Slay the Spire II

The long-awaited followup to the acclaimed deck builder roguelike, Slay the Spire 2 certainly generated its share of hype upon its announcement and even more upon its Early Access release.  But does the sequel live up to the legacy of the first, or does it spiral into oblivion?

Slay the Spire is a game I was absolutely enamored with; between the desktop version on Steam and the mobile version on my phone I sunk a solid 300 hours into it.  Just an impressively deep, fiercely addictive experience, and each run lasts about 30-40 minutes so you don't feel too crushed when you get close to the end and don't quite make the final push.  So of course when Slay the Spire 2 was released on Early Access, I went and grabbed it as quickly as I could.  I was reluctant to do a review for a long while since it's still in early access as of this writing, but the gameplay and mechanics are largely finished and the game just seems to be awaiting some final polish and art assets, so I think it's in a good enough state to review now.

The core gameplay remains largely unchanged from the original - you progress through a randomized path of rooms on your way through three increasingly difficult dungeons, with each capped off with a boss battle.  Each room contains a battle, a semi-random event, a shop where you can spend money on new cards, relics or to thin out your deck, or a camp where you have the option to rest and recover HP, or forge one of your cards into a more powerful form.  The strategy of course comes in as you try to hone your character's build and tweak your deck to deal out and defend against damage efficiently, and make the best of whatever random drops the game sees fit to hand you.

Combat also remains largely familiar.  Attack cards inflict damage, Block cards decrease the damage you take that turn, and various debuffs and buffs can be added by both you and your enemies to gain advantage or weaken the other side.  Some of these can get pretty insidious too, like enemies poisoning your cards to increase the damage you take if you play them, or "freezing" them to prevent you from playing them at all that turn.  Boss battles in particular also like to nullify the effects of relics or other permanent buffs, ensuring they remain formidable even if you get a really good build going during a run.  Some even have unique mechanics to contend with - one in particular is called the Insatiable, and it's a sandworm that will slowly draw you toward it, swallowing you whole for an instant kill if you get too close.  At the start of the fight you get five temporary cards that will let you delay this by a turn, but their energy cost gets more expensive each time they're played, so ending the fight quickly is still paramount to victory.

In addition to may new cards to play, attributes can be applied to existing cards to give them further upgrades.  These include Sharp (extra damage), Replay (plays twice for the same cost) or Sly (the card plays for free if you discard it during your turn).  One wonders if they took a cue from Balatro when designing these; it wouldn't surprise me considering how ridiculously popular that game got in a very short time.  Of course, there are also plenty of new relics to uncover (some universal, some character-specific) and many new potions that are in the same boat.  Two notable ones being that occasionally you'll find a "foul potion" that damages you when you use it, but you can sell it at the shop for a good amount of gold, and a rather humorous "potion-shaped rock" that simply gets thrown at the enemy for damage.

As you'd expect of a sequel, there's more playable characters this time around too.  The watcher is no longer present (at least in the current build), but the Ironclad, Silent and Defect all return, playing similarly to how they did before with a few added tweaks and gimmicks.  Two new classes are currently included, and both add some new gimmicks.  The Regent is a comically arrogant character who spends each run seated on a throne carried by two servants, and their best attacks are fueled by a resource unique to them called Star power.  They also summon a sword called the Sovereign Blade whose damage can be gradually upgraded mid-battle until it becomes a beatstick capable of doing hundreds of points of damage and buffing your defense in the process.  The other is the Necrobinder - an undead sorceress who automatically summons a skeletal hand named Osty that serves as both an attacker and a shield to protect her HP.  Osty at first only has a single hit point, but by playing cards that apply Summon, its maximum HP will increase (and should it die during a turn, it will revive again the next turn with 1 HP).  The Necrobinder also places heavy emphasis on a resource called Doom - playing cards accumulates it on enemies, and if their total Doom exceeds their current Hit Points at the end of a turn they die.  Some cards (and enemies) can also apply Doom to the player, though, so that's another danger to consider.

A new addition this time are "Epochs" that also serve as a creative means to reveal the game's backstory.  Basically, as you complete certain goals you'll unlock panels on a storyboard, with each containing some character motivations, dialog or simply humorous flavor text alongside a piece of artwork.  Like a good portion of the card and event art at this stage of development, though, many currently only appear as crude sketches rather than fully polished art pieces.  Presuably these will be finished up as development continues.

Slay the Spire II is what you'd expect - it's instantly recognizable as a sequel to its predecessor, just adding in a little more of everything and polishing up the balance considerably.  Most stage-clear rewards now feel like, well, rewards rather than side-grades (or outright downgrades), it's got two new fun characters to play as and the returning three get some new gimmicks and plenty of new cards to experiment with.   All this, plus the constant reward of unlocking new cards, epochs, relics and of course the increasingly difficult Ascensions and daily challenges, make it another exceptionally fun and captivating deck building experience.  Basically, my favorite roguelike of all time gets even better; this is an easy contender for my favorite game of 2026 even if it's not finished yet.

 

Developer: MegaCrit
Publisher: Humble Bundle
Platform: Windows

Released: 2026 (Early Access)

Recommended Platform: Currently the game is only available on Steam as an Early Access title.  Presumably it will be ported to consoles (and possibly get native Mac and Linux ports) once it's finished.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

With the franchise's ninth mainline entry, it seems the Yakuza moniker has been dropped from its title entirely and it's to be known by the same moniker as its Japanese counterpart from now on.  It retains the turn-based style of the previous mainline game and introduces many improvements, tweaks and additions, but does it all add up to a more substantial game, or does Infinite Wealth just lack that special spark?

Despite some high and low points, Yakuza (or Like a Dragon now, I suppose) continues to soldier on as a franchise, offering a unique blend of quirky humor, crime drama, relatively small but immersive locales to explore and a lot of surprising humanity in spite of its general concept.  Many fans were worried when the eighth game introduced a new protagonist, changed up the style of the gameplay and seemingly left all the old drama of the series behind, but the tale of Ichiban Kasuga quickly won its share of fans as well.  Its likable cast of characters, inventive take on turn-based combat and being a general affectionate parody of RPG tropes while continuing the same high-quality storytelling and immersive design the series became known for.

