it continues to use today.  Rune Factory is a more fantastical offshoot of the franchise that works elements of dungeon crawling into the format, making powering up your character just as large a component of the overall gameplay.

Guardians of Azuma (apparently a spinoff rather than a numbered sequel, though I'm unsure why that's the case) is the first Rune Factory game I've actually played, so I went in with only a vague idea of what to expect.  The general concensus I found was that these kept the farming gameplay of the parent series, just mixing in elements of action-RPGs and dungeon crawling.

That's pretty much what I got with Guardians of Azuma, though it also had quite a bit more going on than I anticipated. In fact the farming element is largely de-emphasized in favor of other pursuits.  Each weapon, subweapon and skill (farming, smithing, cooking et al) has associated skill trees, with each earning exclusive points through use.  Completing tasks during the day also earns you "All-purpose Experience" when you rest that can be spent on anything.

Combat in the game isn't especially deep, but is well-polished and fun.  In addition to your main melee weapon (which can also take the form of shortswords, greatswords, talismans, etc), you also have a bow for ranged attacks, as well as subweapons like your drum (which heals your allies and damages enemies) or a sacred sword that burns away corruption as well as dealing heavy damage.  Perfectly-timed attack dodges give a couple seconds of slowed time a la Bayonetta, and special moves run off of "RP", which slowly regenerates on its own or can be restored by food items.  One can also access special moves that run off "spirit bars" which fill gradually as you inflict damage with weapons or take damage yourself.

Farming does indeed function as it usually does in these sorts of games - plant and water seeds, harvest the crops to sell, get more seeds to plant, et cetera.  However, it also ties into a larger town-building element.  There are many quests to complete in each town, and doing so raises your village level.  As your level increases, more types of buildings and decorations can be placed and more villagers arrive, allowing you to staff buildings to provide services and automate tasks like lumber harvesting, mining and even farming.  Each unique building type placed also increases your character's stats.  Villagers all have a random assortment of traits which make them more suited to certain tasks than others, though this has a pretty minimal effect overall.

Finding crafting recipes is another major trope for games like this, and Guardians of Azuma has no shortage.  Most enemies drop materials, one can chop wood and mine spaces on the map to gain other types, and and hunting down frog statues in the field earns you food recipes (unlocking more as you report back to Croakie in town).

Another trope of these games is building bonds with named NPCs, and indeed, it's no different here.  Giving gifts, spending time and completing requests earns affinity levels that also unlock story scenes; not completely unlike the Persona games.  (It seems every RPG is doing Persona better than Persona these days.)  Of course per series tradition, marriage can follow if you raise affinity high enough with particular characters; and yes, same-sex marriages are allowed.  Most named NPCs can also accompany you as you head into battle, and keeping them in your party (and hearing their interactions) will also raise your affinity level with them.  Their AI also surprisingly good, though they do have their own HP and RP meters to keep track of, so keeping them in good shape with your extra items will go pretty far in helping you build bonds and clear dungeons.

Perhaps most surprising is how engrossed I found myself with Guardians of Azuma's narrative.  It incorporates surprisingly well into the theme of passing seasons and prosperity, and its cutscenes contain quality voice acting, emotive characters and even a surprisingly decent sense of humor, which is something I didn't expect.

So yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.  You can still see the Harvest Moon roots, but only just; at its core is a fun title that feels a bit like a blend of Dark Cloud and Ys, with quite a lot of content to see and some substantial replay value if you want to see all the romance options.  It may not be one of the genre's best or even a super deep game in general, but I was just after a fun RPG to play on my Switch 2, and it fits the bill quite nicely.  A fun way to spend a month while I wait on year-end releases like Ghost of Yotei, Dragon Quest 1/2 HD-2D Remake, Metroid Prime 4 and Outer Worlds 2.

Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Marvelous
Released: 2025
Platform: Switch, Switch 2, Windows
Recommended Version: I have only played the Switch 2 version but it runs flawlessly on there; no slowdown, stuttering or other issues.

Star Ocean: the Second Story R

A remake of a PS1 semi-classic, Star Ocean: the Second Story R keeps the elaborate design of the original while giving its presentation and performance a massive upgrade and adding in some new content.  But is this Second Story worth revisiting, or is it best left in the past?

Star Ocean is a game I remember playing in the Playstation 1 days, but didn't really enjoy; while it had a good concept in trying to bring western-style character skills and crafting mechanics into the JRPG format, it was plagued with a really dopey script, serious performance problems (including numerous post-battle freezes), a generally buggy and unbalanced combat system and some pretty heinous sound design, including some infamously bad voice acting and audio mixing even by the standards of the time period.  So I just kind of forgot about it and never really bothered checking out its sequels for the most part (other than briefly trying out the third game).  But after seeing it had gotten a remake on modern platforms by Gemdrops (and was on sale for exceptionally cheap during 2024's Black Friday sales), I figured it was finally time to give it another chance.

Well, having now played some of the remake I can state that the script is still pretty dumb, with a lot of really dopey dialog, childish humor and a general campy tone, but it's made considerably more bearable by the surprisingly high voiceover quality.  Spike Spencer and Eden Riegel voice the two main protagonists Claude and Rena, and they perform their parts with the same high quality they put into any project.  The rest of the cast gives their all too, so it becomes a much more bearable experience.  Combat is much faster-paced and considerably less buggy now, though there's still some dumb quirks, like stopping short while pursuing a running enemy and swinging at air over and over again until they finally decide to stand still long enough to be hit.  Your caster allies blow through their MP at a terrifying speed, resulting in me telling them to just avoid damage and cast only when specifically instructed to.  Another new mechanic is Break Gauges - basically enemy now has an "armor" bar alongside their health, and once it's broken they'll be stunned for a little while and take extra damage until they recover.  Bosses likewise have these, and when broken they'll unleash a shockwave that also stuns any another enemies in the battle it hits, making it a good strategy to target them first.  Formations are a bit more practical now - there wasn't much point to them in the original owing to the real-time and chaotic nature of battles, but now they grant cumulative bonuses as you land hits on enemies and avoid sneak attacks and stuns, which vary depending on the formation you choose - everything from bonus experience and money to extra damage.  Seemingly taking notes from The World Ends With You, up to five encounters can be chained together back-to-back, granting substantial bonuses to your gained experience, money and items if you manage to survive them all.  Hitting various milestones in battles (number of enemies fought, damage dealt, et cetera) fulfills a list of Combat Challenges, which often give rare items or experience/skill point bonuses when fulfilled.

But of course, the selling point of Star Ocean is its incredibly elaborate skill and crafting systems, and there's definitely a lot to unpack in Second Story's case.  Not only can you upgrade character stats and combat skills to enable things like faster casting, doing extra damage, shortening stun time or automatically dodging attacks, but there are a ton of non-combat skills as well - everything from Mineralogy to Herbal Medicine to Music to Biology to Aesthetics to Cooking, which lend themselves to item-based utilities and/or stat boosts for anyone who learns them.  Some more abstract ones (like Poker Face) lend themselves to higher-level skills like Pickpocketing, so even if it does nothing on its own, it usually serves a higher purpose.  Even some that seem pretty useless at a glance have surprising utility, like Bunny Call - this summons a giant rabbit you can ride on the overworld over virtually any terrain (just excluding the ocean), allowing you to both avoid random battles and reach many treasures that are otherwise out of reach.  Unlike in the original version, you don't have purchase skills at shops - everybody has all of them available to purchase at the start.  Instead, skill guilds now offer various missions you can complete for rewards, usually in the form of money, items or extra skill points to spend.

