The Radical Child

Breath of the Wild Pokémon

Gamers have known Nintendo for somewhat being revolutionary with regards to some of its console designs such as the Wii, given its use of motion-sensitive controllers that its sequel system would bequeath, and more recently the Switch, given the capacity for players to use the console on a television or portably. It would also receive several critically-acclaimed titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which most agree was a turning point in one of Nintendo’s flagship franchises. It would further receive the latest generations of Pokémon titles along with a few remakes, the latest spinoff in the series being Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which despite being something of a side-game, sort of proves another “turning point” on its respective console.

Arceus’ setting occurs in the history of the region of Sinnoh, back then known as Hisui, long before the duo of Diamond and Pearl occurred, with the game transporting the black-slate protagonist the player names back through a rift in spacetime, where he/she receives the quest of collecting data on whatever Pokémon exist then. The backstory is decent, but given the endless clichés that abound, such as time-travel, amnesia, a legendary hero, imminent disaster, and such, the present of the plot never really reaches excellence. The translation is certainly legible, although the various dialects, such as the professor’s advanced vocabulary, somewhat seem unnatural.

Luckily, the gameplay largely compensates for the narrative shortcomings, with the protagonist able to keep a limited inventory with things such as different types of Poké Balls for various situations such as lightweight avian, heavy foes, and all Pokémon in between. The eponymous entities visibly wander fields and caves, with the main character able to throw a Poké Ball at them in an attempt to capture it for his/her pasture back in town, although one can potentially waste balls, and the ‘mon can break free. While enemies may sometimes notice the protagonist and chase them to the ends of the earth, one can utilize items such as berries gained from having captured ‘mons ram trees to distract wild ones and smoke bombs to cover himself/herself.

The player can also toss Pokémon at mineral deposits to get other materials involved in the crafting of items such as supplemental Poké Balls and recovery potions, although players can purchase some of these at shops as well, provided they’ve done the necessary sidequests to expand the shops’ inventories. The general difficulty of fulfilling sidequests without the assistance of the internet is a primary strike against the game mechanics, along with the limited inventory with which the player can explore, the protagonist needing to stash items in a chest and have at least one slot for another item type in order to obtain one that they’re not currently carrying.

On fields and in dungeons, the protagonist can throw one of six of their active Pokémon at wild ones to commence battle, in which case, likely depending upon the opponent’s level, the enemy might get the first chance to use an ability, with plenty of opportunities for frequent OHKOs if the player’s monsters are low-level. As in prior series entries, moreover, switching ‘mons in the middle of battle wastes the player’s turn or in some cases turns, a step down from the superior swapping systems present in other RPGs such as Breath of Fire IV, Final Fantasy X, and Wild Arms 2.

If wild Pokémon are close enough, the player must fight them all off in order to get experience for living members of the player’s team, although they must battle strictly with one ‘mon, and lamentably, abilities that affect multiple foes are absent. However, one major improvement over prior games is that while each Pokémon can have a maximum of four active abilities of different types (the Rochambeau formula of certain abilities and ‘mon elements being strong/weak against other kinds returning), the player can, outside battle, change these skills and not completely lose them. A teacher in town also provides additional abilities, as leveling occasionally does, for a price.

Arceus’ main method of acquiring money comes from the constant capture of wild Pokémon, doing so also gradually filling many different aspects of the franchise’s iconic Pokédex, with several measures such as how many of a certain type the player has evolved (with some evolutionary methods necessitating the use of a guide if players are unfamiliar with prior games) and slowly but surely advancing the protagonist’s exploratory rank that dictates things such as the level ceiling of how well ‘mons will follow the player’s commands and which advanced types of Poké Balls they can use.

Players familiar with the types of particular Pokémon, most of which return from prior series entries, will definitely relish at the ability to determine which to throw at wild ones to engage them, although before story battles, the player can’t make such a choice unless they’ve encountered the opponent Pokémon and/or their trainer before. Moreover, the player doesn’t receive the chance, when fighting trainers with multiple Pokémon, once players have offed one of the opponent’s, to change their active ‘mon. Despite the issues, Arceus’ take on the Pokémon formula is fairly faithful to mainline games whilst evolving it, although players may find it easier not to experiment constantly with lower-level ‘mons and largely stick to those from their pasture with higher levels.

While Arceus does have general good direction on how to advance the main storyline, with certain giant iterations of specific Pokémon opening exploration, the direction on the sidequests is often vague, with occasional annoying puzzles and minigames as well, not to mention the total lack of a minimap and compass separate from the main map screen, and you have to face the direction of the next objective point in order to see the indicator during travel. There are other annoyances such as the need to teleport back to a camp in order to get back to town, and you have to go back to town in order to go to another wild Pokémon-populated region. In the end, the developers could have certainly made the game more user-friendly.

The audiovisual presentation could have been better as well. As in the open-world Zelda that partially inspired it, Arceus is fairly light on music, although what little soundtrack does exist is decent, if derivative of other entries of the Pokémon series, with most ‘mons having distinct digitized cries, if somewhat primitive-sounding. The visuals contain good colors and distinct monster designs, a few reskins indicating different elemental types of certain species, although there is plentiful popup, with wild Pokémon seeming to have choppy robotic movement when seen from a distance, the environs too containing blurry and pixilated textures when viewed up-close. In the end, the spinoff’s aesthetics are at best middling.

Finally, a straightforward playthrough can take a little over twenty-four hours, although given my involvement in much of the side content such as filling the Pokédex, my final playtime ended up a few hours short of forty-eight, with a completionist playthrough taking much longer, and lasting appeal, given the significant enjoyability of the game mechanics, is naturally high.

In summation, one could certainly consider Pokémon Legends: Arceus the monster-collecting franchise’s answer to The Legend of Zelda’s Breath of the Wild, given its open-world gameplay that definitely has many things going for it. However, given that I don’t look upon that particular entry of the Zelda series with rose-tinted glasses, that doesn’t necessarily mean Arceus is a good game, as it does have plenty issues of which prospective players need to be aware before purchasing and playing it such as the lack of helpful quality-of-life features, unengaging narrative, and average audiovisual presentation. Regardless, I wouldn’t consider my time with the game to be a waste, and given my sizeable temporal investment in the game, it obviously does do many things right.

The Good:
+Good catching and battle mechanics.
+Clear direction for plot advancement.
+Plenty of side content.

The Bad:
-Same issues with central mechanics as in prior games.
-Unengaging narrative and lackluster localization.
-Average audiovisual aspect.