Infinite Wealth continues a few years after that story, starring Ichiban and friends as they try to start new lives but ultimately get swept up in another criminal conspiracy.  They deal with some surprisingly relevant issues throughout, finding themselves out of work after becoming targeted by the internet rumor mill and the character assassination that follows.  It's nice to see this handled in a surprisingly realistic way - the heroes have no real way to fight against their haranguing in the court of public opinion without making it worse and just try to make the best of their bad situation.  Even moreso when they encounter their share of opportunists and grifters who don't even care whether the allegations against them are true and just want to punch down even further to score cheap brownie points with whatever clique they're beholden to.  It borders on fourth wall breaking at times, especially after the big gross love letter to mob justice that was Persona 5. 

Granted, it does get undermined a little as the whole hit campaign against the protagonists turns out to be part of the wider conspiracy driving the game's overarching plot, the masterminds of which are the typical straw men supervillains with no redeeming qualities or motives other than just "Being evil".  But still, it's nice to see a modern-day game where real-life problems aren't just made light of with trite speechifying, and some warped form of vigilantism is presented as the perfect solution to all of society's woes.  But even though it fails to stick the landing and veers too hard into sappy nostalgia in its final act for my liking, infectious good nature and silly side-missions and over-the-top moments add levity keep it from getting too grim and depressing.

While Yakuza: LaD's combat and RPG class system was fun for the most part, it also felt a little rushed in some respects; there was some awkward balancing at times and relatively little of the brutal environmental interactions and improvised weapon actions the series became known for.  Infinite Wealth features both new and returning classes, with each character getting at least one exclusive class and male and females each getting classes exclusive to their gender.  Many other mechanics are added too to make the combat feel more dynamic.  One change, noticeable right away, is that you can actually move around a bit before taking an action within a small circle near the spot that character's turn begins.  This not only allows you to move near breakable objects (bicycles, signs, traffic cones etc) to utilize them on your turn, but getting in close to an enemy before launching an attack will award a Proximity Bonus and do slightly more damage.  In addition, many attacks, now knock enemies around, so proper positioning before attacking becomes vital to getting the maximum effect from that.  Knocking enemies into one another (or environmental obstacles) can quickly deal heavy damage to multiple targets, and propelling them into an ally will award a free hit.

In addition to elemental strengths and weaknesses, other mechanics are adopted too.  Enemies can be "on guard", greatly reducing all the damage they take until a character manages to break their guard, either by attacking them from behind or with a throw move.  Character bonds factor into combat more too; once a character has reached a certain affinity level with another, they will sometimes do a free followup attack after that character's move.  If both characters are in close proximity when one's turn begins, they may get the opportunity to do a Chain Attack, where both characters attack in tandem while only using one character's turn. 

Kiryu is now a playable character, and his gameplay style is heavily modeled on the games where he starred in the past.  He can switch between his three fighting styles while in his default class, effectively trading some stats for others.  Brawler style is the most balanced, and allows him to perform his signature Heat Actions in specific contexts; bashing enemies into nearby cars or railings for example.  Rush Style gives him more movement range and speed at the cost of overall damage per hit, though to prevent abuse, you only get the movement bonus if you start a turn in this style and don't switch during it.  Beast style is the opposite, trading speed and movement range for raw power and making his default attack a throw-type move to break guards.  Later in the game he even gains the ability to temporarily break free of the bounds of turn-based combat and beat up on foes in real-time for a few seconds, which is pretty amusing (and fun).

 As usual, many of the skills in Ichiban's default class run off his social stats, which in the previous game are primarily raised through dialog interactions and the odd side mission.  Here, you have many more options - completing the game's many milestones will give you points toward at least one stat, as will taking certain combat options, building bonds with allies, doing various side-stories and even partaking of completely optional diversions like minigames; each round of Poker or Mahjong or Shogi or whatever else you fancy will boost your social stats by a small amount.  It does still take quite a bit of effort to max each one out, but it's less restrictive this time around.

One of my complaints about the original game was its overpriced downloadable content.  That certainly returns here, with things like costumes, item packs to level up quicker, and bonus fights being tied to paid add-ons.  Other things like item packs and experience boosters are paid extras now too, as are bonus songs to play on jukeboxes or on Ichiban's phone while strolling around town.  But one especially scummy edition is that physical releases of the game do not include a New Game Plus option; you either have to buy the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate editions that are only available as digital downloads, or purchase an upgrade pack to effectively get one of those at extra cost.  Unfortunately locking basic features (and pacing-boosting items) like this behind paid upgrades has become a common practice in Sega's games, and it doesn't look like these lame anti-consumer practices are going to abate (or get much better) anytime soon.  I certainly don't condone the practice of making games grindier just to encourage people to shell out more cash to bypass it, and the New Game Plus change is just lame, especially since it was free in numerous earlier LaD games.  If you can get the Ultimate Edition when it's on sale at a steep discount it's not as much of an issue (I got it for about $33 during one), but at launch you were effectively paying at least $40 extra on top of an already $70 price tag, which just felt predatory.  And more than a bit like they're trying to use sales of their RPG as some terrible precedent to justify price hikes in general.

Despite that major hangup, though, I can't deny that I've once again had a lot of fun playing through a Yakuza Like a Dragon game.  Ichiban and friends are just a fun crew to hang with, being some of the most relatable, earnest, down-to-earth video game protagonists out there, and always trying to do right by others no matter what kind of bad hand life deals them.  Their adventure here once again shows that there's good to be found even in the darkest corners of society and not to judge others at a glance; there's always an actual person and a story to be told behind initial appearances.  That's honestly way more mature and interesting to see unfold than about 90% of stories out there in the realm of gaming, and Yakuza does an excellent job of it, highlighting the genuine passion of its writers and developers in every tale they spin.  The overall plot is the usual corny series fare, but it's still compelling and fun to experience.  So while I'd still say to wait for a discount and pick up a digital edition even as an avowed physical collector, it's a game that's worth that wait and putting up with the scummy corporate baggage undermining its message and themes.