Many of these do of course pertain to random battles and powering up, and I found these to be quite a lot of fun to tinker with.  Scouting can raise or lower the encounter rate, Training allows you to take a penalty to your stats to boost experience gains, and Effort lowers the amount of experience needed to gain levels.  All of these combined with an experience-boosting Formation and the aforementioned chained battles mechanic allow you to power up at a surprising speed, and the Enlightenment skill lets you get less money rewards from battle in exchange for more skill points.  Determination lowers the point cost of all skills (so yeah... always max that first), and Purity bizarrely just gives an escalating cash payout each time you take it.  As you can imagine, all of these are quite abusable early on in the game, though as Star Ocean famously has a quite steep challenge curve on the highest difficulty setting, so they're pretty much necessary to make any headway in that mode.

Crafting is an enormous part of the game too, and there's a lot to cover under that umbrella.  Making new weapons and armor and combining weapons with materials to transform them into other weapons is of course present, but one can also create musical works, cook meals with various effects, boost the effect of mundane healing items with Herbology (boosting their low 22% heal to a whopping 52% at max), transmute materials into stronger stuff, raise Appraisal to get better prices in shops, and paint portraits to sell.  Perhaps most broken of all is Writing, which allows a character to create skill books and teach them to other characters at minimal cost, saving tons of skill point farming in the long run.  There is of course a substantial random chance to all of this, with cooking in particular being somewhat annoying - rather than choosing what you want, you simply get one of a list of random items based on a particular ingredient you're using.  So if you're after a particular type of food for some reason (like completing a mission), you just have to keep buying ingredients and rolling the dice until you get it.  Failed rolls occasionally get you bad items too, like Bounced Checks (which cost you money to sell and continually deplete your cash as long as you have them in your inventory), so that's something to beware of too.

Several modern conveniences are added into the game as well.  As mentioned above, the game's presentation is massively improved; not just with the voice acting, but by giving its audio and visual design a massive overhaul.  Like many of Square's modern titles it utilizes a blend of 2D sprites for the characters (the same one as the PS1 version, in fact) and 3D backdrops, and it works surprisingly well here - the environments are gorgeous to look at and a joy to explore.  Another addition is fast travel - one can quickly zip to not just any town they've previously visited, but any shop or even mundane house within that town, and even to the entrance of most dungeons.  Private Actions (unique dialogs to build up affinity with characters) are now activated with a press of a button while you're in town, rather than on the world map, and items that can be created with a particular skill are now given convenient in-game lists so you don't have to go digging through an online guide every 5 seconds.  The Voice Selection is now actually completable, unlike the original PS1 game, and there is indeed a trophy for doing so.  There are a total of 99 possible endings to achieve based on the affinity you've built up with characters by the end, though you only need 15 to get the trophy for it, and it's fairly easy to just restart, use items to build up affinity with a different character and finish the final boss again to get new ones.  There are also trophies tied to getting each and every recruitable character, though, and some characters are only recruitable if you choose to begin as Claude or Rena, so you will still need to do at least two playthroughs.  Finally, my personal favorite new addition is a fishing minigame.  Yes, you can indeed fish at just about any body of water on the overworld, and even trade in fish for various unique rewards with an NPC named Lure.  Plenty of fun.

So, with all that said, Star Ocean: the Second Story R is an excellent update of a flawed PS1 title, upgrading pretty much every element I disliked about the original while keeping everything good intact.  The story is still nothing special (and the dialog pretty moronic a lot of the time), so don't come in expecting intelligent science fiction or any particularly deep characterizations. But there's no shortage of elaborate mechanics, challenging battles and intricacies to discover, and the quick pacing of the gameplay and strong soundtrack make it a fun journey to undertake.  Gemdrops did a fantastic job updating the game, and I wouldn't mind seeing them remaster some other forgotten games under the Square Enix umbrella.  Like say... Bahamut Lagoon or Treasure of the Rudras?

 

Developer: Gemdrops, Tri-Ace

Publisher: Square Enix

Released: 2023

Platforms: Playstation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Switch

Recommended Version:  I have only played the PS5 version but they all seem to play pretty much identically.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

A spiritual successor to Suikoden by series creator Yoshitaka Murayama, who tragically passed away only a couple months before the game's release.  But does Eiyuden Chronicle prove to be a worthy successor to a cult classic franchise, or does Murayama's final project simply fall short?

Hyped up years before its launch by Suikoden Fans owing to a Kickstarter campaign and a general lament over a lack of good "old school" RPGs, Eiyuden Chronicle certainly built up a fair bit of hype during its lengthy development.  Launched four years after the Kickstarter's successful completion (and about a year after a short prequel game), it certainly seemed to be a successor to Suikoden in just about every way possible, for both good and ill.

Indeed, the Suikoden influence is unmistakable, with numerous elements copied straight over from those games.  You have a six-person team active as you explore, with three in the front row, three in the back, and optionally one providing a support ability.  Some larger and more powerful characters also take up two slots (a front and back row space) rather than one.   Characters gain levels after earning 1000 Experience points, with lower-leveled characters catching up much faster as XP gained is divided by their current level.  Combat is once again turn-based, with each character able to use runic abilities and spells and "Hero Combos", which function similarly to Suikoden's Unite Attacks, with both/all characters involved spending SP to perform a powerful combo.  Characters still upgrade their weapons at blacksmiths rather than replacing them with new equipment, though armor and accessories are still found and/or purchased.

Things do change up in some other ways.  Runes return, though in a slightly different form - each character now has up to eight slots which can fit different types of runes - from stat boosters to spells to special abilities, restricted by a "rarity" ranking from one to four, with more unlocking as characters gains levels.  However, some rune slots have fixed runes (usually special moves) that cannot be reassigned.  Spells run off a more traditional MP system rather than having different tiers with limited casts per tier, and MP can accordingly be restored with potions purchased in shops.  Special moves, on the other hand, are fueled by "SP", which recharges each turn in battle.  Some characters also benefit simply by having stocks of SP on hand - for example, Mio's attack damage increases by 2% for each SP stocked.  Items no longer have to be equipped to character inventory slots to be used in battle - anyone can use them from the bag, though they're still broken up into predetermined stack sizes that depend on the item type and bag space is limited.  

Shields are an interesting new mechanic.  They're armor pieces mostly equipped by front-line characters, but don't just boost defense - they actually provide "armor" that reduces damage, and once they 'break' by taking damage, they're gone for the rest of the battle.  Blunt attacks seem to damage this armor more, while magic attacks ignore it entirely.  It's used quite often by bosses as well, so having a character or two in any given party that can weaken armor is a good idea.  Another unique strategic element is that rather than giving each character a generic "Defend" command to reduce damage, some characters' have different effects - some will boost their own evasion or even attempt to parry and counter an enemy's attack.

Another unique twist to many battles is the Gimmick command.  Mostly appearing in boss fights, these operate somewhat like the combat gimmicks in Final Fantasy X's boss battles, allowing you to gain an advantage over the boss or avoid some of their more dangerous attacks.  A couple examples include having characters take cover behind rubble to avoid a dangerous beam attack, or activating one of two spellbooks to summon a giant hammer to stun a sandworm boss.  The Gimmick command can also show up in certain random encounters in the form of Battle Chests - sometimes there will be a chest in the background of a fight, and you must use the command to retrieve it before all of the enemies are defeated.  This is only way to get some items (and full completion for the trophy).  Thankfully none seem to be permanently missable, but getting a specific enemy formation with the chest to appear is entirely up to chance and can be pretty annoying at times.

