11 RPGs I've Been Playing - Are They Any Good?

it's a little behind schedule but here is the final part of the RPGs I've played during 2023 in the order they were played firstly there was Tales of vogar which I played on PC and it took 6 hours to finish I know what you're thinking but no this isn't part of the tales of series It's actually an indie game created predominantly by one developer the game is centered around asan a prince whose Homeland is invaded and eventually resered he along with his brother managed to escape while his parents lose their lives during the Insurrection the game VST takes on the simple yet gripping premise of reclaiming one's home and bringing peace to all now while the game is short it's got some fairly decent content within it with a clear goal all the way through focused around raising an army to retake asan's home to do this the game sets you off on a number of missions that you can tackle in any order you want as you travel around the continent to finish these missions you'll be partaking in turnbas battles with some well animated character models during the fights themselves any lover of turn-based RPGs will find pretty much every elements synonymous with the genre like attacking defending item usage and a multitude of skills to use though I would have preferred a few more options given to the player in the late game especially considering that there are only free playable characters in the game stuff like I don't know combination crafts to add a little more spice or even class progression tied to specific side quests it's a good battle system though it could have used a little bit more to allow it to really stand out what definitely does stand out though is its OST it has some solid songs in there especially for the final battle so it easily won me over [Music] there I also think the exploration when it's encouraged is fairly good there are a few instances where if you go out of your way to solve some puzzles you will find items that will directly Aid in the battle battles to come like granting accessories that give immunity to certain status effects that a boss will inflict or giving you armor and weapons that are far above what you currently own again though there's just not enough of it Tales of Ogar certainly gives you that dopamine hit of finding shiny loot but I just wanted more and if anything that's one of the game's biggest drawbacks it has many great ideas that just aren't expanded enough to be a significant highlight which brings us to the story and characters just like much of the game they start really well but just aren't given enough time to simmer and gain a flavor of their own I think the antagonist in this game had great potential as did the protagonists but a lot of the arcs feel shallow even when considering how basic they are in terms of archetype and I think the biggest factor that works against both of them here comes in the writing itself the dialogue is easily the biggest issue I had with Tales of Ogar the intended message is there but it never really hits right whether it be a joke that falls flat or still Ed writing that doesn't have that nuance and natural flow to it like say this part [Music] here yeah the message is there we know what's going on but there's just something missing in the delivery that being said it has been written by someone whose first language is clearly not English and credit to the developer I did get in touch with them directly to let them know that this was the biggest issue I had with the game and they did take it very well and that's the thing really I may be coming down hard in this game but even Indie titles have to be measured against a certain bar in a space where we have games like Cosmic star heroin chain deos and crosscode it has to at least be put against to those contemporaries and tals of vogar while being a decently fun RPG and fairly short too thus it can function as a good pallet cleanser doesn't measure up to those other titles that being said though is it actually worth the money considering it costs £10 to purchase I'd say that's a good deal you spend more dropping off a passenger at heo airport nowadays heck you'd spend more buying a coffee at Terminal 2 it does have flaws and it's not going to be the greatest turn-based game you've ever played but it has soult and it was clearly made with a lot of care I do hope the developer keeps making more games they're definitely on the right path I feel and if they take this as a learning experience for their next project they could be on to a winner the second game I played was one I was really looking forward to when it was first announced in master detective archives rain code it's a switch exclusive so no need to elaborate on the platform I used and it took me 40 hours to beat now yes it's not an RPG it's a mystery adventure game game but I always cover games that have overlaps with the genre especially ones that I know fans of RPGs can enjoy rain Cod is just another one of those in this adventure you play as a master detective in training called Yuma cocoe head what a name that is Yuma has lost his memories and finds himself waking up in a lost and found room at a train station he reads a letter that has been left for him and Boards a train to the city of car Ward a sector that is effectively shut off from the world and where the rain never stops the job of the detectives is to unravel the so-called mystery of carai Ward which is what the game focuses on throughout he's not alone though as a ghostly presence called Shinigami is right beside him along the way she tells Yuma that she is haunting him because he traded his memories in an effort to use her powers as a de God so she functions as the secondary protagonist now the gameplay of raincode is split into two distinct modes initially you have the exploration phase where Yuma and Shinigami can roam carai Ward to find items that lead to optional events do side quests or find Clues to solve Mysteries each chapter begins with some sort of crime being committed and thus Yuma has to gather as many Clues as he can for when he comes to solve it when enough of these so-called solution keys are gathered Shinigami uses her power to take Yuma to the mystery Labyrinth which is a visualization of the case and all the obstacles preventing the truth if yor is able to get to the end of this Labyrinth the case is solved and the game progresses now it sounds very simple but that is not a precursor to conclude that it is uninspired raincode has some of the most creative cases and Mysteries in any game I've played and they all feel so unique from each other every single chapter had me on the edge of my seat actively thinking about how an event occurred what possibly could have been done to make it happen and what AIDS it further are the abilities of the master detectives themselves called fores fores are the techniques that give Master detectives their titles and they are used to help in the solving of mysteries ranging