 

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: Sega
Released: 2024
Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, XBox One, XBox Series
Recommended Version: All versions seem to be the same in terms of content, though the XBone and PS4 versions seem to have some performance issues.

Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined

The fourth iteration of Dragon Quest VII to get a release is also the first to make the leap to HD, with a charming art style based on digitized models and many quality-of-life improvements over previous editions.  But does this notoriously slow-paced game benefit from yet another upgrade, or does it fail once more to invite new fans to the franchise?

Dragon Quest VII is arguably the series' most divisive entry, earning both praise and criticism for the slow pace of its story and its copious amount of backtracking.  It was also the last to retain the series' noted low production values, still using simple text-based menus and minimally-animated sprites right up to the end of the PS1 era; definitely a stark contrast to more visually impressive CGI works of the era like the Final Fantasy series.  The later rereleases on the 3DS and mobile platforms tightened it up and gave it an updated look, though it did little to improve its perception in the west.  In 2026 Square Enix commissioned Hexadrive to try again with another updated version, hoping to ride the wave of success they had with their remakes of 1, 2 and 3 in recent years.

The most notable element right away is the visual upgrade.  While the original was very bare-bones 3D environments and spritework with minimal animation (aside from a few scattered FMV cutscenes) and the 3DS version was essentially the same idea with 3D models, Reimagined... well, reimagines things.  The character models are based on dolls that were actually made and digitally scanned, and are surprisingly well-animated and expressive. Environments adopt a more photorealistic, diorama-like look to match the models, giving it a style that's a comfortable blend of realism and cartoon.  Voiceover was added too, bringing it in line with the recent remakes of 1-3.

Some other improvements from later Dragon Quest games were added to this one too.  Enemies are now visible on the map, giving you a chance to evade or battle them at your convenience.  You can also land a preemptive attack on them to get some easy damage before a fight starts, or if an enemy is significantly weaker than your party, instantly defeat them.  The UI is substantially improved over the usual text-based Dragon Quest menus, sorted into tabs for inventory, equipment, options and so forth, all visually represented.  Rather than having individual character inventories it's now unified, so you don't have to distribute items to each character ahead of time.

Another added mechanic is the ability to get "Worked up" and "Let Loose" - a bit like Pep from Dragon Quest XI, getting Worked Up gives a temporary (and semi-random) boost to your character's core stats, while "Letting Loose" allows them to unleash a powerful ability.  Unlike XI, however, these are tied to your character's current Vocation; each character gets a unique default class (and ability to go with it), while the more generic Vocations get abilities of their own.  These range from boosting a chance to land a critical hit with spells to negating the next attack taken to allowing you to cast spells at no cost for a turn or two.

The vocation system has been reworked once again too.  As mentioned, each character now has a unique default Vocation exclusive to them.  In addition to that, one can now only use skills from Vocations they currently have equipped; they can now also equip two at once with the new Moonlighting system, allowing them to create powerful hybrid Vocations and level up two at once to cut down on the grind.  This version adds an item that allows class changes at any time, cutting down on trips back to Alltrades Abbey.  Being able to train two classes at once helps with a major shortcoming of the older versions too, namely that two of your party members come late in the game and far behind on vocation levels; that's still the case here, but being able to train up two at a time cuts down on the grind considerably.  Monster Hearts are also reworked; rather than being used to unlock more Vocations they now serve as accessories, granting small bonuses like a higher chance to land critical hits or survive a fatal blow with 1 HP.  They also are no longer dropped in random battles, instead being found in chests or earned by defeating souped-up monsters that appear in specific spots on the map.

Other quality of life improvements are introduced too.  In addition to tightening up the pacing (again), the player now has the option to make granular adjustment for difficulty, damage taken and even the amount of XP, gold and vocation points you earn to speed up the gameplay (or slow it down, if you prefer).  So the game can appeal to newer and less patient RPG players as well as those more suited to the old-school challenge and grind.  Many portals back to the main island exist too, allowing for substantially less travel time as you progress through the story and main goals within.  On the other hand, there is a substantial amount of cut content compared to previous versions; there are significantly fewer islands to explore and the monster sanctuary/Traveler's Tablets mechanic from the 3DS is entirely removed in favor of generic postgame boss challenges and timed arena fights, both of which require substantial seed farming and level grinding to overcome.  Luck too, since said arena challenges are on a turn counter and enemies within them can heal you back to full and disable your party for long periods with debilitating status spam.  Not exactly my idea of fun.

Dragon Quest VII is still unapologetically long, generally slow paced and old-school in its core design, and while I can't say any of them are flawless, Reimagined is definitely its most accessible iteration to date.  It does still require quite a bit of revisiting areas to progress and it's still tens of hours of gameplay before you get a full party and access to the Vocation system, but the pacing is considerably quicker now and there's substantially less backtracking to max out classes and get through the story. All this, plus the charming visual style, captivating story it tells and the many new tweaks and additions, may finally make this the game that puts Dragon Quest VII on the map in the west.  I certainly hope it does; it's a great, epic RPG that deserves more recognition. Even better, maybe it will inspire people to go back and check out the earlier versions that have more to offer in the way of significant content.

 

Developer: Hexadrive
Publisher: Square Enix
Released: 2026
Platform: Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, XBox Series, PC
Recommended Version: All of them seem to be on level with one another; although the Switch 2 version does come on a Game Key Card (full download with the cart simply serving as glorified DRM), so if you're opposed to that you may want to spring for another one.

Infinity

A canceled RPG for the Game Boy Color brought back after two decades by Incube8 Games, Infinity is certainly noteworthy for being a long-lost piece of video game history.  But was this a title worth reviving, or should it have stayed an obscure footnote in the long history of portable RPGs?