The Bottom Line:
An okay spinoff that brings the franchise a few steps forward and some back.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Game Mechanics: 7.0/10
Controls: 5.0/10
Story: 2.5/10
Localization: 6.0/10
Music/Sound: 5.0/10
Graphics: 5.0/10
Lasting Appeal: 8.0/10
Difficulty: Moderate
Playing Time: 24-72 Hours

Overall: 5.5/10

Bejeweled: The RPG

The year 1990 saw the release of the computer wargame Warlords, the brainchild of developer Steve Fawkner and the Strategic Studies Group (SSG); the franchise would receive three mainline sequels and the spinoff series Battlecry. At the turn of the millennium, Fawkner developed a fondness for the match-three puzzle game Bejeweled, consequentially proposing a hybrid puzzle/RPG title that would eventually become Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, which would receive several ports and spinoffs such as the science-fiction themed Galactrix, not to mention a direct numbered sequel. A few years after the Nintendo Switch came into existence, the original game would receive a port entitled Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, which included the original game’s expanded content. Is it worth experiencing?

The story of Puzzle Quest occurs in the Warlords universe, players able to choose a protagonist of one of various classes. The background to the primary plot is very intricate, supplemented by rumors in taverns, many of which require a payment. There are also some twists such as female dwarfs having beards, although there are a few asinine aspects such as pegasi having eggs. Regardless, the narrative never feels forced down the player’s throat, with potential variations depending upon which character class the player selects, sidequests adding further story. The only real major complaint is the somewhat-shallow nature of the “present” storyline, but otherwise, the plot rises well above average.

Mercifully, solid gameplay backs the experience, with The Legend Returns occurring on a dot-connected world akin to titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics. Primary quests and sidequests form the chief narrative structure, with many involving one-on-one encounters between the player’s character and an enemy. Combat occurs with an eight-by-eight grid with jewels of different types, including those colored red, green, yellow, and blue, respectively representing the elements fire, earth, air, and water. Other jewels include those indicating money and experience, as well as skulls which, when three or more the player or enemy matches, damages the opponent.

Matching money or experience tiles gives points to the player, the amounts matched remaining even if the enemy wins the battle, and elemental tiles grant their respective points to either side, with each having skills that require certain amounts to execute and have various effects such as damaging the other side, curing ailments, and so forth. Before using skills, however, one must consider the enemy’s elemental resistances, since if they have at least a certain percentage, skills composed of at least one of the used elements can randomly fail if the player attempts to use them, with the same sometimes going for the enemy’s use of their own abilities.

Matching four or more tiles grants the player’s character or the enemy an additional turn, with these mercifully not stacking, given the possibility of endless matching combinations when tiles fall, and should the player score a combo of matches enough, they gain an additional hundred experience points. When there are no possible matches on the jewel grid, it empties and refills with new jewels, with the player and the enemy losing all their mana points, which can at times be a blessing or a curse. The player wins a battle by exhausting all an enemy’s health, with defeat occurring when the adversary does the same to the player.

Regardless, Puzzle Quest is mostly accommodating towards players of different skill levels, given the indicators of the relative toughness of the game when choosing a class as which to start, and before facing enemies, they can choose one of three difficulty levels, which seems in many cases to affect the A.I. of the enemy, which can at times seem to be a cheating bastard depending upon the situation, given their typical matching of fours-of-a-kind when available, and on occasion making the player miss a couple of turns with certain skills. Other features include the ability by the player to build a citadel that can allow them to train mounts, siege other towns, “capture” enemies to learn skills from them, and the like. Generally, the puzzle/RPG fusion works well.

Control in many cases serves the game well, given the general difficulty of getting lost, what with yellow fog around towns indicating the next story objectives and blue fog indicating how to advance sidequests, of which there are definitely many in Puzzle Quest, players able to have four at a time active. However, there are some quality-of-life features that are absent, such as the inability to save and quit in the middle of battle, which can be a burden since they can take some time, no in-game clock, and there is noticeable lag when navigating the game interface on the overworld. Ultimately, interaction is above average, although there are definitely kinds the developers could have ironed out.

The rerelease has a fitting fantasy soundtrack with many good tracks such as the overworld theme and battle themes, although there is noticeable pausing and looping with whatever various tunes alternate in combat. The music further changes whenever the player’s character is low on health or when they’re on the brink of defeating the enemy, which isn’t a bad think, although the female voice that warns players that they’re low on health and inform them that they’ve lost, if they do, will definitely enrage many gamers. Generally, the aurals are good, but the tracks could have been more diverse.

The visuals are nice and colorful, with decent art direction and character portraits, although for the most part they’re static and don’t change emotions. Puzzle Quest, I should mention, is mostly one of those games that relies on interface design in terms of graphics, and in battle, there isn’t any kind of window that actually shows whatever actions either side takes, if any. Overall, the visual presentation is generally nothing about which to write home.

Finally, one won’t be able to gauge total playtime without a stopwatch, although there is plentiful lasting appeal in the myriad of sidequests and different character classes that will undoubtedly give gamers a great bang out of their gaming buck, but completionist players definitely won’t appreciate the lack of any percentage completion indicators.

On the whole, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is a great remaster of a game that was already good to begin with, given its addicting puzzle/RPG hybrid gameplay, intricate lore, good soundtrack, and plentiful side content. Granted, it does have a few issues the developers could have definitely worked out such as the luck and randomization involved in battle, the interface lag, the finite musical selection, and the simplistic graphics that largely rely on interface design. Regardless, while it was one of the very first of its kind, it was perhaps definitely the highlight of whatever limited experience I’ve had with the fusion of genres, and I very much wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy purchased and downloaded to the reviewer’s Nintendo Switch.

The Good:
+Great puzzle/RPG hybrid gameplay.
+Good mythos.
+Nice soundtrack.
+Plenty of extra content.

The Bad:
-Some luck and randomization involved in battle.
-A little lag.
-Limited music selection.
-Graphics somewhat simplistic.

The Bottom Line:
One of the best of the hybrid genre.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Game Mechanics: 8.5/10
Controls: 6.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Music/Sound: 7.5/10
Graphics: 6.0/10
Lasting Appeal: 8.0/10
Difficulty: Adjustable and depends on class.
Playing Time: No in-game clock.

Overall: 7.5/10

Take Heed, Mr. Igarashi

The year 1997 saw the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, widely considered the godfather of the Metroidvania gaming genre, given its implementation of elements from both Nintendo’s Metroid series and earlier Castlevania games, chiefly Simon’s Quest, which featured RPG elements. Though overshadowed by the release the same year of Final Fantasy VII, Symphony would gather widespread acclaim and spawn more entries in the Castlevania franchise sporting similar mechanics. When series producer Koji Igarashi departed Konami in the previous decade, fans clamored for more titles in the style of Symphony, with a Kickstarter campaign funding the creation of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Is it a worthy successor to the Castlevania games?

