[Review] Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
Posted on 1 month ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: October 24, 2024
Developer: Square Enix / Xeen
Publisher: Square Enix
Square Enix’s SaGa franchise has seen quite the return over the last few years. With almost as many entries as the mainline Final Fantasy games, the series has had a lot of time to define itself – resulting in a focus on non-linearity, exploration, and a unique take on character advancement and customization that in the modern age is still surprisingly addictive and proves that the SaGa renaissance is in full swing. Heading in to a game I first experienced on Switch when it was first ported to the west in 2017, I was incredibly excited to return to the world of Avalon in beautiful 3D with Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven.
[Review] Reynatis
Posted on 2 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: September 27, 2024
Developer: FuRyu
Publisher: NIS America
Worlds of wizards and magic aren’t uncommon in the gaming world, but a setting as realistic as modern-day Shibuya, Tokyo does add a flavor that makes Reynatis stand out immediately. Flashy modern day outfits, blazing weapons, and flashy skills with fights breaking out on realistic representations of streets we could go and walk today. Reynatis is set in a prefecture bursting with commerce, the towering shopping malls, businesses, and bistros bustle with traffic of consumers and business people alike. Shibuya is the pinnacle of Japan’s fashion industry, boasts an incredible music scene, and the food is absolutely to die for. Also, for whatever reason, it seems to attract wizards.
More: FuRyu, highlight, NIS America, Reynatis, top
[Preview] Reynatis
Posted on 3 months ago by Elias in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
Battling through modern-day Shibuya may seem like a fantastical story to some, but for fans of Japanese games, Reynatis may not be their first battle down the iconic streets of Japan’s most cutting-edge cultural hub. The region’s layout is as true to the real Shibuya as possible – and traversing its streets might just feel a bit more magical than usual this time, though maybe not as flashy as one might expect, unless of course you feel like spending some time in Wizard Jail, or whatever its called.
More: FuRyu, highlight, NIS America, Reynatis, top
[Rapid Review] Tchia
Posted on 5 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: June 27, 2024
Developer: Awaceb
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Colorful islands surrounded by the vast open sea make up the archipelago explored in Tchia. Based on South Pacific island nation of New Caledonia, known for its palm-lined beaches and marine-life-rich lagoon, the world immediately shows the passion the developers hold for their homeland, and in an open-world approach that illustrates the complexity and diversity of nature unique to island life. Taking control of the title character, what sort of adventure will we find ourselves on here in the beautiful windswept islands an d across the vast open sea?
More: Awaceb, highlight, Kepler Interactive, Tchia, top
[Rapid Review] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Posted on 6 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: May 23, 2024
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Switch has proven itself quite the bastion for turn-based RPGs, but the GameCube of over two decades ago didn’t get quite the same treatment. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was one of just a handful of games where the eager adventurer could whet their appetite for grinding battles to level up, collecting money, and adding to their item stash at every new town. Now with a fresh coat of paint and a host of new features, is the title worth returning to after two decades?
[Rapid Review] CorpoNation: The Sorting Process
Posted on 6 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: May 9, 2024
Developer: Canteen
Publisher: Playtonic Friends
In CorpoNation: The Sorting Process, you’re an employee of Ringo CorpoNation. You toil away the hours sorting genetic samples only to get back home, maybe play a video game, eat, and then sleep. There is no real joy. This is the daily process. You start to wonder if there’s more to it. Oh, there’s more to it.
[Rapid Review] Pepper Grinder
Posted on 8 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: March 28, 2024
Developer: Ahr Ech
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Cute girls and giant drills are like the ultimate combination of adventure, cuteness, and the ability to get through just about anything. Pepper and Grinder are an incredible duo: a young pirate, Pepper has a dream to amass mountains of treasure. Her side arm and companion, Grinder, is just the one that can help her get it all done – able to blast right through the earth and find gold and gems galore. Together they make a pretty tough pair, but is their adventure worth all that sand?
More: Ahr Ech, Devolver Digital, highlight, Pepper Grinder, top
[Review] Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
Posted on 11 months ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: December 1, 2023
Developer: Square Enix / Tose
Publisher: Square Enix
There has been a resurgence of great turn-based RPGs over the last decade – the Switch itself becoming somewhat of a bastion for fans of long stories and level grinding, with no shortage of adventures to unwind with as the system moves ever onward in its lifespan. Monster taming games have been around for quite some time, emerging in 1987 with Megami Tensei, a mature-themed romp through a world of demons and pacts, but soon joined by more lighthearted franchises like Dragon Quest V’s monster recruiting mechanic, Pokemon’s Game Boy games launching to huge success, and the lesser known series Monster Rancher’s disc-related gimmick spurring many monster-taming fans to action placing every CD they could get their hands on into their PlayStation in order to spawn a new and potentially powerful creature. Dragon Quest Monsters’ titles play more like your classic castles and dragons adventure, just with a team you raise and strengthen a little differently than you might if you were playing something like Final Fantasy. The series now returns with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, and players will get to see another side to a mainline game’s most evil villain character while simultaneously becoming a very powerful monster wrangler.
[Review] Super Mario RPG
Posted on 1 year ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: November 17, 2023
Developer: Square Enix / ArtePiazza
Publisher: Nintendo
As a classic of the SNES era of RPGs, a remake of Super Mario RPG was a bit of a shock reveal earlier this year. Originally a collaboration between Nintendo and Square, it was a bit of a surprise back then as well. With a complete and from the ground up remake, we see new 3D graphics, crisp menus, and a bit of extra content for a game on Switch that many would say is one of the best RPGs of its time – but what about now? Let’s take a look at how Super Mario RPG fairs in today’s standards, as spoiler free as possible.
More: highlight, Square Enix, Super Mario RPG, top
[Review] My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom – Pirates of the Disturbance
Posted on 1 year ago by Elias in Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: November 28, 2023
Developer: Idea Factory
Publisher: Idea Factory
Catarina Claes was a very huge brat as a child. She was unruly, selfish, and had a mean streak that made family and staff at her mansion home shy away from her. Born into a noble family, Catarina had everything she could ever want. One day, awakening to memories of her past life as a Japanese high school student, Catarina realized that the life she was currently living was the main plot of a visual novel game, Fortune Lover, from her past world – one where the character she just happened to be born as would meet very unfortunate endings based on the player character’s choices. Understanding that fate was not on her side, she quickly and rapidly changed. The once bratty child devoted herself to overcoming each and every terrible ending she could face, winning the affection of those who would cause her demise in the process, though she does seem to be ignorant to how much her friends come to care for her. That’s the premise of Idea Factory’s latest Switch game, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom – Pirates of the Disturbance.
