Recent reviews by sine

very solid and well-done platformer that wears their inspiration on their sleeves. I loved DKCR so I'm glad to get a game inspired by it. Only did the main story but will dive deeper eventually.

very interesting and fun game. the poker hand adds an interesting risk calculation to the arcade style platformer. having to balance whether to go for a risky hand or conserve chips is interesting along with the shop. finally, the art is very pleasing <3

Beautiful game that's perfectly paced and tuned. MO:Astray integrates reveals info in an interesting manner via reading the minds of the inhabitants. The overarching plot that you have to piece together is both compelling and sad. This is accented by Rayark's impeccable music composition similar to their mobile offerings. The blob-forming is refreshing and the puzzles are quite varied. Never overstaying their welcome nor being underutilized, the game constantly changes it up especially the boss encounters. Underrated gem that needs more attention.

interesting mysteries and world. charming characters and writing. the concept of using your senses including *taste* is funny but works well. only issue is the motivation for the second case is kind of weak in some areas viola could literally just draw the blackmail picture again no? she's the *artist* and you can get softlocked. Read some of the cases of this happening on the forums and experienced one myself. One of the evidence I needed to present wasn't in my journal for the second case and it was late into the case. So I had to redo the chapter again to that point. Very solid detective game that scratched the ace attorney itch (and the very inspired and sick OST)

if they want a gacha economy with not vialing beyond a playset then they should have FEATURED rate-up banners for classes we actually wanna play or else this game will end up dead quickly just like the first one. this game does not nearly have the same cache as mtg where mtga can get away with nonsense

set 4 update: cygames in their infinite wisdom decided that loot sword is an A-OKAY deck with the addition of zeta to the unga bunga burn package. don't worry though benison definitely needed a nerf. after the testing phase is over we're gonna find out a set 3 deck that was already top-tier...is omega top tier this round! *clap clap* this review will be a thumbs-up when they add an indestructible aura ward neutral card (ie never)

somehow the sequel managed to make the deckbuilding more unhinged than the first game. the added content and the amount of clan permutation is staggering. the addition to the flow was a bit overwhelming but I eventually got used to managing the added features. Just a bit of a deep learning curve but very rewarding to master. worth the full price easily

Charming mystery game where you follow 3 different animal friends each with a different occupation that adds a nice variety of gameplay aside the main investigative segments(Triratna's my personal favorite). The music is a delight to hear and fits the mood pretty well. The plot has some genuinely cool surprises and touching moments. Side characters are equally as charming and developed as the main cast. Biggest flaw would be the somewhat common typos or incorrect word choice but the meaning is not lost.

Fantasian blends old-school jrpg conventions(particularly from Final Fantasy considering the pedigree such as Sakaguchi and Uematsu) with some unique features. The game was ported to pc and consoles due to the help of yoshi-p of FF14/FF16 renown. You can definitely tell because half of the guest battle tracks are Soken OSTs.

The first thing that'd strike you is that the environments are constructed entirely of dioramas. The game was originally an apple arcade exclusive i.e. a mobile game and it shows in the UI and battle system. In this case, it's neat having to aim attack and spells. Fantasian also allows you to 'store' random encounters in a device known as a dimengeon where you can fight the stored enemies all at once. Finally the elephant in the room, the second act in the game is so tightly tuned in the original difficulty(hard) that it's refreshing having to consider your all your options and manage your party members to this degree that's rarely necessary in other turned-based rpgs.

Some issues that can be off-putting is that the game starts off really slow as the first part is a long tutorial. There are systems simply missing until you get until the second part such as party switching (a la FFX) and the growth map. The encounter rate is still a bit high even with the dimengeon. The last positive I mentioned could be a double-edged sword because most of the second act boss battles put pressure on you and you could easily get stuck on one of them. Alas, this could be mitigated by the normal mode added to the port.

Finally, the cast of fantasian are all so charming and funny especially with the voice acting that was added in this version. My favorites are kina and prickle. Just fun interactions all around. The game also has these cute vignette sections that added a bit of flavor to the plot which overall gave me a funny smt vibe. Overall, this game was a pleasant surprise for me.

Very ambitious celebration of the Atlus RPG formula combining the press-turn system, persona social sim and archetype(class) system. For the most part, sticks the landing gameplay-wise. The plot had nice emotional beats and does what it sets out to do well enough. Biggest issue is the late-game sequence reads a bit rushed but that's honestly expected with long games. Characters are very charming and the follower bonds(social links) are well-written. No egregiously bad SL you'd see in persona.

Biggest issue is pretty steep A-exp curve making it hard to experiment without a lot of grinding. Fortunately the game as an on-field battle system for clearing weaker mobs that can mitigate but hopefully in a future installment studio zero lowers the curve or adds more ways to get a-exp. If you're unfamiliar with abusing the press turn system used in SMT prepare to have a hard time especially at the end. Despite some tracks being absolute bangers(the battle music in particular), a lot of tracks are just there and forgettable.

Strong recommendation.

Pretty solid jrpg that's carried by the entertaining cast and amusing side content. Plot is passable if a bit bland. Regardless there's a lot of personality in the game and the production value is surprisingly high with all the neat details such as portraits and voice lines. There's some programming jank including a softlock I encountered. Overall was worth the wait to play this ambitious game. Haven't played a suikoden game before but I can tell this game is very reminiscent of the series and now I wanna try the Suikoden series due to this game.