When beginning a new game, the player can choose whether to play as Miriam, a “Shardbinder” in eighteenth century England, or Zangetsu, a Japanese demon hunter, both who traverse a large interconnected area chiefly composed of a castle, in style similar to RPG Castlevanias. There’s good backstory and different endings, but the narrative is a bit too similar to the franchise from which Bloodstained derives, and has plenty played elements such as a twist later on during the main storyline of Miriam’s quest. There’s also terrible narrative direction, and Zangetsu has virtually no plot in his journey. The translation is okay, although there are some errors even a grade-schooler could see such as sizeable gaps in dialogue sentences and abbreviated attribute names.

That leaves the gameplay to shoulder the burden, and Bloodstained definitely shows great promise in this regard. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow seems to be the game’s greatest influence in Miriam’s gameplay, with the defeat of enemies sometimes netting her different kinds of Shards granting her abilities, many of which consume her MP, although a few enhance her Metroidvania-style exploration of the interconnected world, and some allow her to summon familiars that may perform useful functions such as attacking foes or pointing out secret passages. Combat is real-time, and mercifully, navigating the menus pauses the action, and Miriam can use consumable items to recover, players also able to perform a suspend save.

Permanent saves also exist, and while Miriam losing all her health results in a Game Over, there is a safety net in the form of Waystones that instantly teleport her back to the hub town outside the castle, where she can purchase items or use materials to produce things such as consumables or equipment. There’s also a myriad of sidequests such as killing monsters of a certain type to receive rewards, and luckily, an in-game compendium exists tracking exterminated enemies, where to find them, what they drop, and the percentage rate at which they provide Shards and/or items when defeated. As one would expect of a game that worships the Random Number God, however, Bloodstained is somewhat iffy when it comes to these drops, but luckily combat is largely a quick affair.

Miriam or Zangetsu can also acquire money from destroying illumination sources such as candles, helping the former afford shop purchases, and while the latter character can collect funds as well, it seems pretty pointless in his regard since he lacks access to shopping. In both characters’ quests, there are also items they can collect to provide permanent increases to HP or MP, with leveling from experience obtained from exterminating enemies further increasing their stats. One can also obtain further finances from selling excess Shards Miriam acquires, and fortunately, players can obtain duplicates occasionally from killing enemies.

There are also occasional boss battles that will really test the player’s skills (with mastery of the fixed abilities Zangetsu has especially necessary towards victory), and aside from the mentioned reward of a Game Over screen upon demise, lengthy load times also abound, making death more annoying. Some irritating environments also exist, with one Shard allowing Miriam to propel herself through water, which can feel wonky until she gets the ability to sink to the bottom. The player can select difficulty upon starting a game, but Zangetsu’s mode can be hard even on Normal (in addition to his lack of healing outside save points), but Miriam’s quest is more merciful, even if I discovered late the use of food cooked in town to recover health alongside the finite potions she can carry. In the end, the general good and bad portions of the game mechanics largely balance out.

Control, however, fares slightly worse, one of the major issues, as mentioned before, being the terrible direction of the central narrative and the need to reference the internet in order to figure out how to advance, since trying to actually “beat” the game without performing certain tasks beforehand results in a Game Over. There are also the lengthy loading times, and while there is an in-game clock easily viewable, it doesn’t account for time wasted when exploring without frequent saves before or said load intervals. The menus themselves are bearable, however, and there is some semblance of enjoyability with the Metroidvania exploration, but otherwise, interaction could have been far better.

One aspect where Bloodstained fares somewhat better, however, is its aural presentation, with a soundtrack, for one, that very well invokes the feel of its RPG Castlevania predecessors, including plenty solid tracks containing excellent instrumentation. However, the feel is a slight double-edged sword in that their genres are slightly dissonant, and while the music fits the various environs, much of it isn’t very catchy or memorable. There’s voice acting as well, with most characters sounding fine, although there are a few weak performances, and the enemy voices can be somewhat annoying, especially regarding the taunts bosses make when the player dies, making death even more rage-inducing. In the end, the aurals are somewhat tolerable.

The lengthiness of the development cycle by Igarashi and his team for the Castlevania spiritual successor put some pressure on him to improve the overall visual quality, compared with a video of the game’s early build, and for the most part it definitely wasn’t time wasted. The artistic direction is absolutely superb, with excellent character and enemy designs, although there are some occasional reskins in the latter instance. The environments, in spite of some minor recycling, are absolutely gorgeous and realistic, with good effects such as rotation of tower environs, and both the character and enemy models contain a cel-shaded style. There is a minor bit of choppiness and slowdown, but otherwise, the graphics are perhaps the high point of Bloodstained.

Finally, my final playtime for Miriam and Zangetsu’s storylines were respectfully seventeen and seven hours, but given the sluggishness of the in-game clocks, the total was more in the realm of thirty or so. There is hypothetical lasting appeal in the form of sidequests, percentage completions for the compendiums and maps, and the like, but frankly, I’d find additional playtime to be somewhat tortuous.

When all is said and done, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is indeed a worthy spiritual successor to the RPG Castlevanias, given its action-based combat mechanics and Metroidvania exploration along with above-average aural and visual presentation. However, it ends up imitating Japanese entries in the genre to the point where it ends up mimicking their flaws, such as the sometimes-punishing gameplay with terrible direction, not to mention the paper-thin plot and difficulty of investing additional playtime into the spiritual successor. Regardless, it’s certainly not a total waste of time (aside from the frequent loading), but it’s very much one of the weaker Metroidvanias released within the past few years, and if you do decide to play it, take my advice and definitely don’t play as Zangetsu; you’ll thank me later.

This review is based on playthroughs of Miriam and Zangetsu’s storylines to their canon endings of a physical copy purchased by the reviewer.

The Good:
+Good RPG Castlevania spiritual successor.
+Decent soundtrack.
+Great graphics.

The Bad:
-Loads of loading.
-Zangetsu’s mode is grindy and has little to no narrative.
-Paper-thin plot for Miriam’s quest as well.

The Bottom Line:
An average Metroidvania.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics: 5.0/10
Controls: 4.5/10
Story: 3.0/10
Localization: 5.0/10
Music/Sound: 7.0/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 3.0/10
Difficulty: Artificial
Playing Time: 24-48 Hours

Overall: 5.0/10

Rabbitvania: Fist of the Lapine

The Chinese subcontinent has a storied history, spanning from millennia of imperial rule to twentieth century dictatorships rightist and leftist, the latter holding control beginning in the 1940s. While I don’t exactly hold the current dominant power in the Asian nation, the so-called People’s Republic of China, in high regard, given things such as their disregard for reproductive rights, Tiananmen Square, a blatantly-unenforceable “ban” on reincarnation, and the coronavirus pandemic, they inarguably hold significant cultural and economic sway across the world. What capitalist sects the communist government allows to coexist have also delved into videogames, among them being the Metroidvania F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch, which would see worldwide release.