from being able to disguise oneself perfectly or detect any living being in a specified radius each of the abilities are used really well in the story and they're a big part as to why each case feels so distinct from one another as for the Labyrinth itself this is where the other part of gameplay comes into it humor will go through the Labyrinth and solve problem after problem to eventually lead himself to the truth these problems are normally solved through a miname either humor facing off against an indiv idual who is attempting to conceal the truth and rebuking their statements with contradictions or finding key words linked to a case in a game reminiscence of popup Pirates Yuma also has a skill tree that will Aid him in the later cases for example granting more health or assisting in some of the mini games themselves it's not your typical progression that you'd see in a standard RPG but it's there what's really cool about the Labyrinth though is that it not only allows humor to conceptualize the case it allows the player to do the same thing there's some really creative methods used to visualize and Aid in the solving of a case for example sometimes humor is not asking the right question and when he changes perspectives the Labyrinth will change in motion with his thoughts to lead to another route and when you do get to the end the answer is not always in black and white as one may think there are some morality issues that come into play here as well it really gets the player to ponder over their actions that being said I don't really want to say too much more about the labyrinths because the Mysteries are such a great part about this game and you really need to see it for yourselves to truly grasp how enjoyable they are but that's far from the only reason why this game is so good it Nails a pleora of aspects that I'm just shocked it didn't get more Fanfare the star of the show is not Yuma it's not Shinigami nor any of the other characters though they are great themselves we will touch on that later rather the star of this game is the city of carai Ward itself carai Ward is such a brilliant setting for the tone that Master detective archives is going for a city of unending rain that has secrets in every Alleyway it's on edge it's eerie and it made me feel uneasy just walking around the streets like I was always under threet by something the atmosphere of this game is Stella its top draw if you want to find a game that gets its Ambience right play Master detective archives rain code similarly if you want to experience a story that won't disappoint also play Master detect archives rain code what a fantastic story filled with suspense decent pacing tangible and meaningful developments at every juncture it's just talk tier the only thing I disagree with in regards to this narrative is that the game was rated as 16 plus in the UK like what this game should be rated 18 plus no doubt about it at least the ESRB got the memo across the pond and slapped an M on it there's some mad messed up stuff in this game but it's never just for shock Factor it all comes together so well come the climax I struggled to think of anything that wasn't answered by the end the characters there nearly all batshit insane outside of humor it's like he's the only normal one in this game and he's trying to push his way through the insanity that's opening up in front of his eyes but once again it fits it doesn't feel out of place at all the characters are exaggerated to the point of stupidity but it makes sense in this land of caro Ward that has closed itself off in the rest of the world lack of contact with the outside world can do that to a person that being said Yuma does have Shinigami by his side and she is certainly eccentric with some very interesting cut scen specific to [Music] herar [Applause] but in reality Shinigami is needed she is needed because the game can get so tense at points that you require her humor as a balancing act to bring you back down a little bit and regain your composure I can certainly see some people not appre apprting her presence because of that but she was such a good character to me and worked perfectly in combination with humor there's undeniable chemistry between them and decent developments too their relationship visually changes for the better as the game goes on and it's well presented to boot the only drawback I can think of for rain code is that it's locked to the switch this game deserves to be on Hardware that can push above 720p I can only imagine what carai Ward would look like at higher resolutions alas though it's stuck there for the time being maybe forever unfortunately but even even so you cannot skip this game if you're into mystery Adventure titles or if you're an RPG fan like me who digs a great story Master detective archives rain code is fantastic nearly a masterpiece I'd say I was enamored with it from start to finish I didn't put it down I played nothing else and all I wanted to do during my free time was turn on my switch so I could see what came next it's a brilliant game one of the best I've played this year and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a mystery Adventure title the third game I played was eternitees on PC and I finished it in 13 hours eternit was a game that I played the demo for a few months back and it became an instant purchase as soon as it released from that demo alone I was confident that the game wasn't going to let me down and sure enough it ended up being a great experience overall the turnit begins with your self-insert pro tag hanging out with his friend as they search for love via a dating app no luck on that front though at the same time though we see a news reports on the So-Cal turnit wonder drug that supposedly slows aging but virtually overnight the whole world Goes to Hell causing the populace to turn into zombified figur a pretty sharp turn and tone within a minute and that's something that a turnit does really well many times it's humorous the choices you can make for dialogue were witty and fun and they were getting the odd chuckle out of me if you want to be a degenerate you can and you know well I did do this at points too I admit but then it's not afraid to flip the switch in a nanc to a more eerie tone as well the atmosphere was just on point as were other factors like the lighting the claustrophobic environment and it results in something that is more than the sum of its parts I can definitely see some people saying it's too anime and be put off by that but I'm all on board in fact what I did find impressive is that the game has some animated cutscenes here and there despite being an indie project that was mostly done by one individual the fact that shudio s actually worked with an animation team for some of the scenes as a neat touch overall talking about anime we're entrusted with our divine Mission by the architect who is pretty much your isekai goddess character you see in all these adaptations she's a bit weird