The old Suikoden war epic gameplay staples show up again too, with large-scale, grid-based war battles and duels.  War battles operate in an interesting way - you and your opponent choose all of your moves at the top of each turn and then all of your units move at the same time, so it's not always easy to outmaneuver your foes.  As with the old Suikodens they're mostly vehicles for storytelling rather than being very in-depth, but it is pretty cool to see so many autonomous sprites onscreen duking it out all at once; something that the PS1's limited capabilities wouldn't be able to do.  Duels work similarly to the rock-paper-scissors clashes of the old games, with you trying to guess your opponent's moves based on what they say, though it's more cinematic in nature - once you succesfully attack or counter enough times, you choose to "Break", which moves the storytelling within the scene to a new stage and changes up the dialog.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but is an interesting new spin on it.  Building up your castle town is now a more in-depth process too - rather than simply recruiting people and watching your castle grow on its own, you take a more active role by collecting resources in the field and spending them on various amenities and shops.  Some can't be built until you recruit specific characters, while others serve a more utilitarian purpose, slowly generating more resources for future building projects.  It reminds me a bit of Ni no Kuni II's town building mechanic, though not quite as in-depth as that game's was.

Eiyuden Chronicle clearly isn't the biggest-budget game around, but they still managed to make it look and sound very good given what they had to work with.  The game utilizes some gorgeous 2D-animated characters on imaginative and gorgeous full-3D backdrops, and it all looks good (and period-authentic) enough to put Square Enix's tacky "HD-2D" graphics to shame, highlighting some beautiful spritework and 3D animation alike, particularly in the large-scale boss fights.  However, I'm not terribly fond of the simulated "camera focus", which blurs out objects in view when they're not in close proximity to your character.  The voiceover shows quite a bit of quality too, with every dialog scene and character having voice talent behind them; even nonessential characters in your party get the odd voiced line here and there, which avoids a common pitfall of a lot of other large-party RPGs.

So, fans of '90s style RPGs have quite a lot to like in Eiyuden Chronicle, but like I said at the top, it does carry over a few less-savory elements from that time period as well.  The camera in the game can be a bit annoying in places, as it's a fixed view in indoor areas but fully rotatable on the world map, and it doesn't always point north by default, so until I figured that out I was getting disoriented pretty easily trying to reach new destinations.  The fixed camera can block your view of certain pathways and hidden treasures in some cases, and while there is a handy minimap to show you inobvious paths, some hidden ones aren't always shown on it, so you'll have to pay careful attention to both views if you want to fully explore each area.  There are also several instances of annoying railroading - I often found myself wanting to go back and get a character or just explore, but the game would insists I go to do the next quest first.  It's also a good ways into the game before fast travel becomes available too, so if you're not extremely diligent in exploring each area it might be a good while before you get another chance to.  A small handful of characters are also reportedly permanently missable, which is always frustrating in a 50+ hour RPG.  Random encounters are still very much a thing too, and while the rate you get battles is pretty decent for the most part, it can still be irritating at times; particularly when you're seeking out a particular enemy group to try and get a Battle Chest or trying to solve a large-scale dungeon puzzle.  There are also side missions aplenty, some with annoying random requirements (like getting a rare drop from a specific enemy) as well as minigames - a collectible card game that plays somewhat like Caravan from Fallout: New Vegas (introduced by a character who looks and sounds a fair bit like Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh, no less) and a Beyblade-esque minigame about battling tops, which mostly seems to boil down to counter-picking your opponent through trial and error (or using a guide).  You'll be seeing quite a bit of both if you want full completion, so be ready for that.  At times it's not always clear exactly what you're supposed to do next either, even with a quest marker system in place; I had to read a walkthrough a couple of times to hit the next plot beat.  And of course there are a fair number of well-hidden sidequests and obscure items to track down to complete many of the game's side-objectives, so all in all I'd recommend having a guide handy.

All told, Eiyuden Chronicle delivers what it promises - a spiritual followup to Suikoden with all the trappings of a late '90s/early 00's RPG.  It has a runtime of about 50 hours (substantially more if you want full completion, a great deal more if you try to grind out all the grindy trophies), a large world to explore, over 100 characters to recruit, and a story that's one part war epic and several parts anime-styled silliness, all built around turn-based battles, random encounters and equipment management.  It's about as authentic an experience as you can get considering it was made by someone who was made three acclaimed RPGs in that time period; it's just a shame it ended up being Murayama's final game and that he never got to see it get a proper release.  He reportedly had a script for a sequel planned out though, so if it sells well enough we might just see an Eiyuden Chronicle 2.  If not, though, it was at least nice to see one last game from the franchise's creator carry on the Suikoden format, even if it had to happen without the name attached.

 

Developer: Rabbit & Bear Studios

Publisher: 505 Games

Released: 2024

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, XBox One, XBox Series, PC, Switch

Recommended Version: Avoid the Switch version, at least for now; there are numerous reports of bugs and poor performance, though the developers have said they are planning a patch to address them.  All the other versions seem to be fine.

Sea of Stars

A game which makes no secret of its inspirations by a company who already has one acclaimed retro-style game under their belt, Sea of Stars has been heavily compared to mid-90s RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG.  But does it prove to be a legendary title like those games, or is this just another soon-to-be-forgotten game that mimics the visuals of the era and little else?

As tech in the world of games has gotten more and more focused on graphics and making huge, sprawling and beautiful but mostly empty worlds with only the barest basics of gameplay, there has been an increasing demand for games to go back to earlier times with "worse" graphics, shorter lengths, but retaining the polished design, quality writing and creative spark that made many older gamers fans of the medium in the first place.  

Naturally, many developers (mostly small indie studios) have answered the call, making their own "NES styled" or "SNES styled" or "classic styled" games to get a piece of that demand; sometimes quite successfully.  Personally I'm especially critical of games that mimic an 8 or 16 bit style of design, especially RPGs; the overwhelming majority of the time, studios just use that style as an easy in-road to peoples wallets while serving up an otherwise mediocre and uninteresting experience, their developers having no concern for the fact that retro games are almost universally remembered because they were cutting edge for their time, not because they looked and sounded a certain way but had no real substance beneath the hood.  Hell, when games from the '80s like Solomon's Key, Castlevania II, Montezuma's Revenge and Goonies II have leagues more depth than games of similar aesthetic made in the 2010's, there's some serious values disparity going on there.  But hey, if it looks the part and it sells enough copies to break even based just on that, who cares, right?

Obviously there are outliers to any rule, and I think Sea of Stars is an excellent example of one.  When Sabotage Studio makes a game patterned after classic titles, it's because they love them and want to share their magic with a younger generation.  Not just because they want a bigger install base, but because they want a new generation to share in the best of retro gaming's timeless charm, immaculate design and sense of fun. Case in point, while Sea of Stars has an overall similar aesthetic to Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana, some earnest dialog and self-aware humor reminiscent of games like Earthbound, and turn-based minigame-driven combat not dissimilar to Mario RPG, it blends in enough of its own elements to not feel overly derivative of any of them.

