Recent reviews by GivenLemon

This game is shallow. It feels great for a little bit. It scratches an itch for a FF Tactics-like game for just a second. The animations are stellar, the graphics are nice. The aesthetic helps prove that this type of game would be workable in the right hands. But here's the truth, is there is no underlying substance. The game quickly throws all the gacha features at you, which feels like you are collecting hundreds of different types of currency, only usable for certain things. You keep "winning stuff" after battles, but what are you really winning except pennies into a jar that don't actually buy anything useful. Your characters that you like are behind summon paywalls, and to make them worthwhile you have to keep collecting them. That means you eventually hit a gap where you need a bridge. Where you have to either wait to cross it (not fun) or pay to build it yourself (not fun). And that's when you will realize how little the game actually is. But they're counting on all the shiny to hold you over until you hit this point and are hoping the sunken cost fallacy keeps you so that you start making purchases ("I've already dropped dozens of hours so the game has to be good, or I wasted my time). But actually analyze what's happening behind the admittedly beautiful curtains, and you realize how shallow the game actually is. The combat is trivial. The difficulty relies entirely on how powerful your units are, which you know, is all about that bridge I mentioned earlier. There is a triangle of rock/paper/scissors type combat units being good against another (think Fire Emblem), but I never even felt like it mattered. The pacing feels like Clash of Clans (energy needed to do missions). I have a general rule that I don't play games that make me feel like I have to play them rather than I want to play them, and this one crossed that threshold in however long I played. The game isn't really worthwhile unless you want to kill time in the Spiral of Destinies (the only redeeming feature), but as I mentioned, the game doesn't even feel that rewarding. The rewarding part was the unlocks, but it's a guise. All you're unlocking are a bunch of ways to eventually pay them money.

So yeah. TLDR: Potential is there, gameplay isn't.

One of the best games ever almost 20 years ago and still holds up today. While nostalgia might play a bit of a part for me, I love this game. Since I've always been a fan of auto combat, combat management, and character optimizations, the gameplay transitions pretty well for post 2020 life. But the story and experience is phenomenal. Games like these make you feel like you're a part of the universe and it's like living through your own Star Wars movie. Deep characters, tons of growth, and an amazing ride all the way through. I was definitely happy to play though this one again.

Look, you're not going to get like, anything exceptionally magnificent here. It's not world breaking. But do I recommend it? Definitely.

What you are getting is a cheekily sarcastic, cutely designed tactical rpg that lets you run a team of what is basically a DnD adventure. The story is straightforward, but the characters and voice actors make the game super entertaining. I love Xcom, Fire Emblem, and other games like this, so I picked it up. I think it's worth a playthrough if you're a fan of similar games. If you're not into tactics and more into narrative/challenge/mechanical games, it may not be for you.

Pros: Humor, tactical gameplay, Art style
Cons: Simple, cyclical, predictable

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark caught my eye as a cutely artistic clone of Final Fantasy Tactics (I know you've heard it before). I put it in my wishlist and then it sat there for a while until I finally got it in a bundle.

I was skeptical at first, because I wasn't sure how a tactics game like this would transition into modern gaming, but in all I definitely enjoyed playing this game through. My recommendation definitely comes partly from nostalgic love of this type of series, but there are a lot of things the game does well. The art is neat, and while the animations are a bit static, it grows on you as you play. The approach they took to the class system is easy to use, hard to master. Fans of optimization will have to think about how they want their stats increasing for particular levels, and whether it's worth the levels to reach a benefit of mastering a class. Mixing the skills of various classes gives you multiple ways to "create" your character.

There are some things that were rough as well. The mechanics of the fight felt frustrating at times when I had multiple 95% "chance to hits miss" in a row. There is also a time when the enemy gets one shot mechanics that were the most annoying. The story is full of tropes (which is fine, I'm not like, reading Shakespeare here).

But, all in all, the charm of the game is definitely worth a playthrough for tactics lovers.

Art is nice, but the story is what makes the game. Definitely a narrative game (nothing challenging in terms of gameplay), but the adventure is totally worth it. If you struggle the meaning of life, existence, depression, anxiety, broken homes, unconditional love, and really anything that makes people real, this game has a touch of understanding for you.

It also has some dark themes and a bit of horror elements, but mainly I find it a story about the aforementioned subjects. Def worth picking up.