The game occurs in a dystopian science-fiction world inhabited by anthropomorphic characters, the protagonist being a rabbit named Rayton, who faces an enemy known as the Iron Dogs. Throughout his journey, he discovers many things about other characters including the fate of an old war companion, with things such as faux news report adding supplementary narrative. F.I.S.T. generally tells its story well, avoiding most standard tropes in Eastern RPGs (then again, it isn’t a Japanese game), with clear direction and the scarce chance that players might get lost throughout the core game. The translation is largely flawless aside from the rare awkward dialogue, with quirks such as the ability to toggle between English and Chinese voicework.

As mentioned, F.I.S.T. is a Metroidvania, largely leaning towards the Metroid side of the videogame subgenre, since there isn’t any experience acquisition from defeating enemies and leveling per se, money and occasional instant recovery items being the chief rewards from combat. The core gameplay is side-scrolling and action-based, and naturally, there’s no lousy camera about which to concern oneself, Rayton eventually able to execute combinations of attacks from three different types of weapons, beginning with a mechanical fist. With money obtained and in many cases data disks sporadically found, he can unlock other, oftentimes more complicated attacks, although luckily, mastering these is scarcely necessary to complete the core game.

F.I.S.T. also bequeaths elements from the Legend of Zelda franchise, Rayton able to obtain “essences” to increase stats such as his maximum health, three necessary to add to his gauges. At the base town, he can further shop for items such as skeleton keys necessary to open locked chests throughout the large interconnected world, return plant seeds that serve the same purpose as tiny medals from the Dragon Quest games and can reward him with more essences and/or money, and eat noodles at a restaurant for an extra bar of health (or up to three in my experience), among other things. Checkpoints are also plentiful throughout the world where most of the time Rayton can unlock more attacks and recover his health and other consumable stat bars.

Combat is generally enjoyable, accommodating to different playstyles, given the three different mechanical weapons Rayton comes to acquire, with a choice of Easy or Hard difficulties when starting a new game sure to pacify players with different skill levels, and even on the former there are occasional tough moments, though mercifully the game is fair in that regard. Healing units are available whenever health restoration is necessary (though this is unavailable underwater and the player needs to get well-enough away from foes to recover out of water, both adding to the battle system’s effectiveness). The Metroidvania elements also work in sync with combat, which is in the end near-note perfect.

As in many entries of the Metroidvania subgenre, there exists one large contiguous area to explore, with abilities gained throughout Rayton’s quest to enhance exploration such as double-jumping, with the rabbit ultimately being able to dash in any direction, and receiving the eventual capability to open sealed doors through one of his three primary mechanical tools of offense. Fast travel luckily becomes available to revisit the various levels to obtain extra goodies, some of which can really come in handy in the final battles. There are a few minor glitches such as a few mechanical doors taking forever to open and the rare crash, though the frequent autosaving luckily minimizes wasted playtime.

F.I.S.T. features music that syncs well with its setting and atmosphere, such as many techno and mechanical-sounding pieces that are never out of place, along with superb instrumentation making use of the saxophone, mixed percussion, and the like. Voice acting also exists, available in both English and Chinese, each very well fitting the various characters, and the sound effects, as in any contemporary videogame, are definitely believable. Some points rely a bit on ambience, but otherwise, the game is a very good aural experience.

Visually, F.I.S.T. also does well, with a realistic style that contains an excellent attention to detail, particularly regarding the fur of the various species, and well-designed environments that do a nice job conveying the dark, dystopian atmosphere of the game. There are occasional visual glitches such as pop-up regarding NPCs and sometimes environments, but they luckily by no means break the game, and the graphics are definitely eye candy, potentially appearing better on a PlayStation 5.

Finally, F.I.S.T. is one of the longer Metroidvanias, taking at least twelve hours to complete, although things such as exploring every corner of the interconnected world and achieving every Trophy can boost playtime well beyond that range, accounting for plentiful lasting appeal.

All things considered, F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch is inarguably one of the greatest accomplishments ever to emerge from Red China. It contains excellent Metroidvania gameplay, with the combat and exploration complementing one another very well. The narrative is also superb and well-paced given player potential to breeze through it, with plenty of background, and never feels forced down the player’s throat. The sound and visuals also complement the game’s setting well, almost never feeling out of place. There are some minor technical hiccups, although these scarcely detract from the experience, and not only is the game a great way for China’s youth to spend their government-restricted free time, it also very well scratches those Metroidvania and furry videogame itches comfortably.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer’s PlayStation 4 to the standard ending, with 45% of Trophies acquired and 90% progress made on Easy mode.

The Good:
+Superb Metroidvania gameplay and exploration.
+Excellent narrative and atmosphere.
+Great soundtrack and voicework.
+Visuals fit the game’s setting well.
+Plentiful lasting appeal.

The Bad:
-Some minor technical issues.

The Bottom Line:
“Required reading” for anyone with a passing interest in Metroidvanias and/or furry videogames.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics: 10/10
Controls: 9.0/10
Story: 10/10
Localization: 9.5/10
Music/Sound: 9.5/10
Graphics: 9.0/10
Lasting Appeal: 10/10
Difficulty: Adjustable
Playing Time: 12-48 Hours

Overall: 10/10

Longevity is a habitual issue when it comes to videogames, whether they’re good or bad in terms of quality, and as gaming can be an expensive hobby (though somewhat less so even by inflation), one can find it difficult to decide which titles to invest their videogaming buck into, and the various issues with mainstream and independent game reviews and videogame journalism in general definitely don’t help things. However, I firmly believe in the mantra of “quality over quantity,” and think that length is only a major issue if a game isn’t very good, as I have encountered my fair share of gaming turkeys that have wasted my time, and will in this editorial analyze the topic of game length.

In recent time, I have attempted to adopt the “six-hour rule,” similar to one RPGamer writer’s “five-hour rule” (I prefer six since it’s an exact quarter of a day), where one decides after the aforementioned interval whether to continue slogging through a game. Super Mario Sunshine, as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars on the Nintendo Switch, was one game to which I had successfully applied the rule, given the game’s difficulty even with the assistance of guides. However, there come times when one needs to play a game for more than five or six hours to gauge its potential quality, as had been the case for me when I decided after twenty-three hours of Bravely Default II, that I had enough, given that I had only come as far as two out of seven chapters.

