licensedtoquill

A beautiful throwback game that wears its influences (Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star 4) on its sleeve. After an appealing and mysterious start, the story moves at a breakneck pace and kind of flounders. Most characters get little to no development, but visually and mechanically they are varied and extremely cool. The visuals and the battle system (which has an overwhelming amount of versatility for such a short game) are the main draw for sure.

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Much respect to what this game meant to the history of RPGs and how important it was to me in my early childhood. This was a game I watched my brother play and "helped" him through when I was in kindergarten or so? Played it on my own in later elementary school without finishing it, then played it all the way through at some point in college. So, while this was only my second time playing through the whole game myself, I am way more familiar with it than that. I feel like when I played through it in college, it was a breeze? Maybe due to my unwillingness to grind beyond making enough money to buy the necessary weapons and vehicles. But goddamn, it took me, like, five tries to beat the final boss, and it was very much based on luck. Anyway, an important game that I deeply respect will likely never play again.

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Oh boy. I would feel more forgiving toward FF Dimensions if it were playable on consoles (particularly, PS4). I was determined to make it through, and at least I have a newer iPad to play it on instead of my phone. It made the controls frustrating, for sure, and that’s not even my biggest complaint. This game had no business being as long as it was, considering how repetitive it is and how poorly written and developed... almost everything is (particularly the bland and annoying characters). The game just wouldn’t stop, and that includes the endgame (which I enjoyed, but it felt like three or four separate final dungeons and, like, 20 bosses at least) as well as the actual ending. That being said, while I doubt I’ll ever come back to this, once the learning curve set it in and especially when I started mastering jobs, the customization was really appealing here, and I’d be curious how much easier and more fun it would be if I knew then what I know now about how to develop a quality party (my first playthrough was well over 70 hours sprinkled over 4 1/2 months). I actually loved the way the job system worked here, and in retrospect, appreciate some of the more challenging battles. The end game was way too long but damn was it fun to develop that final party (my primary roles were paladin/dragoon, dark knight/monk, ninja/hunter, magus/black mage, seer/white mage). The story and characters were nonsense, the game’s sense of humor was corny and often confusing. The music was serviceable: Not bad by any means, but could have used a lot more variety. Visually, it was actually quite beautiful.

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Radical Dreamers was better than I expected. Actually pretty creepy in spots in appealing ways. I’m glad I dedicated the time to it. Not much to say about Chrono Cross that hasn’t already been said. This was my 4th or 5th time through it. It is flawed absolutely, but is very much underrated. Fun to play it after a recent play of Xenogears and only playing Trigger again a couple years ago. The mass of lore dumps and exposition in the final act is a choice, but I love the way the story works out, turning Chrono Trigger on its head and going into some surprisingly dark places (though not Xenogears dark, of course) despite its colorful visuals. All-timer of a soundtrack. Just banger after banger.

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A cute, well done, nostalgia-driven indie that was fun to cruise through. Looked good and sounded pretty nice. Nothing groundbreaking or innovative; just a fun, breezy turn-based JRPG with a predictable yet enjoyable story. Seems like the player gets to choose the order of events for the most part, and I’d be curious to see how it plays in a different order of sequence (though I feel like I went in the most natural order, perhaps?). There were some fun difficultly spikes, but I still breezed through this in two sessions and 14 hours (I’m on a holiday break from work, and this worked really well for that). Worth the 8ドル I spent via the PSN holiday sale. Would gladly play another RPG from this developer.

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My run through the Pixel Remasters is complete. I started this journey in February 2025, a little more than a month after my 14 y/o dachshund Ziggy was diagnosed with lung cancer. After a couple of months of palliative care and meetings with our vet, my wife and I had Ziggy euthanized in early March. At that time I was playing FFII, so, I felt sure by the time I got to the actual great games (starting with IV), I ran no risk of having this traumatic experience negatively effect my enjoyment and connection with these games. Then, shortly after, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer (thankfully, a very treatable form). Needless to say, 2025 has been HORRIFIC, and the Pixel Remasters have been a great source of comfort and escapism during a time that I desperately needed that. All of this to say, by the time I got to VI, I was feeling ready to be done and looking forward to starting something new (this was my third time through it). By the mid-way point, I truly did not want the game to end. It was by far my favorite play through. The quality of life improvements really leveled this up. I wasn’t trying to platinum it or max anything out, just do some of the extra endgame stuff that I wanted... and it still put me at well over 50 hours. Not complaining. I don’t need to list out all the reasons this is a perfect game, but it is, and it was just an utter joy to spend so much time in that world again.

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Not quite as fun as I remember my first time through being, but still, I appreciate the innovations in customization here. Hard not to go overkill here and max out everything (at least job-wise) and pretty easily platinum’d this. Granted, it took me nearly 50 hours when the previous four in the PR series took me only 15 to 20 each. I’m assuming trying to get all the blue magic is the biggest contributing factor to the massive increase in time of completion. Also, maybe it is that much bigger of a game than IV? Anyway, this all made the super bosses and final boss laughably easy. Was hoping for a little more challenge there. My biggest complaint is the lack of a Remedy item. Lastly, while the soundtrack is still good, it is a noticeable drop in quality between IV and VI. I think "Battle at the Big Bridge" is good but overrated and pretty obnoxious. The standouts for me are "Music Box," Beyond the Deep Blue Sea," "A New World," and "Dear Friends." Admittedly, I’m a bit Final Fantasy’d out, but will power through to complete the PR series with VI. This will be my third time playing VI and I’m not sure if I will just utilize the quality of life boosts to try and speed through it or set limits and challenges for myself.

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A solid version of this game. I enjoyed the DS version, but this one a little more (seems to move faster in every way). Clearly the best of the first three Final Fantasies, despite its flaws.

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A much better version of a mediocre game.

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Very much loved the mood and vibe of this game, and once I got the hang of the weapon/armor crafting system and the general learning curve it got a lot more fun. Personally loved the characters and the FFVIII-ness of it all (visually and sonically). The movement is painfully slow. Overall, I think an innovative, good enough game where not quite everything worked.

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I’ve had to have played this nearly 10 times in my life, and it is perfect each time.

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Shining Force may have some cooler looking, more mysterious characters, but that’s all it has over its sequel. Shining Force 2 is superior in every other way. On this play through, what stood out to me the most was the gorgeous pixel art, vibrant colors, and especially the soundtrack, which has always been what I feel most nostalgic about with this game, but hit extra hard this time. Definitely gives Phantasy Star 4 a run for its money as best Genesis RPG.

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