Infinity is a standout among portable RPGs, as it's not a relatively common case of a new game built for a retro platform.  Rather, it began development in 1999 for the Game Boy Color - a short-lived upgrade to the original Game Boy that launched in 1998 and was supplanted by the Game Boy Advance in 2001.  With that platform's launch, the development team at Affinix Software reluctantly canceled the game, as they figured it wouldn't find much of an audience on an outdated platform.  It largely faded into obscurity for many years until its developers released an incomplete prototype online in 2016, piquing fan interest.  Incube8 games, a developer and publisher largely known for publishing niche games on retro consoles, launched a Kickstarter campaign to complete and release the game, and in December of 2025 they finally did just that, releasing it as a digital ROM with physical cartridges to come at a later date.

It's easy to see why the prototype garnered the interest it did when you play it, though; this is quite a solid '90s style RPG.  Combat is somewhat reminiscent of games like Ultima, Fallout and Krondor, with turn-based battles on a hex grid.  It's also surprisingly light on UI elements - to move you simply press toward an open space and press A; doing the same to a space occupied by an enemy attacks.  B defends, and pressing A without holding a direction brings up the menu to use spells, items, gems, or attempt to run from combat.  Similarly, items and spells are indicated by icons and selected by pressing a direction and the A button in conjunction (with neutral A cycling item pages).  As one would expect, normal attacks can only target adjacent spaces, while spells (and most techniques) can reach longer ranges.  Admittedly this is a bit strange for the archer character, who must use a (1 MP) technique to target distant spaces with his weapon.

Gems are a unique feature to the game, and can be equipped and activated in battle to achieve various effects (boosting attack damaged, reduced physical damage, buffing elemental spells).  However, they do run off a finite resource called "Gem Points", with each turn they're activated consuming one point whether you use a corresponding skill or not.  In order to recharge them, one must unequip the gem and fight battles to replenish their supply of points.

The game is very reminiscent of many '90s RPGs, though, in that it's not simply a matter of equipping the "strongest" gear - on several occasions I found elemental gear that was less effective than a weaker weapon against an area's enemies.  Similarly, trading heavier armor for that which provides more magical defense is often a wise move, particularly against hard-hitting bosses.  Finally, you will have to stop and gain a few levels at times in order to progress - each new dungeon is a significant leap up in danger, random encounters are frequent and the bosses in general are quite challenging.  Having a couple of escape ropes and a good supply of healing items on hand is all but required.  Thankfully you do get a decent amount of XP and money per fight so it's not overly grindy, and being able to save on the overworld at any time with a simple press of the A button is quite handy.

The game easily ranks among the most visually impressive Game Boy color games I've seen, too.  Each character has quite a few combat sprites that are all fluidly animated; even the mundane enemies and their moves all feel distinct, to say nothing of the bosses.  The overworld map isn't a simple top-down view but is seen at a slightly isometric angle, scrolling a bit diagonally when you move along the Y axis.  Environments are also laden with subtle visual effects, such as heatwaves in the desert areas/lava caves and grass and flowers being blown by the wind.

The story is a step apart from many RPGs seen on portable platforms, too.  This is no light-hearted adventure; instead it's a ruthlessly grim tale of a world ravaged by war, plague and immoral magical experiments, with something truly wicked and maleficent brewing beneath the surface as a result of man's hubris.  Its characters are often embittered, vengeful or even self-loathing, with a majro one of note being the main protagonist Connor; he's a very depressed, embittered character, grieving the loss of his wife and regretting the atrocities he took part in during the wars waged by his king, and he very much carries a death wish for much of the game.  Other characters are equally complex and often harbor dark secrets and grudges of their own.  Basically it's much less Dragon Quest and much more Game of Thrones, which for the late '90s/early '00s was not a common sight, especially on handhelds.

Infinity is clearly a game with a lot of passion and polish behind it, doomed by having the rug pulled out under it as it neared completion.  I could easily see this game becoming a hit had it been released before the GBA's launch; for an early '00s RPG on a portable platform it has quite a bit of content and a surprisingly good, dark storyline; a common sight for Playstation games, certainly, but a relatively rare one on Nintendo consoles.  With the circumstances of its release in 2025, though, it's probably just going to remain a little-known niche curio for die-hard retro RPG fans or Game Boy enthusiasts.  Still, for the tiny audience it was Kickstarted, finished and released for, this is a fine title and well worth a look.

 

Developer: Affinix, Incube8 Games
Publisher: Incube 8 Games
Released: 2025
Platform: Game Boy Color (Digital ROM and physical releases)
Recommended Version: N/A

Dragon Quest I/II: HD-2D Remake

The logical followup to the 2023 remake of Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest I and II: HD-2D Remake revives the two earliest Dragon Quest games, adding a substantial amount of new content and of course updating their graphical styles and quality of life features to modern standards.  But does this revisit of two genre staples prove worthy of the name, or does this quest just get dragoned down?

Dragon Quest III was a definite game-changer in its time, bringing the JRPG genre to a new standard of quality, and it remains a beloved classic even today.  The first two Dragon Quests are not quite as well-beloved; while they did of course introduce the series to the world and sell like gangbusters in Japan, the first is a very short, fairly primitive game mostly occupied by farming experience and gold to progress and only a single party member, limiting your strategies overall.  The sequel is regarded as overly difficult, with three extremely specialized party members, some punishingly hard dungeons and an infamous dead stop at the end where you end up having to grind well over ten levels to have any chance at all of completing the final dungeon.

Artdink's remakes do attempt to address these shortcomings while at the same time adding a lot more in the way of narrative and design. The first game now has a considerably more involved narrative, with a lot of in-engine cutscenes, character interactions and a more standard progression - while you're still largely free to roam, you are gently steered in the right direction so as to not get wiped by enemies well above your current level, with many high levels areas also now being locked off until you find a particular key.  It also carries over many of the spells and abilities from the 3 remake, giving you a much wider repertoire of moves to utilize in combat; and you will need them, as there's more boss fights added and they are substantially harder than anything in the original.  Other things get carried over from their remake too, like the little hidden glades and random items on the world map, three difficulty settings and of course the series staple of Mini-Medals that can be traded for prizes.  Some skills are learned by finding scrolls hidden throughout various towns and dungeons, and reading them permanently adds them to your repertoire.  Overworld spells and skills can also be assigned to shortcuts accessed by holding R1 and pressing a directional key, which is a quick and handy way to access commonly-used utility spells.