There are many times where a game’s longevity can feel artificial, especially if they involve plentiful repetition as a result of perpetual death, or in the case of roleplaying games, the need to farm for money and items, and/or grind for various types of levels. Other things that can needlessly prolong a game include sluggish text speed like in Xenogears (inexcusable since many games from prior generations such as the original Dragon Quest allowed for it to be adjustable), not to mention poor direction on how to advance a game’s central storyline or attempt to solve dungeon puzzles without assistance from the internet.

Given that time can be far more valuable a resource than money for players such as I that work full-time, I definitely yearn for games to pack a sizeable gameplay punch without taking forever to finish their central storylines, although I do definitely appreciate long games as long as they’re actually good and don’t feel padded at all. However, since money can still be a consideration for many players, games need to accommodate both those who wish to spend a long time with them, preferably through things that can enhance lasting appeal such as multitudes of sidequests and New Game+ modes, and those who wish to get through them in the quickest time possible.

Price, admittedly, can also be a consideration whenever players are seeking their next title to purchase and play, and when a player with limited funds has completely exhausted what they had been playing, whether through completing all achievements, completing all sidequests, viewing all paths of branching narratives, and so on. Games that are fairly short and generally lack replayability, such as the mentioned first installment of the Dragon Quest series, should naturally not require a great monetary investment, whereas games that are lengthy such as Persona 5 and its enhanced rerelease can have average prices for titles of their respective generations yet still be worthwhile purchases. On the other hand, retro games that haven’t had contemporary rereleases can be expensive and generally not worth it.

Ultimately, when it comes to videogames, quality very easily trumps quantity, and I can safely say that most of my top games, such as Muramasa Rebirth and its respective DLC, not to mention Tails of Iron, which I recently finished, aren’t very lengthy games, yet pack major gameplay punches. As I’ve said before, length is only an issue if a game’s quality isn’t very high and it has the potential to waste one’s time needlessly, also money if a player has invested a sizable portion of their money into the game. When given a choice between a six-hour masterpiece or thirty-hour mediocrity, the former definitely wins hands-down.

A Shining Pearl among Pokéremakes

When I got my Nintendo DS as a Christmas gift back in 2006, one of my aims was to experience Nintendo’s beloved Pokémon series, which before then I had yet to experience, and thus dove into the franchise via the Diamond/Pearl generation. I did somewhat enjoy what time I spent with it, although there were various issues that to me prevented it from truly excellent. As remakes would be a tradition for the series, developer Game Freak would during the Nintendo Switch era produce full rereleases of the two games, Brilliant Diamond and the iteration I experienced, Pokémon Shining Pearl, which features many improvements over its precursors.

As with prior Pokémon titles, the player can name and customize their protagonist, afterward beginning in a small village from which he or she travels to record all wild Pokémon in the Pokédex a professor grants them, dealing with the ambitions of the sinister Team Galactic along the way and ending with the challenge of Pokémon combat’s Elite Four and the Champion that ranks above them. There’s some good backstory, although there are repeated tropes such as the rivalry with the main character’s best friend, and Team Galactic is a bit too similar to Team Rocket, and once you’ve experienced one game’s plot, you’ve experienced them all. The translation is definitely legible and free of spelling and grammar errors, but there is a bit of a Japanese feel such as the titles prefacing the names of NPC opponents, and some stylistic issues such as the use of “OK” instead of “okay.”

That leaves the gameplay to shoulder the burden, and happily, Shining Pearl does a good job in this area and is overall an improvement over the original version’s mechanics. The combat mechanisms function much the same as in other entries of the series, although much akin to the original generation, fights with wild Pokémon are still random in areas such as tall grass and caves, the player able to nullify encounters with lower-level ones with different types of repellant spray. As in RPGs in general, moreover, the random number gods can often be cruel in terms of encounters with specific Pokémon, especially if players fudge their chance to capture certain rare ones.

When beginning a wild encounter, the player has a number of available options such as attacking with the Pokémon leading their party of up to six, or attempting to capture the adversary via one of several different types of Pokéballs, although at the outset doing so with only Quick Balls is advisable since they have the best chance of acquisition when commencing one of said engagements. Normally, weakening the opponent as much as possible guarantees the highest chance of capture when utilizing other types of Pokéballs, although one can find it difficult to do so without accidentally killing the opponent Pokémon. Trying to capture foes once again can invoke the cruelty of the random number gods.

If the player wishes to battle, each Pokémon can have up to four abilities of different types and effects, with a roshambo formula where certain abilities are super-effective against certain enemy types, standardly effective, not very effective, or with no effect against others. This naturally adds a layer of strategy to combat, necessitating that the player forms their party carefully, usually with a mix of different Pokémon types, with many possibly having up to two different elements. One major improvement over the original generation is that if a player has previously killed or captured a certain Pokémon, the game indicates the effect moves will have against the enemy.

Another significant superiority to the initial generation is that offing an enemy Pokémon (in addition to capturing one) nets all of the player’s party not fainted experience for occasional level-ups, in which case their stats increase and they may receive the opportunity to learn a new ability, with the chance to replace a current one if at the max of four. This makes raising even weaker Pokémon easier as they don’t have to actively face the enemy to obtain experience, although those that personally face the enemy obtain the bulk of experience.

To obtain money for purchasing new goods such as healing items, the player must face NPC Pokémon trainers in between towns and in caves, having to pay a monetary penalty if they lose. A certain accessory any Pokémon can equip doubles the amount of cash obtained from these battles, and later in the game, the player gains a Pokétech Watch application that can allow them to reface these NPCs in combat. When these nonplayer trainers are close to one another, the player might have to face up to two at once, in which case the Pokémon leading the player’s roster go into battle, with the protagonist able to swap them out during their turn.

However, swapping a Pokémon consumes the player’s turn and makes it vulnerable to the opponent’s attacks, a step down from the superior systems in other RPGs such as Final Fantasy X, Breath of Fire IV, and Wild Arms 2. The endgame where the player has to face four champion trainers and their leader can also be irksome given the inability to back out and that if they lose against them, that have to reface them from the beginning, although luckily, players keep whatever experience they obtained at the time. The game mechanics generally work well in spite of their flaws, making the gameplay experience of the series significantly more accessible than in prior titles.

Shining Pearl also interacts well with players, with easy menus and an always-convenient save-anywhere (except in the middle of battle) feature, along with a message below the menu options providing clear direction on where to go next to advance the central storyline. The Pokétech Watch the player eventually acquires also allows them later on to revisit previous towns with the Fly Hidden Move, players no longer needing to make their Pokémon learn these skills in order to use them, although one can potentially overlook certain things without the assistance of the internet. Regardless, interaction is well above average.