yet comforting at the same time and she grants the prot tag the ability to fight against the hordes of enemies and ultimately tasks you with saving the world now the core of the game play is split between three sections most of the time you'll be spending it on a train in between main story missions where you partake in the social Sim aspect to raise your abilities for the coming fights and you'll have have a set number of days to do so before you have to progress the story these events will grant Essences that can be used to not only improve your own skills but also Grant abilities to your partners like Buffs spells and healing abilities not to mention also yielding straight up stat increases it's a disservice to say though that simply powering up was the only thing I cared about as I thought the characters themselves were decently written for the most part all the love interests are unique have their own compelling story and I very much bought into each of them it also helps that the voice acting is pretty good surprisingly good even with Japanese Korean and English options as you talk to them they'll also come to you with problems to solve like extra training that function as mini games or they ask you for essential Commodities that have run out this second one in particular Segways over to another notable part of the game play if you choose to assist them in finding these items you go on a Scavenging mission where you choose from one of free zones in order to find it within a set time limit this is a cool idea but it's a bit weak overall as it basically boils down to a memory game you try and remember what zone had what and also try to recollect whereabouts in that zone it was if you find it you get more Essence to power up if you fail you waste that period of bonding time but it's nothing that a bit of safe scumming can't circumvent eventually though you will need to leave the train and progress the story meaning you get involved in the game's combat and dungeons the combat itself takes on an action-based archetype and is pretty good simple but enjoyable it's visceral fast and the controls feel tight you have one combo of attacks mapped to the x button but when you hit the end of your chain you can do a combo Ender which works like a quick Time Event you also have a Dodge and the so-called Elemental fist tied to a gauge at the top left of the screen which allows you to access the abilities of the other heroins who each have their own Affinity that's is effective against different enemies you fill it up via dodging and attacking enemies and then unleash it for heavy damage you also have a wide array of abilities to use courtesy of the skill trees mentioned earlier so the game play always feels that it's gradually enriching the dungeons are pretty good too there's certainly a good diversity of scale in there from research institutes to Labyrinthian structures and they've got a strong variety of puzzles too I was fairly impressed with the creativity on display for these brain teasers boss fights are mostly satisfactory not too challenging but they make the most of the game's battle system I'd say the only thing I wasn't impressed with was the OST the developers opted to go for some sort of static grunge style to match the atmosphere but it just sounds broken at points leaving many of the high octane boss battles without any music accompanying it if the game did have a greater it no doubt would have drew me in even more the most stirring thing about a turnit though is that it maintained that good impression neon all the way through and it ended in an inspired manner I was very much on boarded with how they handled the ending overall it actually felt like the stakes were high I was invested in the choices I had to make and they really made that stick which is something a lot of RPGs nowadays struggle with for an indie project that promised a lot I think it delivered and in some cases exceeded my expectation sure it has drawbacks like many of these games do but the actual core of its premise namely the action based gameplay and the social Sim aspect were solid throughout I was very happy with my experience by the end as was I happy to hear that studio Sai recently received $7 million in funding for their next project and it's very welld deserved the developer made clear that the studio is now expanding to the size of a small team and their next project will be utilizing Unreal Engine 5 than Unity engine needless to say I am very much looking forward in anticipation for what they come up with next the fourth game I played was one I had high hopes for once again in fate Samurai Remnant I played it on PC and it took me just over 41 hours to beat now I wouldn't say I'm a diard fate fan I'm not too well-versed in the nasu verse which is pretty much an iceberg that stretches to the core of the Earth but I do enjoy the more mainstream work of Tide Moon I've read the original fate day night visual novel watch the anime works so Studio Dean adaptation Fate Zero unlimited blade works and the heavens field movies along with some of the spin-offs like Carnival fantasm and yes even Prisma Ilia so I have a bit of a background with fate and when I heard there was going to be an action RPG in the Fate Universe with its own separate story I was very much excited with what they would come up with so I bought it pretty much on release day my overall experience though was difficult to pinpoint I ended up concluding that Samurai renman was on the right path in terms of what it went for and was a great game as a result but I felt like it was missing something to make it truly memorable in this adventure you take control of mamoto Yori the adopted son of legendary Ronin mamoto Masashi he lives as a debt collector in a certain area of Ado during the rule of the tagawa Shogun it which would later become the Tokyo we know today event eventually eori is attacked by a foe of immense strength but just before he is failed his hand glows and a warrior called saber garbed in white stands before him effectively saving his life eori soon discovers that he is one of seven participants in the so-called waxing moon ritual and the winner will have their wish granted by using the essence of the defeated candidate as a catalyst any fan of Fate will see the parallels here the waxing moon ritual substitutes for the Holy Grail war and it takes on a similar premise seven Masters and seven Servants of Legend do battle to emerge Victorious for anyone not familiar with the Fate Universe though I think the game does a good job in explaining the intricacies of what the ritual entails without going into too much unnecessary detail now as for gameplay you initially have exploration of various districts of the city of Ado orori can wander around to complete certain side missions like petting cats and taking out groups of fugs to keep the streets safe I will say that the developers did a really good job in bringing the city to life life every District