The core plot of Dragon Quest I remains largely unchanged and fairly simplistic, though many more subplots, cutscenes and characters are added.  Some add more to the lore like a subplot about Zalen, the descendant of the legendary bard Galen, and some are just for levity, like the subpar adventurers trying to save the land independent of the protagonist and constantly falling prey to their own incompetence.  Some other objectives are added in too, with the most prominent being the Sigils.  There are five magical items of power strewn throughout the game, and turning them over to the fairies to craft into sigils will as adding benefits like regenerating some MP while defending.  Some will allow you to access "Souped up Skills" - more powerful variants of abilities only accessible under certain conditions, such as being at low HP or having a particular buff active.  These are incredibly useful in some fights (in fact the final battle is nearly impossible without them), so learning how to activate and use them is key.

So, in contrast to the original game which is a very short experience once you strip out all the grinding (I once finished the Game Boy Color version in about 4 hours), Dragon Quest I's HD-2D remake is now a pretty substantial RPG.  There's more towns, there's sidequests, there's an ongoing narrative throughout with voiceover and even a couple of clever twists, and in general it's considerably more strategic and challenging.  It's still recognizably the same game beneath the new stuff, but it's enough of a new spin to feel fresh even to fans who played the original decades ago on the NES.  And at about 20 hours from start to finish, it gives you plenty of bang for your buck as half of this package.

As for Dragon Quest II, the main protagonist (the Prince of Midenhall) still doesn't utilize any spells (a unique trait for the series), but does get MP and can use physical attack techniques; generally the ones geared toward dealing extra damage to specific enemy types.  The Prince of Cannock gets a combination of mostly-defensive spells and martial arts moves, while the Princess remains a fairly squishy caster, albeit with a more rounded skillset containing utility spells and some healing.

In addition, there's now a fourth party member to recruit; the princess of Cannock joins, and has a handful of offensive and utility spells and random "Goof Off" actions like Torneko that can be surprisingly powerful.  There's a fair bit of new story and side content (with some notably taking place under the ocean), effectively filling in the dead stop in the final stretch from all the prior iterations.  There are some more story threads added and the protagonists have more personality, which gives more of an ongoing narrative than the original version; one notable one being that the Dragonlord's castle is now a story-relevant area and not just an optional location to visit (and the Dragonlord's descendant is a tough optional boss fight later).  The five sigils are a plot point again in this game too, conferring Souped-up Skills and other bonuses as they do in the first HD-2D remake.

 

These HD-2D Remakes are definitely a different experience from the first one.  III's remake felt like they kept largely faithful to the original design and concept while adding more content.  For I and II, it feels more like they used the original games as a basis while largely doing their own thing; not dissimilar to Final Fantasy VII Remake or the numerous versions of Ys IV, which were all very different interpretations of the same core concept.  The battles are definitely more of a challenge, and the abundance of extra content and cutscenes, as well as some welcome balance tweaks, definitely help with the slow pacing and rigid design the originals had.  If you want a different take on the first two Dragon Quests with some clever new twists, this is one HD-2D remake worth considering.  If you want a more authentic '80s RPG experience with all the awkward balance and primitive quirks, though, check out one of the earlier ports instead.

 

Developer: Artdink
Publisher: Square Enix
Released: 2025
Platform: PlayStation 5, PC, XBox Series, Switch, Switch 2
Recommended Version: All versions seem to be more or less on level with one another as far as I can tell, though the Switch 1 version obviously runs at a lower resolution and framerate.  Curiously the PS5 version (at least) has a toggle between Performance and Graphics modes, though it made no visible difference as far as I could tell.

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.

Cyberpunk 2077

A controversial launch marred it, a big-time turnaround with numerous subsequent patches aided by a successful anime tie-in redeemed it, and now Cyberpunk 2077 is regarded as another modern classic from CD Projekt Red.  But is there anything here for me as someone jaded by open world design that focuses more on volume than quality, or is it done in once again by its own hubris?

Cyberpunk 2077 was a public relations disaster when it launched, for a variety of reasons.  Whether completely unnecessary health hazards to epileptic people, alleged exploitation of CDPR employees (later offset by a suspiciously large number of positive employee reviews appearing to offset negative ones), or a conveniently timed data breach that may or may not have been staged for publicity, the game was a pretty big font of negativity when it launched and continued to be so for some time after.  Of course, it had its defenders too; mostly people who decided it was the best game of all time years before they ever played a single second of it and continued to do so in spite of its horrifically buggy design and poor performance.

I passed it for several years for all those reasons, as well as just not enjoying the Witcher games at all.  Mostly because rather than showing you tangible evidence of themes and ideas and letting you draw your own conclusions, they instead sit you down every five minutes to smugly tell you all about how intelligent and important and poignant and progressive and visionary they're being, all while showing disappointingly little in the way of innovative design, compelling writing or interesting gameplay.  I mean, unless you count "follow quest marker and push confirm button until it says you've finished it" design, permanently botchable quests, no hard saves and guessing at which dialog options will lead you to a bad ending 40+ hours later as compelling; I certainly don't.  It's the equivalent of a pretentious film student roping you into watching his 2-hour magnum opus and then spending the next six hours explaining all the symbolism in extreme detail to make sure you get it.  Not because they have any anything poignant to say, but because they desperately want you to admire and worship them; preferably through their wallet.