The soundtrack is one of the game’s highlights, with plenty of catchy music on the routes in between towns and rockin’ battle themes, along with distinct cries for the various Pokémon. The sound effects are good as well, and the near-death alarm when a Pokémon reaches critical health is significantly less annoying than in the original version, dinging only thrice to indicate low HP. Generally, the rerelease is an aural delight.

Shining Pearl looks the part, as well, with the original incarnation’s chibi sprites remade in three dimensions, although battles render the various characters in more anatomically-correct proportions, with endless gorgeous Pokémon designs that don’t have any reskins whatsoever. The environments are pretty as well, with vibrant colors and minimal jaggies and pixilated textures, although there are minor issues with the indirect contact of Pokémon in battle when executing moves against one another. Regardless, the graphics are some of the strongest on the Nintendo Switch.

Finally, the game can last players a while, with half-decent replay value in the form of significant postgame content and catching all Pokémon, although a guide may be necessary to do so, alongside the divergent incarnations of the same game, slight in-game hell, and the various things that seem to add a few unnecessary hours to the game such as unskippable battle text (although turning off Pokémon battle animations can lessen the padding a little).

In summation, Pokémon Shining Pearl is very much what a remake should be, given the drastically-increased accessibility of the core game mechanics, tight control with clear direction on how to advance, the superb soundtrack, and the polished graphics. There are issues, however, that mainstream gamers need to consider before purchase such as the irritating in-game, the ability to overlook certain things without referencing the internet, the generic Pokémon plot, and the lack of refinement regarding the localization. Regardless, I firmly believe that if the remakes indicate the direction in which the series is headed, it very much has a bright future.

This review is based on a playthrough of a copy borrowed by the reviewer to the standard ending.

The Good:
+Easier to raise Pokémon than in original generation.
+Good control with decent direction.
+Great soundtrack.
+Polished graphics.

The Bad:
-Somewhat irksome endgame.
-A few things easy to overlook without a guide.
-Typical Pokémon plot.
-Localization lacks polish.

The Bottom Line:
More accessible than the original version.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Game Mechanics: 8.0/10
Controls: 8.0/10
Story: 6.5/10
Localization: 6.5/10
Music/Sound: 9.5/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 6.5/10
Difficulty: Variable
Playing Time: 30-60 Hours

Overall: 8.0/10

Currently Playing

Pokémon Shining Pearl - I've gotten the Surf Hidden Move and am now at the port town where I have to face the protagonist's rival again, and I have to grind a little, but luckily doing so isn't too hard. I may explore the underground again since I've been neglecting it.

Slime Forest Adventure - Still sharpening my skills with kanji on'yomi readings, before I tackle the countless destroyed villages on the spiral island again.

Tails of Iron: Crimson Knight Edition (PlayStation 4) - I caved into the temptation to buy this game since a recent update included an easier difficulty, which is fortunate since it's essentially a sidescrolling Soulslike, although I've been having a good time thus far, and haven't died any.

In My Backlog

Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Editions - Will probably be next year I finally play this collection, and will likely only do so once I'm through with Shining Pearl and I'm not loaned another Switch game.

Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress - This will likely be my next PC game.

Ultima III: Exodus - Will of course play after I've finished the second game.

Star Trek: The RPG

Once upon a time, I played the original Super Famicom version of developer tri-Ace’s first production, Star Ocean, via a fan translation, and while I did enjoy what time I spent with it, there were a multitude of issues that made it feel like an Obvious Beta, such as many glitches largely involving its item creation system and a secret character hidden in the code. An enhanced remake for the PlayStation Portable, First Departure, would resolve many of the issues affiliated with the Super Famicom iteration, and around two generations later afterward would it receive a remaster for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 consoles (the latter version this review covers) entitled Star Ocean: First Departure R, which has some new content, but is generally the same improved experience as it was on Sony’s first portable system.

In a nice break from most science-fiction stories, R tells its largely initially through the perspective of its intelligent alien creatures, in its case a few Fellpool teenagers on the planet Roak, basically humanoid with pointed elven ears and monkey-like tails, a little, but not exactly like, the Genomes (protagonist Zidane’s race) in Final Fantasy IX. Hero Roddick Farrence, with his cohorts Millie Kliette and Dorne Murtough, go on patrol in their hometown, after which they receive notice that a nearby community is suffering a plague that petrifies, but doesn’t kill, those it infects. Visiting a nearby mountain, they encounter two humans, the starship Captain Ronyx J. Kenny and his first mate Ilia Silvestri (parents of one of the sequel’s main heroes, Claude C. Kenny), with all characters determined to find a cure for the ailment that ultimately plagues and turns Dorne to stone.

Unfortunately, the host of the disease, Asmodeus, exists several centuries in the past, prompting the healthy humans and Fellpools to visit the planet Styx, where a time gate exists that sends, but separates them, to Roak in the past during Asmodeus’s time, where they seek to reunite and encounter an excellent character cast that includes a winged warlock and his sorcerous sister, a lycanthrope martial artist, and so forth, four mandatory characters and only four of the optional characters recruitable, with different story scenes depending upon whom the player recruits, and dozens of variations on several different endings satisfactorily concluding the narrative.

The story, however, certainly isn’t shy of its Star Trek influences, R’s Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact (UP3) very much mirroring Trek’s Prime Directive, and time travel isn’t exactly a novel concept, being ever prevalent in previous games such as Chrono Trigger and Tales of Phantasia (with some of that particular title’s staff having founded developer tri-Ace), and several other non-gaming media such as movies and television. Furthermore, there isn’t too much time spent in the franchise’s eponymous Star Ocean, most playtime spent on developing worlds, although the good in the plot very much outweighs the bad, and the narrative in the end is very much a nice diversion from the typical fantastical Japanese roleplaying game norm.

The localization is definitely more than adequate, given legible dialogue, virtually no spelling or grammatical errors, and a good naming convention for the various characters belonging to different races, although there are a few issues such as there being no fathomable reason, except alcohol, why anyone would think it natural for people to shout the names of their special skills in combat (it may sound really cool in Japanese, but just doesn’t work in English), some redundant combat dialogue, inconsistent naming in the closing credits, and a censored cross (its horizontal portion missing) appearing whenever a magician casts the Cure-All skill in battle.