feels distinct and unique despite being part of the same area essentially fate fans will also find plenty of nods to The Wider series if they search around either through encounters with familiar faces or through the enjoyable digressions which are essentially optional social events that dive deeper into the various characters who appear in game Samurai Remnant clearly had a lot of care put into it and that's very evident when looking at the cutcenes [Music] [Music] some of the pre-rendered cinematography looks absolutely amazing encapsulating the Wonder an awesome feel of the Fate series on screen just like UFO tables adaptations I can't help but feel that this game would look just as good if it got the same treatment as fate day night one day and there's been suggestions that they might even look to doing that sometime down the line the character designs look great all of the servants in particular are brought to life in an eye-catching and pleasing way and the OST is also pretty good overall I wouldn't say it's my cup of tea but it has some decent tracks in there now as you explore it won't take too long until you're drawn into battle and there's a lot of that in Samurai Redmond as it takes on this hybrid muso action RPG approach for the most part you're controlling orori who has a variety of Sword Styles attached to him each sword style comes with its own strengths and weaknesses for example water style is perfect for large groups of enemies while fire style is slow but does a huge amount of damage what's great is that each style also has its own skill tree attached to it functioning as a method to gain raw stat increases or learn new abilities so there's tangible progression on offer and what's better is that you can progress in the way you want by pursuing the sword styles that you prefer however eori cannot win this war by himself hence why saber fights alongside him and when a gauge fills to the top you can actively switch control over to saber herself who is a far cry from eori in terms of gameplay dealing much more damage in the early stages and having far more impressive animation for the most part intentionally so at the end of the day the servants are based off of legendary real life figures and are in law meant to be far stronger than their masters for the most part they essentially go beyond what humans are capable of and Samurai renan does a great job in showing that aspect off not only through saber but also the other servants as well that you can play as at certain parts of the story when you do control Yori though you can still work together with saber for combination abilities and the like overall the combat is good but as the game went on it did feel a bit shallow at points mostly tied to the shields that the larger enemies have certain enemies won't take any meaningful damage until a shield is broken but for the most part you'll be chipping away at it unless you play as your servant later on eori certainly does get more powerful and has more of an effect here but early on you're pretty dependent on saber to break through it's even more pronounced on boss fights which often will refresh their Shields when they hit a certain Health level yeah it's thematically correct other servants aren't going to be pushovers at the end of the day but I would have liked something more inspired there to show off their strength that being said though it is cool seeing the partnership of aori and saber as they make their way through the ritual now talking about that relationship it's a good time to jump to the characters themselves it's a mixed bag I'd say there's some clear Front Runners and a couple of disappointments in equal measure the chemistry between eori and saber though is really strong it visibly impr improves over the course of the game and they transform into a partnership that rely on each other in the later stages the other servants and Masters are fairly compelling to each of their own Dynamics and it's really cool to see how aori and saber interact with them part of the Intrigue of Fates day night at least was how the various Duos schemed and aimed to eventually win Samurai renman takes on a similar approach there's plenty of planning and scheming in the shadows and in some cases it does work in the game's benefit but sometimes it does meander you're often going back to your base to then go to another far off District which requires a sort of tower capture miname in between which I wasn't a fan of personally then when you get there you fight through a level see a story sequence and return back to base just to do it all over again and eventually this design philosophy started to give me some Deja Vu the more I played Samurai remond the more I started to feel that it was retreading the original visual novel in some ways for example saber herself without going into spoiler territory just look at the designs between this iteration and the one we're more familiar with the eyes the AOG the gluttonous personality the likeness was uncanny and there were plenty of other moments that I looked at and thought wow that was weirdly familiar again this video isn't going into spoiler territory so I won't Del further there but the similarities Were Striking at points undoubtedly though the biggest inspiration Samurai renant took from the original was in the multiple Roots just like fate day night this game has three separate rotes that prioritizes different characters within the story and ultimately all end differently it is worth noting that there is an additional joke ending if you see a certain part of side content to the end too for the main story Roots though you have to play through the game at least once to see the third route and then play back to that point at which the story diverges on New Game Plus Samurai Rond makes the second playthrough fairly simple though as it allows you to carry over all all your progress so you can steamroll through all the events you've already seen but the question remains is it worth playing through the game at least twice to see these roots well there's a dichotomy here because the roots are simultaneously the best parts of the game and also the most disappointing my biggest issue was that they split far too late in the game meaning that the endings were underwhelming sure they end in different ways but I feel that the stories themselves and the characters involved in them deserved way more attention than they got they didn't have sufficient time to marinate into the great masterpieces that they could have been referencing fate day night once again the visual novel split very early on for the free Roots so each one felt wholly distinct from each other it was like a whole new experience every time Samurai renan on the other hand splits at around 23s through the game so many of the events are the same to that point but the developments afterwards just don't have the impact that I feel they could have had if they were given more focus and time It ultimately meant