The exploration element in the game is also distinctly fresh, putting heavy focus on traversing the environment via handholds, narrow ledges and hopping over gaps and up and down small ledges, so dungeons have quite a bit more going on than just being the typical RPG "empty corridor full of monsters".  They also have a heavy focus on Wild Arms-styled puzzles, as well as ones involving your protagonists' abilities to unlock hidden secrets by manipulating the time of day.  These can get a bit drawn-out at times, but I never became overly annoyed by them owing to the brisk pacing and lack of random encounters; enemies appear in pre-determined places on each map and they do not respawn unless you completely leave the area and return.

Combat similarly draws elements from its inspirations - Chrono Trigger's three-party system with enemy placement and special move effectiveness varying from battle to battle - but also works in timing minigames for attacks, blocks and special moves similar to Mario RPG.  It's definitely not a 1:1 copycat of either, though, mixing in several elements of its own.  For one, characters can act in any order on your turn, but only once per round, which becomes important when enemies start charging special moves.  While they do this, 2-4 icons (termed "locks") will be displayed over them, and hitting them with attack types depicted on those icons will break locks, weakening the incoming attack or, if all of them are broken before their turn occurs, will stop it completely.

The game also encourages you to use skills and special abilities liberally, rather than conserving them for larger battles.  Your characters have relatively small MP pools (and they only grow a small amount with each level), with your skills able to cost easily half or more of your reserves.  Your normal attacks restore MP when they land, though, so you can use them fairly often without having to rely too heavily on restorative items.  Landing hits and breaking locks also fills up your Combo meter, which fuels more powerful moves involving two or three characters - not unlike the combination techniques in Chrono Trigger.  Stored combo meter also does not carry over between battles, so it's worth using them whenever you get a chance to.  Finally, landing blows on enemies with normal attacks causes them to drop orbs; holding down Right Trigger will cause your currently controlled character to gather them up and unleash a stronger, elemental-charged attack; this can be done up to three times in a single turn for an especially powerful blow.  Having a character be KOed in battle also isn't as big a deal as in some games - they will recover 50% HP on their own after a set number of turns (starting at two and increasing each time they're downed), though if all three characters are down at once the game is over.  If nothing else, a nice alternative to many of the Final Fantasy games where reviving allies mid-battle is an annoying ordeal of using a Phoenix Down on them, then watching as they get hit and KOed again right away.

Sea of Stars puts much emphasis on its cooking system, which is your primary means of healing during battle.  You gather various ingredients throughout the dungeon areas, as well as from fishing holes on the map (complete with a Breath of Fire-esque minigame).  Whenever you reach a campfire you can cook up food items to restore HP, MP or both to one person or your whole team, and it's best to weigh your options carefully as you can only carry up to ten meals at a time.

On a writing front, Sea of Stars is refreshingly modest - a wonderful change of pace from countless other modern RPGs that want so badly to present their writers as highly-cultured visionaries with messages too important to ignore, but who are just too full of themselves to pull it off.  Its world and storytelling is pretty formulaic RPG fare, but it makes it work by giving every location a distinct feel and adding some new elements to the traversal mechanics, so even getting around them rarely feels monotonous.  The characters are genuinely human - relatable, fallible and with strong chemistry between them, so it feels all the more impactful when the twists come around and lives get shaken up.  The sense of humor is admittedly cheesy (particularly the pirates who constantly rag on clichéd plot points from other games), but it never becomes overly irritating.  The world lore is conveyed in a clever way too - by finding various artifacts as you traverse the world, you can then have various legends read out during the game's campfire segments - several end up playing into story events later, with others just being there for fun.

In short, Sea of Stars is a game that, while clearly inspired by the classics, is anything but a cheap knockoff.  Its inspirations are apparent if you're familiar with that era of role playing games, but it brings plenty of its own twists to the overall design and gameplay and feels very fresh in its own right.  The charming characters, modest writing, brisk pacing, gorgeous 2D animation (with some modern touches like dynamic lighting) and wonderful music (with a few tracks contributed by the legendary Yasunori Mitsuda) make it not just a memorable tribute to 90s-style JRPGs, but a fine one in its own right.  It's a true rarity - a game made by people who invoke the classics because they genuinely love them and know what makes them work, not because they want to use that connection as an easy inroad to being put on a pedestal and worshipped.  It admittedly does have a few balance issues and it starts to run out of steam toward the end, with combat becoming overly easy and the best ending locked behind doing basically every little sidequest in the game (which involves tracking down numerous hidden items and completing basically every side-mission), but I nevertheless had a lot of fun with Sea of Stars.  I certainly hope it inspires other indie devs to bring a high degree of polish, innovate and set new standards in the way their old favorites did, too.

Developer: Sabotage Studio
Publisher: Sabotage Studio
Released: 2023
Platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Switch

Recommended Version: All versions seem to be identical as far as I can tell.

Sea of Stars (Demo)

In an era that's become known for a resurgence of classic styled RPGs (with varying degrees of quality), Sea of Stars is another that seems to draw elements from several 16-bit era titles.  But does it manage to capture the magic of the greats from the mid-90s without becoming overly derivative, or is this just another cookie cutter job to be passed up?

Sabotage Studio is a name I know in passing from their sidescrolling platformer game "the Messenger", which also featured a bit of self-awareness in its design in that you'd travel between two time periods - a "past" resembling 8-bit games and a "future" resembling 16-bit ones, with the latter half of the game changing up format entirely into something like a metroidvania.  That, plus solid fundamental gameplay and a quirky sense of humor, earned it acclaim among retro action fans and metroidvania enthusiasts alike.

Sea of Stars, despite technically being a prequel to that game, doesn't play anything like it, instead opting for a turn-based RPG experience with a focus on puzzles and mid-battle minigames.  Graphically it bears a resemblance to Chrono Trigger with its expressively-animated characters, heavily detailed backdrops and a similar visual perspective, though with a much more bright, colorful and fanciful style overall.  Enemies are also visible on the map and can be avoided similar to that game, though they will actively chase you down and even fire attacks at range to drag you into battle; at one point one even shot me in the back from offscreen as I was hopping across platforms, dragging me back to the screen they were on to start a battle).  On that note, the game's map traversal is also a fair bit more involved, having you hop over gaps, climb up handholds and activate switch and platform puzzles to proceed (even going under terrain layers to progress on several occasions), so you're almost never just running through empty corridors.  Music in the game is passable though not especially memorable, though according to the developers the final product will also feature at least ten tracks by Yasunori Mitsuda, so we'll see how that pans out.

Combat in Sea of Stars also looks a bit like Chrono Trigger superficially, but plays out more similarly to Super Mario RPG, with timed hits, blocks and minigame-based special moves - deflecting a boomerang to hit multiple enemies potentially multiple times (getting faster with each hit), charging a fireball by holding down a button and releasing it (doing more damage if you release it at maximum size) being two shown off in the demo.  Simple timed button presses are also used to deal a second hit with the attack command for a bit of extra damage, or block an enemy's strike to reduce the damage you take.  Characters can take their turns in any order but cannot act more than once per round, allowing you to get a healing move in or break Locks accordingly (more on that in a bit).  One similarity to Chrono Trigger are Combination Moves, which, similar to Chrono Trigger's Dual Techs, have two characters combine their special attacks for greater effects - inflicting multiple types of damage in a single turn, healing the entire party, or other effects.  These run on "Combo Points" (built up by inflicting damage and breaking locks) and more can be learned by finding technique scrolls throughout the game.