Cyberpunk (the heavily-patched version) at least has more to offer in terms of gameplay than Witcher does.  Built as a gigantic open world game in a sprawling city, it feels like a logical mashup of elements from Grand Theft Auto, Deus Ex, Borderlands and Watch_Dogs.  You drive around, you get into fights with hostile NPCs, evade the cops, and complete various side missions, getting different dialog and rewards depending on your approach.  Going in guns blazing, using stealth to disable enemies and hacking to create distractions or destroy targets (NPCs and mundane objects like air conditioners, lights and even oil barrels can be "hacked" with destructive results, which makes little sense to me).  There's also semi-randomized loot in the form of armors and weapons with various random attributes and stat bonuses, and you get core stat upgrades and perks depending on your playstyle.  You can install implants to improve your character as well, either finding them about the world or ripping them off dead gangers and psychos; so long as you have the cash to install them, of course.

Of course, balancing all these elements out is never an easy job in a sprawling open-ended game like this, and Cyberpunk... doesn't really do a great job.  I mostly stuck to melee weapons as they consistently drop enemies in two or three hits, whereas even an average thug can absorb half a magazine of assault rifle ammo or more without even flinching.  Combat doesn't feel good in general either, with some very floaty movement, weightless action that lacks any visceral impact and strange hit detection at times - I've visibly leapt backwards from a boss enemy, saw their weapon fly right past me and still taken damage, while I've swung at them multiple times while they're a foot away and dead center on screen and never seem to land a hit when it counts.  Some of the earliest powers you get also afford you health regeneration at a pretty substantial rate, and you get free regenerating grenades and emergency health packs, so as long as you don't take too much damage at once you're pretty difficult to actually kill.

Dialog in the game is also considerably more streamlined than most.  Outside of scripted cutscenes you're not locked into a separate dialog screen, instead just getting options for what to say next depending on the character you're currently facing.  There's usually little choice in these - you can generally just ask a second or third option for a bit more information before you're forced to pick the first one in order to progress to the next part of the dialog and ultimately accept or decline a mission; Ultima-level deep conversations laden with puzzle solving these are not.  They're also punctuated with a lot of V's smarmy dialog and characters bouncing constant comic book one-liners off you, which is cute for a bit but quickly gets grating when they have to cram heaps of it into every single exchange.  Hell, they never manage to turn it off even during the serious moments.

Presentation wise I can't say I like the game much even when it is performing well.  The dialog is all well-acted and some of the radio tracks are honestly pretty catchy, but it's just not a pleasant game to look at.  The whole world is dingy, grimy and utilizes a pretty garish color palette and overbearing harsh lighting.  I suppose it fits the cyberpunk aesthetic in that regard, but it does get a little annoying when there's bright neon/sun glare in your eyes every 2 seconds and all your targets just blend into the constant environmental haze and clashing colors.  The only thing that does stand out are the weapons, which are painted in bright yellows, purples and blues; they look more like Super Soakers and Nerf toys than anything that can do harm.  It all controls decently enough with a controller, though if you're playing the Switch 2 version you can also utilize gimmicky Wii-style motion controls with detached joycons. I mostly just stuck to the Pro Controller; normally I'm not a fan of twin stick aiming but in conjunction with axis aiming it's good enough here.

Cyberpunk 2077 is relatively competent at everything it does, but nothing it does is very unique, deep or fun.  It just feels like a mish-mash of every popular open world game and futuristic action-RPG made in the last 25 years, cynically engineered for maximum marketability and play time with little thought spared for giving it any identity of its own.  Not to mention stretches where CDPR takes control away from you for several minutes at at time so they can play long, plotless cutscenes full of head-banging music and terrible self-aggrandizing narration about how badass and cool their world and characters are; how unconfident do you have to be to straight-up tell your audience what to think instead of letting the material speak for itself?  The gameplay kept me amused for a few hours, but with the repetitive setup, bare-bones core story and combat, uninteresting characters and dialog that's more tedious than compelling, I got bored of it well before the end.  It's the most competent CDPR project yet in terms of design; unfortunately being competent and being captivating are two very different things, and CDPR still has yet to get a grasp on how to do the latter well.

 

Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt
Released: 2020, 2022, 2025
Platform: PlayStation 4, PC, XBox One, PlayStation 5, XBox Series, Switch 2, macOS
Recommended Version: Definitely avoid the early releases on PS4 and XBox One and go for one of the newer versions instead, or the PC port if you have a powerful enough machine.  The Switch 2 version is surprisingly solid though, with a smooth framerate and overall good performance.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The debut title of French studio Sandfall Interactive, Expedition 33 got a lot of attention for its visual design and stated goal of bringing big budget turn-based RPGs back to the limelight.  But does this expedition reach its destination, or does it just stop short?

Clair Obscur was hyped up a fair bit before its launch, especially by its developers, who admitted that it drew inspiration from the Final Fantasy and Persona franchises, yet touted several added flourishes like quick-time events during combat.  It certainly made a strong first impression with trailers showing off its flashy presentation and relatively fast-paced design, and it sold like gangbusters on launch, breaking a million copies sold in only three days and having nearly 130,000 concurrent players on Steam at its peak.

Visually it's easy enough to see where E33 takes its inspirations from.  The game utilizes relatively realistic characters in worlds of fantastical monsters and surreal sights a la Final Fantasy, and the zippy movement and combat menus clearly draw inspiration from Persona 5.  It's also apparent in the combat system, with each character wielding a gun that can be fired multiple times per turn as long as they have AP, though unlike P5 you can precisely aim at specific targets on some enemies to deal heavy damage.  Gunshots are relatively weak otherwise, though they can be augmented with special properties to make them a more efficient use of your AP, and they come in handy against flying enemies (which tend to dodge melee attacks); they come into play out of battle too, where they can be used to stun and slip past enemies without a battle or solve the occasional puzzle by shooting at hidden targets.

The overall design of E33 showcases a few minor elements of Soulslikes as well, giving you a limited supply of healing items that can only be replenished at save points or by camping on the world map (though you can find or purchase upgrades to get more uses between rests), and enemies only respawn in an area once you choose to rest.  The game's backstory is largely filled in by finding logs of previous Expeditions that met with disaster, though it has plenty of its own narrative, characters and cutscenes as well so you never feel like you're just vicariously experiencing all the interesting events after the fact.