that I ended up let down by characters like Chon who I strongly believed had the potential of being the best character in the entire game and that wasn't the only one I was disappointed in the final route which you only get on that second playthrough it should have been the best route by a mile the actual content of that route was perfect but it ends so quick you make the choice do a final battle and it ends maybe 20 minutes after that choice is made and it's a tough one really because I do think the writers were well within their rights of ending it there and then but because I was so looking forward to it I was just head in hands as I watched the credits roll because I was so on board with what they were going with in that final route everything in the game pointed to this moment the buildup to it was really good but it just ended in a muted manner not entirely flat but not what I hoped for either and that's my biggest gripe fate Samurai Redmond was really good in a lot of areas but I felt let down with those endings they were just missing something to make them truly memorable if they had stuck The Landings of say two out of three of those endings it would have been one of my games of the year but because it ended up short it goes down as a great game to be but nothing more than that the fifth game I played was Zena Saga episode 2 which took me 26 hours to beat and played via emulator I did a full 30-minute video on this recently my patrons voted for the game to be covered as part of the Retro series and I was more than happy to oblige so if you want my full thoughts on it you can watch that video here you're just going to get the tldr it's the weakest of the trilogy with some baffling design decisions the OST is shaky with cutscenes having great music while the Overworld music is less consistent the art direction is weird and the combat system is great for bosses but a SLO for normal enemies the actual story is really good though and the same method is going to be used for the sixth game I played zenos Saga episode 3 which took me 38 hours to finish tldr it's the best game of the series best animation best music best combat best cut scenes and it all ends in a satisfying manner but Shion is really mean in this game I hope you didn't make any mistakes there time the seventh game I played was a must play for many RPG fans no exceptions here as well in Star Ocean second story R I played it on PC and it took me 41 hours to finish Second Story R like a few other games in the series Sports a dual protagonist feature you get a choice between either Claude or Raina and follow their stories as they seek to stop the odd phenomenon occurring on the planet expel both of the stories overlap for the most part but there are specific moments with each that make a second play through worthwhile now Second Story AR for me is another one of those games that is all about the game playay if you place more importance on that and don't care at all about the story you'll most likely love the game on the other hand if you place more importance on story you'll probably find it harder to be swayed in all the game ended up being a great experience to me but I couldn't put it above that because of the issues I had with the narrative and characters so let's start with the good stuff first first of all I have to say that regardless of the quality of the game itself it's just a very good remake it's optimized well it brings in many quality of life features to bring it up to Modern standards like fast travel marking where certain optional events are the ability to mass level up IC skills just as a remake it does a really good job as for the game itself though initially it looks absolutely amazing the pixel art style has been sharpened and Polished to a beautiful Sheen and it works extremely well the planet of expel in the early stages feels Grand expansive and and the towns all Express their own unique personalities now some people may feel that the style doesn't work too well for the battles themselves as there may be too many animations going on the screen at any point in time making it difficult to see what's occurring but I never had an issue with that the meat of the combat is also pretty good it's a nice take on an action RPG that does show its age at points but I had a good sign with it overall a lot of characters to try out plentiful amounts of skills to mix and match and a decent level of options are given to the player in terms of group formations that Grant additional bonuses in battle these battles also demonstrate the great OST overall the battle themes are absolute bangers and the game does pretty well in this facet even outside of fights however the thing that really allows the combat to stand out doesn't even exist in the battles themselves from what I was reading on other people's experiences star Ocean's Second Story R goes through a weird trajectory in terms of difficulty in that it starts really easy but gets quite arduous by the end though at the same time Second Story R gives you all of the tools you need to circumvent that difficulty pretty much from the beginning and if you comprehend the systems on offer you can break the game so quickly it becomes a joke by the later stages if anything that is the highlight of the game how quickly you can break it every character has a host of Specialties tied to them and they all have a specific use for example you can make new weapons but then you can customize them further into ridiculously powerful versions early on leveling also becomes a simple Endeavor level up the effort skill to the max early on to lower the amount of skill points required to increase the levels of the other skills and then use say scouting along with The Bodyguard super specialty to Blitz all enemies without even fighting if you do get into a fight use the guard formation which makes you immune to status ailments and you pretty much become unbeatable there's a staggering amount of customization available to the player and they all enrich the gameplay in a multitude of ways either through combat equipment management or traversing the world itself it's easily the best part about the game and I get the impression that freedom was the modus operand of Star Ocean 2 no single playthrough would ever be the same not only are there a multitude of ways to just break the game which can become a joy in of itself there are a massive amounts of recruitable characters during the Journey 2 while Claude and Raina are required there are a host of other members who you will meet in the journey to but not all of them can be taken on a single playthrough and some of them will outright be locked off depending on what choices you make and what protagonist you used it once again becomes a decent element of the game and feeds into another reason as to why a second playthrough is worthwhile that being said this is where we start to get to the negative side the characters themselves outside of Claude and Raina are very