A couple of relatively fresh mechanics do show themselves quickly, though.  One is that each enemy displays a stopwatch with a number next to it, showing how many actions you can take before they get their turn, which allows you to adjust your strategies accordingly.  When an enemy is preparing to use a particularly powerful move, they'll display anywhere from two to four "Locks" with icons pertaining to certain weapon damage types or special moves; using one of these moves removes a lock, and if you manage to break all the locks before the move executes, it will be canceled entirely.  Landing physical hits on enemies also knocks out gems, which you can hold R2 and press X to have your currently-selected character gather; these will power up your next move accordingly, with up to three charges being collectible at once.  MP management is also a major component of strategy - each character has a relatively small MP pool (with one spell able to take upwards of half of it), but normal attacks will regenerate 3 MP.  Downed characters also seem to automatically recover after a turn or two, regaining half HP, though this may just be a demo feature as there were no revival items in the demo that I could find.  Another small, but welcome feature is the fact that your party has a collective experience gauge rather than separate tallies so that you all stay on the same relative power level (and don't miss out on a big chunk of experience if you die during, say, a boss fight).  The pacing is also solid, with combat never becoming too overused, puzzles being well-designed without becoming overly tedious or frustrating, and battles lasting just the right amount of time, neither too long nor drawn-out to the point where boredom starts to set in.

The game also utilizes a fishing minigame somewhat reminiscent of the Breath of Fire series, though I don't know if it's a direct reference to that.  It's simple enough - drop the bobber near a fish, reel when they're in the light-blue "sweet spot" that shifts around the center of the lake, and maneuver them somewhat with the stick or d-pad to jigger them into said sweet spot (though once they get close to the dock they'll also start weaving around like crazy, resulting in a rather annoying trial of tapping the button to real in a tiny bit at a time until they finally give in).  Fish, as well as harvested plant materials in outside areas, culminate in a crafting element where you can visit a campfire and create food items to carry into battle for HP and MP recovery (of which you can carry up to 10 at a time).

Sea of Stars does contain a couple of accessibility options as well.  One is the "Amulet of Storytelling" , which eases combat with free heals after battle and gives all of your characters a significantly higher base HP value.  The other is "Sequent Flare", which provides greater visual feedback with timed hits and blocks - handy for getting the timing down.  Presumably there will be more (plenty of space left on that menu), but I'm not yet sure what they will entail.

As is standards for demos, Sea of Stars's is a short experience that you can finish in about an hour, so of course we're only getting a very small portion of the final product.  From what they're showing, though, I see solid effort from people who have a genuine passion and love for classic styled RPGs and sought to put their own spin on the format with considerable success - while clearly inspired by the style and humor games like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG (with a bit of Lufia or Alundra style puzzle solving), it's not overly derivative of any one of them and has some quite charming identity of its own.  It also never tries to feel overly self-important or self-referential, which earns it a lot of points in my book; retro RPGs never had to give constant sly winks or cram in a sloppy pretentious 'artist's signature' to stand out, after all - they just got by on the merits of good storytelling and solid design, which Sea of Stars does too.  So, if you're a fan of retro RPGs and want a game in that format with a charm all its own, I also urge you to give the Sea of Stars demo a go and see for yourself what they have cooking.

Developer: Sabotage Studio
Publisher: Sabotage Studio
Released: 2023
Platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Switch

Recommended Version: All versions seem to be identical as far as I can tell.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The long-awaited followup to Breath of the Wild ultimately took six years to be released, blending in numerous new gameplay elements and vastly expanding the size of its world and the scale of its narrative over its already huge predecessor.  But was this heavily anticipated sequel worth the wait, or does it just bring a tear to the eyes of fans?

Despite being a cross-platform release, Breath of the Wild was the breakout title for the Switch, and really affirmed Nintendo's commitment to the platform after the very lackluster reception (and sales) of the Wii U.  The game ultimately sold over 25 million copies and was very strongly received by new fans, but had a more mixed reception among long-timers, who criticized its lack of traditional Zelda dungeons and boss battles, comparatively bland overworld and constantly-breaking weapons, among other things.  I had somewhat mixed feelings about it myself; while I commended Nintendo for a noble first attempt at something they'd never really attempted before - an open world RPG with a focus on slower-paced emergent gameplay - the lack of tangible reward for most quests (unlike a good Elder Scrolls or Fallout) and the overworld lacking a lot of the hidden side areas and secrets of earlier Zeldas ensured that while I enjoyed the experience overall, I didn't love it.  I've compared it unfavorably to Skyrim on several occasions - another game with some very prominent shortcomings and a lot of missing elements compared to its predecessors, but having a much more well-crafted world and rewarding gameplay loop than Breath of the Wild ensured it was a game I played a fair bit more.

Tears of the Kingdom was announced not long after the original game's release, and though they were tight-lipped about it for a long time, it still generated a considerable amount of fan interest.  They seemed to have taken fan criticisms into account in a big way - in addition to heavily retooling the original overworld from BotW (now with many more caves, wells and hidden areas to discover, major changes to existing locales, as well as a whole new set of temples to earn upgrades from), there's floating ruins in the sky and even a vast, dark underground world to explore that you gradually light up by activating giant roots.  Essentially, there are now three different worlds to explore, so the game is absolutely dense with content before you even get into the quests and storyline.

The core gameplay remains essentially unchanged - weapons still break after a few good whacks, and it's easy to stumble into powerful foes who can take you out in one or two hits - but the powers you're given to improvise solutions to these problems are much different (and far more versatile) than they were before.  Right away you're given the "Ultrahand", which can be used to pick up and manipulate heavy objects, and even attach them together with supernatural "glue" to create structures.  This lends itself to a heavy focus on building things; both from pre-fab parts like gliders, planks, wheels and even weapons like flamethrowers and beam cannons - but also plays heavily into problem solving, allowing you to improvise creative means of crossing over obstacles, reaching out-of-reach objects, and so forth.  Basically Zelda now has a touch of Garry's Mod to it, which as you can imagine has already led to all sorts of bizarre and amazing player creations to deal with enemies and solve puzzles (or just getting laughs on social media).  As the game progresses you'll also unlock more battery capacity, letting you power more complex creations for a longer period of time, and even unlock the ability to save your creations and recreate them instantly later (either from raw ore or available parts).

Other powers include being able to Rewind time for specific objects, leaping upwards through ceilings to reach new areas (so long as the ceiling is fairly close and the surface relatively flat), and Fusion - the ability to combine weapons, shields and objects together into new forms.  This lends an entirely new dynamic to your arsenal and the gameplay as a whole, as for story reasons most metallic weapons in the land have decayed and become near-useless in battle. But if you take, say, a rusted Claymore and fuse it with a heavy piece of wood, or a metal spiked ball, or a Lizalfo horn, or even another claymore, you not only combine their offensive properties to make a more powerful weapon, but you get something with greater reach to boot.  Shields can also be Fused in similar fashion, allowing you to weaponize them or bolster their defense, and you can plop nearly any object on the game onto the end of an arrow - from bombs that explode on impact to flame fruits that ignite things to mushrooms that bounce whatever they hit a fair distance backwards, or even Keese eyeballs to give arrows homing properties, the possibilities are vast and great fun to experiment with.  One can also freehand throw any object, so unless you're incredibly wasteful, you're never caught without at least something to defend yourself or create a means of escape with.  Weapons also have a considerably wider variety of bonus effects now too, such as more energy-efficient usage when fused with building components or added durability or elemental effects, so while there are still essentially only a small handful of weapon types (thrusting, slashing and two-handed blades), they manage to feel distinct nonetheless.