Combat in E33 is indeed turn-based, with a bar on the side showing each participant in the current battle and some attacks able to delay or cancel turns when they land; slightly reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy X or Grandia.  Also familiar is the ability to time button presses to power up attacks and dodge enemy strikes a la Paper Mario.  Also like Paper Mario, you have two major defensive options in parries and dodges; dodges allow you to avoid damage when successfully timed, while Parries have a tighter window.  However, Parries recover AP when successful, and parrying every attack in an enemy's combo will also give you a free hit on them.  Some especially large attacks must be jumped, and if successful the the entire team can do a followup counterattack for heavy damage.  Getting relatively adept at these quickly becomes key to survival, especially on higher difficulties where one or two good hits will usually take out a character.  Even on lower settings, though, combat in the late game gets downright brutal; enemies get five to eight attacks per turn and every hit has a chance to inflict a status effect that can stop you gaining AP or even render unable you to block or dodge at all, which is basically a death sentence on the next turn.  Basically you end up having to evade upwards of 20 consecutive attacks with no mistakes or you just get spiraled into oblivion, which is a lot more frustrating than fun.

Per JRPG-inspired title standards, there is a pretty big focus on unique character skills and customization present in the game.  Leveling up grants each character spendable stat and skill points, and each has a unique skill board on which to unlock new combat abilities (a bit like FFXII's license boards), up to six of which can be equipped at a time.  Further adding to this are Pictos, which grant stat bonuses and bonus effects (termed "Luminas") while equipped.  Once a Picto is "mastered" by winning battles with it equipped, the Lumina effect becomes freely equippable by all characters using their limited pools of Lumina points; the base amount is equal to the character's level, though you can also raise it by using collectible items.  Weapons likewise have elemental properties and traits that can be unlocked by raising their levels, though unlike Pictos, these can only be utilized while equipped with that particular weapon.  As a result new weapons don't serve as straight upgrades, but are more or less "side-grades" with comparable stats and traits, and one can increase weapon levels via items or (randomly?) by winning battles.

Building on this even further, each character has unique combat mechanics that can be set up to cleverly interplay with one another.  For example, Gustave builds up lightning charges by attacking and avoiding enemy strikes, and once powered up enough he can unleash them all at once in a single attack that deals heavy damage and can potentially Break an enemy, stunning them for a turn.  Lune utilizes elemental abilities that "paints" spaces on her weapon; said Paints can be spent to add bonus effects like extra damage or reduced AP cost for a later attack.  Maelle's mechanics are reminiscent of the Watcher from Slay the Spire, swapping between three different Stances - Offense boosts the damage she deals and receives, Defense reduces damage she takes and allows her to build AP by dodging or parrying, and Virtuouse doubles the damage of her next attack.  Special moves often get added effects when certain conditions are met, which can lead to some very fun synergies - for example, Gustave can Mark an enemy, Lune can follow up with Immolation to deal bonus Burns to a Marked enemy, and Maelle can instantly be put into Virtuouse by striking a Burning enemy, then follow up on subsequent turns with skills that take advantage of Virtuose state, having reduced AP cost or even keeping her in Virtuouse for another turn if they land.  It cleverly encourages the player to experiment with each character's available skills, Pictos and Luminas, and you can build some extremely powerful teams once you get into the swing of it.

Of course a major selling point for any modern RPG is its worldbuilding and storytelling, and Expedition 33 succeeds in fine fashion here too.  The world it depicts is an extremely bleak one, kept under the thumb of a dark witch known as the Paintress, with human survivors largely relegated to a single town, finding joy wherever they can despite their grim prognosis.  Every year a select few embark on the titular Expeditions in hopes of eventually hunting their nemesis down and freeing their world, with the game centering on Expedition 33 - not the 33rd in the series, but adults who will perish once the next Gommage comes and everyone older than that age vanishes.  It tells its tale brilliantly through its imagery and emotion, adequately explaining itself without over-relying on naked exposition.  The acting throughout is fantastic, with dialog feels very human and organic - characters emote naturally throughout, getting into heated back-and-forth arguments at particularly tense moments and facing moments of indecisiveness, doubt, fear and pain, all acted with surprising credibility.  They even manage to find beauty in their unrecognizable ruined world, encountering constant bizarre sights and imaginative creatures, and joke around and make wisecracks to add a little levity and avoid succumbing to despair.  Basically, they think and act like real people, which is not an easy thing to pull off in any medium, but especially in the oft-contrived realm of video games.  Even the story's antagonists have a surprising amount of depth and humanity and aren't just nuanceless straw men for the protagonists to knock down, which is something I've gravely missed in the era of armchair revolutionary rubbish like Persona 5 and Xenoblade 3 and Metaphor.

E33 takes care to keep hold of something so many modern games lack, which is pacing.  It's a fairly brisk game by modern standards, with a main story that runs about 25-30 hours and full completion taking around 50, which keeps surprisingly well in step with many of its inspirations.  One can experience the story again while keeping their powered up characters and weapons via New Game Plus as well, which is always welcome, and of course there's plenty of challenge for die-hard gamers through optional battles, hidden secrets and three difficulty modes, the highest of which requires some very on-point parrying and dodging if you want any hope of survival.  Personally I found one playthrough to be enough; it told its story very effectively and I didn't feel any real desire to punish myself with even more difficult and harrowing battles when the normal fights were getting into the realm of one missed parry being an automatic death.

I also would like to see a few more quality of life improvements; an option for more precise visual feedback on when to time dodges/parries would be welcome.  The camera does pan in slightly to tell the timing for melee attacks, but for projectiles and some of the flashier moves that have a lot of screen shake it can be difficult to judge at times.  The other is is that the game lacks a minimap for dungeons and towns, which can be annoying during some of the larger and more maze-like areas.  They do go out of their way to make each area feel very distinct, with a lot of distinct landmarks and a compass you can bring up via the quick-menu to help you navigate, but still, even a map screen that gradually fills in as you explore a la Ultima Underworld or Final Fantasy XII would be nice.  