shallow you get their backstories and their motivations before they join but once they do join it pretty much just dissipates to nothing seline's treasure hunting Obsession seems to vanish and Ashton's desire to rid himself of his Affliction gets a small followup but it also seems to be abandoned soon after as well now I imagine that this lack of death is mostly again due to its age and the fact that a lot of these characters are optional so it's a case of ambition outstripping the means available at the time so I'm more willing to forgive it there it doesn't help as well that the English voice acting drawn from the PSP version is shaky to say the least oh aren't you the boy who took second place in the Armory contest huh don't you remember seeing him at the tournament Leon I don't remember it I couldn't be bothered to watch oh but I bet your magesty would right yes the boy who almost took the championship from Diaz's grasp I remember it well it's also a product of its time and you can definitely hear that there's a lack of inflection at many points as if if the voice actors didn't know the context by which they were saying their line and delivery of the lines feels inconsistent throughout as a result I decided to use the newly recorded Japanese voiceovers because of it now it's not just The Supporting Cast of characters that I had issue with in total there were three aspects that I think held Second Story R back from Masterpiece status ranging in severity the first issue was the side characters which we've already discussed second was the story itself and last were the antagonists so homing in on that second point the story it's basic and basic stories are fine you can tell some enjoyable Adventures through this Medium as long as it's presented well a good story does not have to be some deep pseudo intellectual trip about life and death some people like to misunderstand that there are plenty of simple stories out there that are very well told and thus become memorable radiant Dawn is an example of that as is trails in the sky first chapter however Second Story R struggles with this I saw a very interesting quote from someone else in reference to the story of this game a line that was profound and very accurate I'd say the quote was that Star Ocean second story R has a better story than it has writing what that means is that there are moments within the narrative that are genuinely interesting and thus should be memorable but they're simply not conveyed as well as they should have been in order to reach that emotional pitch there are plentiful moments within Second Story r that should be a home run but the way those moments are handled just don't feel right like characters overcoming a traumatic event a bit too quickly and thus the development that comes with that feels contrived and unnatural there are also moments where important events seem to once again dissipate just like the arcs of the characters the start of claude's Journey For example which eventually leads him to being stranded on Excel that first area seemed important but you never see it again no explanation as to its significance no backstory as to why there was a device there to transport Claude it's jarring and apparently that plot hole is answered in a completely different form of media an anime of all things that was eventually cancelled unceremoniously and talking about unceremoniously that leads us to my biggest grievance with this game the antagonists probably the greatest entrance and introduction ever followed by the worst execution I can remember in recent experience I don't remember a single one of their names come the end I didn't understand their motivations their origin their personalities nothing they were just bad guys that I had to kill now again just like the introduction for claude's story these grievances are addressed in optional content so it's using that soulslike style of Storytelling where all the information is available but you have to go out of your way to find it to be fair though this game came out before the first Souls game so you can say its style it's more its own but a soulslike style of Storytelling is the best way I can describe it now the method itself is fine I actually really enjoy Souls like storytelling that process of piecing together all aspects of the story and building my own view of the world I'm in it's a method that works and has been very successful there is a key difference though as to why it works in souls and doesn't work in Second Story are the difference is in the makeup of the games in Souls games a player who has never played a Souls like can easily finish say Dark Souls with a blind playthrough and simultaneously not understand the story at all there are a few cutscenes here and there but it's purposely obtuse it was never the main focus of the game a traditional jrpg though is different it presents a linear story through the medium of cutcenes and heavy uses of dialogue that moves from point to point thus a key goal of the developers is to have the player relate to the protagonists in some way and get them invested in the journey they find themselves on in order to do that though you must give all the elements to the player to deliver on that premise all essential information to Aid in fully comprehending the story must be given to the player through the main story line itself and not locked behind easily missable events if you're going for that focus and want players to empathize with what is happening on screen you need to provide all elements to allow it to happen Second Story R falls into this trap but it is by no means the only game guilty of this some of my favorite RPGs like trails to AIA do exactly the same thing and I've always been against it so in all Second Story art ended up being a great game if I had to put a number to it an8 out of 10 but it never goes above that because of those three main issues I had still one of the better RPGs I played this year the eighth game I played was the first in the remastered collection for Barton kitos in Eternal wings and the lost Ocean or simply Barton kitos 1 it was played on switch and took me 49 hours to beat Barton kitos takes place in the skies where callus is on a journey to avenge the death of his grandfather and little brother during this time he and a host of other characters find a more Sinister plot of foot and they must find the five pieces of Exodia in order to prevent the rise of the Forbidden one I am not exaggerating that is the story in seriousness though Barton kitos surprised me in a very good way it was a breath of fresh air from all the other RPGs I played this year and I'll say it right away I recommend it to anyone looking for a card Centric turn-based RPG the first thing I latched on to immediately was its premise and narrative angle whereas in many RPGs you're taking the role of a certain character and witnessing their journey in Barton kitos you are playing as well you you're not controlling callus You're