Tears of the Kingdom also addresses my major complaints with its predecessor, giving it that heavy focus on secrets that earlier Zeldas had and making the exploration element feel much more rewarding.  As mentioned, there are effectively three different maps to explore now, all of which are ridiculously dense; packed with hidden caves, alcoves, wells and miniature dungeons, and all have a surprisingly unique feel to them and give some useful rewards for your trouble.  Whether it's a new piece of armor, a few potions and food items, some leads on a new quest or just some rare crafting materials, they all do their best to make it worth your while to explore them.  Hunting down specific crafting components is made easier with the addition of a compendium for all of Hyrule's sights, which you add to by snapping photos, and can set your radar (which normally homes in on shrines) to detect anything else you fancy as long as it's in there.  Rain is much less of a momentum-killer than it was before, as you can create potions and equip armor that makes you slip less frequently on wet surfaces in addition to the vehicle-building element.  The worlds as a whole also feel much more dynamic and alive, with nice touches like NPCs traveling between towns and even fighting monsters on occasion, talking you up and giving hints on potential item locations, and even occasionally taking part in quests with you.  Dungeons are once again distinctly themed and feel more like proper Zelda, focusing on puzzle solving, battling monsters and having large-scale, amazing boss battles.  Even the story scenes are cinematic, wonderfully acted and amazingly staged, making it feel like your (and Zelda's) actions are having a tangible impact on wresting Hyrule from the grip of a looming evil.

While the game is a massive improvement in just about every respect - music, visuals, gameplay, physics and features - it's not without some minor technical issues.  The framerate does get a bit choppy at times, particularly in some of the busier locations (like towns) and during some of the more chaotic fights.  There is also a slight delay to the controls that takes a bit of getting used to, but the game in general moves at a fairly leisurely pace, so it's not as much of a problem as it would be in something based more around intense action like Ghost of Tsushima.  Still, the fact that it's such a massive, complex game with a very robust physics engine, keeps track of dynamic events going on for miles around, yet runs as smoothly as it does on a handheld system that's over six years old at this point, is nothing short of incredible.  It also manages to do all of this without making my Switch's fan run at full blast constantly, unlike some games (*COUGHShinMegamiTenseiV*).  It also doesn't have some QoL you'd hope it would (being able to favorite items or outfits for quick access), but that's a minor concern.

In closing, Nintendo's second attempt at an immersive sim style game (with their own brand of off-beat creativity blended in) hits all the notes its predecessor missed, taking the experimental elements the series has tinkered with going all the way back to Ocarina of Time and melding them together with what works into a brilliant and cohesive whole.  The fact that it has so much content, so many added features on top of highly polished core mechanics, and such amazing worldbuilding and storytelling, all polished to virtual perfection, is nothing short of breathtaking, and that it's all happening on a six-year-old handheld system and runs as well as it does stands as proof positive that the hardware it's on ultimately has little to no bearing on a game's quality.  Tears of the Kingdom is a massively deep new well for the genre, to the point where it makes Breath of the Wild look almost like an unfinished beta in comparison.  A wonderfully addictive, ingeniously executed and highly entertaining game that deserves every bit of praise it's gotten; Nintendo once again proves they're the true kings of gaming.  

Developer: Nintendo EPD, Monolith Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 2023
Platforms: Switch

Recommended Version: N/A

Wartales

An open-ended RPG from a relatively unknown independent company, Wartales seemingly draws inspiration from games like Darklands, having no pre-scripted narrative and de-emphasizing individual characters to focus on group tactics and survival in a war-torn medieval world.  But does it prove to be a worthy open ended role-playing experience, or is this one Wartale best not told?

Open-ended RPG experiences have long been a staple of western RPGs, and it's easy to see why they remain a compelling experience - not bound to a fixed role or narrative, you just try to survive against the odds and get by however you can, constantly fighting against circumstance and limited resources as you go.  Which only adds to the compelling nature of it - running low on food or money may force your party to resort to desperate means - thieving, robbery, et cetera - to get by, or even taking on dangerous missions they normally wouldn't as a desperate means to gain some security.  That uncertainty and moral ambiguity, paired with the inherent challenge of survival in a harsh world, is something rarely seen in more narrative-driven games.

Fittingly, Wartales also gives you a vast number of paths to follow, even opening the game with one such choice.  You begin by picking a backstory for your companions, which tweaks your starting party layout and resources accordingly.  Beginning as a group of friends seeking adventure will start you with a small amount of Influence, but a penalty to experience, while beginning as a group of deserters will start you with more experience, but also some suspicion to your name.  Beginning as a band of thieves puts you in a similar state - though you start with a decent amount of money, your starting Suspicion is also quite high, meaning you'll be on the run from the guards right from the get-go.

Fitting the group-centered dynamic, each member of your party has their own individual (and semi-randomized) stats and traits, as well as two professions - a fixed combat profession which determines what skills, armor and weapons they can use, and a 'side' profession of sorts that lends itself to gathering resources and crafting, earning bonus experience as you use it.  Thieves can steal from merchants and pick locks, tinkers craft tools (like said lockpicks), alchemists can brew potions to heal or harm enemies, fishermen can use a hook to catch fish for party meals, and so forth.  Each character can change their sub-profession freely, though it's best to stick with one whenever possible, as changing to a new one will cause all the experience earned in the current one to be lost.

Knowledge is another key mechanic emphasizing group dynamics.  As you explore the map and locate new areas, you'll gain Knowledge, and after hitting certain milestones you'll be able to purchase "Knowledge Skills" that benefit you in a variety of ways; these can be mundane interface improvements (being able to mark waypoints on the map to follow) to having your party ration food and take lower wages, to even things like letting your packhorses fight alongside you, giving you some decent (and free) support in combat.  You'll also unlock more useful crafting recipes, which in turn will aid you in numerous ways.  More will become available as the game progresses, and there are quite a sizable number of these perks to choose from, so even if your entire current party gets killed and replaced as you go, you'll still gain the benefits of Knowledge to make life easier for your future recruits.

As one would expect in a game of this type, combat in the game is a pretty frequent event, taking place in turn-based battles.  A few mechanics I haven't seen in similar titles do show themselves here, though.  One is that the player's turns aren't locked to individual units, instead letting them use any turn they're given to move any unit of theirs, so long as they haven't already that round.  Attacking a target in melee range will cause both friend and foe to be 'engaged' in a battle; one can break away from this at any time as long as they have movement left in stock, though the enemy will get a free 'attack of opportunity' on them if they do (this also avoids the player doing so by accident, as they must click a button and confirm they wish to move before doing so).  Each character also has special abilities depending on their class and level, which are activated by spending Valor Points, that can help to turn the tide.  Whether charging through multiple enemies, hitting a single target several times, or just getting some extra move range that doesn't trigger attacks of opportunity, using your limited supply of these well becomes an essential strategic element.  One point of frustration, as in many games of this type, are battles with computer controlled allies; particularly as one of them dying can cause you to have to restart the battle, and the none-too-bright AI loves to run right into disadvantageous situations or even straight into traps that can damage or kill them instantly; I had to redo one fight in particular several times because a character insisted on repeatedly running right into a lightning strike.