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a surprise to many gamers when it was announced, and though I was skeptical at first, I found myself impressed by it.  Its story and characters are captivating, its gameplay highly polished and efficiently designed (if a bit overdone), and it's easily one of the most visually striking games I've seen in some time, showcasing a world that's bizarre, beautiful and strangely compelling in spite of its often depressing concepts.  Its inspirations are apparent, with many of its mechanics reminiscent of elements from other games, but it blends them together in a way that feels surprisingly fresh and unique as a whole.  The fact that it's a relatively brisk and filler-free ~30 hour experience, tells a surprisingly strong and mature tale without relying on lame straw man villains or spoonfeeding you mountains of naked exposition, and costs only $50 at a time when games and even consoles are jumping in price is nothing short of commendable too.  Companies and fanboys are always eager to equate sheer runtime with a game's value, even when they rarely having enough compelling gameplay or storytelling to fill it, so games that maintains a high level of quality and solid pacing as they do it are becoming increasingly rare.  All told, a solid first effort for Sandfall and a fine homage to the '90s/early '00s era of Final Fantasy.  I just wonder how many of the people fervently worshipping this game now are going to stick with it once the honeymoon period ends and how many are going to start saying they always hated it and go back to harassing Square Enix's social media manager about how Final Fantasy is the only "good" RPG series and it's been total shit since 2003 and the only way to save the genre is to hire them to create an HD-2D remake of Final Fantasy VI that massively expands the story and gameplay and gives the characters more depth but also somehow perfectly recreates the brain buzz they felt playing their first story-based game at age 9...

 

Developer: Sandfall Interactive
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Released: 2025
Platforms: PC, Playstation 5, XBox Series

Recommended Version: I have only played the PlayStation 5 version but they all seem to be more or less on even footing.

Jeanne D'Arc

Loosely based on the story of the real Joan of Arc (though with many fantastical liberties), Jeanne D'Arc is Level 5's attempt at making a tactical RPG as well as getting a hit of their own on the PSP.  But does it effectively showcase their talents and provide a worthwhile experience for tactical RPG fans, or is it simply outclassed by its contemporaries?

As a big fan of tactical RPGs and Final Fantasy Tactics in particular, I... oddly missed this one when it launched on the PSP in 2007.  Even more odd considering it was developed by Level-5, a company that ranks among my favorite contemporary RPG developers; I quite enjoyed the Ni no Kuni games and a couple of the Professor Laytons, and Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2 still rank among my favorite games of all time.  Odd, I know.

Having played it now, though, I found quite a fun experience.  The game has quite a bit of production value behind it for a PSP game with animated and fully voice-acted cutscenes (pretty well, at that), and Level-5's usual high-quality music and polished design are out in full force.  It makes good use of the PSP's limited control scheme too, utilizing the thumbstick for camera control and the d-pad for menuing and selection, though this does take a little getting used to if you're playing the emulated PS4 port like I am.

In terms of gameplay Jeanne D'Arc most closely resembles Fire Emblem than Final Fantasy Tactics, though Fire Emblem than FFT, though thankfully with FE's more annoying elements filed off - there are no permadeaths or breakable weapons or "Weapon triangle", though elemental affinities follow a similar pattern - Sol (Sun) is strong against Stella (Star), Stella is strong against Luna (Moon), and Luna is strong against Sol.  Some new gameplay elements are added though, like "Burning Aura" - striking an enemy creates one in the space behind them, and another character can then stand in it and attack for greater accuracy and damage.  They can also stack up to three times, allowing you to take down some particularly stubborn enemies with chained attacks.  If allies stay in close proximity (within 2 squares) they also get "Unified Guard" whenever an enemy attacks or counter-attacks, reducing their chance to be hit and taking less damage when they do - a good thing as enemies can generally take down characters in two or three blows.  Jeanne (and a couple other characters) also steadily build up points as turns pass, and once they have enough they can Transform into a substantially powered up form once per battle, gaining some quite powerful abilities - Jeanne herself gets Godspeed, which grants her another turn if she defeats an enemy (and can be chained multiple times in a single round as long as you keep getting kills).  It also surprisingly doesn't feel overpowered, particularly as each battle has a turn limit and some stages also end immediately if particular characters (or even any character) should be defeated, so utilizing any advantage you can quickly becomes key to victory.  As expected for a portable game, fights are fairly brisk - maps are generally fairly small and you can finish them in about 15-20 minutes on average, though they do get a bit more involved as the game progresses.

Equipment upgrades are found in shops (naturally), but you also find plenty in the course of completing story battles, and should your levels ever be lagging, you can take part in "free battle" maps to power up, so you shouldn't ever get stuck.  In addition to the usual complement of weapons, armor and shields, you also find plenty of "Skill Stones" that grant abilities for different types of weapons or simply change a character's elemental affinity, making them stronger against certain enemy types and weaker against others.  Skills are generally linked to using certain types of weapons (can't use a sword skill with a spear or a dagger, for example), but there is a surprising variety therein - one sword skills gives all nearby allies an attack boost, another spear skill grants a 7-space linear attack, while a particular dagger skill allows one to steal items from enemies mid-battle.  There are also generic spells that recover HP or equip elemental damage, and can be used with any type of weapon equipped.

All in all, Jeanne D'Arc is well made, quite enjoyable tactical RPG experience.  Maybe not one of the genre's defining classics, but it manages to hold its own on the PSP - a platform that gave it some stiff competition with games like Tactics Ogre, Valkyria Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics.  A worthwhile alternative from a company with a lot of passion and talent, particularly as you can get it for dirt cheap nowadays on the PlayStation 4.

 

Developer: Level-5, Japan Studio

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Released: 2007

Platforms: Playstation Portable, Playstation 4

Recommended Version:  As of July 2024 the game is available on the PlayStation 4/5 as a downloadable title, though it's simply an emulated port of the PSP version (with rewind and savestate functionality added).

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.