simply joining him on his journey from your own world working as a team the game plays on this idea a whole lot with characters turning towards the player at points and asking you for your opinion at certain junctures and these choices do have meaning over the course of the game too depending on how the character perceives it it sounds weird but it's used extremely well and AIDS massively in overall immersion and that idea is followed through right to the end which they nailed it was kind of a Bittersweet moment because it's structured in a way where you've assisted in the Peace of this land and now you must go back to your own world to try and fulfill your goals it's profound and surprisingly deep I was very impressed with that now the game is mostly split between exploration and the card-based battles exploration takes place in Fairly closed off locals but that's all good for me because the art direction is an absolute win here I love the pre-rendered backgrounds and the art style for the Sprites too really well done on that front despite that rigidness in the world design though there is plenty to find around the world there are side quests to complete hidden roads to treasure and they're generally always worth worth it in Barton kitos you're seeing you're not gaining armor or weapons for engaging in side content what you're actually getting are cards called Magnus in this universe which are the contained Essences of a particular item that you can use in battle war a in the progression of your character you'll notice very quickly that Barton kitos is not like many other RPGs it throws many of the Staples out the window and forces you to play by its rules for example I was given no tutorial on how to play at least not in the traditional way tutorials are there but they are given to you through the NPCs themselves NPCs that you are often not required to talk to they are often put in areas that would compel you to talk to them just out of habit so it's a fine balance the game has going on there leveling up and Equipment management is just the same you don't level up through just battling in this game rather you get the experience and then you have to to visit the pope or whatever who will grant you your levels once again there's Merit in this though unless if you stack up experience from multiple levels you get a modifier that increases your stats slightly more if you choose to wait it out equipment as well is not done through simply donning a breastplate or a helmet rather there is a single piece of equipment specific to each character and it gradually improves as the game goes on but in many cases you have to go out of your way to find them so exploration is certainly a strong point of Barton kitos overall but what about the cards themselves well outside of Overworld use in most cases you use them in battle every character has a deck of cards that you can freely customize in the way you want there are certain cards specific to each character but there's still plenty to go around here this deck is then utilized in battle where cards are drawn into your hand and then you use these cards to for attack or defend these cards are characterized by their elements and by those numbers in the corners as well which both have importantance the elements for example work in an opposite kind of way water and fire as a pair dark and light as a pair and wind and Earth as a pair some enemies will be weak against certain elements but you also need to think about what elements you're using during your own turn for example if you use a water-based attack and then follow it with a fire based attack you will actually reduce the amount of damage you do because the attacks will cancel each other out so it pays to have diversity in your deck makeup to cover all elements but you also run the risk of having too much diversity that it lowers its overall power the numbers on the other hand play an important role too the idea is to use the cards in sequential order to increase the potency of the move so for example if you start with a card marked number one one you'd want your next attack card to be a two and then a three and so on and so on until you get straight so it's not just the balance of offensive to defensive cards in your deck you need to contend with it's also the balance of Magnus values along with their elements to make those moves worthwhile in the first place and that's what I love about this system the game is difficult at points but any sort of difficulty Spike can be circumvented in yes the traditional method of leveling up but mostly through the composition of your deck for example if an enemy is highly resistant to dark based attacks take all dark based attacks out of your deck and replace them with light it's mechanics like this that ensure that every fight in Barton kitos is unique and challenging but never unfair if you're having trouble the first thing you need to look at is the makeup of your deck saying that that's not the only reason why the boss battles are awesome take a listen to this [Music] [Music] the OST in Barton kitos slaps more base than a fish Monga the over map Tunes are great but the boss battle themes kick so much ass they've been proclaimed MMA champion awesome rock music electric guitar Rifts that shred Harden and a platinum inlay cheese grater like just play the game for the musicone even if you don't like what Barton Kos has to offer you can at least rock out while you cry this game is just awesome it's so different to many contemporaries that it never should have been as good as this there are so many new ideas that shouldn't come together as well as they do here but they do Barton kitos is brilliant and the thing is yeah I do have a few gripes of it I don't like how leveling up your class imposes a gradually more severe time limit on your turns some of the areas are absolute ass to navigate and there's no dub which is a problem for some people but not for me it is worth mentioning nonetheless but that being said the negatives are so minor compared to the overall shining be of the package here that I pretty much forgot they even existed I'll say it again Barton kitos is brilliant one of the best RPGs I played this year and a must buy for anyone who likes card-based RPGs heck even people who are simply just fans of traditional jrpgs will have to try it out it's a shame that it got hardly any Fan Fair when it did release so I'm going to do my part here and tell you to buy it the ninth game I played was a cotton framed walk down memory lane with the Super Mario RPG remake it was played on switch of course and it took 10 hours to finish it was like I had gone back to being 5 years old again the Super Mario RPG remake was everything I wanted it to be and more I never got to finish this game way back when since my friend who eventually moved back to America was the one who owned the game but some of my Fondest Memories in gaming are traced right back to the original having the chance to