Fortunately, solid gameplay backs the narrative experience, with randomly-encountered real-time battles where the player controls one character (preferably Roddick), while the AI controls the other three participants, although luckily, the player can switch control among the maximum four battlers. If controlling a melee character such as Roddick, the player outside combat can assign two MP-consuming skills to the L1 and R1 buttons for easy execution, or have them attack with standard physical assaults, with an option of automatic or semiauto targeting, in the latter case where the player can press the square button to change targets among antagonists, helpful in instances such as the encounter of spellcasting enemies that can easily decimate the player’s active party.

Eradicating all adversaries nets all participants the currency Fol and experience for occasional leveling, with the acquisition of higher levels earning characters skill points they can invest into personal skills outside combat (with new ones acquired from special facilities in towns), although players will likely want to hold off on doing so until they acquire the Determination skill, which reduces the costs of these active and innate abilities that can dictate things such as how much experience is necessary to obtain the next level, stats such as attack power, casting time for magic spells, effectiveness of how attempts at item creation fare, and so forth.

Much akin to the Super Famicom and PlayStation Portable versions, R has a deep item creation system that the latter iteration refined with plenty ideas from its sequel’s similar mechanics, with characters having the potential to acquire new talents, which dictate how effective they are at certain kinds of synthesis (especially if the player uses the Orchestra Super Specialty), and so forth. In fact, becoming effective with the item creation system is almost necessary to having an easier time with the game, given the potential to acquire some powerful weapons and equipment, the latter even granting the possibility to receive healing instead of damage from the potentially tough-as-nails final boss’s abilities.

The battle system generally flows well, given the potential quick pace in combat, aside from the unskippable magic spell animations (although the flow of combat receives no interruption from melee characters’ physical abilities), although there are a few cheap enemies, namely the magician foes that can easily decimate the player’s characters and lead to easy game overs (with no opportunities to restart the lost battle and needing to reload a previous save), with one particularly-tough boss fight in an optional dungeon occurring without a nearby save point, otherwise rarely with iffy placement. The AI is also occasionally inconsistent in terms of effectiveness, but regardless, the gameplay shines.

R is for the most part a user-friendly game, with plentiful positives such as largely-clear direction on how to advance the central storyline through exiting a town during a Private Action session (though there were occasions where I had to reference the internet to discover things such as the secret entrance to one dungeon and an extra dungeon where I could ditch one character for a certain replacement), the ability to tell whether equipment from a shop increased or decreased character stats, an “equipment wizard” that automatically outfits characters with the best gear the player owns, being able to buy different item types simultaneously, and so forth.

However, while there is easy conveyance among harbor towns on Roak, there unfortunately isn’t a universal fast-travel option, which can really necessitate long treks to inland towns or revisit certain dungeons, in the former case especially if the player wants to perform Private Actions in said settlements so that they can have some influence on which character endings they receive. There are also no maps for the dungeons, a few areas unindicated on the overworld map, some iffy placement of save points at times, unskippable cutscenes (though text speed is adjustable and most voicework players can cut short if they would rather read than listen), and no pausing during the ending, and ultimately, there are a few kinks in interaction the developers could have worked out.

The sound is another one of the game’s strongest points, being an early effort by composer Motoi Sakuraba, with plenty of nice, catchy town tracks, rockin’ battle themes, good cutscene music, fitting sound effects, and a choice of three different voicework tracks: the English version, although its quality is somewhat inconsistent, especially in battle; the original First Departure’s Japanese voices; and new Nipponese voice acting on part of the cast of the original Super Famicom iteration’s performers.

The visuals took a cue from the first Star Ocean sequel, with pretty prerendered environments and two-dimensional character sprites that increase or decrease in size depending upon how “close” or “far” they are to the player in a particular area, battles utilizing the same sprites, with great emotion and animation on part of both the character and enemy sides of combat, plentiful feelings such as laughter expressed outside encounters as well, along with pretty anime cutscenes. There’s even a choice of new character portraits during cutscenes somewhat resemblant of the original Super Famicom version’s artwork, though these don’t change the style of the anime scenes and aren’t fully consistent with the spritework. Moreover, there are issues regarding the many palette-swapped enemies and occasional pixilation of the spritework and overworld environments, and while the graphics are generally good, there are quite a few rough spots.

Finally, R is just right in terms of length, potentially taking one as little as twenty hours to make a straightforward run of the game, although things such as sidequests, playing with item creation, and a postgame dungeon potentially boosting playtime to around thirty hours. However, things such as acquiring all PlayStation Trophies, collecting all voice clips for a main menu selection that becomes available after completing the game at least once, a post-game dungeon, messing around with different recruitable characters during subsequent playthroughs, sidequests, and so forth, can very easily prolong playtime, although there are a few hindrances to going through the game again such as unskippable cutscenes and no New Game+.

In summation, Star Ocean: First Departure R is for the most part a great remaster of a remake that itself had resolved some of the issues associated with the original Super Famicom version such as its various glitches and Dummied Out content. The great game mechanics one can easily “git gud” at, the controls are generally tight, the storyline is engaging with a great cast and potential variations, the soundtrack is pleasant alongside three different voicework versions, the graphics are decent with two alternative forms of anime designs, and there’s plenty to keep players coming back for more. However, those who don’t especially exploit certain aspects of the mechanics may have a hard time, fast-travel is limited at points, there’s not nearly enough time spent in outer space, the localization and graphics have a few rough edges, and there’s no New Game+ alongside the already above-average lasting appeal. Regardless, those new to the series will relish the chance to soar into the slowly-but-surely expanding Star Ocean universe.

This review is based on a singular playthrough to the standard ending of a copy digitally downloaded to the owner’s PlayStation 4, with 34% of all Trophies acquired.

The Good:
+Great game mechanics you can “git gud” at.
+Good control.
+Solid storyline with variable endings.
+Nice soundtrack and three flavors of voicework.
+Decent visuals with different portrait styles.
+Plenty to keep players coming back for more.

The Bad:
-May be a little hard for some.
-Limited fast-travel options.
-Not enough time spent in titular Star Ocean.
-Localization a little rough around the edges.
-Same for the graphics.
-No New Game+.

The Bottom Line:
A great remaster of a remake that largely fixed the Super Famicom version’s issues.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics: 9.0/10
Controls: 8.0/10
Story: 9.0/10
Localization: 7.0/10
Music/Sound: 9.0/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 8.0/10
Difficulty: Variable
Playing Time: 20-80 Hours

Overall: 8.5/10

Tatsuya Suou and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The PlayStation title Revelations: Persona was one of the first entries of Atlus’s Megami Tensei series that saw an English localization, albeit through a cut-and-paste effort that often very poorly attempted to cover the game’s Japanese origin and setting. It would ultimately receive a more faithful translation when the game saw a port to the PlayStation Portable, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Due to controversial content, the first half of the game’s sequel on the PlayStation, Shin Megami Tensei – Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Atlus’s North American branch passed over for localization, although the second half, Eternal Punishment, they did translate. Luckily, the first half would see a translation after coming to the PlayStation Portable, being an ideal way to experience the classic.