Managing one's party and reputation is a challenge in itself, though the game does a good job laying out exactly all of the mechanics in play and what one must do to stay on top of things.  The aforementioned Valor points are one; while you only get a handful at a time (necessitating that you spend them carefully), more can be earned by winning battles, completing quests, resting (especially at inns) or boosting the party's Happiness stat.  Happiness is pretty self-explanatory - your troops need to be well-rested, fed and paid, which is intrinsically tied to finding sizable hauls of goods or completing quests and getting paid for it.  Completing missions also earns you Influence, which serves as another type of currency, earning you more dangerous (but more lucrative) jobs or allowing you to recruit more characters and expand your ranks.  The aformentioned suspicion works somewhat like the Bounty in  system in the Elder Scrolls games; once it gets high enough, the guards in your area will seek you out and possibly imprison or kill you if you're caught, though this will slowly decrease with time as long as you avoid standing out or venturing too near occupied areas.  Finally, each major area in the game has a Fate meter, which will go up or down depending on which factions you choose to work with and complete missions for, which also serve as the closest thing the game has to an overarching storyline.  Completing all the quests for a given faction and filling the bar will cause the area to change in a pretty significant way depending on your choice.

All told, I was quite impressed with Wartales. The depth it puts forth in every facet of its design is quite impressive, constantly forcing the player to weigh their options carefully and try to come out better for it in the long run, even if it's not always possible to do so in the short term.  There is a fair bit of mission and resource farming involved, but the game gives you enough to do alongside it - exploration, job seeking, skill honing following various subplots - that it never feels like empty busywork.  Most games  of this type are also infamous for having prohibitively opaque mechanics and interfaces that make them impenetrable to all but the most dedicated gamers, but Wartales offers a simple, intuitive interface and explains its mechanics quite well without ever feeling dumbed-down.  It's similar to the modern XCOM games in that regard - streamlined in some ways to cut down on tedious micromanagement and player frustration, but not to the point where it subtracts from the challenge.  All told, a game that has a lot to offer despite still being in Steam Early Access, and I only see it getting better once it gets a proper launch.

Developer: Shiro Games
Publisher: Shiro Unlimited
Platform: PC
Released: 2021 (Early access)
Recommended Version:  N/A

Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds

The original Ultima Underworld was a groundbreaking and strongly acclaimed game whose influence is still felt in games today, and it's sequel does its best to carry on that legacy despite a crunch-heavy development cycle.  The concept is a solid one - the Avatar discovers a way to enter various worlds the Guardian has already conquered, attempting to discreetly stir rebellion against him and ultimately undo a powerful spell that has Britannia under siege.  To that end, you travel to numerous distinct locations - some familiar, some very alien (the mechanical world of Talorus being a particularly bizarre one) and witness firsthand the twisted machinations of the Guardian.  The original game had one large dungeon with eight labyrinthine floors, so having more variety is a nice change of pace, even if these new worlds are usually much smaller in scale (Mostly between 2-5 floors, and not nearly as densely designed). The downside to this is that Ultima Underworld II's progression is considerably more linear than the first - while you do occasionally have to revisit worlds to complete tasks started in others, each world is for the most part a self-contained story that you see nearly all of your first time through. The same skill system and stats return from the first too, with surprisingly few changes save for a handful of new spells to cast (and some older redundant ones removed).  Unfortunately, this also means that most of the skills that were largely useless the first time around still are - some even moreso with the advent of spells like Open (which completely removes the need for the Picklock skill) and Mending (ditto for Repair).  It doesn't break much new ground in terms of design, but UU2's brilliant writing, creative puzzles and challenging-but-never-unfair gameplay still shine through, creating another memorable, deep and immersive adventure that's well worth undertaking. 

Developer: Looking Glass Studios
Publisher: Origin Systems, Electronic Arts
Released: 1993
Platforms: PC

Breath of Fire IV

The fourth Breath of Fire game and the second on the Playstation 1 was released at a time when the platform was being largely phased out in favor of its successor and thus it went largely ignored by critics and audiences.  But does Breath of Fire IV prove to be a worthy RPG despite its low-key release, or is this just a lackluster last hurrah for the series on the Playstation 1?

Breath of Fire III is probably the most successful and talked-about entry in Capcom's RPG franchise, but I personally didn't enjoy it all that much.  While it did have some great and interesting elements to it, the dragging story pace and arduous combat and minigames, paired with a general lack of balance in the gameplay, made it a game that felt more like a slog than a compelling RPG experience.  Because of that, it was a long time before I really gave Breath of Fire IV much of a chance, especially as it was said to borrow many of 3's design cues.

That much is true, at least; much of the design philosophy here is taken straight from 3, though thankfully given significantly more polish.  Learning skills from enemies returns here, though the luck element is drastically toned down and it doesn't require a separate command to "watch" them for a chance to learn it; using Defend gets the job done now.  The Master system returns too, letting the player shape characters' stats and learn new skills by apprenticing them to Masters throughout the world, but has also seen improvement - skills learned are no longer dependent on just levels, but have other conditions too, tying into mechanics like the combo system, having enough play time racked up on the clock, fighting enough battles or even having enough fishing points.  Basically, they reward you for playing the game, not just stopping everything to grind out more battles; that alone is a major improvement over 3.

The overall design of the game has been much refined too; evident right away in the presentation and cinematography.  Right from the word go, Breath of Fire IV opts for a more movie-like feel with dynamic camera angles and staging and a greater focus on characterization and worldbuilding while relying far less on corny humor.   The pacing is vastly improved, with dungeons feeling focused and loading being virtually unnoticeable, especially in combat.  Minigames are well-integrated into the narrative, and while still not amazing, are fun little diversions rather than irritating chores standing in your path.  Most mundane NPCs in the game have portraits in dialog, which is quite a nice touch, and the solid animation of 3 is even better here, with fluidly-animated sprites and a surprisingly good framerate in the thick of battle (though you can hit occasional slowdown while wandering towns and dungeons).  Even the movement is tighter now - you still move on a set graph and it uses the same isometric style, but I didn't find myself struggling to position myself in front of a switch or sign nearly as much.  Hell, you even have the option to offset D-pad presses to move in diagonal directions if you wish, which is very nice (though I didn't end up using this).  Even the fishing minigame has seen some upgrades, adding some free-roaming around the fishing spots to find the best places and even letting you reel fish in easier by timing button presses to the drums in the music.  Hell, if you happen to own a Playstation 1 fishing controller, it is fully supported by Breath of Fire IV, showing that they really did go the extra mile in every way they could.

Town and dungeon design is much tighter this time too, with small, focused maps instead of huge sprawling ones, and nearly all the dungeons being built around puzzles rather than static, empty corridors full of monsters.  They went slightly overboard with the "packed-in" feel, though, as the halls and corridors you traverse are very narrow and, paired with the isometric perspective, you'll have to frequently rotate the camera to see where you are and where you have to go.  They did attempt to offset this somewhat with Nina's action command, though - she floats up into the air and looks down on the area from above, which can help you get your bearings at times.

Of course, they do add some new twists onto the game too.  Combat has been overhauled substantially - not just in pacing, but mechanically too.  You get a party of six with a maximum of three active in combat at a time, but all of them are with you at a time - no exiting to the map to swap characters when the plot dictates.  One can even switch characters in and out of the active party mid-fight, with those on the sidelines slowly regenerating AP each turn, and while they're sitting out they're also burning turns of status effect duration; quite handy as you can imagine.  Switching characters to deal with particular foes is important too, as each character now has an elemental affinity - they're usually given spells of that element to cast, take less damage from it and more from an opposing element.  Characters don't ever really become obsolete, either; unlike 3, attack magic isn't rendered useless by poor scaling, and particularly powerful skills (like Ryu's dragon morphs) are toned down considerably here.