revisit it and be as faithful as it was to the original I couldn't ask for more in super Mario RPG you play as you guessed it Mario he's on his way to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser yet again but before he can do so a massive sword pierces through Bowser's Castle and Mario must set forth to find seven power stars to save the kingdom or something like that he thus sets forth on his quest around the land to find these Stars meeting various allies along the way it's going to be a very familiar premise to anyone who has played a Mario title before and that is its biggest strength I have a frame of mind an expectation when I play a Mario game I'm expecting light-hearted humor platforming excellent sound design and colorful visuals Super Mario RPG hits every single facet and excels in each one it combines the RPG and platforming genres beautifully it's seamless on the Overworld you'll be jumping around to find powerups secret treasure chests and talking to the inhabitants of the Kingdom while battle takes a typical turnbas Style with a little Mario flare to Aid in its charm while said combat is as simple as it gets you've got timebase mechanics there to increase the damage you do along with granting the attack and AOE effect every character has engaging skills they can use for example Mario can do a super jump on enemies and pressing the a button at the right time allows for more jumps you've got team based special moves with added cinematics that look amazing but it's still rooted in familiarity since you've got all the elements you would expect in a turn-based battle system like item usage status effects and standard leveling up there are even certain challenges tied to these battles that will grant the best gear in the game which are actually quite difficult to achieve so there's definite challenge there despite its ease of access but the one thing I adore about this game is that I was smiling laughing at nearly everything happening it was absurd it was manic but it's Mario I expect this to happen for example cutscenes that double as Min games where the music plays in the background and what happens on screen matches the beat as the sequence plays out you're actually getting involved in those moments and it's hilarious talking about mini gamess there's so many of them in Super Mario RPG but they're never forced or contrived they always flow directly into the makeup of the journey itself you could be composing a musical Masterpiece one minute and then flowing Down River Rapids collecting coins on the next the characters are brilliant familiar yet wonderful designs for the returning casts Charming appearances for the new entries and dialogue that is so simple but so impactful at the same time this is how you do dialogue correctly Super Mario RPG had a tone in mind and everything you see on screen is tailored to fit that atmosphere and it succeeds in basically every area it is a resounding success again one of the best RPGs I played this year and likely one of the best I'll play in the coming years too I adore this game I recommend it to anyone who has a switch and heck I'd recommend it to people who aren't even fans of the genre this one here is a great game to get people introduced to the world of jrpgs for the first time it's Charming it's goofy it's got a familiar premise and a host of lovable characters you can't ask for more than that the 10th game I played was one I was looking forward to this year in cry marer played on PC and it took me around 11 hours to finish now some people may already know what I think about cry Marner as I put it on my disappointing RPG lists for the year as such I'll keep my commentary concise since I said everything I wanted on crime marer in that video but if you want a more in-depth look you can check that out it takes place many years after the extinction of humanity upon a ship called Eden that has a collection of functions within it said functions are there to eventually revive humanity and 8 DSX marer reside over those functions it's here where an Noah one of the eight revives laben and she joins two other members of quote the family in Makoto and Army in a quest to become a real human the premise is good it's actually got a decent story tied to it the characters aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea admittedly but the actual themes covered are interesting and they're conveyed fairly well however most of my time with cry marer was indifferent at best my issue with the game is that it was a lot of style and little substance a game that looks a lot better than it really is it's not bad it's just an average formulaic experience when I personally think it could have been more than that on one hand you have the interesting character designs the great OST and the immersive stages that really sell the scale of the game while on the other you have the rigid structure that is on display within the first hour complete a stage bet to boss C cut scenes level up and move on it works and it keeps the flow of the story there but it's just so limited overall and results in a shallow gameplay experience the most notable example there comes in the combat itself it looks really good but it's actually extremely basic a basic combat system is fine but what it does need at minimum is a gradual evolution new skills or abilities added to the makeup to keep the game fresh especially when its game design is pushing players towards repeating stages the issue with the combat is that it never changes the characters don't learn any new abilities over the course of the game what you start with is what you end with and the only thing that kind of Chang are the auxiliaries which aren't enough to keep the experience fresh if you're a fan of action RPGs you'll get some fun out of it but I wouldn't go in expecting anything masterful if you can say get it on sale I'd say that's good value for money the last game I played was also the last game I wanted to complete for 2023 in Kuro noas 2 Crimson S I played it on PC and it took 51 hours to finish but I will cop out here here because I want to do a fully dedicated video on it for next week so you're going to have to wait a little longer for that one thank you for watching this video if you liked it please like And subscribe for more jrpg content and consider joining my patreon if you're interested [Music] peace

Channel: The Kiseki Nut

Views: 49,445

Keywords: JRPGs you must play, best jrpgs, the kiseki nut, best rpg games, top jrpgs this year, best rpg games for android, best rpgs on steam deck, rpgs you must play, top rpgs this year, best rpg 2023, best rpgs 2023, best rpg games 2023, best rpg games for ps4, best rpgs of all time, best rpgs, best rpg games for pc, best rpgs on switch, best rpg games 2022, best jrpgs worth playing, best jrpgs you must play, best rpgs in 2023 so far, best jrpgs in 2023 so far

Id: CypzlUoz-tg

Length: 56min 15sec (3375 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 06 2024