The main “controversial” content is one of the main antagonists being a certain Austrian-born despot and his followers, given sunglasses and titled as “Fuhrer”. The main protagonist is the silent high-schooler Tatsuya Suou, who joins with allies to make pacts with demons across the suburbs of Tokyo, ultimately encountering MacGuffins in the form of elemental crystal skulls. Most of the main characters and notable NPCs do get descriptions when introduced saying who they are, and the plot has very mature themes, but there are issues such as passers-by within the dungeons being unaware of the demons inhabiting their areas, not to mention occasional vagueness in where to go to next in order to advance the main storyline.

The translation is a bit of an average effort, with some terrible names such as one school having the nickname of “Cuss High”, and Japanese honorifics left in the English text that mainstream gamers wouldn’t understand (and in-game explanation as to their meanings would have been nice for those not versed in the language). There are also occasional misleading ability descriptions, although the text itself is largely coherent, with some occasional mature profanity showing the script’s mature tone. Even so, the localization team could have made a better effort.

The primary game mechanics, however, do have plenty of things going for them, with battles being turn-based and randomly-encountered, an indicator gradually turning red indicating how close Tatsuya and his party are to encountering enemies, largely sparing the tedium associated with random encounters. Fights pit the party of up to five characters against several demons, with several options available for battle or negotiation. Each character can equip one of the game’s eponymous Personas, with standard attacks with equipped weapons available, along with using one of their Persona’s SP-consuming skills, their costs being fixed for all of a spirit’s particular skills.

Using a particular Persona’s skills will gradually cause it to increase in rank, which can allow for new abilities to become usable, with up to eight ranks per Persona. The player’s characters can also parley with the enemies with various conversation skills. An enemy mood square appears during conversation, with eager, happy, sad, or angry quadrants, where getting the eager option three times allows for the collection of tarot cards, and getting them happy allows a pact to be formed where the player can get tarot cards and “free cards” that can take on any arcana in the Velvet Room, or various items should the player get a monster happy again in a future battle.

Players will obviously want to avoid angering an enemy or making it sad, given their potential to break their pact if upset, and the player can only have up to three pacts at any given time. Of course, the player can of course engage in standard combat with them, giving characters commands, a turn order gauge showing who will go when, with each side executing their attacks. Eliminating all enemies naturally wins the battle for the player, and all the player’s characters dying means a Game Over, although luckily, players can record their progress most anywhere outside combat, largely reducing wasted playtime as a result of dying.

Players may occasionally become able to perform fusion spells with multiple Persona abilities that are of course more powerful than standard skills, and outside battle, they can visit the Velvet Room to obtain new Personas with whatever tarot cards they have received from battle. There are some interesting mechanics here such as the ability to “return” Personas with maxed ranks for items, and each character has a certain affinity with various arcana that may dictate skill cost. The battle system mostly works well, players also able to skip ability animations in combat for easier grinding and progress, although conversation with enemies can be difficult without a guide, and adversary personalities dictating how they react to contact options can be odd at times.

Aside from the save-mostly-anywhere feature, some areas of control aren’t exactly at their best, with a noticeable lack of features such as an equip-best option for character equipment, although they can purchase different types of items at once in bulk when shopping, how equipment increases and decreases stats before purchase being visible, and dungeons having automaps that make for mostly-easy progress. However, there are occasional points of no returns and loss of access to many dungeons upon completion, and while players can skip through text, there are some areas where they can’t, with cutscenes themselves not being wholly skippable. The game could have interacted better with players, although things aren’t too bad.

The soundtrack is easily the high point of the game, with plenty of good music such as the battle themes and the Velvet Room music with some classical music played after the main theme of the chamber finishes. There are some occasional tracks that rely a bit too much on ambience, and the quality of the voicework isn’t always consistent, but Innocent Sin mostly sounds good.

The visuals also look mostly decent, with the character sprites containing good anatomy alongside the enemy designs in combat, although there are occasional reskins on their part, and the actual battle scenery is somewhat lazy, akin to Earthbound with psychedelic aspects and minimalist scenery. The Persona ability animations look good as well, and are luckily skippable, and there are some good aspects of the environments outside battle with a few nice three-dimensional effects. All in all, the game largely looks good.

Finally, the game is somewhat lengthy, with a straightforward playthrough taking around forty-eight hours, although playing time can very well extend to seventy-two and beyond, with supplemental playtime largely due to ranking up Personas and accessing a postgame dungeon.

Overall, Innocent Sin is mostly an improved sequel, given the good within its game mechanics, save-mostly-anywhere feature, some decent story beats, a good soundtrack, and some pretty areas of its graphics. Regardless, it does have many issues regarding things such as the difficulty of the contact system without use of a guide, the spotty localization, the loss of access to most dungeons after completion, the poor direction at many times on how to advance the central storyline, the inconsistent voicework quality, and some weak areas of the visuals. It’s also not as nearly accessible as the third numbered entry and beyond, but still has plenty positives and is worth a look, if nothing more.

The Good:
+Some good mechanics.
+Save-mostly-anywhere feature.
+A few good story beats.
+Great soundtrack.
+Some nice parts of the visuals.

The Bad:
-Conversation system can be difficult without a guide.
-Some weak direction on how to advance.
-Inconsistent localization quality.
-Some poor voices.
-A bit long.

The Bottom Line:
Not as accessible as the third numbered entry and beyond, but has some good aspects.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: PlayStation Portable
Game Mechanics: 7.0/10
Controls: 6.0/10
Story: 6.5/10
Localization: 5.0/10
Music/Sound: 8.5/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 6.0/10
Difficulty: Adjustable
Playing Time: 48-72 Hours

Overall: 7.0/10

Currently Playing:

Dragon Quest (Nintendo Switch) - The latest version of what was my very first Japanese RPG. Time definitely hasn't been kind to this game, but it's tolerable enough that I'll play it to completion.

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 2: Innocent Sin - I'm at the Caracol dungeon, at the point of no return where I lost (although temporarily, I think), a party member. Been fairly enjoyable grinding, although I'm not fond of needing to use a guide (mostly) for demon negotiation.

In My Backlog:

Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Editions - Low priority right now, still sealed in shrinkwrap.

Slime Forest Adventure - Will play this eventually since I still want to brush up on my Japanese.

Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress - I found a patch online for the game that one can apply to the GOG.com port, and I'll definitely give it another look in the future.

Ultima III: Exodus - Will, of course, play after finishing the second game.