Another major factor in combat is the new combo system.  Essentially, what this does is let the player chain together skills and spells to not just deal more damage (growing higher as the combo count rises), but to create entirely new attacks.  Elemental spells, cast in proper order (Fire -> Wind -> Water -> Earth -> Fire) will create bigger and more powerful attacks, and some other, less conventional options exist, like combining a healing spell with a fire-element attack to create one heavily damaging to undead enemies.  Even status-inflicting abilities play into this; useless in most RPGs, here they score two hits - one dealing light damage and the other having a chance to inflict the effect.  The latter hit can also combo with other attacks, giving them another chance to inflict that status on top of their normal effect.  There are a ton of possibilities with this new element, which makes combat more engaging than in any prior BoF game - every time you get a new skill you'll find yourself experimenting with it, seeing what you can combo it together with and trying to work towards the damage and combo chain goals that some Masters require.  A big achilles heel of older RPGs is the stale, repetitious combat, but Breath of Fire finally crawled out of that hole with IV and made battles something I looked forward to rather than started to groan at.

Breath of Fire IV doesn't break a lot of new ground; in fact, in terms of overall design it's remarkably similar to 3.  However, it also stands as proof that polish can make all the difference between an arduous RPG experience and a solid game.  The cinematography, dungeon designs, pacing and writing are all a massive improvement on 3's, creating a compelling and epic adventure that plays great to boot.  The game looks gorgeous, with visuals that manage to hold their own against even the almighty Square even with the much smaller budget; beautifully realized and expressive character designs, smooth combat animations, and creative, sharply rendered environments and visual effects. The music, as in any good RPG, carries the mood perfectly, creating an experience that's often grim and depressing, but also very compelling.  Breath of Fire IV is easily the most impressive BoF on a technical level and in terms of storytelling, and is certainly worth a look for any serious fan of RPGs.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Playstation 1, PlayStation Network, PC
Released: 2001
Recommended Version:  The PSN version is a direct port of the PS1.  There is also a native PC port, but as far as I can tell it was never released in North America; only Europe, Australia and Japan.  As of 2025 you can also download it off GOG.

Nier Replicant Ver.1.22474487139...

 A remaster of the low-key hit Nier, which proved to be the last game released by cult company Cavia before their closure.  But does Ver 1.22474487139 prove to be a worthy update to the original cult classic, or should fans simply stick to the original?

Cavia as a company was a pretty low-key name for a lot of its existence, mostly known for producing licensed titles and a few originals like Drakengard, which were largely regarded as mediocre save for their grim storylines and twisted themes.  NieR was the last game they released before being absorbed into their parent company (who would later merge with Marvelous Entertainment to become Marvelous AQL), and like many of their original offerings, its reception was muted at first; however, it went on to become a cult classic for its grim, emotional storytelling and innovative narrative design, probably helped in no small part by the runaway success of its sequel, NieR Automata.

NieR's original release was an odd one, though, owing to some regional disparity.  In Japan there were two versions that differed slightly; "NieR Gestalt" was released for the XBox 360 and had the player control Yonah's father, while the Playstation 3 got "NieR Replicant" and instead had them play as Yonah's brother (a much more bishonen design).  However, when the game was localized for other regions, we only got Gestalt's protagonist regardless of platform choice.  The narrative and gameplay was nearly identical regardless, but it seemed that Square was trying to appeal more to a Western audience (whose games, movies, shows etc. generally feature older protagonists) when the game was published outside of Japan.

The 2021 remaster, however, goes in the exact opposite direction, only affording you the opportunity to play as Yonah's brother, with the "dad" protagonist making an appearance in some of the game's added content.  The story has also had some new scenes added - some that were intended for the original game but cut owing to time constraints, and some new scenes that help bridge the story gap between the original NieR and Automata.  They do a surprisingly good job with it too, as it all feels natural and well-integrated; more than I can say for the added content in games like Final Fantasy and some of the more recent Atlus outings.

Another point of criticism for the original NieR was its rather bland visual design; environments were large and empty and combat animation was rather stiff.  This of course gets updated in the remaster too; while the environments' designs don't change in any significant way, they definitely take advantage of the added technological power of modern platforms, with much nicer-looking textures, flora and fauna seeing a new level of detail, and more expressive character animation on the whole.  The overall style also more closely matches Automata's, with a dark-clad protagonist standing out against the lighter washed out environments.  It looks really good for the most part, though some of the more distinct character designs (Grimoire Weiss in particular) don't stand out nearly as much, going from a black-and-gold motif to looking flat gray in most shots.

The voice acting for the remaster was also overhauled, with the protagonist getting two new VO's (Zach Aguilar and Ray Chase); no surprise given the age shift.  Nearly all the dialog in the game is now voiced as well, with many actors from the original reprising their roles - definitely a good thing to most fans, as the voice acting was one of the major highlights of the original NieR.  Liam O'Brien in particular is perfect as the arrogant Grimoire Weiss, while Laura Bailey's Kainé perfectly captures the pain and angst of her character and the tragedy she's endured.

Probably the most significant change overall, though, was the revamped combat system.  While not hugely different from the original NieR, Replicant 1.2's physics and overall feel have received a major overhaul under the supervision of PlatinumGames' Takahisa Taura, who also worked on Automata.  The result is certainly evident, too - combat went from being a stiff, tedious affair to feeling much more fluid and satisfying, with every blow feeling significant and affording the player the ability to seamlessly switch from attacking to effectively dodging, parrying and countering enemy blows.  As in any good combat-focused action title, one can also easily switch between ranged attacks and melee owing to the intuitive setup, using the shoulder buttons to govern blocks, parries, ranged projectiles and stronger ones that must be charged up before firing but do significantly more damage.  It's still not on the level of depth as something like, say, Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, but I actually ended up looking forward to battles instead of dreading them, so it's still a major improvement over the original.  One can also now access items (both healing and temporary buffers) and change up their special attack selections via a D-pad quick menu, ensuring that the player is never drawn away from the combat for long.

One must keep in mind that the core game is essentially the same despite the remaster, though.  So it's got a lot of the same faults that befell the original - somewhat clunky physics and movement, a lot of rather boring sidequests and sub-missions (many of which just feel like filler meant to make the game longer and add achievements rather than feeling rewarding to do), and a fair bit of tedious farming being required for some things.  That said, one can ignore most of the sub-missions if they wish to and still get the full story experience, so only die-hard completionists need to deal with these.  One must also play through the story a total of four times to see everything; not just the four endings, but several new story elements are also revealed through subsequent playthroughs, with a fifth and new ending added for this version.  So even if you do only bare-basics to complete the main story, it's a fairly time consuming experience if you want to see all NieR's narrative has to offer.

In short, NieR Replicant 1.22474487139... is an excellent remaster, taking a cult classic game, keeping everything that made it such and improving upon several things that drew criticism in the original.  It's still the same game at its core, but with smoother action and combat, nicer visuals on the whole and some very well-integrated new elements, there's a lot here to enjoy for fans of the original and newcomers alike.  If you skipped the original NieR or just found it too clunky to be fun, give the modern remaster a go; you'll see why it's so beloved amongst fans of strong, emotional storytelling in games.

Developer: Toylogic
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: Playstation 4, XBox One, PC
Released: 2021
Recommended Version:  The console versions seem to be more or less the same.  However, there are reports among some users that the PC port features bugs and bad optimization as that platform's port of Automata did, so keep that in mind.